Contracting a Ghost Pet Beast

Another monster with a top-tier talent! This was the second mutated beast possessing a top-tier talent that Luo Yu had seen since July! The Walking Volcano talent bestowed upon July top-tier earth- and fire-element aptitude, allowing it to take the Burrowing ability to dazzling new heights—creating a massive crater in an instant, commanding terrifying geothermal heat at just two to three months of age, and gaining extraordinary fire resistance. Now, July had entered the stage of condensing magma. If nothing went awry, once its level grew high enough, it could truly create islands and forge new land in this Ocean Era. Volcanic eruptions, mega-earthquakes, shifting tectonic plates... It was plain to see just how destructive July would become in the future. That was what made a top-tier talent so formidable—advanced talents couldn't compare in the slightest. And now... Zerg Empress... This talent wasn't deeply bound to natural energy like Walking Volcano was; instead, it was a talent that pushed racial traits to the absolute extreme. It was almost like a superior, upgraded version of the Bee King talent! A Honey-Water Bee with the Bee King talent could awaken the Command ability at Level 5 to command swarms of bees. Meanwhile, Zerg Empress possessed an innate, overwhelming dominance over the zerg race. Moreover, under its commands, the abilities of zerg insects were dramatically amplified. Not merely "same species," but "zerg." In other words, the targets of this command included the Honey-Water Bee species, but were not limited to it. Perhaps it could even command other mutated insects to some extent... Of course, it probably couldn't command those vastly stronger than itself, but it was still absurdly powerful. This led Luo Yu to make a bold conjecture... Since zerg abilities increased significantly under the Empress's command... could it make the toxin in a regular Honey-Water Bee's Poison Sting even more potent, and amplify the stinging effect of Honey-Water Bees with the Reinforcement talent? Could it enable ordinary Honey-Water Bees—and Honey-Water Bees with the Flower-Plucking Thief talent—to brew even more nutritious honey? If so, this was precisely the pet beast Luo Yu had dreamed of—one that could generate massive resources for a Beast Master! Besides, bees weren't the only resource-generating insects... It was ideal for setting up a wide variety of insect farms! Of course, being a resource-type pet beast did not mean Zerg Empress was weak. *For every level gained, it can take one member of its species as a retainer. As long as its own soul remains undying, its retainers' souls remain undying...* Though the description here specified "same species" rather than "zerg"—meaning it could only take members of the Honey-Water Bee species as retainers—these retainers seemed somewhat different from the ones Luo Yu was familiar with. Still, it was safe to deduce that they were quite similar to bloodline retainers... The level cap for a Common Species was Level 40. Although he didn't know whether a deceased ghost beast still faced the same bottleneck, even if it was capped at Level 40 and couldn't break through later, that still meant it could bind forty ordinary Honey-Water Bees as retainers... If it worked like the bloodline retainer system and could draw upon the power of its retainers... That would be outright ridiculous! Granted, Honey-Water Bees were merely trashy Lower Common Species, low-tier mutated beasts. Even forty Honey-Water Bees wouldn't be anything extraordinary, incapable of causing any real waves. Even a single bee farm on tiny Jingyue Island raised tens of thousands of Honey-Water Bees. However, Luo Yu had the Data Eye... He could pick out the elite of the elites among those Honey-Water Bees to serve as retainers for the Zerg Empress. For instance, forty Honey-Water Bees with spatial talents that had trained spatial abilities could easily be considered a legion of void assassins. Retainers of that caliber would certainly make the Zerg Empress a force to be reckoned with. Naturally, the most pivotal ability was: *As long as its own soul remains undying, its retainers' souls remain undying...* This was vastly superior to the bloodline retainer system. Luo Yu didn't fully understand what "its retainers' souls remain undying" meant just yet. Did it mean that after dying in battle, retainers would become ghost soldiers in an alternate form of immortality? Or did it mean their souls could reincarnate and hatch anew? Regardless of the exact mechanics, an undying legion of retainers made this talent, from a certain perspective, fully worthy of being called top-tier. If properly developed, it would not lag behind Walking Volcano in the slightest. In fact, Luo Yu couldn't even say for sure which of the two top-tier talents—Walking Volcano or Zerg Empress—was truly stronger. With top-tier talents already being so potent, Luo Yu genuinely wondered if even stronger talents existed, such as god-tier talents. "Let me see what kind of obsession such a top-tier prodigy has..." Luo Yu gazed at this Honey-Water Bee, and it felt as though he were watching its entire life unfold before his eyes. It had been born in an ordinary forest. From the moment of its birth, it was an absolute empress, commanding even the hive's queen to submit. And