Bright Moon Forest (VII)
“Meow!”
The kitten looked closely at the protruding stones in the open space and raised his voice without any hesitation.
I saw the stones shaking rustlingly, and after a while, the stones in a radius of dozens of meters began to gather towards a stone in the center.
In just a few breaths, the stones gathered into a huge human figure with a nose and eyes, but the color was not very beautiful.
"I obey your will, beloved guide. May I ask which of you wishes to enter into a steadfast partnership with me?"
Although the stone man's voice was rough and hoarse, like the sound made by stones being rubbed countless times, he did speak human language.
"It, it can talk! And it calls the kitten 'Guide'!" Kaia poked the crystal hard, and a double image appeared.
"Any intelligent beast can learn and understand your language, but the structure of our vocal organs is different from yours. Other beasts don't have the ability to reshape their bodies, so they can't speak." The stone man responded to Kaia patiently, but his words always had a strange official tone that sounded like they were read from a script.
"According to our human classification, a fantasy beast with intelligence will be classified as a heavenly-level fantasy beast. So are you a heavenly-level fantasy beast?" Crystal didn't realize that she had been unknowingly infected with the stone man's speaking habits.
"From my inherited memories, yes. We mountain giants are classified as celestial-level beasts in your Encyclopedia of Exotic Beasts." It looked around at everyone, finally facing Crystal. A grin could be seen on its rubble-covered features. "I presume you are the loyal and friendly partner I will soon contract with?"
From the perspective of the stone man, Song Baiyue has a deer, Yuzhu has a snake, and Rinyin, needless to say, has a guide.
The stretcher was placed more than three meters away from them. The person lying on it was obviously excluded from this core team, and he did not have what it wanted.
Then, the only ones left are Crystal and Kaeya.
Kaiya... has messy hair, wears a lip piercing, is noisy, has poor muscle strength, and doesn't want to choose.
"How is it?" Linyin asked Shuijing.
In her memory, mountain giants were considered one of the stronger tiers of celestial beasts. Only one mountain giant would spawn within a large area. Their rocky bodies gave them formidable defenses, and their ability to break down into smaller pieces and transform into roadside rubble at any time made them extremely concealed.
It was as if two 5,000-watt light bulbs were installed in Crystal's eyes. She nodded vigorously, "I like it, I like it very much." Being able to withstand a beating and being flexible, isn't this the beast of her dreams!
Crystal walked forward happily and started to touch the stone man all over.
"Kitten, kitty, I'm the only one left now. When will it be my turn?" Kaiya lay on the ground with his hands clasped together, and while plucking the cricket pupa, he devoutly made a wish to the kitten, "I want one..."
"You stinky stone, you hooked up with someone secretly without informing me."
A parrot fluttered out from deeper in the woods, interrupting Kaia's wishing ceremony.
It looked furious, with the red hair on its head almost standing up. After landing on the stone man's head, it circled around and stomped on it for a while.
Another strange beast that can speak human language.
After experiencing events such as "fighting a crazy rusty centipede for a self-heating chicken rice" and "resolving the python's disaster with Vajra Gong" in just one week, and "the talking stone man wants to make a contract with me", everyone has become numb and does not think it is strange that the strange beast can talk, especially since this strange beast looks like a parrot.
It's normal for a parrot to speak human language!
"Oh, it's Master Guide." The parrot, as if just noticing the kitten's presence, immediately addressed the stone figure with the same name. However, it didn't seem convinced. "Are you coming here to break up our unwavering, unwavering love? We've been together for... uh... three months and ten days."
"Your language is terrible." Kaia said truthfully.
The parrot's "Who are you?", "Who are you?", "No one needs your evaluation" slipped to its lips, but the stone man's big hand pressed down on its head and forcibly muted its microphone.
During the hundred years of loneliness, only this parrot could communicate with it. After three months of getting along, the stone man knew that the parrot had a good heart, but a bird could not spit out ivory.
Under the control of the stone man, the parrot noticed the faint glow on the kitten's fur. Upon closer inspection, it saw that Rinyin and her group all had golden energy of varying shades in their bodies.
Kaeya, the only one without a mythical beast companion, occasionally had a few golden fragments of energy streaking through his body. Although not as dense as Rin's, they were scattered here and there, and could not even be detected without careful observation.
But that was the "Breath of Life"! It was engraved in the inherited memories of mythical beasts, a treasure that could transform them and even break the shackles of their lifespans!
The parrot was so frightened that it lost its balance and slid from the stone man's head to his shoulder. At that moment, it fully understood the stone man's decision.
"Ahem, well... in case you haven't heard of my name, let me introduce myself. I'm Yizhihua..."
"Puff——" Kaia couldn't hold it in.
"..." The parrot took a few deep breaths, trying to hold back. For the sake of life, it had to hold back. "In your human books, I'm called a flower parrot."
