Start With Contracting Sprites

Su Hao spent more than two hours looking.

The staff member didn't accompany him all the way. Of course, there were still many security officers around to keep order, in case someone harmed the sprites.

There were also many families like theirs, who looked like they were in a zoo.

"Dad, Mom, you guys rest first, I'll look a bit more."

Su Hao's parents were more than 40 years old, and their energy levels were no match for the young. Su Hao told them to sit down under a tree at the side to wait.

"I think that "something mantis" looks good." Mother Su had noticed that Su Hao's look lingered on the Wood Mantis for quite long.

"No, I want to look a bit more."

Su Hao shook his head.

Apart from the Wood Mantis, he discovered several other sprites with yet undiscovered evolution pathways. Of course, he didn't spend Intelligence Points to unlock them and couldn't know the other pathways' details.

However, he estimated that those undiscovered evolution pathways had pretty difficult evolution conditions, which often meant that the sprites from that pathway had greater future potential.

Also, the sprites themselves were mostly relatively affordable, not like the Little Stone Elephants that cost 400,000 to 500,000 yuan, or the Long-Armed Gibbons, which were out of stock and cost 600,000.

Su Hao's look stopped on a tree tens of meters away.

A sprite whose body was light yellow and looked like a silkworm was squirming on the branches.

It was the Silkworm Baby, one of Su Hao's favorite sprites.

In the records of the Union of Sprite Trainers, most sprites only had one evolution pathway, and the Silkworm Baby was a rare sprite that had a second evolution pathway.

Silkworm Baby → Rolling Pupae → White-Plumed Moth

Silkworm Baby → Six-Winged Flying Silkworm → Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm

Su Hao remembered it clearly because the Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm was frequently tested in exams.

The Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm's wings were as hard as a blade, and its speed as fast as a flash of light. It looked like it was Metal-Element, but in fact, it was still a Wood-Element Sprite.

In the Silkworm Baby's first evolution pathway, its final evolved form, White-Winged Moth, was commonly used in production and had ordinary battle power. The second evolution pathway's final form, Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm, was a recognized strong powerhouse. Unfortunately, the initial form, Silkworm Baby, had limited combat power, causing the number of students choosing to contract it to be relatively lower.

However, in Su Hao's eyes, the Silkworm Baby had a third evolutionary pathway.

The first pathway required 3 Intelligence Points to be unlocked.

The second pathway required 4 Intelligence Points to be unlocked.

As for the third pathway, it required 6 Intelligence Points to be unlocked. This was why Su Hao felt inclined to contract the Silkworm Baby—definitely not because the Silkworm Baby looked chubby and pretty cute.

Although a famous person had once said that strength could be improved by throwing in money, cuteness was a lifetime's matter.

While Su Hao was observing, another student bought a Silkworm Baby, which made him a little anxious.

I have to make my decision quickly. I may not have many choices left later.

Su Hao focused and looked at the game interface in front of him. Then he selected the Silkworm Baby's third evolution pathway and pressed "Unlock".

At once, 6 Intelligence Points were deducted, and only 15 points were left.

A butterfly with big eyes as clear as water and beautiful emerald green patterns on the wings appeared on the evolution pathway.

[Reverie Butterfly (Wood Element)]

This was the Silkworm Baby's third, undiscovered evolution pathway.

Su Hao looked carefully, and after a moment, he was slightly relieved.

The Reverie Butterfly's development potential is outstanding, while the evolution conditions are simpler than the Prayer Mantis' conditions. I can probably evolve the Silkworm Baby into a Reverie Butterfly before the college entrance examination.

What's up with the final evolved state though? It actually requires 30 Intelligence Points to unlock it!?

…

A staff member asked while pushing up the frame of his spectacles, "Are you sure you want to contract a Silkworm Baby?"

After Su Hao's parents ascertained that he did not choose it because he wanted to save money, they didn't say much.

Su Hao nodded. "But I want to choose which one in particular."

"That's no problem."

The staff member opened the wooden fence and let Su Hao approach.

A Silkworm Baby was only a few months old, the length of a palm. Its whole body was light yellow, with faint green patterns on its back. There were eight short legs underneath. It looked chubby and soft, like a caterpillar bread, and even the size was similar.

Su Hao felt hungry just by looking at it…

!!!∑(゚Д゚ノ)ノ!

The Silkworm Baby's chubby body shook as Su Hao stared at it. Then, it rapidly crawled to the other side of the tree.

