Are These Skills of Yours Even Legit?

As Zhou Lu looked at the extra Fairy Coins on his phone, a strange feeling rippled through his heart.

Fairy Coins. One Fairy Coin could buy the most ordinary skill from a Knowledge Fairy. With three Fairy Coins, one could even buy a Spirit Beast cub with quite decent growth potential on the market.

Yet Wu Xiaoqing had directly given Zhou Lu five Fairy Coins. In this day and age, that counted as an enormous sum. Who knew how many original papers she had published to save up such a fortune?

"Tha—"

"No need to thank me yet." Wu Xiaoqing winked at Zhou Lu. "Consider this a loan. You'll have to pay me back later."

She did not mention a repayment date. Given their relationship, it was practically a gift; calling it a loan merely spared Zhou Lu's pride.

Zhou Lu opened his mouth, just about to say something, when a crisp sound came from beside them.

The two of them looked over almost at the same time.

Huohuo had extended her vines to tie up the unconscious Xiao Xi, swinging her back and forth.

Zhou Lu covered his face.

Was this really the Endless Rose that would one day toy with fate?

Ding! Mission failed.

You attempted to kill Knowledge Fairy Xiao Xi, but the mission ultimately failed.

However, your actions were worthy of praise.

You have received 1% of the mission reward. Please check it.

The system has reset this mission. Keep up the good work.

Well, that one smack from Huohuo had brought Zhou Lu another three bottles of Low-level Growth Potion.

"Sorry! I was wrong." After being revived, Xiao Xi hid behind Wu Xiaoqing with tears in her eyes. In her eyes, Huohuo had already become a demon. "I shouldn't have gone over to examine her body."

As a qualified Knowledge Fairy, whenever a Beast Tamer was preparing to buy skills, Xiao Xi would generally carefully inspect their Spirit Beast's body in order to arrange the most suitable skill set for them to choose from.

When she heard Wu Xiaoqing tell Zhou Lu to buy skills, she naturally went to inspect Huohuo's body out of habit. Who could have known Huohuo would react so strongly and knock her unconscious with a backhanded slap?

Damn it! Were Dream Rain Flowers really this strong?

Xiao Xi sank into the dejection of being unable to beat even a blade of grass.

"Teacher Xiao Xi, why don't you recommend a few skills for Xiao Lu's Spirit Beast?" Wu Xiaoqing said, holding Xiao Xi in her palm.

Leaning against soft mountains, Xiao Xi's sorrowful heart finally received a sliver of comfort. She glanced at Huohuo and said, "A Plant Spirit Beast in the Metamorphosis Stage does not have many skills to choose from. It depends on how you plan to position it in the future."

Spirit Beasts in this world were divided into five stages: the Metamorphosis Stage, Growth Stage, Mature Stage, Quasi-God Stage, and True God Stage. Of course, the latter two were generally impossible to attain. For ordinary Spirit Beasts, reaching the Mature Stage was already their limit.

Creatures before the Metamorphosis Stage generally possessed neither intelligence nor supernatural power, so they were not considered Spirit Beasts, merely ordinary animals and plants. Once they entered the Metamorphosis Stage, nearly every Spirit Beast would master its own race's Racial Skill. Such skills could not be learned, and thus were a Spirit Beast's core skills—one of the bases upon which Beast Tamers chose their Spirit Beasts.

As for the skills that could be purchased from Knowledge Fairies, they were ordinary skills that any Spirit Beast meeting the requirements could learn. The only requirements were usually level and attributes.

For Plant Spirit Beasts, grass-element skills were naturally the first choice. These could further be divided into offensive, defensive, and support types, which was why Xiao Xi had asked Zhou Lu how he intended to position Huohuo.

"I plan to cultivate Huohuo as my main force." Zhou Lu glanced at Huohuo and answered firmly.

If he had once wanted only to lie flat and drift through life, then now, he could be said to be full of confidence in the future.

Huohuo seemed to sense that this conversation concerned her fate. She raised her "head" and listened intently.

Hearing Zhou Lu's words, Wu Xiaoqing opened her mouth, but in the end she said nothing. This was Zhou Lu's choice, and she should respect it.

"You have chosen a very difficult road." As a Plant Spirit Beast herself, Xiao Xi naturally knew the drawbacks of using a Plant Spirit Beast as one's main force, but she still greatly admired Zhou Lu's choice.

As she spoke, her finger swept through the air before her, and two cards appeared in front of Zhou Lu.

"These two are the two C-rank skills that grass-element Spirit Beasts must learn: Vine Step and Mad Growth. They are the foundation of all offensive grass-element skills," Xiao Xi introduced.

Each C-rank skill required one Fairy Coin.

"Though I have other skills here, it would be best for your Spirit Beast to first practice these two until it becomes proficient, then return to me to buy other skills."

Zhou Lu nodded. After paying the Fairy Coins, he accepted the two cards from Xiao Xi.

Vine Step: C-rank Skill (grass-element exclusive). Extends stalks and grows roots that attach to the nearest object. Independent plant clones can grow at the point of attachment. The main body can actively sever its connection to the plant clones. (Clones are affected by Mad Growth.)

Mad Growth: C-rank Skill (grass-element exclusive). Causes all or part of a Spirit Beast's body to enter a state of mad growth. Once the skill is released, its form returns to its original state.

Using Skill Cards was very simple. One only had to point them at a Spirit Beast and tap use.

It was said that this originated from the methods by which immortals of ancient legend passed down cultivation techniques. After being transformed by the modern technology of human civilization, it had been simplified into cards that transmitted skills with a tap of confirmation.

The instant Zhou Lu tapped the cards, they transformed into specks of light and surged into Huohuo's body.

Huohuo's leaves trembled. In that instant, she seemed to have the illusion that she had grown a brain.

The puzzled little grass swayed her leaves as blue-green vines spread wildly from her roots, attaching themselves to the laboratory floor.

"Looks like your Spirit Beast is quite talented," Xiao Xi commented. "Go back and practice well..."

Before she could finish, she froze completely, wearing an expression as though she had seen a ghost.

Huohuo attached two Vine Steps to the ground, then used their support to lift her entire body, flowerpot included, into the air.

After swaying about and stabilizing herself, the plant clones that had just grown from the Vine Steps extended another Vine Step forward under the effects of Mad Growth.

The moment the new Vine Step attached to the floor ahead, Huohuo withdrew the old ones. She then canceled Mad Growth on that part of her body, actually shifting her entire body forward by some distance.

With the cooperation of these two skills, Huohuo had achieved an effect similar to walking while still in the Metamorphosis Stage.

Xiao Xi had truly never seen anything like this.

Beside her, Wu Xiaoqing also opened her mouth in shock.

However, Huohuo ultimately failed to master the switching technique between the two skills. After wobbling forward a few steps, she lost her balance and crashed heavily onto the floor along with her flowerpot.

Bang!

The flowerpot shattered the instant it hit the floor. Dark brown soil scattered everywhere, while Huohuo's snow-white roots flickered in and out of view amid the dirt.

That fall had flung everything inside the flowerpot out.

Three brightly colored mushrooms, several bottles of potions that looked exceedingly ominous, and a pair of... underpants not even as large as a thumb?

Holy shit! When did you steal all of these?

Xiao Xi instinctively glanced at her lower body. Then, as though she had realized something, she swiftly pressed both hands over her skirt. Her entire body turned red in an instant, and the way she looked at Zhou Lu became extremely strange.

A drop of cold sweat trickled down Zhou Lu's forehead.

Huohuo! Don't take weird things like that!

New author, new book—please keep reading! It really means a lot to me!