61: The second beast of the spiritual contract
The first thing Luo Chen did when he returned to the shop was to claim his mission rewards.
“Mission 3: Pass the Stellar Breeder Assessment (Completed), Reward: 200 points (Claimable), One Mysterious Spirit Rank Beast (Claimable).”
In the breeding room, Luo Chen claimed both rewards at once, rubbing his hands in anticipation of what the system’s mysterious Spirit Rank Beast would be.
He glanced over and saw the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch aimlessly wandering around like a street loafer.
A complex expression appeared on Luo Chen’s face. Perhaps, as long as its personality wasn't as outrageous as this guy’s, it would be fine.
With just one look, Luo Chen hastily averted his gaze, afraid of jinxing himself and making the mysterious Spirit Rank Beast turn into a second-generation Colorful Sound Spirit Finch.
The space in front of Luo Chen ripped open, and a bewildered Beast fell out.
It looked like a sea creature, its body quite similar to a whale from his previous life. Its skin surface was smooth and slick; despite being a sea creature, it had no scales.
However, compared to whales, which are often dozens of meters long, this little fellow was exceptionally miniature, only about fifty centimeters in size.
Now, it was staring blankly at Luo Chen, their eyes wide.
“race: Cloud Whale (Cub)
Rank: Spirit Beast Two-Star
Type: Water Type, Wind-type, Space-Type
State: Bewildered
Aptitude: Excellent
Skills: 1. Cloud Mist Rise (Profound Tier): The Cloud Whale summons cloud mist around its body. This mist can block a certain degree of mental detection Skills and continuously restore the Cloud Whale’s State.
2. Rain in Clouds (Profound Tier): The Cloud Whale gathers Water Type elements to form rain. The Cloud Whale gains all-around enhancements while in the rain.
3. Space Shuttle (Earth Tier): The Cloud Whale opens a spatial rift to a known coordinate, with a distance limit of one hundred kilometers, requiring a long charging time.
4. Gale Blade (Earth Tier): The Cloud Whale creates a tornado-like storm. The gale, like blades, can cause a large amount of damage.”
After reading its information, Luo Chen raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Although it was still a cub, the Space Shuttle Skill truly surprised and delighted Luo Chen.
Space-Type Beasts have always been extremely rare; ordinary Beast Masters only learn about Space-Type Beasts from textbooks ormaterial (data).
And even if they encountered a Space-Type Beast, it wouldn't necessarily possess life-saving and travel-enabling divine Skills like Space Shuttle.
Many more only had the ability to open a small space for storing items; storage bracelets and Beast bracelets were developed based on such Skills.
The expensive teleportation arrays between cities were modeled after the Space Shuttle Skill.
Since the system had given him such a Space-Type Beast, Luo Chen naturally wouldn't let it go. He extended his right hand, tentatively reaching towards the Cloud Whale’s small head.
The Cloud Whale, which had been vigilantly watching him, rolled its eyes, which occupied half of its entire face, and then a cloud of mist completely enveloped its form.
The energy fluctuation attracted the attention of the wandering Colorful Sound Spirit Finch. It shrieked with delight,
“Sea fish! Shopkeeper, is this the delicacy you prepared for me?”
Before Luo Chen could respond, it pounced towards the cloud of mist.
The Cloud Whale, still at Spirit Beast Two-Star, was no match for the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch, which was at Spirit Beast Nine-Star after its realm was suppressed.
With a few pecks from the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch, the cloud mist covering the little Cloud Whale’s form was torn to shreds and scattered.
The Cloud Whale trembled as it watched the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch, who was eagerly staring at it, as if it would become its meal the next second.
Seeing this scene, Luo Chen cleared his throat, “Ahem, Colorful Sound Spirit Finch, wait a moment.”
After stopping the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch’s next move, Luo Chen turned to the motionless Cloud Whale and forced a gentle smile,
“Little Cloud Whale, you don’t want to become its food, do you?”
The Cloud Whale looked at Luo Chen blankly, not quite understanding what he meant.
“Colorful Sound Spirit Finch, translate for it.”
The Colorful Sound Spirit Finch glanced sideways, clearly indicating that it needed a reward to translate.
“Five jin of Beast meat.” Luo Chen, who had some understanding of the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch’s nature, immediately offered his reward.
The Colorful Sound Spirit Finch wasn't greedy and was bought off by these five jin of Beast meat.
It opened its slender beak and let out a melodious, ethereal sound.
