Repotting

After paying the fine with Xu Wuhu, Zhou Lu headed home with Huohuo. When they passed the flower shop downstairs, he also bought a whole bunch of flowerpots.

Now that Huohuo had just learned to use Vine Step + Mad Growth to move around, flowerpots were bound to break during training. He needed to keep some spares.

Huohuo stretched out its vines and happily helped Zhou Lu carry the flowerpots.

Repotting! Repotting! Repotting!

Huohuo waved the flowerpots in its hands.

Watching Huohuo's cheerful appearance in his arms, Zhou Lu smiled, then returned to thinking about teaming up with Xu Wuhu.

Xu Wuhu's strength ranked among the very best in their year. Even though he had yet to become the future "Silver Gorilla," he was already more than capable of holding his own among his peers. As long as Zhou Lu latched onto Xu Wuhu's thigh, passing the first combat exam would be absolutely no problem.

Naturally, Zhou Lu would not give up such a powerful teammate, especially since Xu Wuhu was also his future comrade-in-arms.

What he hesitated over was what sort of performance he should put on in this exam.

Even if a team passed the exam, the academy gave different evaluations based on their performance, and the Academic Credits they received would differ as well.

The number of Academic Credits directly determined what resources one could exchange for at the academy's various departments.

This was no longer the rough-and-tumble era when Beast Tamers slew the last immortal and established the modern beast-taming system. Aside from newly discovered secret realms, every known resource had already been carved up among the various powers.

Though there were often news stories about Beast Tamers stumbling upon overlooked treasures, that was basically no different from winning the lottery in the news. Everyone shouted that it happened, but in reality, you almost never saw it.

In an era like this, it was nearly impossible to develop in obscurity until one became invincible before emerging from the mountains. If you did not show your value, why would anyone tilt resources in your favor?

Especially at Beast Taming Academies, one of the few places where hard work could smooth over the gap between people, a student's value mattered even more.

The more outstanding one's performance, the more Academic Credits one could earn. The more Academic Credits one had, the more resources one could exchange from the academy, creating a virtuous cycle.

For ordinary people, this was an excellent path upward. But for Zhou Lu, it was fraught with unknown risks. Had that powerful person who threw the so-called World-Saving System from the future into his era made only this one system?

Since that person had created a system, why had he not possessed his past self? Was that really so difficult to accomplish?

Then, if he had also obtained information about the future like Zhou Lu had, would Zhou Lu, by shining too brightly, encounter that enemy ahead of time?

Why the hell am I thinking so much?

Since he had chosen this path, he could not keep wavering. Without a system, his future self had been able to drive that person into such a state. Could his current self, who possessed a system, really fail to do the same?

If he was worried about being discovered early, then he just had to grow stronger even faster!

As long as I grow fast enough, any enemy is nothing more than a temporary obstacle.

Zhou Lu took a deep breath and quickly adjusted his mindset. Even after such a monumental upheaval as transmigration, rapidly changing his mindset from lying flat like a salted fish to striving and struggling was a difficult thing. It was like transplanting a plant; there always had to be time to adapt.

The laziness that had just risen in his heart was the best proof.

Zhou Lu's dormitory was not far from the academy's teaching district.

This was not actually student housing, but residences assigned by the academy to its faculty and staff. The place where he now lived had originally been his father Zhou Minghai's residence.

Before obtaining the system, the only advantage Zhou Lu could see in this place was being able to lean over the balcony and look at pretty young ladies.

But to the current Zhou Lu, the advantages of staff housing had become apparent.

Because most of Xin'an Beast Taming Academy's faculty had their own research assignments, they sometimes inevitably carried out follow-up experiments in their residences. Though the academy expressly forbade it, the practice remained impossible to stamp out.

Considering the danger of the research projects in those professors' hands, this building had been constructed to the highest safety standards in order to prevent major accidents. Combined with its fairly spacious rooms, it was enough for Huohuo to do some brief training at home before evolving.

