1: Chapter 1 Finding Parents

The Human Federation, Chang City No. 11 High School.

Qin Ding sat by the window, gazing out in a daze, his eyes filled with tangled thoughts.

Eighteen years ago, he was reborn into this world. Having been an orphan in his previous life, he had gained the love of a father and mother in this one. Possessing consciousness from birth, he cherished this heaven-sent opportunity dearly.

He regarded this affection as a precious treasure.

But he wondered, did all so-called transmigrators have to lose their parents?

Six years ago, a mysterious secret realm suddenly appeared in this world filled with spiritual energy, disrupting the world's original rhythm. Beyond the secret realm lay a new world, which came to be known as the Spirit Realm.

His parents were members of a security company and had gone to explore the Spirit Realm at the request of a friend, but they ended up going missing.

At this thought, the sorrow in Qin Ding's eyes deepened, mingled with a hint of hatred.

The Spirit Realm...

Just then, the homeroom teacher, Wang Chunfa, who had been looking at messages on his phone at the podium, stood up. He instinctively scratched his half-bald head.

"Everyone is now eighteen years old, and three months have passed since the start of the school year. According to the Day-Night Cultivation Method, those who have successfully cultivated Mental Energy and reached the First Rank, allowing you to contract a Spirit Beast, raise your hands and let me see."

As soon as these words were spoken, the classroom, which had previously held a faint murmur, instantly fell silent, reaching a state where one could hear a pin drop.

Qin Ding snapped out of his daze and decisively raised his hand.

Wang Chunfa scanned the students below as they raised their hands one after another. Counting them, he saw there were only thirty-something, and a flash of disappointment crossed his eyes.

In a classroom of one hundred, only thirty-one had successfully cultivated to the First Rank. Could they become Beast Tamers?

"Teacher, I feel like I'm about to touch the threshold of the First Rank, um..."

"Teacher Wang, me too. I feel like it'll be in these next few days."

"Teacher..."

Listening to the students' voices rising one after another, filled with pleading and expectation, Wang Chunfa lowered his gaze, his heart filled with helplessness.

Becoming a Beast Tamer wasn't something he could decide. Ultimately, it came down to individual talent.

Not to mention the Mental Energy cultivation method, which had changed five years ago from the most basic version to the current one, the strongest in the entire Federation: the Day-Night Visualization Method.

How could he not know what the students were thinking?

However...

Wang Chunfa adjusted his glasses sternly, his gaze sweeping sharply over the students below, each one craning their necks in hopeful anticipation.

"One week from now, the list needs to be submitted. Those who haven't succeeded yet, hurry up."

"And for those students who haven't successfully reached the First Rank in Mental Energy, don't be discouraged. Studying literature is also a path forward; as the saying goes, all roads lead to Rome."

"After all, the instruction for Beast Tamers begins after the list is submitted. Before that time, we are still studying math, language arts, and science as usual, aren't we?"

As the homeroom teacher, Wang Chunfa responsibly explained the pros and cons and comforted those students who felt they had no chance.

Sitting below, Qin Ding listened intently to Wang Chunfa's words.

This world was very similar to his previous life, but not the same. First, the planet's surface area was twenty times that of the Earth from his previous life, and second, the current population exceeded one hundred billion.

The biggest difference was that The First Emperor of this world had not swept across the Six Kingdoms, but rather, by relying on his own strength and his own Beast, had swept across the entire world single-handedly!

He had planted the banner of the Great Qin in every corner of the world.

In history, the title for this past period was only one word: "Slaughter," a reign conducted with absolute brutality.

At the same time, the evaluation of this The First Emperor consisted of only two words.

"Invincible!"

This was also a mandatory course for every citizen of the Federation.

Because the predecessor of the Federation was the Great Qin Empire, which had evolved over more than a thousand years after the disappearance of The First Emperor, who was so powerful that the world was shrouded in the "Qin" color.

As for thermal weapons? The rest of the technology was about the same, but there were no thermal weapons. Or perhaps, they looked down upon the development of thermal weapons?

After all, the path of the Beast Tamer had taken precedence, and Beast Tamers from two thousand years ago could already travel through space. Humans could easily possess the power to cleave mountains and ravines, so they didn't care about offensive technology?

