The Pangolin cub was thirty centimeters tall. A distinct, blood-red dragon marking coiled across its back, shimmering faintly on its carapace. All four of its feet had the beginnings of dragon claws.
Its feet were slightly different from those of a typical pangolin cub. Instead of five claws, it had four, each shaped like a dragon's. When it stomped its foot on the ground, you could feel a slight tremor, a hint of its potential to one day shake the very earth.
Its body was a reddish-yellow, with deep yellow armor on its tail. The interlocking scales gave it a rather domineering look. It was suspected to possess a Sub-dragon Bloodline.
Then he looked at the Spirit Medicine bottle in Mrs. Gu's hands. The box was still sealed.
It was the Sea of Consciousness Expansion Medicine from the commercials he'd seen over and over again. It was specially designed for eighteen-year-olds, allowing high school students to expand their Sea of Consciousness on their birthday and form a second Pet Beast Contract.
When Gu Ming saw that it was a real Pet Beast, the resentment in his heart instantly vanished.
'Good. As long as they didn't go gambling, it's fine.'
'At least they bought the right thing.'
However, now that he had the Grouper Fish, Gu Ming's need for a New Pet Beast was secondary.
"Before you spend all this money, couldn't you have asked me first...?"
Gu Ming said with a sense of helplessness, looking like he wanted to get angry but couldn't bring himself to do it with his family.
He walked over to Mr. Gu and looked at the Pangolin-like cub. He reached out to pet it, but the creature immediately glared with its draconic eyes and let out a majestic roar.
"ROAR!"
Gu Ming immediately snatched his hand back.
'This Pangolin looks really fierce.'
"Dad, what kind of Pet Beast is this?"
"Haha, an Iron Gall Lone Dragon! You've never seen one, have you? This is a cub with a Sub-dragon Bloodline. It'll be amazing once we raise it. It can burrow and breathe fire—a rare dual-Attribute Dragon Pet!"
Mr. Gu's face lit up as he spoke. Mrs. Gu had picked it out herself, and he had been the one to bring it home.
It was just that the price of the Pet Beast was heartbreaking. After buying it, their family only had about ten million left. They would have to be frugal from now on.
After all, Mr. and Mrs. Gu only earned about a million a year. Over the past decade or so, besides saving money, they also had to spend funds on their own Pet Beasts.
Being able to save up thirty million to buy the Spirit Medicine and the Iron Gall Lone Dragon, with ten million left over for raising it, was already the absolute limit for a middle-class family.
Gu Ming didn't know his family's true financial situation. Hearing about this setup, his brow twitched. He was utterly shocked.
Used to a frugal life, he had only ever seen Pet Beasts with dual Attributes and a Sub-dragon Bloodline on his phone. He never imagined he might actually get to contract one himself.
'This is unbelievable.'
The Pet Beast in his dad's hands could probably wipe the floor with the Little Cyan Snake a thousand times over.
To be honest, Gu Ming had to admit he was tempted.
Compared to the Little Cyan Snake, which needed countless days of training just to be able to fight an average Pet Beast, and the Grouper Fish, which could die of old age at any moment, the Iron Gall Lone Dragon before him was incredibly alluring.
Gu Ming's heart pounded in his chest, but his excitement was quickly replaced by a thought: the price.
'The price is wrong!'
"Wait, did you guys go out and win a big gamble?"
Gu Ming asked hesitantly. He had done a quick mental calculation and knew they couldn't possibly afford this Pet Beast.
The medicine to expand one's Sea of Consciousness was very expensive. The standard retail price on TV was ten million. If they went to an offline second-hand market, they might be able to find some that was about to expire for a 20 or 30 percent discount.
'Let's say Mom and Dad spent seven million on a second-hand Spirit Medicine, and another three million on the Spirit Pet.'
'But based on Dad's description—dual-Attribute, Sub-dragon Bloodline, and a cub at that—there's no way they bought a Pet Beast like this for only three million.'
"What are you talking about, gambling? We didn't gamble, son. Your grandpa caught this in the mountains."
"Didn't you say before that Grandpa was raiding bird nests?" Gu Ming asked, taken aback.
Mr. Gu's expression stiffened for a moment before he quickly waved his hand. "Oh, that was a week ago."
"We just found out today when we visited your grandpa. He caught a Pangolin."
"Your grandpa doesn't know what's what. The moment we saw it, we knew it was an extremely rare Iron Gall Lone Dragon."
"You see? Our family is so lucky! We won the lottery yesterday, and now your grandpa catches a top-tier cub. We're going to strike it rich this time, haha!"