The academy did have facilities specifically for training spirit beasts, but those were public areas. He did not like training under other people's gazes. Whether they mocked or praised him, it always felt like taking off his clothes for others to appraise.

Come to think of it, it seemed a new neighbor had moved in next door.

As Zhou Lu opened his door, he glanced at his neighbor's. It was tightly shut, but a faint, melodious song drifted from within. Perhaps that professor from the cultivation department was studying music's effects on plants.

Huohuo clearly liked the music. It used two flowerpots to tap out the beat along with the melody.

Mm, it seemed music really did affect plants.

He quickly withdrew his gaze, opened the door, and entered the room.

His father's photograph hung in the most conspicuous spot in the entryway.

Zhou Lu glanced at it, then swiftly looked away. The authorities had already issued an investigation report and set the matter of his father's death in stone. No matter how many doubts he had now, it had been an accident.

He had not been at the scene, so he would not jump to conclusions. But judging from Sister Xiaoqing's behavior, there was definitely something fishy going on.

Before, he could pretend not to see it. After all, his original life plan would never have reached a level where he could investigate the truth. But now...

Damn it, my thoughts are wandering all over the place again.

Zhou Lu steadied his mind and buried his doubts deep in his heart. The important thing was to use the compensation from the insurance to grow stronger as quickly as possible.

"Alright, let's repot you." He lowered his head and spoke to Huohuo.

Hearing that it could be repotted, Huohuo was thrilled and instinctively clapped its hands. It had clearly forgotten that it was holding two flowerpots in its "hands."

Crash!

With that forceful clap, the flowerpots collided and shattered, scattering fragments all over the floor.

Zhou Lu and Huohuo almost simultaneously looked at the ground, then looked at each other.

Huohuo clearly knew it had done something wrong. Startled, even the fuzz on its leaves stood on end.

So little grass can fluff up too?

Zhou Lu grumbled inwardly, but he still put on an angry face and coldly told Huohuo, "The cost of those two flowerpots will be deducted from your nutrient soil."

Sigh...

Huohuo drooped its leaves in dejection. The entire plant wilted—wilted in the literal sense.

"Alright, let's repot you."

Huohuo instantly straightened up, its leaves clapping excitedly. It did not want to stay in that lousy beaker for even one more minute.

This little thing...

Zhou Lu smiled helplessly.

Repotting was actually very simple. And since Huohuo was a spirit beast, there was even less need to worry about whether it would survive the transplant. If it felt uncomfortable, it would remind him by whipping him with its vines.

Carefully, Zhou Lu pulled Huohuo out of the beaker along with the soil beneath it, then placed it into a flowerpot beside him.

The beaker from before had been far too small, cramming Huohuo's roots together.

Now that it had entered a larger space, Huohuo immediately stretched out its roots in comfort.

Its snow-white roots, like jade, wriggled happily.

It had to be said that Huohuo's roots really were beautiful.

Even up close, they looked like works of art carved from the finest white jade.

The roots were arranged with regularity and beauty, making one unable to resist holding them in one's hand to play with them.

Smack! Huohuo swiftly used two leaves to cover its roots. Somewhat shy and somewhat bashful, it swayed its terminal bud at Zhou Lu.

This little thing had just been flaunting its legs in the sun, yet after I looked a few more times, it was already embarrassed.

Zhou Lu looked away and grabbed a handful of nutrient soil from a bag nearby, beginning to fill the remaining space in the flowerpot.

After finishing all that, Zhou Lu took out a bottle of Low-level Growth Potion.

This was a reward from the system. He did not know how it differed from the Low-level Growth Potions exchanged with Academic Credits from the shop.

He had also prepared another spare flowerpot nearby, already filled with soil. If Huohuo showed any discomfort at all, he would repot it immediately.

"If you feel uncomfortable, tell me right away," Zhou Lu instructed Huohuo.

Huohuo seriously nodded its "head."

Zhou Lu opened the potion and poured it into the flowerpot.