After hearing the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch’s cry and seeing its fierce expression, the Cloud Whale looked as if it truly would be chewed up and swallowed if it didn't agree to become that strange human’s Beast.
Feeling a little like crying, it had been playing happily in the sea of clouds, only to inexplicably appear in this strange place.
And it had encountered such a bird-like bully. Utterly helpless, after much deliberation, it could only agree to Luo Chen’s request to become his Beast.
The Cloud Whale let out a few weak chirps, telling the Colorful Sound Spirit Finch that it agreed.
“It agreed.” The Colorful Sound Spirit Finch said to Luo Chen, who had been waiting.
Luo Chen now extended his palm and placed it on the Cloud Whale’s head. The Cloud Whale instinctively dodged at first,
but after realizing what was happening, it controlled itself and allowed Luo Chen to successfully stroke its head.
It wasn’t sticky to the touch, but rather a bit slippery. Luo Chen’s fingers secretly rubbed against the Cloud Whale’s head.
His mental power flowed from Luo Chen’s palm into the Cloud Whale’s mind, then permeated its spiritual core.
The Cloud Whale’s spiritual core was an boundless sea of clouds, which should be the reflection of its previous habitat in the spiritual world.
Luo Chen’s mental power intrusion caused this sea of clouds to churn incessantly. A portion of his mental power separated, forming a mental power version of Luo Chen in this sea of clouds.
This illusory Luo Chen sat cross-legged in the sea of clouds, and waves of special symbols spread out, enveloping the entire sea of clouds.
At this point, the contract was formed, and the Cloud Whale officially became Luo Chen’s Beast.
Luo Yuheng had told him that there used to be two Types of Beast contracts.
The first Type was the master-servant form, where the Beast Master had absolute control over the contracted Beast, and the Beast could not disobey the Beast Master’s commands.
The second Type was the equal form, where the Beast Master and Beast could not harm each other, either party could voluntarily terminate the contract, and neither party had the right to restrain the other.
He heard that in the New Era Calendar, from year 100 to 120, the second Type was very popular, with people saying that Beasts also needed care and should not be treated like servants.
So, during that period, a large number of Beast Masters chose the equal form of contract.
However, it wasn't long before the drawbacks of this contract form became apparent.
Leaving aside whether the Beast would obey the Beast Master’s commands during battle, just their inability to suppress their natural instincts in the human world caused significant social unrest.
Later, this equal form of contract was directly abolished. Any Beast Master found to have signed an equal contract with a Beast would have their Beast Master status revoked.
Of course, the vast majority of Beast Masters would not truly treat their contracted Beasts as servants, but while I can be very good to my Beast, I cannot give them truly unrestricted freedom.
This is also knowledge that all modern Beast Masters learn from textbooks. Luo Chen rarely went to school; Luo Yuheng personally taught him all of this.
Leaving a portion of his mental power in the Cloud Whale’s spiritual core, the rest of his mental power retreated into his own body.
Luo Chen opened his eyes and felt a connection with the Cloud Whale in front of him, similar to the one he had with the little furball.
He could vaguely sense each other’s thoughts, and Luo Chen knew this was a situation that only occurred immediately after contracting.
As time passed, this vague feeling would gradually disappear, and their cooperation would become more and more tacit.
With more regular communication and training, this process would become even faster.
...
The Imperial Capital of Hua Nation, one of the Ten Upper Cities, and also the central city of Hua Nation.
The permanent population within the city alone approached 200 million, so the city was built to be extremely vast; even from a high altitude, straining to look into the distance, one could barely glimpse a ten-thousandth of its appearance.
Not only that, but the Imperial Capital was also the city that utilized Space-Type Skills the most; the space it could contain was far vaster than what was visible from the outside.
On a high mountain on the eastern side of the Imperial Capital, closer to the city’s outskirts.
A man in his thirties, with starlight revolving behind him, sat under lush trees and opened his eyes.
Even though his expression was faint, a clear hint of joy flashed in his eyes.
“As expected, it doesn’t require a Desolate Beast Nine-Star to evolve. How did that young man discover it?”
The man shook his head, thinking he would give the young man who inspired him a corresponding reward later.
“Qing Ye, Yu Ying, Ling Ji, the three of you adjust your States. You will evolve together tomorrow.
Xiao Meng, Tian Yun, you two prepare to stand guard.”
The man systematically issued commands to his Beasts.
The Beasts around him did not object; they had always been obedient to the man’s arrangements, a tacit understanding formed over hundreds of years.