Chapter 6: Stone Monkey

The next day, morning, Furong City Spirit Beast Breeding Base.

Bai Chuan had just decided on Chen Xuan's transfer to Spirit Manipulation Arts last night, and today he already brought him to choose a spirit.

"Welcome~~~~ to our shop!"

As soon as they entered, a staff member greeted them enthusiastically, "Are you here to purchase a spirit, or related products?"

"Choose a spirit."

Bai Chuan patted Chen Xuan on the shoulder and gestured that it was not for himself.

"Are you just planning to enroll in Spirit Manipulation Arts? Have you chosen any preferred spirit candidates?"

Looking at Chen Xuan's slightly immature face, the staff member asked with a smile , "If not, you can let me know your preferred 'race rating' range, so I can make some suitable recommendations."

Race rating represents the fighting power of different spirit races on an equal level, divided into 1 to 9 stars.

However, race rating only represents the average level of a group, not all individuals, after all, as the saying goes—"Phoenixes can be found in the nest of common chickens."

Not every spirit can be promoted to the king level, but king level spirits can come from any race.

Of course...

This does not mean that you can completely ignore the race rating when choosing a spirit.

From another perspective, choosing a spirit is like starting a company and recruiting employees.

Any college can produce talented people.

But there are more horses than Bo Le (a person who has a good eye for talent), no one can guarantee that they can see through the potential of others.

Therefore, when there is a choice, students from good schools are preferred.

Even if not every one of them can achieve greatness, at least the minimum ability is guaranteed.

The same is true for choosing spirits.

"Let's take a look at the 'Stone Monkey' first."

Chen Xuan said.

Although Bai Chuan's initial suggestion was to contract a canine spirit so that he could impart some experience and knowledge to avoid mistakes.

After all, Bai Chuan had successfully awakened his Talent Talisman since his high school and started his path as a Spirit Binder. He is now almost in his fifth year and will be entering his second year of university soon.

However...

Chen Xuan still pays much attention to the race rating.

Since he has mastered some talismans from a parallel world that have not yet appeared here, he should make good use of them.

For now, some spirit races that are only worth tens of thousands will have their prices inflated to hundreds of millions in the future if the right Talisman Skill is discovered. So why not enjoy the experience that is worth millions now for just tens of thousands of dollars?

And the Stone Monkey is the best choice.

It's not that its growth potential is the highest, but among a few hidden strategies to reach 9 stars he knows of, the Stone Monkey race is the cheapest of all - 80,000.

What's even more noteworthy is that the Stone Monkey has a special tactic in the tabletop game "Spirit Manipulation Talisman Scripture". If used well, it can even kill an opponent's spirit while promoting itself.

"Alright, please follow me this way."

The staff led the two through the back door of the store.

As soon as the door opened, the view immediately gave a feeling of being in an open grassland, with all kinds of rivers, lakes, and mountains in sight.

"Awoo~~~~"

Accompanied by a long, dragging howl, a chubby figure rolled over to the doorway.

[Rolling Snow Seal, Ice Based Spirit, Race Rating: 2 Stars]

[Covered in white fur like jade, decorated with spots like mist. In the snowfield, curled up in a ball, ice and snow forming its ground, rolling like a shuttle.]

"Snow Seal, shut up! Don't bark like a dog!"

The staff scolded before looping a leash around the Rolling Snow Seal's wrinkled belly and then turned to invite the two onto a nearby sled, "Our breeding base is quite big, and the journey might take a while. Please bear with it."

How can we ride this sled without snow...

As he sat on the sled, Chen Xuan couldn't help but mutter in his heart.

'Pat pat pat pat pat!'

Seeing the three of them sitting steady on the sled, the Rolling Snow Seal immediately excitedly slapped its belly, like the horn of a train before it starts moving.

At the same time, the staff member pinched a sword finger and drew a few strokes in the air.

A semi-real, ice-blue glowing talisman quickly formed.

Following that, the talisman flashed and, like a spatial jump, appeared directly in front of the Rolling Snow Seal.

