At the front hall of the Sprite Free-Range Center…
"This is the guide book for raising young Wood-Element Sprites, pretty similar to what's on your textbooks, haha. Don't worry too much. Sprites are very magical creatures and easy to raise. Their diet is also very mixed, not limited to just meat or just plants. Of course, the above situation is just for keeping sprites alive."
The staff member spoke as he took out a product manual. "Just feeding ordinary food would make a sprite gradually lose its potential. If you want to make Sprite Trainer your goal, you need to supplement the sprite with more nutrition."
He opened the manual, pointed to several main types of sprite food on it, and said, "The jade powder contains the spiritual force that sprites need for their growth. For Wood-Element Sprites, we recommend the Emerald Fragrant Jade Powder, Green Bamboo Jade Powder, Emerald Jadeite Jade Powder…"
The corners of Su Hao's eyes twitched.
Though he was already aware, when he saw the jade powder's price, he still couldn't help but be shocked at how expensive it was.
There were many types of jade powder, but they could be roughly categorized into primary-level jade powder and medium-level jade powder…
Su Hao categorized it in reference to the price.
A small chest of Emerald Fragrant Jade Powder was priced at 599 yuan, with a total of 24 small boxes inside. Each box of jade powder was just the amount that a sprite could absorb in one meal. And sprites, like humans, also ate three meals a day…
Su Hao did a rough calculation, and it would cost 2,250 yuan per month. How much was the monthly income of an ordinary family?
Emerald Fragrant Jade Powder was only an ordinary jade powder that contained weak spiritual force, and it was already so expensive. As for even higher-grade jade powders, one had to either have great wealth in the family or be a real Sprite Trainer, to be able to afford them.
After contracting, sprites grew really fast, and correspondingly, they had to be supplemented with more nutrition. Otherwise, how would Su Hao be able to get into a Sprite University after one year? Necessary investments had to be made…
Thus, Su Hao bought three small chests of Green Bamboo Jade Powder—this was a 599-yuan primary-level jade powder. It would be far too costly to feed a Silkworm Baby 2,999-yuan intermediate-level jade powder. The initial training of sprites still cost money in other areas.
It was, of course, Father Su who paid the bill in the end. Su Hao's own pocket money wasn't even enough for the oddities.
The flat price of Silkworm Babies was 180,000 yuan, and three small chests of jade powder were 1,797 yuan. There wasn't even 1 yuan of discount, so stingy!
…
Becoming a Sprite stream student had yet another benefit—on the first of August, ordinary Arts stream and Science stream third-year high-schoolers had already started school and were about to face the devastation from oceans of exam questions, but the Sprite stream students were allowed ten more days.
It was for them to cultivate emotional bonds with the sprites.
It was also to ensure that after school started, every student's sprite would have reached adulthood and be ready to start training.
Su Hao's parents were at work, and Su Hao was at home alone—oh, at home with his Silkworm Baby now.
It was waiting to be fed.
"Gurgle!"
It crawled along one leg of the dining table onto the table, bumped at the tea box on the table, and the box fell down immediately with a clang, but the lid was still tightly closed.
"Gurgle!"
"Gurgle!"
Silkworm Baby couldn't open the lid of the tea leaf box, so it immediately got anxious and kept calling to him.
"I've already said that tea leaves are not for eating raw."
Su Hao boiled hot water and filtered out one cup of tea, before pouring the second cup onto a special plate for Silkworm Baby.
The fragrance of the tea spread. Silkworm Baby didn't care about the hotness, leaned onto the plate's side, and started drinking by sucking.
Su Hao slowly brewed himself a big cup of tea and took a sip.
He let out a breath.
Sprites are easy to raise, indeed. The salesman didn't cheat me.
After drinking its tea, Silkworm Baby made a very comfortable call, and very high-spiritedly, it leaped from the table into his arms. Then it pulled at his clothes and crawled up to the top of his head.
"You seem a bit heavier and a bit fatter."
It seemed a bit like a fat cat that was starting to gain weight around the body.
Su Hao held it and got it down, poking it on the sides. It was soft and squishy. It caused a disgruntled cry from Silkworm Baby.
"Gurgle."
So Su Hao reached out and stroked it.
Comfortable!
Silkworm Baby rolled its eyes, jumped onto the sofa, and stepped on the remote control, looking at the constantly changing imageries. Although Silkworm Baby couldn't understand, it seemed to find it very interesting.
