Chapter 1: Have a Cup of Tea
"Have a cup of tea." said Ye Feng, a young man who had just finished the last semester of his second year of high school. Ye Feng was a handsome chap but in this society where strength was king, his good looks didn't matter. He was decent in height, standing at six feet tall, with a build that was neither thin nor was it overly large. If he took off his clothes, one would be able to see his muscles that were brimming with power and explosiveness.
In front of the said young man, was someone filled with anger, so much that a blue vein was visible on his forehead. Obviously, something had caused the person to become angry to such an extent. Trying to calm him down, Ye Feng poured the person a cup of piping hot tea and placed it gently on the table.
The angry young man who was about the same age as himself picked up the cup of tea and brought it to his mouth as he took a sip from it. Instantly, the blue vein on his forehead disappeared as well as his anger. "Ye Feng, your tea is as effective as always." the young man who had now calmed down praised.
"Be careful, if you keep getting angry, your veins may explode." Ye Feng replied, taking back his cup of tea. "I wish I could, those d*mned people from Jing City Second High keep injuring my brothers, one of these days, I will go and beat them up." the young man said. He quickly left soon afterward, leaving Ye Feng behind by himself in the clubroom.
Taking a sip from his tea, Ye Feng looked outside the window, as a large bird with fiery-red wings and a small flame on its head landed on a nearby branch outside the window of the clubroom. This was a world inhabited by both Humans and Monsters.
Over a hundred years ago, something happened to the planet Earth. A strange phenomenon that turned animals, insects, and the likes into maneating beasts called Monsters. A strange source of energy was the cause of this incident. The strange phenomenon was thought to be the revival of Spirit Energy in the world, granting humans the ability to form contracts with Monsters and integrating their powers into the human body.
Not only that, 'Dungeons' started appearing all over the world, which comes randomly, but doesn't go away until they are cleared. From the dungeons, if they are not cleared after a number of years, Monsters could sometimes leave the Dungeons and attack the human inhabitants.
Dungeons were categorized in ranks by the energy they produced. From F-rank, up to SS-rank. With rank F being the lowest and rank SS being the highest. In history, there had only been a single SS-rank Dungeon, while no more than ten S-rank Dungeons exist to this day.
This caused humanity to bring about new occupations after countless years of humans forming contracts and interacting with Monsters to be able to integrate their powers into the human body.
The most chosen occupation that took a hundred years of work to research was called a Monster Trainer. Monster Trainers formed contracts with Monsters, in which both sides must be willing before the contract between them could be formed. That was only the beginning, one must have the required Spirit Power in order to form a contract before this process could even happen.
After forming the contract, one would then need to train their Monsters from infancy to adulthood. Every step of the way required resources and hard work. From teaching Monsters how to dodge, or even how to attack and use abilities in which the Monsters would naturally learn overtime during their growth.
For Monsters to reach adulthood, it would normally take at least fifty years from infancy. By forming a contract with a human who had Spirit Power, both human and Monster alike would grow faster. Monsters also ate food just as humans did, only, they ate different kinds of food that humans cannot eat. The food they ate was either grown by human hands or naturally grown in habitats that used to be owned by humans. From large volcanoes and forests, they appeared in the middle of the city, causing humans to build cities around such places, keeping far away so that they wouldn't be attacked.
From childhood, humans would learn all about Monster Training even up until the day they died. It was something that could never stop. In high school, the first two years took that beyond middle school and elementary school, while only in their third and final year would a Monster Trainer be able to contract a Monster.
Upon reaching the third year, there would be many students who would decide on their future course. Monster Trainer, Monster Breeder, Monster Cultivator, and the likes were amongst the many occupations. To become a Monster Trainer, one's Spirit Power must have reached a minimum of 1.0 in order to safely form a contract with a Monster.
Of course, it was possible to contract one with a Spirit Power below 1.0, but this was dangerous as one may experience a Spirit Power rebound which directly shocks the brain, turning someone into a vegetable, this was only the lucky side. If one was unlucky, they would directly be sent to meet King Yama down in the underworld. Of course, it was debatable whether dying was better than being a person in such a state.
In this world, Water-type, Wood-type, Bug-type, and Earth-type Monsters were amongst the most common types of Monsters. Water types could be found in rivers, lakes, and the likes, while the other three could be found literally anywhere. Fire and Thunder types were rare, only being found in volcanic or areas filled with lightning, which there weren't many of.
As for Wind types, they were in between common and rare types. They could be found on windy days, but only if the wind was strong enough. On some days, one might never see one, while on the days of storms, they could be as common as clouds.
Light and Dark types, as well as Ghost and Psychic types, were extraordinarily rare. They were only found in certain environments and habitats and their numbers were also incredibly low. Breeding such types of monsters were also many times harder than breeding other types.
There were also Ice and Metal types which were also pretty rare. In simple words, there were common and rare species of Monsters to be found.
