Chapter 80

Feng Le’s voice paused before he mentioned Xie Qingwei’s name.

Mu Huiyue immediately understood; Feng Le’s mentor was indeed Professor Xie Qingwei, the very person she had hoped to visit.

That saved her the trouble of bringing Ellen to introduce herself.

Mu Huiyue nodded and agreed to visit the research group with him.

Not long after, the challenge match on the arena also came to an end.

Wen Li and Chen Jiashu both failed to defeat Vice President Zheng Lin, the defender of the arena. The Lihua Bear proved with its own strength that it wasn’t slacking off, but rather, Mu Huiyue and her Baoya soldier were simply too extraordinary.

Using a combination of C-grade skills to permanently control an opponent higher in rank—was this a tactic that a Level 3 Beast Master and a mature beast could pull off?!

Chen Jiashu, holding his Chaos Thundercloud, had a dejected look on his face as he finally understood.

Both his Chaos Thundercloud and the Baoya soldier were low-level monarch beasts in their growth stage. They both had a core protection inside them, which allowed them to regenerate multiple times using their characteristics. The Chaos Thundercloud even had an advantage over the Baoya soldier by being immune to elemental energy attacks.

Yet, Chaos Thundercloud still lost to Zheng Lin’s Lihua Bear.

The outcome of this battle reflected the gap between him and Mu Huiyue—the difference in their Beast Mastery.

Wen Li, however, wasn’t discouraged. She patted her slightly downcast Flame Strike Meow, preparing for another round in the afternoon.

Mu Huiyue stepped forward and exchanged a few words with Wen Li.

The difference in their levels wasn’t something that could be easily bridged. If the Lihua Bear hadn’t been a purely power-based beast, perfectly suited to Ellen’s characteristics, Mu Huiyue would have been more cautious about the challenge.

She and Wen Li agreed to meet again after the afternoon session ended.

Wen Li waved to her friend, confident that she would win her afternoon battle!

…

Mu Huiyue then went with Feng Le to the Dark Attribute Research Institute affiliated with Jingzhou University.

It wasn’t exactly accurate to call it a research institute. Unlike the Original Wood Research Institute, where many expert professors each led different team projects covering various fields related to wood attributes, Jingzhou University’s dark attribute research was essentially the team of Professor Xie Qingwei alone.

From what Feng Le had gathered, even if Mu Huiyue was added, the team only consisted of five people in total.

Among them, two were already graduates.

Currently still working at the school, there was only Feng Le.

Mu Huiyue fell silent after hearing this, feeling as if she had been drafted into something unexpectedly.

If no new members were found this year, and Feng Le graduated in his third year, wouldn’t there be no one left in Professor Xie’s group?

Feng Le was also quite helpless. Beast Masters who contract dark attribute beasts were already rare, and his mentor’s requirements were so unusual that they couldn’t find anyone.

He had originally prepared to work alone in the group until graduation.

So when he saw Mu Huiyue in the battle hall, Feng Le was so excited and happy.

This was a path that had not been completely closed off…!

The two of them walked through the battle hall and the general teaching building. After not walking for long, they arrived at the location of the research institute.

The school had allocated two entire floors in the comprehensive research building to the dark attribute research group.

Although only four people were officially listed in the group, Professor Xie Qingwei had achieved remarkable research results in recent years. The necessary funding, facilities, and equipment were generously provided by Jingzhou University.

Feng Le took out his work ID to swipe open the door and led Mu Huiyue into the comprehensive research building.

The second and third floors were the domain of the dark attribute research group. Feng Le, familiar with the place, headed to the third floor and knocked on the door of the outermost office.

“Come in.” A slightly hoarse female voice came from inside the room.

Feng Le opened the door, and Mu Huiyue followed him inside, where they both saw the female researcher.

Professor Xie Qingwei was leaning back in her swivel chair, staring blankly at the ceiling with a soul-drifting expression.

