"Are you serious? Are you sure?"
Hearing Lin Chuan's words, Lin Xuédòng was stunned, then asked with a serious expression.
"Are you sure this decision was made after careful consideration, and not because of a momentary softness, not because you didn't want any Flower Leaf Leaf to be sad?"
"Third Brother, let me tell you something."
"As a man, the most taboo thing is indecisiveness. When it's time to act, act. When it's time to make a choice, don't hesitate. That's what a true Sigma man does!"
"Hesitating and wanting to take care of everyone, that's not kindness, that's definitely a sissy scumbag!"
Lin Xuédòng pulled Lin Chuan and lectured him incessantly.
Lin Chuan shook his head and said, "Honestly, at first it was indeed due to softness, but! Later, I also considered it very carefully. Even if I don't contract two Flower Leaf Leaf at the same time now, I will contract one first, and then another after a while."
"Every Beast Master chooses a different path."
"Some choose to specialize in one attribute, some choose to cultivate one race, and some build their Spirit Beast team around a certain Skill."
"As for me, for now, for the college entrance examination three months from now, and to be able to get into one of the Eight Great Academies, I want to go the extreme survival route, the tank-and-sustain route, striving to reach a point where if they can't kill me in one hit, no one can outlast me."
Lin Chuan answered seriously, explaining his team-building strategy.
"Dad, you know, although our family is middle-class and comfortable, we're only better than those below us, and far from enough compared to those above."
"There are many people richer and more powerful than our family. The children from truly wealthy families, their Beast Master starting point is far higher than mine, isn't it? Their initial Spirit Beasts are directly General Grade bloodline or even Shuai Grade rare Spirit Beasts. I don't feel like I have much chance to contend with them head-on."
"So, after thinking for a long time, I decided to go the extreme survival route. I'll get into one of the Eight Great Academies first, then talk about the future. For this, I need two Flower Leaf Leaf. One probably won't be enough to sustain."
After Lin Chuan finished speaking, Lin Xuédòng lowered his eyes and thought seriously, then he realized that Lin Chuan was right.
Lin Xuédòng felt complicated inside, a little self-reproachful. It was he who was unable to give his children a higher starting point. If he could become an intermediate researcher, he could get General Grade initial Spirit Pets for his children. If he became a senior researcher, he could even get Shuai Grade initial Spirit Pets.
Lin Linyi and Lin Ling'er were like this. Without a better initial Spirit Pet, coupled with their unwillingness to admit defeat, they chose to contend head-on with the children of true wealthy and powerful families, which led to their defeat in the college entrance examination.
Although their final grades were good and they got into well-known Imperial Beast Universities, there was still a huge gap compared to the Eight Great Academies.
Only by getting into one of the Eight Great Academies can one enter the circle of the truly top-tier Beast Masters in the Star Rock Federation.
Immediately, Lin Xuédòng smiled again, looking at Lin Chuan with eyes full of relief.
Leaving aside his talent, just his thinking, Lin Chuan was much more mature and meticulous than Lin Linyi and Lin Ling'er when they had just graduated and come of age.
The most important thing was that Lin Chuan could see himself clearly, could clearly recognize the gap with those from truly powerful backgrounds, and did not stubbornly confront them head-on like his older brother and sister.
In fact, this was also a change that occurred after Lin Chuan awakened fragments of his past life's memories.
If it were the previous him, he might have been as reckless as his brother and sister, but now, Lin Chuan has learned and chosen to be cautious, prioritizing maxing out his health bar and recovery ability until the enemy's damage output is slower than his healing.
With self-awareness, meticulous thinking, plus a second-order Spiritual Wood Heart and a self-awakened Beast Master talent, perhaps his Lin family could truly produce a True Dragon!
Lin Xuédòng's gaze towards Lin Chuan became exceptionally expectant.
As if he hadn't noticed, Lin Chuan continued:
"Even the same kind of Spirit Beast has many different development directions. Taking Flower Leaf Leaf's final evolution, Flower Spirit Immortal, there are those who specialize in Wood Attribute skills focusing on healing, those who specialize in illusion skills to create obstacles for opponents, and even rare and unconventional poison-healing cultivation directions."
"As for not being able to take care of them, don't worry about that, old man!"
"My previously naturally awakened Beast Master talent is Skill Master. Although it's only first-order, it's enough. I can completely cultivate Guoguo and Sakura simultaneously so that their skill learning and training progress doesn't fall behind others."
At this point, Lin Chuan had finished speaking.
Silence. Lin Xuédòng had nothing to say. At this moment, he just wanted to shout, "My son is awesome! My third young master has the potential of a great emperor!"
He was excited inside, but Lin Xuédòng maintained a calm facade. He nodded.
"Since that's the case, and you've already thought it through, then contract both of them."
