The Gold Medal
Full name: Gold Pioneer Medal!
It was a merit badge issued by the Human Alliance under the Supreme Council to which Lu Yu belonged. There were also Morning Star Medals and higher tiers…
There were two ways to obtain a Gold Medal: either by completing ten Gold-rank missions issued by the Alliance, or by being the surviving family member of a hero who sacrificed themselves during an official pioneering mission.
Lu Yu fell into the latter category.
His parents had been semi-official personnel. After perishing on an official pioneering mission, he was awarded a Gold Medal—which could alternatively be exchanged for a massive sum of equivalent wealth.
In a certain sense, he was a legitimate, card-carrying descendant of the Human Alliance's core lineage.
The function of merit medals was straightforward: they could be redeemed for a pet beast with Gold Spirituality—equivalent to Commander-tier potential! (Humans: Bronze, Silver, Gold → Pet beasts: Servant, Elite, Commander)
It was somewhat akin to the Pokémon world, where children of the Alliance could receive one of the "starter" potential Pokémon at age ten.
Of course, not everyone qualified—otherwise there wouldn't be so many bug-catching kids and fodder opponents running around.
Naturally, none of that idealistic innocence would ever be openly acknowledged in the real world.
The reason Lu Yu hadn't used his merit medal earlier wasn't some melodramatic trauma about not wanting to "spend" his father's legacy or any such cliché.
Part of it was that he had been recovering from injuries ever since his awakening. More importantly, redeeming a Gold Medal came with conditions.
First: must be eighteen and of age.
Second: clean personal record.
Third: after claiming the medal, within one year of advancing to Bronze tier, complete five Bronze missions issued by the Alliance; within three years of advancing to Silver tier, complete two Silver missions; and after advancing to Gold Spirituality, complete one Gold mission.
Each mission came with corresponding rewards, plus internal Alliance contribution points that could be exchanged for rare resources.
The conditions weren't especially harsh.
If unwilling, one could simply cash it out for a large sum and buy a pet beast independently.
Under normal circumstances, Lu Yu would have accepted this arrangement. After all, the first contracted pet beast was the foundation of any beast tamer—extremely important.
But…
This was Dayuan City!
In terms of infrastructure, garrison strength, economy, and overall development, it ranked as a quasi-first-tier city within the entire Alliance—only below the fourteen true first-tier cities, and above hundreds of second-tier ones.
The name "Dayuan" didn't come from some quirky strongman named Zheng Dayuan or Xu Dayuan.
It was because the city sat right on the boundary between the human ecological sphere and the monster ecological sphere.
The Great Abyss!
An enormous rift of unknown length that nearly bisected the world.
On the far side lay the monster ecological domain—countless transcendent beings scattered like stars, living in tribal clusters and giving birth to innumerable wondrous ecological secret realms.
Legend said the bottom of the Great Abyss connected to the Abyss dimension. Due to spatial instability, void creatures occasionally invaded, and even the Spirit Realm sometimes briefly linked to reality here.
In such a chaotic place, it was only natural that numerous Evil God cults—expelled from mainstream human society—had taken root…
It was practically a demonic free-for-all.
Although Dayuan City and its surrounding satellite towns were tens of thousands of miles from the true front lines, guarded by layers of defenses, and hadn't seen a major battle in decades, it still felt relatively safe.
But official missions would very likely bring one close to the Great Abyss or involve eliminating Evil God cultist organizations.
Danger often came hand-in-hand with opportunity, yet…
It was far too unstable!
Moreover, the pet beasts redeemable with Gold Medals were usually spoils from special divisions that fought in the wilderness or wiped out Evil God cults.
Most of those pet beasts leaned toward the evil alignment—or were even direct dependents born from the corruption of Evil God powers.
After inspection, if there were no major issues, they were retained; minor problems were usually ignored.
They were powerful, but their spirituality was unstable—prone to mutation or backlash.
Not safe.
Most people wouldn't care about such details. Getting a Commander-potential pet beast was already a heaven-sent fortune—who would nitpick?
Lu Yu wasn't being overly delicate, but ever since the "Taboo Sun" incident, he needed several months just to stabilize his mind and couldn't fulfill official missions.
So he decided to start locally—using the Eye of Truth to accumulate initial capital and secure a Commander-potential pet beast as his first contract if possible.
Once he was strong enough, he could then redeem the Gold Medal for his second or third pet beast.
If primitive accumulation failed, he'd simply go redeem it.
Facts proved he had succeeded remarkably quickly: in just three months, he completed the Peach Pig Breeding Manual and now had bargaining chips to negotiate with the school.
However, it would still take a few more months for the peach pig population to double—and even then, it wasn't guaranteed he could trade for a Commander-tier pet beast.
The school's resources were mostly drawn from secret realms like Peach Blossom Village—primarily plant-type, beast-type, and similar.
To deal with the Nightmare, he needed a curse-type, psychic-type, or dream-type pet beast.
