An indescribable joy appeared in Liu Feifan's eyes.
As principal, he naturally knew that among the first-year students there was a civilian genius who had awakened a blue-tier talent. When he learned that Lin Guang's talent had been unable to fully awaken for a long time—and that he couldn't even contract a spirit beast—he had once tried to use his connections to find a Miracle Worker capable of accelerating talent awakening.
However, those with such abilities had their schedules fully booked by powerful families and noble clans; even new appointments were already pushed into next year. Only then did he abandon the idea.
After the surge of joy, a wave of regret followed. Liu Feifan shook his head.
"Sigh… while it's certainly good that he's successfully contracted a spirit beast, putting him into the exchange tournament still isn't a well-considered decision."
"He only contracted last week, right? That's far too short."
"The strongest blue-tier talent holder at No.1 High this year fully awakened his talent in just one month, and then contracted a blue elite-tier Lava Dragon Lizard at a spirit beast base."
"Even with the most optimistic estimate, their training started months—maybe even half a year—earlier than Lin Guang's. That early-stage level gap is hard to overcome."
But he quickly began to comfort himself:
"It's fine. If we nurture him properly from now on, he may still shine in the third-year points tournament or even the prefectural competition. Over the next couple of years, I'll also try to make some moves elsewhere and see if we can attract talented students from other Spirit Master families. We can't have him fighting alone."
"As for now—Instructor Yu should've assessed them this afternoon, right? How did He Shenghuang from your class perform?"
"That's exactly what I wanted to report."
"The one who truly shocked everyone… was Lin Guang."
After a brief pause, Ouyang Wei recounted everything that had happened at noon and in the afternoon.
Liu Feifan's expression shifted repeatedly—bright one moment, gloomy the next—like an unpredictable weather forecast.
"So… he contracted a magic beast. And both are Terra-type magic beings."
Liu Feifan let out a long breath, his gaze turning serious.
"That's a double-edged sword. Especially for a child with such talent—if handled poorly, it could recreate that tragedy. You must have considered this when recommending him, right?"
"…Of course."
After coughing lightly, Ouyang Wei continued, "Dr. Kevin has already met with Lin Guang. She said she will closely monitor his condition and is willing to personally guide him to ensure he doesn't go down the wrong path."
"Dr. Kevin?!"
The name clearly caught Liu Feifan off guard—his eyes widened slightly.
Ouyang Wei took out a document and handed it over. "This is Dr. Kevin's evaluation."
Liu Feifan grew serious, taking the several-page report. In less than a second, he had finished reading it, then fell into thought.
"I see… It seems even Dr. Kevin is intrigued by a talent that hasn't been recorded in Great Xia's official archives."
"Since she's willing to vouch for him, I have no objections."
Even after locking in one student representative, Liu Feifan still didn't look relaxed.
The Lava Dragon Lizard, though only barely qualifying as a dragon-type, still possessed the toughness and high elemental resistance typical of dragon-class spirit beasts. To overtake a half-year training gap in a short time…
Even with someone like Dr. Kevin supporting him, Liu Feifan didn't believe Lin Guang could achieve it.
Picking the best among the worst.
With a silent sigh, Liu Feifan picked up another document, wrote Lin Guang's name on it, and stamped it with his seal.
Dinner was settled at the school cafeteria.
With blue elite-tier potential, W required far more energy to support her leveling (enhancement). If Lin Guang cooked every meal himself, he'd go bankrupt before long.
The golden glow of sunset bathed the world in warm light. W sat sideways on the back of the electric scooter, one leg resting on the seat, watching with great interest as all kinds of strange spirit beasts sped along the spirit beast lanes.
A gentle breeze rustled the golden birch trees. A few golden leaves drifted down like fluttering butterflies. One landed on the back of W's neck. She grabbed it, sniffed it curiously, then stuffed it into her mouth and chewed.
A moment later—ptui!—she spat it out, her expression turning slightly odd.
Before long, the scooter stopped at the entrance of Haiyue Residential Complex. W jumped off, looking around, her gaze focusing on the greenery inside the complex. Her right hand curled slightly into a claw-like shape, as if ready to grab something at any moment.
As if sensing danger, a chestnut squirrel froze, then bolted into the dense foliage in a few leaps, abandoning whatever it had been doing.
In the end, she withdrew her gaze with a disappointed "tch" and stuffed her hands back into her pockets.
That Boomcrow really didn't show up at this hour.
At the entrance lay a plastic delivery bag with a shopping logo on it. Inside were the ten-yolk eggs Lin Guang had bought earlier. W seemed quite fond of egg dishes—she had already finished the previous batch. He could make some dessert later, since today's "feeding" hadn't been done yet.
This morning, Lin Guang had tested that only food he personally cooked could trigger the Feeding effect.
"Hm?"
When Lin Guang looked at the bag, he frowned. It seemed unusually puffed up—and he hadn't bought that much.
The next moment, a yellow blur shot out of the bag with a whoosh, darting toward the other end of the corridor and disappearing around the corner.
Though it moved quickly, Lin Guang still caught a glimpse—
It was a pale-yellow fox-type spirit beast.
A cub.
Walking closer, he confirmed the damage: the plastic container had been torn open by sharp claws, and several eggs had been cracked, their contents almost completely licked clean.
Urban corners were home to many wild spirit beasts. Some, bold or mischievous, often interacted with humans—forgotten windows, stolen fish by cats or birds, and similar incidents were common.
As far as he knew, no fox-type spirit beast of that color existed in Zhen Sheng City or nearby.
It was likely someone's pet fox that had been dyed and then lost.
"Why are you stopping me?"
W frowned, clearly displeased. Earlier, Lin Guang had instinctively held out his arm to block her.
Adjusting his glasses, Lin Guang replied, "Don't overuse your leg. Be careful the wound doesn't act up again."
She retorted irritably, "It's been hours—it's already healed! You'd be better off letting me kill it so I can feel better."
Lin Guang was speechless. "Why are you picking a fight with a fox cub?"
At that, W grabbed his shoulders and shook him violently, her expression full of genuine grief and anger:
"It ate my eggs! My eggs!!!"
"…Sigh. You won't go without. I'll just buy more."
Lin Guang could only say, "Fox-type creatures are naturally cautious and timid. They wouldn't enter crowded areas unless they were starving. It was probably separated from its mother. I'll buy another box later—tonight I'll make you some egg tarts."
"Deal!"
With food on the table—especially dessert—W quickly calmed down, though she still pouted slightly.
"You're pretty soft-hearted, huh."