Mutant Six-Eyed Crow, Baha

The moment the rune touched the chick's body, it trembled slightly but did not resist.

It instinctively sensed the warmth and protective intent, utterly free of malice, coming from Luo Lin's mind.

The contract rune smoothly sank into its body.

In an instant, a spiritual connection far clearer and countless times closer than before formed between Luo Lin and the chick.

Not only could he more clearly sense the chick's weakness and exhaustion, but he could also feel its longing for warmth and its newborn confusion and curiosity.

At the same time, a faint stream of energy carrying darkness and insight attributes flowed through the connection into Luo Lin's Mental Sea.

Though it was incredibly slight, it refreshed his mind, and his senses seemed to sharpen by a fraction.

This was the feedback brought by a contracted magical pet!

It had succeeded. The equal contract had been completed!

An indescribable joy and a weighty sense of responsibility welled up in Luo Lin's heart.

He carefully extended a finger and gently stroked the chick's damp down, sending through their spiritual connection:

"Welcome... little one."

The chick seemed to sense his feelings. It gently rubbed its beak against his finger, sending back emotions of dependence and relief.

In the days that followed, Luo Lin had another focus in his life.

Caring for this newborn Mutant Six-Eyed Crow chick.

Luo Lin named it Baha. There was no particular reason; the name simply rolled off the tongue.

Baha was extremely weak and required careful care.

Luo Lin carefully cleaned its body with warm water and used a soft brush to groom its gradually drying, fluffing down.

He concocted a mild potion rich in life energy that the chick could absorb and digest, feeding it to Baha drop by drop.

Every day, Luo Lin spent a great deal of time communicating with Baha through their spiritual connection, stabilizing the contract and nurturing its fragile foundation with his own gentle spiritual power.

Baha grew far more slowly than ordinary birds, clearly due to its mutation and long period of dormancy.

It was not until half a month later that it could barely stand and make faint chirping sounds.

Its eyes did not slowly open their first pair until a month had passed.

They were as pure as obsidian, yet seemed capable of piercing through mist.

When Baha opened its first pair of eyes, it seemed to open another window through which to perceive the world.

Those obsidian eyes could not only see physical forms, but could also vaguely catch the flow of energy and the strength of life auras.

Even though the other two pairs of eye slits remained tightly shut, its ability to perceive its surroundings already far surpassed that of ordinary creatures.

Luo Lin quickly discovered Baha's talent.

Whenever he practiced spells in the stone house, Baha would quietly stay nearby, tilting its little head and watching the flickering energy at his fingertips with those pure black eyes.

Through their spiritual connection, Luo Lin could vaguely sense the information Baha conveyed.

Where energy flow was not smooth enough, and where a node structure seemed capable of being made more stable.

This unique perspective from an "observer" gave him unexpected references for optimizing spell models.

Luo Lin began consciously making use of this ability.

When drawing simple wizard arrays, he would have Baha "watch" nearby.

Through their connection, he could sense whether the array's energy flow was smooth and harmonious.

When handling materials with complex energy properties, he would also refer to Baha's vague feedback on the stability of the energy within those materials.

Though their cooperation was still in its exploratory stage, it had already shown tremendous potential.

Baha's body still grew slowly, but its mind became increasingly active.

It was no longer satisfied with the mild potions Luo Lin prepared and conveyed a desire through their connection for food with "more energy."

Luo Lin tried mincing the flesh of some low-level magical creatures into an extremely fine paste, mixing it with energy-rich plant juice, and feeding it to Baha.

Baha showed great interest in it. After eating, its mind was visibly invigorated, and the body beneath its down seemed to grow a little sturdier.

A month later, under Luo Lin's continued spiritual nurturing and abundant energy supply, Baha's second pair of eye slits finally slowly opened.

This pair of eyes was a dark silver. Whenever it focused on something, Luo Lin could feel a faint sense of "seeing through" things through their connection, as though it could see through simple visual disguises or energy concealment.

Luo Lin tested it. Baha could indeed more easily spot insects camouflaged using their surroundings, and could even detect the faint energy produced by the most basic visual concealment spell Luo Lin deliberately maintained.

The opening of those silver eyes seemed to further stimulate Baha's growth.

Its body visibly grew larger. Its sparse down was gradually replaced by jet-black feathers with a healthy sheen. Only at the roots of its wings and the tips of its tail feathers remained faint gray markings.

Baha's cries also changed from its initially weak chirps to something clearer, carrying a distinctive rhythm.

It began trying to flap its wings.