There were deep shadows under her eyes, and she was biting the end of a cigarette. The desk was covered with empty energy drink bottles, and her once-white lab coat was carelessly crumpled in a heap on the corner of the desk.

“Why can’t I observe it…?” she muttered softly, seemingly still lost in her research.

Mu Huiyue couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. Professor Xie’s appearance in her daily life was quite different from the image of the intellectual researcher with glasses typically seen in news reports and encyclopedias. The contrast was somewhat striking.

Upon closer inspection, Mu Huiyue realized that what Professor Xie Qingwei was biting was not a cigarette butt, but rather… the small stick at the bottom of a lollipop?

While she was thinking about it, a supernatural creature with a dark halo above its head, black misty wings on its back, and a slender, flexible body suddenly appeared behind Professor Xie Qingwei. It expertly snuffed out the cigarette butt that was in her mouth.

—To her surprise, it turned out to be a lollipop.

“I wasn’t lying to you, it’s really a lollipop,” Professor Xie Qingwei said, rubbing her face and smiling slightly while maintaining her reclined posture. “I promised I’d quit smoking. I’m always a woman of my word. When I say I’ll quit, I really do.”

The bracelet’s illustrated guide scanned the information of the supernatural creature.

Name: Guardian Spirit
Attribute: Dark, Undead
Race Level: Intermediate Monarch
Growth Stage: Full-Form First Stage
Core Talent: Shared Fate (Dark Attribute, B-Level)
Race Description: A supernatural creature formed through the emotional resonance of dark attribute hidden energy and a biological soul. It is the evolved form of a spiritual being that exists behind the individual, possessing the unique characteristic of sharing the same life as its Beastmaster and will do everything in its power to protect its contracted object. No wild individuals have been found so far.

Normal Hidden Energy Value: 110wP

Mu Huiyue was slightly stunned. Professor Xie’s contracted beast was actually a Guardian Spirit?

This was an extremely rare monarch-level race combining both dark and undead attributes. Most people didn’t even know such a supernatural creature existed. Mu Huiyue had only come across this information when investigating the same attribute small skeletons.

It was said that some very special souls, ones with strong obsessions, would, after death, transform into an intermediate battle general race supernatural creature known as a Back Spirit in areas and times rich in dark attribute energy.

These creatures were born due to the resonance of that obsession.

Typically, a Back Spirit would attach itself to a human who had a special connection with it in life. If the human did not awaken as a Beastmaster, they might never discover the presence of the Back Spirit throughout their entire life.

Those humans who become Beastmasters and are possessed by a Back Spirit may be willing to form a contract with it, viewing it as an important companion in their journey as a Beastmaster.

Only a very few Back Spirits, who are bound by special connections, can evolve into an intermediate monarch-level Guardian Spirit after meeting the rigorous conditions.

The conditions for evolution seem to be related to emotional resonance, but due to the rarity of such cases, there is currently no definitive conclusion in academia.

As mentioned in the information guide, the Guardian Spirit is one of the extremely rare extraordinary beings that was not born in a secret realm and has no confirmed wild counterparts.

Its appearance and evolution seem to be closely related to humans, particularly Beastmasters who form a contract with it.

Even this information was seen by Mu Huiyue on the internal forum of the Bureau of Affairs, marked as confidential.

The author was “Don’t Pinch My Cigarette,” who had published many research papers on dark attribute beasts.

Thinking of this, Mu Huiyue turned her gaze to the Guardian Spirit, who was particularly adept at the action of extinguishing cigarettes.

Upon realizing that what it had removed wasn’t a cigarette butt but a harmless lollipop, the Guardian Spirit emitted a soft, gurgling sound, and its wings—formed from black mist—shrunk and expanded with a hint of helplessness before it stuffed the lollipop back into the Beastmaster’s mouth.

Xie Qingwei smiled as she switched the lollipop to the other side, causing her right cheek to puff up slightly.