As for spiritual instability… to someone who had glimpsed taboo secrets and not collapsed, that was hardly a drawback.
At most, he just had to make sure the pet beast didn't end up corrupting him instead.
The reason he contacted the Student Council President was simple: having connections in the system made things easier. He could use the school's green channel—no need to book in advance and waste a week or two waiting.
After a long silence, a message arrived.
*[Student Council President: Not raising pigs anymore?]
Lu Yu's face stiffened. If he didn't know her personality, he would have thought she was mocking him.
Those were peach pigs,
Not ordinary pigs!
The Keeper of Horses wasn't just some ordinary horse groomer—he could also appoint celestial maidens!
[Twilight Crow: Yeah.]
This time, Lu Yu waited five full minutes without a reply.
Was she unwilling to help?
He accepted it calmly. After all, he and the Student Council President were only ordinary acquaintances. It was normal if she didn't want to get involved.
"Looks like I'll have to go find the principal myself…"
Lu Yu stood up, deep in thought—when suddenly a fierce wind whipped up, kicking sand and dust into the air.
He instinctively looked up.
A white-haired girl with crimson eyes descended from the sky. Behind her, vampire-like demonic wings beat powerfully, slowing her descent until her black loafers gently touched the ground.
During the descent, her tall, perfectly proportioned figure was on full display. The white blouse wrapped around impressive curves, a faint glimpse of cleavage visible; the gray plaid pleated skirt hugged peach-like hips.
Her long, slender legs were sheathed in white calf socks—straight, slim, almost glowing white under the sunlight.
Yet beneath such a sensual appearance, the girl's exquisitely sculpted features carried an icy indifference, as if carved from absolute zero.
After landing, the pink bat wings behind her shrank and transformed—becoming a large purple eyeball sporting tiny demonic wings and a black inverted-triangle tail. It floated beside the girl.
It didn't look scary at all—more like a flying big-eyed plush toy.
But the Abyss Demon Eye wore a distinctly unhappy expression. It glared warily at Lu Yu, like a farmer guarding his cabbage patch spotting a sneaky badger trying to steal vegetables!
Lu Yu quietly activated the Eye of Truth.
[Abyss Demon Eye]
[Attribute: Psychic / Abyss]
[Strength: Elite peak]
[Racial Potential: High Commander]
[Skills: True Sight, Psychic Shock, High-Temperature Ray, Petrification Ray, Fear Ray, Intimidating Gaze]
[Description: Possesses mental-type pet beasts; after possession, grants flight capability.
Abyss species, signature product of the Beholder ecological niche. Offspring are gestated within beholder dreams or the dreams of other monsters. Dislikes grouping, violent and powerful temperament. Proper nurturing requires large quantities of abyss demonic insects and spiritually rich flesh. Cannot resist sour foods.]
[Evolution Paths: Beholder Servant (requires materials…) Evil Beholder (requires materials…) Rare evolution—Beholder Tyrant (requires materials…) …]
Not only did it list all relevant attributes, but it also displayed over a dozen evolution paths—including the top-tier Beholder Tyrant.
However, he could only get a rough overview right now. To see everything clearly would require consuming a massive amount of spiritual power—enough to drain him dry.
He still needed to grow stronger.
Beyond that, the Eye of Truth revealed an intriguing piece of knowledge: Abyss Demon Eye materials could be used to craft Skill Secret Food.
Once consumed, the pet beast would gain the special skill [Omnidirectional Vision]—granting 360° no-blind-spot field of view.
A god-tier combat skill!
Mom no longer has to worry about me getting backstabbed!
However, the exact method would only unlock after contracting his first pet beast, through the Secret Food Heritage.
This only heightened Lu Yu's anticipation for the future functions of the Key to Truth.
He looked at the Abyss Demon Eye again. This wasn't some abyssal monster—it was clearly a walking treasure chest!
Its combat power was already exceptional: four innate racial ray skills, plus the rest were psychic-type, covering a wide range of offensive angles. Combined with High Commander potential, it had a strong chance of reaching Morning Star Overlord tier in the future.
If he couldn't find a suitable pet beast this time, he could always ask it for help in resisting the Nightmare's encroachment.
…He was tempted.
"Hiss!"
The Abyss Demon Eye floating beside the girl suddenly felt a chill down its… back? It sensed something dangerous staring at it.
But under its all-encompassing vision, no enemy was approaching!
Could it be invisible?
Thinking this, the big eyeball instinctively drifted closer to its master.
This wasn't cowardice—just caution!
Lu Yu realized his gaze had grown too intense. Reluctantly tearing his eyes away from the Abyss Demon Eye, he kindly reminded her:
"President, you really shouldn't wear a skirt when flying. It's easy to flash people!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, silence fell.
The white-haired girl looked down at the ground (where her toes weren't visible), pondered for a split second, then pinched the hem of her skirt on both sides and lifted it slightly. Expressionless, she asked:
"Does it look good?"