"Ssss—"
After waking up, the green caterpillar wriggled its body, its eyes curved.
It probably had a satisfying dream, as it seemed to be in a good mood.
Green caterpillars were also known as green bugs, but there were huge differences in its appearance compared to an ordinary green bug.
Its skin was tender and elastic. When Wang Che stroked it, he felt like he was touching a sponge… That was the sensation.
"Are you hungry?" Wang Che asked, opening his palm.
The little insect, which was less than ten centimeters long, was quite plump.
It wiggled toward his palm, and he could not feel any weight from it at all.
A regular year of soul power cultivation would allow this soul pet to grow a centimeter.
When it reached around 20 centimeters, it would evolve into a Green Nether Butterfly.
If it did not evolve, it would theoretically just grow in size forever.
Wang Che walked to the kitchen and found that his mother had thoughtfully prepared the bug's food.
White birch milk leaf.
The white birch milk tree was a grass type soul pet that was artificially cultivated.
By watering it with all sorts of mixed dairy substances, it could grow edible leaves that had a great effect on bug type soul pets.
However, it was expensive, at about ten dollars per leaf.
Maybe it didn't sound that pricey on its own, but normally, bug type soul pets the size of green caterpillars would eat three to four pieces at once.
Basically, it had to eat at least ten a day, which would cost 100 dollars.
Subsequently, it would rack up to 3,000 dollars a month, and 30,000 to 40,000 dollars a year.
'That's enough to raise a child on Earth,' Wang Che guessed.
With both his parents' salary added together, it would amount to just over 10,000 dollars.
It was definitely impossible for his pet to have these leaves every meal.
In fact, Father Wang had once wanted to use his savings to buy a rare soul pet egg, but Wang Che felt that a free one was enough. A rare version would be costly to provide for as well.
Average soul pets, given the requirement that they were carefully nurtured, were good enough as long as the student could awaken their martial soul by the third year.
In order to decrease the financial burden on his family, and also because of Lin Xi, he had decided on a free one.
Unexpectedly, a green caterpillar hatched…
Normally, a species with a potential of 100 to 200 was a normal soul pet, and if it was lower than 100, it wouldn't even be considered as normal.
"Ssss!" the caterpillar hissed, delighted to see the leaves.
Nothing could make a bug type soul pet happier than waking up to such a hearty meal.
Its round, glass-like eyes on its head narrowed and it burrowed into the milky white leaves.
It looked as if a child had crawled into a blanket and slowly squirmed its way through.
In a movement resembling a lunar eclipse, the leaf was slowly eaten away.
Wang Che watched quietly.
Sensing Wang Che's gaze, the green caterpillar, which had just finished devouring a leaf, glanced at the remaining two.
It didn't seem to think much of it. It nibbled on one and pulled it toward Wang Che.
Then, it called out twice, as if to persuade him to eat it as well.
"…"
Wang Che was speechless.
He thought for a moment, then picked up the leaf and stuffed it into his mouth.
The insect's eyes widened in astonishment, its mouth gaping.
Perhaps it was surprised because it had taken the little green caterpillar a while to ingest the whole thing, but Wang Che finished it in one bite.
It turned its head to look at the remaining piece on the plate, then at Wang Che, then back and forth.
After whipping its head several times, it finally crawled over and dragged the piece of leaf, placing it in front of Wang Che.
This time, Wang Che didn't eat. Instead, he closed his eyes and inspected it carefully with his senses.
It did taste good; the milk had the flavor of a mango milkshake, and the texture of the leaf was soft and sticky.
However, what piqued his interest was the traces of soul power in the leaf.
It wasn't much, only a very slight tinge.
It was a pity that it did not enter his body after he chewed on the leaf, and instead dispersed.
He was unable to absorb the soul power within the leaf.
Although he could eat it, it was just a regular snack to his body, but the soul power could be naturally taken in by the soul pets.
"The better you eat, the faster your cultivation will grow," Wang Che murmured as he shook his head.
Cultivating soul pets was not simple.
One of the most popular majors in university currently was Animal Studies.
How could one quickly raise a soul pet's soul power cultivation? How could one nurture a powerful and formidable soul pet?
How could a soul pet learn powerful techniques? How to boost a soul beast's affinity rapidly?
These were the few questions they had been tackling, and there were many other elements.
Everyone was talking about experiments nowadays.
They knew that to be a Contract Soul Master and awaken a martial soul, training a soul pet was crucial.
This was because the soul rings provided by them would increase the strength of the Contract Soul Master in all aspects.
As for the ring's age, it was related to the pet's cultivation.
Naturally, coaching was one of the hottest topics in this era.
Wang Che swallowed the leaf in his mouth before picking up the last one.
The green caterpillar's eyes followed his hand, sparkling expectantly…
Wang Che smiled and playfully covered the caterpillar with the leaf after pretending to eat it.
"Ssss!"
The bug gnawed a hole through the center of the leaf and its head popped out, staring at him.
"You should eat, little one."
"Ssss!"
Wang Che found some fresh dishes and leftovers in the kitchen. He planned to make a simple meal of fried rice with corn.
Cultivators actually didn't need food, and this was especially true for Immortal Ascension cultivators.
However, delicious food was sort of an indulgence to them. Immortal Ascension realm cultivators also needed to enjoy life, after all.
Wang Che had consumed many delicacies from different civilizations, and his tastes were exquisite.
Though, from a human point of view, he felt that the food culture on earth suited his palate the most.
Thus, he had been residing on Earth for over a thousand years…
Wang Che pondered as he worked in the kitchen.