Mu Huiyue thought to herself that she might know whose ID “Don’t Pinch My Cigarette” was.

Finally snapping out of her daze, Professor Xie straightened her posture in the swivel chair and looked toward the two people who had entered the office.

“Has the club activity finished, Feng Le?”

The research project had hit a temporary bottleneck, and Xie Qingwei had been working late into the night, yet she still urged the only student in the group to go out and get some fresh air.

After all, staying here was of no use. It was better to go out, meet some new classmates, and perhaps even find new inspiration.

“I went over to the Battle Club and then…” Feng Le shifted his body to the side, making room for the person standing behind him. “I met a Beastmaster with a monarch-level Fang Tooth Soldier, Professor Xie!”

Hmm?

Xie Qingwei blinked, wondering if her long hours without sleep were causing auditory hallucinations.

A monarch-level Fang Tooth Soldier?

“Hello, Professor Xie. I’m Mu Huiyue, a first-year student in the Battle Department this year,” the black-haired girl stepped forward and introduced herself. “This is my contracted beast, Ellen.”

The shadow beneath her feet suddenly stretched, and the tall, upright skeleton rose from the shadow. A flicker of eerie blue flame ignited in its right eye.

“Clack, clack.” Ellen slightly bowed and elegantly saluted Xie Qingwei.

“Grurrr!” The slender and agile Guardian Spirit swiftly darted over to the pale white skeleton, circled around it, and the black mist forming wings behind it extended a tendril that spread out.

The black mist surrounding the Fang Tooth Soldier also split off a tendril, and the two mist strands lightly brushed against each other in the air in a friendly manner.

“Grurrrrrr!” The Guardian Spirit let out an excited sound toward its Beastmaster.

Xie Qingwei, still slightly stunned by her pet’s reaction, murmured, “…It really is a monarch-level Fang Tooth Soldier.”

For an ordinary Beastmaster, hearing the combination of these two words might just feel a little unusual, marveling that a skeletal creature like the Fang Tooth Soldier could actually be a monarch species with king-like intimidation.

But as a professional in dark attribute research, Xie Qingwei understood what this meant on a much deeper level.

A flood of questions filled her mind, like mountains, and the girl before her, along with the pale white skeleton, seemed like a treasure waiting to be uncovered, capable of bringing new hope to her long-stagnant research.

She hadn’t expected Feng Le to venture out just once and actually meet a suitable project member, even bringing the person back… This cleverness—no wonder she had trained such a sharp student!

Professor Xie steadied herself, suppressing the initial shock and the questions swirling in her mind, regaining her composure and dignity as a mentor.

She asked Mu Huiyue in a kind tone whether she had an interest in delving deeper into dark attribute beasts and whether she would be willing to join the dark attribute research group’s projects.

Although research projects wouldn’t earn credits for the Battle Department, delving deeper into them would help Beastmasters become more familiar with their pets, uncovering stronger breeding models and evolutionary directions.

If they really achieved results, it wouldn’t just bring rewards within Jingzhou University, but they could also attend various academic conferences, gain more external benefits, and comprehensively enhance their strength.

The Guardian Spirit’s actions mirrored Xie Qingwei’s, with its round eyes staring at Mu Huiyue, giving off the appearance of a wise mentor offering guidance.

Mu Huiyue smiled slightly, noting that Professor Xie’s expression at this moment was very similar to Feng Le’s when he had invited her earlier.

It was the expression of someone completely immersed in knowledge and the unknown, a person who loved research.

A large part of the reason she came to Jingzhou University was because of Professor Xie Qingwei, so at this moment, there was no reason to refuse.

Upon receiving the affirmative response, the exhaustion from staying up all night recording experimental data disappeared instantly from Professor Xie Qingwei’s face. With excitement in her eyes, she stood up.

“I’ll have Feng Le introduce the details of the project to you later.”

“If it’s convenient for you, could I give the Blade Fang Beast a check-up now?”