《Start With Contracting Sprites》Chapter 5: You Are the One
Advertisement
Su Hao spent more than two hours looking.
The staff member didn't accompany him all the way. Of course, there were still many security officers around to keep order, in case someone harmed the sprites.
There were also many families like theirs, who looked like they were in a zoo.
"Dad, Mom, you guys rest first, I'll look a bit more."
Su Hao's parents were more than 40 years old, and their energy levels were no match for the young. Su Hao told them to sit down under a tree at the side to wait.
"I think that "something mantis" looks good." Mother Su had noticed that Su Hao's look lingered on the Wood Mantis for quite long.
"No, I want to look a bit more."
Su Hao shook his head.
Apart from the Wood Mantis, he discovered several other sprites with yet undiscovered evolution pathways. Of course, he didn't spend Intelligence Points to unlock them and couldn't know the other pathways' details.
However, he estimated that those undiscovered evolution pathways had pretty difficult evolution conditions, which often meant that the sprites from that pathway had greater future potential.
Also, the sprites themselves were mostly relatively affordable, not like the Little Stone Elephants that cost 400,000 to 500,000 yuan, or the Long-Armed Gibbons, which were out of stock and cost 600,000.
Su Hao's look stopped on a tree tens of meters away.
A sprite whose body was light yellow and looked like a silkworm was squirming on the branches.
It was the Silkworm Baby, one of Su Hao's favorite sprites.
In the records of the Union of Sprite Trainers, most sprites only had one evolution pathway, and the Silkworm Baby was a rare sprite that had a second evolution pathway.
Silkworm Baby → Rolling Pupae → White-Plumed Moth
Silkworm Baby → Six-Winged Flying Silkworm → Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm
Su Hao remembered it clearly because the Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm was frequently tested in exams.
The Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm's wings were as hard as a blade, and its speed as fast as a flash of light. It looked like it was Metal-Element, but in fact, it was still a Wood-Element Sprite.
In the Silkworm Baby's first evolution pathway, its final evolved form, White-Winged Moth, was commonly used in production and had ordinary battle power. The second evolution pathway's final form, Golden-Winged Sky Silkworm, was a recognized strong powerhouse. Unfortunately, the initial form, Silkworm Baby, had limited combat power, causing the number of students choosing to contract it to be relatively lower.
Advertisement
However, in Su Hao's eyes, the Silkworm Baby had a third evolutionary pathway.
The first pathway required 3 Intelligence Points to be unlocked.
The second pathway required 4 Intelligence Points to be unlocked.
As for the third pathway, it required 6 Intelligence Points to be unlocked. This was why Su Hao felt inclined to contract the Silkworm Baby—definitely not because the Silkworm Baby looked chubby and pretty cute.
Although a famous person had once said that strength could be improved by throwing in money, cuteness was a lifetime's matter.
While Su Hao was observing, another student bought a Silkworm Baby, which made him a little anxious.
I have to make my decision quickly. I may not have many choices left later.
Su Hao focused and looked at the game interface in front of him. Then he selected the Silkworm Baby's third evolution pathway and pressed "Unlock".
At once, 6 Intelligence Points were deducted, and only 15 points were left.
A butterfly with big eyes as clear as water and beautiful emerald green patterns on the wings appeared on the evolution pathway.
[Reverie Butterfly (Wood Element)]
This was the Silkworm Baby's third, undiscovered evolution pathway.
Su Hao looked carefully, and after a moment, he was slightly relieved.
The Reverie Butterfly's development potential is outstanding, while the evolution conditions are simpler than the Prayer Mantis' conditions. I can probably evolve the Silkworm Baby into a Reverie Butterfly before the college entrance examination.
What's up with the final evolved state though? It actually requires 30 Intelligence Points to unlock it!?
…
A staff member asked while pushing up the frame of his spectacles, "Are you sure you want to contract a Silkworm Baby?"
After Su Hao's parents ascertained that he did not choose it because he wanted to save money, they didn't say much.
Su Hao nodded. "But I want to choose which one in particular."
"That's no problem."
The staff member opened the wooden fence and let Su Hao approach.