yet... A zerg empress of such caliber had unfortunately been born into a fragile vessel. "Zerg Empress" sounded domineering, but at the end of the day, it was still just a Honey-Water Bee. Whenever it sought to fly beyond the forest to gaze upon the broader sky, it discovered just how insignificant Honey-Water Bees were. A single High-Rank Species Swift Void Sparrow could treat the swarm as an all-you-can-eat buffet. When a Monarch Species Thunderous Eagle swept past, the sheer lightning pressure and air currents from its flight alone broke the bees' balance and tore their bodies to shreds in the gale. Rather than merely leading its swarm to scrape by among the flowers and foliage of the forest, this Honey-Water Bee yearned for the boundless sky. *We have wings too—why can't Honey-Water Bees become the King of the Sky?!* Regrettably, its frail species could not support such grand ambition. While resisting the hunt of a Monarch Species Pluto Spider, the entire colony was slaughtered. The Honey-Water Bee empress died as well while protecting its hive. Before death, its greatest regret was failing to lead the Honey-Water Bee species to rule the sky, and failing to become the King of the Sky itself. "King of the Sky..." Luo Yu fell into contemplation. That title didn't belong to avian beasts these days. Currently, two major dragon species existed in the world: Water Dragons and Giant Dragons. Water Dragons resembled Eastern divine dragons; capable of summoning wind and rain, they dwelt at the bottom of the ocean. The Monarch dragon species that Golden Island's Golden Carps evolved into after leaping through the dragon gate was classified under the Water Dragon lineage. The other kind was Giant Dragons, resembling Western lizard-like dragons. Possessing powerful dragon wings, they easily dominated the heavens and were currently regarded as the strongest species regularly active in the sky. Was this Honey-Water Bee's obsession to challenge the Giant Dragons' status as the King of the Sky? Bees... Giant Dragons... They were creatures on entirely different scales. "Well, well, well." Luo Yu didn't mock its dream. Without talent, it would be daydreaming; but with such talent, it was a whole different story! On its own, it might never have fully unlocked the potential of the Zerg Empress talent, but Luo Yu believed his Data Eye could help it do so! "You're the one." Although this Honey-Water Bee's obsession seemed extraordinarily unrealistic, Luo Yu believed its talent possessed immense untapped potential! Besides, he had already planned to continue breeding Honey-Water Bees anyway. Now, with the Honey-Water Bee empress, breeding them would yield even greater returns. The process of breeding formidable Honey-Water Bees was the very process of helping this bee empress fulfill its obsession, so it wouldn't cost him any wasted effort. Its obsession and talent aligned seamlessly with Luo Yu's future plans. According to the summaries of pioneers who had gone before him, after establishing a soul contract with a ghost pet beast, if the ghost pet beast's obsession remained unfulfilled around day 1,800, the contract would trigger the first wave of backlash, devouring one of the Beast Master's body parts. Around day 3,600, if the obsession still went unfulfilled, a full-body backlash would ensue, engulfing the entire soul. Furthermore, a soul contract could not be annulled; a ghost pet beast could never be abandoned. If a ghost pet beast died, the Beast Master would suffer an even harsher penalty than the death of a pet beast bonded through a Beast Taming Space: a soul backlash. So Shui Wuyue had been right: contracting a ghost pet beast was a gamble. Gambling one's own body in the Ghost Sea. If you won the gamble, you gained a permanent, powerful ghost sea beast. If you lost, you merely held a ghost sea beast temporarily, having it serve you for five or ten years... Luo Yu didn't know whether five years would be enough to grant it the strength to challenge the Giant Dragon race. But if five years wasn't enough, at worst he would lose an arm like Shui Wuyue; if five years fell short, ten years surely ought to suffice. Of course, which body part would be lost depended mainly on where it chose to dwell within him... "I will help you become the King of the Sky and lead the Honey-Water Bee species to rule the heavens. Form a soul contract with me." Luo Yu reached out toward the Honey-Water Bee empress. *Buzz!* The instant Luo Yu resolved to help this ghost Honey-Water Bee fulfill its obsession, their souls across the two spaces seemed to resonate. An illusory, translucent Honey-Water Bee emerged from the Ghost Sea as if reborn, fluttering slowly into the air. Then, transforming into a streak of light, it darted into Luo Yu's right eye. The contract was formed. However... Luo Yu rubbed his right eye. *Wait, why did you go into my right eye?* *If I fail to fulfill your obsession, won't I end up with only one eye?!* King of the Sky, huh... Belatedly, Luo Yu realized: *Why does this obsession sound so much like July's ambition...?* July was destined to become the God of the Earth. And now, along came a Honey-Water Bee that wanted to become the King of the Sky. "Should I contract a fat fish that wants to become the Lord of the Sea next, just so the three of them can play Fight the Landlord?"