It was a little wolf cub.
That came as no surprise to Su Ping.
Woodheart primarily specialized in breeding Forest Wolves as Pet Beasts.
But Su Ping soon frowned. At a glance, he could tell that this cub did not seem to be an ordinary Forest Wolf.
Forest Wolves were pet beasts whose racial potential reached the Elite rank.
On Blue Star, pet beasts, Beast Tamers, and resources were all classified into Ordinary, Elite, Commander, Monarch, Emperor, Saint, Legend, and Myth ranks.
Every pet beast also had corresponding evolution methods and pathways that Beast Tamers had discovered.
Generally speaking, without evolution, a pet beast's detected racial potential represented the highest rank it could attain.
In other words, under normal circumstances, without the means and resources to evolve, a Forest Wolf's natural growth limit was the Elite rank.
But the world was full of wonders, and relatively rare exceptions naturally occurred.
One such exception was a bloodline mutation.
Normally, Forest Wolf Younglings had predominantly grayish-yellow fur. Only when they entered their growth phase or reached adulthood did their coats turn a dusky blue-green.
Yet the little wolf lying in the automatic feeding unit was completely different.
Its entire body was emerald green. At first glance, it hardly looked like a living creature at all, but rather a work of art carved from jade.
Its round, jet-black eyes watched Su Ping as he observed it from outside the box, and it let out a series of soft whimpers.
Su Ping grinned and immediately called his father.
"Hello, Su Ping? You're home?" His father Su Anyong's hearty voice came through.
"Yeah. What's the deal with this little wolf?"
Su Ping did not ask what his father had been thinking when he dumped the breeding facility on him, nor did he bring up how his father had left without a word to find him a stepmother.
After all these years, he was used to his father's antics.
"Heh, would I ever cheat my own son? This little wolf's bloodline mutated. Its wood-attribute bloodline became purer, and it developed a poison attribute.
"If you raise it along those lines, it might end up possessing both wood and poison attributes in the future.
"Someone offered me twelve million, and I still didn't sell it. How could I?
"My dear son just awakened as a Beast Tamer and needs his first contracted pet beast. How could a measly ten-odd million buy a father's love for his child..."
Su Ping hung up outright, but his eyes had already lit up.
A poison-attribute Mutant Forest Wolf? Now that's interesting.
Although poison-attribute pet beasts were not as rare and valuable as those with mental, spatial, or temporal attributes, they were still decidedly uncommon.
For once, his father had actually come through!
With that thought, Su Ping hesitated no longer. Most of his graduating classmates had already contracted their first pet beasts by now. He was the only one who had kept wavering.
Forest Wolves were creatures he had known since childhood. A mutated poison-attribute Forest Wolf was undoubtedly an excellent choice.
His soul contract slowly connected with the wolf cub before him.
The little wolf, clearly only recently born, offered no resistance.
In less than ten minutes, Su Ping opened his eyes and looked at the little fellow before him.
At the same time, the cub inside the temperature-controlled box opened its eyes and looked at Su Ping through the glass cover.
The instant their eyes met, an indescribable feeling of closeness seemed to well up from their souls.
A soul contract was itself the closest of bonds.
The moment Su Ping established his contract with the cub, its body visibly grew a little sturdier.
This was the bond and connection between a Beast Tamer and a pet beast.
A Beast Tamer's mental power could support a pet beast's growth and advancement. Likewise, a pet beast's breakthroughs and advancement would raise its Beast Tamer's rank through their soul connection.
The two truly complemented each other.
Su Ping reached in and lifted the little wolf out of the temperature-controlled box. Its emerald-green body was incredibly soft, but instead of the warmth of a living creature, it felt slightly cool.
"With that color of yours, I'll call you Xiao Qing."
Su Ping was not good at coming up with names. His pet beast was unique to him, and whatever he called it was only a label.
Clearly, the little wolf in his arms did not care much about its name either. It opened its mouth, still carrying the scent of milk, as though answering Su Ping:
"Awooo... woo, woo..."
The howl instinctively passed down through its bloodline sounded a little odd in its still-immature voice.
Su Ping smiled faintly.
Just then, however, he suddenly froze.
In his mind, the Myriad Spirits Codex, which had remained unchanged since his earlier awakening, slowly opened on its own for the first time.
Amid the rustling of turning pages, it soon stopped at a particular entry!
The creature depicted there was none other than a fully grown, perfectly typical Forest Wolf.
At the same time, a line of text appeared before Su Ping on the Myriad Spirits Codex.
[Record "Forest Wolf" unlocked. Current Record level: 1. Origin reward obtained: True Eye.] [True Eye (Beast Tamer ability): Uses mental power to discern the precise levels, skills, races, and other details of pet beasts and fierce beasts.]
Huh?!
Before Su Ping could even process it, he felt a mysterious stream of information pour straight from the Myriad Spirits Codex into his mind.
The next moment, Su Ping sensed a series of text lines appearing over Xiao Qing in his arms:
[Mutant Forest Wolf (contracted)] [Attributes: wood, poison] [Current level: Ordinary Tier One] [Racial potential: Elite Tier Ten] [Skill: Sunlight Absorption (beginner)]
True Eye?
Isn't that an innate ability Beast Tamers can awaken?
But every Beast Tamer only gets one chance to awaken an innate ability!
Isn't my innate ability "pet beast home"?
Su Ping was not surprised that forming a contract had unlocked the Forest Wolf Record, but the reward for unlocking it left him utterly stunned.
True Eye might not have been an overwhelmingly powerful Beast Tamer talent.
In fact, it was considered one of the three most common Beast Tamer talents, alongside mind communication and rapid recovery. Those three accounted for nearly half of all Beast Tamer talents.
But however common it is, I got it for free!
Beast Tamer talents were genuine abilities that could not be acquired through any other means.
Su Ping had originally imagined that the Myriad Spirits Codex would reward him with, at most, some special resources, perhaps unusual pet beast evolution plans, or something else along those lines.
He truly had not expected the very first unlock reward to give him such a tremendous surprise.
With that thought, Su Ping stroked Xiao Qing in his arms while eagerly turning his attention to the newly unlocked "Forest Wolf" Record.
Before you continue