Beast Taming Universe Survival Guide

Jiang Yong almost lost his temper.

No, when giving skills, we can ignore the settings and directly instill knowledge without going through the training pod, so why not just go straight to the point? Why be so dogmatic in such strange places?!

After glancing once more at the number, which translates to roughly 30,000 light-years, Jiang Yong decisively looked away, abandoning the beginner's tutorial quest. He continued looting the corpses as quickly as possible while adjusting his breathing and activating the newly acquired "Vacuum Induction Method."

After all, now is not the time to sulk; every second is precious.

"No problem, no problem. At least we've got the basic techniques. More strength means more security..."

While quickly adjusting his breathing according to his memory, Jiang Yong also injected himself with chicken soup to calm his emotions.

Although the core gameplay of Star Age: Evolution revolves around raising and battling sprites, developing individual attributes is also a significant part of the experience.

Those who form contracts with their Pokémon partners are called "Contractors." In battle, they share a health bar with their Pokémon, and their own attributes are proportionally transferred to the Pokémon. Controlling Pokémon in battle is essentially the same as fighting in person, perfectly fixing the bug in traditional turn-based battle games where trainers couldn't directly engage in combat. It also gives Contractors a degree of self-defense when they have no Pokémon available.

According to the game's setting, contractors can use specific techniques to directly extract the omnipresent vacuum energy into their bodies to enhance themselves. The "Vacuum Sensing Method" is the most basic of all techniques. Although it doesn't provide many attributes, it is easy to learn and has a very low cultivation threshold. It is generally a benefit that major interstellar civilizations provide to their citizens free of charge.

Besides boosting attributes, vacuum energy has many other uses, such as enabling simple mental communication with spirits, forming contracts, temporarily boosting attributes in battle, and binding to a home. In later stages, vacuum energy can even become an extension of one's limbs, controlling various advanced devices or items, making it essentially the underlying logic of the entire game.

The recent initiation was very effective, directly enabling Jiang Yong to grasp the basics of the "Vacuum Induction Method," allowing him to precisely control more muscles and some organs. Under Jiang Yong's guidance, his body began to function in a way he had never experienced before. Streams of mysterious heat began to spontaneously generate deep within his body, gradually flowing into his limbs and bones, bringing a sense of fullness that invigorated him.

[You have completed one session of the "Vacuum Induction Method," experience points +10]

[You have completed one session of the "Vacuum Induction Method," experience points +10]

……

While accumulating energy, Jiang Yong searched through more than ten corpses, but all he found were coins, keys and other odds and ends. He didn't even find a single recovery potion. The surrounding fog had almost completely dissipated, and cold sweat gradually seeped from his forehead.

"There's no time. Looks like I'd better hide quickly and see if I can sneak out while they're retrieving the fragments... Hmm?"

Suddenly, he paused, looking at the map on the panel with some confusion—if he wasn't mistaken, had that dot moved a little?

Are you kidding me? This map covers an area of ​​over 30,000 light-years. How could such a large scale produce visible movement?

"Could it be...?"

Jiang Yong's expression changed, and he stood up and took a few quick steps. Sure enough, he found that the dot on the map had moved a few more points.

"There are still living, unclaimed elves here!"

He instantly realized the situation—according to the tutorial, after finding the smart assistant, players wouldn't immediately start choosing Pokémon. Instead, after learning the basic gameplay, they would arrive at a simulated space to find and interact with the 17 Pokémon that blend into nature, gaining a preliminary understanding of the situations they would face when searching for Pokémon in the wild.

To reduce the difficulty for players, the tutorial map directly marks the locations of nearby Pokémon. And now it seems this feature is clearly real-time!

"As expected, there's always a way out!"

Once he understood this, Jiang Yong didn't hesitate any longer and immediately rushed towards the location indicated by the light. After several corpses were turned over, a palm-sized, dark brown pupa was finally revealed.

Although it's essentially a pupa, this thing surprisingly has a mouthpart that connects directly to its body, surrounded by a ring of black photosensitive spots. A pair of sickle-shaped forelimbs are curled up on its abdomen, making it quite unique in appearance. It's currently lying motionless on the ground, having barely survived the previous sacrifice, and is now in a state of near-death.

"Breathless Chrysalis!"

The moment Jiang Yong turned over the last corpse, he recognized it at a glance.

Breathpus, a Bug-type, "Normal" rarity, is the evolved form of Grovyle. While its speed is almost nonexistent due to pupa form, it gains excellent defense, and its retained sickle-shaped forelimbs and mouthparts give it some combat capability. Overall, it's a common wild Pokémon, but like most low-level Bug-type Pokémon, it has the ability to branch into several special types with considerable utility, making it a popular choice for many players.

Jiang Yong was extremely satisfied with this. Even if it were a wild monster with absolutely no potential, it was now a divine beast in his eyes. Moreover, since it had survived the previous sacrifice, it likely possessed some special qualities; perhaps it was even a top-tier specimen…

He carefully reached out, and the newly generated vacuum energy flowed smoothly, condensing into a point of white flame at his fingertips, which he then placed on the outer shell of the pupa.

