Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

The golden-horned beast stood majestically at the head of the procession, perched atop the broad shoulders of the silver-horned beast.

In the middle were several students and professional animal trainers, while Cheng Yuan, carrying the little dog, deliberately slowed down and walked at the back with Xu Xin.

"Teacher Xu," Cheng Yuan said, kicking a pebble casually, "you all went through all this trouble to make this trip, and you even gave away the money. What's the point?" He blinked, looking completely innocent.

He asked questions skillfully, seemingly casually, but actually trying to understand the tasks and motivations of professional animal trainers.

Xu Xin chuckled, seeing right through his little scheme: "You little rascal, you think we don't benefit from this?" He lowered his voice, "The merit points, star promotions, and rare evolution resources that money can't buy for professional beast tamers in the association... these are the real treasures."

Xu Xin didn't mind telling him; consider it a way of introducing him to the world beforehand.

Cheng Yuan suddenly realized and said "Oh".

"Also," Xu Xin suddenly changed the subject, "after today, you don't need to call me teacher anymore. The special training course is over. I'm not much older than you. You can call me Brother Xu."

"Brother Xu?" Cheng Yuan looked Xu Xin up and down. "But your mature demeanor... makes you seem like you're from a different generation than us."

"If you can't speak, you don't have to," Xu Xin replied expressionlessly.

But Cheng Yuan's joke did bring the two closer, and Xu Xin's tense expression relaxed considerably.

Cheng Yuan keenly sensed this and immediately took advantage of the situation, putting his arm around Xu Xin's shoulder: "Old Xu..."

Xu Xin's veins were bulging; he really shines when given a little sunshine. He "accidentally" stepped on Cheng Yuan's foot.

"Hey, Brother Xu!"

"What's wrong?" Xu Xin asked innocently.

"N-nothing, I just stepped on a stone..." Cheng Yuan grimaced and rubbed his foot, while changing the subject, "By the way, Brother Xu, can you tell me about the Digital World? We saw the Digital Space this time and heard about the Dark Area. What's the Digital World like? Can you tell me about it?"

Xu Xin glanced around. The two of them were at the back of the group, and there was no one around. He lowered his voice and said, "Okay, there are some things that you should only know after you go to the Beast Tamer University. They can't be circulated in society..." He paused, "but since you, as the class representative, have performed well this month, I'll make an exception and tell you."

"The so-called Digital World, according to current exploration, is a collective term for many digital spaces. Some of these digital spaces, like the one you saw in Savage Valley, are spaces where Digimon can live and reproduce normally. They can be divided into small, medium, large, and super large according to their size."

Cheng Yuan pricked up his ears, afraid of missing a single word.

"Small-sized spaces are roughly the size of a small town, with a maximum strength generally at the growth stage; medium-sized spaces are equivalent to the size of a county, with a maximum strength at the mature stage; large-sized spaces are comparable to a city, with a maximum strength at the complete stage..."

Xu Xin paused.

At this point, Xu Xin suddenly stopped, looking at Cheng Yuan meaningfully: "As for the super-large... there's only one in the entire Eastern Kingdom. As for the upper limit... do you know what level is above the complete form?"

"Ultimate form?" Cheng Yuan blurted out. In the original world, anyone who had gone to elementary school would know the answer to this question.

"Oh? You know quite a bit." A hint of surprise flashed in Xu Xin's eyes: "Currently, this level hasn't been officially announced; it's a legendary existence. The reason it needs to be controlled is because..."

"Humanity doesn't yet possess Ultimate-level combat power. If this were to be made public, it might cause panic." Xu Xin's voice was almost inaudible. "Moreover, in reality, no Digimon of this level has ever actually appeared; they are all legendary beings. The appearance of such a level would be as destructive as a forbidden weapon."

Cheng Yuan chuckled inwardly. In his previous life, he had seen quite a few Ultimate-level beings in anime, and had even collected their cards. But he wisely remained silent, since soul transmigration was not something that could be easily explained.

Moreover, the digital world Xu Xin described was different from the digital world in the animation of his previous life. The digital world in the animation of his previous life was an existence where planets and planes coexisted, rather than a series of independent and fragmented spaces of varying sizes.

"Teacher, what about the dark area?" Cheng Yuan pressed.

