38: Chapter 38 The Path to Becoming a Legendary Beastmaster

"Lin Chen."

After learning his name, Zhou Ming nodded. "Alright, come with me to treat your beast's injuries first."

Subsequently, the two brought their respective injured beasts to the treatment room in Zhou Ming's home.

"Don't worry, I'll take responsibility for all energy consumption and injuries during the training sessions. You don't need to have any concerns."

Looking at the high-quality energy cubes Zhou Ming brought out, the clean and well-equipped treatment room, and the expensive-looking medicines, Lin Chen's eyelid twitched. Four words inexplicably popped into his mind—accidentally entering a royal household.

Living in one of the best villa districts in Qinglan City, with a home treatment room, a beast doctor, a butler, and professional training grounds—this young master's family background was beyond imagination.

"By the way, I just thought about it, and five hundred an hour is indeed a bit low. I had the butler increase it. Go sign the contract in a bit."

Zhou Ming spoke while taking an energy-replenishing capsule.

Lin Chen nodded decisively. "Alright."

Refusing extra money would be foolish.

"By the way, you must be a repeating student, right?" Zhou Ming asked, his tone certain as he recalled the previous battle.

A seasoned and calm battle style, a Flame Claw Beast stronger than a Flame Eagle, and a Proficient Rank Flame Breath Bullet—any of these alone would be considered excellent, but combined, they were far too intimidating.

Zhou Ming was socially active and knew the growth status of beasts belonging to the top graduates of his year. He knew there were peers better than him, like Su Qingyuan from No. 1 High School.

He had sparred with Su Qingyuan at the Battle Club a few days ago and had been utterly crushed in both beast strength and tactical command.

The Lin Chen before him gave him a similar feeling.

But Beast Tamers of that caliber in the same year would all be busy with nurturing and training. How could they possibly work as a private sparring partner for a mere five hundred an hour?

It was absolutely impossible.

There was only one answer—Lin Chen was a repeating student with an extra year of experience.

Yes!

That must be it!

Meeting Zhou Ming's inquisitive gaze, Lin Chen shook his head. "I'm a graduate from this year."

Zhou Ming was stunned, then shook his head. "How is that possible?"

"You're actually not a repeater?"

Lin Chen smiled. "I'm from No. 1 High School."

A dazed Zhou Ming muttered in response, "I'm from No. 2 High School next door."

Pausing for a moment, a puzzled Zhou Ming frowned. "Tell you what, let's add each other's contact info first."

The two scanned codes to add each other. Zhou Ming looked at Lin Chen's profile picture and muttered, "This profile picture looks a bit familiar."

Lin Chen also found it familiar.

Suddenly, Zhou Ming looked up sharply. "Wait, what did you say your name was again?"

Lin Chen replied, "Lin Chen."

Zhou Ming froze, his finger still poised over the screen as he murmured, "Lin Chen..."

His eyes suddenly lit up. He quickly opened the [Qinglan City Beast Tamer Talent Reserve Base] group chat and scrolled through the members until he found the one nicknamed Lin Chen.

He slapped his thigh and shouted, "I knew the name sounded familiar! So you're that lurker who never says anything in the group!"

Lin Chen gave an awkward smile. "..."

But soon, Zhou Ming remembered that Lin Chen had said he wouldn't participate in the Young Eagle Cup. Combined with the fact that he was here interviewing for a part-time job today, a realization quickly surfaced in his mind.

However, he didn't say much. Instead, he put down his phone and said with some emotion, "This is fate."

A fellow group member came to his house for a sparring partner interview and easily defeated him in the process.

Hmm.

Being defeated by a fellow group member wasn't embarrassing.

Lin Chen hadn't expected the young master in front of him to be the very active Zhou Ming from the group chat. He also remarked, "It truly is fate."

But a second later, Zhou Ming looked up at Lin Chen, his brow furrowing slightly. "Wait, I remember talking about looking for a sparring partner in the group chat, and I even said the partner was arriving soon."