The green parrot has red feathers on its head, which is quite appropriate.
"You classified me as - Heavenly Grade."
The parrot puffed out its chest proudly, and Kaia's mouth opened in surprise.
"Currently, your classification in the field of fantasy beast studies is controversial. You are classified as heavenly because you possess intelligence, but you have no other special talents. The academic community is already discussing revising the definition of heavenly-level fantasy beasts to exclude you," Lin Yin added.
Don't underestimate a librarian's knowledge. The parrot had just been about to spit insults at Kaia, but suddenly changed its tune. It was probably for some profit, and Rin wouldn't indulge it.
“Meow——”
The kitten noticed Rin's displeasure, jumped onto her shoulder, wrapped its tail around her arm and acted coquettishly, and was then hugged in Rin's arms.
"The kitten said that the flower parrot is very good at gathering information. When it reaches maturity, it can also be used as a short-distance flying mount. It is not so useless." Yuzhu conveyed the kitten's meaning on behalf of Ashe.
Rin understood that the parrot was the mythical beast that Koneko had chosen for Kaeya.
Honestly, she wasn't particularly impressed. While Yuzhu and Shuijing had both contracted powerful, well-known mythical beasts, Kaeya was forced to settle with a mere parrot, a mere spectacle, a mere name. She felt bad.
As for the fact that it can carry people when mature, in her opinion it is not an advantage at all.
First of all, transportation within the federation is very convenient.
Secondly, the growth period of a Celestial Beast is so long that when evaluating the combat strength of a particular beast, the strength of its mature stage is often weighted very low. This is because in most cases, humans don't even live to see a Celestial Beast mature.
As for the mature Heavenly Grade Fantasy Beasts, they would certainly not choose to sign a contract with humans anymore - during their growth period, they still needed to obtain energy from humans, and when they reached maturity, signing a contract with humans would only bring losses without any benefits.
"Are you willing to become Kaeya's mythical beast partner?" Linyin asked the parrot seriously, "If you are willing, please show your sincerity."
"Me... I do!" The parrot moved shyly from side to side on the stone man's shoulder. "I want to be with him—" the wings pointed at Kaia, "to develop a bond stronger than gold, a love that is as deep as the sea of hatred and as profound as the sky, a love that is unknown, and an unswerving comradeship!"
"Boss, I think we can give it a try."
To Rin's surprise, Kaeya paused for a moment before agreeing. "Firstly, I'm not good at combat, and secondly, my physical fitness is only B-rank... Having a Heaven-rank phantom beast as a support phantom beast might indeed be a good choice for me."
Rich students can buy energy pills at authorized fantasy beast supply stores to speed up the growth of fantasy beasts, but poor students like them who do not have strong financial resources can only rely on their own physical strength to supply the energy needed for the growth of fantasy beasts.
"Oh, yes, yes, I eat little and grow fast, so I don't need much energy." The parrot looked at Linyin eagerly. It knew that Linyin was the one who could make the final decision on whether it stayed or went.
Linyin sighed softly and said nothing more.
The two yin-yang fish disappeared into the foreheads of the stone man and the parrot respectively, and Linyin's team gained two more mythical beast companions.
………………
There were three tents neatly arranged in the woods, and the teenagers, who had been busy all day, were snoring.
In the moonlight, the shadows of the two night watchmen were hidden in the shadows of the trees.
"This is back for you. I didn't use it, but... thank you." Linyin thanked her sincerely. Shuijing and Yuzhu had returned the potion to her, and now she returned it to Song Baiyue.
"No need." Song Baiyue took the glass tube, and their hands touched each other briefly for a moment.
In the darkness, I don’t know whose heart skipped a beat, but everyone tacitly pretended nothing had happened.
"The moon is very beautiful today." Song Baiyue supported his body with his hands and looked up at the night sky.
"You seem to like everything related to the moon." From the name to the mythical beast, they are all moon elements.
Song Baiyue raised his eyes to look at her: "Did you know that I chose my name myself?"
"I guessed it."
Song Baiyue, a student in the Department of Mythical Beasts, was a top performer in combat and had been chosen early on to teach at the school after graduation. Many people knew him, and it was rumored that he also came from an orphanage.
Children in orphanages should name themselves, right?
There was a time in her orphanage when children aged 10 and above could choose a name from those given by the director, but after the director passed away, this benefit no longer existed.
"In fact, I almost stopped using that name."
Song Baiyue had a faint smile on his face. The autumn evening breeze was a little cold. The moonlight, the shadows of the trees, and the two people under the tree easily brought him into his memories.
Eleven years ago, he was ten years old. On a similarly moonlit morning, the names bestowed upon him by the director were distributed. He had long awaited this day, believing he would finally have his own. However, the children, who often disliked him, didn't let him off the hook. They took all the slips with names on them, leaving none for him. And complaining to the caregivers would have been seen as cowardly, only exacerbating his isolation, out of their sight.
