My tamed beasts can't be demons.

Chapter 44 Fireworks Are Competing for Favor

"Waaah~"

Exhausted, Xiaoxi slumped weakly on the table, looking completely worn out.

Zhou Lu patted the fireworks next to him helplessly: "Teacher Xiaoxi meant well, you can't do this."

Fireworks stubbornly raised its new bud: She stole my job!

After learning how to use vines to twine around and do some work within her capabilities, Xiaocaocao always regarded helping Zhou Lu clean up as her sacred job.

Upon seeing that Xiaoxi had taken her job, the petty-minded Hanabi immediately sensed a crisis, which led to her reactive reaction.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. Xiaoxi." Zhou Lu finally managed to calm Hanabi down and apologized to Xiaoxi again, "Hanabi, it..."

"This is what a starting spirit pet is like." Xiao Xi struggled to get up, sat there rubbing her head, and said, "Just like a first child, it's normal for it to have a possessive mentality towards its owner. But since your spirit pet is like this, you'll have to prepare it mentally when you level up and want to contract a second spirit pet."

"Let's not think about things that far ahead."

"That's not true," Xiaoxi said seriously. "This is something you have to consider. The cooperation between spirit pets is one of the skills that a beast tamer must master, and you definitely need to mediate the conflicts between them."

"You can't possibly travel through all the secret realms with just one spirit pet. When Firework advances to the second tier, you'll advance along with it, and then you'll have to start thinking about a second pet."

As she spoke, Xiaoxi glanced at Hanabi: "Given Hanabi's growth rate, you'll soon face this choice. You must consider the selection of your second pet in advance."

There was nothing wrong with what Xiaoxi said.

The level of a Beastmaster grows along with the initial spirit pet, and each time they advance, they will gain a Beastmaster slot.

Of course, this does not mean that a Beast Tamer can only contract a maximum of five spirit pets, but only five spirit pets can be stored in the Beast Taming Card and carried with them.

In the early days of the Beast Taming Era, many Beast Tamers employed a "beast swarm" tactic, controlling a large number of spirit pets to fight.

However, in modern times, the number of contracts that most beast tamers actually increase along with the number of beast taming slots.

As peace is restored in the main world, Beast Tamers rarely engage in battles there, and too many spirit pets that cannot be acquired through Beast Taming Cards will only become a burden to Beast Tamers.

Furthermore, you can only bring spirit pets from the Beast Taming Card into the Secret Realm; it's useless to contract more spirit pets.

The changing times have led to a shift in the mindset of beast tamers from swarm tactics to cultivating elite spirit pets.

This is similar to how human reproductive concepts have gradually shifted from having many children and raising many children to having and raising eugenic children.

"A second favorite...?" Zhou Lu fell into thought.

Fireworks angrily slapped Zhou Lu's wrist: No thinking allowed!

Well, the second stage hasn't even appeared yet, and Hanabi is already getting jealous.

Zhou Lu smiled and rubbed the leaves of the firework: "Let's talk about this after we advance to the second tier. Improving your own strength is the most important thing right now."

Hanabi immediately raised her tender leaves, full of vigor: I will strive to become stronger!

As long as it strives to become stronger and becomes an indispensable presence for its master, it will no longer have to worry about other spirit pets stealing its master's affection!

Having figured this out, Hanabi immediately put the issue of a second pet that might appear in the future out of her mind, and started crawling around the room, eventually reaching the door and picking up a broom with a broom handle.

Xiaoxi saw this and said, "I've already cleaned the room."

Hanabi dumped the trash from the bin onto the ground: Now it's dirty again!

"..."

Xiaoxi watched speechlessly as Hanabi happily cleaned the room.

"Hey, did you learn some weird skills in the Forest Creek Secret Realm?" Xiao Xi turned her gaze back to Zhou Lu and asked.

"What's wrong?"

"I just felt it! Hanabi was planning to stuff the branch into my body," Xiaoxi said, rolling her eyes. "No ordinary branch could be this small."

"If I tell you, will you give me fairy coins?"

Xiao Xi glanced at Zhou Lu: "If you allow others to buy this information with Fairy Coins, I can give it to you."

"Then let's forget about it."

"I could guess even if you didn't say it. There aren't many creatures in the Forest Creek Secret Realm that can make their saplings exhibit this form..." As she spoke, Xiao Xi thought for a moment, "Ghost Face Nightmare Butterfly? [Absorb] can indeed absorb racial skills."

"Teacher Xiaoxi is indeed a knowledgeable fairy." Zhou Lu turned on his computer and browsed the forum. He was not surprised that Xiaoxi could guess this.

Xiao Xi flew to Zhou Lu's side, plopped down on his shoulder, and looked at what he was browsing on his computer: "You're planning to go to the Mountain and River Secret Realm? Are you in such a hurry to practice the [Body Feeding] skill?"

"Isn't that what credits are for?"

"No ordinary person would schedule their schedule this tightly. Didn't you just come back from the Linxi Secret Realm?" Xiao Xi swung her legs, her calves constantly bumping against Zhou Lu's collarbone.

"If you want to rest, you can do so in the secret realm as well." Zhou Lu was looking up information about the mountain and river secret realm.

Xiao Xi didn't say anything more, but just sat quietly on Zhou Lu's shoulder, her calves rhythmically bumping against Zhou Lu's collarbone.

"So," she said after a brief silence, then spoke again, "what are you working so hard for?"

"To become stronger, what else could it be for?"

"What is your purpose in becoming stronger?"

"..." Zhou Lu couldn't answer for a moment. He couldn't very well say it was because of the system.

"Those Beastmasters who aspire to become professional players are indeed working incredibly hard at this stage. But their goal in becoming stronger is to join the school team, using that as a stepping stone to a professional club," Xiaoxi said. "But you're practically working non-stop, not even bothering to check on the school team's recruitment. It doesn't seem like you want to join the school team, so I don't understand why you're working so hard."

"Not everyone wants to become a professional gamer." Zhou Lu found a suitable training cliff on the webpage.

"So, do you want to join the company's exploration team? Or the pioneering army?" Xiaoxi listed out the career paths of most combat-type beast tamers one by one.

"What exactly do you want to ask, Teacher Xiaoxi?" Zhou Lu laughed. "Doesn't this sound like the kind of question a knowledgeable fairy would ask?"

Xiaoxi fell silent again, and after a long while, she slowly spoke: "Then I'll be blunt. Are you still concerned about your father's death?"

Zhou Lu was a little surprised that Xiao Xi would suddenly bring this up, and for a moment he didn't know how to answer the question. However, he still keenly caught the tone in Xiao Xi's voice when she said this: "Do you know the truth about my father's death?"

"I don't know," Xiaoxi said bluntly, "but I think I can guess some things."

"Can your guess be purchased with fairy coins?"

"Three thousand."

"Holy crap! Are you robbing me?!"

Xiaoxi crossed her arms: "This guess is worth that much."

"Then forget it. I'll become stronger myself and then go find the truth." Zhou Lu suddenly realized that Xiao Xi's words gave him a very reasonable line to follow.

If there were any hidden reasons behind the father's death, the mastermind behind it would definitely not remain indifferent to his son's desperate efforts to become stronger in order to find the truth!

Every action has its flaws.

At the same time, he can also cleverly conceal his true reason for wanting to become stronger under this rhetoric.

At this moment, Zhou Lu stopped sliding the mouse.

His gaze fell on a post on the campus forum:

Are the students of Xin'an Beast Taming Academy really this lacking in martial ethics? Openly robbing people in the secret realm!

(End of this chapter)