Lin Chuan smiled and didn't delay.
First, he put down the two Flower Leaf Leaf he was holding. Then, Lin Chuan took out two small, round, black balls, shaped like ping-pong balls and engraved with mysterious patterns, from the satchel he was carrying.
In ancient times, humans and Spirit Beasts had to hold a ceremony to sign a contract, which was called a contract ceremony.
The contract ceremony was not as troublesome as the awakening ceremony, but it still required drawing a formation, reciting a long prayer, and then, within the formation's range, humans and Spirit Beasts would dance awkwardly together, achieving physical, mental, and spiritual synchronization to complete the contract.
Hmm, it's estimated that the awkward dancing was too damaging to their image. The top existences among humans, in order not to dance awkwardly, continuously researched, adjusted, and modified the contract. Coupled with the great explosion of modern Spirit Beast technology, they developed a simplified contract form.
Contract balls, which are the two that Lin Chuan has taken out now.
The principle of a contract ball is to engrave the contract ceremony using spirit runes in the form of a computer 'idiot-proof package' file inside a small ball. When you need to contract a Spirit Beast, you just crush this small ball.
Lin Chuan held a contract ball in each hand, not crushing them immediately.
Instead, he knelt down on one knee, squatting halfway, and met the gaze of the two Flower Leaf Leaf.
"Guoguo, Sakura, are you really determined to be my contracted Spirit Pets?"
"Let me explain beforehand, cultivation and training will be very hard, and you might even get injured and feel a lot of pain. So, it's still not too late to regret it now."
The two Flower Leaf Leaf looked at each other, neither of them backing down.
Then, Guoguo and Sakura answered Lin Chuan with a behavior unique to the Flower Leaf Leaf Spirit Beast species.
Their small fists clenched, slightly exerting force. The flowers on Guoguo and Sakura's heads, which were originally closed, slowly opened, and an unripe fruit fell down, which they caught and offered to Lin Chuan like a treasure.
Lin Chuan sniffed. To be honest, even he, a tough guy, was truly moved.
He carefully took the two initial fruits and put them away. Then, he took a deep breath, his gaze narrowed, and Lin Chuan suddenly exerted force, crushing both contract balls at once.
Crack, crack, two crisp sounds. Two glowing white light clusters emerged from the shattered contract balls. The next second, the two glowing white light clusters transformed into two silvery-white transparent circular small formations, within which countless star-like runes flowed as if alive. The two small circular formations quietly floated in Lin Chuan's hands, slowly rotating.
The next moment, Lin Chuan placed his hands on Guoguo and Sakura's little heads respectively. The transparent small circular formations entered their bodies from their heads.
The contract ceremony formation exploded within Guoguo and Sakura's bodies.
Whoosh, a small wave of air blew outwards from their bodies, causing their leaves to flutter and dust to fly on the ground.
After about two breaths, the air current subsided, and the energy of the contract ceremony was completely absorbed by Guoguo and Sakura.
At this moment, Lin Chuan felt an inexplicable tremor from the depths of his soul. He could perceive an indescribable connection with Guoguo and Sakura, deeper, more mysterious, and more profound than blood ties.
At this point, the contract was complete!
...
Seeing Lin Chuan successfully contract Guoguo Sakura and embrace them, Lin Xuédòng showed a satisfied smile, nodding continuously.
Then, remembering something, Lin Xuédòng spoke again, saying:
"Third Brother, there's something I need to tell you first."
Lin Chuan, who was currently being nuzzled by Guoguo and Sakura against his chest, looked up.
Due to the contract, Lin Chuan was more closely connected to the two Flower Leaf Leaf. As if by telepathy, Guoguo and Sakura almost simultaneously turned their heads with Lin Chuan to look at Lin Xuédòng.
Being stared at by three pairs of eyes at once, Lin Xuédòng couldn't help but pause, then adjusted and put on a serious expression.
"The starting capital for Beast Mastering I gave your elder brother was 1 million star rock coin, and the same for your sister was also 1 million."
"Hmm, treating everyone equally!"
"I won't give you more because of your special situation, having contracted two Flower Leaf Leaf."
Lin Xuédòng finished speaking in a calm tone.
Lin Chuan smiled, nodded slightly, and said nothing, or rather, this situation was already within his expectations.
1 million star rock coin, that's a lot!
For children from ordinary families, if they can get 50,000 or 100,000 star rock coin as Beast Master starting funds, that's already very good.
1 million is completely enough for a new Beast Master from an ordinary family for all their expenses during the three-month beginner development period from graduation to the college entrance examination, even more than enough.
