Beastmasters receive resource subsidies and the benefit of guidance from master teachers, while Breeders only receive guidance from master teachers. Furthermore, Breeders study a vast amount of material, requiring them to go to the Breeding Garden for practical learning, leaving no time to train Pet Beasts.
It is normal for young people to aspire to become Beastmasters. Cao Xianzhi offered a few words of persuasion and spoke favorably of Breeders, but Li Cunxu remained unmoved.
His goal has always been firm: to become a Beastmaster.
It takes ten years to train a good Breeder, much like the medical profession in my Past Life; although it earns money, it demands extraordinary effort.
To advise someone to study medicine invites heavenly retribution.
The same applies to Breeders; to advise someone to study breeding invites heavenly retribution.
Cao Xianzhi clapped his hands and said, "Everyone quiet down. Next, we will complete our second task: testing Contract Slots."
Contract Slots determine how many Pet Beasts a Beastmaster can contract.
Contract Slots are random; some people have one hundred Contract Slots, an absurdly high number, while others have none at all.
If one possesses talent but lacks Contract Slots, they cannot contract Pet Beasts and naturally cannot become a Beastmaster.
Contract Slots can be expanded using Capacity Expansion Items.
Capacity Expansion Items are extremely difficult to obtain. For a genius like Chen Lu with a Dual Purple Talent, the Chen family would only provide one if she made a contribution beneficial to the family.
Obtaining a Capacity Expansion Item through the school? At No. 17 High School where Li Cunxu is, they cannot obtain a single one because the school's Treasure Trove does not stock them, and even if it did, they would be redeemed by someone else the next second.
Only schools with immense resources, like Pupil Capital's No. 1 High School, would offer Capacity Expansion Items as rewards.
There is a Restriction on consuming Capacity Expansion Items.
When consuming the same Capacity Expansion Item, only the first one is effective; consuming a second one is useless.
"I wonder how many Contract Slots I have?" Li Cunxu thought.
In his previous life, players did not have this worry; players' Contract Slots were fixed and uniformly twelve.
Although it was twelve, in reality, it was six; the latter six slots could only be unlocked after breaking through to King Level.
Cao Xianzhi carefully took out the Contract Slot detector from the Safe.
"Number one, Xiang Bai."
Another good start; Xiang Bai tested positive for nine Contract Slots.
The passing line for Contract Slots is six, as Beast Tamer Battles have 6v6 matches; if one cannot even muster six, how can they compete?
"Number two, Wu Wei."
...
"Number twenty-nine, Chen Lu."
The testing proceeded quickly, and soon almost the entire class had been tested.
Among them, Li Gou'er detected the most Contract Slots, a full thirty-six.
The moment the test results came out, Li Gou'er jumped up excitedly. He thought he wouldn't be able to become a Beastmaster because he hadn't awakened a talent, but unexpectedly, things took a turn for the better.
Next was Chen Lu, who had fifteen Contract Slots.
Judging by her calm expression, she must have tested this beforehand.
As for the Contract Slot detector, anyone with money could acquire one. However, Talent Awakening Stones cannot be bought even with money and power; they are strictly held by the Alliance.
After school, the school must immediately return the Talent Awakening Stones to the Alliance; failing to return even one is a major case handled specially.
"Number thirty, Li Cunxu."
It was Li Cunxu's turn.
Regarding the number of Contract Slots, Li Cunxu had no excessive demands or expectations; as long as he had six Contract Slots, it would suffice.
Cao Xianzhi looked at the detector's result, "Three Contract Slots. Huh? No, it should be counted as two and a half."
When he heard he only had three Contract Slots, Li Cunxu's heart sank, and when he heard two and a half, his heart sank further.
The students below were confused; aren't Contract Slots whole numbers? How can there be half a slot?
Cao Xianzhi said, "You have a Defective Contract Slot, one that is rarely seen in a century."
Defective Contract Slots are very special and rare; because they are incomplete, they cannot contract Pet Beasts of high rank or high Quality.
They can only contract low-rank, low-Quality Pet Beasts, such as the Green Cotton Bug, Red Weak Carp, Slime...
In other words, Li Cunxu has two complete Contract Slots, plus one Defective Contract Slot.
Cao Xianzhi said, "I'm sorry, student, you have too few Contract Slots; you cannot be a Beastmaster."
Li Cunxu replied, "If I have few Contract Slots, I can use Capacity Expansion Items to increase them."
Cao Xianzhi pulled up Li Cunxu's file and shook his head after looking at it.
Given Li Cunxu's family situation on record, Cao Xianzhi did not believe Li Cunxu could obtain Capacity Expansion Items. Moreover, Li Cunxu was short not one Contract Slot, but three; this meant Li Cunxu would need to consume three priceless Capacity Expansion Items just to reach the basic configuration of six Pet Beasts required for a Beastmaster team.
Cao Xianzhi said, "Student, given your situation, the most suitable path for you is Breeder."
Li Cunxu insisted, "No, I want to be a Beastmaster."
This was not Li Cunxu being stubborn; it was because in the Divine Beast World, the profession of Beastmaster was the path to true prosperity.
This was a world where strength reigned supreme; if you possessed strength, you possessed everything.
And Beastmaster was synonymous with strength.
As for Breeders? They were synonymous with logistics.
Cao Xianzhi said, "I will report your situation to the school, but do not hold out hope. Your situation is special; having few Contract Slots makes you unsuitable to be a Beastmaster, and since you awakened a blue Breeder talent, there is a very high probability you will be forcibly transferred to the Beast Tamer Class."
Cao Xianzhi phrased it gently, but "very high probability"? Did that mean he would definitely be transferred to the Breeder Class?
Li Cunxu frowned, "Ignoring personal will, is the school this domineering? Can I transfer schools?"
Cao Xianzhi shook his head, "It will be the same no matter which school you transfer to; they will all transfer you to the Breeder Class to be a Breeder. This isn't a matter of being domineering; it's Alliance policy."
The Atmosphere/Tendency toward becoming a Beastmaster is too severe; everyone wants to be a Beastmaster and no one wants to be a Breeder, yet society cannot function without Breeders. To prevent promising seedlings who could become excellent Breeders from going astray and wasting their talent by stubbornly pursuing a Beastmaster path where success is limited, the Alliance introduced a series of related policies.
Li Cunxu had a headache; two and a half Contract Slots had completely disrupted his plans for the future.
Returning to his seat, Chen Lu whispered comfortingly, "Actually, being a Breeder isn't bad; you don't have to venture out, and you can earn money while staying in the city."
Li Cunxu replied, "I want to earn money to support my Pet Beasts by competing in matches. If I become a Breeder, I won't be able to participate in competitions."
The school regularly hosts small competitions, and the rewards for these competitions are very generous. If Li Cunxu won the rewards, he could grow rapidly, snowballing bigger and bigger.
These small competitions are held for students in the Beastmaster Class; students in the Breeder Class are ineligible to participate.
Breeding is a profound field requiring extensive study. The school will not allow students in the Breeder Class to waste time on competitions where they are destined to achieve nothing, thus delaying their studies.
In fact, the school's approach is correct; Breeders are generally weaker than Beastmasters, and their coursework is heavy. Participating in competitions would only mean serving as cannon fodder, wasting time and delaying academics, so they are simply not allowed to participate.
The previous chapter did not start with heavy toxicity; later chapters contain toxic points, which have been revised.