"Whoa."
W hopped lightly off the scooter and looked up. "Pretty big."
Lin Guang followed her gaze. "It's actually my first time here too."
From the outside, it was a massive, stadium-like square building. The main structure shimmered in shades of blue with a moist, glossy sheen—spirit inscription arrays covered the entire training ground, reinforcing the structure and slightly increasing the ambient aether concentration.
This was a training facility known for its water-attribute environment, located just two kilometers from Zhen Sheng Experimental High School. Many novice Spirit Masters without wilderness experience came here to train their partner spirit beasts.
Lin Guang and W walked in through the entrance. Everything inside was painted blue, and embedded aquariums lined the walls, filled with all kinds of swimming fish.
It felt more like an aquarium than a training ground.
W pressed her face against the glass, staring at a colorful eel-like ornamental spirit beast. When it curiously swam closer, she suddenly made a wicked expression.
Skill [Fear Face] activated.
In the next moment, a faint but sinister aether fluctuation spread from her eyes, startling the creature into frantic swimming.
"Hahaha! So this 'skill' thing is actually kinda fu—ugh."
Before she could finish, Lin Guang grabbed her by the collar and dragged her away. "Stop embarrassing us. If you scare it to death, we'll be eating dirt for months."
Pulling her to his side, Lin Guang glanced at the front desk staff to make sure they hadn't noticed anything, then said, "One one-star training room. No attribute preference, but we need basic targets and equipment."
"Three hours upfront. Refund the rest if we leave early."
Although W wasn't a freshly hatched spirit beast, there was a lot to test today, so Lin Guang booked extra time.
"Alright, one-star rooms are 150 Daxia coins per hour. Three hours is 400. Are your spirit beasts not large-sized?" the staff member asked.
Clearly, they hadn't recognized W as a spirit beast. They assumed her horns were just accessories or cosplay, and didn't even check for a contract mark on her hand—thinking the beasts were stored in a contract space.
"Yeah, small to medium-sized."
"Got it. Room B31."
Not long after, they walked down a corridor and entered the training room.
It was incredibly spacious—over twenty meters in both length and width, and about five to six meters high. The walls were made of stone slabs, with no special features. At most, it could be considered a "Normal-type field."
On the far end were all kinds of training equipment. Whether for elephant-type beasts or insect-type ones, there were suitable weights. There were also human weapons, armor, a lounge area, and a restroom.
Lin Guang closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then nodded slightly.
Stable. No lingering dampness from water-attribute aether like in the hallway. The isolation and purification here were well done.
After forming a contract with W and leveling up as a Spirit Master, Lin Guang had gained a faint ability to sense the surrounding aether environment.
Normally, clear aether perception only came around level 15. There wasn't a strict threshold, but sensing it at level 7 was rare—thanks partly to his master-level contract technique, and partly to his naturally sharp perception.
Generally speaking, after a training session, the facility needed to cleanse the room's aether. For example, if a fire-type beast trained here, fire aether would linger, making it harder for water-type beasts to train and even causing fatigue.
Cleaning aether required special tools or spirit beasts, which wasn't cheap. Some shady facilities claimed thorough cleaning but barely did anything—most low-level Spirit Masters couldn't tell the difference anyway.
Lin Guang didn't just choose this place for convenience. Its online reviews were solid, and its aether purification rate for standard rooms reached 80–90%, which matched reality.
He raised his phone and scanned the QR code on the wall, opening a list of services.
He selected: "Crybaby Scarecrow."
This was a gray, inferior-grade spirit beast. It looked just like a field scarecrow—completely harmless, only capable of a few support and self-recovery skills.
Soon after placing the order, a hidden door on the side opened, and a Crybaby Scarecrow was delivered via conveyor belt. It wore a worn red shirt, a straw hat, and had a crudely drawn face with black paint—ridiculous-looking.
"This is your training target—the Crybaby Scarecrow."
"Huh?" W raised an eyebrow, glancing at the motionless scarecrow tied to a wooden post. "You're testing me with this thing? A Sarkaz elite mercenary?"
Lin Guang smiled and shook his head. "That was in the past, wasn't it?"
"…"
W choked on her words. Her current strength was nowhere near what it used to be—her physical abilities, strength, and reaction speed had all dropped. Her explosive Originium Arts were gone, and even her familiar weapons were missing.
She clicked her tongue in dissatisfaction but didn't argue further. Instead, she walked to the corner and picked up a dagger about the length of her forearm. After weighing it in her hand, she tossed it lightly and caught it in a reverse grip.
W took a deep breath.
In the next instant, her body dipped low like a hunting cheetah. With a sudden step, she vanished from sight—
—and reappeared behind the scarecrow in the blink of an eye, stabbing cleanly toward its back.
The blade sank in without resistance.
At the same moment, Lin Guang raised his hands—
—but not to applaud.
He covered his ears.
"WAAAAAH!!!"
A soul-piercing wail erupted, echoing violently through the training room.
Even W , a battle-hardened mercenary, was startled. Her tail shot straight up like an antenna as she leapt backward three to four meters, muscles tensed, ready for anything.
Only after the crying stopped—and the scarecrow remained completely still—did she finally relax.
"...Tch."
She turned back to Lin Guang, her expression full of annoyance.
"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"