The pupa curled up weakly, carrying back some fragmented thoughts following Jiang Yong's aura.

(Weakness), (Anxiety), (Survival)

"Ordinary" level races have limited intelligence and cannot understand slightly complex concepts. Their thought processes are also very simple, but this makes it easier to form contracts and control them after they are captured.

In this respect, *Star Age: Evolution* draws heavily on traditional Pokémon games. The effectiveness of a contract with a wild Pokémon depends on its strength, condition, and wariness. Typically, when a wild Pokémon is low on health, its condition declines significantly, and its wariness is largely suppressed by its survival instinct, making it the easiest to contract. Pokémon lacking intelligence may not even possess the concept of "wariness," and a simple contract attempt has a high probability of success.

So Jiang Yong didn't put in much effort and simply sent a simple message following the momentum:

(Follow me, it's safe)

The pupa stirred.

(it is good)

The moment the two thoughts met, the previously flickering white flames suddenly surged!

[You have used the skill "Basic Contract"! Checking... Check successful!]

You have obtained the spirit "Breath Chrysalis" lv12!

[Should we merge?]

"Merge!"

Jiang Yong clicked "confirm" without hesitation.

As soon as he finished speaking, Xi Yong's body slowly decomposed and merged with the white energy flames, and then returned to Jiang Yong's body.

[The Contractor Class System is now available!]

Name: Jiang Yong

Rating: 1

Rank: F (F-rank bonus: can fuse with one spirit, level cap 36, inherits 30% of character attributes when deployed)

Life: 105/105

Attributes: Stamina 85, Constitution 20, Spirit 20, Coordination 20, Charisma 20

("Stamina" affects a character's mobility and resistance to abnormal statuses; "Constitution" affects attack, defense, and speed; "Spirit" affects special attack, special defense, and accuracy; "Coordination" affects evasion and critical hits; "Charm" affects the determination of contracted spirits and the initial favorability of some NPCs.)

Cultivation Technique: Vacuum Induction Technique lv1: All attributes +5

Equipment: None

Skill: Basic Contract

Trait: None

Fusion Spirit: Chrysalis Lv12

Semi-fused Spirit: Not yet unlocked

Occupation: Unemployed lv1

Faction Reputation: None

[Quest <Lesson 1: The Contract> is complete. You have gained 2000 experience points!]

"Finally, things are on the right track."

Jiang Yong breathed a slight sigh of relief.

After the fusion was complete, the cocoon became one with his vacuum energy, which would be stored within his body and released when needed. Jiang Yong could communicate with the cocoon at any time, receive its senses, and control its body movements with his own consciousness as if they were his own limbs. The cocoon's own consciousness would assist Jiang Yong's control as if it were a subconscious or nerve reflex.

When the game first launched, this setting shocked countless players who had joined the game for the experience of the treasure*dream, causing their attitudes to change drastically and exclaiming "Four eggs!"

Furthermore, the fused spirits can be changed at any time, and as the rank increases, more spirits can be fused simultaneously. It's even more priestly than a priest, and more White Snake than a White Snake. The playability is incredibly high...

However, this doesn't mean that developing a bond with the spirit is unimportant. On the contrary, this mode is literally one of perfect harmony, where the level of understanding between the contractor and the spirit directly determines the upper limit of their abilities.

Then, Jiang Yong didn't hesitate to spend all the experience he had just acquired. He first upgraded "Vacuum Induction Method" to level 2, increasing all attribute boosts to 8. He then invested the rest into upgrading the Cocoon, and also checked the attributes on the panel.

【Name: Breathing Pupa】

[Attribute: Insect]

[Level: 17]

【Characteristics: None】

[Race: Lower Common]

[Skills: Harden, Silk Spike, Sever, Necromancer's Aura]

"...No, what necromancy??"

Jiang Yong rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

[Necromantic Aura: A special necromancy attack that deals damage plus a fixed amount of additional damage.]

"This pupa has already begun its evolutionary path, and it's going for the Necromancer type!"

Jiang Yong was both surprised and delighted. He was delighted because the Necromancer branch had high potential and was one of the most practical among all branches; he was surprised because the threshold for unlocking this branch was very high, requiring valuable materials or power of a considerable rank, something most players in his previous life could only access in the mid-game. Therefore, the difficulty of this planet might be much higher than initially estimated…

"But could it be related to that 'fragment'?"

He couldn't help but glance upwards again; the fog had now completely dissipated. After his physique and spirit were enhanced by the vacuum energy, he could clearly see that a mechanical device was indeed installed on the cave ceiling, with a jet-black crystal embedded in the center.

At the same time, footsteps could be faintly heard again from outside the distant cave.

Jiang Yong moved quickly and silently to a position near the cave entrance and lay down, suppressing his aura to the extreme, his gaze secretly and sharply fixed on the cave entrance.

"Then let me see if this planet can take my life."

"Chrysalis, prepare for battle!"

With the upgrade bringing him back to full strength, a surge of excitement emanated from him. The interface, as if inspired by his fighting spirit, refreshed with new notifications.

[New Mission: Lesson Two: Combat Training!]