Chapter 458 — Contract and Awakening (Thanks to the big shot 'Zhai Cai' for the Golden Alliance!)

Though there was much he wanted to ask, Lin Shuo did not chat long with Shi Jin, so that the latter could rest well.

Shi Cen was glad to be left in peace.

"Ahh~"

After hanging up, Shi Jin changed into his panda pajamas, dug out a bottle of iced juice, and lay down on the sofa in high spirits, hugging a cushion and closing his eyes.

He had not lain there long, however, before he sat up again. "Master, Xiao Zi is awake."

It was not that he did not want to rest—Lin had suddenly called for him. "Coming, coming."

Shi Jin slipped straight into the relic space, entered the nursery, and looked at the white orb on the crib whose eyes were now open and clear.

The Star Child's body was still wrapped in purple nebula; squashed into a lump by its lying posture, it caught sight of Lin and Shi Jin flying toward it and at once floated up in delight.

"Mii!! (Hungry.)"

"You eat, then sleep; you sleep, then eat." Shi Jin reached out and let the little creature settle on his hand, unable to resist a jab.

Hadn't it just eaten World Tree branch sap not long ago?

No wonder the Star Children were so numerous yet so few survived. "Mii!! (Really hungry.)" the Star Child said pitifully. "Fine, fine." Shi Suo laughed.

"What do we give it—space crystal, or astral water, or should it keep absorbing starlight?" Lin asked from the side.

For all its vast learning, it had not the slightest experience in raising Star Children. "I asked the World Tree. A space crystal will do."

Shi Li: "For an infant, though, none of those are the best. The nutrients from its mother's body are still the finest."

Lin: ?

Mother's milk?

But hadn't you already fed it the World Tree's branch sap?

Could it be that, without its knowledge, Shi Jin had asked the World Tree for a whole pile more? "Here." Shi Jin stretched out his hand, and a black contract halo immediately surfaced above his palm. At the sight, Xiao Zi looked curious.

"Come here, and you won't be hungry for long." Lin: !

Lin wanted to press a hand to its forehead, but alas, it had no hands.

It understood at once what Shi Jin meant. A beast tamer's beast space had the power to supply a pet beast with nourishment and growth material.

As a level-seven legendary beast tamer blessed by the World Tree, if Shi Jin contracted Xiao Zi, a transcendent-grade creature, he could provide it with ample growth nutrients.

"It seems my top-tier intelligence still can't keep up with Master's thought processes." "No—it's Master who's the problem."

Amid Lin's grumbling, the Star Child flew over quickly, entered the contract halo, and was contracted by Shi Jin with almost no resistance, then entered the beast space.

As for the seventh contract slot of the first beast space—Shi Jin thought it over and gave it to Xiao Zi after all; its growth, after all, could better drive his own breakthroughs.

Level eight, level nine... it should go faster.

As for Xiao Ji and the others, they would have to wait for the second beast space to be opened.

Within Shi Ying's beast space, more comfortable even than the legendary relic space, Xiao Zi was instantly enchanted the moment it entered.

For an ordinary legendary beast tamer, a beast space might not rival a legendary relic space—but the thing was, Shi Jin had been blessed by the World Tree.

At this moment, the comfort of his beast space utterly crushed that of the legendary relics and the Canghai relic.

Were it not for training, Shi and the others would not even want to leave.

Only... seeing this bare, empty beast space, Xiao Zi felt a certain desolation, in stark contrast to the comfort its body felt.

"Still hungry now?" Shi Ying's voice reached Xiao Zi's ears. "Mii! (Eating right now.)"

But it did not matter. As long as it could sleep comfortably and not go hungry, that was enough.

Xiao Zi promptly curled into a ball, rolled into a corner, and closed its eyes once more with a look of contentment, letting its body absorb the nutrients on its own.

Shi Zhuo smiled faintly, then looked at Lin and said, "By the way, now that I've reached level seven, it seems I can remodel the beast space too."

"Yes," said Lin.

"What a hassle," Shi Jin sighed deeply.

Once a beast tamer reached level seven, he could develop his beast space; phasing, sealing arts, and beast-space remodeling could all be mastered at this stage.

These three legendary skills were of immense importance to a beast tamer.

The space skill of phasing could guarantee a beast tamer's survival in dangerous battle.

Sealing arts, meanwhile, allowed a beast tamer to suppress transcendent life through his beast space. Any legendary beast tamer who had mastered sealing arts could, alone, restrain pet beasts of the same level and suppress those of lower levels.

The means by which Senior Ji Li had sealed the Black Meteor Yak, and the means by which the Pirate King had sealed the Vortex Demon Beast—both were sealing arts.

Beast-space remodeling was easier to grasp: once a beast tamer's beast space reached level seven, it too would become a small world of its own—in truth no different from a secret realm space or a relic space.

Beast tamers could use all manner of heavenly treasures, or their beast-taming talents, to remodel the environment of their beast-taming space—into an ocean environment, a forest environment, or a volcanic one...

Such environments also provided a boost to the habitation of the beasts.

At the same time, the entire beast-taming space could be fused into one great whole.

At low levels, the beasts contracted by a beast tamer mostly slumbered or remained half-conscious within the beast-taming space, as though lying in a nutrient pod.

Unless the beast tamer possessed the talent of telepathy, none of the contracted creatures could communicate with one another.

But upon reaching the legendary tier, a legendary beast tamer's beast-taming space became like a relic space, allowing all contracted beasts to exist within a single space—and within that space, the beasts' states of consciousness were extraordinarily clear, so that they could converse with one another.

Still, having only just broken through, Shi Yu had not had time to remodel the space.

And besides—even if it were remodeled, Shi Yi and the others still could not train inside the beast-taming space.

That would damage Shi Ying's beast-taming space—no different from breaking the contract, and it could take old Shi Jin's life outright.

Of course, Shi Jin felt that for a normal beast, merely sleeping in its own beast-taming space was far more effective for growth than ordinary training.

A pity that Shi Yi and the others were not normal—and besides, adding points was still more efficient.

Shi Li: "And Little Purple's internal space will have to be remodeled too..."

"One thing at a time." Shi Jin sat back down like a salted fish and said, "Lin, I'm going to sleep for a while. When Teacher Ying gets back, wake me."

"Alright."

Shi Jin drifted into a drowsy sleep, and it felt wonderfully sound. A long while later.

"Meow!!"

Above the waters of the Magic Capital, the Jewel Cat was flying madly toward Pingcheng!!

Boom!!

The wake of its flight churned up towering waves, startling the little fish and shrimp below into cursing and grumbling.

A moment later.

Pingcheng.

A cat appeared outside Shi Ying's house, glanced left and right, then began knocking on the fabric of space without pause.

"Shi Jin, Shi Jin, Shi Jin, I'm here!!"

"I want to evolve into the Nine-Colored Meow!"

"How are you this fast?!"

Shi Jin, his head splitting, was called out by Lin and, looking at the Jewel Cat before him, could not understand why it had rushed back from Inatella so quickly.

He felt as though he had barely slept at all...

"Guess." The Jewel Cat chuckled.

"Not guessing. Here, take it." Shi Jin rubbed his temples, drew out the inheritance crystal of the Nine-Colored Divine Radiance, and made to toss it to the Jewel Cat.

Jewel Cat: o(v'r)o However.