CHAPTER 31: CHAPTER 6: MINI SLIME

"Xiaoruan, eat this."

Xiaoruan ate the Tiny Fruit, and its body gradually shrank to its original size with visible speed.

"One solved it, not bad."

The issue of Xiaoruan’s size can’t rely entirely on the Tiny Fruit, that would be too extravagant.

Li Cunxu used it just as a temporary fix for the size problem; he had already found a permanent solution for Xiaoruan’s growth issue.

He planned to open an online toy store, selling the popular Winged Slimes. Naturally, to understand the pricing of toys, while browsing toy stores online, Li Cunxu took a fancy to a children’s toy called the Slime Observation Box.

The Slime Observation Box, just like an ant observation box, is about the size of eight soccer balls, with fake mountains and grass inside, along with several mini slimes the size of ping-pong balls jumping around, playing.

Li Cunxu noticed the mini slimes in the Slime Observation Box had the ability to shrink.

By taming the mini slimes, making them part of the Soul Kingdom, and vigorously breeding the mini slime clan, by the end of the month, he would collect skill experience tax. Xiaoruan wouldn’t need skill seeds and could learn to shrink, with a decent skill proficiency.

Li Cunxu hugged Xiaoruan, albeit with some effort; a smaller size doesn’t necessarily mean reduced weight.

"Looks like I still need to learn the ’Lightweight’ skill."

Lightweight, a black iron-grade skill, lightens the body weight.

It’s generally used by flying pet beasts to reduce weight, decrease physical exertion, and increase speed.

A clear stream quietly meandered, like a jade ribbon glimmering silver-white under the sunlight.

Water gently caressed pebbles, creating a murmur that echoed clearly across the open pasture.

Li Cunxu stood barefoot, raised a finger, and a water ball swirled above; with a flick, the water ball hit the stream, briefly interrupting its flow.

Li Anle curiously asked, "How did you throw the water ball? I want to learn too."

"It’s the power of the Beast Taming Contract; a Beast Master can solidify a pet beast’s skill, sharing its use."

"But didn’t you say Beast Masters can only cultivate Spiritual Power and not Spiritual Energy? Without Spiritual Energy, how do you release a pet’s skill?" Li Anle tilted his head, puzzled.

"So, I’m using the pet beast’s Spiritual Energy, which is Xiaoruan’s Spiritual Energy."

"Oh, I see! Is it only one skill that can be solidified? Can’t you solidify more?"

"No, only one can be solidified per contracted pet beast."

"Then why did you solidify the water ball? Isn’t this skill not powerful?"

"Solidifying a skill doesn’t have to be the most powerful; it should be the most practical."

"Watch closely."

Li Cunxu tossed a stone vertically into the air. As it was about to hit him, a water ball deflected it.

"This is the water ball shield."

With five fingers spread, five water balls converged, and the stone was knocked away, with the remaining water balls continuously batting it in mid-air.

"This is the Water Ball Chain Cannon."

A water ball wrapped around the stone, allowing it to fly around up high.

"This is Water Ball Object Manipulation. At an advanced stage, you can use water balls to manipulate flying swords, or ride on water balls to fly."

"There’s no such thing as a useless skill, only useless people. As long as a skill is used proficiently, even a water ball can slay gods."

Li Cunxu stood with his hands behind his back, surrounded by five water balls.

The utilization of water balls stemmed from a past player’s development of ’108 Practical Little Tricks for Water Balls.’

The strongest newcomer cup preliminaries in Tongdu had begun.

The matches took place in the open combat arena, featuring many battlefields separated by iron nets, akin to a tennis training ground.

A spiky-haired youth entered and brazenly said to Li Cunxu, "Bro, encountering me is your misfortune."

"However, you’re lucky too, as you’ll be the first defeated opponent on my path to becoming a King, a fact you should take pride in for life."

The youth exuded inexplicable confidence.

Li Cunxu opened his mouth but didn’t know how to respond to this confident youth.

The referee, expressionless, said, "Players, please take your positions."

When Lin Fei stood on the opposite side.

The referee said, "This battle follows a one vs. one Beast Master standard format. The Beast Master can participate in the battle; if the Beast Master is eliminated, it’s a loss."

"Both parties, please summon your respective pet beasts."

Lin Fei excitedly shouted, "Wooden Wolf, come out!"

Li Cunxu narrowed his eyes. The Wooden Wolf, a carefully bred Lin Family pet beast, possessed excellent self-healing abilities, endurance, stamina, and speed.

The Wooden Wolf is a Lin Family standard but isn’t accessible to everyone; only excellent family members may have one.

"Xiaoruan, come out!"

A Water Slime appeared in the arena as the spectators behind the iron net turned their attention.

"Why is there a Slime in the arena?"

"Beast Masters these days are continually getting weaker; each generation is worse than the previous. This generation has even resorted to contracting Slimes."

"What’s he thinking, contracting a useless Slime, isn’t this a waste of a contract spot?"

Li Anle retorted, "Xiaoruan is not useless!"

No one among the spectators argued with Li Anle; what was the point of debating with a five- or six-year-old child?

Lin Fei looked disappointed, "Bro, what are you doing? Contracting a Slime makes me not even want to fight you."

"The first defeated opponent in the renowned career of Lin the King was actually a Slime? If word gets out, it’ll tarnish my reputation."

Li Cunxu smiled silently; there was no point explaining. Claiming his Slime was powerful wouldn’t be convincing, so why waste words? Better let facts speak.

Luckily, Xiaoruan could understand only his words and not others’, or else it would be upset.

Beast Masters and contracted pet beasts have a bond that allows them to understand each other, even without having learned beast language. A contracted pet beast can understand the Beast Master’s words, but not others’.

The referee was so surprised seeing the Water Slime enter that he forgot to announce the start of the battle.

Among many peculiar battles, this was the most bizarre; a Slime had made it onto the battlefield.

Li Cunxu softly reminded, "Referee, referee."

"Oh, oh, battle start,"

The referee snapped back, then pressed the device on his arm as an invisible white light enveloped the arena.

The white light would block severe injuries or fatal attacks, a protective measure by the league for the contestants and pet beasts to prevent casualties.

The white light’s power came from the Undying Light Dragon, the old chairman’s pet whose power could be projected across human territories.