Chapter 82

After leaving the Dark Attribute Research Institute, Mu Huiyue waited at the Battle Club for Wen Li and Yanxi Miao, who had finished their tests.

Given Yanxi Miao’s current strength, and with the Beast Master’s [Burning Blood] talent, it might be a bit difficult to challenge opponents beyond its tier in a mature state, but battling within the same tier would definitely be no problem.

As expected, Wen Li successfully joined the Battle Club and became a new member.

Before the end of the first semester, her goal, in addition to aiming for a good ranking in the [High School Battle Preliminary], was to officially become a member of the Battle Club in preparation for joining the school team and advancing to the national competition.

Wen Li was full of energy about this and started talking to Mu Huiyue about her training plans for the future.

“If your goal is to participate in the national competition, Wen Li, you should start thinking about contracting a second pet soon, right?” Mu Huiyue asked.

Currently, Wen Li only had Yanxi Miao as a pet, but for the national competition, each contestant needed to register at least three pets for battle.

Over the next year, to qualify for the national competition, one must become a level 5 Beast Master, have three contracted pets, with at least one reaching maturity.

For an average freshman, even for a talented student in the battle department, this progress is unimaginable.

Mu Huiyue wasn’t too worried about reaching the Beast Master level. According to her current meditation progress, even if she couldn’t obtain a single [Space Fruit] over the next year, she would still be able to reach level 5 Beast Master smoothly.

Wen Li was the same. Her [Burning Blood] talent gave her a unique advantage in this area, and during the month after the ranking assessment, she had already advanced to level 3 Beast Master.

Now, the two of them needed to seriously consider contracting a new pet.

“Speaking of which, I was just about to discuss this with you, Huiyue,” Wen Li said, pulling a crumpled flyer out of her backpack.

Mu Huiyue took it and saw that it was a recruitment advertisement from the club street.

It was a club aimed mainly at students in the breeding department. The club would regularly organize exchanges on breeding knowledge, visit various breeding zones, and also take care of the Pet Nursery at Jingzhou University.

Jingzhou University regularly breeds high-quality pet offspring, offering students the opportunity to prioritize contracting them. This is one of the school’s key benefits.

All the offspring are born and raised in the [Pet Nursery], and students in the breeding department, as well as relevant clubs, also arrange internships and on-site experiences there.

The flyer mentioned that, a month later, the [Pet Nursery] would hold an open adoption day. Students looking to contract new pets could go in and check it out. Most pets could be purchased at a low price, while a few rare pets would require the consumption of on-campus points.

Mu Huiyue stroked her chin. This seemed like a good option.

Jingzhou University is a prestigious old-school university with many unique pets that are hard to find elsewhere. Perhaps they could find a new companion there.

“Let’s go to the adoption day in a month, Huiyue,” Wen Li cheerfully suggested.

The Yanxi Cat, walking beside the Beast Master, suddenly froze, its flame-burning tail drooping a bit.

Mu Huiyue nodded. In the month before that, they would need to earn some campus points.

…

Time passed quickly, and Mu Huiyue gradually adapted to her fulfilling university life.

The theoretical courses in the Battle Department were relatively few, focusing mainly on the in-depth explanation of various attributes, skills at different levels, and methods for Beast Masters to improve themselves.

Mu Huiyue learned how to adjust her meditation progress according to her Beast Master talents.

In addition to attending classes, she also participated in a lot of practical battles.

There were professional instructional battles, extracurricular activities in the Battle Club, and duels between students at Jingzhou University— the latter being a quick, albeit somewhat underhanded, way to earn campus points. Mu Huiyue tried it once and grew fond of it.

It was much faster than completing heavy coursework and obediently accumulating those tiny amounts of campus points!

At the Dark Research Institute, there weren’t many tasks for now. After recording the detailed data of Mu Huiyue’s two pets, Professor Xie Qingwei began attempting to adjust variables to identify the key factor.

It was a tedious and lengthy process. Most of the experimental records were completed by her and Feng Le. Professor Xie believed that Mu Huiyue should focus on nurturing her pets and improving her strength.

Following Professor Xie’s advice, Mu Huiyue used a significant amount of money through the Affairs Bureau to purchase B-grade extraordinary resources for both of her pets.

She gave Ellen a B-grade undead extraordinary resource, the [Dead Mist Gem].

This resource comes from the A-grade secret realm “Undead Calamity” and is a rare item that significantly enhances the concentration of the Dead Mist in undead pets.

Ellen’s control over the Dead Mist is already far superior to other pets of the same level and species. When Professor Xie Qingwei saw this resource on the Affairs Bureau’s list, she suggested that Mu Huiyue purchase it to see if it might trigger new changes in the Bone Fang Soldier.

Even if there are no changes, absorbing the [Dead Mist Gem] would accelerate Ellen’s understanding of the C-grade skill [Bone Ghost], helping Ellen learn the advanced skill [Necromantic Summoning] sooner.

For Baiya, Mu Huiyue purchased a B-grade dark attribute extraordinary resource, [Frost Night Ice Blossom].

The Little Cloud Dog is a very unique type of dark attribute extraordinary creature.

They don’t come into being through emotional resonance or other dark energy. Instead, due to their [Cloud Flow] characteristic, when they possess the dark attribute core skill, they naturally become a dark attribute creature.

