Ancheng No.1 High School.
The spirit campus was swept by a cold wind, whipping up dead branches and fallen leaves.
Su Hao locked his bike, and a plump, goose-yellow figure jumped from the back seat to the ground, then crawled up his pant leg to his back, lazily lying there.
Like a goose-yellow backpack.
It was pretty heavy.
On the bike's handlebars stood a small fire crow, staring at the frost-covered leaves for a long time. Suddenly noticing the figure moving away, it let out a "caw," flapped its wings, and quickly chased after him.
There weren't many people on campus.
Many students were bundled up in thick winter clothes. In comparison, Su Hao's outfit looked a bit thin.
But he didn't feel cold.
Since the silkworm broke through to the entry level, the feedback it provided had become increasingly noticeable.
His physique had improved significantly.
He was in great shape, no longer worrying about catching a cold.
"Ah-choo—"
Su Hao rubbed the tip of his nose.
It couldn't be a cold—someone must be talking about him again!
...
Arriving at Class 2's classroom, homeroom teacher Old Chen had the class monitor hand out the report cards.
The joint exam report cards.
Besides the detailed rankings, they also listed the number of other examinees defeated during the joint exam, the number of wild spirits defeated, and who had eliminated them.
At the bottom was Old Chen's comment.
Su Hao's comment was very simple: Outstanding performance, keep up the good work.
But most of the students wore grim expressions.
Originally, they could tell their parents that they didn't make the top hundred and had no ranking.
This report card, however, laid bare their entire exam process.
Some students looked at the glaring "0-1-1" on their report cards and felt extremely awkward.
At least they were lucky to have defeated one wild spirit, not a complete zero.
"Too bad I didn't get the double crown—I didn't take first place overall in the final exams."
The top student Su Hao sighed.
The final exams covered the three compulsory subjects—Chinese, Math, and Thought—along with six spirit subject papers.
The report cards had been handed out before the joint exam.
But because the spirit subject papers were too easy and didn't create a gap in scores, he lost to Gu Lingyao by a few points, missing out on first place.
He lost the double crown.
A pity, a shame.
At the podium, after handing out the report cards, homeroom teacher Old Chen spoke up:
"Our spirit department, unlike the cultural studies next door, doesn't force you to attend winter break tutoring, but..."
But was the key point.
The group of rookie spirit masters, just recovering from the joint exam's ordeal, wore pained expressions with vacant eyes.
Then they heard:
"But for the sake of your future, to ensure you can smoothly get into a spirit university, the school has decided to hold a holiday special training.
"This training isn't mandatory, but from what I know, other high schools' spirit departments also have similar training. If you want to get into a spirit university, you can't afford to slack off even for a moment.
"Go home tonight and discuss it properly with your parents. Give me your answer tomorrow."
"Old Su, what do you think?" Liu Ren leaned in.
Su Hao didn't need to think or hesitate. "Of course I'm not joining."
Liu Ren's face was filled with envy and jealousy.
Friendship value -10.
Old Chen walked over. "Su Hao's strength has already surpassed yours by too much. Joining the training would be pointless.
"However, you can't waste the great winter break time. Have you figured out how to use it?"
Judging by Old Chen's demeanor, if he said "not yet," she'd rattle off a full list of suggestions and arrangements.
But Su Hao already had plans.
"I've already planned it out."
Su Hao said, "Now that the silkworm is at entry level and meets the evolution requirements, it will evolve soon.
"After it evolves, I should go to some special training grounds."
The so-called special training grounds referred to the New World.
Su Hao wasn't an elite-level spirit master yet, so he didn't qualify to explore the New World.
But with his current status as a formal spirit master, he could enter a few specific locations open to the public.
Yeah, the entry fee was steep.
Liu Ren listened with a vague understanding.
Old Chen naturally understood.
She asked further, "What about the evolution preparations? Every evolution of a spirit is crucial, affecting its future development. You must prepare ample, top-quality materials and choose the most suitable venue."
Su Hao nodded.
He had already placed orders. The materials needed would arrive in the next couple of days.
"For the evolution venue, I've booked a Wood-type Grade-A venue at Spirit Square for five days from now."
Poorer spirit masters could only choose environments compatible with their spirits' affinities as evolution sites.
For example, a Wood-type spirit might choose a forest in the wild.
But behind the training area at Spirit Square, there were specially built venues for spirit evolution.
It was said that trees or other elements from the New World were transplanted there, and special methods were used to keep the spiritual energy levels in the venue at a high standard.
A Wood-type Grade-A venue cost thirty thousand Dragon Kingdom dollars for half a day's rental.
Su Hao wasn't short on cash for now, so he picked the best.
But even then, he had to wait until the morning five days later for his turn—the entire city of Ancheng had only this one Wood-type Grade-A venue.
"Saturday morning, right? Don't worry, Old Su, I'll be there to cheer on your silkworm god."
Liu Ren said, glancing at the charcoal fire turtle basking in the sun by the window. "When it reaches its spiritual energy limit, I'll start preparing for its evolution, using the evolution as a chance to break through to entry level... If I waited like your silkworm god, who knows how many years it'd take."
...
Back home,
Su Hao's parents had already gone to look at houses. Su Hao comfortably hogged the laptop and assigned a new task to the silkworm, who was staring with wide eyes.
"Silkworm, evolution is imminent. At a time like this, you need to adjust your state. Otherwise, what if you evolve into a deformed butterfly? Think about it."
The silkworm, fixated on the computer, was stunned.
Although evolution generally didn't go wrong, what if?
In movies and novels, deformed monsters weren't uncommon.
For the sake of its future insect life, the silkworm decided to quit the computer for three... no, five days!
So it called over the small fire crow and went to watch TV instead.
...
In front of the computer,
A panel appeared in Su Hao's eyes.
[Silkworm → Dream Mist Butterfly]
[Evolution Conditions: ① 6 portions of Wood-type Essence (required); ② Spirit Power 150 (required); ③ Learn a Illusion-type move (required); ④ 30 boxes of Intermediate Wood-type Jade Powder (required); ⑤ Growth Level: Growth Stage 30% (required); ⑥ 1 jin of Mist Flower, 2 jin of Emerald Bamboo (required); — Evolution Potential Development 60% ⑦ Wood Spirit Fruit (optional); ⑧ ... (optional);]
As long as the first six conditions were met, the silkworm could evolve into its new form—the Dream Mist Butterfly.
But as Teacher Chen said, when preparing materials for a spirit's evolution, more is always better than less.
In the panel's evolution conditions, six portions of Wood-type Essence were the minimum requirement. Falling short could lead to evolution failure.
But it wasn't the upper limit.
The upper limit was ten portions—the maximum the silkworm could absorb during evolution. Su Hao ordered two extra portions.
For the Wood-type Jade Powder, he ordered the Advanced grade.
As for optional auxiliary materials like the Wood Spirit Fruit, he maxed them all out.
He aimed to push the evolution potential development to 100%.
This would give the silkworm's combat power a massive leap forward.