All day long, Jiang Fan's mind was consumed with thoughts about beast taming.
After school ended at 5 PM, all the students packed up their books and prepared to leave.
At this moment, their homeroom teacher, Liu Guoqiang, known as Old Liu, appeared at the classroom door:
"Those who have registered for the Beast Taming Exam, stay behind for extra lessons. The rest of you can go home if you have nothing else to do."
Jiang Fan's class was a regular class at Linhai High School. Out of the fifty students, ten had signed up for the Beast Taming Exam.
Among them was Xu Zhiwei.
However, to satisfy the curiosity of Jiang Fan and Zhang Biao, Xu Zhiwei did not follow Old Liu's instructions to stay behind.
He packed his school bag and left with Jiang Fan and Zhang Biao.
"Zhiwei, why don't you go back and take the extra lessons first? Jiang Fan and I will wait for you," suggested the chubby Zhang Biao, feeling a bit guilty that Xu Zhiwei was giving up his lesson to take them to the black market.
Jiang Fan thought the same; with only three months left until the Beast Taming Exam, every candidate was racing against time. He didn't want Xu Zhiwei to waste his extra lesson time.
"Hey, I already know most of the content of the extra lessons. My dad even hired a private Beast Taming tutor for me earlier. They just talk about things like exoskeletons, endoskeletons, and vital energy that can enhance a beast's racial values."
Xu Zhiwei waved his hand dismissively, looking disdainful.
His disdain was akin to having learned high school math and being asked to stay behind for elementary math lessons. Once you've learned high school math, elementary math seems trivial.
Of course, not everyone could afford to hire private Beast Taming tutors like Xu Zhiwei's family.
The guilt that Jiang Fan and Zhang Biao felt vanished instantly.
The three of them left school and took a taxi.
After spending more than an hour, they finally arrived at a place on the outskirts of Linhai City, a place about the size of a small town.
It was 6:43 PM.
As the sun set and the moon began to rise, they arrived at Heishui Town on the outskirts of Linhai City.
"This place is called Heishui Town. It looks like an ordinary town on the surface, but it hides secrets underground," Xu Zhiwei said with a mysterious smile. He walked to the entrance of the town and whispered a few words to an old man lying in a lounge chair, who was basking in the moonlight.
Soon, a middle-aged man with a distinctive Heishui Town accent led Jiang Fan and the others into a large courtyard.
The four of them soon disappeared into the courtyard.
Jiang Fan could feel himself descending as they took an elevator.
This place was very hidden; if it weren't for the surveillance cameras everywhere and being led by his desk mate Xu Zhiwei, Jiang Fan would have thought they were being kidnapped for organ trafficking.
Next to him, Zhang Biao, with his big heart, was visibly excited, constantly expressing his amazement like a country bumpkin entering the city.
"You guys have level one access, which means you can only stay for half an hour and can only buy things from level one stalls. If you run into any trouble, contact me," said the man leading them, handing a business card to Xu Zhiwei.
He could tell that Xu Zhiwei was the strongest among the three, with an estimated vital energy value exceeding 90.
After acquiring a beast egg, a Beast Tamer must sign a contract with it.
As the beast egg grows, the Beast Tamer's strength also increases due to the beast's enhancements.
The most obvious indicator of this is the vital energy value.
Ordinary people have a vital energy value around 50, while aspiring Beast Tamers with contracted beast eggs can reach values above 70.
A value above 70 is the average for aspiring Beast Tamers, and with further enhancement, it can rise to 80 or even 90.
Last year, Jinling Beast Taming University's physical exam passing line for vital energy was 90.
Xu Zhiwei clearly had a chance to get into Jinling Beast Taming University, so the middle-aged man was particularly courteous to him.
As for Jiang Fan and Zhang Biao, the middle-aged man obviously didn't care much.
After the elevator descended to the lowest level, the middle-aged man left on his own.
The black market that Xu Zhiwei mentioned looked like a long snack street.
However, the stalls didn't have signs for "Mapo Tofu," "Peking Duck," or "Lanzhou Noodles." Instead, they were filled with all kinds of strange things Jiang Fan had never seen before.
