The school bell rang, and Chen Xing hastily left the school with his backpack.
Azure Dragon Middle School No. 8 was the top-ranked public middle school in the new district of Jincheng, located in the bustling center of the new district.
The wide road was bustling with traffic, yet what was even more eye-catching was the pedestrian sidewalk on both sides of the highway that was even broader than the road itself.
Looking around, magical creatures of various forms and species walked side by side with people, weaving a unique landscape in this concrete city.
He remembered there were even bigger magical creatures, but the ones too large were not allowed to be summoned in public areas; they could only be summoned in designated zones.
It took Chen Xing about thirty minutes to walk home.
Pushing open the door, a strong scent of herbal medicine hit him.
On the sofa, his father, Chen Guohai, was coughing. His health had been deteriorating ever since he was diagnosed with Black Marrow Disease six years ago. Despite the family exhausting all resources and even selling their large house in the city center, the exorbitant medical expenses remained an insurmountable mountain.
Chen Xing knew that to completely cure his father's illness, they needed a Healing Element Tamer from the Transcendence Stage, but the cost was at least one billion—an astronomical figure for their family. A Healer from the Evolution Stage could alleviate his father's symptoms, but each treatment was also costly. Over the years, his mother had been working two jobs every day to support the family and gather enough money for the medical expenses.
One billion—Chen Xing remembered this number standing behind his mother at that time.
Walking up to his father, Chen Xing picked up an orange, peeled it, and handed half to his dad.
Chen Guohai took the orange, smiled, and slowly chewed it. He whispered to Chen Xing that their mother was about to finish cooking and they would eat soon.
Chen Xing nodded, yet his gaze involuntarily lingered on his father again.
The dream he had that afternoon surged up an indescribable emotion inside him.
"Uh-huh," Chen Xing nodded again. Today's dream had felt so real, he couldn't help but take another long look at his gentle and kind father sitting on the sofa.
He turned and headed toward his sister's room—Chen Lingya's room.
Chen Lingya had been an academic prodigy from a young age, always at the forefront of her class, a standout in everyone's eyes.
Chen Xing gently knocked on the door and entered upon receiving her permission.
"Come in," her voice came from inside.
After turning the doorknob, Chen Xing entered the room to see a desk piled high with books. Chen Lingya was writing furiously. From the side, her nose was high, her eyelids drooped, and her lips slightly pursed; Chen Xing glanced at the textbooks on the desk, which seemed to be for a senior high school cultural course.
Chen Xing's gaze inadvertently fell on the snow-white large cat lying beside the desk—his sister's magical creature, Chi Yu.
He noticed a patch of fur had been shaved off Chi Yu's neck, revealing a wound dressed with gauze. Chi Yu opened its eyes, glanced at him, and then closed them again, continuing to lie still.
Chen Xing gently stroked Chi Yu's mane, a wave of pity welling up inside him.
"Chi Yu has been injured again," Chen Xing said softly. Although Chi Yu was his sister's creature, he had watched it grow up. Ever since his sister went to private high school, Chi Yu had started to show wounds occasionally. He remembered a time when he was bathing Chi Yu, lifting its fluffy, loose fur only to discover a skin densely covered with scars, almost like a painting.
Chen Lingya's hands stilled for a moment, and she hummed in acknowledgment as the rustling of her writing continued off the tip of her pen.
A cool breeze from the slightly opened window lifted the long locks of hair by Chen Lingya's ears.
The fresh cut, several centimeters long on her tender cheeks, was particularly noticeable.
Chen Xing, who had just stood up, noticed this and stared fixedly at the wound on his sister's face, a flame of anger igniting in his heart, "Did they bully you at school again?"
Chen Lingya gripped her pen tightly, stood up to close the window, then turned to look at Chen Xing, her eyes curving into crescents, "It's fine, I can handle it."
"You always say that."
"Don't worry, I can really handle it this time. No one will bother me anymore," Chen Lingya said lightly.
Chen Xing, looking into his sister's eyes, felt his anger slowly subsiding. He knew his sister was always strong and independent, never wanting to worry him.
"If only I were older than you."
Chen Xing's voice was somewhat somber, knowing his sister preferred not to elaborate, he didn't pry further. Instead, he crouched and stretched his hands to Chi Yu's cheeks, the soft, fluffy fur slipping through his fingers as he rubbed its big head.
He casually took out a dried piece of jerky, hard as wood, from the drawer next to him and handed it to Chi Yu. Chi Yu, initially not hungry, bit into the jerky; its tongue rolled up and swallowed the rest of the jerky in one go.
Hearing Chen Xing's words, a ripple of emotion appeared in Chen Lingya's eyes as she watched her brother's retreating figure and took a black box from the drawer, "Here, take this."
Chen Xing turned around and looked puzzled at the box in his sister's hands, "What is this?"
"Universal Nutrition Reagent, it's good for your taming skills."
Chen Xing immediately refused, "Keep the ones provided by your school for yourself."
He knew the family's financial situation well; his sister couldn't afford to buy it, it had to have been saved from her own scholarship.
But for his sister to keep receiving scholarships at school, her grades must meet certain requirements. Although he had never attended a private high school, he had heard that the students there were either rich or noble, and taming wasn't done with the nationally provided free beasts. Nutrient reagents like these were never scarce, and the pressure was already significant for his sister there.
Chen Lingya wanted to say something more, but Chen Xing gestured with his hand and left the room.
He couldn't help his sister when she was bullied, and he certainly didn't want to hold her back...
After leaving his sister's room, Chen Xing returned to his own small room.
He had felt a change in the stone slab; something seemed to have triggered its reaction.
He drew the curtains and lay on the bed, the stone slab visible only to him emerged...
Under his gaze, a line of text appeared on the cover page of the stone slab: One feeding conducted on the tamed beast, intimacy level above 80, received 1 Skill Point Fragment.
In the upper right corner of the page, a symbol resembling a gem appeared, next to which was a broken gem. Behind the whole gem was a zero, and behind the broken gem was a one.
He just didn't know how many Skill Point Fragments were required to make a complete Skill Point. There was a gray "+" sign next to the gem symbol representing Skill Points. It was gray now, suggesting that he still didn't have enough fragments to form a whole Skill Point.