He stared intently at Lin Chen. "Did you not see it?"

Lin Chen pulled out his phone and silently glanced at the group chat he had long since muted. A stiff smile appeared on his face. "I didn't notice."

Zhou Ming shot a suspicious look at Lin Chen but didn't say more.

Now that their relationship had shifted from employer and employee to future alumni, they became much more familiar with each other.

Zhou Ming no longer had the arrogant attitude from when they first met. Instead, he proactively put an arm around Lin Chen's shoulder and said with a grin:

"Buddy, your Flame Claw Beast is really something. A Proficient Rank Flame Breath Bullet, and it's even mastered Fiery Charge."

"It's a real shame you're not going to the Young Eagle Cup. I feel like you'd have a chance to compete with Su Qingyuan."

As soon as the words left his mouth, Zhou Ming realized he had said the wrong thing. He coughed lightly and quickly changed the subject:

"By the way, how long did it take for your Flame Claw Beast's Flame Breath Bullet to break through to the Proficient Rank?"

Lin Chen calculated the time. "About thirteen days or so."

Zhou Ming didn't hesitate to offer praise, giving a thumbs up. "Awesome."

Pausing, he asked again, "And how long did it take to master Fiery Charge?"

He was looking forward to Lin Chen's answer because his Flame Eagle had only taken two days to go from learning to mastering Fiery Charge.

For a Tier 1 beast, that was an excellent timeframe.

Before Lin Chen could answer, the Flame Claw Beast sitting on the medical bed raised its head first, lifting a claw with a look of immense pride. "Gagu!"

Less than a day!

Zhou Ming couldn't accurately understand what the Flame Claw Beast meant, but he could see its smugness, so he turned to look at Lin Chen.

Lin Chen whispered, "It just started learning this morning. It mastered it during the battle with the Flame Eagle just now."

Zhou Ming: "..."

Zhou Ming: "I need some quiet time."

Young Master Zhou's psychological resilience exceeded Lin Chen's expectations. After wave after wave of shocks, he quickly recovered and began pulling Lin Chen into discussions about various details of nurturing and training beasts.

Both of their beasts were Fire-type, and their battle styles were quite similar, so there were many commonalities in their nurturing and training methods.

But as they talked, Lin Chen realized that he was the one gaining the most.

Many of Zhou Ming's ideas on nurturing and training came from premium courses that cost a fortune. Lin Chen usually watched pirated or free courses.

But on the path of acquiring knowledge, piracy wasn't shameful; failing to find pirated resources was the real disgrace.

Thus, Zhou Ming spoke incessantly, explaining a series of valuable nurturing and training insights, while Lin Chen listened intently, nodding continuously:

"Oh, I see. So that's how it is."

"Indeed."

"Young Master Zhou has great insight."

"Impressive. Why didn't I think of that?"

By the time the two beasts had fully recovered, Zhou Ming couldn't hide the smile on his face and even wanted to keep discussing things with Lin Chen.

However, theoretical discussions and learning ultimately had to be put into practice. The two returned to the training grounds to continue their sparring.

This time, they focused on training, restraining their attacks instead of going all out.

Through repeated battles and clashes, time unknowingly slipped away until it was 9:30 PM.

Lin Chen received his daily pay and left Yunqi Villas feeling satisfied.

Watching Lin Chen leave, Zhou Ming returned to his bedroom. He didn't mention this in the group chat but instead fell into deep thought.

Displaying such excellent Beast Tamer talent at this stage—even though the growth ceiling for his two beasts was somewhat low, he could definitely become a follower in the future to help handle minor troubles during university.

The more Zhou Ming thought about it, the more he felt his idea was worth pursuing. His eyes flickered as he murmured:

"Alright, I'll make recruiting my first follower the first small goal on my path to becoming a Legendary Beast Tamer."