"Awooo!"

With a roll of its body, the Rolling Snow Seal charged headfirst, directly smashing the talisman into tiny fragments of light.

In an instant, the ground quickly frosted over, extending forward into a path made of snow.

[Talisman Skill · Ice Talisman: Snow Track!]

[Creates a smooth snowy surface, affecting the enemy's movements or assisting oneself in quickly sliding across.]

"Doesn't this kind of snow-making consume a lot of energy?"

Bai Chuan curiously asked.

"For others, it really does, but for me, it's actually not too bad."

The staff casually pointed a finger, and above the moving Rolling Snow Seal's head, a talisman appeared.

As the talisman appeared, the previously rolled snow began to melt, turning into wisps of cold fog that were absorbed into the talisman.

[Talent Talisman: Recycling Factory!]

[Captures energy that has not yet dissipated, recycling and reusing it, greatly improving combat endurance.]

A 'Seal-type perpetual motion machine' that only requires two dried fish for 100 kilometers - if it were running a ride-hailing service, wouldn't it utterly crush the competition in pricing?

Chen Xuan sighed inwardly.

However, according to the current policies, it was rather difficult for Spirits to get on the road as carriages, and they could only run in open, traffic-cop-free areas like this...

...

After traveling some distance, Chen Xuan found that this breeding base was somewhat different from what he had imagined.

He initially thought it would be like a farm, with fences enclosing an area where Demon Spirits were kept for breeding.

But after nearly ten minutes of speeding through this snowy landscape on a sled without seeing the end of the breeding base, Chen Xuan realized that this place was more like a nature reserve.

The area was vast, the ecosystem intact, and some Demon Spirits even preyed on each other.

For example, the fluffy white ball flying in midair right now.

[Sparrow Wind Vulture, Wind Based, Race Rating: 2 stars]

[Snow-white feathers, plump and round body, with an adorable sparrow-like appearance; four claws, menacing posture, enjoys showing off its ferocity.]

Upon close inspection, this cute chubby sparrow's four bird claws were tightly clutching a 'Cave Rat.'

From the expressions on both of their faces, Chen Xuan could even guess their inner monologues:

[Sparrow Wind Vulture: ヽ(￣▽￣)ﾉ Mom, no need to save me dinner~]

[Cave Rat: ༼༎ຶᴗ༎ຶ༽ Mom, no need to save me dinner...]

'Tell it to the Household Rats.'

Chen Xuan silently mourned for the rat in his mind.

As the sled went further and further, their line of sight was filled with several lush hills.

"The 'Stone Monkeys' you want to see live in these Monkey Mountains," the staff member introduced after the sled came to a slow stop.

"Where are the monkeys?"

Looking at the empty Monkey Mountain, Chen Xuan couldn't help but ask.

"Uh..."

The staff member scratched his head awkwardly, at a loss for words, not knowing how to answer.

However, Bai Chuan, who came from the Police Academy, quickly came to a conclusion after a simple observation of the Monkey Mountain:

"From the footprints, the monkey group should have gathered on the shaded side of the mountain, which, due to being wind-sheltered and combined with the surrounding valley structure, has excellent soundproofing. That's why it's so quiet when we stand here."

"Ahem!"

The staff member coughed twice, trying to salvage his dignity: "That's pretty much what I thought as well. Let's go this way."

After winding their way through the Monkey Mountain for a while, the three of them finally reached the shaded side.

Sure enough, just as Bai Chuan had predicted, all the Stone Monkeys of Monkey Mountain were gathered here, currently laughing their bellies off with chattering noises.

From the direction of their gazes, today's source of amusement was the 'small man-made waterfall' not far away, which was being split in half by a monkey's buttocks.

It seemed that one of the Stone Monkeys had tried to pass through the waterfall to see what was behind it.

However, it didn't expect that there was only a small cave behind the waterfall, and so, under everyone's watchful eyes, it had become stuck in an embarrassing manner.

Now, all that remained were the two bright red monkey bums, faintly visible under the wash of the waterfall...