Chapter 120

After the exchange conference, Mu Huiyue returned to her peaceful campus life.

As the Beast Master of the Frost Night Battle Wolf, she had become somewhat well-known at Jingzhou University. As she walked around campus, she would occasionally hear classmates discussing her in awe, and more and more people were coming to the battle club to watch her practice matches.

A few days had passed, and the excitement brought on by the exchange conference had finally faded a bit. The wrap-up work was nearly done, and Professor Xie had finally caught her breath after enduring the endless phone vibrations from communication hell.

Regarding the resource rewards for winning the exchange conference, Professor Xie generously gave all of them to the two students as a reward for their excellent presentations and the hard work they put in on a daily basis.

Recently, all of her energy had been focused on handling various cooperation invitations, and as for the Beast Master Association, she had asked Mu Huiyue and Feng Le to go on their own.

With the steady and reliable Huiyue around, Professor Xie was very reassured.

Feng Le, who had been entrusted to the care of a first-year junior, had no objections to this.

Although he had overcome his weaknesses during the rabbit’s evolution ceremony, his personality wasn’t so easy to change.

The thought of going to the Beast Master Association headquarters made Feng Le feel nervous, but Mu Huiyue remained completely calm, her expression as if she were simply stepping out to buy something.

The two of them chose a weekend when they had no classes to visit the Beast Master Association headquarters.

President Kang Yao personally came to meet them and showed genuine concern for their academic progress and the development of their pets.

Feng Le knew that he was only benefiting from his junior’s success. His own situation was nothing special—there were many students at Jingzhou University’s attribute research program just like him. It was only the recently evolved puppet soul that stood out a bit more.

Mu Huiyue, however, was the real star who attracted the president’s attention. As a first-year student, she was already a level 5 Beast Master, had three contracted pets of the monarch species, had earned the title of senior Beast Master, and had brought the explosive new evolution, Frost Night Battle Wolf, to the exchange conference.

When President Kang Yao learned that Mu Huiyue had also contracted the Night Demon Scarecrow and had received a promise from the Withering Glory Spirit Deer, his gaze changed.

Her potential was even deeper than what had been revealed during the national ranking competition.

Not only was she skilled in Beast Master battles, but she had also made significant progress in attribute research, skill studies, and even exploration of secret realms.

All three of Mu Huiyue’s pets still had further evolution potential. If she could evolve a monarch-level pet before graduating from university…

It was certain that she would sweep the national competition, and joining the Great Yan national team and participating in the World Tournament for Origin Spirits would be completely possible.

Such a young and gifted Beast Master—President Kang Yao was more and more delighted the more he observed her.

He had intended to continue the conversation and delve deeper, but after a moment of thought, he decided not to bring up her parents in front of Mu Huiyue.

Mu Tong’s legendary incident from ten years ago had caused a rift with the Great Yan Beast Master Association, and Kang Yao had heard some unpleasant rumors about the family.

Mu Huiyue had come to Jingzhou University, far from Mu Tong’s own Xingzhou University, which spoke volumes on its own.

After a brief exchange, he patted the shoulders of the two outstanding students and had someone bring over the list of resources provided by the Beast Master Association.

This was a list of resources that the Jingjiang Beast Master Association headquarters could immediately allocate. Mu Huiyue and Feng Le could each choose a few items to take with them.

Feng Le glanced at the list, his hands trembling with excitement. Among them were even rare A-level and S-level extraordinary resources. Did he really deserve these things…?

Mu Huiyue briefly scanned the list as well and was surprised by the wealth of resources at the capital’s Beast Master Association. There were many restricted extraordinary resources that could not be freely traded on the market. The list was comparable to the database of the Bureau of Affairs.

Feng Le quickly found what he was looking for. Before coming here, he had specifically consulted Professor Xie on what kind of resources he should choose.

Professor Xie’s suggestion was the A-level dark-element extraordinary resource Heart of Souls.

