"These are...?"
Su Hao watched as the "Mist Charm" burned extremely quickly, using up half of it in just over ten seconds.
"This incense is a unique formula created by Master Yan. It can affect spirits, putting them in a state of 'non-resistance,'" Zhong Yunrui explained. "But it's not that miraculous—it only works on spirits that haven't yet entered the gate. The weaker they are, the better the effect. Even so, it still depends on how strong the spirit's will to resist is."
"The jade powder is also specially made. It's said to clear the mind of a spirit that consumes it, making it feel pleasure, and it's used to increase the chances of forming a contract," he continued. "Especially the Mist Charm—it's not cheap at all. If the contract succeeds like now, it's fine, but if it fails after using it..."
"For example, spirits like the Electric Tail Bat are very hard to contract. Even with various methods, the success rate is only 20% to 30%. If it fails, it's best to switch to another one; trying again with the same one has an even lower success rate."
Su Hao noticed that Brother Zhong and Brother Huo had complicated expressions, as if they both had some unpleasant memories.
He pondered.
"Since this is a method that affects the mind, does that mean... illusion techniques can influence the success rate of contracts?"
"Phantom-type spirits? I've never seen one..." Zhong Yunrui said, then suddenly thought that a spirit like the Dream Moth might be able to learn phantom-type moves.
"But there's research suggesting that phantom-type moves only affect the surface level of the mind, while a contract requires complete openness of the heart and soul... Illusion techniques might be useful, but they'd need to be high-level ones."
He glanced at the Dream Moth, then at Tang Xin's Sleep Owl.
The Dream Moth's final evolution was speculated to gain a phantom attribute, allowing it to use even more indescribable phantom-type moves, so it was possible.
But a wood-type spirit like the Sleep Owl, with a bit of hypnotic ability, definitely couldn't do it.
Otherwise, Cotton Owls would have been bought out long ago.
As expected...
Su Hao nodded.
But in the future, he could have the little one develop an illusion technique based on dream-weaving that could increase affection.
As long as affection reached one hundred percent, he could do whatever he... ahem.
...
Nameless Lake seemed to be a gathering point for spirits. Walking along the lake, the group encountered quite a few spirits.
After a flurry of activity, Brother Huo also contracted a water-type spirit—a Little River Shrimp.
The final evolution of the Little River Shrimp was the Giant Cannon Lobster, with a pair of thick, long pincers like two cannons, known as a "walking artillery platform." It was also a spirit with considerable development potential.
But Brother Huo had bad luck; his first spirit contract failed, so he had to settle for a slightly inferior Little River Shrimp and finally succeeded.
Now, only he himself was left—today, or rather this trip to the Primitive Zone, would be complete.
"Which spirit should I contract..."
Su Hao was troubled.
It wasn't that he hadn't found a suitable one.
The variety of spirits in the Changbai Mountain Primitive Zone was far richer than in the free-range center of Yunhua City. With so many choices, he couldn't make up his mind.
He felt that several met the criteria, but something seemed off.
He had tentatively narrowed it down to three spirits.
One was the Little Flying Lion, whose final evolution was the Forest Griffin, a melee-type spirit with moderate durability. Its advantage was that the Forest Griffin felt... comfortable to ride, flying very steadily, and was widely recognized as a high-quality mount.
The second was the Little Lotus Leaf, whose final evolution was the Pure Jade Lotus.
Su Hao had seen a Pure Jade Lotus before. While it couldn't tank, it could learn many protective moves. Its shape was like a lotus seat, and sitting cross-legged on it... had a certain flair.
The third was the Little Earth Wolf, whose final evolution was the Earthshaking Wolf.
It could tank, run, and had decent speed. Except for not being able to fly, Su Hao was quite fond of it.
"Such a hard choice."
His eyes swept around.
He appeared to be looking for spirits, but in reality... he was indeed looking for spirits.
Just on the panel.
Suddenly, a cluster of overlapping icons caught Su Hao's eye.
"It's a Water Spirit Foal."
"This spirit's first evolution is the Water Cloud Horse, and its second evolution is the Cloud Water Dragon Horse..."
With the word "dragon" in it, even though it had nothing to do with dragons, the name alone suggested its final form was impressive.
Like the Lava Dragon Turtle, the Stone Gargoyle Dragon, and so on.
Powerful spirits didn't always have imposing names.
But spirits with imposing names were definitely strong.
"Most importantly, the Cloud Water Dragon Horse doesn't have a wind attribute, but it can fly!"
Or rather, tread the air.
As the saying goes, as long as my horse runs fast enough, danger can't catch up.
Su Hao headed toward where the Water Spirit Foals were.
At the same time,
he checked the data on each Water Spirit Foal.
Among the herd of over a dozen spirits, not all were Water Spirit Foals. There were three Water Cloud Horses and one Cloud Water Dragon Horse...
"But it's fine, it's just an elite level."
Not like the Purple Lightning Wing, which was probably a transcendent-level spirit.
Just one elite-level spirit, with two older brothers around, Su Hao wasn't worried at all.
The detailed information on each Water Spirit Foal flashed before his eyes.
"This one's too old, skip..."
"This one looks like it caught a cold, skip..."
"What's wrong with this one? It's limping, skip..."
He suddenly paused.
His eyes scanned down to the evolution path below the details...
"Why does there seem to be an extra line?"
Su Hao stared intently.
[Water Spirit Foal → Water Cloud Horse (2[4] points of intel to unlock) → Cloud Water Dragon Horse (6[18] points of intel to unlock) (Bloodline Evolution) → 'A dark silhouette' (8 points of intel to unlock) → 'A dark silhouette' (30 points of intel to unlock)]
Su Hao: "???"
He thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
He clicked on the Water Spirit Foals he had looked at before, and sure enough, they only had one evolution path, no second one.
"What's going on??"
"Can the evolution genes of the same spirit be different?"
He checked all the Water Spirit Foals one by one and finally confirmed that only that one Water Spirit Foal had two evolution paths.
That one also had the best individual stats and had learned several moves.
He fell into thought.
He had never heard of such a thing.
What the hell was bloodline evolution? Spirits born from heaven and earth could have bloodlines... no, wait.
He checked the Cloud Water Dragon Horse and found that this unique Water Spirit Foal had been born from that horse king.
But why could the offspring of a Cloud Water Dragon Horse evolve along a different path?
It wasn't like it was born from a male and female!
Su Hao looked at the intel unlock cost.
He felt a bit tempted.
The first stage at 8 points was fine, but the later 30 points was a bit much.
What if the evolution path wasn't the type he wanted? Wouldn't that be a loss?
He hesitated.
But leaving an unknown, seemingly powerful evolution path untouched was unbearable, absolutely unbearable!
If only he could just unlock the name and appearance.
Suddenly,
he noticed a change in the panel before him.
[Water Spirit Foal (Bloodline Evolution) → 'An unknown silhouette' (138 points of intel to unlock) → ...]
1 point of intel could only unlock the name, appearance, and brief information.
3 points of intel could unlock detailed information after evolution.
And the final 5 points of intel were the cost for the evolution plan.
"It can work like this? The total cost stays the same, but it's like paying in installments!"
With just 1 point, Su Hao didn't need to hesitate to unlock it.
The dark silhouette gradually took on vibrant colors.
Both evolution stages were revealed at once.
"Water Scale Beast? Water Qilin?"
He felt he no longer needed to hesitate.
As he neared the herd, he heard a whinnying sound from ahead.
A White Feather Moth flying in midair was struck by a water ball like a cannonball, whimpered, and flew over ten meters before crashing into a large rock, knocked out cold.