The Spirit-Tailed Raccoon and the Purple Ghost Orchid, Talent Awakening

In a corner of the eastern outskirts of Lin Hua City stood Yuanming Pet Food Shop.

It was a simply decorated pet beast food shop with four white walls and a neatly organized layout.

All kinds of canned food, nuts, fresh fruit and vegetables, vines and grasses, along with juices and nectars of varying colors and concentrations, added color to the shop.

A red raccoon roughly seventy centimeters tall stood upright in an apron, arranging goods on the shelves.

A faint red light shimmered on her tail, making the fresh pet food look even more tender and succulent beneath its glow.

Lin Yuan glanced at her panel out of habit.

[Spirit-Tailed Raccoon]

[Attribute]: spirit

[Quality]: low-grade Transcendent

[Sex]: female

[Level]: Transcendent level 3

[Traits]: [Crafty Heart], [Spirit Tail]

[Personality]: hardworking, fretful, organized

[Status]: very happy because today's sales have been good.

[Evolution paths] (gray)

Yuanming Pet Food Shop had been run by Lin Yuan's parents while they were alive. Now it belonged to him.

This [Spirit-Tailed Raccoon], a transcendent-quality pet beast, was the most precious member of the shop.

Noticing movement, she glanced toward the entrance. When she saw Lin Yuan, her eyes immediately narrowed into smiling crescents, but her attention soon returned to the shelves.

An elderly man with graying hair was checking the accounts at the counter.

He was Qin Bailing, and he had worked at this pet food shop for eight years.

"Grandpa Qin, business was pretty good today, wasn't it? Linghuan looks really happy." Lin Yuan put down his schoolbag and said to Qin Bailing, "You should head home early and rest. I can look after things here."

"You're back, little Yuan." Qin Bailing was checking the accounts, but a smile immediately spread across his face when he saw Lin Yuan. "I've heard about your awakening ceremony tomorrow. Don't bother with work today. Get some proper rest."

"Dinner's ready, too."

"But Zilan seems a little off today. You're the one she's closest to, so go check on her later."

"Thanks, Grandpa Qin. Sorry to leave you with more work today." Lin Yuan didn't waste time arguing.

There were indeed quite a few things to do the day before the awakening ceremony.

On the second floor.

Plenty of fresh flowers and plants grew in the main room, particularly a type of vine with purple stripes.

This was also Yuanming Pet Food Shop's main product, [Purple Star Vine].

These vines could only grow around a plant-type pet beast called a [Purple Ghost Orchid].

The Zilan whom Qin Bailing had just mentioned was a [Purple Ghost Orchid].

She was another precious pet beast his parents had left behind.

Lin Yuan pushed open a side door. Inside a plant room of about five square meters, an orchid bearing two blossoms stood gracefully in a flowerpot.

Beside the flowerpot was a basin containing some floral dew that had dripped from the orchid.

The entire plant room was filled with a delicate fragrance.

But the [Purple Ghost Orchid]'s petals were visibly wilted. Every so often, a few drops of floral dew fell into the basin, like tears she had shed.

Seemingly sensing Lin Yuan's arrival, she straightened a little.

Lin Yuan looked at her panel.

[Purple Ghost Orchid]

[Attribute]: wood

[Quality]: high-grade ordinary

[Sex]: female

[Level]: Ordinary level 10

[Trait]: [Purple Dew]

[Personality]: home-loving, devoted, sensitive

[Status]: today is her former master's birthday; longing has left her especially sorrowful.

[Evolution paths] (gray)

Lin Yuan had already more or less guessed why Zilan was feeling down.

She was a pet beast his mother had once contracted, and she had been around for as long as Lin Yuan could remember.

She could also be said to have accompanied him throughout his childhood.

She deserved the greatest credit for Yuanming Pet Food Shop's success.

As long as a plant-type pet beast possessed a production-support trait, even one of the most ordinary quality was more valuable than some common Transcendent-quality flesh-and-blood animal pet beasts.

"I came down from the mountains, bringing an orchid with me. Three times a day I gaze at it, hoping it will bloom early..."

Lin Yuan hummed the song his mother had always sung to Zilan.

Whenever Zilan was feeling down, singing this song would always lift her spirits a little.

As he hummed, his thoughts drifted away.

For as long as he could remember, both his parents had been in poor health.

His father was terribly sensitive to heat, and his mother to cold.

Two years ago, they had died of illness one after the other, within a single week.

Overwhelmed by grief, he had fallen unconscious for two days. When he woke, memories of his past life as a university lecturer in botany and zoology had awakened.

Although those memories were incomplete, his knowledge of plant classification and animal habits was exceptionally clear.

And the nearly thirty years of life experience that had suddenly appeared had helped him endure that most difficult period.

Afterward, he had made a miraculous discovery: he could see pet beasts' panels.

Apart from their basic information, quality, and level, these panels also showed their personalities and conditions.

This always gave him access to information others lacked.

With his strong thirst for knowledge, he had also been trying to discover why [Evolution paths] was gray on these panels.

"Perhaps I'll find out tomorrow..."

Zilan remained downcast. It had to do with her personality.

All Lin Yuan could do was lift her spirits a little.

He stroked her petals. "Zilan, I'm still here."

"When Mom and Dad were around, they only hoped I'd live a healthy life, without being at the mercy of heat or cold."

"They also hoped I'd become a Beast Tamer. The higher a Beast Tamer's star rank, the stronger they are, and the more environmental changes they can withstand. They can live longer, too."

"Tomorrow's the awakening ceremony. I hope the talent I awaken won't let those hopes down."

Zilan understood him.

Her petals stretched downward, pointing toward the floral dew in the basin.

