Dragon Crystal

"Tomorrow is the day the school assigns pet beasts. I wonder if I'll be able to tame that high-level extraordinary pet beast," Chen Wei murmured.

Most high schools in the Donghua Kingdom assigned pet beasts to students as they advanced from their second year to their third. The racial grades of the assigned pet beasts were generally at least mid-level unusual, while only a very small number reached high-level extraordinary.

Of course, the pet beasts assigned by schools required payment, and none of them would be at the top-tier elite level. Pet beasts of that grade and above could only be bought from pet beast shops, but their prices were painfully steep, and they were difficult to contract.

Usually, only students from well-off families with outstanding talent chose to buy from pet beast shops. That was not something Chen Wei could hope for. Most students could only choose and tame pet beasts from the Beast Taming House assigned by the school.

The pet beasts sold by the Beast Taming House came with hefty discounts, and loans were allowed. Mid-level unusual pet beasts there generally cost seventy percent of the price of equivalent pet beasts in shops. If a student was the family member of a martyr, the price could even be as low as half that of a pet beast shop.

Though the prices were discounted, the pet beasts in the Beast Taming House were by no means weak. The pet beasts there were races that the Water Mountain Pet Beast Breeding Base had discovered during breeding and research to be particularly suitable for beginners.

Of course, those who wanted pet beasts of other races could apply in advance to visit the pet beast breeding base in Water Mountain City. The Water Mountain Breeding Base had a rich variety of pet beasts, but whether they were adults or young, contracting them was far more difficult than contracting the pet beasts in the Beast Taming House.

However, if one failed to form a contract at the base that day, they could only wait until the following week to choose a pet beast at the Beast Taming House. By then, the outstanding pet beasts would likely have already been contracted by others. Unless one had a high-quality pet beast prepared in advance, they could only choose from those left over.

Therefore, those who chose to apply to visit the Water Mountain Breeding Base were either confident enough after awakening an innate talent ability, or came from families wealthy enough to have gold mines at home. Naturally, there was no shortage of people willing to gamble on luck as well. Chen Wei happened to belong to the former group—he had great confidence in himself.

Chen Wei turned and rose to his feet, taking a jade box from his person. He gently opened it with his right hand. Inside the jade box, on the left lay a crystal-clear red crystal, while on the right was a snow-white magic core—the magic core of a top-tier elite Ice Demon Scorpion, a level-four resource.

This high-grade magic core could slightly improve a Beast Tamer's meditation efficiency. It was a precious asset left to him by the original owner's father.

That was right—Chen Wei was a transmigrator. When he had first been born, he had been no different from an ordinary infant. Yet as he grew older, occasional flashes of familiarity in his life led to him awakening the memories of his past life a year ago.

When those memories awakened, Chen Wei's mind had vaguely received countless complicated fragments—fleeting images and words. In the end, the image that remained in his mind was a dazzling round pearl glowing with a crimson halo.

In his previous life, he had loved animals and worked as a zookeeper, mainly responsible for cleaning animal enclosures and preparing enough feed for the animals. Unexpectedly, the zoo later went under due to poor management, leaving him forcibly unemployed. Then an accident had brought him to this Blue Planet filled with extraordinary powers and powerful exotic beasts.

Chen Wei touched his consciousness to that round pearl in his mind. The pearl gave a slight stir, transmitting a stream of information. It was his second innate talent.

[Dragon Taming Power]: "Gain affinity with dragon-type creatures. Your charm increases when interacting with most pet beasts; even fierce and savage exotic beasts will grow close to you rather than attack you of their own accord. You may greatly increase a pet beast's affection and trust toward you through Dragon Power or Dragon Crystals."

"Consume your own physical strength to condense Dragon Power, which can be directly absorbed by extraordinary creatures through physical contact. After absorbing Dragon Power, an extraordinary creature's strength and potential can be enhanced to a certain degree."

"A Dragon Crystal is a special crystal formed by combining a drop of the host's blood with Dragon Power. It can be repeatedly condensed and strengthened by consuming physical strength, possessing unimaginable transformations. Consuming the crystal can cause an extraordinary creature's bloodline to mutate and evolve toward that of a dragon; it can also serve as material for special evolutions."