The cultivation method of the green caterpillar was very fixed, and because it grew speedily, it only required leaves of high quality and a forest environment to live.
The most important thing was to train it to assimilate soul power.
This way, if he was fast enough, he would be able to raise it to a soul power of ten years within a month or so.
The training difficulty was low, but no matter what type of soul pet it was, the hardship of training would boost its' soul power cultivation.
Ten year old green caterpillars were still weak in all aspects due to their species potential.
The body's defenses, the speed of their movement, the strength of their attacks… Forget the last one, because green caterpillars had no combat strength at all.
All their stats were horrible, worst of all their techniques.
Both the skills and techniques of soul pets were discerned in ancient times according to the years of one's cultivation, or perhaps by the bloodline inheritance and the characteristics of the race that they were born with.
According to his current understanding, the Contract Soul Master would undergo special training after reaching a certain cultivation age to quickly master techniques.
As for the skills and moves that the green caterpillar could control, in the range of a 100 years of cultivation, there was only silk.
That's right, it could only eject silk.
However, the threads were of good quality, and they were the first choice for many acclaimed fashion companies, but that was all the worth that it had.
After dinner, Wang Che placed his pet in a flower pot outside the balcony.
These potted plants were all cared for by his mother. Green leaves flourished and covered most of the balcony.
The only trouble was that she had to trim them often.
After eating its fill, the caterpillar crawled onto a sturdy tree branch and laid itself down on a spacious leaf, resting comfortably.
This was its favorite environment.
A young soul pet would undergo a certain amount of training one to two hours after eating, allowing the soul power in the pet to be absorbed.
The content of the third year's second semester basically revolved around teaching soul pets.
As one of the top students in the school, Wang Che had received the education of the third year's second semester in advance.
Meanwhile, he was trying to grasp the connection between his soul and his soul pet.
He could vaguely feel a wave of energy wavering in his soul.
It was not soul power, but the energy fluctuation of life.
Wang Che remembered that he had felt the same thing when he woke up yesterday.
Then, it had receded because he had no interest in this green caterpillar at the time. He had even pushed it several times.
As a result, his affinity with it decreased, and his soul contract weakened, so he could no longer sense this energy.
However, after spending half a day together today, this force had started to fluctuate again.
This meant that the life contract had been upgraded, and that everything was real.
This life force was very special, but with Wang Che's current ability, he was unable to use it. It seemed to contain extremely mighty nomological forces.
That was the rule of the soul contract.
At the same time, he began to observe the changes in the insect.
After its feeding sessions in the morning and afternoon, the little one seemed to have grown by half a centimeter.
However, Wang Che could clearly tell that its soul power cultivation hadn't increased by a year.
Due to the soul contract, he was able to perceive its soul power cultivation base.
Two hours later, the bug opened its eyes, awakening from its rest.
It was brimming with energy as it looked at Wang Che and let out a happy cry.
This time, he did not coach it immediately.
In the nurturing stage of young soul pets, there was one very essential step, which was their enlightenment.
After signing a soul contract, even for a green caterpillar, its intelligence after hatching was basically equivalent to a three or four year old human child.
Following that, its acumen would develop rapidly as it interacted with their Contract Soul Masters.
Just like how vitality could improve a human's aptitude through a soul contract, a human's soul power also had the same effect on soul pets by increasing their intelligence.
Inevitably, it was a process, so when a young soul pet hatched, the first thing they were not allowed to do was to train them.
Instead, Wang Che had to start with its enlightenment.
Compared to other soul pets, this green caterpillar's intelligence was much higher. It was equivalent to a six or seven year old human.
Nonetheless, it still required the stage of enlightenment.
If this step was good, it would be a great benefit to the efficiency of its training. The subsequent series of coaching would then follow naturally.
In this modern time, there were many ways of teaching soul pets.
For example, displaying hot-blooded battles between other soul beasts, showing them powerful and gorgeous techniques, listening to exciting or beautiful music, telling stories between soul beasts and Contract Soul Masters…
Different soul pets had their own distinct methods for that stage to succeed.
As for the green caterpillar, due to its race's potential and its upper limit, not many Contract Soul Masters would spend the effort to educate one.
Therefore, Wang Che did not have any proper enlightenment plans for his soul pet.
It was mostly feeding, training, and the process repeated.
In any case, the caterpillar would evolve after having ten years of cultivation base…
As for Wang Che, he planned to take advantage of this step to try and alter the little one's future.
He patted its head and brought over a stool, holding a paintbrush and a pile of A4 paper.
Then, he drew a small green caterpillar in the middle of the paper.
"This is you," Wang Che said.
His drawing skills were excellent. The sketch was vivid and lifelike, exactly like this insect.
"Ssss!"
It nodded and happily rubbed its head against Wang Che's palm.
He took out another piece of paper and started to paint again.
After he was done, he faced the canvas toward the bug.
This time, it was a painting of a mighty dragon!
The dragon's head was awe-inspiring, and there was a long V-shaped crest on the top of its head. There were also two long tails protruding behind its crown.
Fin-like wings were attached to its shoulders and body. Its entire frame was stretched by many mysterious rings, giving it a mystical semblance.
The dragon had its mouth opened, revealing its four-colored fangs. It seemed as if it wanted to devour the heavens and breathe in the universe. Its body was curled up as it emitted an extremely destructive aura.
It was as if it was prepared to fly out of the painting.
The green caterpillar retreated subconsciously; it was frightened by the presence of the soul beast in the painting and dared not approach.
However, Wang Che pointed at the creature in the canvas and said, "This is you when you grow up."
"…"
This was only the beginning…