After completing Baiya’s physical examination, Xie Qingwei was also amazed. She had initially thought that Ellen’s case was already rare, but it turned out that both of Mu Huiyue’s pets were extraordinary.

Usually, the emotional preferences of dark attribute extraordinary creatures are related to the conditions of their birth.

For example, the Vengeful Spirit Puppets often come from the pure, extreme obsessions of children.

Spirits and guardian spirits pay special attention to the karmic connections of such beings.

Both the Little Skeleton and the Bone Fang Soldier still harbor lingering thoughts of humans, hoping for human recognition.

On the other hand, the dark attribute Little Cloud Dog doesn’t have a fixed emotional inclination; each one is unique.

Baiya enjoys being praised, and its core skill is the status skill “Howl,” which lacks any higher-tier skills. Compared to others of its kind, it’s not particularly outstanding.

However, it can master a B-grade skill, and its physique and hidden energy have developed quite well. As long as it can break through the limitations of its core skill, Baiya’s evolution is virtually guaranteed.

Besides its dark attribute skills, Baiya also has a considerable degree of ice attribute adaptability. For this, Xie Qingwei selected the rare dual-element resource combining dark and ice attributes, hoping to observe what changes might occur after Baiya absorbs it.

If Baiya’s situation can mirror Ellen’s, breaking through the core skill limitation during evolution, their research will be one step closer to success.

Xie Qingwei is not an investigator, but as a professional external consultant for the Bureau of Affairs, she holds considerable authority within the internal system.

Many of the dark attribute secret realms and extraordinary creatures that have been clarified in the investigation reports owe their success to her efforts.

Mu Huiyue saw Professor Xie’s forum ID, and as expected, it was the one that had left countless dark attribute research masterpieces under the name “Don’t Pinch My Cigarette.”

It was said that in the early stages of her research, the pressure was so great that she couldn’t help but rely on her smoking habit to manage her emotions, and her guardian spirit would always snuff out her cigarette. In frustration, she registered all of her online IDs with that name during those years.

Mu Huiyue recalled when she first contracted the Little Skeleton, she had been like a headless fly, searching aimlessly through forums without finding any suitable cultivation direction.

At that time, she wasn’t short on money but had no idea what kind of resources to buy to cultivate her pets.

Now, with personalized advice from an industry authority, Mu Huiyue didn’t hesitate to make a generous purchase of all the recommended items!

…

Time passed, and both Ellen and Baiya’s latent energy values increased significantly.

Mu Huiyue also accumulated enough points from frequent battles to try another ten-draw.

This time, she drew an SR-tier [Space Fruit].

After absorbing the fruit, Mu Huiyue successfully leveled up through meditation, becoming a Level 4 Beastmaster at an astonishing speed.

In theory, she was now eligible to contract a third pet.

However, the restriction on the number of contracted pets was already quite lenient for her, and Mu Huiyue was more concerned with the changes in her Beastmaster abilities after leveling up.

Within her Beastmaster space, she opened the icon of the World Tree on the game interface.

[Space Level lv.4]

[Dark Attribute Enhancement: Combat Resonance]

Description: Temporarily enhance attributes through resonance, significantly increasing the power of dark attribute skills. The duration is related to the space level.

[Dark Attribute Enhancement: Energy Bonus]

Description: Enhance dark attribute energy and dark attribute skill power through talent amplification. Contracted dark attribute pets will receive space energy bonuses, with the bonus scale related to the space level.

[Space Transformation: One-Way Interaction]

Description: This skill can be learned once the Beastmaster space is stabilized above level 3. Using this skill allows materials from the ranch and Spirit Fountain Temple to be brought outside the Beastmaster space.

[Perception Enhancement: Event Preview]

Description: Passive talent enhancement, improving the Beastmaster’s dark attribute perception ability. Additionally, it updates the item pool in the Spirit Fountain Temple and adds event previews.

[???]

[???]

…

Event Preview?

Mu Huiyue carefully examined the new talent skill. Starting with the one-way interaction, she couldn’t shake the feeling that her Beastmaster abilities were becoming increasingly tool-like…

She closed her eyes and tried to sense the new passive skill.

The enhancement in perception ability didn’t show any obvious changes. It could be said that since becoming a Level 3 Beastmaster, Mu Huiyue had already experienced a noticeable improvement in emotional perception, even comparable to her dark attribute pets.

As for the effect of the event preview…

With a “ding” sound, Mu Huiyue closed the game control panel and returned to the main interface.

In the previously empty area at the bottom right, an activity recruitment advertisement appeared with a familiar style, making Mu Huiyue feel as if she had returned to the event period of “Spirits Ranch Story.”

She clicked on the activity ad, and two fluffy cartoon clouds popped up on the main screen, like curtains being drawn apart to reveal the promotional content for the new event.

One by one, images of seeds appeared on the screen—some familiar, like the crystal stone seeds and experience fruit tree seeds, as well as many new seed designs she had never drawn before.

These seeds sprouted, growing into various kinds of ranch crops, from the most common attribute fruits and physique fruits, to experience fruits, enhanced experience fruits, and even unknown translucent crystal fruits.

The crystal grass swayed in the wind, with attribute crystals hanging like wheat spikes; the tree seeds grew into towering trees, bearing plump fruits, forming a magnificent forest.

The different-colored vegetation crops adorned the game interface, creating a vibrant, colorful display.

A line of text popped up from the center.

[Harvest Season Special Recommended Summon: Massive Increase in Ranch Seeds!]