Chapter 3: Click-Clack

The ghostly blue petals melted the moment they touched her tongue, turning into a liquid that surged through Mu Huiyue’s entire body. She could feel a powerful resonance deep within her, as if her heartbeats were echoing through her chest. Energy coursed through her nerves, spreading throughout her body before rushing back to her heart. It felt like she was being pulled into a massive vortex inside herself, one that threatened to swallow her whole.

But her heart didn’t shatter. Instead, it absorbed all the energy, swelling with each beat—expanding, expanding, expanding.

Mu Huiyue’s consciousness sank, plunging her into a meditative state. She saw her heart, now vast as a universe, expanding endlessly. In that universe, a tiny seed fell to the ground, quickly sprouting, and growing into a towering tree. Its massive branches stretched to the sky, and its leaves, shimmering with life, returned to her body like a flowing river of vitality.

After what felt like an eternity, Mu Huiyue opened her eyes. Her bleeding wounds had already scabbed over, and the fractures in her bones had mostly healed. She stared in disbelief at her hands, testing her wrist. Though weak, she was no longer on the brink of death. She could move again.

Inside her, the small world remained, though the towering tree had lost many leaves. Its branches swayed gently, as if greeting her.

A Beastmaster’s realm… Had she truly awakened?

She remembered stories about how awakening as a Beastmaster transformed one’s body, but this felt like more than she had anticipated.

“Click-clack-click…” The sound of rattling bones interrupted her thoughts, and Mu Huiyue looked up to see the Little Skeleton watching her anxiously.

The creature seemed to sigh with relief when it saw her awake, before it collapsed to the ground, utterly exhausted.

Its condition was pitiful. White bones were covered with patches corroded by poison, half its skull was missing, and pieces of its leg and arm bones were gone. Cracks riddled its ribcage, with only the dense black mist keeping it moving at all.

For undead beings like this, most injuries weren’t a big deal—they could regenerate quickly. But Mu Huiyue couldn’t imagine what this little creature had gone through to suffer wounds even it couldn’t heal. It must have risked everything to bring her those blue petals.

“Little Skeleton, make a contract with me,” she said softly, leaning forward and extending her hand to the tiny, broken creature. “With such serious injuries, only my Beastmaster space can help you recover quickly.”

At her words, the Little Skeleton hesitated, shrinking back and lowering its head. “Click-clack…”

The bond between humans and extraordinary creatures was a lifelong pact, unbreakable unless one party died. Any breach of the contract would bring severe consequences to the survivor. Forming a contract was a sacred connection, especially with one’s first Beast.

Most humans were reluctant to form bonds with terrifying, undead creatures. And this was just a little skeleton, the lowest of the low among the elite undead species.

“I’m sorry, I know I’m just a novice who’s only just awakened. Asking you for a contract must be difficult for you,” Mu Huiyue said, offering a soft smile. But her outstretched hand remained steady and firm.

“You saved me, and I want to help you recover. We’re already friends, aren’t we?” She tried her best to convey her sincerity, hoping the Little Skeleton could understand. “After this, I want to grow stronger with you. I want to explore the world beyond this castle, to share all of life’s experiences with you… Will you make a contract with me, Little Skeleton?”

The Little Skeleton stood frozen, its hollow eye sockets staring at the human girl before it. Gradually, the dark mist in its eyes formed into the shape of tears.

This was the person who hadn’t feared it even when wounded, who had eaten the food it brought, and who was now offering a contract while respecting its wishes.

This was the human it had chosen. How could she ever despise it for being an undead, or for being part of such a lowly race?

Wiping away the misty tears with its remaining hand, the Little Skeleton solemnly placed its tiny bone hand into hers.

“Click!”

As the Little Skeleton nodded, a black contract mark glowed on the back of Mu Huiyue’s hand. Beneath the Little Skeleton’s feet, a summoning circle appeared, bathing the creature in radiant light before it disappeared into her Beastmaster space.

At the same time, Mu Huiyue sensed the arrival of the Little Skeleton within her Beastmaster space. The leaves of the giant tree fell, transforming into dark orbs of light that enveloped the creature. A familiar interface appeared out of thin air, displaying the details of her newly contracted pet.