A Silkworm Baby was only a few months old, the length of a palm. Its whole body was light yellow, with faint green patterns on its back. There were eight short legs underneath. It looked chubby and soft, like a caterpillar bread, and even the size was similar.
Su Hao felt hungry just by looking at it…
!!!∑(゚Д゚ノ)ノ!
The Silkworm Baby's chubby body shook as Su Hao stared at it. Then, it rapidly crawled to the other side of the tree.
"Pretty good agility," Su Hao commented seriously.
Advertisement
Silkworm Babies liked the quietness, and the free-range area wasn't large, only the space of several trees.
On the tree trunk, branches, and leaves many bread loaves… No, Silkworm Baby Sprites hang…
With the naked eye, Su Hao couldn't see any difference between these sprites.
After all, they were all bred in a batch by the Union of Sprite Trainers, and they were all in the Juvenile Stage. Perhaps only an experienced Sprite Cultivator would be able to see the differences between them.
Su Hao locked his eyes on a specific Silkworm Baby and used 1 Intelligence Point to unlock its details.
Length, height, weight.
Physical attributes, spiritual strength.
Age, characteristics.
[Introduction: Silkworm Babies generally live in warm forest environments. They like to move slowly. Their characters are meek, but when in danger, their short legs can unleash unimaginable speed. Their endurance is slightly poor. The Wood-Element patterns on their backs will darken as the Silkworm Babies grow, helping them understand Wood-Element techniques. They can also absorb nutrients from plants to fasten their speed of recovery…]
[Note: This is a Silkworm Baby born at the Green-Blue Wood-Element Sprite Breeding Base. It likes lightly flavored food such as tree leaves, bamboo leaves, and tea leaves. It dislikes sour and spicy tastes. It was sent to Yunhua Juvenile Sprite Free-Range Center.]
A stream of information flowed into Su Hao's mind. It seemed that he didn't even need to look much, as these pieces of information would be recorded down in his brain. Among them, physical attributes and spiritual strength were important factors that decided the strength of a sprite, especially spiritual strength.
With limited Intelligence Points, Su Hao could only pick sprites that looked good to him to unlock their information. Overall, he unlocked detailed information for 16 Silkworm Babies. In the process of observing and unlocking the sprites' detailed data, he gained one more Intelligence Point.
The 16 Silkworm Babies ranged from the age of three to nine months old. Before contracting, sprites grew very slowly, three months and nine months both were in the Juvenile Stage, there was practically no difference.
However, after getting the detailed data of 16 Silkworm Babies, Su Hao already had clear measuring criteria in his mind. After a closer look, he soon discovered some subtle differences, and even he himself was surprised.
Su Hao pondered for some time before pointing at a Silkworm Baby hiding behind leaves.
"This is the one."
This Silkworm Baby wasn't outstanding in data for length, height, weight, and physique, but it contained more spiritual force in its body, and it was already a pretty significant difference in Su Hao's eyes.
After all, sprites bred by nature hardly had poor qualifications, and the data indicators were very close among Juvenile-Stage Sprites. The differences came from the nurturing, and really brilliant juvenile sprites couldn't possibly be sent here to be chosen by a bunch of students. Those sprite breeders weren't blind.
The staff member took out a special spray and sprayed it on the grass.
Immediately, the Silkworm Baby on the tree crawled down with its short legs, circling the sprayed lawn.
Su Hao's eyes kept following the Silkworm Baby that he favored. The staff member also didn't mix it up. After feeding that Silkworm Baby some jade powder, he picked it up. Its short little legs kept kicking in the air.
Led by the staff member, Su Hao's family arrived at a silent room used for contracting sprites. The contracting wasn't complicated, it only took a drop of blood. When one bought a sprite, whether at a free-range center or a sprite house, the contracting service was always included, which, on the other hand, was also to prevent the sprites from being resold.
The blood-collecting apparatus pierced Su Hao's finger pulp, collecting a dark red drop of blood. Then, the staff member took out a portion of sprite food, jade powder, to feed to the Silkworm Baby that was just crawling around with big curious eyes. After that, he mixed the blood drop into the jade powder and let the Silkworm Baby both at once.
