Beast Taming Begins with the Inner Circle of Pets

Chapter 5: The Contract! The First Pet Beast

Without further hesitation, Lin Manman followed the system's instructions, placing her forehead on the snake egg and releasing her soul power to communicate with the iridescent king snake inside.

The iridescent king serpent's soul appeared to flicker, seemingly unaffected by Lin Manman's probing, even showing a degree of dependence. After Lin Manman left her soul imprint as instructed by the system, she was able to clearly sense the iridescent king serpent's consciousness.

The Rainbow King Serpent was originally taken out of the secret realm during its incubation stage. The eggshell was damaged and cracked, causing its soul power to leak out.

The weakened Iridescent King Serpent, unable to hatch, was placed in a high-level biological cryogenic chamber and fell into a deep sleep. Now, having signed a contract with Lin Manman and received nourishment from her soul power, it finally regained the ability to hatch.

The system notified that the King Serpent was about to hatch. Lin Manman quickly found a blanket and gently placed the snake egg on it, afraid that the King Serpent would hatch and crawl onto the back of her hand at any moment.

On the gray-pink blanket, the white snake egg was trembling. A gray crack that was already there was now slowly pushing out a bulge. With a barely audible "pop," an oval-shaped pinkish-white head emerged.

The black vertical pupils in the pale pink eyes on both sides of the head shrunk into wet circles the moment they saw Lin Manman's figure, and a pair of fan-shaped scales resembling fish fins on both sides of the jawbone were now gently fluttering.

At this moment, Lin Manman finally understood why it was called the Iridescent King Serpent. As the serpent moved, its pinkish-white scales shimmered with dreamlike colors under the light. It was absolutely beautiful!

The snake's face, which was supposed to be expressionless, conveyed innocence and joy, almost driving Lin Manman to the brink of madness.

Huh? Do snake spirit pets in another world look like this? Her parents never told her snakes could be so beautiful!!

Lin Manman was almost in tears. She had spent half a day preparing herself mentally and was ready to be shocked, but she almost fainted from the surprise.

The iridescent king cobra tilted its head and disappeared from the spot.

The next second, Lin Manman felt a chill on her neck as the iridescent king snake hung around her neck, its quail egg-sized head rubbing against her cheek.

The sudden turn of events startled Lin Manman. She quickly took the iridescent king snake off her neck and watched as the little creature coiled around her wrist a few times, then raised its head and flicked its tongue at her, as if asking what was wrong.

Although the beautiful iridescent king cobra minimized Lin Manman's fear of snakes, the sensation of a snake crawling on her skin was still somewhat terrifying.

Looking at the innocent little creature, Lin Manman's heart softened. She reached out and scratched the chin of the iridescent king snake, and couldn't help but chuckle as she saw it squint and look up contentedly. It was just a tiny little thing that had just hatched.

"Little one, you're so beautiful and amazing! You were born with a talent. I need to give you a nice name to match you."

With a soul contract as a foundation, even though the Rainbow King Serpent has just been born, it can understand what Lin Manman is saying.

Upon understanding Lin Manman's words, the iridescent king snake's eyes lit up. It tilted its head, its fan-shaped scales flaring, and the tip of its tail lashed rapidly against the back of Lin Manman's hand, as if urging her on.

"Your scales are as white as jade, but they can reflect seven colors, like a rainbow, so let's call you Rainbow Jade."

The iridescent king cobra happily wrapped around Lin Manman's hand twice more.

After confirming the name of the Rainbow King Serpent, the system interface automatically popped up, and a new name column appeared on the Rainbow King Serpent's status page. Meanwhile, a small box appeared below the Talents section on Lin Manman's own status page.

There are five circular logos in the small box, one of which says Rainbow Jade, the other two are dark blue, and the other two are light gray.

She tried clicking the circle labeled "Rainbow Jade," which automatically redirected her to Rainbow Jade's status page. She guessed this represented her contracted spirit pet. She then tried clicking the gray circle, and a system notification popped up.

The host has not opened up any extra spirit pet spaces. Do you need to open up more spirit beast spaces?

Lin Manman stroked her chin. A level 1 Beast Tamer can contract 1-3 spirit pets depending on the strength of their soul power, and can contract 1-3 more with each level up. According to the system's prompt, her soul strength might allow her to contract two more, but she would need to open up a spirit pet space herself.

Normally, the spirit beast space needed for a beast tamer to contract a spirit pet is opened up by leveling up, so the idea of ​​opening a spirit beast space on one's own simply doesn't exist in this world. A hint of doubt flashed in her eyes.

Contracting an additional spirit pet undoubtedly increases combat power. If it can cooperate with other pets, then its individual combat power cannot be evaluated alone.

Lin Manman pursed her lips. Her potential determined the future of the Lin family. For her brother in the hospital bed, for her missing father, and for her increasingly haggard mother, she had no choice but to gamble.

The instant the decision was made, an indescribable, excruciating pain swept through my entire body. I couldn't pinpoint where it hurt, it was just intense pain, my whole body screaming in agony, a pain that went to my very bones, to the depths of my soul.

As Lin Manman's spirit was consumed by excruciating pain, her body couldn't help but collapse to her knees.

The iridescent king serpent, Rainbow Jade, anxiously climbed onto her neck, repeatedly nudging her cheek with its head, seemingly trying to rouse her from her daze. After several unsuccessful attempts, it pressed its icy body against Lin Manman's forehead, hoping to alleviate some of its master's pain.

Ten minutes later, Lin Manman, who felt as if she had endured the tortures of the eighteen levels of hell, gradually regained consciousness. After regaining her senses, she unconsciously gasped for breath, her school uniform soaked with cold sweat and sticking stickily to her skin.

The system was so stupid, it didn't even give her a warning. This pain was something she would never forget. Fortunately, both pet spaces were opened simultaneously. The thought of having to go through this pain every time she leveled up made her feel like she had lost all desire for life.

Hongyu crawled up to Lin Manman and looked at her with concern through her wet eyes.

Lin Manman was deeply touched and couldn't help but pat Hongyu's little head, laughing, "Don't worry, your mother's life is very tough." Then, as if remembering something, she reached out and pulled Hongyu next to the eggshell.

"The eggshells of spirit beasts contain pure energy. Eat your first meal first, and Mom will find a way to earn money for your meals tomorrow."

Watching Hongyu obediently crawl towards its eggshell and start munching away, Lin Manman quickly grabbed some clean clothes and rushed into the bathroom.

After showering and changing into clean clothes, Hongyu emerged from the house, teleporting around the entire place. One moment she was on the refrigerator, the next on the bookshelf, clearly filled with curiosity about the home.

Upon seeing Lin Manman appear, Hongyu disregarded her exploration of the new home and teleported to Lin Manman's neck, affectionately nuzzling her cheek.

"Your talent is truly amazing. If I had this talent, which bank or vault door in Jinling City could stop me?" Lin Manman exclaimed, scratching Hongyu's chin as a flash of inspiration struck her.

I've never heard of a Beastmaster being able to use the skills and talents of a spirit pet...

(End of this chapter)