CHAPTER 82: CHAPTER 81: I DON’T HAVE A CONTRACT WITH HER

There was a "filter membrane" on me, I hadn’t really noticed it before.

"Hey!" Miaomiao stood up, patted her cheeks, and her youthful, invincible bright smile returned to her face. She said cheerfully to Lin Guang, who also stood up, "It’s the first time I’ve met someone like me who can sense plant emotions. I’m really a bit unwilling. I thought I was special~"

"Maybe I was just emotionally touched just now, and coincidentally guessed right, don’t take it to heart."

Lin Guang didn’t want to admit to being some Spirit Beast protector. He thought he relied on the system’s power, not some "beloved of the world," which was too complex a concept; "cheat" sounded much more straightforward.

Miaomiao’s beautiful golden eyes narrowed slightly, a bit dissatisfied, "I always feel like you’re not telling me the truth."

Before Lin Guang could say anything, Miaomiao’s expression turned serious, and she said gently, "Kaiwen and I don’t have a method to save this child. Instead of using diluted potions to barely keep her alive..."

She suddenly said something unexpected, "Would you like to try?"

"Me?"

Lin Guang was taken aback and pointed at himself, "Are you sure?"

"Ah... It’s just a gut feeling anyway. Things won’t get worse if I leave it to you."

Miaomiao seemed to notice Lin Guang didn’t want to admit his identity as a Spirit Beast protector and didn’t mention it in her words.

Lin Guang pondered for a moment and shrugged, "Since you say so, don’t get your hopes too high. I can only say that if it doesn’t die, it’s a success."

"I’ll go back and check my parents’ files; maybe there’s information on Swaying Lily."

Despite saying this, there was no hint of anxiety in his tone, like a habitual modesty.

"..."

Miaomiao seemed to sense his confident mood and was momentarily stunned.

But soon, she smiled again.

Her golden eyes shaped into crescents, her long eyelashes slightly fluttering, "Then I’ll leave it to you~."

"Oh, almost forgot the main thing!"

Saying that, Miaomiao ran to the cabinet and quickly handed a small stack of documents to Lin Guang.

"Here, this is what I did over the weekend."

He briefly flipped through and his eyes widened slightly.

Should I say, as expected of someone brought by Doctor Kaiwen to do research, Miaomiao’s experimental records were neat and clear, even the subtle data was recorded. It’s been three months since receiving the project, and she’s already tried more than three hundred common market plants—this is a prerequisite for the Protective Umbrella Company’s mass-production potions—and completely ruled out a hundred and eighty of them, confirming that these plants and their evolved forms are not possible in the potion formula.

This speed can be considered quite fast, even if a Four or Five-Star Miracle Master isn’t focusing on Plant-type Spirit Beast, they wouldn’t necessarily do better than Miaomiao.

If this research was posted for sale on professional forums, many would be willing to purchase it, selling for hundreds of thousands of Daxia Coins is not out of the question, might even be a bargain.

Lin Guang also noticed that Swaying Lily was prominently in Miaomiao’s "Formula Possibility List" notes, although its ranking wasn’t too high, it wasn’t too low either.

This is an extremely strong intuition and judgment.

Wait, intuition?

Speaking of which, this Swaying Lily that she seems to like was entrusted to him purely on intuition...

Is this vague intuition something I’ve heard about not long ago?

Suddenly, a thought flashed in Lin Guang’s mind.

—Could it be that my earlier banter was true?

Could Miaomiao really have the qualifications as a Spirit Beast protector?

That’s because Swaying Lily’s evolution method requires it to be in this half-dead state. Swaying Lily is already rare in the south and was just discovered by Miaomiao during her research, also in this exact state, she is almost only one step away from success.

Sensitive intuition and great luck; does this count as an indication of being the "beloved of the world"?

Collecting his random thoughts, Lin Guang said, "Thank you," and accepted Miaomiao’s goodwill.

"Don’t be like that." Miaomiao laughed and said, "We’re members of the same project, of course, we should share progress."