Without any fancy contracting arrays or any obscure and difficult contracting spells, the contracting between humans and sprites was just so simple and casual, as if sprites were born just to be contracted.
In an instant, Su Hao had a vague feeling that his heart and mind were connected with the Silkworm Baby. This feeling became clearer and clearer.
The Silkworm Baby gave him a puzzled look, circled him a few rounds, and crawled up along the side of his trousers. Su Hao's parents were both struck by the cuteness and reached out, wanting to feel it, but the Silkworm Baby nimbly dodged and crawled onto Su Hao's shoulders.
Su Hao held the Silkworm Baby in his palm and looked into its big, watery eyes.
"Silkworm Baby, from now on, we will work hard together."
"Squelch."
Advertisement
- In Serial45 Chapters
This Strange New Life
Seems like I got a new chance. Better not fuck it up then, since I really want to see what it feels to have a family. Power is pretty lame alone. Best used to build things and protect people. Did a lot of building 'till now, lots of research stuff and all. Now, let's protect the people that I love and that loves me back. An enjoyable life with my loved ones. Whatever the cost. Mufufu~~ What can I do, my siblings are so cute~~ maybe I'll try having children at some point~? --- PLEASE READ THE DESCRIPTION ^p^ ---- This is an extremely slow reincarnation story, with heavy usage of dialogues and diminutive descriptions. Chapter are posted whenever I feel like it, because I won't burn myself down like I did before. Chapters will often be around 2k words. The first arc, Life in Valince, will be at least 50 chapters deep, and the main character won't get to her 1 year anniversary over the span of this arc. As I said, it's a slow, character interaction, dialogue-heavy story. Lots of feeling, slice-of-life etc, with some dramatic events that shape the rest of the story ^^ AND PLEASE, STOP PESTERING ME ABOUT JAPANESE. this story contain a very limited amount of japanese words, used in context for a reason and that are part of the mystery of the worldAnd the bad guys use german (not because nazi buit because german is badass)And there’s also french. Please be open-minded. I’m not a delusional weeb and this kind of thing, and it would be very appreciated if people could be more polite.If you don't like it, I don't force you to read it, but a lot of people seems to like this novel nonetheless, so maybe you should give it a shot. ---- Lux's here! Yeah I know I should work on ToL and ToF but I had another idea, then another one. So here it is. Story talk about a war vet that reincarnate and can finally know what it is to have a family. I like engineering, creating things and all, so I'll try putting production scene in this. Like all my stories, it's about love, be it with family, friends or lovers. I like my coffee with so much love sugar that half the planet would get diabetes. You're warned. Also, the MC is quite OP, but I keep a progression curb and she still has things to learn, which she will eagerly do. After all, curiosity is one of her main drives, with a thirst for love and utter hate of loss, be it losing a battle or losing someone she loves. Ha, nearly forgot. CONTENT WARNINGS AREN'T FOR SHOW. Sex, of course. I'll try to explore sexuality as a male, a female, and some other PoV that can't be categorised like that, not exactly. Also, beware the yuri/yaoi. I don't limit myself to straight couples. Gore. A lot. Blood everywhere, guts spilling and all. I don't do censure. The Mc cut a wolf in half? you get the details of what is inside it. Traumatising content. I dunno. No NTR, no heartbreaking drama. However, some of you may dislike the way I handle bodies and flesh. Got some feedback about body horror on my previous works, but everyone as a different border separating transhumanism and body horror. Mine is pretty high. How high? Go read The Other Labyrthin to have an example. To put it in simple term, I've no problem at all to describe alien bodies, change in human bodies, interactions between differents strange species etc. Expect a lot of tentacle, bio-incubator, spawning pool à la zerg. Profanity. Well, I think you fucking got it in the very first sentence of this synopsis, ain't right? ---- THIS IS A WIP (work in progress)! Earlier chapters may get retconned or completely changed, structure of the story isn't set in stone, all the usual stuff. ANY HELP IS WELCOMED. Want to throw me your idea? Shoot! Spotted an error in the text? Comment! Seen a plothole bigger than the impact zone of a nuke? I'll gladly hear you out and try to fix the problem (somehow ;-;) --- Cover: