The Arhat Panda elder pondered for a moment.
Normally, according to the rules, only Su Hao would get a chance today, and the Dragon Kingdom couldn't really object. But Su Hao's excellence impressed it. It was very satisfied that the Bear King Mountain spirits could follow such a spirit tamer. Perhaps in ten or twenty years, the cub contracted today might surpass it.
The Arhat Panda elder was in a good mood. So it spoke, "In that case, give the others another chance to vote." It roared a few times, and the second round of voting began. The same wooden boards were used—those with Su Hao's pattern drawn on them—flipped over to carve on the back to avoid confusion.
In the second round, many bears didn't participate. With fewer boards to count, the results came out quickly. "Chen Ming, Wu Hang, Wang Wu, Mu Xuanxuan..." Two master-level spirit tamers: Wu Hang from the Flamingo University, and that sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl—unexpectedly, she had passed the trial.
Su Hao strolled through Bear King Mountain, constantly checking each bear's information on his panel. "Too many, too chaotic." Many spirits kept moving, and the icons displayed on the panel were basically the same. "I can't keep searching like this." He thought for a moment, then called out to Die Xiaodie, who was about to start gaming, and asked, "What do you think?"
"Gu nuo~" The little one indicated it was on it. It flew around and soon brought back over a dozen little bears: Rolling Beasts, Teddy Bears, and Panda Cubs—all Die Xiaodie's most favored fans. "Gu nuo~" It pointed to a Panda Cub with big, adorable eyes and chirped, saying this one had fast hands, that one had strong comprehension, and the last one gave the most snacks.
"What nonsense is this~!" Su Hao rubbed his forehead. He really shouldn't have expected much from the little one... Huh? Wait! He casually opened that Panda Cub's info. Third-generation spirit. Mastered several moves: Bullet Punch, Power-Up Punch, Air Punch, Shadowless Punch, Golden Light Slash... It was a Panda Cub with exceptional boxing skills. "A Panda Cub is metal-type and proficient in boxing—it can definitely be trained into a spirit with formidable frontal assault capabilities. Plus, its talent in fists and feet is outstanding; it'll surely learn many fist and foot techniques..."
Fist and foot techniques, derived from human martial arts and combat, had many options to learn. Once it evolved into an Arhat Panda, it would be an ultra-violent bear. Su Hao then looked at that Teddy Bear. "Gravity talent?" That Teddy Bear was floating mid-air, rolling around, looking different from the others. "Normal gravity moves are only used to increase weight or restrict enemies. But this Teddy Bear has already mastered gravity to the control level, using it very skillfully. Even if it evolves into a Tyrant Bear, a giant, it can still float with gravity moves." Other Tyrant Bears, no matter how trained, could rarely achieve that.
Though... when Su Hao saw the snacks floating around the Teddy Bear, he thought—this Teddy Bear's gravity mastery was probably just for convenience while eating snacks. He was tempted, but then considered that floating didn't quite suit a Tyrant Bear. He moved on to look at other spirits.
Meanwhile, others were also selecting spirits. That floating Teddy Bear caught their attention too. But after seeing Su Hao, they silently walked away. After all, Su Hao had the highest votes.
"Teddy Bear, Panda Cub, Rolling Beast..." He looked into the distance at a Rolling Beast gaming with Die Xiaodie. According to the little one, this was its recognized third little brother, especially insightful. It had started as a low-level rookie but, under its guidance, had nearly reached the transcendent level. Die Xiaodie was very satisfied. Su Hao was... also very surprised. "The offspring of a monarch-level spirit, and not just that—"
[Spirit: Rolling Beast] [Strength: Beginner Intermediate] [Moves: Twelve...] [Special: Lightning Control LV2] [Other: Omitted]
"Isn't elemental control exclusive to transcendent-level spirits?!!" He checked the stats of a few other outstanding spirits. Some were also monarch-level offspring, but... none had the elemental control ability. "This Rolling Beast's talent in lightning attributes is probably on a cheat level—max lightning affinity. Its comprehension, as Die Xiaodie said, is exceptional; it's learned more moves than other spirits."
Su Hao was tempted again. As an excellent spirit tamer, he could create many new moves, techniques, and even secret arts for spirits. But the prerequisite... was that the spirit could learn them. Look at the Stupid Crow—it still hadn't learned the move 'Flame Storm' even now, despite him providing a complete and detailed training method. That was poor comprehension.
"Caw?" The Fire Wool Crow tilted its head, confused.
The only thing making Su Hao hesitate was that this Rolling Beast loved gaming too much. "Having one gaming-addicted butterfly is already troublesome; adding a gaming-addicted bear might corrupt the team's atmosphere." "Gu nuo?" The butterfly at the computer suddenly turned around, staring straight at him, as if it had heard him badmouthing it. Su Hao coughed dryly and made a decision.
"Brother Wu, what do you think?" Consultant NPC Wu Tianwang looked very surprised. "You've already narrowed down your targets? And they're all monarch-level offspring? How do you know their parents are monarch-level?" Su Hao was about to speak when Wu Tianwang raised a hand to stop him. "Wait, no need to say it. I understand." Su Hao: "???" What do you understand?
Lu Tianwang, with his spiky hair, glanced into the distance at the Dream Butterfly playing with the bear cubs and suddenly realized. "I see. Your understanding of spirits isn't limited to combat; you've applied it to the extreme." Su Hao was even more puzzled. He was clearly relying on cheating—no, on extraordinary perception—to judge that those three little bears were exceptional. But how did they understand?
Seeing Su Hao's doubtful expression, Wu Tianwang smiled. "You underestimate us. We all know your Dream Butterfly has a good relationship with the Bear King Mountain spirits. Who is the offspring of a monarch-level spirit? You just ask, and you'll know." Oh... Su Hao understood. So that was the trick. Why hadn't he thought of it? He fell into thought, circling back to the original question. "Brother Wu, which one do you think I should choose?"
Wu Tianwang shook his head. "Judging by your expression, you've already made up your mind. You just can't bear to give up the other two talented spirits, right?" He paused. "You still need to be careful. Those little bears might get along with your spirit, but that doesn't mean they'll leave Bear King Mountain with you. Some spirits are homebodies, and Bear King Mountain spirits are quite intelligent. Contract one first, and if it doesn't work, quickly switch to another."
Su Hao thought that was reasonable. He immediately returned to the internet café hall and found Die Xiaodie's team in the middle of a fierce battle. He poked the Dream Butterfly and had it ask the neighboring Rolling Beast. "Gu nuo?" "Ao ao ao~!" "Gu nuo~" The Dream Butterfly looked at him, signaling it was done. Su Hao: "..." He still felt a bit uneasy. On a whim, he used a blood sampler to take a drop of blood, mixed it with lightning-type jade powder, and brought the powder to the Rolling Beast's mouth. "Ao? Ao ao~!" The Rolling Beast glanced at him, swallowed the entire jade powder box—since it couldn't spare a hand—and quickly got back to the team fight. In that instant, a contractual connection formed in Su Hao's mind. Along with it came waves of pressure from the Rolling Beast's overwhelming strength, acting on his soul, making Su Hao feel a bit dizzy.