After Wang Mu brought the people into the living room, he began to explain, "This is an internal benefit. Those who purchase spirit beasts at the Qing Mu Training Center and meet the requirements can qualify by completing certain tasks."
Wang Lingfeng had no objections to Wang Mu's arrangements and refrained from interfering. After all, although he was older, he was not involved in the breeder industry, and offering unsolicited advice would be inappropriate.
At present, holding Xiao Jin, he was solely focused on waiting for it to emerge from its cocoon.
Observing the scene, Wang Mu shook his head slightly and instructed the robot to bring over a cocoon of a Green Jade Butterfly. "This Green Jade Butterfly will emerge the morning after tomorrow. You may use this one for the time being."
"Generally speaking," Wang Mu continued, "one can only increase their spirit beast contract slots at odd-numbered tiers. However, with strong mental power, it is possible to contract additional spirit beasts. Xiao Jin is a mental-type spirit beast, which will assist in enhancing your mental strength."
"In a few more years, I should be able to cultivate commander-level ones," he added.
Wang Lingfeng's emotions grew increasingly complicated. What he had speculated on the journey home had indeed materialized: he had been entirely arranged by his son. How should he describe such a feeling? It was exhilarating. While most people relied on their parents for support, he found himself relying on his child.
Wang Mu cast another glance at Xiao Jin, said nothing further, and left the room. In truth, his parents in this life had been remarkably supportive. Despite their ordinary family background, they were willing to invest tens of thousands of yuan when he was merely five or six years old to fund his experiments.
Moreover, they permitted him to raise various spirit beasts at home. If anything had gone wrong, it could have led to imprisonment. Yet they fully trusted Wang Mu, never interfering in matters they did not understand, nor resorting to suppressive parenting methods. When Wang Mu achieved success, they actively contributed suggestions, assisted in selling spirit beasts, and allowed him to save his own earnings. If Wang Mu had not been reborn and was merely an ordinary child, he likely would have expressed his emotions long ago.
However, Wang Mu had his own methods of expressing gratitude.
In the current world, extraordinary powers existed. Although the general populace remained largely unchanged, resources related to beast taming were particularly scarce. Wang Mu intended to use his expertise as a breeder to acquire resources and enhance his family's strength.
Strength remained the eternal theme.
Although breeders were often perceived as support professionals, starting from the Breeder level, they could cultivate spirit beasts on a large scale by establishing their own secret realms. Even without considering the vast breeder networks, they themselves wielded considerable strength.
Otherwise, beast tamers would not be so deferential toward breeders.
Personal strength was essential, but Wang Mu also needed to find spokespeople for his brand. In the early stages, Wang Lingfeng would serve this purpose. Regardless of his relatively ordinary aptitude, with sufficient resources, he could advance to Tier 5.
Meanwhile, in the incubation room, a new batch of Green Leaf Worms had begun to develop. Like most industries, success required diligent effort in the early stages, and Wang Mu was no exception. He sold the entire first batch to raise funds, ensuring that he could purchase materials whenever necessary.
For the second batch, half were sold while the other half were contributed to the association.
Upon a child's birth, parents could choose to contribute to a fund for fifteen consecutive years, after which, in the year the child turned sixteen, they could visit the Breeder Association to receive their own spirit beast. These spirit beasts, all beginning at the Elite level, were capable of independently advancing to Tier 4.
Wang Mu's Green Jade Butterflies and Silver Butterflies qualified for this program only after acquiring intermediate skills. The association would not accept inferior spirit beasts; after all, the spirit beasts submitted to the association accumulated points that could be exchanged for internal, non-circulating resources.
Resources such as skill crystals could only be obtained through these exchanges.
Typically, the association did not accept insect-type spirit beasts, as families capable of affording the large investment generally preferred other species. However, mental-type spirit beasts with scanning abilities were an exception. Even Tier 6 or 7 beast tamers would deliberately raise such creatures.
One must not underestimate the importance of support-types within the teams of seasoned beast tamers.
If Wang Mu could acquire the Mental Link spell, enabling a spirit beast to share visual information directly with another target, even an Elite-level Silver Butterfly could be sold at the price of an ordinary Beast King-level cub.
Wang Mu still vividly recalled an incident when he was twelve years old: a space-type spirit beast had been discovered in the neighboring Yunmeng Marsh. Seven Breeder Masters had arrived to investigate. Wang Mu was unaware of the final outcome, but during that period, the flow of people into Shanhai City had surged, and his mother, Jiang Meiqin, had worked overtime for days.
His father, by contrast, had enjoyed a relatively idle period, as the demon beasts outside the city were dealt with by the passing powerhouses.
Currently, Wang Mu was contemplating his choice of secret realm. Having passed the assessment, he was entitled to enter one secret realm, with three options available.
Secret Realm One consisted primarily of aquatic environments, inhabited by numerous water-type spirit beasts.
Secret Realm Two encompassed an active volcanic region, home to earth-type, fire-type, and some element-type spirit beasts.
Secret Realm Three, known as the Small Mountain Sea, was a forest containing spirit beasts of all attributes, including spirit-types. Although spirit-type spirit beasts could be found there, Wang Mu did not consider them a priority due to their lengthy growth cycles. For instance, a Grass Sprite would require at least ten years to evolve into a Flower Sprite, an unrealistic goal without a personal secret realm.