According to Cheng Yuan's memories of his past life, the Dark Area is the stronghold of dark energy in the Digital World, a graveyard and prison for the Digital World, and a place where a large number of Dark Digimon and Demon Lord Digimon reside and are sealed.

"The Dark Area?" Xu Xin swallowed hard; clearly, this was no ordinary place. "This isn't something you should normally know, because if ordinary people knew the truth, they might very well give up on becoming professional beast tamers."

"Class representative, are you sure you're prepared to find out this?"

Cheng Yuan nodded firmly.

Xu Xin took a deep breath and said, "You know, more than 20 years ago, the Digital World suddenly appeared and merged with Earth, triggering a war between humans and Digimon..." His voice was low and heavy, "Later, it evolved into a war between humans and friendly Digimon allies against evil Digimon."

"These evil Digimon...come from the Dark Area?"

Xu Xin nodded.

"That's right." Xu Xin nodded. "Remember the difference between these two words—in the ordinary digital space it's 'fusion,' while in the dark zone it's 'invasion.'"

"There are 18 Dark Zones worldwide, where evil Digimon constantly attempt to invade the human world." Xu Xin's fist clenched unconsciously. "More than twenty years ago, humanity faced a life-or-death crisis, ultimately exhausting all its resources to drive the evil Digimon back to the Dark Zones and establishing outposts at the rifts... keeping the evil Digimon out of the human world. Guarding these fortresses and resisting the invasion of evil Digimon—that's the reason the profession of professional Digimon Tamer was born..."

Xu Xin stopped there, afraid that he might scare the newcomer away and leave professional animal trainers without such a promising talent.

Seeing that Cheng Yuan still wanted to ask more questions, he changed the subject: "Actually, in addition to the two types of digital spaces mentioned above, there is a third special type of digital space, or what is called a digital spacetime secret realm."

"A digital time-space secret realm?" Cheng Yuan's eyes lit up.

Xu Xin nodded. "This is an even more mysterious secret realm, controlled by the Digital World Administration, the highest organization in the human world. Every year, a group of the most outstanding beast tamers are selected to enter the Digital World Secret Realm for training..."

"And my Agumon also won the opportunity to evolve into BlackGreymon during that training. However, only the most outstanding people have the chance to be selected by the Bureau, so if you have aspirations, you still need to keep working hard." He patted Cheng Yuan on the shoulder.

Cheng Yuan nodded thoughtfully. This digital world was completely different from the one he remembered, filled with a sense of "fragmentation." A flash of inspiration crossed his mind, but it vanished in an instant.

The last rays of the setting sun bathed the outpost's metal facade in an orange-red hue. The little dog in Cheng Yuan's arms let out a wide yawn, its golden sacred ring shimmering softly in the twilight like a small nightlight.

In this tranquil moment, a piercing alarm suddenly shattered the silence.

"Warning! Two wild Champion-level Digimon detected..." The mechanized broadcast echoed over the outpost. "Suspected wild Digimon riot. All defense forces, prepare to deploy immediately!"

Cheng Yuan looked up and saw that the outpost's defensive fortifications were instantly filled with armed personnel.

Two imposing guardian beasts appeared on the city wall with heavy steps, followed by dozens of military beast tamers and their mature partners.

All sorts of weapons were aimed at the silver-horned beast's conspicuously large body.

The Silverhorn's size and color were so striking that it was like a bright light bulb in the dark.

Xu Xin sighed helplessly, "Wang Lin, show your credentials."

The flying insect beast immediately donned its professional beast tamer's certificate and transformed into a streak of green light, flying towards the city wall.

The certificate gleamed in the setting sun, its gold-embossed professional badge particularly eye-catching.

Cheng Yuan was dumbfounded—the fully armed soldiers immediately lowered their weapons the moment they saw the identification. The two guardian beasts even made a human-like "please" gesture.

The tense atmosphere from just moments ago instantly transformed into a joyful one.

"Let's go." Xu Xin patted Cheng Yuan on the shoulder and led the group through the fortifications with an air of nonchalance.

The Silver Horned Beast's massive body strode confidently into the outpost, and the Gold Horned Beast also enjoyed VIP treatment.

"It passed so smoothly?" Cheng Yuan blinked in disbelief.

Wang Lin, with a blade of grass dangling from her mouth, said casually, "We're professional animal trainers, you know?"