Chapter 3: Awakening
Standing in line, they had nothing to do. Taking out their phones, Gu Dong started playing some mobile games, while Ye Feng started to read web novels on his phone. As the line progressed, they slowly moved up until finally, they made it close to the end.
This took a few hours, and there was only a bit left until their turn. Finally, they knew what the commotion was all about from the people talking. Apparently, a rich third-generation girl transferred into Seventh High and tested a Spirit Power of over 2.0. The exact score wasn't mentioned, but to have such a high score meant that she was born with a powerful Soul that could train two Monsters despite just awakening.
Normally, a Spirit Power of 2.0 was the threshold to be able to form a contract with a second Monster, then the next is 10.0, and after that is 50.0 and 100.0. Beyond that was another story. Though, many people wouldn't choose to raise a second Monster even if their Spirit Power reached the first milestone. Even though they could afford it, the time they spent raising just to raise a single Monster already took up a large portion of their time.
Only when Monsters started to mature and reach the Early stage, could they evolve it, making them stronger. This would allow them to spend less time raising their Monster, before granting them the time to raise a second Monster.
None of this was of Ye Feng's concern though. Whether it was the girl herself, or the Soul Power she had. He wanted nothing to do with it. As someone who read many web novels and had a little bit of experience, he knew that women were only trouble, natural walking disasters that would follow them everywhere.
Soon, it was his turn. Gu Dong entered the room next to him, while he entered the room in the very center. Knocking on the door, he entered and saw a very advanced machine that was used to measure Spirit Power. It was similar to a VR set one would see in his old world, a helmet that was worn on the head was attached to a large machine that had a bunch of numbers and other measures.
"Welcome." the doctor who would test him said. Nodding, Ye Feng sat on the bed and lied down. "Don't worry, problems shouldn't occur during the procedure, it's very safe." the doctor told him.
"That means problems do occur occasionally…" Ye Feng thought. Wearing the measuring device, he lied down and waited. The nurse flipped a switch, turning it on, and began measuring. At this moment, Ye Feng had a slight headache, as he felt as though something within him was being pulled out of his body. The headache soon disappeared, as the helmet came off on its own.
"Nice kid, your Spirit Power is exactly 1.0, congratulations." the doctor celebrated. "Thanks for today." Ye Feng thanked the doctor as he received a text that was sent to his phone immediately. It was a text by the government, providing him proof of his Spirit Power, otherwise, he could just lie that he had passed.
Sin2ce he was done, he opened the door, which Gu Dong had also done at the same time. "Big brother, you were right, I did pass. My Spirit Power is 1.1." the latter said, his anxiety was now gone, knowing that he passed and could become a Tamer.
"En. Exactly 1.0. Let's go. Are you coming with me tomorrow to choose a starter?" Ye Feng asked. "En, I already know what I will pick. Do you want to know now? Or see for yourself tomorrow?" Gu Dong asked.
"Whether I know now or tomorrow wouldn't change the fact that I will know in the end, let's just leave it for tomorrow." Ye Feng replied. Nodding, both of them soon left the school and passed on their results to their parents when they got home.
With a lot of free time and nothing to do. Ye Feng decided to go outside for a jog. In his mind, he had already thought of a training plan that may work on the Monster he would choose as his very first partner. Though, it may not be as effective as his Goldfinger if he used his Map Points to unlock the perfect training method.
Soon, he got back home and had some bread and did some working out until dinner. During dinner, he discussed with his parents the upper limit that he could spend. He already knew what he would choose, as well as the food he would need to purchase, coming up with a rough total for them.
With his parents agreeing, he went up to his room and spent some time reading web novels on his phone before going to bed.
The next morning, he got up and found that he gained yet another Map Point. Ignoring it for now, he had breakfast with his parents as they stepped outside the door. He had already decided on the place, called Binglai Daycare Center to choose his very first partner.
Getting into the car with Papa Ye and Mama Ye, his father started the car and drove to Binglai City which was the next town over. Binglai City and Jing City were neighboring cities, hence the car ride was only thirty minutes away. At the same time, Gu Dong along with Papa Gu and Mama Gu was in the car and heading there as well. Soon, they would meet up at the daycare center and choose their very first Monster, and finally begin their journey as a Monster Tamer.
******
Opening the door, Papa Ye parked the car while Mama Ye and Ye Feng went inside ahead. As the automatic doors opened, Ye Feng saw Gu Dong and his parents. "Uncle, Auntie." Ye Feng greeted.
"Ah, little Feng, you're here. Little sister is here too." Papa Gu greeted. Soon, the parents started talking amongst themselves while an employee of the Binglai Daycare center greeted the children.