This was a dark-type resource capable of greatly enhancing the spiritual power of contracted pets. The stronger the emotional energy, the greater the spiritual power, which could assist the skill Mental Manipulation in evolving into the advanced skill Soul Pull. It also greatly enhanced the Broken Line skill.

This was a perfectly tailored extraordinary resource for the puppet soul, also sourced from the A-level dark-type secret realm Horror Gorge. As such, it was almost never seen within the Great Yan region, and only the Beast Master Association’s headquarters had a very small chance of possessing it.

Fortunately, President Kang Yao’s resource list included information about the Heart of Souls.

Mu Huiyue, on the other hand, had a much more complicated decision to make.

To be honest, she wasn’t in immediate need of resources right now.

The Nightmare Rose, which Eren needed most, already had seeds, and besides, the list didn’t include any option for the Nightmare Rose.

As for Harvey’s evolution, it required more careful planning, and while the list did have resources that could be used for him, they were all geared toward the cultivation required for the Executioner of Fear evolution.

Mu Huiyue rejected the idea outright. She didn’t want to waste so much effort and resources only to have Harvey evolve into that grotesque, octopus-like creature with a head full of eyes and tattered cloths.

As for the resources White Fang needed, Professor Xie couldn’t offer any effective suggestions either.

Frost Night Battle Wolf was, after all, an unprecedented new evolution, and its cultivation direction could only be explored step by step, trying various approaches.

On this list, there were A-level ice-type resources Frostflower Stone and A-level dark-type resources Kaguya Firefly. Both of these could be tried for White Fang to absorb and see how they worked.

But in terms of enhancing traits, it wasn’t as perfectly suited as the Heart of Souls or Nightmare Rose.

Mu Huiyue was seriously considering which of the two resources to choose when, suddenly, she felt a blur before her eyes, and the list she was holding flipped a page by itself.

On one of the items, there appeared to be water-like, damp stains.

It was the S-level dark and fire-type extraordinary resource Phoenix Tail Feather.

The description of this resource was somewhat vague. It didn’t come from any S-level secret realm but was discovered in the historical ruins related to the Solar Phoenix.

Its specific effects were unclear, but it emitted an extraordinarily high level of latent energy fluctuations. Since its discovery over ten years ago, the energy fluctuations had remained remarkably stable, which led it to be classified as an S-level extraordinary resource.

Mu Huiyue had noticed this resource before and found it odd that an extraordinary resource related to the Solar Phoenix would be dark and fire-type.

However, she didn’t have a fire-type contracted pet beast. Although this resource was dark-type S-level, its effects were unclear, much like the SSR-tier seeds in her beast space, which were currently useless. So, she hadn’t considered choosing it.

Mu Huiyue turned the resource list to the page with Frostflower Stone, and for now, she was still leaning toward choosing that one.

Considering White Fang’s attributes, the dark-type portion was already enhanced by her beastmaster talent, so the extraordinary resource should lean more toward the ice-type.

However, the list trembled and stubbornly flipped back to the Phoenix Tail Feather page.

As if worried she couldn’t see it clearly, the water stains on the Phoenix Tail Feather entry had almost turned red, with boldened marks and an exclamation point, making it impossible for her to ignore.

Mu Huiyue: “…”

The first time it happened, she might have brushed it off as a mere illusion, but now she was sure—something external was flipping through the resource list, trying to make her choose Phoenix Tail Feather.

She looked up and carefully surveyed her surroundings. The only other person in the room was Feng Le, still browsing the list. Since it was rare for him to see so many extraordinary resources, he had already made his choice but was taking his time to look over the descriptions and expand his knowledge.

Her beastmaster talent, which enhanced dark-type abilities, sharpened her perception far beyond that of other beastmasters at her level. Yet, she didn’t sense anything unusual in the room.

Even Ellen, hidden in the shadows, hadn’t signaled any warning. She didn’t know where this external force originated from, but at least it seemed to carry no ill intent.

