Chapter 5: Million Year Soul Pet

Then the group followed Professor Yan around the sales area while listening to introductions about various Soul Beast eggs.

At the same time, they picked the Soul Pet Eggs they liked.

Professor Yan’s tone was kind without any professor’s airs, and his explanations were very detailed.

He could recount the histories of many Soul Beasts one by one. The future growth directions of various Soul Pet Eggs, how a Soul Pact Master should raise them, and how to improve the bond between both parties—all were explained with great thoroughness.

He could be called knowledgeable and learned. Sometimes his witty remarks even made everyone laugh heartily.

Before long, everyone had almost finished choosing.

“Professor Yan, speaking seriously,” Wang Che suddenly asked, “do you think Green Caterpillar has any potential at all?”

Professor Yan smiled and said, “Theoretically, no.”

Those last two simple words seemed to deny everything.

The Green Caterpillar on Wang Che’s chest suddenly became a little restless and glanced at Professor Yan.

Wang Che immediately patted the little guy’s head, which calmed it down. It stared at Professor Yan with big eyes.

“Its Spiritual Intelligence is quite high,” Professor Yan said with some surprise as he looked at the Green Caterpillar. “This shows your Soul Power is slightly stronger than an average person’s.”

“But Green Caterpillar’s Racial Potential is too low. Racial Potential is the result of many years of research by countless scientists on the patterns of Soul Beast evolution and growth. It basically doesn’t change much, especially for Soul Pets like Green Caterpillar.”

“You’ve studied basic Soul Beast evolution theory in high school. In its Soul Pet form, when Green Caterpillar’s cultivation reaches about ten years, it will evolve into Green Phantom Butterfly.”

“Green Phantom Butterfly is currently its final known evolutionary form. And Green Phantom Butterfly’s Racial Potential is not high either—around two hundred. Depending on later nurturing, it fluctuates within ten points up or down. The difference is basically not significant.”

At this point, Professor Yan paused, then added:

“I can also tell you something you might not learn even in university. Green Caterpillar can undergo a variant evolution. In the Mingdu War Zone in recent years, there was a special case. A Soul Pact Master whose Martial Soul was a Spirit Tree chose a wild Green Caterpillar with three thousand years of cultivation during their second Soul Pact.”

“Afterward, due to the special power of the Spirit Tree Martial Soul combining with that wild Green Caterpillar, it underwent a variant evolution and became a Spirit Insect King. A dual-type Soul Pet, besides its original Insect Type, it also became a Psychic-Type Spirit Pet.”

Everyone gasped in astonishment at these words.

Psychic-Type Spirit Pet.

Among the many types of Soul Pets, Psychic-Type Spirit Pets are one of the special and powerful kinds.

Basically, most Psychic-Type Spirit Pets are not weak.

“According to recent research news from the Mingdu War Zone about this new type of Soul Pet, its Racial Potential is as high as four hundred twenty. Even among rare Soul Pets, it ranks in the upper middle tier.”

Professor Yan shook his head slightly. “Unfortunately, after other War Zones learned of this, Soul Pact Masters with Spirit Tree Martial Souls also searched for Green Caterpillars with three thousand years of cultivation in the wild. But after forming a Life Soul Pact with them, no changes occurred… The specific reasons for the variant evolution remain unknown.”

“Moreover, finding a wild Green Caterpillar with three thousand years of cultivation is quite difficult. It’s also unlikely that you awakened with a Spirit Tree Martial Soul. Because the Spirit Tree Martial Soul is inherited from the Mingdu War Zone; in our Donghua War Zone, they are exceedingly rare…”

The story told by a professor-level figure fascinated everyone.

Such news was relatively secret; schools naturally wouldn’t know about it.

“Besides the condition of having a Spirit Tree Martial Soul, that Soul Pact Master might have used other methods we don’t know about. Our speculation here is that it’s related to food.” Professor Yan said slowly, “After all, the evolution of Soul Pets is still a subject of ongoing research in today’s cutting-edge Soul Pet science.”

These words made Wang Che very interested.

“So, there really is no possibility at all?” Xu Haifeng, standing nearby, couldn’t help but ask.

Professor Yan smiled and asked in return, “In modern Soul Pet studies, what is the most fundamental rule?”

“Evolution is the only way for Soul Pets to break through their life forms,” one student answered.

“Correct.” Professor Yan nodded slightly. “Then, what are the two most critical factors in a Soul Pet’s evolution?”

“Martial Soul and cultivation,” another student answered instinctively.

This was knowledge from high school Soul Pet studies.

“Yes, Martial Soul and cultivation.” Professor Yan sighed. “All evolutionary paths are formed around these two factors. You probably know something about normal cultivation evolution.”

“Green Caterpillar evolves into Green Phantom Butterfly at ten years of cultivation; Cooing Bird evolves into Cooing Song Bird at thirty years of cultivation, and into Wind Cooing Spirit at sixty years; Hundred-Flower Beast evolves into Thousand-Faced Flower at seventy years of cultivation, and into Flower Fairy at one hundred forty years; Young Feather Eagle evolves into Winged Eagle at two hundred years of cultivation, and so on…”

“Variant evolution, however, is related to Martial Soul. In the Ancient Era, Soul Beasts could only evolve through this one method. They killed humans to obtain Martial Soul power for evolution, and the probability was very low.”

Professor Yan looked at Wang Che. “In cultivation evolution, Green Caterpillar’s upper limit is very low. And in variant evolution, you don’t possess the necessary factors.”

Professor Yan didn’t continue further after saying this.

The students understood what wasn’t said.

Wang Che pondered for a moment, then asked, “What if we raise Green Caterpillar to a higher cultivation level?”

“How high?” Professor Yan asked with a smile.

“Million years.” Wang Che gave the largest number he knew from his eighteen years of memory in this life.

Everyone fell silent.

Professor Yan was also stunned for a long time.

He seemed shocked by Wang Che’s answer.

Professor Yan remained silent for a while and didn’t answer directly. Instead, he slowly asked:

“Do you know why, in modern times, we measure the cultivation strength of Soul Pets in terms of years?”

This knowledge was quite obscure.

More than ten other students couldn’t answer.

“Because in the Ancient Era, the strength and cultivation of most Soul Beasts were basically equivalent to their lifespans,” Wang Che replied. “And the upper limit of lifespan was also the upper limit of a Soul Beast’s cultivation.”

“Correct.” Professor Yan showed a slight smile. “In the Ancient Era, for Soul Beasts to develop Spiritual Intelligence equivalent to humans, they needed a long time. Most of the time, Soul Beasts could only passively absorb Soul Power from the world around them over long periods. They couldn’t awaken a Martial Soul like humans and cultivate Soul Power.”

“So, their lifespan was linked to their years. The longer they lived, the stronger they became.”

“Million years is a limit. It was the limit for Soul Beasts in the Ancient Era. Such Soul Beasts, even if they didn’t live to a million years, had lived at least several hundred thousand years. But do you know how many Soul Beasts of this level existed in the Ancient Era?”

Wang Che shook his head slightly; he truly didn’t know.

School knowledge included the concept of Million-Year Soul Beasts and gave examples.

But specific information wasn’t provided.

Professor Yan spread one hand and showed a cross shape.

“About a hundred are known.” Professor Yan didn’t let them guess and continued, “After the disaster three thousand years ago, only about ten of their descendants survived. That is to say, without a Life Soul Pact, theoretically, only these ten or so types of Soul Beasts in the entire world today can cultivate to the million-year limit.”

“One in hundreds of millions.”