Su Ping frowned slightly as he looked at the class group chat.
Still, he did not particularly care.
After graduating from school, getting into an advanced beast-taming academy was not something just anyone could do in Blue Star's unique society of Beast Tamers.
One option was to awaken an exceptionally rare and powerful beast-taming talent, earning special admission immediately after becoming a Beast Tamer and contracting a pet beast.
Otherwise, the main requirement was to pass the professional Beast Tamer examination.
Only those who passed and registered with the Beast Tamer Association as genuine professional Beast Tamers stood a chance.
Thus, for the vast majority, graduating at this stage was equivalent to entering the workforce.
Director Zhang was Zhang Guowei, the dean of students at Su Ping's school, Linzhou City No. 6 Senior High School.
Teachers at schools like this generally had a few connections out in the world.
For students with decent talents who had a chance of going further as combat Beast Tamers, he would act as a broker and find them a promising path.
He also received a handsome payment in the process.
Zhou Shuchen was one such example.
His talent, Fire Affinity, was quite a good elemental combat talent. Zhang Guowei had used his connections with the Fire King Company to get him a Red Fang Tiger, a pet beast with Commander Rank racial potential that ordinary people could scarcely obtain.
Besides paying an enormous down payment and repaying the loan in the future, he also had to work for the Fire King Company.
In fact, Director Zhang had approached Su Ping after graduation as well.
But Su Ping had turned him down.
Su Ping's talent seemed rather unremarkable.
What good did being able to fit a few more pet beasts into his space do?
After all, wild pet beasts had a very hard time forming a mental connection with their owners!
Moreover, the environment inside a Beast Taming Space could easily make wild pet beasts agitated.
Even if someone really packed dozens of wild pet beasts inside, so what? Wouldn't they be afraid of being eaten alive after letting them out?
As a result, this talent was often used for logistics.
But precisely because it could serve logistical purposes, the talent had its uses. Transport and storage frequently required talents like this.
After all, transporting pet beasts was extremely dangerous, especially when wild pet beasts were involved.
Still, although Su Ping's family was nowhere near wealthy-their breeding base needed rental income to stay afloat, which was absurd enough in a beast-taming society-
Su Anyong would never go so far as to make him sign his life away in exchange for a Commander Rank first pet beast.
Giving him Xiao Qing, a Mutant Forest Wolf whose rare bloodline mutation had granted a poison attribute, was proof enough.
A bloodline mutation was even more valuable than Elite or Commander Rank racial potential.
Racial potential could be raised through evolution or pushed beyond its limits with high-grade resources. Racial attributes, however, while obtainable through certain resources or Magic Potions, came with immense, immense risks.
One slight mistake could leave a pet beast crippled or even dead.
Most importantly, pet beasts with bloodline mutations that granted rare attributes generally had vastly different ceilings for their racial talents.
It was not hard to guess why Zhou Shuchen was being so snide toward him now.
Most likely, Director Zhang had told the exceedingly young class monitor Zhou, who already regarded Zhang Guowei as a father figure, guiding light, and mentor, about Su Ping's refusal and his supposed ingratitude.
Clearly, this fellow was probably joining him in shared indignation.
He really was still young.
Su Ping shook his head. Rather than getting angry, he felt a little sorry for Zhou Shuchen.
A starter pet beast with Commander Rank racial potential was indeed precious to them, but with his talent, Zhou Shuchen could have gone directly to the Beast Tamer Association's Linzhou branch and applied for an official loan.
He would not have had to sign a contract to work for someone on top of paying an enormous sum.
But constrained by his limited horizons and understanding, class monitor Zhou had been sold out and was probably still happily counting the money for the people who had done it.
Generally speaking, people like this inevitably let even a little success go to their heads.
"Whoa, a Scythe Giant Centipede? That's a pretty high-end pet beast with Commander Rank racial potential! If I had that chance, there's no way I'd turn it down."
"But Su Ping's family probably doesn't lack pet beasts with Commander Rank racial potential, right? It's perfectly normal if he doesn't want to owe Zhang Guowei a favor."
