Volume One, Chapter One: Catastrophic Beginning! The Newly Summoned Spirit Beast Turns Traitor!
Northern Star High School, Summoning Plaza.
The lines of senior students stretched endlessly, each waiting to summon their beast companion.
Lin Yao stood at the end of Class 11’s queue, his heart filled with anxiety.
By now, some classmates had already succeeded in their summons. Some were overjoyed, others wore expressions of disappointment—happiness and sorrow rarely shared the same path.
“Damn it! Why did I get the useless F-class Fang Dog?”
“I’m set! I actually summoned a D-class Wind-Chasing Wolf—that’ll be plenty for the early stages!”
“Haha! As expected of me, I summoned a B-class Moon-Eyed Rabbit!”
A lucky beastmaster might summon an SSS-class companion on their very first attempt; it was never impossible.
Every beastmaster in the plaza prayed to be one of these fortuitous few.
“Next—Class 11, Lin Yao!”
“Lin Yao, please step into the summoning array and call forth your beast.”
The teacher presiding over the ceremony quickly called his name.
Lin Yao stepped forward, ready to face his fate.
In an instant, countless eyes turned toward him.
Of all these gazes, the most notable were those from the observation platform.
There sat the elite of Beifeng City—figures of influence and power. Any one of them was a person ordinary students could never hope to match, even after ten generations of effort.
They had come with two purposes: to purchase exceptional beasts and to recruit outstanding talent.
Some students, having summoned their beasts, had already received olive branches or sky-high purchase contracts from these titans.
Lin Yao had heard whispers of such things.
Regardless of what kind of beast he summoned, he had no intention of selling his companion.
With a deep breath, Lin Yao stepped into the summoning array, raised his right hand, and resonated with the magic circle.
At first, the array glowed softly with the same pale light as before.
Seeing this, both Lin Yao and the crowd felt a tinge of disappointment. Such a weak resonance meant he would likely summon only an ordinary beast.
But suddenly, a change erupted!
The gentle white glow burst into a dazzling, multicolored radiance that shot skyward.
A surge of powerful resonance swept outward from the summoning array, engulfing everything.
Sensing the force of the resonance, the teacher’s voice rang out, ecstatic:
“This level of resonance—Lin Yao’s beast will be an SSS-class!”
“Congratulations, Lin Yao!”
As the teacher spoke, the dignitaries on the observation platform reacted. Some sprang to their feet, faces full of astonishment, while others, quicker still, had already moved closer, their eyes brimming with anticipation and greed.
Inside the array, Lin Yao was oblivious to the commotion. All he knew was that his extended right hand had gripped something soft and fluffy, like a ball of cotton candy.
Then, shouts of surprise erupted from every direction.
“My god! It’s the most intelligent humanoid beast—a beautiful beast maiden!”
“Wow! That’s an SSS-class Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman!”
“If memory serves, the last time someone in Beifeng City summoned a beast maiden of this caliber was more than forty years ago!”
“I’ve heard that the Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman has a less than one-in-a-hundred-million chance of evolving into the SSSR-class Golden Flame Thunder Leopard Empress!”
“This lucky devil, Lin Yao, is about to soar to the top!”
Amid the envious exclamations, Lin Yao shook off his initial daze.
He gazed at the alluring, beautiful Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman before him and instantly understood—the cotton-candy fluff he’d grabbed in the blinding light was her.
But Lin Yao was not distracted; he was immersed in a double joy so overwhelming he felt he might take flight.
For alongside summoning the SSS-class Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman, he had unexpectedly awakened a beastmaster talent unheard of—one that allowed him to see his beast’s evolution path!
...
[Name: Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman]
[Quality: SSS-class Beast]
[Level: 1]
[Evolution Progress: 0%]
Evolution Paths
[Option 1: Long-term bathing in concentrated Dragonblood Grass extract will purify impurities and significantly refine the bloodline, increasing evolution progress by 2%.]
[Option 2: Grind Cloud Leopard bone, Gold Silk Jade, Stargrass, and nine other materials into powder to craft Cloud Leopard Golden Jade Balm. Applied to the body, it can continually optimize constitution, increasing evolution progress by up to 3%.]
[Option 3: The beast suffers from varying degrees of internal injuries. Long-term consumption of Jade Dumplings made from Green Tuan Fruit, Jade Dew Fruit, and Five-Organ Fruit will heal and strengthen the organs, increasing evolution progress by 5%!]
[View More Evolution Options]
...
As the teacher had said, the chance for the Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman to evolve into the SSSR-class Golden Flame Thunder Leopard Empress was less than one in a hundred million.
But with a clear evolution path before him, Lin Yao could ensure a 100% chance of evolving her from SSS-class to SSSR-class.
Before Lin Yao could let the joy sink in, a discordant voice cut through the air.
“One hundred million! Our Wang Industrial Group will buy this beast!”
The speaker was a middle-aged man with a shadowed face and piercing eyes—the chairman of Wang Industrial Group, Wang Guangyang.
Lin Yao didn’t hesitate: “Not for sale.”
The Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman was already an SSS-class beast, and now, with his awakened talent for seeing evolution paths, the future was bright. How could he possibly sell her?
Wang Guangyang was not surprised by Lin Yao’s answer.
He spoke again, laying bare the harsh reality:
“Young man, raising an SSS-class beast requires at least a billion in investment—where will you get that kind of money?”
“Keeping the Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman at your side will only waste her SSS-class potential.”
“Besides, my son Wang Dongzhe is your schoolmate. If this beast comes to us, it’ll be for him. Sell her to me, and you’ll reap real benefits; Dongzhe could even look after you at school.”
“For you, accepting this deal is the smartest choice. Don’t be foolish!”
Lin Yao knew the chairman spoke the truth. He also heard the veiled threat in that last sentence, but he was determined to refuse.
Before he could reply, a soft, alluring voice sounded behind him.
“He’s right. You’d best accept the deal—it’s best for both of us.”
The words stunned Lin Yao as though struck by lightning.
He didn’t need to turn around to know—the speaker behind him was the very Golden-Eyed Leopard Woman he had just summoned!
As a beastmaster, he had been betrayed by his own newly summoned companion!