Puquan Enlightenment Turtle, Enlightenment Spirit Authority

Lin Yuan listened intently to the first lesson of the new term.

Although he had scored full marks on the test, Chen Xuanbai's explanations delved into deeper aspects of the material, and he learned plenty of new things.

After class, Lin Yuan stayed behind.

"Lin Yuan, you did very well today!" Chen Xuanbai praised him again. "Having three teachers here today was actually a last-minute decision, to sweeten the reward for placing first in the assessment."

"This doesn't happen often."

Lin Yuan's eyes lit up at that. He had actually guessed as much. "Thank you, sir!"

"It's not just the reward for placing first in the assessment that we've sweetened. There's also the surprise we originally prepared for the highest overall score." He smiled. "The other three teachers discussed it with me, and we all agreed that you deserve a more special reward."

"Want to know what it is?"

Chen Xuanbai kept him in suspense.

Lin Yuan inwardly rolled his eyes. Here we go again. Chen Xuanbai just loves building suspense like this. Still, he said, "Yes."

There was no helping it. He still had to show his teacher some respect.

"Do you know why our Puquan Beast-Taming Experimental High School is the best school in Lin Hua City, and even ranks among the best in the Chenlong Kingdom?" Chen Xuanbai asked.

"Yes. Our school was actually named after a pet beast," Lin Yuan answered readily. "The [Puquan Enlightenment Turtle], a pet beast that evolved three times, from a [Literary Water Turtle] of the most ordinary quality, to a Transcendent-quality [Spirit-Hearing Turtle], then to a Commander-quality [Puquan Spirit Turtle]."

"Finally, she evolved to upper-grade Monarch quality, and she's guarded our school for over a hundred years."

"Even though her Beast Tamer, our school's first principal, passed away from illness ten years ago, she's continued guarding our school."

"Not only that, she's the only [Puquan Enlightenment Turtle] in the Chenlong Kingdom to have evolved from a [Literary Water Turtle]."

"Rumor has it that even the old principal didn't know how she evolved back then. Apparently, she simply evolved naturally while he was reading to her."

"So this evolutionary legacy is all but impossible to reproduce..."

"Everyone says she's a divine turtle blessed with good fortune, and that as long as she's here, our school will have an endless wellspring of Talent Aura."

Lin Yuan had known this much-loved story before enrolling. Every resident of Lin Hua City knew it.

Chen Xuanbai nodded. "That's right, but today I'm going to tell you more about it."

"Our school has achieved good college entrance examination results all these years not because she's blessed with good fortune, but because she can bestow it."

"She has a trait called [Enlightenment], which she can use twelve times a year. It increases the comprehension of a student and their contracted pet beasts by at least twenty percent, and lasts for a year."

"And comprehension doesn't just mean learning knowledge. It also includes progress in mental power, refinement of talents, pet beasts' understanding of their own traits, and so on."

"Don't underestimate that twenty percent. Once you receive this [Enlightenment], admission to one of the Chenlong Kingdom's top ten universities is practically nailed down."

"Since she can only use it on twelve students a year, our school controls the allocation very strictly. Normally, it's restricted to outstanding third-year students."

"For a second-year student to receive it, they need the approval of at least three senior teachers."

"Today, you received the stamp of approval from four teachers outright."

As Lin Yuan listened, the light in his eyes grew brighter and brighter.

None of the publicly available literature he had read had ever mentioned that the school's guardian turtle possessed such a powerful [Trait] ability.

A Monarch-quality pet beast...

He had never seen one before.

And something else surprised him: all four teachers had agreed.

After all, he hadn't performed very well in [Resources].

It seemed Zhu Neng wasn't quite as stern as he looked.

"Sir, when can I receive her Blessing?" Lin Yuan was itching with anticipation.

It wasn't just because he eagerly awaited the light of [Enlightenment]. He also wanted to see the panel of a pet beast with both Monarch quality and Monarch level.

Looking at Lin Yuan's hopeful eyes, Chen Xuanbai paused for three seconds, then decided not to keep him hanging this time.

"Now."

"Now?" Lin Yuan asked to confirm.

"Yes. [Enlightenment] lasts for a year. Now that you're in your second year, you'll have much more to learn than you did in your first, so naturally, the sooner you receive this boost to your comprehension, the better."

"Come with me. The [Puquan Enlightenment Turtle] has actually been at our school all along. She simply rarely shows herself."

As he said this, countless thoughts stirred in Chen Xuanbai's heart.

Over a decade ago, when he had still been a student here, he too had received the Blessing of [Enlightenment].

Back then, he had seen this pet beast on campus almost every day. Her favorite pastime had been basking in the early morning sun beside the school's Lake of Literary Thought and listening to the students read aloud.

Later, after graduating and returning to teach at the school, he could only see her when he brought students to receive her [Enlightenment] Blessing.

Of course, he knew the reason.

This was a "tribulation" that even long-lived pet beasts ultimately could not escape.

"Come with me," Chen Xuanbai told Lin Yuan.

Lin Yuan nodded, brimming with anticipation.

He had attended this school for a year, yet this was the first time he had learned that such a powerful pet beast had actually been so close to him.

After circling Lake of Literary Thought and following the path beside the library, Lin Yuan and Chen Xuanbai arrived at a very secluded spot.

A rock and two withered trees. In all his year here, he had never even passed through this place.

The [Puquan Enlightenment Turtle] lives here?

How?

But Chen Xuanbai soon answered his questions.

He produced a wooden token from thin air, engraved with the word "Enlightenment." Then the scene before them changed.

It was as though an invisible door had opened.

A fairly small cavern appeared before them, with an artificial lake dug into its center. The water was dark and still.

A statue stood in the middle of the lake, depicting an old man holding a book and reading. His face was full of smiles, in stark contrast to the lifeless surface of the lake.

Within a few seconds, ripples began spreading across the water.

An enormous turtle, like a small hill, slowly surfaced.

Her shell bore weathered marks. At first glance, they seemed like scratches carved by the passing years, but on closer inspection, they looked more like ancient, inscrutable characters.

Taken together, their lines looked even more like the word "Enlightenment" carved in an ancient script.

A faint blue glow shimmered over the turtle. Her eyes were deep, but seemed devoid of spirit.

At the same time.

Her panel appeared before Lin Yuan.

[Puquan Enlightenment Turtle]

[Attributes]: Spirit, Water

[Quality]: Upper-grade Monarch

[Sex]: Female

[Level]: Monarch Level 10

[Traits]: [Water Wall], [Spirit Hearing], [Hidden Realm], [Enlightenment] (Spirit Authority)

[Personality]: Studious, Affectionate toward humans, Intelligent

[Status]: Her longing for her old master has outweighed her thirst for knowledge and her pursuit of the clear, resonant sound of reading aloud.

Simply seeing her old master reading to her every day, even if he is only a statue, accompanied by his image and voice in her memories, is enough.

As she grows older, she has gradually withdrawn from the world, losing interest in most outside affairs. Only students brimming with spiritual vitality and wreathed in Talent Aura still hold some interest for her.

[Evolution Path]: ? (Visible only after the [Eye of All Spirits] talent improves.)

Lin Yuan's gaze immediately settled on the two words following the trait [Enlightenment].

Spirit Authority!

This Monarch-quality pet beast actually had a trait that possessed Spirit Authority!

This was a gift bestowed upon a pet beast by the laws of heaven and earth...