Normally, he could hold back his tears, but for some reason, that day, he cried so hard. He sat under a pine tree, feeling like he was the only sad person left in the world. He was lost in his sorrow when he heard footsteps behind him.
He was startled and turned around to see a little girl in white clothes. He was so scared that his tears were blocked in his eyes.
The little girl seemed to have a headache and rubbed her head as she walked. Seeing him crying, she looked down on him and said, "You men are useless. Here we have good food and drink every day, don't worry about being cold, and no one beats or scolds you. What's there to cry about?"
He was stunned by the question, thinking of the sad things, and couldn't hold back his tears, sobbing as he told the little girl what happened, and also told her about the bullying by those children.
The little girl didn't feel the sympathy he'd expected. She remained indifferent. She said, "What's so great about names? You can give yourself one. For example, there's a mop over there, and next to it is a toilet. You could name yourself Thomas. Is naming something that difficult?"
He was amused.
The girl didn't stay long, just walked around twice and then went back to sleep. He sat alone in a chair and saw a silvery white moon shining through the pine treetops.
When registering his name the next day, he wrote the three words "Song Baiyue" according to Thomas's theory.
"Did you meet her later?" Lin Yin asked.
Song Baiyue was stunned for a moment, then could only smile helplessly: "I have seen it."
"Huh?"
"But she doesn't remember any of that."
Linyin didn't know what to say. She didn't seem to be very good at dealing with such an atmosphere, nor was she used to intruding into other people's memories.
Song Baiyue noticed her discomfort and returned to a topic they were both familiar with: "When we go back to register those three mythical beasts this time, should we suggest they try downgrading their registration?"
"Downgrade registration? Is that possible?"
The original plan was to use the potion given by Song Baiyue and the blood contract to bring back two Xuan-level fantasy beasts. By then, it could be said that it was a spur-of-the-moment decision and they were bought at the fantasy beast supply store in Jiaoyue City.
This time, they purchased three heavenly-level fantasy beasts at once, so it would be hard not to attract attention.
After Song Baiyue contracted a heavenly-level mythical beast himself last time, he was leading the team again this time. Who would still believe that he didn't have any special abilities? It was like roasting him on the fire.
"I remember that the contract registration will check the size, appearance, and genes of the mythical beast, right? The size and appearance can be disguised, but what about the genes?"
Song Baiyue shook his head. "You underestimate the rarity of Heaven-level mythical beasts. The Phantasmal Beast Hall has never successfully obtained genetic samples from most Heaven-level mythical beasts. Furthermore, during actual registration, if only a contract with a Xuan-level or Huang-level mythical beast is entered, the genetics are generally not verified."
"You seem to know a lot about the Fantasy Beast Hall." Linyin chatted casually.
"I..." Song Baiyue was choked for a moment.
"It's okay. I don't have a hobby of prying into other people's privacy."
A few night birds flew by, and the sound of their wings flapping was particularly clear in the silence.
Song Baiyue was silent for a while, "Thank you..."
Lin Yin was helpless. "Acting teacher, we are so familiar with each other, let's stop thanking each other. I started it, I apologize, and I won't say thank you to you anymore."
Song Baiyue smiled and said, "Okay." After a moment's hesitation, she said, "If possible, try not to mention the kitten's abilities to anyone."
Linyin nodded: "I think so too."
Having a celestial-level mythical beast as a subordinate, and having that subordinate constantly call it "Guide," is surreal no matter how you think about it. And the more extraordinary a power, the more likely it is to come with enormous trouble. Call her an ostrich or a doting parent, but rather than being invincible, she wants her kitten to live happily and healthily to 150 years old.
Even if she wants to be invincible, she would rather achieve it with her own fists.
"With your abilities, passing the selection shouldn't be a problem. After Shuijing and the others have contracted their espers, it shouldn't be difficult for them to be selected. During the competition, don't underestimate low-level espers. In terms of combat power alone, heaven-level espers aren't top-tier, especially..."
"Teacher Song, aren't you planning to participate in the ladder tournament?" Song Baiyue looked like he was about to give a speech as if he was eliminated, which made Linyin a little confused.
She had witnessed Song Baiyue's combat proficiency up close. Even she, who didn't have a fantasy beast, was ordered by the school to participate in the selection. Why should a top student in the fantasy beast department like him be exempted?
Linyin's original idea had always been to let down her guard during the trials and pretend to lose and get eliminated. But now, she really started to get interested.
"I look forward to you fighting alongside me in the arena. That way you won't have to hide in the shadows and watch me secretly."
Song Baiyue's fingertips trembled slightly, and she used the night to hide the panic in her eyes.
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