She seemed to be telling Lin Yuan to drink some.

This was dew produced by Zilan's [Purple Dew] trait. It could restore energy and heal injuries, and it was currently the shop's most precious product.

"Thanks for the thought, but customers have already reserved all this floral dew. I can't just drink it."

"My teacher gave me a Spirit-Nourishing Fruit at school today. That'll help me a lot, too!"

As usual, Lin Yuan shared everything that had happened at school with Zilan.

Hearing this, Zilan seemed considerably happier, and she stood tall again.

Purple light shimmered, and even the air seemed fresher.

To her, her former master was gone. Lin Yuan, whom she had watched grow up, was now the young master she would protect and devote herself to.

Good things that happened to Lin Yuan could often lift her spirits as well.

Now her petals stirred slightly, as though she were telling him, "You can do it."

Then she flicked a petal, sending a drop of floral dew precisely onto the corner of Lin Yuan's mouth, as though "forcing" him to drink it.

Lin Yuan licked it with his tongue.

So sweet...

Lin Yuan had memorized all the steps and precautions Chen Xuanbai had explained for consuming the [Spirit-Nourishing Fruit].

Now, as he took his last bite of the [Spirit-Nourishing Fruit], drowsiness accompanied by profound inner peace quickly sent him into a deep sleep on his bed.

He had no dreams that night.

The [Spirit-Nourishing Fruit]'s calming effect was better than he had imagined. He hadn't even turned over once...

The next day.

At the awakening ceremony.

All twenty classes of first-year students, twelve hundred people in total, gathered in the school's largest ceremonial hall.

They were tested one by one, in class order.

Their Class Nine would have to wait several hours for its turn.

Fortunately, all the students in the first eight classes were almost finished awakening.

Among the nearly five hundred people who had been tested,

one had awakened the ninety-ninth-ranked S-grade talent, [Blazing Heart].

Another sixteen had awakened A-grade talents.

These results were hardly shocking.

Puquan Beast-Taming Experimental High School was the best high school in Lin Hua City, and it conducted preliminary tests when admitting first-year students.

It could be said that every student admitted was capable of awakening a talent.

S-grade talents appeared every year, too.

The Chenlong Kingdom currently had records of 106 S-grade talents and 384 A-grade talents. Official assessments placed these talents in a ranking from one to five hundred.

If an S-grade talent ranked in the top fifty, or even the top twenty, appeared, it might cause something of a stir.

"Class Nine, Huang Zixuan."

"Go, class president!"

The awakening ceremony was simple.

The person being tested walked into a dazzlingly radiant magic array. Within ten seconds, its energy would draw out their talent, producing a corresponding manifestation.

Huang Zixuan took a deep breath and strode into the magic array.

In less than ten seconds,

a magnificent sight appeared above the array—

An enormous tree shot up from the ground, towering into the sky. All around it, countless grasses flourished, and everything brimmed with vitality.

"S-grade talent, [A Hundred Grasses Flourish], sixty-eighth in the overall talent rankings!"

As soon as the announcement ended, a wave of excitement swept through the hall. This was the second S-grade talent to appear so far, and the highest-ranked.

"Wow! That's our class president Huang for you! Amazing!"

The students of Class Nine felt some of that glory reflected on them. Their first person to be tested had gotten them off to a good start, and everyone felt less nervous.

Lin Yuan looked at Huang Zixuan, happy for him as well.

But the [Spirit-Nourishing Fruit]'s mind-clearing effect kept his emotions from stirring much. Everything remained calm within him.

"Next, Class Nine, Lin Yuan."

Hearing his name, Lin Yuan walked steadily onto the testing array.

"Wow, one big shot followed by an even bigger one!" The students of Class Nine grew excited.

"Do you think Lin Yuan will awaken a top-ten S-grade talent? He's always been ridiculously good!"

"Yeah, it's possible, but not certain. Who can say for sure when it comes to talents... Still, with our mighty Lin, even his worst result should be an A."

Lin Yuan's reputation clearly extended beyond Class Nine.

When his name was called, the entire year turned its attention toward him.

At this moment, as he felt the awakening array's summons, he had already lost all awareness of what was happening around him.

The array's guiding energy poured down over his head like a clear spring.

He seemed to sense the splendor of life and the rhythm of every plant and animal's growth. He could hear their joy and touch the traces within their hearts.

And at that moment, a manifestation appeared.

A hazy human figure stood surrounded by numerous creatures. They seemed to be pouring out their hearts and sharing the joys of their lives as pet beasts.

"A-grade talent, [Living creature affinity], one hundred and twelfth in the overall talent rankings!"

One hundred and twelfth placed it among the top ten A-grade talents.

But it seemed to fall a little short of everyone's "expectations."

As for Lin Yuan... it seemed a little hard to believe that he hadn't awakened an S-grade talent.

That was what everyone was thinking.

But such cases weren't unheard of. They happened every year. Even top scholars and outstanding students had awakened D-grade talents.

Fortunately, Lin Yuan had still awakened an excellent A-grade talent.

It was more than enough to get him into the Kindling Class.

Yet, for some reason, the words "what a shame" flashed through many people's minds.

Even Huang Zixuan, who had just been tested and revealed an S-grade talent, felt that way.

Seeing that Lin Yuan had an A-grade talent, Chen Xuanbai had only just begun to smile when he, too, thought that Lin Yuan deserved something better.

Meanwhile,

what no one knew was that,

after Lin Yuan saw that scene just now,

another vision appeared before Lin Yuan's eyes.

This time, no multitude of creatures surrounded him.

He seemed to be gazing from a distant vantage point at the boundless multitude of living things...