Wang Mu's objectives were clear. He could bring out three spirit beasts from the secret realm, and based on his current situation, he had decided on a pair of Emerald Birds and one Hundred Flower Bee King.
Emerald Birds were large avians, entirely green like emeralds, hence their name. As adults, they could reach a height of five meters, enabling them to carry humans in flight. They also possessed the spells Tree Armor and Pear Blossom Rain Needles, one enhancing defense and the other enabling offense, making them exceptional among Excellent-level spirit beasts.
Moreover, due to their ability to fly and their immunity to most toxins, they could rival even Elite-level spirit beasts.
If Wang Mu successfully cultivated them, achieving an Elite-level bloodline would not pose a problem. Their capabilities would significantly elevate the Qing Mu Training Center's standing, allowing it to break away from the stereotype of producing only insect-type spirit beasts and shedding the "cheap" and "low-tier" labels.
After all, beast tamers with sufficient means generally did not prioritize insect-type spirit beasts.
As for the Hundred Flower Bee King, once it matured and completed mating, it would no longer require drones for reproduction and could independently give birth to new bee kings. The Hundred Flower Honey it produced could specialize attributes, enabling most insect spirit beasts to evolve.
The Green Leaf Butterfly family's "adaptability" trait was extraordinarily strong. Random breeding attempts could readily yield new species. Wang Mu particularly valued the spells they could generate, seeing them as a unique cultivation resource. Unless he mastered all spells, the Green Leaf Butterflies would never become obsolete.
However, the family's success or failure hinged on their adaptability trait. Regardless of the evolutionary form, their offspring always reverted to the original Green Leaf Worm form. Thus, Wang Mu needed a spirit beast with more stable inheritance traits.
Most element-type spirit beasts exhibited such stability. They reproduced by fission, with offspring possessing nearly all the abilities of the parent, though typically with slightly diminished aptitude.
Wang Mu scheduled his secret realm entry for the day after tomorrow. By then, the first batch of spirit butterflies would have been largely sold. Entering such secret realms was safe; the spirit beasts therein would not attack humans and could be collected with minimal effort. After all, they were a designated benefit.
In fact, there were even Lord-level spirit beasts residing in the secret realm. However, most required extensive resources for proper cultivation, resources that Wang Mu could not yet afford—unless the beast happened to be plant-type.
Before retiring for the night, Wang Mu arranged an after-sales service for the Green Jade Butterflies and Silver Butterflies. Specifically, upon reaching Tier 3, owners could bring their spirit beasts back to learn intermediate-level skills, provided certain conditions were met:
1.) They must have participated in follow-up visits.
2.) The spirit beast's skill must have reached the Mastered level. Higher skill levels would result in lower fees.
These requirements, though simple on the surface, were deliberate. Typically, Tier 3 spirit beasts would have skills at the Proficient level, and successful evolution often required at least one or two Mastered-level skills. Wang Mu's true purpose was skill sharing.
He lacked sufficient time to personally practice so many skills; thus, he used this method to gain an advantage.
By entrusting the spirit beasts to tamers, he bet that, statistically, at least one out of a hundred spirit butterflies would achieve mastery, enabling him to share high-level spells with newly cultivated spirit beasts.
Since it had been confirmed that high mastery could drive evolution, Wang Mu prioritized cultivating this advantage.
Several years ago, upon understanding this principle, he had considered purchasing older spirit beasts. Combat ability was unnecessary; what mattered was their high-level spells. However, wild spirit beasts possessing such skills were invariably strong.
Meanwhile, spirit beasts raised by tamers were rarely sold, even when elderly.
Some masterless spirit beasts—whose tamers had passed away—would either guard the family estate or be taken in by official agencies.
Highly developed spirit beasts possessed considerable intelligence, and it was common practice to provide preferential treatment for them. Breeders could apply to adopt these spirit beasts, though Wang Mu anticipated no such need once he reached the requisite level.
He slept soundly that night. At four o'clock the next morning, due to the unique nature of the Green Leaf Butterfly family, the business opened early. Previously deserted, the western side of the city was now bustling with vehicles, uniformly parked in the nearby public lot adjacent to the Qing Mu Training Center.
Each training center typically spurred local development, and public facilities were designed to accommodate this, all for the breeders' convenience.
As it was still early, Wang Mu remained asleep. Wang Lingfeng, following Wang Mu's instructions, guarded Xiao Jin and refrained from handling reception tasks. Intelligent robots managed the process, issuing queue numbers to visitors in order of arrival.
In reality, the spirit butterflies would not emerge from their cocoons that day. The purpose was to familiarize customers with the procedures. Nevertheless, those who made selections could finalize their transactions immediately and return the following day for on-site contracts.
When Zhang Tiancheng arrived with his daughter, he found that over one hundred people were already waiting. Most visitors were parents accompanied by children, although some individuals had come independently.
Zhang Wenting, seeing the crowd, whispered, "Dad, we're not late, are we? It's only five o'clock, and we're already number ninety-two. They're currently on number twenty-six."
Zhang Tiancheng glanced at the service counter, where the intelligent robot displayed Wang Mu's qualification certificate. It bore his photograph, identifying him as a registered Senior Breeder within the Breeder Association at only sixteen years of age.
He calmly replied to his daughter's concern, "We are not late, but neither are we early. Some people came early not merely for the spirit beasts."