Ordinary people can only contract spirits from spirit nurseries or free-range centers.
They're all common spirits.
Among them, those with higher nurturing potential are things like Charcoal Tortoises and Long-Armed Apes.
The Charcoal Tortoise meets the first two requirements of Su Hao's contract.
It can tank, and it can be ridden.
But it's too slow, and its final form doesn't perform well in cramped spaces either.
The evolved form of the Little Stone Elephant, the Armored Elephant, can be ridden and tank, and isn't slow, but its final evolution, the Elephant General, can't be ridden anymore.
"What about the Salted Fish King?"
The Salted Fish King only has one evolution, evolving into the "Giant Kun," which can tank, be ridden, and even fly.
But the evolution difficulty is too high.
There's no way to complete the evolution before the college entrance exam.
All passed.
Su Hao browsed the forums, looking for channels to buy rare, high-quality spirits.
"Normally, after entering university, using the school's channels and resources, you can buy some high-quality spirits.
"Intra-school competitions or inter-school competitions all have decent spirit rewards.
"Especially the university league..."
He remembered that the previous champion team of the university league was rewarded with a Baby Fire Chicken each, and its final evolution, the Flamingo, was said to be a relative of the Phoenix, incredibly powerful.
"If I really can't find a satisfactory one, I'll just have to wait until I'm in university to contract my third spirit."
Su Hao came from an ordinary family and had no connections. Of course, if he asked Master Chen Ping, it probably wouldn't be hard to get a rare spirit.
Master Chen Ping was still in his contacts.
But they weren't close.
He was used to relying on himself.
At most, he'd occasionally cheat a little.
He scrolled through and did find some posts about spirits for sale.
"Selling a Moss Turtle bred from a Ten-Thousand Vine Turtle, Alliance-certified, legitimate source. DM if interested."
So-called "legitimate source" means the spirit hasn't been contracted and isn't stolen.
Spirits sold or traded privately all need certification from the local Spirit Master Guild to avoid problems.
Su Hao had seen the news before.
A wealthy businessman bought a rare spirit, "Dream Ghost," for his sixteen-year-old son on the black market.
But his son couldn't contract it no matter what.
They finally discovered that the "Dream Ghost" had been contracted before, then the spirit was snatched by hunters, the contractor was killed, and it passed through several hands before ending up on the black market where the businessman bought it.
As a high school student with a bright future, Su Hao had no intention of buying from the black market.
But there were too few Spirit Masters selling spirits on the forums.
Maybe he just hadn't found the right channels.
"After all, truly rare spirits are already pre-ordered and never make it to the market. Most elite Spirit Masters from 'grassroots' backgrounds find their own spirits to contract in the New World."
The spirits of the New World don't share the same origin as those of Blue Star.
They're repelled by human presence, making contracting very difficult, but not entirely impossible.
Adult forms are out of the question, but newly bred juvenile spirits might be lured away if you use the right methods.
But...
"I'm not capable of moving freely in the New World yet~!"
Su Hao wasn't too keen on it either.
Staying alive was the priority.
Wouldn't it be safer to wait until he had two, three, four, or five elite-level spirits before going to the New World?
He thought for a moment, then searched for "locations of wild spirit appearances within Dragon Country."
The search results on the Alliance's internal network were reliable, truthful, and ad-free.
Su Hao looked through them one by one.
Disappointment was hard to hide.
"If you're lucky in the wilderness, you might run into a wild spirit, but they're almost always the common ones from spirit nurseries. Finding a rare, high-quality one in the wild is as hard as winning the lottery jackpot."
Su Hao shook his head. "Unless it's in a Primitive Zone."
Now that he was in the loop, he knew more.
He knew that Primitive Zones not only had wild spirits captured from the New World and released there, but also native Blue Star spirits.
Most of them were spirits that were harder to contract.
Like the Little Fire Crow from before.
"If I hadn't successfully contracted the Little Fire Crow back then, its most likely fate would have been to be sent to some Primitive Zone. So, if I could enter a Primitive Zone and find a suitable spirit to contract, that would be perfect."
Even spirit nurseries require money to buy spirits.
Primitive Zones aren't open to just anyone either.
The area opened to them for the joint exam was just a region recently introduced with New World spirits.
"Let me see, the Blue Forest Primitive Zone is only open to the public from June to September each year, with limited slots.
"The Flame Mountain Primitive Zone requires a referral to enter.
"The Creekwood Town Primitive Zone is too ordinary; everyone who's been there says it's bad. Cross that off.
"The Changbai Mountain Primitive Zone is one of the top three in Dragon Country, but I can't go... wait, the Primitive Zone is recruiting Spirit Breeders to conduct a local spirit ecology survey, and they've invited a well-known senior Spirit Breeder..."
Su Hao rubbed his chin.
He saw the compensation and the benefit of being able to contract a spirit.
He decisively submitted his resume.
Then he looked again—wow, quite a few Spirit Breeders wanted to go.
What they coveted was different from him.
He just wanted the spirits in the Primitive Zone; they coveted the senior Spirit Breeder leading the team, his knowledge, his prestige!
Too many competitors.
Su Hao's head ached a little.
"My resume doesn't seem that outstanding among them."
He was just the top in his region for the Spirit Breeder exam.
Had researched the evolution path of the Dream Moth.
Had written a few papers published in major journals.
To secure his spot, while waiting for a reply, Su Hao casually... applied for the intermediate Spirit Breeder exam.
The gap between intermediate and beginner was experience.
Taking the intermediate exam was simpler than the beginner one.
No unified test was needed.
He just had to submit his completed nurturing plans, work experience, etc., for the examiners to review.
After the review passed, three intermediate or senior Spirit Breeder examiners would conduct an online Q&A.
The review requirements mainly focused on the quantity and quality of the plans submitted.
Quantity... Su Hao had taken orders during winter break, but still not many.
Barely enough to meet the mark.
The main thing was quality—all excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent, excellent.
Spirit Breeders aren't actually omniscient; they all have their own areas of expertise or spirit types they specialize in.
A Spirit Breeder who specializes in nurturing turtle-type spirits would naturally design a weaker plan for a Wood Mantis.
Su Hao was exceptionally well-rounded.
All excellent plus excellent, which once made the examiner panel suspect the plans were bought.
During the final online Q&A, the examiners asked tricky questions, but Su Hao answered them effortlessly.
He had studied on his own for just over a month and passed the beginner Spirit Breeder exam.
Now, after nearly half a year of self-study and with his panel upgraded, passing the intermediate Spirit Breeder exam was perfectly reasonable, wasn't it?
He was a genius!
"OK, done. In a few days, I'll be a glorious intermediate Spirit Breeder. Should I resubmit my resume or not?"
He was thinking this when he noticed an email had already arrived in his inbox.
...
A week later.
Su Hao skipped school yet again, took the high-speed rail, and headed to the Changbai Mountain Primitive Zone.
————
[Multiple Choice Question]
Q: After enduring countless hardships and eighty-three trials in the Primitive Zone, Su Hao finally contracted a ____ spirit?
A. Water Spirit Foal → Water Scale Beast → Water Qilin (not a divine beast, at most a pseudo-legendary) B. Rolling Beast → Electric Bear → Thunderous Roar C. ???