Beast Tamer Association

The Water Mountain City Beast Tamer Association building stood in the heart of River City District, surrounded by bustling prosperity.

As one of Water Mountain City's landmark buildings, the Beast Tamer Tower rose fifteen stories high. It was also the tallest building in River City District, sprawling across an immense area with an imposing grandeur.

"How about we find a beginner ice-and-snow training ground with a lake? Not only will it save us some money, but we can practice our skills together."

Inside the Beast Tamer Association's lobby, Huang Zhicheng turned back to Chen Wei as he spoke.

"Sure."

"Come to think of it, I still haven't had a chance to show you my Thorn Fish. How about helping me appraise its potential while we're at it?"

"No problem. Let's rent a training ground at the front desk first," Chen Wei readily agreed.

At that, Huang Zhicheng strode briskly to the lobby's front desk. Before long, he had completed the registration procedures for renting a training ground.

Led by the young woman at the reception desk, the two soon arrived at an artificial ice-and-snow zone with a lake.

This ice-and-snow training ground covered a vast area and could accommodate a large number of Beast Tamers.

At that moment, not far from Chen Wei, two Beast Tamers were watching their pet beasts, [Snow Leopards], chase and play in the snow.

"Brother Wei, meet my partner, Little Black."

As soon as he finished speaking, Old Huang extended his right hand. Blue light flickered from the star ring on his fingers, and a black Thorn Fish covered in white bony spines appeared within the blue rune array before him.

Splash. It was the sound of the Thorn Fish smashing through the lake's surface ice.

The moment it plunged into the frigid water, the Thorn Fish began swimming about excitedly. Its powerful body occasionally leaped from the lake, splashing up sprays of water mixed with glistening shards of ice.

"Little Black? Isn't that name a little too casual?" Chen Wei casually teased Old Huang. Then, frowning slightly, he glanced at the lively Thorn Fish in the lake a few times before turning to Huang Zhicheng. "Have it calm down a little, or it'll be hard to observe."

"Little Black is simple and easy to remember. Give it a moment—it'll probably take some time before Little Black settles down."

Old Huang helplessly raised his right hand and scratched his head. They had only been bonded for a day, so Little Black did not listen to his commands all that well. Like right now—watching the disobedient Thorn Fish, he smiled somewhat sheepishly.

The cold wind carried wisps of fine snow and a touch of chill.

Chen Wei said nothing more. He crouched down and silently watched through the falling snow as the excited Thorn Fish gradually calmed, then carefully examined it with Appraisal.

[Pet Beast Name]: Thorn Fish

[Pet Beast Attributes]: Water, Poison

[Race Level]: Yellow Rank High-Level Extraordinary

[Race Skills]: Water Jet, Thorn Poison Arrow, Concealment

[Pet Beast Potential]: Yellow Rank High-Grade

[Description]: An extraordinary fish that lives in aquatic regions. Its skin is dark in color, and its entire body is covered in white thorn-like bony spines. A medium-sized fish, it excels at concealing itself before hunting prey with poison arrows. It has a relatively gentle temperament and weak aggression. Because the thorn-like bony spines on its body contain venom and are highly dangerous, it is not recommended as an initial pet beast.

"Judging by its size and the luster coming from the thorn-like bony spines on its body, it's clearly in excellent physical condition. It should be a Yellow Rank high-grade, high-level extraordinary pet beast with quite outstanding potential."

Chen Wei stroked the head of the now-quiet Thorn Fish with his right hand. Seeing that it was docile and did not resist, its dull fish eyes even holding a trace of curiosity, he rose to his feet with a smile.

"Out of all the Thorn Fish in the glacier, Little Black was the one that caught my eye the most. Looks like I have a pretty good eye. Although Little Black drank the Water of Life and improved its potential, it must have been at least Yellow Rank mid-grade before that."

Hearing this, the excited Old Huang immediately crouched down and happily reached out to stroke Little Black.

Ignoring Old Huang's smugness, Chen Wei turned and summoned the little Color Spirit. Then he pulled it into his arms and said gently, "Color Spirit, we're starting training today!"

"Yiyi, yiya?" (What's training?) Color Spirit replied lazily.

Chen Wei's expression immediately turned stern. "Training means practicing skills. We'll train for two hours today. If you do well, I'll strengthen you again afterward. How does that sound?"

"Yiyi, yiya!" (Easy as pie, no problem!)

At that, the little Color Spirit opened its adorable big eyes, looked seriously at Chen Wei, then happily coiled itself swiftly around his arm and cried out in a clear voice.

"Mm-hm, a promise is a promise. Get off my hand first—we'll practice the first-order skill Cold Breath."

"Yiya." (Watch me.)

The little Color Spirit opened its tiny mouth and spat out three successive streams of icy blue breath, striking a snow-covered rock some distance away.

When the blue streams vanished, the entire rock had already been encased and frozen in ice.

Watching the little Color Spirit skillfully release Cold Breath several times in quick succession, Chen Wei could not help but smile. He felt a little emotional inside. Is this the potential of a top-grade Earth Rank?

Only a month after birth, it could accurately fire three consecutive Cold Breaths at a target. In terms of proficiency, Color Spirit's Cold Breath had already reached the proficient level. With repeated practice, it might even reach the mastery level.

Cold Breath could be called the Cold Jade Snake's core skill. Its advantage was that its breath was released extremely quickly, with an extremely short casting delay, allowing it to instantly freeze an opponent stiff in battle and rob them of their ability to resist. Its flaw, however, was that as a restraining skill, it did not deal much damage on its own.

"Ah, Little Black!"

A sudden cry of pain interrupted Chen Wei's thoughts.

His brows drew together. Turning around, he saw bright red blood flowing from the fingers of Huang Zhicheng's right hand. He had clearly been injured by the Thorn Fish's attack.

"What happened? Stop the bleeding first. Good thing Thorn Fish teeth don't carry venom, or you'd need to go to the hospital now."

Chen Wei looked solemnly at the Thorn Fish standing blankly in the water. Seeing that it showed no excessive reaction, he swiftly took a bandage from his backpack.

He tore open the package, walked over to Huang Zhicheng, and directly applied the bandage over the wound on Old Huang's finger.

"Yiya?" (What happened?)

Color Spirit also stopped practicing Cold Breath and looked at the Thorn Fish with puzzled eyes.

"I accidentally touched Little Black's mouth just now. Didn't expect it to bite me," Old Huang said helplessly.

"So that's what happened. I thought your Beastmaster Contract had backlashed!"

Chen Wei's tightly furrowed brows immediately relaxed, and his tone became much lighter.

Although cases of contract backlash were exceedingly rare, once it happened, it would inflict tremendous damage on a Beastmaster's Source Star.

At best, the Source Star would be downgraded. At worst, it would collapse violently, killing the Beastmaster on the spot.

Seeing that Old Huang was fine, Chen Wei teasingly reminded him, "Be careful. Thorn Fish's thorns are poisonous—I don't want to see you on the news!"

Although pet beasts could not actively attack their Beastmasters under the restrictions of the Beastmaster Contract, some weapons naturally grown on their bodies could still threaten their own Beastmasters, such as fangs, venomous stingers, and the like.

Huang Zhicheng rolled his eyes at Chen Wei irritably. How had he ended up making such a lousy friend? If he didn't know how to talk, then he should keep his mouth shut!

Seeing Old Huang's dejected expression, Chen Wei continued, "How do you feel now?"

"The wound isn't big. It'll probably heal soon. I just need to be more careful when I get near it in the future." Old Huang glanced at the Thorn Fish in the water.