Chapter 1

Xijiangzhou.

Guan Cheng No. 1 High School, Grade 1 Class 4 Classroom.

Su Yi stared blankly at the bizarre questions on the blackboard, his mind in a mess.

"Can a crocodile with iron teeth bite through the shell of a rock-armored turtle? Why or why not?"

"Assuming the efficiency of thermal-to-electric conversion is 30%, how much electricity can a fire fox generate in one hour at most?"

"Given that an electric frog's electric shock skill is at the beginner level, how many meters must it advance to electrocute an enemy 10 meters away?"

Iron-toothed crocodiles, rock-armored turtles, electric frogs...

What the hell are these things?

Looking at the familiar classroom and the familiar young faces, Su Yi initially thought he had been reborn into his high school days.

But.

When the homeroom teacher earnestly explained those strange questions, he realized that things might be even more bizarre than he imagined!

Could he have been reborn into a strange parallel world?

He subconsciously glanced at the textbooks on his desk, which only confirmed his suspicions.

"Meditation"

"Extraordinary Creatures"

"Contract Space"

"Beast Master's Code of Conduct"

...

What kind of weird subjects are these?

Before he could continue to be surprised, his head suddenly ached, and a flood of memories surged like a spring.

It turned out that the world was indeed different!

The history of this world was similar to that of Earth.

However, over forty years ago, many secret realms suddenly appeared around the world, merging and connecting with Earth, and a large amount of strange energy poured in.

Under the influence of this energy, many animals and plants began to evolve and mutate.

Weak beasts became terrifying monsters.

Small forests turned into large forests, and large forests turned into vast primeval forests.

Humans no longer needed to plant trees or return farmland to forests.

Large areas of land were occupied by these mutated plants, and even many villages, towns, and cities were submerged.

These evolved and mutated plants, like the monsters, possessed self-awareness and attack capabilities, making it impossible for humans to survive in them.

As a result, human living space was instantly compressed by more than half.

These mutated animals and plants were collectively known as extraordinary creatures.

If it were only these newly evolved extraordinary creatures, humans might still have a way to deal with them.

Unfortunately, in addition to these locally evolved and mutated creatures, a large number of extraordinary creatures from the secret realms also poured into Earth.

These extraordinary creatures were even more powerful, some capable of moving mountains and swallowing nuclear bombs!

Under the ravages of these extraordinary creatures, society became precarious.

Fortunately, humans also evolved under the influence of the strange energy.

Although they did not directly gain powerful abilities like other animals and plants, they acquired the ability to control extraordinary creatures.

These people were called Beast Masters, who could contract extraordinary creatures and turn them into their pet beasts!

Using extraordinary creatures to counter extraordinary creatures, and monsters to counter monsters.

Through the battles of the Beast Masters, humans managed to avoid total defeat and barely maintained their current living space.

And the Beast Masters became the most respected and admired profession.

However, not just anyone could become a Beast Master.

In addition to having a certain level of talent, one also needed sufficient financial resources and luck.

Talent was the most basic requirement; without it, one could never contract a pet beast and thus could not become a Beast Master.

Next were financial resources and luck.

Without sufficient financial resources and luck, even with great talent, it would be difficult to obtain an excellent pet beast.

Or, even if one obtained a pet beast, there would not be enough resources to raise it.

Su Yi's luck was not particularly good, but it was not particularly bad either.

At least, he was detected to have the talent to be a Beast Master early on and was admitted to Guan Cheng No. 1 High School.

Guan Cheng No. 1 High School, also known as Guan Cheng Beast Master Experimental High School, was the only public high school in the entire city that trained Beast Masters!

Being forced to absorb so many memories in a short time, Su Yi felt his head was about to explode.

By the time he recovered, he had already been lying on his desk for several minutes.

His desk partner, Li Xinhuo, was frantically poking him with a pencil case.

"Stop fooling around, my head hurts."

Su Yi rubbed his temples, looking exhausted.

"Stop fooling around, the homeroom teacher has called your name several times!"

Li Xinhuo whispered.

"Uh..."