[Name]: Little Skeleton
[Attributes]: Dark, Undead
[Species Rank]: Low-tier Elite
[Growth Stage]: Juvenile
[Core Talent]: Reassembly (Rank D)
[Skill]: Bone Strike (Rank E)

In addition to the basic attributes and species rank, there were now details about growth stages and available skills. Tapping on a skill revealed its ranking and effects, but Mu Huiyue’s attention was drawn to the interface outside the stat page.

No wonder the tree in her Beastmaster space seemed familiar. Combined with the interface in front of her…

Isn’t this the mobile game that caused me to fall into this world in the first place?

Yes, the simple and cute interface, along with the background music playing in the Beastmaster space—it was exactly the same as the casual simulation game she had been playing before she crossed over, Elf Ranch Story.

Mu Huiyue skillfully navigated to the main screen and opened the inventory. Unfortunately, none of the items she had purchased with real money seemed to have carried over. It looked like she was starting fresh, just like a new player. The only advantage was that she already knew how to operate all the facilities without needing any tutorial.

It seemed her Beastmaster space had somehow merged with the game’s system. On the interface, her ranch only showed the newly born World Tree, and all other facilities remained locked. Similarly, her actual Beastmaster space only had the leafless giant tree, but the vast land surrounding it stretched beyond sight. There was more than enough room to establish various structures from the game in the future.

Wait a minute… Isn’t this space supposed to be much smaller for a newly awakened Beastmaster?

Recalling memories of Beastmaster lore, Mu Huiyue knew that the size of the Beastmaster space expanded as one’s level increased. Typically, a beginner’s space was about the size of a small room, which was why most low-level Beastmasters could only contract a single creature at a time.

Some special talents could grant larger spaces early on. Her father, the legendary Beastmaster Mu Tong, had the “Beastmaster Space Expansion” talent, allowing him three times the capacity of others at the same level.

However, Mu Huiyue had only awakened an ordinary “Dark Attribute Enhancement” talent. It was likely that the changes to her space came from the Elf Ranch Story game.

Could that frustrating game have become my second Beastmaster talent?

She glanced at the Little Skeleton, still floating within the dark orb. Healing its injuries seemed to be taking a bit more time.

Thinking quickly, she opened the game interface again and navigated to the main screen. Sure enough, aside from the World Tree icon, there was another active area—the Sacred Spring Temple, the game’s infamous “gacha pool” where players drew for new creatures.

Even if the ranch was empty, the gacha system was still functional—no surprise from a “casual” game that had once drained half of her paycheck.

The “Spring Drops” used for drawing were currently at zero, and there didn’t seem to be any way to purchase more. She returned to the main screen and located a quest log in the corner marked by a golden exclamation point.

[Beginner Quest: Contract Your First Pet. (Completed√)]

The reward was three drops of Spring Water. As she scrolled down, she saw a long list of other tasks, including unlocking the first facility and engaging in her first battle, all offering generous rewards. Familiar daily and achievement tasks were also listed, and it seemed that quests were the only way to earn more Spring Drops.

Claiming her reward, she returned to the Sacred Spring Temple and used the newly obtained drops for a three-pull. The first two draws were a familiar white light, but on the third, the pool rippled with a soft blue glow. Two small, colorful fruits and a palm-sized scroll appeared in her hand.

The gacha pool’s contents were identical to what she had known from the mobile game. The fruits could boost a creature’s stats, while the scroll was a skillbook that taught new magical abilities.

If the game system treated the Little Skeleton as her first contracted creature, then these items should theoretically work on it.

She inspected the floating information boxes:

[Low-Grade Agility Fruit]
Increases the agility of a contracted pet slightly.

[Low-Grade Stamina Fruit]
Increases the stamina of a contracted pet slightly.

[C-Rank Skillbook: Shadowmeld]
Dark Attribute skill. Allows the user to blend into shadows, increasing movement speed.

Satisfied with her luck, Mu Huiyue nodded. The first skillbook she drew happened to be dark attribute—perfect for the Little Skeleton. While she didn’t know how skills were ranked, a C-Rank skill was clearly a step above the skeleton’s current abilities.

At that moment, the dark orb surrounding the Little Skeleton dissipated. The creature landed softly on the ground. Though the black mist swirling around it had dimmed, the missing bones were now restored.

The Little Skeleton stared at its newly repaired hands, amazed, and wiggled its fingers.

“Click-clack!” (The Beastmaster space is amazing!)

Mu Huiyue chuckled, understanding the gist of its excited chatter through their bond. “It’s going to get even better!”