"Low-level beast eggs, 70,000 yuan each! Chance to hatch a flying-type beast."
"Vital Energy Potion, 66,666 yuan a bottle, can increase a beast's vital energy by one point!"
"Level one beast ball, 50,000 yuan each. Can contain a level one beast in the hatching stage!"
The black market was full of various beast-related items, and Jiang Fan was dazzled by the sight.
Led by Xu Zhiwei, the three of them stopped at a stall selling beast eggs.
The vendor, with one eye blind, was addressed as One-Eyed Dragon by Xu Zhiwei.
"Brother One-Eyed Dragon, do you have any good beast eggs? My two friends want to buy one, can you recommend some?"
Xu Zhiwei was very polite to the vendor.
The One-Eyed Dragon, seeing business coming his way, smiled broadly.
Rubbing his hands together, he looked at Jiang Fan and Zhang Biao like they were two fat sheep waiting to be slaughtered.
"Hehe, how much do you guys plan to spend?" he asked.
"Brother One-Eyed Dragon, I brought them here for bargains. Just give us some recommendations," Xu Zhiwei replied, knowing that Jiang Fan and Zhang Biao had average family backgrounds, so he didn't let them speak.
Hearing this, One-Eyed Dragon smiled, "Alright, I'll be straightforward."
"The low-level beast eggs here are 50,000 each, only half the market price."
"Of course, if you don't have much money, you can try the [Beast Tamer Capsule]; it's 5,000 yuan per attempt. There's a chance to get a high-level beast egg."
A 50,000 yuan beast egg wasn't within Jiang Fan's consideration, and the price being half of the market rate seemed untrustworthy to him.
"What do you mean by [Beast Tamer Capsule]?" Jiang Fan asked tentatively.
"Just like a lottery. For 5,000 yuan, you're guaranteed an egg. However, there's a 10% chance it's a beast egg and a 90% chance it's a regular animal egg."
The [Beast Tamer Capsule] was essentially a gambling game, and One-Eyed Dragon didn't hide it. Since Xu Zhiwei knew the rules, he couldn't be deceived.
"Beast eggs are obtained from dimensional spaces. When initially acquired and not identified, no one knows the grade of the beast egg. Merchants offer this lottery-like method for stable profits; it's similar to gambling on jade," Xu Zhiwei explained.
"Oh, I see. Can I take a look first?" Jiang Fan nodded, his gaze shifting to the beast eggs on One-Eyed Dragon's stall.
He felt an inexplicable attraction to touch the beast eggs.
"Sure," One-Eyed Dragon agreed casually.
The beast egg shells were harder than diamonds, so even if Jiang Fan accidentally dropped one, it wouldn't affect the beast inside.
With One-Eyed Dragon's permission, Jiang Fan stepped forward to the beast eggs.
He reached out and gently touched a beast egg.
The next second, a blue screen appeared before him.
[Ding, contact with beast egg, system activated]
[Beast Nurturing System]
[System Function Introduction:
Adding Points System: Money and items collected in reality will be converted into system points. (Conversion rates depend on system rules.)
Points can be used to enhance the strength of beasts.
True Sight: After activating the system, the host can view the attributes and nurturing directions of all beast eggs or beasts within visible range and choose whether to add points. (PS: Points can be added to beasts not owned by the host.)]
[Jiang Fan]
[Strength: Ordinary person]
[Beasts: None]
[Wealth: 50,000 (10,000 wealth can be converted into 1 point.)]
[Points: 5 (Can be used to enhance beasts)]
The system activated when Jiang Fan touched the beast egg!
Jiang Fan was overjoyed.
Then he noticed a warm sensation coming from the hand he placed on the beast egg.
[Beast Egg]
[Type: Demon Beast Egg]
[Grade: SSS, Infinite Growth Potential]
[Status: Unhatched]
[Nurturing Direction: Leave it alone and wait for the beast to hatch.]
[Vital Energy: 0]
[Spirit: 0]
[Exoskeleton: 0]
[Endoskeleton: 0]
[PS: Signing a contract with the beast egg will enhance various attributes.]
At this moment, Jiang Fan was stunned.
Did he just randomly touch an SSS-rank demon egg???