As Mr. Gu said this, he put on a happy face, but inwardly, his heart was bleeding. 'If only our son hadn't contracted that Little Cyan Snake,' he thought, 'we could have saved ten million to spend on raising this new one.'
But Gu Ming felt the whole thing was too surreal.
'Our family has this kind of luck?'
'How many lifetimes of good deeds did it take to earn this kind of blessing?' It was so good that Gu Ming himself couldn't believe it.
"Son, stop doubting. This is what happened. Here, you figure out how to take this medicine. We don't really understand this stuff and we're afraid of messing it up."
Mrs. Gu pulled her son over and placed the Sea of Consciousness Elixir in his hand.
Gu Ming took the medicine, his mind racing with a mix of surprise and uncertainty.
It all felt so unreal.
He already had the system; he was already lucky enough.
For his parents to suddenly do all this... it felt like his luck was running a little too hot.
'Could this be some kind of trap or disaster in disguise?'
'An Iron Gall Lone Dragon has such a good foundation and Attributes. The cost of raising it must be sky-high. Can our family really afford it?'
"I'm going to my room to look into it,"
Gu Ming said. He took the medicine, went back to his room, and locked the door behind him.
He sat by the Fish Tank, staring blankly at the medicine box in his hands.
The box itself wasn't large, only about the size of his palm.
Opening the box revealed a transparent glass flask. Inside was a single, fingernail-sized droplet of liquid. It was crystal clear, with what looked like starlight swirling within it, making it completely mesmerizing to look at.
The Little Cyan Snake had woken up a moment ago but hadn't shown itself.
The tone of the old couple made it too scared to peek out. It felt like an insignificant little creature.
Only when the room became so quiet you could hear a pin drop did it finally poke its head out of Gu Ming's pocket. It saw its master's stunned expression and the Grouper Fish in the Fish Tank swimming about aimlessly, as if completely unconcerned.
The Little Cyan Snake knew immediately that Old Ban was not as unconcerned as he seemed.
The anxious flutter of his small fins proved that Old Ban was tempted too.
But Old Ban knew that medicine wasn't meant for him, so he pretended not to notice, continuing to swim around without interfering with his master's decision.
The Little Cyan Snake didn't make a sound either. It rested its head on the edge of the shirt pocket, silently observing the crystalline droplet.
Gu Ming began to frown.
He wasn't frowning because there was something wrong with the medicine, but because the system's text display had just updated with a plot from another world.
"[You are in your cave abode when a common yet confident mountain mouse pays you a visit, asking for a Pet Beast Contract. It wants to become your Pet Beast, but you ignore it.]"
"[It is heartbroken. It leaves behind a disciple's gift and lingers outside your door, unwilling to leave. It is unclear whether this is of its own volition or arranged by another.]"
'The mountain mouse must be the Iron Gall Lone Dragon,' Gu Ming thought. 'The plot has deviated ridiculously. The Iron Gall Lone Dragon was clearly shaking its fist at me in a show of force.'
"[You have unexpectedly obtained a low-quality Divine Invitation Potion.]"
'A low-quality Divine Invitation Potion?'
'What does that mean? Isn't this supposed to be medicine to expand my Sea of Consciousness? Was it swapped out?'
A suspicious look crossed Gu Ming's face. He stared at the crystalline droplet in the flask, and a terrible thought suddenly occurred to him.
'Stones can turn into Spirit Stones, and my salary can turn into Spirit Stones... could the system also transform this multi-million-dollar Spirit Medicine into some other kind of Spiritual Liquid?'
If that was the case, it would be a disaster.
He had to take the medicine quickly, before it transformed.
He quickly read the instructions. Before taking it, one had to change clothes, bathe, burn incense to invite the gods, then loudly chant the name of a Spirit Venerable along with the Divine Invitation Spell. Only then could one consume the Spiritual Liquid and receive the Spirit Venerable's blessing to expand their Sea of Consciousness.
'Damn it, why are the steps so complicated? Can't I skip them?'
Gu Ming went online to search for the procedure for taking a Sea of Consciousness-Expanding Elixir, wondering if it was really that complicated.
He searched for a bit and found short videos filled with people meditating and chanting spells, along with lists of taboos to observe before the ritual.
The steps couldn't be skipped.
He put down his phone and immediately went to take a shower.
Just then, the system's text display updated again.
"[By reading the Record of the Outer Celestial Demon, you have discovered an ancient and secret Evil God ritual. This method can temporarily expand your Sea of Spiritual Consciousness, allowing you to reach the threshold for contracting a second Pet Beast.]"
"[However, the ritual is immensely risky. You become obsessed with it, unable to pull yourself away, believing you can ignore the erosion of its spiritual corruption.]"
Suddenly, Gu Ming stopped dead in his tracks before the door.