3: Chapter 3 Selecting Beast Eggs

mythic-grade pet talent?

Qin Ce's breath hitched, and his footsteps came to a halt.

mythic-grade talents were generally only possessed by pets with God-tier potential. Did this mean the first pet he contracted would also be a God-tier beast?

Qin Ce's pace quickened as he walked toward the fierce beast eggs, his eyes filled with anticipation.

He had to get at least a Gold Rank pet.

Soon, the two arrived at the Identified Zone.

They looked at the labels beneath each egg one by one.

[Stone-Armored Turtle, Earth-type, Estimated Potential: bronze low-grade, Features: Outstanding defense, Exchange Points: 300]

[Fire-Fluff Mouse, Fire-type, Estimated Potential: mid-grade bronze, Features: Nimble and agile, Exchange Points: 450]

[Explosive Flame Wolf, Fire-type, Estimated Potential: Upper Bronze Rank, Features: Fierce attacks, Exchange Points: 580]

...

Looking at this information, Qin Ce frowned slightly.

He had grown accustomed to the appraisal data from Nine-Star Insight.

The information before him was far too crude.

Involuntarily, Qin Ce used Nine-Star Insight on a fierce beast egg.

For the exact same egg...

...the description was like this:

[Beast Egg]: Stone-Armored Turtle

[Bloodline]: Ordinary Turtle-type

[Potential]: Upper Bronze Rank

[Attribute]: Earth-type

[Talent]: Multiple Force-Deflection (Silver Rank) - Can construct multi-layered structures using Earth-type energy to achieve higher force-deflection effects.

[Skills]: Earth Shield, Collision, Stone Strike (Requires activation)

[Status]: Below-average constitution, insufficient spirit, ordinary.

[Weaknesses]: Impure bloodline, lack of spirituality.

[Evolution Opportunity]: 1. Injection of high-level turtle bloodline. 2. Optimization using high-grade Earth-type energy items.

...

In comparison, not only was the official appraisal of potential incorrect, but the so-called features were mostly summaries based on racial conjectures for that type of pet.

In Qin Ce's case, he could not only detect hidden bloodlines and specific skills but also talents and evolution paths; the difference was like night and day.

From then on, Qin Ce began to ignore the official appraisal labels and started investigating for himself.

But as he continued looking, the fierce beast eggs in the Identified Zone were almost all at the Bronze Rank potential level. There were a few decent ones scattered about, but they were only Silver Rank potential eggs.

There wasn't a single one that met his goal of being Gold Rank or higher.

Qin Ce's gaze left the Identified Zone and turned toward the Unidentified Zone.

Lin Hai noticed Qin Ce's gaze and asked, "Brother Ce, what are you..."

"I want to go over there and take a look," Qin Ce said, pointing toward the Unidentified Zone.

"Ah? Over there? Brother Ce, that's too risky!" Lin Hai said anxiously. "Those are all 'dud eggs' or 'gambling eggs' that appraisers think have no value or are impossible to determine! If we contract a dud egg, for commoners like us, our lives would be ruined."

"It's fine, I want to try." Qin Ce patted his shoulder, his tone calm yet firm. "Go choose yours, don't worry about me."

After saying that, Qin Ce stepped toward the Unidentified Zone.

However, after taking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to speak.

"If you trust me, then go choose fierce beast egg number 0096."

The commotion between Qin Ce and Lin Hai, especially Qin Ce's figure walking firmly toward the Unidentified Zone, attracted the attention of many people around them.

Someone heard Qin Ce's recommendation of number 0096 and quickly turned around to find it.

As it turned out, the appraisal label for that Battle Tiger indicated it was bronze low-grade and only cost 200 credits.

This caused people to sneer, "I thought he was some kind of impressive expert, but he's just an idiot. Recommending a low-level mutated beast without even an elemental attribute as a treasure to someone else."

But while that person was mocking him, Lin Hai snatched the Battle Tiger egg. He glared at the person and walked away holding it.

Lin Hai didn't just trust Qin Ce because none of Qin Ce's decisions had been wrong in the past three years; it was also because he had observed that when they were picking eggs earlier, Qin Ce had stayed by this one the longest.

On the other side, Qin Ce began to activate Nine-Star Insight, scanning the cluttered shelves in the Unidentified Zone one by one.

[Ice Crystal Spotted Snake, Bloodline: Heavenly Ice Snake. Potential: mid-grade bronze...], useless, discard!

As long as he saw that the potential was lower than Gold Rank, Qin Ce wouldn't look at any of the subsequent information and would move straight to the next one.

[Ghost-Faced Butterfly, Bloodline: Ordinary Ghost-Faced Butterfly. Potential: Upper Bronze Rank...], next!

[Iron-Feathered Eagle, Bloodline: Golden Eagle. Potential: Deceased...], next!

...

[Steel-Spined Hyena, Bloodline: Great Devouring Hyena. Potential: Low-grade Gold]

Hmm? Qin Ce's eyes lit up, but as he read through the data...

[Status: Dying. Weaknesses: Congenital damage, weak heart, prone to death. Evolution Opportunity: Requires Sky Ginseng to replenish primordial qi first]

This... a severe defect.

...

Looking at them one by one, most were of Bronze Rank potential, and the occasional ones above Silver Rank mostly had fatal defects.

Time passed minute by minute, and in less than two hours, the other students had one by one finished selecting their eggs.

Some were beaming with joy while others looked slightly disappointed, but they all began to gather in the open space in the center of the warehouse, waiting for the final contracting phase.

Only Qin Ce was still weaving through the shelves in the Unidentified Zone alone, his gaze sweeping over the fierce beast eggs like a scanner.

"Who is that guy? Still picking?"

"Seems to be a commoner, probably wants to take a gamble."

"Just putting on a show. If it were that easy to find a hidden gem in the Unidentified Zone, would it be his turn?"

"He thinks he has such a keen eye, but I think he's just wasting time."

"Exactly, we've all finished choosing, and we're just waiting for him!"

"Might as well have the instructor kick him out!"

Faint murmurs reached his ears, carrying impatience and a hint of mockery.

The warehouse manager and Officer Li Qing also noticed the anomaly.

Li Qing frowned slightly and glanced at the timer; according to the regulations, there were twenty-five minutes left.

Qin Ce seemed oblivious to the noise around him.

Fine beads of sweat broke out on his temples; the continuous use of [Nine-Star Insight] had already taken a significant toll on his mental energy.

In these two-plus hours, he had looked at over two thousand eggs.

The best one was barely usable—a "Thunder-Horned Leopard" with Low-grade Gold potential—but the leopard's defects... Qin Ce still wanted something better.

Qin Ce had also realized by now that although the official appraisal technique wasn't very accurate...

...it was still capable of distinguishing between good and bad.

Was he really going to end up with nothing and have to contract that Thunder-Horned Leopard?

Or should he go for that Steel-Spined Hyena and gamble on whether the mythic-grade talent he had drawn could repair its congenital damage?

This was truly not the outcome Qin Ce wanted.