Monster Integration. Only by forming a strong bond with one's contracted Monster and reaching the required Spirit Power, would one be able to integrate with their Monsters. Flying, breathing fire, such superhuman powers were all possible with Monster Integration, as well as Spirit Power.
All of this knowledge took over a century's worth of dedication and sacrifice of the ancestors. However, none of this had anything to do with Ye Feng. Why was this so? Well, one would have to go back in time by about three months.
On a bright and sunny day, Ye Feng was in the clubroom enjoying a freshly brewed cup of tea. Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his chest, making him grip his chest and clench while beads of sweat dripped down the sides of his forehead. When he was better, suddenly the world had changed.
The world he once knew where Maths, Science, History, and the likes were no longer taught as the main subjects in school. Now, Monster Training related subjects were instead taught as compulsory and main subjects.
As he came to, he could recall all of his memories of his previous world, which was slightly different from this world he woke up to. He wondered if he was under the effect of the Mandela Effect, giving him false memories of this old world he was in.
At that time, he found that the entire world was completely different, and he had no common knowledge that even four-year-old kids may have. As an avid reader of web novels, manga, novels, and the likes, he couldn't stand having any knowledge of this new world. Besides that, he would also need knowledge in order to maintain his perfect grades in school.
In the past, he had been quite popular with both men and women alike. With good looks, a strong body that was good at all kinds of physical activities, on top of having perfect grades and an enigmatic memory, there was almost nothing that Ye Feng couldn't do.
He found that other than the world itself changing, the people he knew, as well as schools, cities, etc were all the same as in the previous world. His relationship with them hadn't changed, but those he knew in school treated him differently from what he was used to.
Since the world had changed, good looks and strong athletic ability didn't mean anything. Only strength mattered, anything else was secondary. Though athletic ability was a must in Monster Training, it was less important than Spirit Power. He found himself to have fewer people who talked to him, but this didn't bother him at all.
Spending an entire three months, he painstakingly memorized everything from elementary to even university-level content that was related to this world. Not only did he memorize everything, but he also summarized it all and kept the relevant information separate from the less important information. Now, he had enough knowledge of this new world to survive.
While Ye Feng was looking out the window, his phone vibrated in his pocket. Checking his phone, he found that someone had texted him on the Q* app. Opening the app, he found that it was written by his best friend.
'Big boss, tomorrow is the day of our Spirit Power evaluation test. Since it's you, it's almost certain that you will meet the requirement, but let's hope we both pass and become Monster Tamers.' the message read.
Tapping the keyboard, Ye Feng replied after taking a sip of tea. The day of the Spirit Power evaluation test was the next day. If his Spirit Power met the requirement of 1.0, then he would be able to contract a Monster and become a Monster Trainer or Tamer. If he failed, then he could only risk his life, or give up and go into other occupations.
Monster Tamers were an important occupation. Going into Dungeons and protecting the human race was their job. It was a high-risk job that had high returns. Monster Tamers could die at any time if they were not careful, but at the same time; they earned the most money.
There was a saying, money can solve all problems. If it couldn't, then it means one didn't have enough money. Money made the world go round. It was as simple as that.
While it was a high return occupation, the initial costs far outweighed future earnings. Even the cheapest of Monsters costs at least 200,000 Yuan, which is roughly $29150 USD, one could buy a car with that amount. Not only that, the cost of food and training for Monsters wasn't cheap either, even the cheapest and lowest quality foods cost 1000 Yuan per box, which was twenty-four meals. Monsters also ate three meals a day, which meant twenty-four meals was only a week and a days worth of food for them, not even counting the nutrients for Monsters to grow, as well as nutrients for humans to grow their Spirit Power on top of that.
Spirit Power could be cultivated over time, but it was a slow method on its own. Only by drinking special fluids called S Serum, on top of cultivating Spirit Power, would it increase at a faster pace over time. Of course, this also depended on talent. Even the most expensive S Serum cannot help if one was extremely untalented.
Ye Feng's family was middle class, which could afford the fees he required while having extras for hobbies and spending. Of course, this didn't mean he could be a wastrel and step all over his parent's hard work. He didn't know whether he would pass the test but kept himself calm and composed and he looked outside the window.
After some time had passed, Ye Feng tidied up the clubroom and headed home. Jing City Seventh High wasn't that far from his house. It was only a twenty-minute walk, which he could be home in five or less if he ran. When he started heading home, it was already evening and the sun was starting to set.
On the way home, Ye Feng was walking home like he usually did, without disturbing anybody. Suddenly, he felt a presence ahead of him, and it wasn't just one. A black shadow passed by in the blink of an eye and disappeared, while a second shadow had passed in front of him.
"Ouch!" he cried out in pain, as blood dripped down from his right hand. Whatever had passed by had injured him, causing his hand to bleed. He was almost home already at this point, so he held onto his hand to slow down the bleeding and hurried home. What he didn't notice, was that a single golden drop of blood was on his hand, and started to mix together with his own blood.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone