Chapter 8

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Zhou Wanli rushed forward and firmly pressed down on Baby Dragon’s shoulder, stopping it from further exhausting its physical energy.

“Baby Dragon! Calm down first, listen to me!” The girl wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, speaking patiently, “I’m telling you this not to make you reckless and ignore your own body in pursuit of revenge.”

“The most important thing now is to treat your wounds, or they’ll worsen. Even if you could leave the secret realm, you wouldn’t have the strength to go home!”

At her words, the crimson in Baby Dragon’s eyes faded slightly, and a hint of grievance appeared in its gaze. “Awooo~”

“All right, don’t be upset,” Zhou Wanli said as she gently stroked the little creature’s chubby head while carefully tending to its injuries.

Baby Dragon’s wounds were many, and it took nearly half a day to barely finish treating them; the medicinal supplies were completely used up.

The little one must have been exhausted long ago. Halfway through the bandaging, it let down its guard and leaned against her leg, falling asleep.

By then, night had already fallen.

Fortunately, around the banyan tree grew a kind of white flower that glowed faintly at night. In the soft light of these blossoms, Zhou Wanli quietly admired everything before her.

In just one short day, it had all seemed like a dream—so many things happened that she had never imagined.

Only now, in this quiet, undisturbed night, did she feel a sense of reality return. Feeling a weight on her leg, she turned her head and saw Baby Dragon had accidentally draped its tail over her.

A gentle smile curved her lips as she reached out to touch the dirty tip of that tail.

The forest night was far calmer than she had imagined. Originally afraid of nocturnal creatures attacking, the girl stayed awake, taking a thin blanket from her backpack and covering both herself and Baby Dragon, eyes open and vigilant, unwilling to sleep.

But after some unknown time, the whole forest was filled only with the rustling wind and the cicadas’ singing, as if all surrounding creatures had fallen into rest.

The weary girl could no longer resist sleep’s pull. Accompanied by Baby Dragon’s faint snoring, she finally succumbed and fell asleep.

—

“Squeak—squeak squeak!”

“Awoo howl—”

Chaotic cries echoed persistently in her ears—juvenile and sharp voices clashing back and forth, neither yielding, the volume growing louder.

Zhou Wanli could take no more and opened her eyes directly.

“Awoo~”

Seeing her “protector” awake at last, Baby Dragon excitedly pounced on her.

Zhou Wanli felt as if she hadn’t fully woken before being overwhelmed by a weight she could barely bear. She struggled forward twice, turning her head to see who dared to harm her.

To her surprise, it was Baby Dragon looking at her with a completely innocent expression. Zhou Wanli was speechless.

“What are you doing?” she said.

Baby Dragon huffed and pointed with its little paw to the side: “Awoo—Big bad!”

A defiant monkey glared provocatively: “Squeak squeak squeak! What’re you looking at, you little fool!”

So the quarrel had started early in the morning.

But thinking it over, Zhou Wanli realized something was off. “Wait! How did you get down? Didn’t I tie you to the tree?” she asked the provocative monkey in surprise.

The monkey stood with hands on hips, looking proud: “Squeak!”

“Foolish human, how could a single rope hold the monkey king?”

Zhou Wanli: “…”

Fine then, if it’s untied, it’s untied. After a day together, she knew the monkey king was mostly just a nuisance, not a serious threat.

“You’re free now,” Zhou Wanli waved her hand. “As long as you don’t attack me or Baby Dragon, I won’t catch you again. If you want to leave, go now.”

“Squeak?” The monkey was momentarily stunned, then eyed the human suspiciously, wondering if there was a trap.

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After seeing no further movement, it tentatively stepped forward, then glanced back to confirm, and finally darted away.

Baby Dragon was unhappy, wagging its little tail and slamming it against the ground repeatedly.

Small in size but big in temper.

Zhou Wanli could only soothe it by gently rubbing its head and explaining softly, “Although the monkey deceived you, it didn’t harm you during your vulnerable early stage, right?”

“It even helped you before,” she added when Baby Dragon tried to object. “It helped you find food and adapt to the secret realm—that counts.”

Baby Dragon frowned, thinking it over, and reluctantly nodded in agreement.

“So I’m letting it go. Your grudges are all settled. If you meet it again and want to fight, I won’t stop you,” Zhou Wanli promised.

The little triangular face instantly brightened with satisfaction.

“Also…”

Zhou Wanli hesitated, uncertain how to address Baby Dragon.

With a soft pat, a cool little paw rested on her leg. The brass-colored eyes locked onto her, filled with trust.

“Awoo?”

Perhaps encouraged by those bright, clear eyes, Zhou Wanli made up her mind after careful thought: “Will you become my contracted beast? Come with me and leave this secret realm?”

“I don’t know exactly where my home is, but I promise I’ll try to find it for you.”

“Even if we never find it, as long as you trust me, I’ll keep looking, and my home will be your home too.”

—

With Baby Dragon’s unguarded trust, Zhou Wanli used neural tendrils as a bridge to quickly build a psychic field connecting both minds.

A mysterious blue ring spread from the core of her brain domain, rippling outward in circles until it enveloped Baby Dragon’s entire body. The next moment, Baby Dragon vanished into thin air.

Within Zhou Wanli’s brain domain appeared a wondrous blue lake, inside which a miniature version of Baby Dragon slept, looking somewhat bewildered.

This was the Beast Tamer’s “Heart Sea,” created upon contracting a beast to house and nourish the pet.

When the contract completed and Zhou Wanli officially became an E-rank Beast Tamer, the text in her brain domain flickered again, and Baby Dragon’s data appeared.

[Name: Zhou Wanli]

[Brain Domain Development: 10→11 (Barren)]

[Neural Tendrils: 3 (Fragile and easily broken)]

[Mental Strength: 120→200 (Brain Domain Skill Simulation: 20/20 uses)]

[First Heart Sea Contracted Beast—Baby Dragon (Intimacy: 85)]

Gender: Male (Age: 1 year)

Aptitude: Excellent

Level: Mid E-rank

Element: Earth

Innate Trait: Sandstorm Body

Basic Skills: Sand Throw (Intermediate 109/200), Roar (Beginner 23/100), Claw (Intermediate 157/200), Rock Scatter (Beginner 56/100)

Inherited Skills: Earth Escape (Intermediate 105/200), Sandstorm Fury (Beginner 23/100)]

Zhou Wanli released Baby Dragon from the Heart Sea, her eyes shining with delight.

First, she hadn’t expected the data panel to display all the contracted beast’s stats, and second, Baby Dragon’s stats were impressive—at only one year old, it had enormous potential.

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Generally, Beast Tamers consider several factors when contracting extraordinary creatures: aptitude ranks from poor to excellent, the presence and quality of innate traits and their synergy with the beast’s elemental skills, and finally inherited skills, which awaken only through bloodline activation. Usually, beasts with inherited skills have parents at least B-rank or higher.

Baby Dragon not only possessed inherited skills but had two of them.

Zhou Wanli couldn’t help but marvel again: truly, she was the woman heaven chased to feed! (Proud smile)

Baby Dragon tilted its head and gazed with innocent big eyes at the endlessly grinning Beast Tamer, utterly clueless about what was happening.

After much thought, it decided to help her. Then—

Zhou Wanli, still grinning foolishly, was suddenly slapped hard in the face by a blast of sand. “Ptooey, ptooey!”

The girl looked down angrily; Baby Dragon wagged its tail, pleased with itself.

“Awoo~”

—

“I didn’t expect brain domain skill simulation to work like this!”

Zhou Wanli watched Baby Dragon closely. When she touched the four small words “Skill Simulation” in her brain domain, six distinct energy lines appeared faintly within the little creature’s body—four pale yellow and two deep yellow.

She selected one deep yellow energy line and instantly felt her mind go blank as an invisible force transferred from her to Baby Dragon.

The deep yellow energy coalesced in front of Baby Dragon; the ground trembled with sand, earthy energy condensed and spun in the air, forming a violent whirlwind. Seconds later, a massive sand vortex appeared!

This was Baby Dragon’s inherited skill: Sandstorm Fury!

With a thunderous roar, the raging energy slammed into the ground.

Simultaneously, the numbers before Zhou Wanli changed.

[Mental Strength: 190/200 (Brain Domain Skill Simulation 19/20 uses)]

[Sandstorm Fury: Beginner (23+1/100)]

So, 10 points of mental strength could help Baby Dragon simulate using one skill once, and at the same time increase that skill’s proficiency?

Realizing the significance, Zhou Wanli’s eyes lit up.

She seemed to have discovered a broad path for her contracted beast’s rapid growth.

Moreover, if used in battle, when Baby Dragon’s own energy was depleted, could she still use her mental strength to continue casting skills?

Wow! Incredible!

Thinking this way, her smile grew uncontrollably wide again.

Of the remaining 19 skill simulations, four were spent on basic skills to fully master Baby Dragon’s current abilities and better command her contracted beast; the rest were invested in inherited skills.

She found inherited skills demanded immense energy, and if Baby Dragon used them alone, one skill might exhaust its body.

But when Zhou Wanli used her mental strength to aid skill practice, no matter the skill, it cost a fixed 10 mental strength points.

Given that, it was clearly more efficient to practice the more energy-consuming and powerful inherited skills.

Just as Zhou Wanli was lost in boosting skill proficiency with mental energy—

[Ping!]

The familiar broadcast echoed once again across the sky.