Lunch was pork leg rice, eaten in the cafeteria, courtesy of Wang Dawei.
After resting in the classroom for a while, Lin Guang was awakened by his biological clock. By then, the lunch break was almost over, and the teacher should have returned to the office. Lin Guang left a simple note on the table and walked out of the classroom, heading to the teacher's office door, and gently knocked.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Come in."
Opening the door, Lin Guang saw the homeroom teacher, Ouyang Wei, sitting on a rattan chair. Seeing Lin Guang, he raised an eyebrow, slightly surprised: "Oh? I was just about to have someone inform you to come to the office."
"What a coincidence, I also have something I want to ask you."
"Hmm, take a seat."
Lin Guang sat down in the seat opposite Ouyang Wei.
"Ahem... I forgot to remind you earlier."
After a light cough, Ouyang Wei's expression gradually turned serious, and he said somewhat heavily, "You should remember the school's rules, the information on the contracted Spirit Beast must be submitted by next Monday."
He sighed, "Otherwise, you'll either go to the regular class or to the thirteenth class."
Contracting a Spirit Beast takes up a certain amount of soul capacity, and Spiritual Power is the foundation of a Spirit Master.
The vast majority of Spirit Masters choose to contract a Spirit Beast only after their talent is fully awakened, to avoid a mismatch where the talent cannot enhance the Spirit Beast, but that also varies case by case.
Lin Guang's talent couldn't fully awaken for unknown reasons. While not unheard of, generally speaking, the stimulation brought by contracting a Spirit Beast helps with talent awakening. So, as early as five months ago, he attempted to contract a Spirit Beast upon realizing he was stuck, but has yet to succeed.
The Spirit Class One is the so-called "experimental class," receiving state subsidies and enjoying the best resources. To prevent misuse of benefits (falsely claiming to wait for talent awakening) and unrealistic expectations (talent not enough, hoping to contract a high-potential Spirit Beast through luck), this rule was established.
The other eleven classes are regular classes, while the thirteenth class is the "Liberal Arts Class," or the theoretical school, where students aspire to develop in the theoretical research domain of spirit beasts instead of combat.
But no matter what class Lin Guang chooses, in a world where 70% of the population is eligible to contract Spirit Beasts, as long as he cannot contract a Spirit Beast, the gap with classmates will widen, and common topics will become fewer — even theoretical research requires close observation of Spirit Beasts, doesn't it?
Being able to contract is stronger than not being able to contract.
This is also why the classmates in the class looked at him with eyes full of care and pity.
Forgot to remind, huh... Lin Guang felt a warmth in his heart, first nodding to indicate he remembered, then looked up, his eyes behind black-framed glasses shining brightly, and said solemnly, "Teacher Ouyang, I want to take the afternoon off."
Ouyang Wei slightly raised his eyebrows, feeling that the boy before him seemed to have changed.
In the past, Lin Guang never dared to make eye contact when speaking, often hiding behind the guise of fiddling with his bangs, his speaking tone a bit low. But who is this boy now looking at him with firm eyes?
After a moment of daze, a trace of relief flashed in Ouyang Wei's eyes, and the muscles at the corners of his eyes relaxed a bit.
From Ouyang Wei's position, it was also difficult to open up and guide him.
Because he knew Lin Guang's family situation.
Orphaned, it was already extremely difficult to consistently stay at the top of cultural subjects, and he also faced the heavy blow of being unable to contract a Spirit Beast that most people found devastating.
Though Ouyang Wei had faced the invasion of the Demon Realm head-on and retired from the army as a Spirit Master, even he, accustomed to seeing life and death, didn't know how to instruct such an unfortunate good child.
Although he didn't know what Lin Guang had experienced or how he figured it out, this was undoubtedly a good thing—after all, Lin Guang still had such a brilliant mind, as long as he could think things through, his future path wouldn't be too bad.
"Did something happen?"
"I want to take a stroll in the Spirit Beast market under Hualong."
Ouyang Wei was taken aback, his brows furrowing as if he heard something unbelievable, and the previously comforting gaze turned serious: "Lin Guang, I never imagined you would be this type of fearless student."
"Where did you hear this?"
"Teacher, I'm well aware," Lin Guang said in a tone unfamiliar to him, with a calmness. "If it's so dangerous there, why haven't the authorities and families abolished it, allowing it a place in a busy street? Why do so many retired army Spirit Masters have tickets to enter?"
"The intricate interests here are not something a student can comprehend; what you should do is stay away."
Ouyang Wei seemed to threaten, but in fact, he was advising, "Do you know what you're saying? In the grey areas where the rules are blurred, can you guarantee you won't have any issues?"
"Moreover, the variety of Spirit Beasts there couldn't possibly be as comprehensive as the Beast Breeding Base, and the quality isn't as good as the base or the city Spirit Beast Mall."
Lin Guang chuckled: "I'm not just going for Spirit Beasts..."
He said earnestly, "In short, I want you to give me directions."
"If you don't agree, I'll have to find another way."
"..."
Ouyang Wei took a deep look at Lin Guang, knowing he wasn't joking.
Even if he refused here, with Lin Guang's mind, he would probably come up with another way.
Where there is light, there is shadow, especially in this world where power belongs to individuals, the existence of grey areas is extremely normal.
Ouyang Wei slowly said, "I don't know where you heard it from, but the underground black market just has Spirit Beasts whose origins aren't clean, not likely to have valuable Spirit Beasts not even the Beast Breeding Base has."
"I'm indeed not just going to look at Spirit Beasts..."
In reality, Lin Guang wanted to visit the underground black market, primarily driven by the excitement after awakening, wanting to reconnect closely with Spirit Beasts, and wasn't really expecting to find any rare Spirit Beasts. Additionally, he wanted to confirm whether the common Spirit Beasts and materials in the market matched what he knew from games, to prepare for becoming a noble "Miracle Master" in the future.
In this world, some Spirit Beasts, and certain Spirit Masters possess special traits, skills, or talents. They may not have much combat power but can do unimaginable things to ordinary Spirit Masters in certain aspects —for instance, aiding in Spirit Beast evolution;
shortening the growth time of Spirit Beasts;
or even accelerating the complete awakening of talents.
Lin Guang's thinking was simple—since the talent is stuck, he would find another way to forcibly awaken it with external help, and if that wasn't possible, at least find out the activation conditions.
No one knows if there's a Miracle Master who can activate a talent of a single-digit series number red Legend level, but it shouldn't be so despairing at the blue level yet.
The difficulty with this issue lies in such individuals often being VIPs of major forces, called "Miracle Masters," and ordinary people scarcely have the opportunity to interact with them.
But if approached as a peer Miracle Master, or with an equivalent researcher status, then it becomes feasible.
This is why he's prepared to take a year off from school.
Once he knows the specific demands of the talent, he'll pursue contracting a Spirit Beast based on that requirement.
As long as it doesn't require complete divinity, even with a purple Legendary level (Quasi-god) Spirit Beast, Lin Guang can find a way through a Prophet; it just requires a bit of time to plan.