This purple-gray, two-headed serpent was over six meters long, its pupils a magnificent pinkish-purple.
The scales on its back flared up like petals, giving it an air that was both elegant and fierce.
As an employee of a Guardian Beast Shop, Zhong Ling wasn't afraid of serpentine Guardian Beasts like an ordinary girl might be.
After setting down a glass container that was half a person tall, the two heads of the great serpent bowed courteously to Zhong Yi and Zhong Ling.
It then obediently coiled behind the female attendant.
The attendant was clearly pleased with her Guardian Beast's performance. She reached out with both hands and gave each of her Double-headed Orchid Viper's heads a pat.
"I've prepared all the Guardian Beasts you requested."
"I must remind you, the Shattered Blade Butterflies are highly aggressive. These are special tools for handling them inside the White Crystal Cage."
"Whatever you do, don't open the White Crystal Cage and let all the Shattered Blade Butterflies out at once. If there's an accident, use the intercom on the wall to call me immediately."
After thoroughly explaining these precautions, the attendant also brought Zhong Yi and Zhong Ling two slices of raspberry cake and two glasses of chilled honeydew juice.
Once Zhong Yi had counted the Shattered Blade Butterflies in the White Crystal Cage and confirmed the number was correct, the attendant exited the private room, thoughtfully closing the door behind her.
Zhong Ling hadn't thought much of it when Zhong Yi was helping her choose her Guardian Beasts, but now, seeing the Soul Vein Mother Butterfly and forty Shattered Blade Butterflies laid out before her, she couldn't help but exclaim.
"Young Master, all these Guardian Beasts… you've spent far too much money on me!"
The total amount of money she had spent in her entire life couldn't compare to this sum.
The thought that she was about to form a Contract with all these Guardian Beasts made her heart pound with anxiety.
Zhong Yi spoke to Zhong Ling, his tone exceptionally serious.
"Xiaolingdang, your talent is extraordinary. In the future, we can be partners and explore Secret Realms together."
"Spending money to increase your strength will only help our explorations."
"You, me, and Uncle Huai have lived together all these years. In my heart, you're my family. You don't have to be so formal with me."
Zhong Ling was not one to be hesitant. The title of Zhong Yi's "partner" gave her life new meaning in an instant.
"Young Master, I will work hard to increase my strength! I won't let your investment in me go to waste."
With that, Zhong Ling activated her Soul Base and initiated a Contract with the Soul Vein Mother Butterfly, which was still cowering in the corner of the White Crystal Cage, terrified by the earlier appearance of the Double-headed Orchid Viper.
...
While Zhong Ling was forming her Contract, Su Ya arrived at the door of the Starlight City Beastmaster Association President's office.
The Beastmaster Association had several branches in Starlight City's Upper Light District alone; after all, Starlight City was enormous.
If it didn't establish multiple branches, the great distances would make it impossible to properly serve the city's Guardian Beast Masters.
Furthermore, one or two branches simply couldn't handle the sheer number of them.
The Beastmaster Association was inextricably linked to the lives of Guardian Beast Masters. It was not only where they underwent Soul Awakening to begin their careers.
It was also where they accepted missions for commissions and sold the treasures they acquired from exploring Secret Realms.
Many of the niche resources found in Secret Realms would be difficult to sell quickly without bringing them to the Beastmaster Association for official acquisition.
The headquarters of the Starlight City Beastmaster Association was located in the heart of the Central District. Unlike the branches, it didn't typically serve Guardian Beast Masters on a daily basis.
This was where the high-level executives of the Starlight City Beastmaster Association worked.
As a Main Awakening Master, Su Ya was considered mid-level management at the Beastmaster Association, at best. She only had occasional opportunities to come to the headquarters for training.
This time, however, her reason for coming was completely different.
Su Ya's heart was still pounding with excitement and exhilaration!
'Another Celestial Destiny Seeker has appeared,' she thought. 'This is rare good news for Starlight City.'
After arriving at the Starlight City Beastmaster Association headquarters and requesting a meeting with the president, Su Ya was quickly shown into his office.
There, a refined, scholarly old man with gold-rimmed glasses was poring over a stack of paper documents with a serious expression, occasionally making annotations with a pen.
A small, colorful bird with a beak longer than its body deftly pecked at the fruit bowl, peeling a grape.
It then skewered the grape with its beak and offered it to the old man's lips, who ate it without even looking.
On the desk, a turtle was enjoying an assortment of colorful, strangely shaped mushrooms.
Whenever the old man finished annotating a document, the turtle would lift its foreleg, dip it in an ink pad, and neatly stamp a paw print on it.
Although the old man didn't look up, he gave Su Ya a friendly wave.
"Have a seat and tell me what's on your mind. Did you discover a promising new talent at the Soul Awakening Ceremony?"
"If their potential is confirmed to be A Level, we can offer them a twenty percent increase in resource subsidies on top of the standard amount."
"For those talents whose potential is rated A+ Level, you can directly promise them admission to Starlight Academy."
"Either way, we're cultivating talent for our own Starlight City Beastmaster Association. It doesn't hurt to invest a little extra."
A long moment after Lu Jinlun finished speaking, he finally lifted his gaze from the documents in his hands.
He instinctively took off his glasses and rubbed his weary eyes.
The number of Secret Realms opening outside Starlight City was increasing, yet the exploration progress for many of them had stalled.
'At this rate, the frequency of Secret Realms spiraling out of control is bound to increase!'
Moreover, many of the Demons in these newly opened Secret Realms were new species, and some were types of Secret Realms that had never been seen before.
Lu Jinlun sighed inwardly. 'How many more Guardian Beast Masters will we have to sacrifice just to get a basic understanding of these new realms?'
The Ghost Suppression Bureau, the Starlight Army, and the Guardian Beast Union were all official factions of Starlight City.
Since the Ghost Suppression Bureau and the Starlight Army also had demanding duties, they too needed exceptional talents to fill their ranks.
This led to intense competition between the three factions in recruiting high-end talent.
Just as Su Ya was about to speak, she saw the colorful bird land on the turtle's back and probe behind it with its long, slender beak.
It then pulled out two small, round, black objects like a thief, glancing furtively at Lu Jinlun.
Seeing that Lu Jinlun wasn't paying attention to it, the bird quickly tilted its head back and swallowed the two round objects.
It was the first time Su Ya had ever sensed such a potent aura of sneakiness from a Guardian Beast.
The thought that this was the same bird that had just skewered grapes with its beak to feed the president—and that the president had eaten several of them—
made Su Ya's skin crawl. Even her gaze toward Lu Jinlun turned a little strange.
'The president doesn't have some kind of special fetish, does he?!'