With that done, Lin Guang said goodbye to Miaomiao and left the lab.

"Where is she?"

Lin Guang walked out of the research room, still not seeing Vishdair’s silhouette.

Following the contract connection, he took the elevator downstairs and finally saw the silver-haired girl sitting idly on the bench.

"So you were here."

Lin Guang walked over, sat beside her, and said, "Been looking for you, why weren’t you upstairs waiting for me?"

However, unexpectedly, Vishdair didn’t even care about the potted plant he was holding, only said sullenly, "I don’t understand what you guys were talking about."

Lin Guang froze for a moment, then comforted, "Who’s to say if you can’t understand now, you won’t later."

"It’s not the language."

She sat beside Lin Guang, her tone carrying a touch of subtle dissatisfaction, "She seems to be the same kind of person as you. She even knew you since childhood, unlike a bookworm like me. What’s the point of me trying to fit in."

"..."

Lin Guang understood.

But he didn’t say anything comforting, he just naturally leaned on the silver-haired girl’s shoulder, feeling her slightly higher temperature, and said, "But I don’t have a contract with her."

Vishdair didn’t say anything but Lin Guang could clearly feel that her mood had improved somewhat.

This was indeed Lin Guang’s true thought.

Between people, it might take a long time of getting along to reveal true feelings, but a contracted bond doesn’t need that.

Even though an Equal Contract isn’t as strong as an Enslavement Contract, he indeed felt the most at ease when he was with Vishdair.

Perhaps it was because they were both guests from other worlds or because of many secrets, he had many words that he’d only dare to casually say when he was alone with Vishdair.

The two of them just sat together silently for a while, then Lin Guang suddenly spoke.

"By the way, it’s time, the cafeteria is open."

Vishdair suddenly perked up and stood up, "Let’s go!"

—Over the past few days, Lin Guang had already become well-versed in how to soothe her.

...

Lin Guang first took her to the cafeteria for a hearty meal, then bet on her not achieving obvious results in training later, offering dessert as the wager, quickly igniting a competitive spirit in Vishdair.

After trying together three times, they finally endured the Demon-Eating Tiger Shark’s "Mud Wave" attack, but its mental trauma proved too great, they then barely held on for two moves before being kicked out.

Even though it was merely two more moves, Vishdair’s insight gained was more than before, the heat generated from gathered Fire Attribute Ether in her hands was enough to fry an egg, considered a youthful version of Flame Fist.

By this time, Lin Guang had grasped the pattern of this Skill Crystal.

The longer one persisted in the battle, the more refined and powerful Rote’s Explosion Fist would become.

According to his calculations, even if one couldn’t last till the end of the battle, enduring till mid-battle would still provide the opportunity to learn Explosion Fist.

However, saying it is one thing... tiredness is truly exhausting, pain is really painful.

Forcing oneself to endure the pain, keeping nerves taut to grasp understanding, expends energy quickly.

Not to mention Lin Guang was quite at his limit, even Vishdair, after enduring its use three times, was showing signs of mental exhaustion—this was from having constantly risked her life in Kazdail, surviving by the skin of her teeth, that helped build her nerve.

It’s no wonder the six previous users before all failed.

This crystal’s difficulty is indeed high.

Even if each of them had unique skills and could endure pain like Lin Guang, their Spirit Beasts couldn’t be as resilient, unable to learn skills while enduring pain.

Even if they reached level 30, the evolution threshold for Purple Potential routes is unattainable. Even if they evolve in the future, for now, they’re still Blue at most, and among those lower than level 30, Spirit Beasts with Blue Potential, rarer than Vishdair’s resilience exist unless they’ve undergone countless battles in the wild and been contracted, or were similarly another world visitor compressed level.

Moreover, staying at level 30 using this Skill Crystal might require charging after only a few uses, quite the energy inefficient scenario.

Soon, they headed home to rest and enjoy dessert.

In the following days, they lived such a simple yet repetitive daily routine.