Actually, Yuan was not their biological son. Fourteen years ago, they had found him heavily injured near Clear Cloud City. Red was also with him at the time. Although heavily injured, he still tried to protect Yuan as if his life depended on it.
They rescued both Yuan and Red and brought them back to the pavilion. It took Red a lot of time to trust them and stop being so wary around them.
Yuan remained unconscious for a whole week before finally waking up. When he did, he had no memory of who he was or where he came from. The only thing he knew was his name: Yuan.
They took the pair in, and since then, Yuan had lived with them, treating them as his real parents as they treated him like their son.
After noticing Mother Bing had gone silent for a moment, Yuan spoke again. "Mother, there's one more thing about Silver."
Mother Bing snapped out of her thoughts and turned to Yuan.
Yuan took a moment to gather his thoughts before speaking. "When Silver bit me, I felt a connection with him—just like how I feel connected with Red. But there's something different about it."
Mother Bing's expression darkened with concern when she heard that. As far as she knew, a person could form a contract with only one pet. She had never heard about anyone forming 2 contracts.
After a while, she spoke, her voice filled with seriousness, "Don't tell anyone about this for now. When your dad returns, I will ask him about that. He might know something."
Yuan nodded in agreement. In his knowledge, no one in Clear Cloud City knew more about spiritual beasts than his father.
"Okay, enough talk. Let's eat," Mother Bing said with a smile. The family of three walked out of the study room, sat at the dining table, and began savoring their meal.
After eating, Yuan picked Xu'er up and carried her outside to play, only stopping when the evening came. He ate dinner with his mother and Xu'er before returning to his room in the backyard. Yuan was the only one who did not stay on the fifth floor with his parents but instead had a room in the backyard.
After feeding Silver and Red, he lay down on his bed. "Today was quite a splendid day," he thought.
Thinking about the incident with Silver, he sighed. But deep down, the thought of getting a new pet excited him a lot.
After a few minutes, he fell into a deep slumber.
*****
Yuan woke up early the next morning, as was his habit. He had always gone to bed early and risen early. After two hours of regular morning practice, he went to eat breakfast with Mother Bing.
"Where's Xu'er? Still sleeping?" He asked as he took a bite.
"Hmm," Mother Bing nodded. "She told me what you two did yesterday—how you toured the new batch of beasts and had fun. So, what do you think of this new batch?"
"Well, we were mostly just playing around, so I haven't had the chance to observe them properly yet. I am thinking about doing it after breakfast," Yuan replied.
"Are you still thinking of becoming a Beast Master?" Mother Bing gently asked while looking at his face lovingly.
Yuan simply nodded. Mother Bing sighed when she saw this. Yuan dreams were big, and though she believed him, she couldn't help but worry.
But then, a serious look came over her face, and her aura shifted. Yuan immediately stopped eating and raised his head to look at her.
"Yuan, you're 19 now. You know what's good for you and what's not. You can make your own decisions. If you've decided to pursue becoming a Beast Master, then give it your all," she said firmly.
She paused for a moment, watching him carefully. Then a soft smile crept back onto her face, seeing the serious look on his face as he listened to her.
She continued, "Your father and I will always support you, no matter what, as long as you are doing something good."
She reached out and placed a hand on his. "But always remember this: When you're unsure about something, listen to your heart more than your head. Rely on your instincts more than other people's words. Take your time, observe, and don't rush. It's better to be slow and steady than to never reach your destination. And once you have made a decision, don't regret it, no matter the outcome."
Yuan sat in silence, absorbing her words. He engraved them on his heart, but he had no idea how these few words from his mother would save his life many times in the future.
A few minutes later, he stood up and left for Beast Pen without saying a word.
With a newfound enthusiasm from his mother's words, he began evaluating beasts one after another.
Name: Double-horns Boar
Gender: Female
Age: Young (6 months old)
Color: Dark Brown
Star Tier: 1-Star
Current Level: Mid-stage, Level 1
Skills and Talent: Cannot be found.
Inborn Skills: Boar Dash, Horn Knuckle, Earth Shield,
Element: Earth Element
Growth potential: Able to reach Initial stage, Level 3
Name: Iron-back Yak
Gender: Male
Age: Adult (4 Years old)
Color: Black
Star Tier: 1-Star
Current Level: Initial-stage, Level 2
Skills and Talent: Cannot be found.
Inborn Skills: High Defense, Straight Rush, Earth Shield,
Element: Earth Element
Growth potential: Able to reach Mid-stage, Level 3
For each one, he made a detailed report. After finishing an evaluation of a beast, he would compare his report with the pavilion evaluators' reports, learning many new things, and finding the mistakes he made and things he missed to take notice of.
Obviously, all the things he found were already in their reports as they were more experienced. Occasionally, if he found something new that they had missed, he would note it down and discuss it with them to get more insights.
Pavilion evaluators taught him many things, like what to take notice of while evaluating a beast, how to calculate the star of the beast, how to take precautions, etc.
Over time, his speed improved dramatically. After 3 days, for 1-star and lower beasts, he could evaluate them almost flawlessly, except for a few rare exceptions. All he needed now was to take a test at the Beast Evaluator's Guild to become a 1-star Beast Evaluator.
In Amber Realm, Beasts were divided into 7 Star Tiers, each star representing the potential of a beast. A 1-star beast was considered to have the ability to reach level 3 in its lifetime, though nothing was set in stone. The higher the star, the greater the beast's potential.
While evaluating a beast, determining its Star Tier was the most difficult, yet the most important task. Any beast evaluator had to check a few things before determining the star Tier, like beast bloodline, beast current age, and current level as well as Element affinity.
Yuan was very excited. During the process, he even found a few rare beasts with high potential of 3-Star, like the Gale Eagle, the Stone-Tailed Lizard, the Stone Rhino, and the Four-Winged Flaming Bird. Although he couldn't evaluate them yet, just seeing them in person was a thrill.
He was a true beast fanatic, and for him, seeing these splendid beasts was enough, Touching, observing, and learning about these creatures was truly blissful.
Sometimes, he even forgot to eat, and only ate after being reminded by others to take a break. Even then, he ate his food in a hurry, eager to get back to his work.