"Pretty good agility," Su Hao commented seriously.

Silkworm Babies liked the quietness, and the free-range area wasn't large, only the space of several trees.

On the tree trunk, branches, and leaves many bread loaves… No, Silkworm Baby Sprites hang…

With the naked eye, Su Hao couldn't see any difference between these sprites.

After all, they were all bred in a batch by the Union of Sprite Trainers, and they were all in the Juvenile Stage. Perhaps only an experienced Sprite Cultivator would be able to see the differences between them.

Su Hao locked his eyes on a specific Silkworm Baby and used 1 Intelligence Point to unlock its details.

Length, height, weight.

Physical attributes, spiritual strength.

Age, characteristics.

[Introduction: Silkworm Babies generally live in warm forest environments. They like to move slowly. Their characters are meek, but when in danger, their short legs can unleash unimaginable speed. Their endurance is slightly poor. The Wood-Element patterns on their backs will darken as the Silkworm Babies grow, helping them understand Wood-Element techniques. They can also absorb nutrients from plants to fasten their speed of recovery…]

[Note: This is a Silkworm Baby born at the Green-Blue Wood-Element Sprite Breeding Base. It likes lightly flavored food such as tree leaves, bamboo leaves, and tea leaves. It dislikes sour and spicy tastes. It was sent to Yunhua Juvenile Sprite Free-Range Center.]

A stream of information flowed into Su Hao's mind. It seemed that he didn't even need to look much, as these pieces of information would be recorded down in his brain. Among them, physical attributes and spiritual strength were important factors that decided the strength of a sprite, especially spiritual strength.

With limited Intelligence Points, Su Hao could only pick sprites that looked good to him to unlock their information. Overall, he unlocked detailed information for 16 Silkworm Babies. In the process of observing and unlocking the sprites' detailed data, he gained one more Intelligence Point.

The 16 Silkworm Babies ranged from the age of three to nine months old. Before contracting, sprites grew very slowly, three months and nine months both were in the Juvenile Stage, there was practically no difference.

However, after getting the detailed data of 16 Silkworm Babies, Su Hao already had clear measuring criteria in his mind. After a closer look, he soon discovered some subtle differences, and even he himself was surprised.

Su Hao pondered for some time before pointing at a Silkworm Baby hiding behind leaves.

"This is the one."

This Silkworm Baby wasn't outstanding in data for length, height, weight, and physique, but it contained more spiritual force in its body, and it was already a pretty significant difference in Su Hao's eyes.

After all, sprites bred by nature hardly had poor qualifications, and the data indicators were very close among Juvenile-Stage Sprites. The differences came from the nurturing, and really brilliant juvenile sprites couldn't possibly be sent here to be chosen by a bunch of students. Those sprite breeders weren't blind.

The staff member took out a special spray and sprayed it on the grass.

Immediately, the Silkworm Baby on the tree crawled down with its short legs, circling the sprayed lawn.

Su Hao's eyes kept following the Silkworm Baby that he favored. The staff member also didn't mix it up. After feeding that Silkworm Baby some jade powder, he picked it up. Its short little legs kept kicking in the air.

Led by the staff member, Su Hao's family arrived at a silent room used for contracting sprites. The contracting wasn't complicated, it only took a drop of blood. When one bought a sprite, whether at a free-range center or a sprite house, the contracting service was always included, which, on the other hand, was also to prevent the sprites from being resold.

The blood-collecting apparatus pierced Su Hao's finger pulp, collecting a dark red drop of blood. Then, the staff member took out a portion of sprite food, jade powder, to feed to the Silkworm Baby that was just crawling around with big curious eyes. After that, he mixed the blood drop into the jade powder and let the Silkworm Baby both at once.

Without any fancy contracting arrays or any obscure and difficult contracting spells, the contracting between humans and sprites was just so simple and casual, as if sprites were born just to be contracted.

In an instant, Su Hao had a vague feeling that his heart and mind were connected with the Silkworm Baby. This feeling became clearer and clearer.

The Silkworm Baby gave him a puzzled look, circled him a few rounds, and crawled up along the side of his trousers. Su Hao's parents were both struck by the cuteness and reached out, wanting to feel it, but the Silkworm Baby nimbly dodged and crawled onto Su Hao's shoulders.

Su Hao held the Silkworm Baby in his palm and looked into its big, watery eyes.

"Silkworm Baby, from now on, we will work hard together."

"Squelch."