"Speaking of The First Emperor, I remember that The First Emperor created a new contract system called the Life and Death Contract, which is a daunting yet incredibly powerful contract system."

"However, the number of people in the Federation who know how to use this kind of contract must be pitifully small, right?"

Qin Ding thought to himself, a cryptic light flickering in his eyes.

The Life and Death Contract was different from the mainstream Master-Servant Contract. As the name implied, the Life and Death Contract was a pact signed with a Spirit Beast to share life and death.

If the beast died, the human died; if the human died, the beast died. And once the contract was established, it was a bond of shared life and death, advancing together, and could not be broken.

The mainstream Master-Servant Contract didn't have these troubles.

However, this was only a drawback of the Life and Death Contract, and the only fatal one.

As for why the Life and Death Contract was called the most powerful contract system, it was because the feedback obtained from the Beast Tamer's beast was double that of a Master-Servant Contract master!

For example, a master of a Master-Servant Contract could gain five percent of their beast's physical strength and elemental abilities through the contract each time they increased their Mental Energy rank, while a master of a Life and Death Contract gained ten percent.

And it was said that if a master of a Life and Death Contract had high enough Mental Energy, they could even gain the beast's exclusive abilities. However, Qin Ding had only seen rare descriptions of these things on the internet, let alone seen them with his own eyes.

"However... the Life and Death Contract seems to have other drawbacks, and the internet doesn't explain it in great detail. Perhaps no one wants to use this contract system?"

"Avoiding it at all costs?"

It made sense. For ordinary people, if they could live well as a Beast Tamer, why would they gamble with their lives?

A normal person's thinking would surely be: if the Spirit Beast dies, just use the Master-Servant Contract method to contract another one, right?

The reason he had taken an interest in the Life and Death Contract was that six years ago, the same year the Spirit Realm appeared, a book called the Life Records suddenly appeared in his mind.

From that day on, the thought of finding his parents expanded infinitely in his mind and became his only obsession.

There is a saying that goes well: the reason humans don't have memories from before the age of three is because if they did, they would be completely unable to accept the departure of their parents, especially their mother.

Perhaps this is how life finds its own way? By letting the brain remain underdeveloped during that period?

At this moment, a shadow was cast diagonally across Qin Ding's desk, onto the open history book.

"Qin Ding, Qin Ding?"

"...Hm?"

Snapping back to reality, Qin Ding looked up.

The young girl had a slender and upright figure, like fresh bamboo after the rain. Her ink-black hair was tied behind her neck with a simple black hair tie, making that section of her neck appear even fairer.

Especially her eyes; when she looked at someone, they were like a deep pool separated by a thin layer of mist. They held no warmth, yet she stared at him intently, without blinking.

Qin Ding — Bai Muxue

It turned out that Wang Chunfa had announced the end of class and left a few minutes ago, but he had been lost in thought and hadn't noticed.

Seeing Qin Ding snap out of it and look over, Bai Muxue's eyebrows curved for a brief moment.

"My mom got off work early today and cooked a meal at home. She wanted me to let you know."

Hearing this, Qin Ding felt a slight stir in his heart. He stared at Bai Muxue's cold, pale face for a moment and did not refuse.

"Okay."

Bai Muxue—her father was the friend of his parents, named Bai Qianqiu.

Like his parents, Bai Qianqiu had gone missing six years ago in the Spirit Realm outside of Chang City.

Things like the Spirit Realm—they called it "going missing," but according to descriptions from various channels nowadays, going missing inside the Spirit Realm meant dying inside.

After all, the Spirit Realm might not always exist; it could disappear. And there was no such thing as two identical Spirit Realms in the world; at most, there were similar ones.

The Spirit Realm in Chang City back then had lasted less than a day from appearance to disappearance; it was the fastest-disappearing Spirit Realm in the world.

It was also the first Spirit Realm in the world.

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Dear readers, when reading, I implore you to turn the pages a little slowly.

This book is strictly single-heroine. The male and female leads are mutually devoted; there will be no ambiguity, so please rest assured.