John Martin - The Plains of Heaven (c. 1851) ---- Official Editor: TheZouave (starting from ch25 onward) ---- List of thanks: Necrotyr (English) Asviloka (English) Damokles (Review) David Talon (Review) JHA (English) Helbom (English) Slee202 (Common Coherence) NEEDS_MORE_DAKA (First First) Srayan (English) Koooomakimi (Dialogue Flow) Emagstar (English) Apocryphal (Review) ToasterForker (Review) Ellen Taylor (Review) Zak (English) PrimalShadow (English) Elliot Flanders (HUGE THANKS for the re-write of the poem "Tale of Ashen Night" Go check their work, it's good ^^) Lance Wheeler (Huge thanks for the English edit on each chapter ^^) (If you think you should be here because you helped me, feel free to ask, pointing the reason, like the comment you gave that could have helped me ^^)
8 198 - In Serial11 Chapters
Rise Of The Greatest Magician
At the end of the world, where only a few Gods, Devils, and humans were left to run away from the inevitable, impending darkness, one man managed to make a difference. Using some of the greatest items in the history of the universe, he managed to create a magic array that would send his soul back in time. He intended to take over the body of his younger self but failed, leaving only his instincts behind. Watch on as the troubled Aurus begins his rise to power in what seems to be just a game. ---------------------------- Consumables? I never got why nobody ever uses them, give them all to me! Player killing? Hell yeah I will! I'd love to get their stuff! Creating new types of magic? I mean... it's what I do!
8 79 - In Serial13 Chapters
The Dragon's Champion
Erik Lokton's training at Kuldiga Academy is cut short when a prophecy comes to light that names him as The Dragon's Champion. He is forced to flee as secret covens emerge to destroy him before he can find a cure for Nagar's Blight, a curse that left the Middle Kingdom bereft of dragons centuries earlier and would enslave any dragon foolish enough to come within its grasp. With the help of a master swordsman and a sorceress said to have gotten her powers in a secret pact with demons, Erik will have to stay one step ahead of warlocks and assassins if he is to find the key to fulfilling his destiny. The trouble is, Erik isn’t sure he is the Champion spoken of in the prophecy, and if he chooses to follow the path laid out for him, it will mean risking his family as nobles feud over control of the realm amidst the chaos.
8 66 - In Serial6 Chapters
Skyfall
A mysterious machine fell from the heavens and into this world of might and magic. Armed with weapons and destructive powers never seen before by the mortals of this realm, the fallen colossus decimated all that stood in its way. And without the guidance of its warden, the machine was left to its own vices. Will the machine destroy this newfound world or will it change this world anew? Only time will tell.
8 141 - In Serial9 Chapters
The Demon And The Sword
A LitWuxia story: After a crushing defeat, the Demon Sects have scattered and the Orthodox Sects dominate the Martial Arts World. Peace is shattered, however, when the Demon King Ma Biao unites the Demon Sects and seems poised to challenge the Orthodox Sects. Qiang Feng, an amnesiac young student at Qingxao Sect, may be the only hope of the Orthodox Sects but his past will come back to haunt him. The cover art was painted by 'JohannaK'.
8 198 - In Serial6 Chapters
THE WHISPERS IN THIS DARK, CRUEL, AND GHOSTLY WORLD
(Vampires & Humans Vs. Werewolves & Ghosts???)It is the year 2201, and the human race is at war with not only the next evolution of the human race, werewolves, but also against Nature itself. An Ancient race of underground dwellers called vampires live and tries to protect humanity by bringing the human population underground in their habitat. The humans and Vampires live in fear of the werewolves, but that is not all, If this was the worst of it all, then it would have been a rather nice end for a good bedtime story about humans and vampires leaving in harmony underground, but this was not the end and neither is this a bedtime story. Nature (planet) still had big plans for the world, even with the creation of its henchmen, the werewolves (who have no control over themselves at all, merely acting based solely on their biological instincts), that was still not enough for nature. Nature still needed one last thing, something that could give those werewolves orders, tell them what to do, guide them, something that would be a personification of nature itself, something that would be nature's full power, with its wisdom and knowledge, something that would be its symbol. Ghosts.
8 75