"Welcome to the Binglai Daycare Center. Please follow me to the habitats and decide on your very first partner! I know you're excited but try to contain it." the man said. Ye Feng and Gu Dong were speechless, it seemed like this employee himself was more excited than the two of them were.
Following behind, the man brought them to the habitats, created using advanced human technology that was developed during the hundred years or so of research and development, as well as the natural environments that were brought to each Daycare from the habitats in which Monsters were naturally found and bred in nature.
Habitats such as forests in which Spirit Power was naturally contained within each plant and every single individual blade of grass contained Spirit Power within them. Even one drop of water in rivers and lakes contained Spirit Power in them. In this way, Monsters were bred in their natural environments even though they were in human establishments. The only downside was that they couldn't go out and explore further on their own unless they established a contract with a human.
Monsters that were bred in human establishments were less aggressive to humans since they were used to them, making them easier to contract with. Looking around, Ye Feng could see many kinds of starter Monsters of the Water, Wood, Bug, and Earth type. Soon, they had reached the end, where they must now make the decision to pick.
The man who had brought them there stood still, while Ye Feng and Gu Dong went off to look around. Even though they had already made their decision, they still wanted to take a good look at all the Infant stage Monsters, as well as the eggs that were being incubated.
Soon, Papa Ye, Papa Gu, Mama Ye, and Mama Gu arrived and looked around as well. They themselves weren't Monster Tamers, and neither did they contract a Monster to keep as a pet. Hence, this was also a rare chance for them to see Monsters in person, besides the ones they saw out in public.
Walking around, Ye Feng had a good look at all the Monsters. Instantly, tons of information about each and every kind of Monster. From Rock Monkeys to White Silkworms. Information such as their evolutionary paths was displayed, however, they were all locked.
For example, the Rock Monkey. Even though it was called a monkey, it was actually a gorilla made entirely out of stone. It had two evolution paths. One, was a power type, further increasing its physical strength called the Boulder Ape.
This evolution path was more common since it packed great physical power. The downside was that it was on the slow side, making it hard to even land attacks. Though, the physical might alone could create shockwaves that could reach the opponent, even if the attack itself didn't make it.
The second path was similar. Called the Titan Ape. Despite the grand name, it increased power by a little bit and focused mostly on defense. It was basically a tank in the form of Monsters. Great strength and armor, but slow mobility. This evolution path was rarer, but many could still evolve it in this way.
Although he knew this, he could get further information on them if he expended his Map Points. Though he didn't since it was a waste. The Rock Monkey was also quite popular amongst many people, its price was quite high due to this.
Why was this so despite its slow mobility? In the past, an extremely powerful Monster Tamer at the Heavenly King stage had a Rock Monkey that evolved into the Titan Ape, showcasing incredibly destructive power and an impenetrable defense when integrated.
This brought about the discovery of the second path of evolution, as well as causing the price of Rock Monkeys to skyrocket. What was a Heavenly King stage expert? Basically, they were at a stage in which an Advanced Adult stage Monster integrated with 100% compatibility with the Tamer.
There was no cultivation involved. It was just a name given to powerful Tamers who had raised their Monsters to the very peak and could use 100% of their Monster's power. The Heavenly King stage was the highest grade in existence. In the past one hundred years, there have only been two such figures.
Even though they raised powerful Monsters and had extremely high Spirit Power, their lifespans were only slightly longer than a regular human's average of eighty years. Below that, were the Earthly King, Human Emperor, Soul Saint, Soul Sage, Soul Noble, Soul Elite, Soul Master, and Soul Soldier in descending order.
Each stage required a certain amount of Spirit Power, as well as a Monster of the relevant stage, and integration percentage. For example, the Soul Soldier required one to have a Spirit Power of 10.0, with an Early Infant stage Monster, as well as a 5% integration rate.
The Soul Master stage required a Spirit Power of 50.0, with a Mid Infant stage Monster, and a 15% integration rate, and so on. The integration rate was the percentage in which one could use the full abilities and capabilities of one's Monster. Despite only having a 5% rate, one would still be many times more powerful than a regular human or Monster at the same stage.
Anyway, back to the Binglai Daycare Center, Ye Feng and Gu Dong walked around and looked at every single Monster being sold. Looking around, he noticed that the White Silkworm had five branches of evolution. Currently, only three of them were known to the world publicly. That meant that there were two other branches that his Goldfinger had displayed for him.
Of course, since he didn't pay the price to unlock the information, he didn't see anything else besides seeing a general outline of the shape of the evolved form of the White Silkworm. When he saw this, he hesitated. After a while, he shook his head and decided against it. Instead, he went with his initial decision and went with the Grass Lizard.
The Grass Lizard was a Wood-type Monster. It was a large lizard and its entire body was green. It crawled on all four legs and had a single strand of undeveloped bread in its mouth at all times as if it were a part of its body.
