10: Stringent incubation conditions
Diamond-rank Demonic Beast, this is currently the strongest known bloodline level, capable of reaching a level 100 cap.
Su Ze excitedly took the diamond egg out of the system space.
After the brilliant luster of the diamond faded, Su Ze was calmly holding a demon beast egg the size of a human head, entwined with three fiery-red patterns.
"A diamond rank egg... the hatching conditions should be even more harsh, right?"
Apprehensively, Su Ze checked the hatching conditions for the diamond rank beast taming egg in his hands.
"diamond egg hatching conditions: Absorb a large amount of heat in a high-temperature environment to hatch. The more heat absorbed, the stronger the hatched Spirit Beast will be!"
"High temperature?" Su Ze frowned.
He wasn't sure what kind of conditions the system would classify as high temperature; in any case, boiling the egg in water most likely wouldn't work.
"Forget it, let's look at the gold egg's hatching conditions first. If it's the same as before, I'll go find Xu Yao for help again."
Su Ze put the diamond egg into the system space and took out a gold egg.
demon beast eggs obtained from the system space can be stored in the system space before hatching; once they hatch into Spirit Beasts, they can only be kept in the beast taming space.
Regrettably, even for gold eggs of the same rank, the hatching conditions were different.
"gold egg hatching conditions: Absorb precious metal gold to hatch. The more gold absorbed, the stronger the hatched Spirit Beast will be!"
"Of these two gold eggs, one is greedy for money and the other is lustful..." Su Ze grumbled helplessly.
To him, the hatching conditions for this gold egg were, in a sense, even more difficult than the diamond egg's.
"If it really doesn't work out, I'll just sell a few demon beast eggs. A Silver grade demon beast egg can sell for at least several million Xia Coins; that should be enough to buy gold..."
But Su Ze still had concerns. After all, his current strength couldn't be called strong; it could only be described as quite weak.
Selling one or two precious items like demon beast eggs would be fine.
But over time, someone would definitely target him.
By then, he'd end up being captured and forced to "lay eggs" every day.
Just as Su Ze was struggling with his thoughts, there was a sudden knock on his door.
Opening the door, he found Xu Yao standing outside, dressed in a sharp, capable-looking outfit.
"Is something the matter?"
"What's the matter? Did you forget today is the Beast Taming College Entrance Examination? We agreed to go together," Xu Yao said in disbelief, seemingly not expecting Su Ze to forget such an important event.
Su Ze's eyes widened as he finally remembered.
He had been so lightheaded with joy from drawing the diamond rank beast taming egg that he had almost forgotten the most important thing today.
He hurriedly said, "Wait for me a moment, I'll go change my clothes."
Xu Yao nodded. "Mm, be quick. Fortunately, we don't have to travel far. Did you see the test site for the Eastern region? It was just released two days ago—it's at the Tianyun Volcano Area, a scenic spot not far from our Beishan City."
Su Ze had indeed overlooked this over the past two days; he had only just learned the test site from Xu Yao.
Today, four Beast Taming Universities were holding exams simultaneously. Only the White Tiger Beast Taming University in the West was delayed by a few days because of an accident while clearing the examination grounds.
It was different from the college entrance exams in his previous life, where one chose a school based on their score after the exam.
There were only five Beast Taming Universities in Great Xia in total. Generally speaking, candidates would take the exam for the corresponding university nearby.
In any case, there weren't many people qualified to become a Beast Tamer, so the number of people participating in the Beast Taming College Entrance Examination was far fewer than the ordinary college entrance exams before his transmigration.
All candidates within a corresponding region could be gathered at a single test site for a unified selection.
The test site chosen by Azure Dragon Beast Taming University was Tianyun Volcano, bringing all the candidates to the foot of the volcano for the exam.
Pass and you're in; fail and you're eliminated.
"Tianyun Volcano?" Su Ze muttered the name, his eyes lighting up.
Tianyun Volcano was a Level 7 supervolcano!
The Volcanic Explosivity Index can be used to classify the eruption levels of volcanoes.
Just like the magnitude of an earthquake, the higher the Volcanic Explosivity Index value, the more energy the volcano releases.
For every 1-unit increase in the Volcanic Explosivity Index, the energy released increases by nearly one order of magnitude, making the eruption's power ten times that of the previous level.
And the highest is only Level 8.
Levels 5 to 6 are large volcanoes, and Levels 7 to 8 are supervolcanoes.
The power of a Level 7 volcanic eruption is already equivalent to a magnitude 9.8 earthquake and can cause a "Year Without a Summer."
Tianyun Volcano had once had an eruption as high as Level 7, but it was currently dormant.
It probably only had energy equivalent to a Level 5 large volcano accumulated, and there was still a long time before the next eruption.
Therefore, taking the exam in the Tianyun Volcano Area was absolutely safe, as long as one didn't court death by climbing into the crater.
But there were always people who wanted to take risks.
"If I can throw the egg into the crater... it will definitely hatch!"
Although Su Ze didn't know what kind of heat would be enough to hatch this diamond egg, a volcano was definitely the largest heat source he could find right now!
He immediately changed his clothes in a hurry and set out for Tianyun Volcano with Xu Yao.
Although Tianyun Volcano wasn't far from Beishan City, it would probably take a whole day to get there on foot.
Therefore, specialized flying Spirit Beasts were prepared in the city center. These were large demonic beasts that weren't particularly fast but were massive and could carry many people, with levels around twenty or thirty.
Furthermore, they were open for free to Beast Tamers participating in the exam.
Su Ze and Xu Yao happened to catch a Griffin that was about to take off. Griffins were only bronze grade demonic beasts; they had no other special features besides their large size and ability to fly.
There were a good twenty people sitting on its back, but it still looked quite relaxed.
"Everyone, sit tight! We're taking off!"
The Beast Tamer at the head of the Griffin shouted.
Not everyone joined the Spirit Guard Army after graduating from a Beast Taming University; there were many like him who weren't scouted by the military due to limited talent.
So, they joined other industries, using the power of Spirit Beasts to make life more convenient.
The technology in this world wasn't that developed, but by relying on the power of demonic beasts, people enjoyed a quality of life that was not inferior at all.
The Griffin flapped its wings, and everyone was instantly airborne, heading toward the Tianyun Volcano Area.
A faint air shield enveloped them so that the air currents in the sky wouldn't blow them off, at the cost of the Griffin's speed being somewhat affected.
As they got closer and closer to the volcano area, the temperature in the air slowly rose.
By the time the Griffin began to descend, Su Ze was already sweating slightly.
Many people had already arrived here; looking down from above, it was a sea of black, bustling heads.
Occasionally, there were a few that weren't black, reflecting light under the sun.
As soon as he landed, he saw Wang Zi's conspicuously large frame.
Wang Zi saw him too and came over.
Noticing Xu Yao beside Su Ze, he winked at him and bumped him with his shoulder.
"You kid, I couldn't tell before, but you've got some skills. Already a pair? Have you sealed the deal?"
Before Su Ze could answer, he heard a cold snort of gnashing teeth.
He looked up; it was a small world—it was Lin He, whose finger Su Ze had snapped, still in a cast.
However, he only gave a cold snort and then sensibly walked away, not coming over to cause trouble.
Otherwise, the Sixteenth Level Su Ze would probably make his jaw drop—and put it in a cast too.