At first, it could only flutter a few times inside the wooden box lined with soft cloth before tumbling about in a daze.

Luo Lin did not interfere. He only sent encouragement through their connection and used gentle energy to soothe its body when it grew tired.

A few days later, Baha could already shakily fly out of the wooden box and glide at low altitude for short distances around the stone house.

It seemed to possess an innate understanding of flight. Its balance improved steadily, and the number of its clumsy stumbles rapidly decreased.

Luo Lin began taking Baha along on lower-risk patrol missions.

He placed Baha on a specially made soft pad on his shoulder, or let it perch on a nearby branch.

The little fellow quickly adapted to this rhythm.

It would vigilantly scan its surroundings with its two opened pairs of eyes. Whenever it discovered anything unusual or hidden life auras, it would warn Luo Lin through their connection.

During one routine patrol, Baha suddenly pecked Luo Lin's ear, while an urgent warning flashed through their connection.

Luo Lin immediately signaled the team to stop and warily looked in the direction Baha indicated.

A moment later, a Deadleaf Venom Lizard, so well disguised that it almost blended into its surroundings, slowly crawled out from a pile of fallen leaves. Without the warning, such a close encounter could easily have caused casualties.

The team members all began to view Luo Lin's newly acquired crow companion in a new light.

On another occasion, Baha discovered several rather rare Shadow Mushrooms growing in a rock crevice concealed by a faint energy field.

These mushrooms were important ingredients for concocting various advanced concealment and shadow-type potions.

This discovery brought Luo Lin considerable extra gains.

Baha's presence not only increased Luo Lin's safety and gains during missions, but also gave him new thoughts about how to apply his own abilities.

He began trying to combine Baha's insight feedback with his own spells.

For example, when casting [Acid Spray], he would use Baha's perception of weak points in the target's energy to strike more precisely.

When maintaining [Weak Force-Field Armor], he would make slight adjustments to the armor's structure based on Baha's observations of energy flow, improving its defensive efficiency.

This mode of cooperating and mutually enhancing one another with a magical pet continuously improved Luo Lin's overall strength without him realizing it.

Time passed swiftly, and Luo Lin's term at Gray Tower Outpost entered its fifth year.

The brutal tempering of the Black Forest and the nourishment of ruin knowledge were like two interwoven forces, constantly honing his mind and will.

Late one night, the stone house was utterly silent.

The oil lamp had long since gone out, and only the occasional distant sound from outside the window broke the silence.

Luo Lin sat cross-legged on the stone bed, carrying out his routine deep meditation.

Within his Mental Sea, liquid spiritual power continuously stirred ripples.

The perfect-level [Basic Meditation Method] operated at its limit, guiding that vast spiritual power along profound paths. With each circulation, the liquid spiritual power became a little more refined, and the boundary between it and mana began to blur.

After an unknown amount of time, when his meditation reached a critical point, an intense swelling sensation suddenly came from the most condensed core at the center of his Mental Sea.

It was as though some invisible barrier had been filled to its limit and could no longer contain any more.

Luo Lin suddenly opened his eyes. A sharp glint seemed to flash through the depths of his pupils.

He slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, which condensed into a trail of white mist in the cold air and lingered for a long time.

With a thought, a pale blue panel silently appeared.

[Subject: Luo Lin]

[Race: Human]

[Status: Healthy (mentally alert)]

[Level: Third-Rank Wizard Apprentice (Progress 100%)]

[Attributes:

Constitution: 3.5

Spirit: 10

Mana: 100/100]

[Knowledge Mastered:

Basic Meditation Method (Perfect 100%)

Basic Rune Identification (Proficient 25%)

Basic Magical Botany (Proficient 80%)

Basic Potion Material Processing (Master 90%)

Analysis of Common Cantrip Model Structures (Proficient 70%)

Fundamental Configuration Theory of Elemental Particles (Proficient 55%)

Basic Wizard Array Analysis (Proficient 40%)

Ancient Rune Textual Research (Skilled 60%)

Magical Pet Contract and Cultivation (Skilled 75%)]

[Spells: Mage Hand (Proficient 80%), Acid Spray (Proficient 50%), Weak Force-Field Armor (Proficient 65%), Literacy (Proficient 10%), Breeze Dust-Cleansing (Skilled 85%), Acid Corrosion Orb (Beginner 95%)]

[Magical Pet: Mutant Six-Eyed Crow · Baha (Mid-Growth Stage)]

[Talent: Efficient Scholar (Passive)]