Of course, if one wants to achieve top excellent results in the college entrance examination and get into one of the Eight Great Academies among the Three Sects, Five Families, and Eight Academies, then 1 million star rock coin as a starting point is definitely not enough. 10 million is barely enough to lay a solid foundation for the Spirit Beast, to be on par with those children of power and wealth, and to have the qualification to compete on the same stage with those children from Beast Master families who are born with fourth or fifth-order Beast Master talents.
Hmm, it's just having the qualification to compete on the same stage, and it's highly likely they still won't win. After all, children from Beast Master families are much fiercer than ordinary children of power and wealth.
Ordinary children of power and wealth at most have a lot of money and can obtain precious Spirit Beasts with General Grade or even Shuai Grade bloodlines as their initial Spirit Beasts.
And Beast Masters from Beast Master families will only be richer!
Their initial Spirit Beasts will only be fiercer; Monarch Grade or even King Grade bloodlines are possible.
These are all well and good, but more crucially, there are resources that money and power can't buy, high-level resources that ordinary people can't access before becoming Professional Beastmasters. For Beast Master families, these are readily available. Some Beast Master families even have unique, legendary ancestral resources that even the Xingyan Federation Government's collection can barely surpass.
If Lin Xuédòng was willing to give him more star rock coin, Lin Chuan would naturally be happy. More star rock coin means he could buy better cultivation nutrients and more precious resources for Guoguo and Sakura. It means he could suffer less hardship from working to earn money and focus on cultivating Spirit Beasts. Who wouldn't want to suffer less if they could? Should he deliberately seek hardship!?
If he didn't give more, Lin Chuan wouldn't complain. 1 million was more than enough. Besides, he was already an adult and capable of working to earn money himself.
Seeing Lin Chuan's agreeable and unobjecting attitude, Lin Xuédòng smiled.
However, Lin Chuan thought the old man was smiling too soon.
Anyway, he was going to work and earn money, so where wouldn't he work? Whose money wouldn't he earn?
"Old man, does your farm hire? Do you hire research data providers?"
Lin Chuan asked, lifting the two Flower Leaf Leaf he was holding.
The Flower Leaf Leaf on the farm were basically cultivated for life skills, while his two Flower Leaf Leaf would be cultivated for combat. Their various data and information would certainly not be the same, especially considering they would be cultivated and grown under the blessings of the Spiritual Wood Heart and Reincarnation of Inheritance Beast Master talents. Lin Chuan believed the old man would definitely not be able to resist the temptation.
Things were exactly as Lin Chuan had thought.
Hearing Lin Chuan's words, Lin Xuédòng's breathing suddenly hitched, and his eyes reddened.
Oh, you, Lin family's third young master, you are truly a genius!
To come up with such a method to scam your father for money, truly amazing. You've achieved something your brother and sister couldn't before.
The old man wanted to refuse, but he couldn't bring himself to speak.
The temptation was too great; he simply couldn't refuse!
Taking a deep breath, Lin Xuédòng thought seriously, then finally raised his right hand, spreading his five fingers.
"50,000, 50,000 a month!"
Lin Chuan smiled, glad that he agreed to take them.
"50,000 a month, not bad."
Lin Chuan nodded slightly. Just as Lin Xuédòng was thinking that he wasn't being greedy, not heartless enough, and not good at commercial money-making, Lin Chuan delivered a heavy blow to Lin Xuédòng.
"So, I have two Flower Leaf Leaf. Old man, are you planning to hire both? Or just one of them?"
Lin Xuédòng: ...
Smiling, Lin Chuan folded Lin Xuédòng's outstretched hand, from five fingers spread to a clenched fist.
"100,000! For the next three months, I will provide all the cultivation and growth data for both Flower Leaf Leaf for you to research, old man."
"300,000 for three months in total. This is Guoguo and Sakura's salary. And my salary should also be counted, let's say 200,000 for three months! After all, I am a genius Beast Master with two Beast Master talents: a second-order Spiritual Wood Heart and a first-order Skill Master. With the cultivation and growth data of Flower Leaf Leaf under the enhancement of these two excellent Beast Master talents, old man, you're making a killing!"
"Hmm, hmm, hmm, 300,000 plus 200,000 equals 500,000. It's happily decided just like that."
Lin Xuédòng: ...
What good karma did I accumulate in my past life to give birth to you, this filial son, heartless genius, commercial prodigy? Lin Xuédòng felt like crying without tears.
Lin Chuan walked closer and put his arm around Lin Xuédòng's shoulder.
"Old man, given our relationship, it's not too much to ask for three months' salary in advance, right?"
"500,000 plus the 1 million star rock coin you were already going to give for Beast Master starting funds, totals 1.5 million star rock coin!"
"Old man, you know my bank account number. You can transfer it directly later!"
"Hmm, transfer it to me before dinner, thanks."
Lin Xuédòng: "...Get out!"