It was amongst the most common kind of Monster even amongst the common Monsters. It was common within the common. There was nothing special about it, but Ye Feng liked that it had pretty good speed and agility, despite lacking in power. Also, he felt as though he had met a comrade, as he loved to eat bread.
When he approached the den of Grass Lizards, he saw a few branches of evolution, including new ones that hadn't been introduced into the world as of yet.
The first two were well known, being the Frail Leaf Lizard, and the Strong Arm Gecko. It was pretty easy to tell what they specialized in based on their names alone. Next were the unknown ones. Looking at their outlines, he could have a little hindsight in their evolution, but that was it. There were exactly three new undiscovered branches, and he just happened to have exactly 3 Map Points.
=========
[Name - Grass Lizard]
[Stage - Baby]
[Physique - F-]
[Abilities - None]
[Evolution Pathways - 5]
[1. Frail Leaf Lizard - Unlock for 1 Map Point]
[2. Strong Arm Lizard - Unlock for 1 Map Point]
[3. ???????? - Unlock for 1 Map Point]
[4. ???????? - Unlock for 1 Map Point]
[5. ???????? - Unlock for 1 Map Point]
=========
Immediately, he spent all of his points to unlock the information on the three unknown evolutions.
=========
[Razor Leaf Gecko - Wood type evolution of the Grass Lizard. Stands on two feet, with large razor-sharp blades of leaves on its arms, legs, and head. Specializes in agility and shredding.]
[Chameleon Lizard - Wood type evolution of the Grass Lizard. Is able to camouflage into the surrounding environment, making it almost entirely invisible, as well as able to absorb sunlight and fire it like a beam of light.]
[Mirage Newt - Dual type Wood and Illusion type evolution of the Grass Lizard. Stands on two feet, with a single blade-like leaf that is produced using its own Spirit Power. A master of illusions, capable of bringing its foes into a world of deception and delusions, before bringing them down with its blade.]
=========
Looking at the three new branches, the third evolution was not only the best and choice and hardest to achieve, but also seemed to be a combination of the first two new branches.
After taking a look at the evolution chart of the Grass Lizard, Ye Feng observed each and every one of them and saw their stats. After a quick glance, he had decided on which one he wanted specifically.
Walking up to the man who had brought him there, he was ready to make his choice. "I would like to choose the Grass Lizard." Ye Feng said. Not only was the employee astonished, but even his parents were also astonished. They had just come back from looking at the cute Monsters that were still babies, only to come back and hear their son had chosen the Green Lizard.
"Feng er, are you sure you want a Grass Lizard? We did agree to an upper limit, if you're trying to save money then don't, there are still many choices." Papa Ye asked.
"I'm sure, I assure you that I'm not deciding based on price, but rather a preference. I already decided long before I discussed it with you and got here." Ye Feng replied. His parents only nodded, seeing as he had already made his choice. Their job here today was only to be his driver and swipe the card.
Soon, Gu Dong was also done deciding. He had chosen a Bug-type Monster, called the Big Strength Beetle. As the name implied, it was a type of insect that boasts great strength. It was said that a Hercules beetle could lift up to 850x its own body weight. Imagine if such a thing was extremely large, it would be able to easily lift buildings.
This kind of Monster quite suited Gu Dong. Great physical strength, along with a strong exoskeleton to protect the body. Gu Dong was someone who believed that in front of absolute strength, tricks and numbers didn't mean a thing. Though, the true saying was slightly differently worded.
This kind of Monster was a little bit rarer amongst the Bug-type Monsters but was nowhere near as rare as a Fire-type etc. Of course, this meant that the price of it was a little bit more expensive as well.
Ye Feng's Grass Lizard was exactly 210,000 Yuan, while Gu Dong's Big Strength Beetle was almost double, at 350,000 Yuan. "Good, I will go out to the back, tell me which one you want." the employee said.
Ye Feng and Gu Dong nodded. Standing behind the tempered glass window, Ye Feng specifically chose the one that caught his attention. It was a Grass Lizard that was thin and looked much weaker than the other ones. One would think he was weird for choosing it, but in actual fact, it was the best one amongst them.
Despite being thin and having lower stats than the others, its potential, meaning its future growth was much higher than the others. Obviously, Ye Feng would choose this one with the greatest potential, despite the extra cost and training time he would need. This didn't matter to him, with a Goldfinger, he had an advantage that other people didn't have, hence his choice was perfect.
As for Gu Dong, he had chosen the one that had the best looking exoskeleton. Its size and potential was the same as the others, but its outer shell looked aesthetically the best of them all.
Once they were done, the employee called the to another room so that they could establish a contract with their very first Monster and become a Trainee Monster Tamer.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone