The principle behind a Spirit Tamer's personal cultivation lies in using meditation to trace the runes of the contract method beneath the "surface" of the mind, resonating them together with one's innate talent.
During this process, the talent runes at the top and the contract method runes at the bottom resonate simultaneously, gradually expanding the "spiritual sea." The quality of the spiritual power condensed within is also continuously refined.
In essence, the proficiency of one's meditation contract method reflects the efficiency of this resonance within the spiritual sea, as well as the level of control over one's own mind.
For most novice Spirit Tamers, their proficiency in meditation is low. While they can draw in ambient mental-type aether to increase their spiritual power limit, the process is inefficient—more is spent than gained—causing increasing fatigue the longer they practice. As a result, they can't sustain long sessions.
On top of that, the Contract Chain (Slave Contract) suppresses a spirit beast's will and initially occupies part of the user's spiritual recovery capacity. Because of this, many people experience a period of discomfort when practicing their contract method after forming a new contract.
With these two debuffs stacked, any student here who could last a full hour had already surpassed the vast majority of their peers.
Lin Guang, however, was different. He felt like he could keep going for a very, very long time—perhaps even replace sleep entirely.
"Let's go, let's go."
Normally, even after class ended, the concentration of mental-type aether here remained higher than elsewhere, so he would usually stay and continue meditating alone for quite a while.
But this time, he left immediately after class ended.
Because just now, W had gotten so bored she started shadowboxing inside his head.
—One of the not-quite-a-drawback downsides of an Equal Contract: spirit beasts retained full self-awareness even inside the contract space. Being able to meditate under those conditions required near superhuman focus.
Unlike his previous life's schools, which were purely academic, Zhen Sheng Experimental School ranked among the top ten Spirit Tamer high schools in Fenghai Province and was one of the best in Zhen Sheng City. Naturally, it occupied an enormous campus.
On the left side of the school, there was even a lush grove of Golden Birch trees, extravagantly planted between the library and the meditation hall.
According to seniors, the grove had no special function. But in autumn, the ground would be blanketed in golden leaves, creating a uniquely beautiful scene.
It was relatively remote, and few people came here. In an ordinary high school, this might be a spot for secret dates, but here, at most, a few students with wood-attribute spirit beasts would wander through. After all, Golden Birch trees were oddly common in Zhen Sheng City—nothing rare.
Lin Guang strolled over, then activated the spirit mark on his right hand. A faint blue glow appeared as he released W from the spirit space.
Today, W wore a black-and-red outfit, with black stockings on her legs—very similar to her appearance in Future Ark. Lin Guang bought it online yesterday. Though she claimed she'd rather train than waste time shopping, this morning when she put it on, Lin Guang clearly noticed her tail swaying much more cheerfully.
As a side note, Lin Guang had also bought another outfit for her—a deep green version of the school uniform, with the words "Great Xia" printed in white along the zipper. He personally loved it and claimed it would reduce her eye-catching factor by at least 50%.
Unfortunately, W refused to wear it no matter what, much to his regret.
"Phew… finally out. It was suffocating in there."
W stretched her arms and took a deep breath, her already well-developed chest rising and falling with the motion.
"The spirit space formed by an Equal Contract should have a calming effect on the mind."
"Oh? Want to try going in there yourself next time?" she shot back without hesitation.
"…Fair point. I overlooked the fact that you have human-level intelligence. You're not like the subjects in those papers. Sorry."
Seeing him admit fault so readily, W snorted lightly and didn't press further.
"I remember that under special circumstances, it's allowed to summon spirit beasts in the classroom, as long as you follow the rules."
"What rules?"
"No disrupting others' learning. Talking and using phones goes without saying, and even sleeping isn't allowed. If you repeatedly violate the rules after warnings, the school can deduct your resource subsidies as punishment. Not only will your growth slow down, even your meals at home will drop a tier."
"…"
A visible look of conflict appeared on her delicate face. In the end, she sighed and waved her hand.
"Forget it. I'll just stay inside and mess with you instead."
At that moment, both of them suddenly sensed something and turned in the same direction.
For a brief instant, Lin Guang thought he saw a girl leaning against a Golden Birch tree, quietly watching them.
But the next second, she was gone.
"Who's there?!"
W's gaze instantly sharpened. She was certain it wasn't her imagination. Her right hand clenched slightly, light gathering into the outline of a firearm.
But Lin Guang pressed her hand down, interrupting the summoning.
He glanced at her helplessly. "This is one of the best high schools in the city. Upperclassmen are among the best Spirit Tamers of their age group. Someone noticing the fluctuation from summoning a spirit beast and coming to take a look is completely normal. Don't overreact—we weren't doing anything suspicious."
"…"
"Hmph."
W shot one last fierce glare in that direction but didn't argue further. The two of them left the grove together.
After a while, the figure reappeared among the Golden Birch trees. Watching W's swaying black-and-red tail, a thoughtful expression surfaced on her face.
…
The lunch break was long, and since Lin Guang wanted to show W around campus, they didn't take the shuttle bus after leaving the grove.
After walking for a while, four massive silver "metal shells" came into view.
"I know this—those are factories, right?" W pointed confidently. She had just seen something similar on her phone yesterday.
"What kind of school has factories? Those are cafeterias."
"Huh?"
"Three are for beast-type spirit beasts. The other is for students and humanoid spirit beasts. They're built the same for uniformity. Humanoid spirit beasts don't usually grow in size as they level up, and they tend to have higher intelligence, so they can dine alongside students."
W was somewhat interested—but eating interested her far more. After all, energy consumption in the spirit space was the same as outside.
Lin Guang led her into the smallest of the four buildings. Looking around, they could already see a few humanoid spirit beasts inside.
As they walked toward the serving counter, they drew nearly 100% of the attention—glances filled with surprise or envy, mostly directed at her appearance and her demonic horns and tail.
Lin Guang couldn't help but regret not convincing her to wear the "Great Xia Jacket." That might've suppressed her eye-catching presence a bit.
He silently hoped they wouldn't run into any classmates—otherwise he'd have to explain everything now and again during the afternoon combat class. A complete waste of time.
"My god… Lin Guang, who is that?!"