"Owe him a favor? What could Director Zhang possibly want from you?"
"That's true..."
"@Su Ping, Ping, have you contracted a pet beast yet?"
Messages flashed through the group at a furious pace, and before long, someone tagged him directly.
Su Ping thought for a moment and decided to stop lurking.
"I have. A Forest Wolf from our family's breeding base!"
Li Shu, who had asked the question and was on quite good terms with Su Ping, had yet to reply.
The Red Fang Tiger avatar that Su Ping had, for the first time, begun to find a little irritating flashed again.
"A Forest Wolf? Isn't its racial potential capped at Elite Rank!? Looks like you're taking over the family business too, Su Ping. Hahaha, congratulations, congratulations!"
Three exclamation marks in a row conveyed his rebuttal and mockery of the person who had spoken up earlier.
Look at that. Young Master Su's family had such substantial assets, yet he had only contracted a Forest Wolf.
Although, for ordinary students like them, a Forest Wolf with peak Elite Rank racial potential was already an excellent choice.
But compared to him, now the Beast Tamer of a Red Fang Tiger, Su Ping was undoubtedly a cut below.
During their years at school, because of their families and abilities, there really had been times when class monitor Zhou's word carried less weight than Su Ping's.
Even a girl he had pursued when he first became interested in romance had rejected him because of it.
But Su Ping truly had no interest in wasting words on someone who let a little success go to his head. Trading barbs and keyboard jabs in a group chat was not his style.
Then, suddenly, an avatar and name that had never appeared before sent a message.
"@Su Ping, is there a Cloudsky Pet Beast Battle Resort near your place?"
"Our school beauty Yin!!!"
"@Yin Yin, have you contracted a pet beast yet, school beauty Yin?"
"..."
The moment that name, accompanied by a cartoon fish avatar, appeared in the group, a string of replies followed.
Yin Yin was Sixth Middle School's so-called school beauty.
Su Ping had always felt that picking a school beauty from a bunch of little girls with no curves in front or behind was rather ridiculous and boring.
Besides, beauty was relatively subjective. "School beauty" was merely a title.
Still, Yin Yin was indeed quite well-known.
"@Yin Yin, that's right. It's right next door to my place."
"@Su Ping, I'll be going there in a few days to practice pet beast battles. I could stop by your place then, too. I've never seen a Pet Beast Breeding Base before. Would that be okay?"
Su Ping frowned slightly, but before he could respond-
The group had already gotten going.
"Yin Yin, you're going to practice pet beast battles? Can we come along too?"
"Yeah! My Little Red recently advanced to Ordinary Tier Two and learned a Racial Skill! It's itching to give it a try, hehe!"
"Sure, sure! Let's all go together!"
"Perfect timing. It's been over a month since graduation, and we still haven't had a proper get-together..."
"..."
At this age, the drawing power of hormones was clearly boundless.
And clearly, at this point, Su Ping's opinion no longer seemed to matter much.
After all, they were coming to the neighboring Yuntian Resort. His family's breeding base was just an extra stop along the way.
Shaking his head, Su Ping could not be bothered to keep reading or reply. He even left the class group chat outright, tossed his phone aside, and checked on the sleeping Xiao Qing.
He could feel Xiao Qing's aura gathering. With the energy fed back from him as its Beast Tamer, it was clearly about to advance from Ordinary Tier One to Ordinary Tier Two.
A satisfied smile appeared on Su Ping's face, and only then did he slowly close his eyes.
His earlier excitement settled, and he sank into a deep sleep.
Early the next morning, Su Ping abruptly opened his eyes. He quickly finished breakfast and washed up, then took a look at the Myriad Spirits Codex.
Sure enough, another notification had appeared in the log beneath the Forest Wolf Record.
[You spent a day bonding closely with two Forest Wolves. Your Forest Wolf Record gained 7 experience points.]
And that was not even the most important thing.
Most importantly, after a night of cooling, the Woodheart Potion was now completely finished.
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