Mu Huiyue paused for a moment, then pretended to flip the resource list back.

Halfway through, she felt a distinct resistance, a cold object briefly pressing against her hand, causing the list to flip back to the page of [Phoenix Tail Feather].

Mu Huiyue sharply caught a faint mumbling sound, tinged with a hint of frustration.

“Dream Mum…!”

Dream Mum?

Mu Huiyue’s heartbeat skipped a beat. She certainly remembered this unique call. The first time she encountered the legendary fantasy race in her dreams, this was the voice she heard!

No wonder she and Ellen hadn’t sensed anything unusual. If Dream had no ill intentions toward her, and given that her beast-mastering talent level wasn’t high enough to detect extraordinary beings from fantasy races, it made sense.

However, the other party didn’t seem to want to reveal themselves, nor did they realize that the brief interaction had already given them away, quietly vanishing from the spot.

Mu Huiyue pretended to be deep in thought over the [Phoenix Tail Feather] page, but her mind was racing with all kinds of thoughts.

She recalled seeing Harvey’s consciousness dream during the Western Continent Harvest Festival.

Even now, she still felt that the timing of that dream was eerily coincidental. But if little Dream had been near her since then, everything would make sense.

She didn’t know why it was following her or why it refused to reveal itself, but Mu Huiyue decided to respect its wishes.

“I’ve made my decision,” she said, closing the resource list and standing up.

The president, Kang Yao, was somewhat surprised by her choice.

This list represented the resources that the Beast Master Association’s headquarters could currently mobilize, with only a few S-level resources, which weren’t urgent and had been stored in the headquarters’ warehouse for quite some time.

Mu Huiyue didn’t have any fire-type beast companions, so normally, she wouldn’t need the [Phoenix Tail Feather], which had both dark and fire attributes.

Furthermore, this resource was of unknown effect, and it had been rated as S-level more because of the strangely strong and stable latent energy fluctuations it emitted.

“May I ask why you chose it?” President Kang Yao stroked his chin.

“Well… maybe it’s because of my intuition?” Mu Huiyue replied, her thoughts drifting to whether the fantasy creature was still nearby.

“I feel like there might be some kind of mysterious connection with this feather… but that’s just my own feeling.”

As she spoke, Mu Huiyue glanced at President Kang Yao’s expression, then tentatively added, “If I were to consider it from the perspective of raising a beast, I would probably choose the [Frostflower Stone].”

President Kang Yao couldn’t help but smile, pleased that Mu Huiyue had decided to take both of her favored options—the A-level dark-type resource [Frostflower Stone] and the S-level dual dark and fire-type resource [Phoenix Tail Feather].

Mu Huiyue handed the [Frostflower Stone], which emitted a chilling cold, to White Fang, instructing it to absorb it just like it did with the previous [Frostnight Ice Flower].

She then took the [Phoenix Tail Feather].

It was an incredibly beautiful, dazzling feather, about half a meter long. Even just holding it in her hands, she could feel the surging latent energy fluctuations within it.

In stark contrast to the impression the Sun God Phoenix gave, this [Phoenix Tail Feather] was dark purple in color, with faint traces of dark energy swirling within its patterns. The markings resembled the shape of Infernal Flames.

It was constantly burning, yet it emitted no heat. If she had to describe it, it was somewhat reminiscent of Harvey’s raven.

Mu Huiyue held the [Phoenix Tail Feather] and waited for a while, but the Dream, which had strongly recommended she choose this resource, did not appear again for any further interaction.

She wondered what the reason was for little Dream insisting she pick this one…

But Mu Huiyue trusted it.

Just as it had shown her Harvey’s dream at the right moment, indirectly leading to the contract, this [Phoenix Tail Feather] must have some important reason behind it.

In any case, knowing that little Dream might be nearby made Mu Huiyue very happy.

She thanked President Kang Yao and left the Beast Master Association headquarters with Feng Le, returning to the school.