"My strength is the same as yours, both at the Late-Stage First Rank."
The fat man answered honestly, without hiding anything.
The fact that he could say that meant he had guessed Jiang Fan's identity.
At first, when he heard the name Jiang Fan, it sounded somewhat familiar. But later, when he was eating instant noodles with Jiang Fan face to face and saw Jiang Fan's handsome face, he would be a fool not to guess who it was.
Jiang Fan raised an eyebrow slightly; he was no longer at the Late-Stage First Rank, but rather at the Middle-Stage Second Rank.
Of course, he didn't need to specifically explain this to the other party.
"As far as I know, I'm the only one in the entire Great Xia martial arts examination who has reached the Late-Stage First Rank. Are you a second- or third-year student?"
"No, I'm just like you, a candidate from the same year."
The fat man's answer surprised Jiang Fan.
But how come I've never heard of you?
"My situation is special; I was specially recruited and don't need to take the martial arts exam," the fat man replied.
Upon hearing this, Jiang Fan suddenly understood.
"According to your logic, there must be many other children from wealthy families who were admitted to schools without taking entrance exams?"
The fat man nodded, "These are the outstanding scions who are carefully nurtured by various families. They rarely show their faces in the outside world. They've probably been cultivating day and night since they were old enough to understand things, which is why their strength advances so quickly."
Jiang Fan asked again, "Are you like this too?"
"I'm not." The fat man blushed slightly at the question.
Jiang Fan paused slightly, scrutinizing the fat man with a questioning look.
The fat man's face turned even redder, and he scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
"As you know, I am the heir of the Pill Pavilion, so I have never lacked pills since I was a child. You could say that those outstanding disciples who are given special attention by their families start cultivating from a very young age, while I have been taking all kinds of pills every day since birth."
"I see." Jiang Fan suddenly understood, then asked, "Since you're only at the Late-Stage First Rank of the first rank, how did you manage to contract a Four Star demon beast? Although I knew very little about the Beast Tamer profession before, I did know that generally, Beast Tamer can only contract demon beasts of the same or lower level as themselves. But your Golden One-Horned Lion is Four Star demon beast."
"You said it yourself, under normal circumstances. Yes, a typical Beast Tamer can only contract beasts of the same or lower level as themselves. But there are two other situations."
"As for these two situations, we need to start with the essence of Beast Tamer. The essence of Martial Artist is blood and qi, and you should have heard of Spirit Master to some extent. They are rare treasures with only a handful in the entire Great Xia, and their essence lies in Psychic Power. In contrast, Beast Tamer also have their essence, which is Soul Power."
Jiang Fan was very interested in what the fat man was saying and continued to listen attentively.
"However, the difference is that how much Soul Power can ultimately increase depends on the size of its Soul Threshold. Generally speaking, the increase in Soul Power is linked to the Martial Artist's level, which is why, as you know, Beast Tamer can generally only contract with monsters of the same or lower level than themselves."
The Soul Threshold only determines the strength of a Beast Tamer's talent.
This is what is known as an unusual situation, where a very small number of Beast Tamer have a higher Soul Threshold, allowing them to contract with beasts of a higher level than themselves.
Xiao Gang is Four Star demon beast. In fact, with my current strength, my Soul Power is insufficient for a contract, but my Soul Threshold is relatively high, so the contract can be successfully formed.
Of course, Contract Xiao Gang is already the maximum my current Soul Threshold can withstand.
Having heard this, Jiang Fan had a pretty good understanding of the Beast Tamer profession.
"In other words, Soul Power can increase, but the Soul Threshold is fixed; it's what your initial talent is."
"That's right."
"So, how many demonic beasts have you contracted in total?"
When Jiang Fan asked this question, a piercing glint appeared in his eyes.
Although this Little Fatty is only Late-Stage First Rank Martial Artist, wouldn't it be incredibly cool if he possessed a group of Four Star demonic beasts?
The fat man said sheepishly, "Uh... how many? I only managed to form a contract with this one. If it weren't for the ancestor being there, scaring Xiao Gang so much that he didn't dare to resist and obediently cooperated, I'm afraid I might not have been able to successfully form a contract with it, given my strength at the time."
After pondering for two seconds, Jiang Fan asked again, "So, it means it's difficult to contract two or more powerful demonic beasts at the same time? What if you contract beasts weaker than yourself? Does that mean you can contract several at the same time?"
"That makes sense, but I don't think any Beast Tamer would simultaneously contract several beasts weaker than themselves."
"Why?"
The fat man took a sip of water and continued, "Think about it, even if you contract two or three low-level demonic beasts at the same time, how could they possibly be a match for a higher-level demonic beast?"
The answer is definitely no.
The difference in strength between different levels of demonic beasts can be described as heaven and earth. It is practically impossible for just two or three low-level demonic beasts to deal with a demonic beast that is one level higher than themselves.
Unless there are dozens of them, there is still hope, but according to the fat man, it is unlikely that a Beast Tamer could contract dozens of monsters at the same time.
"Why are you so interested in Beast Tamer?" Now it was the fat man's turn to ask.
Wei San was also very curious as to why Jiang Fan kept asking the fat man about Beast Tamer.
Jiang Fan made no attempt to hide his true feelings, answering honestly, "I'm just envious of you Beast Tamer, aren't I?"
Upon hearing this, Wei San was utterly speechless! How dare a Spirit Master say such a thing?
Jiang Fan suddenly thought of something, and his eyes lit up again.
How do I know if I have Soul Power?
The fat man could tell that Jiang Fan also wanted to become Beast Tamer.
"Just like the blood and qi meter for testing qi and blood, there is also a special instrument for testing Soul Power. However, the instrument for testing Soul Power is far more expensive than the blood and qi meter, costing hundreds of times more. Therefore, it is rarely seen on the market and is only used by martial arts schools and large families. We family members undergo testing shortly after birth."
"If you want to be tested, you can wait until you enter the martial arts school; you can get tested for free then."
Jiang Fan felt a surge of excitement. Although Beast Tamer weren't as rare as Spirit Master, the odds were still one in ten thousand. He didn't think he was lucky enough to become both Spirit Master and Beast Tamer at the same time, but a young man is still a young man, and he was full of hope for the future.
Just then, the carriage shook.
To be precise, there was a fight on the roof of the car, and the battle was very intense.
They recalled Hu Meng's earlier mention that the expert in charge of the vehicle was entangled in a fight.
Unsurprisingly, the person fighting this expert is Blood Fang's leader.
Wei San climbed down from the middle bunk, a move that seemed somewhat abrupt in the quiet atmosphere.
Everyone's eyes instinctively turned to him, but he walked towards the restroom.
Seeing this, everyone stopped paying attention to him and turned their gaze away.
Only Jiang Fan was still watching his retreating figure, thinking to himself, "You've finally decided to make a move."
"Thump thump thump thump!" The roof of the car shook again, and some parts even dented, making everyone's hearts jump.
They were curious: who really had the upper hand?
Despite their curiosity, none of them dared to go up and take a look.