Team-Up Invitation from the Class Monitor

Zhou Lu walked out of Wu Xiaoqing's laboratory with Huohuo, almost as if he were fleeing, under the strange gazes of the other two.

Huohuo seemed to still not know what it had done wrong. As Zhou Lu held it and fled in a panic, it didn't forget to wave goodbye politely to Wu Xiaoqing in the laboratory—even though Wu Xiaoqing had confiscated all of its belongings.

The moment he stepped out of the teaching building, Zhou Lu felt a great sense of relief.

Bright sunlight streamed down through the gaps between the tall buildings and the shade of the trees, falling upon him.

A gentle breeze blew, causing the Dream Rain Flowers planted on both sides of the road to sway softly.

Dream Rain Flowers weren't uncommon in this world, but very few managed to complete their transformation into Spirit Beasts. He only knew of Huohuo.

As one of the most widely distributed plants in this world, the Dream Rain Flower had a very long history, so long that its competitors and natural enemies had already gone extinct.

Because of this, the Dream Rain Flower had become the most commonly chosen plant for landscaping, though almost no one chose it as their Spirit Pet.

Under the spring sunlight, the Dream Rain Flowers bloomed with beautiful white blossoms.

Zhou Lu weighed Huohuo in his arms. Since the original flowerpot had been broken in the laboratory, Zhou Lu had asked Wu Xiaoqing for a large beaker to use as a temporary pot for Huohuo's new home.

After being repotted, Huohuo was still a bit unaccustomed, especially since Zhou Lu had placed it in a transparent container, which made Huohuo feel shy and uneasy.

The little guy, who had been basking its leaves against Zhou Lu just moments ago, now seemed bashful.

Through the transparent glass beaker, Zhou Lu could see Huohuo's restless white roots in the soil.

Zhou Lu smiled helplessly, took off his jacket, and wrapped it around the beaker. Only then did Huohuo feel much better and become lively again, its leaves unfurling and swaying freely in the spring breeze.

Watching the re-energized Huohuo, he couldn't help but wonder when this little guy would finally bloom like its companions.

Little Huohuo clearly still had a strong sense of novelty with the two skills it had just learned, extending its tendrils to walk and grow wildly.

In the blink of an eye, several white flowers appeared on Huohuo's body.

Huh?

Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the little guy had used its extended tendrils to pick a few flowers from the roadside Dream Rain Flowers, then stopped its wild growth and placed these flowers on its head.

After doing all this, Huohuo happily patted its leaves and showed off to Zhou Lu, as if to say, "I bloomed!"

Cold sweat immediately broke out on Zhou Lu's forehead.

The school rules of the Beast Taming Academy stipulated that campus flora and fauna must not be arbitrarily damaged or harmed, as these could be research materials for the school's researchers. Wu Xiaoqing was fine because she always had valid reasons, but he didn't.

He needed to slip away quickly, or he'd be fined academic credits if caught by the campus patrol!

"This student, damaging the lawn is a violation of school rules."

Just as Zhou Lu was about to leave, a voice came from behind him.

With a helpless sigh, he turned to look at the person, only to see a familiar face.

The person was tall and sturdy. Although his appearance was ordinary, his robust muscles were definitely impressive. A small, silver animal that looked like a chipmunk perched on the man's shoulder, creating a rather striking contrast between a tough guy and a cute pet.

"Class monitor?" Zhou Lu blurted out instinctively.

The person's name was Xu Wuhu, the class monitor of Class Three in the Combat Department where Zhou Lu belonged. He was said to be the son of a high-ranking official in the Pioneer Army. He had a good reputation among his classmates, and his helpfulness was not mere flattery.

[Optional Quest Four: Kill the Silver Gorilla Xu Wuhu]

[Quest Description: The Silver Gorilla Xu Wuhu is one of Demon God Zhou Lu's main accomplices. He has helped Zhou Lu escape danger many times. Due to his powerful defensive capabilities and exaggerated close-combat strength, he was later nicknamed "Silver Gorilla." If you wish to kill him, you must act before he grows stronger.]

[Quest Reward: Spirit Beast Random Permanent Skill Card (A-rank) *1, Beast Tamer Random One-time Skill Card *1]

The sudden appearance of the quest prompt made Zhou Lu's expression falter.

His expression seemed to convey a different meaning to Xu Wuhu.

