The higher a beast's grade and the stronger its power, the more magic energy it took up in the beast space. So the size of your beast space directly determined the upper limit of a beast tamer's strength.
Sure, you could upgrade your beast space through cultivation, but the initial size still showed how talented you were.
In Quentin's eyes, Leon wasn't a genius.
He was a monster.
B-grade beasts typically required 10-15 magic energy. Beast tamers with only 10 magic energy could have, at most, one B-grade beast.
But this black-haired kid in front of him could have 2 or 3 B-grade beasts.
That's an earth-shattering 30 magic energy initial beast space!
The difference was obvious.
Leon stood quietly in the center of the formation, looking at the back of his right hand.
A unique yin-yang fish symbol from Earth's eastern nations appeared on his hand, glowing softly.
This was his unique beast space mark.
For most beast tamers, the position and shape of their space mark was random.
If you were unlucky, you might end up with an X on your butt, or a checkmark in your armpit...
Just thinking about that picture was pretty great...
This mainly happened because of poor primal spirit control.
Naturally, Leon didn't have these problems, so he had complete control over where his mark appeared and what shape it took.
With a thought, the yin-yang fish mark instantly vanished, and his hand was smooth as ever.
"Need a hand?"
Seeing the outstretched palm in front of him, Quentin, who'd been sitting dazed on the floor, jumped up with a start.
His whole posture became slightly hunched, his expression turning somewhat deferential.
His attitude had completely flipped.
Becoming a beast tamer meant you had a platform for success...
Plus, this young man's talent was... ridiculous.
"Young Master Drake, please, take this money back."
Quentin nervously pulled out the ten thousand star coins, but Leon waved his hand dismissively.
"What kind of sense does it make to take back what I've given? I should be thanking you for doing me a favor today."
"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare. It was my honor."
Having witnessed a record-breaking miracle firsthand, Quentin wasn't just being polite.
Next, the recording and filing was left to Quentin, while Leon, having completed his awakening ceremony, naturally chose to leave.
Walking out of the Origin Spirit Association, it was already dark. Leon planned to find a hotel to stay at.
But he'd barely taken a few steps when a woman in business casual attire carrying a briefcase blocked his path.
The various men and women lurking in the shadows around them, who'd also been about to approach, saw someone had beaten them to it and held back for now.
But their eyes kept staring this way.
"Congratulations on completing your awakening ceremony. May I ask, which profession did you transfer to?"
"Sorry, I failed," Leon lied without batting an eye.
The woman who'd approached had been all smiles, but after hearing Leon's answer, she made no attempt to hide her disappointed expression.
Her mood changed on a dime.
"My apologies."
After casually leaving those two words, the woman gave the black-haired young man a disdainful glance, waved her hand, and left without hesitation.
Came fast, left fast.
And the restless people around them calmed down. Those who were drinking tea went back to their tea, those chatting went back to chatting. No one else approached Leon.
The gesture the woman made when leaving was a signal in their industry. Having received it, they naturally wouldn't waste time on this "worthless" black-haired kid.
Leon was somewhat amused.
These headhunters were actually staking out here on the weekend. Talk about dedicated.
That's right, these people hanging around the Origin Spirit Association entrance were consultants from headhunting companies.
Their targets were naturally people who'd successfully changed professions. Among them, beast tamers were always the headhunters' number one priority.
Some high-end headhunting companies only dealt with beast tamers. They didn't even want mages or warriors.
Beast tamers were the profession with the highest investment value, and also the most expensive.
After becoming a beast tamer, what's the first thing you need to do?
Catch beasts and sign contracts, obviously. Without beasts, what kind of beast tamer are you?
Okay, here's the problem: how does a beast tamer with no weapons or power defeat and capture those powerful beasts in the early stages?
You need to hire people, right? Rent helicopters and heavy weapons, right? Cover food, lodging, and ammunition, right?
After successfully capturing and contracting a beast, you need to train it, right?
Some beasts need to eat, right?
All of this costs real money, and it's not cheap.
If you're not born into wealth, where are you getting that money from?
No money? What do you do?
"I'll give it to you!"
Capital grins and says.
I'll provide the funding and manpower to help you catch beasts. After you catch them and grow stronger, you "give back" to me. Win-win for everyone.
We help each other out, we both grow stronger, and everybody wins. Isn't that beautiful?
Of course, how the cooperation contract gets signed depends on what both sides agree to.
In this process, inequality, fraud, and all kinds of chaos definitely exist objectively.
Once a beast tamer has their beast, getting more beasts becomes relatively easier. The further along they go, the less dependent on capital they become, and the more independent they get.
Therefore, those rookies who just became beast tamers are the angel round prize, the investment target that all kinds of forces most desire.
In other words, even if you're a complete nobody, as long as you become a beast tamer and open your mouth, people will fight to throw money at you.
But there's no free lunch. How you "help each other" depends on your own negotiations with the investors.
And headhunting companies are the intermediaries between beast tamers and investors.
This is why so many headhunters camp out at the Origin Spirit Association entrance.
Making money doing business, of course you gotta be proactive!
Naturally, Leon didn't want to be held hostage by capital. Otherwise, he would've just stayed with the family. Why would he need to run away?
He'd been a capitalist in his past life, so he knew exactly what capital was like. He had zero interest in getting tangled up with these headhunters.
Got in a car, checked into a hotel.
Leon sat cross-legged on the bed, blue primal spirit energy rising around him once more.
And his beast space had reached an astonishing 45 magic energy.
Back at the Origin Spirit Association, he'd still held back.
Otherwise, Leon was worried he'd scare Quentin stupid.
Alright, next up was preparing to capture beasts.