The first few days after contracting was the time when sprite grew the fastest. After the sprite entered its adulthood, it could start some simple training.
[Sprite: Silkworm Baby]
[Basic information: Wood-Element, Juvenile Stage: 96%]
[Contract target: Su Hao]
[Details:
Height 0.11m
Weight 2.3kg
Physique: 2
Spiritual Force: 3
Characteristics: Miraculous Cure
Unique skills learned: None
Introduction: … (300 words omitted)
Note: … (50 words omitted)]
[Evolution: …]
[Cultivation Plan:
(1) Basic Cultivation (Unlock with 15 Intelligence Points)
(2) Speed-Enhancement Cultivation (Unlock with 30 Intelligence Points)
(3) Strength-Enhancement Cultivation (Unlock with 30 Intelligence Points)
(4) Physical-Enhancement Cultivation (Unlock with 30 Intelligence Points)
(5) Spiritual Force-Enhancement Cultivation (Unlock with 60 Intelligence Points)
(6) (Unlock conditions not met).]
After unlocking detailed information about the sprite, he met the conditions for unlocking cultivation plans. Su Hao only didn't know what the unlock conditions for the plans in the back were.
"Only 26 Intelligence Points…"
It had already been several days since he had contracted Silkworm Baby, but the speed of gaining Intelligence Points was already slower than the start. The Intelligence Points provided by a book were limited. At first, he would roughly read through it and gain much new knowledge and many Intelligence Points. However, presently, he would read a book in detail but actually gain less Intelligence Points.
If he continued studying it, even if he memorized all the knowledge, there wouldn't be any more Intelligence Points.
"But, some information has to be memorized for exams!"
Su Hao looked up at the pale ceiling and felt speechless as he stared at it.
He took out his phone. His class chat group was very active recently.
To be precise, it was those guys showing off their sprites, making other classmates who didn't get to contract sprites envious.
Su Hao had been busy cultivating an emotional bond with Silkworm Baby these days and had forgotten to message in the group. He even felt a sense of guilt.
Chen Qi: "Look at my Little Stone Elephant, every day on top of jade powder, it likes to nibble at any stone items, the stone table at my house has been gnawed into this [image][image][image]."
Zhao Jiajia: "AHHH, the Little Stone Elephant is so cute, even the look when it nibbles at the table is so cute!!"
"Smart Kid" Tang: "Superficial people only pay attention to the appearance. The reason Little Stone Elephant became a popular beginner sprite has nothing to do with its appearance. What's important is that its temperament is gentle. Its weight has a big advantage in early-stage battles, and it is a defensive type of sprite. Its characteristic Stone Shell can mitigate many negative impacts."
Gu Yuanyuan: "Heresy. It's good enough that sprites can act cute."
Su Hao scrolled up to browse the earlier chat histories. Among the several classmates of Class Eight who applied to Sprite stream, Zhou Yuze's contract sprite was a Bubbling Squid, Ma Ruomei contracted a Green Bamboo Leaf, Liu Ren… Liu Ren…
Suddenly, Su Hao realized someone had tagged him.
Liu Ren: "Where is @Su Hao off to these few days? Contracted a sprite already or not? Quickly show us some pictures… Oh, look at the Little Charcoal Tortoise I just got."
Liu Ren: "[image], [image], @all."
Chen Qi: "Little Charcoal Tortoise of the fire element, one of the royal five-elemental sprites! I didn't think you actually got it. envy.jpg."
Zhou Yuze: "Envy.jpg."
Ma Ruomei: "Envy.jpg."
Su Hao: "Interrupting the chain. Don't think I'm very envious, actually… I'm REALLY very envious!"
He dropped in a few pictures of Silkworm Baby drinking tea.
The class chat was quiet for an instant, and then it was suddenly flooded with messages.
"Kawaii! I want to rub it!"
"AHHH, my inner girl can't take it anymore!"
"Have you gotten a sack ready, anyone ready to team up and steal a sprite?"
"Team up and steal a sprite, I'm in."
"Team up and steal a sprite, I'm totally in."
Su Hao was very pleased.
So long as you find Silkworm Baby cute, we are brother and sister!
Wait…
Suddenly he felt that something was wrong. He looked carefully at the names of those classmates who were speaking the most fervently, and they were actually all boys.
What's with this girly talk if you're a boy!?