Lin Yuansheng took a sip of tea, his eyes slightly raised to observe everyone's expressions. These young talents from various academies all wore solemn looks, as if burdened by great worries. This made him feel a bit helpless. Such things that ignited fighting spirit, if the intensity was just right, could certainly stimulate an individual's combat desire. However, if the dosage was too strong, it might backfire and demoralize these youngsters, which would be troublesome.
As his gaze swept over the crowd, he noticed Lu Fei sitting at the last seat, his expression calm and detached, as if it had nothing to do with him, forming a stark contrast with the others.
Lin Yuansheng sighed inwardly, seemingly guessing the other's thoughts. He figured Lu Fei must believe that his strength was still vastly different from those top young cultivators and that he couldn't possibly compete. Therefore, participating in this competition was just for the sake of it, and he couldn't care less.
After a moment of contemplation.
Lin Yuansheng smiled and said, "There's no need for everyone to be overly nervous. Before the competition, I'll share some more relaxing news with all of you."
The crowd withdrew their thoughts, and it seemed.
"Heh heh, after this beast tide, an ancient ruin has appeared near Fenghe Town. These ruins often contain many treasures steeped in history, and perhaps even rare contract beasts, such as contract beasts of A-class rarity or S-class rarity, are possible."
"Many academies have arranged for students to participate in this exploration. I thought, perhaps you few could form a team and participate as well."
"What do you all think?"
Upon hearing that the ruins might contain contract beasts of A-class and S-class rarity, the crowd could barely sit still. Who would pass up such an opportunity!
Everyone immediately responded in unison, "We are willing."
Lin Yuansheng smiled and said, "Good, but let me clarify first. Ruin exploration is different from regular training at the academy; it carries a certain degree of danger. However, you will eventually embark on your graduation travel, and the dangers then will only be much higher than now. Therefore, letting you experience it beforehand might not be a bad thing, but remember to be extremely careful."
"There are still three months until the annual Beast Taming Competition. This trip to the ruins will likely take about a month before you can return, giving everyone ample time to recuperate. If there are no objections, our meeting will conclude here."
After hearing Lin Yuansheng's words, these young geniuses were already eager to try, wishing they were already in the ruins. They bid farewell to Lin Yuansheng one by one and then left the conference room.
As Lu Fei was about to leave with them, he was called back by Lin Yuansheng.
With no one else around, Lin Yuansheng immediately changed his demeanor.
With a cordial smile, he said, "Chairman Lu, it's been a while. I didn't expect your business to bring such generous returns to us old folks!"
Lu Fei was too lazy to flatter him with this address and also smiled, "I should thank the Dean for supporting me, otherwise so many people wouldn't have patronized my business."
Lin Yuansheng waved his hands repeatedly, "President Chen and Vice President Zhou also contributed significantly. I wouldn't dare to take credit."
Lu Fei smiled, not wanting to discuss such compliments further.
Lin Yuansheng continued, "Oh right, there's one more thing I need to remind you about."
"Hmm?" Lu Fei turned his head.
Lin Yuansheng asked, "What is your current strength level, and how many contract beasts do you have?"
Lu Fei hesitated for a moment and truthfully replied, "Around intermediate Beast Master level, contract beasts..."
"Well, two in total, I suppose."
Upon saying this, Lu Fei felt conflicted. Although he had two contract beasts, the combat power of the foolish snake was negligible; it couldn't fight at all. Its signature skill, [Divine Heal], was also difficult to reveal in front of others.
Now its level was also being pulled away by Iron Head, only level 35. When it reached the level 30 threshold, it didn't trigger the [Unstable Evolution] talent, which greatly worried Lu Fei.
Could it be that Iron Head could only be a behind-the-scenes healer?
Hearing Lu Fei's words, Lin Yuansheng showed a pained expression. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "For this year's Collegiate Beast Taming Master competition, the upper limit for each Beast Master's participating contract beasts is three. So, you might need to capture another one during this period."
Lu Fei was stunned and opened his mouth to say something, but in the end, he just nodded.
He already had a plan to capture another one. After all, even though Iron Head had mastered the lightning attribute, it was still a melee contract beast. From his recent experiences, Lu Fei had profoundly realized that his team was lacking a long-range contract beast.
Just like when fighting against the [Parasitic Beast], if there was a long-range contract beast, they wouldn't have fallen into such a difficult battle due to the opponent's immense size and wide defensive range making close combat impossible.
Now that they were going to that ancient ruin, it wouldn't be bad to capture a suitable contract beast if they encountered one.
After bidding farewell to Lin Yuansheng, Lu Fei prepared to head to the largest auction house in Cang Town. He needed to acquire some materials and contract beast equipment, as Iron Head's leveling speed had noticeably slowed down recently.
After inquiring with a drunkard, he was told that the higher the level of a contract beast, the harder it was to improve. Especially after reaching level 40, it was a watershed moment. To level up, in addition to normal training and combat, upgrade materials and materials to improve the quality of contract beasts were also needed, otherwise, the growth of contract beasts would be very slow.
Lu Fei roughly estimated the materials he needed to purchase: "Five Thunderclap Stones, five Hundred-Blade Steel, one combat-type contract beast equipment, and one support-type contract beast equipment."
If he were to buy high-quality versions of these items, the total cost might reach tens of millions of异币 (Yi Coins). Of course, money was not a problem for Lu Fei; the difficulty lay in whether he could buy suitable items.
The reason for going to the auction house was that some materials and items were not sold for money by sellers but were exchanged for other goods.
Lu Fei could trade surplus materials obtained from hunting berserk contract beasts during this period with others.
Lu Fei couldn't help but sigh.
No wonder they say contract beast cultivation is a bottomless pit of money. Some Beast Masters, throughout their entire lives, only pour resources into a single contract beast. Even if their own Beast Master level has reached the requirement to cultivate multiple contract beasts, they still don't acquire more.