"Please choose your own. Most of the eggs here contain beasts of silver-level aptitude, though there may be a few bronze and gold-level ones mixed in," the teacher said with a smile as he looked at the more than ninety students before him.
These were all talented beast tamers. Out of more than a thousand senior high school students, only ninety or so had awakened talent—proof of just how rare it was.
"Wow! The school is so generous this time!"
"Yes, that's a beast egg!"
The students couldn't help but exclaim when they learned the eggs contained silver-aptitude beasts.
Once a beast hatched from an egg and signed a contract, it often shared a closer bond with its beastmaster—sometimes even to the extent of telepathy.
Therefore, on the market, the price of a beast egg was more than double that of a fully-grown beast of the same aptitude.
An ordinary silver-aptitude beast was worth at least several million federal coins—let alone a silver-aptitude beast egg!
The school's generosity was astonishing.
This starting point was already far higher than that of beastmasters without talent.
Xu Changsheng was all the more relieved that he had not completely hidden his talent.
---
"Changsheng, what do you think of this beast egg?"
Lin Hang pointed at a sky-blue egg in front of him, clearly uncertain.
After all, none of the beast eggs displayed their race or qualifications. Choosing one was essentially blind luck. And since this was to be his first beast, Lin Hang couldn't afford to be careless.
Xu Changsheng looked at the egg Lin Hang pointed to, and in an instant, information invisible to others appeared before his eyes:
---
Race: Poisonous Green Snake (Poison Attribute)
Qualification: Silver Intermediate
Talent Skills: Fatal Coil (Normal), Venomous Shot (Excellent)
Evolution Route 1 – Venom Direction:
First evolution → Colorful Scale Snake (Gold)
Second evolution → Seven-Colored Poisonous Dragon (Platinum)
Evolution Route 2 – Body Size Direction:
First evolution → Twisted Anaconda (Gold)
Second evolution → Earth-Splitting Demonic Serpent (Platinum)
Third evolution → Sky-Swallowing Python (Diamond)
---
Xu Changsheng's eyes flashed with understanding. The power of the [Eye of the World] was even greater than he had imagined.
The Poisonous Green Snake was a common silver-level beast, feared for its venom and lethality.
But in this world, everyone believed that although the snake was strong in the early stages, it had no room for growth—it could never advance beyond silver.
Yet the [Eye of the World] revealed two possible evolution routes. One led to a platinum-level beast, the other to a diamond-level beast!
In this world, beast qualifications were divided into ten levels: Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Broken Star, Bright Moon, Sun, and Myth.
The difference between each level was vast and insurmountable.
Take Changnan City for example: its strongest beastmaster was only at the platinum level. His contracted beast was likewise platinum.
Compared to a diamond-level beastmaster, the gap was immeasurable.
And such beasts were beyond price. Even if the mighty Gu Family went bankrupt and poured all its connections into it, it still might not acquire one.
But here, with just a silver-aptitude egg worth a few million, such heights were already within reach.
The difference was staggering.
Xu Changsheng quickly scanned the rest of the beast eggs, gathering all their information in moments.
He then pointed to a pure white egg beside him.
"I think this one is more suitable for you."
It was the egg of a silver high-level Wind Monkey, famous for its speed and attack power—perfectly suited to Lin Hang's Super Speed Enhancement talent.
Moreover, the Wind Monkey had a known evolutionary route that advanced to gold, making future growth more convenient.
"This one? Okay! White looks good too," Lin Hang said happily.
Since he was essentially choosing blind, following Xu Changsheng's advice gave him confidence.
Xu Changsheng, meanwhile, had already chosen the egg he wanted.
It was a dark egg lying quietly on the shelf, deep and mysterious like a miniature black hole. The light around it warped slightly, as though even sunlight could not penetrate its darkness.
"Changsheng, are you sure about this?" Lin Hang asked worriedly when he saw his choice.
There was an unwritten rule when selecting beast eggs: the brighter the color, the higher the aptitude.
The darker the egg, the worse the aptitude—some even failed to hatch entirely.
And an egg this dark was considered the greatest taboo of all.
---
"Hah! What do two poor brats know about beast-taming eggs?"
A mocking voice sounded from behind.
"Don't think you can soar to the heavens just because you awakened a good talent! Sometimes, resources matter more than talent."
Gu Siyuan stepped forward, smirking. A glow flashed from the ring on his left hand, and a sea-blue beast egg appeared in his palm.
"See this? A space ring—worth millions of federal coins! And this? A high-grade beast egg worth tens of millions! How can you possibly compare with me?"
He looked at Xu Changsheng with disdain, arrogance overflowing in his eyes, laughing wildly as if victory was already his.
But Xu Changsheng simply remained still, staring back at him indifferently.
Until Gu Siyuan's laughter faltered and froze on his face.
The arrogance in his eyes turned into cold fury.
Finally, Xu Changsheng spoke.
"A clown will always be a clown. No matter how good his family background is, he's nothing but a barking dog."
"You—you…!"
Gu Siyuan trembled with rage. He pointed at Xu Changsheng, saliva flying, but he couldn't utter a proper retort.
His ugly expression drew laughter from the crowd.
They were all students, young and spirited. None had the patience to indulge Gu Siyuan, the arrogant rich young master.
Hearing their laughter, Gu Siyuan's face flushed crimson. His eyes filled with bloodshot rage as he roared:
"Three days from now! In the Beast Taming Arena! A life-and-death duel—do you dare?!"
The crowd gasped.
A life-and-death duel was no joke. It meant exactly what it sounded like—one of them would die.
Though Xu Changsheng was acknowledged as an A-level talent, he was still new, untrained, and lacked resources. Against someone like Gu Siyuan, who had everything at his disposal, could he really win?
Everyone turned to look at Xu Changsheng with anticipation.
Would this civilian genius back down?
But Xu Changsheng remained calm. He only spoke four simple words:
"Why not?"