Breaking the record and obtaining such a powerful second special talent, [Dragon Taming Power], filled Chen Wei with an extraordinary thirst for supernatural strength. He did not want to remain an obscure nobody at the bottom in his second life. He wanted to become a brilliant star that illuminated the world.

Collecting his thoughts, Chen Wei took the Ice Demon Scorpion's magic core from the jade box and placed it beside him, beginning his daily training of absorbing source power and strengthening his Origin Star.

Most cultivators placed a magic core beside them while training, taking advantage of the core's ability to automatically gather the surrounding source power.

Magic cores could not be used for training directly. Absorbing the source power within one would make an Origin Star unstable, or even cause it to collapse.

Chen Wei sat cross-legged on his bed and meditated, absorbing the source power dispersed between heaven and earth as he slowly stabilized and strengthened the Origin Star in his mind. Blue light flickered at the points of his pentagonal Origin Star, a sign that his first-rank Origin Star had reached completion.

Successfully turning the Origin Star in one's mind from illusory to solid marked the first rank. Only a first-rank Origin Star could contract a pet beast, and the students in the Beast Taming Class had basically all cultivated to this level.

To break through from a first-rank Origin Star to the second rank, one needed to make the first-rank Origin Star even more solid, turning the overflowing blue light at its tips into cyan light, while also multiplying the size of the pentagonal Origin Star.

Therefore, it was basically impossible for a second-rank Origin Star wielder to appear among third-year high school students.

The occasional second-rank Origin Star wielder who did appear was generally the top scorer of Water Mountain City's college entrance examination.

Perhaps because of his transmigration, Chen Wei's cultivation efficiency was not only nearly twice as fast as before, but the size of his Origin Star had also increased by nearly double.

The original owner's cultivation talent had already been quite good. Now, it could be called one in ten thousand.

After meditating for two hours, faint traces of cyan light began to flicker intermittently around the corners of Chen Wei's Origin Star. That cyan light meant that before long, his Origin Star would break through to the second rank, and his innate talent would be strengthened along with it.

Having completed a full cycle, Chen Wei stopped meditating on his Origin Star. After returning the magic core to the jade box, he took out a crystal-clear Dragon Crystal.

[Basic Dragon Crystal]: "Possesses unimaginable transformations. Can slightly evolve an extraordinary creature's bloodline, with an extremely small chance of awakening a random dragon-type skill."

Holding the red crystal in his hand, Chen Wei began his nightly strengthening routine before bed. With a thought, he felt his physical strength gradually being absorbed by the crystal in his hand. Waves of exhaustion spread through his mind, while the Dragon Crystal began to gleam with red light.

"Boom!" When Chen Wei's physical strength was nearly exhausted, a tremor seemed to resound in his mind. The Dragon Crystal in his hand also began expanding rapidly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Excited, Chen Wei forced himself to stay alert and cast an [Appraisal] on the Dragon Crystal.

[Intermediate Dragon Crystal]: "Possesses unimaginable transformations. Can moderately evolve an extraordinary creature's bloodline, with a small chance of awakening a random dragon-type skill."

Chen Wei could not help clenching his fist in delight, letting out an involuntary "Yes!"

Sure enough, by continuously condensing and strengthening it with his talent, the Dragon Crystal could undergo sublimation. His year of effort and expenditure of energy had not been in vain—he had successfully advanced the Dragon Crystal!

"Bang, bang, bang." A string of noisy sounds rang out. Chen Wei frowned and turned to look.

Inside the fish tank by the edge of the room's cabinet, a red-tailed goldfish with scales gleaming with golden radiance was repeatedly ramming the glass. Its normally adorable eyes were now filled with longing.

Chen Wei placed the Dragon Crystal back in the jade box to seal off its aura. Suppressing both his joy and exhaustion, he rose and walked to the fish tank. He stroked Little Gold with his hand, then used what little strength he had left to send it a burst of "Dragon Power."

Its scales shimmered like golden silk in bliss. It affectionately rubbed against Chen Wei's palm, swished its tail, and contentedly blew a few bubbles.

"Little fellow, stop dreaming. If nothing unexpected happens tomorrow, this Dragon Crystal will have an owner!" Chen Wei said wistfully, his expression full of anticipation.