A system? The one from the game?!
Lin Guang was startled at first, then an uncontrollable wave of excitement surged through him. But when he saw the activation requirement, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but twitch.
He had originally planned to rely on the system to help him contract a spirit beast—but now, he needed to contract a spirit beast first just to activate it.
So you have to clear Karazhan before you're allowed to run Karazhan, huh?
Still, Lin Guang only grumbled inwardly for a moment. After all, those dark circles under his eyes weren't for nothing.
After regaining his past-life memories yesterday, the first thing he did—aside from recording as much information as he could while it was still fresh—was to immediately start planning his future path. The system had never even been part of his expectations.
If it worked right away, great. If not, it wasn't enough to break his mindset.
Lin Guang had even prepared himself to take a leave of absence for a year to focus entirely on early-stage preparations.
The advantage was that he'd have enough time to solve his current issues and aim for high-potential spirit beasts.
The downside was that it would widen the gap between him and his peers. In the game, an early key event—the Fenghai State High School Spirit Tamer League—was restricted by age, not grade level. And since Lin Guang wasn't possessing someone else's body, he genuinely liked his classmates. He didn't want to gradually drift apart from these newly made friends and end up with a rather disappointing high school life.
As he thought, his mind began to wander. His pen moved across the textbook, drawing seemingly meaningless lines—like idle doodling to an outsider.
At the podium, Ouyang Wei noticed the absent-mindedness—or rather, the loss of motivation—in Lin Guang's eyes. His brows lifted slightly. A rigid man by nature, he had little tolerance for students spacing out in his class.
"We all know that the Thousand-Needle Mouse possesses the [Rock] attribute. Cough cough… Among first-tier materials, what is the most suitable one for its advancement? Lin Guang."
Snapping back to attention, Lin Guang set down his pen and slowly stood up.
"The Thousand-Needle Mouse is indeed a Rock-attribute, but this is actually a trick question. Unlike typical Rock-type spirit beasts, it shouldn't be raised with too many special stone materials. Instead, you should use certain special metals and Water-type nurturing resources. Excessive Rock-type energy will cause its needles to fuse too tightly with its skin, which is detrimental to its next stage of evolution…"
As Lin Guang spoke fluently, his tone steady and confident, delivering a flawless answer, the students of Class 1—even the few who were jealous of his grades and occasionally spoke ill of him behind his back—had to admit:
If they had failed dozens of contract attempts across three trips to the breeding base, and still hadn't awakened their talent after half a year, there was no way they could remain this calm.
"…Very good. You may sit."
Ouyang Wei nodded stiffly. He hadn't expected Lin Guang to multitask so effortlessly—barely looking at the board yet keeping up perfectly. Nor had he expected him to answer such an out-of-syllabus question with complete accuracy.
"Pfft—"
An ill-timed snicker broke the moment. Everyone turned to look, only to see Wang Dawei covering his mouth with both hands—though the amusement in his eyes was impossible to hide.
"Wang Dawei, you answer the next question."
Ouyang Wei shot him a flat glance and spoke in a low voice. Wang Dawei's face instantly fell, changing faster than Ditto's transformation.
After stammering for a long while without producing an answer, Wang Dawei gave up. His greatest "cheat"—Lin Guang—had already been banned by Ouyang Wei last semester when their seats were rearranged far apart. With no choice, he grabbed his textbook and went to stand at the back of the classroom as punishment.
Not long after, the bell rang—his salvation. The class ended.
After casually assigning homework, Ouyang Wei rolled up his book and left the classroom, coughing.
The next class was history with Teacher Li. In addition to Great Xia's history, it covered the exploration of secret realms and other worlds. In the future, if one were to accidentally enter a secret realm or encounter danger within one, such knowledge could very well mean survival.
And this time, Lin Guang was completely different from his earlier distraction. Sitting upright, he listened attentively.
What once felt ordinary had become deeply fascinating after he recalled his Earth memories.
The biggest difference between this Blue Planet and Earth was that five hundred years ago, the world underwent a sudden and drastic transformation. The planet expanded in defiance of physical laws—its surface area growing to an almost immeasurable scale. Vast wildernesses and forests appeared between cities overnight.
At the same time, the fabric of spacetime changed. Other worlds began to approach, collide, and overlap. Aside from the relatively stable Blue Planet, rifts could appear anywhere, connecting to other realms. The various secret realms, wild spirit beasts, magical creatures, and even structures and ruins seemingly straight out of fantasy stories all originated from this phenomenon.
History class told the story of how the first generation of Spirit Tamers, together with their bonded beasts, survived that chaotic era and rebuilt civilization and nations.
Though Lin Guang was a master of the game, Spirit Taming Chronicle had roguelike elements—each playthrough differed. But this was a real world, and its history tied directly into many underlying mechanics he had once been obsessed with in the game.
Before he knew it, he was completely absorbed, diligently taking notes. This didn't go unnoticed by Teacher Li—who had recently gained another ten pounds—as she nodded approvingly.
She had also noticed Lin Guang's empty right hand.
But in her view, with such a serious attitude toward learning, even if he truly couldn't contract a spirit beast, his future achievements would still surpass most people.
…
The morning consisted of academic classes, while the afternoon was for martial studies—essentially physical training.
Before reaching the level of a six-star Spirit Tamer, the human body itself was extremely fragile.
Whether in the harsh wilderness or within secret realms, a strong physique and resilient will were essential. To some extent, this was also a form of selection.
Lin Guang's physical performance wasn't outstanding—in fact, it was the stereotypical "bookworm" build. It would be difficult for him to even kill an ordinary chicken with a knife.
But conversely, despite such mediocre physical results, he still ranked first in the entire grade. That alone showed how exceptional his academic performance was. Every time the rankings were posted in the hallway, He Shenghuang—nicknamed the "eternal second place"—would wear a lifeless expression, as if questioning his own intelligence.
However, although physical training was now part of his schedule, Lin Guang had no intention of attending this afternoon's class.
He had other plans.