Su Yi opened his eyes and, seeing the homeroom teacher and other students looking at him, finally reacted and quickly sat up straight.

Homeroom teacher Liu Yiting, who was only in her twenties, did not scold him but instead showed a hint of sympathy and comforted him:

"Su Yi, there's still half a month until the final exam, don't be too anxious. The fact that you were admitted here means you have the talent to be a Beast Master. As long as you persist and work hard, you will definitely become a true Beast Master. The same goes for the other two students who haven't yet opened their Beast Master spaces. Never give up until the very end!"

She thought Su Yi was "sleeping" in class because of his mindset...

This homeroom teacher was indeed as responsible as ever, even encouraging the students who were dragging the class down at such a time.

But...

In his high school days, he was always at the top of the class, a model student!

How did he end up being the one dragging the class down here?

Su Yi felt a myriad of emotions.

According to the rules of Guan Cheng No. 1 High School, if one could not open a Beast Master space and become a true Beast Master by the end of the semester, they would be expelled from the school.

Because starting from the next semester, practical classes would begin.

Without a contracted beast, how could one continue to study?

Currently, only three students in the entire Grade 1 Class 4 had not succeeded.

And Su Yi was one of them.

What a joke!

He had always been the "other kid" in the neighborhood, a model and an example, never imagining that he would one day become the one dragging the class down!

Unacceptable!

Isn't it just about opening a Beast Master space?

As long as he doubled his efforts to train his mental strength, it shouldn't be too difficult.

So many classmates could do it, there's no reason he can't!

Su Yi was a bit skeptical.

"Ring, ring, ring—"

The bell rang, and the class ended without him noticing.

Liu Yiting tidied up her teaching materials and walked to Su Yi's desk, saying softly, "Come with me to the office."

Is she going to give me a private lecture?

Su Yi felt a bit helpless but still obediently followed her.

Feeling the various gazes of his classmates, he finally understood how the underachievers felt when called to the office by the teacher.

It was not a pleasant experience at all.

"Su Yi, your theoretical class scores have always been excellent, consistently ranking in the top three of the entire grade. As long as you open your Beast Master space, I believe you will definitely become an excellent Beast Master!"

"Beast Masters are the elite of society and the hope of the country. As long as you become a Beast Master, you will easily find a high-paying job after entering society."

"The reason I called you here is to give you some advice. After you go home, discuss with your parents and buy some materials to aid your training, such as Concentration Grass and Focus Incense. This money cannot be spared; it concerns your future!"

It turned out that Liu Yiting had not called him to the office to scold him.

Looking at the earnest homeroom teacher, Su Yi knew she genuinely wanted to help him.

But...

These materials were extremely expensive, far beyond what a single-parent family could afford.

Even the cheapest Concentration Grass cost nearly 10,000 yuan per plant.

That was two months' salary for his mother!

Moreover, Concentration Grass only had an auxiliary effect, and one plant's effect lasted at most one night. They were usually bought in batches of ten.

Ten plants would cost over 100,000 yuan...

"This world is not friendly to poor students."

Su Yi shook his head.

In the other world, although his family's financial situation was similar, he had managed to get into a top university without spending much money, with the biggest additional expense being the purchase of some extracurricular books.

His poor family had not significantly hindered him.

However, now, to avoid being expelled, he would have to spend tens of thousands of yuan, which would be a huge burden for students from poorer families.

Such a high cost of education would make even so-called elite education bow down in submission!

"Thank you, teacher, I will discuss it with my family."

Su Yi expressed his gratitude to the teacher.

But he did not intend to really talk to his family about it.

Was this a discussion? It would be like stabbing his mother's heart with a knife!

"In this world, it seems even harder to achieve social mobility!"

Leaving the office, Su Yi looked at a few students on the playground playing with their pet beasts, feeling a bit melancholic.

What should he do next?

Continue to focus on meditation or find a way to earn money to buy auxiliary materials?

But how could a high school student earn money?

Installments? Donate sperm?

People with the talent to be a Beast Master could indeed earn a lot of money by donating...

"Beep, Beast Master system activated!"

Just as he was lost in thought, a mechanical voice suddenly sounded.