Xu Wuhu frowned noticeably. "Zhou Lu, the first Beast Taming exam is about to begin, and everyone is preparing hard. How do you have the leisure to break school rules here? This is the most important exam in university. I know your father's death has hit you hard, but you can't let your own life be buried with your grief."

His words were harsh, but they were not entirely wrong.

As the primary institution for officially training Beast Tamers, the Beast Taming Academy received significant resource allocation and subsidies. Free growth predictions, safe zones in secret realms, and Knowledge Fairies were difficult to obtain outside the school.

If you were not a student of the Beast Taming Academy, you would have to face a harsh reality:

When you wanted to know your Spirit Pet's growth progress, you would need to pay an average of one million per growth prediction;

When you wanted to explore secret realms for materials, you would have to face perilous environments without the protection of strong individuals;

When you wanted to know your Spirit Pet's evolution path, you would have to spend a huge amount of money to purchase evolution information from corresponding Spirit Beast breeding companies. You could also buy pirated versions (if you could find them), but breeding companies kept records for each client. If your name wasn't found in the client information, you would face massive lawsuits—unless you had sufficient proof that the evolution path was independently developed by you, or purchased from a Knowledge Fairy.

School is one of the rare places in life where one can bridge the gap between social classes through effort—for many, it's even the only opportunity.

This was true in both his past life and this one.

At the Beast Taming Academy, if you were truly from a poor family and lacked the funds and channels to obtain a Spirit Pet, you could even apply to the academy for a free Spirit Pet. Although free Spirit Pets weren't very strong, they had simple evolution paths. As long as you worked hard enough in the academy, even the evolution materials could be free.

Of course, this wasn't without its price. Graduates who received free Spirit Pets would have to serve an additional two years in official institutions after graduation—Beast Taming Academy graduates were already required to serve one year in official institutions after graduation.

Therefore, students at the Beast Taming Academy were truly competitive. The majority of students walking around campus were freshmen who hadn't yet contracted Spirit Pets. Students who owned Spirit Pets spent almost every day training their Spirit Pets, searching for evolution materials, and preparing for the next stage of combat exams, making it impossible for them to be found wandering around campus.

Xu Wuhu's words were a bit harsh, but they were indeed accurate. The academy's free resources wouldn't be wasted on those without a future. Failing any of the six combat exams from the second to the fourth year would result in a recommendation to withdraw (those who refused the recommendation would have some benefits deducted but wouldn't be forcibly expelled), and failing three times would lead to direct expulsion.

"The exam requires teams of three, and I don't think you've formed a team yet?" Xu Wuhu glanced at Zhou Lu, his tone softening. "Then team up with me."

Zhou Lu looked up, surprised, at Xu Wuhu.

Students who performed excellently in the exams would receive additional academic credit rewards. In the academy, academic credits were basically the hard currency second only to Fairy Coins. They could be used to trade materials, exchange for growth prediction sessions, and call for protection from safety teachers when exploring secret realms. For any student, they were extremely valuable resources.

His own spirit beast was a plant-type spirit beast that hadn't undergone its earth-based evolution yet. In the eyes of the world, it was basically a liability. With a teammate like that, no matter how good the results were, they wouldn't improve. Zhou Lu never expected Xu Wuhu to invite him to be his teammate.

"Class monitor..." Zhou Lu glanced at Huohuo in his arms, who was curiously sizing up Xu Wuhu, and hesitated to speak.

Xu Wuhu let out a hearty laugh. "My own strength isn't much, but I have the ability to help two classmates pass the exam. However, you can't slack off either. Speed up your spirit beast's training and strive to complete its earth-based evolution as soon as possible. If you have any problems, you can ask me. Just private message me in the class group chat; I'm always online."

"Thank you." What else could Zhou Lu say to this?

Class monitor! I will always respect you!

"Alright, now let's get down to business," Xu Wuhu said, pulling out a handheld scanning device. "According to school rules, pay the fine for damaging the greenery."

Class monitor... I suddenly don't respect you as much.

Huohuo's leaves unfurled, seemingly understanding something.

Its runner stem skillfully picked two more flowers from the roadside.

Plop.

One was stuck on the head of Xu Wuhu's spirit beast.

The other was stuck on Xu Wuhu's head.

"..."

The scene fell into silence.

Huohuo! What are you doing! What exactly did you understand?

New author, new book, please follow along! This is really important to me!