A Brand-New Research Subject

[Ding ding! You successfully tamed a Feebas!]

[In today's Spirit World, Milotic was incomparably mysterious and rare, regarded as a Legendary Spirit... No one had imagined that this beautiful spirit had evolved from the shabby, impoverished Feebas.]

[As someone who understood evolution, it was time for you to prove to the world that an Ugly Duckling could become a White Swan!]

[You have received a mission: Evolve a Feebas into Milotic.]

[Cheat sheet: Milotic is a renowned Benevolent Spirit. Besides its most beautiful appearance, it also possesses a beautiful, healing heart.]

[Reward: Move Tutor (Attract), Five-Color Bandana (blueprint).]

Jiang Xing had long anticipated the system's antics. He was not surprised in the slightest and even wanted to laugh—

The system was calling a chicken a fish and saying it could undergo Beauty Evolution, right?

But what if he said it was actually a Buneary—a Regional Form from a parallel world—that had mastered the "Return Move" and followed an Intimacy Evolution path?

How would the system respond then?

That was enough joking around with System Bro. Back to the main matter.

Upon seeing the contract take effect, the remaining Ugly Water Chickens no longer hesitated. They completely believed Jiang Xing—

After all, a Beast Tamer's contracts could not be canceled, and there was a limit to how many they could make.

Since Jiang Xing was willing to contract with Pet Beasts as repulsive as them, it meant he truly had confidence in helping them evolve and complete their transformation!

Confirming that was enough.

Then, to prevent another Pet Beast conflict from occurring—

Jiang Xing converted several rooms in the research institute into pools, allowing them to temporarily stay there.

The Ugly Water Chickens neither made a fuss nor caused trouble. Following his instructions, they quietly lined up and entered the rooms, soaking in the pools to rest. They were so well-behaved that it was heartbreaking.

Jiang Xing went to the study, opened a document on his computer, and began designing an evolution plan.

Since he had promised to help the Ugly Water Chickens evolve, he naturally had to make it happen.

Not only did he have to make it happen, he also had to design several different evolution forms—

First, Training Power was highly likely to be the Return Move, which was closely related to Intimacy.

Since Ugly Water Chickens were born with this Intimacy-related move, they were highly likely to possess an [Intimacy Evolution Form].

Jiang Xing needed to design a complete path for it.

Second, the system had already provided a hint: Ugly Water Chickens possessed potential related to "Beauty Condition."

Perhaps they could complete a special evolution by raising their Beauty Condition and drawing upon the power of a beautiful heart.

Jiang Xing also needed to design a path for a [Beauty Evolution Form].

Finally...

The information provided by the system was merely a [hint], not a [standard answer].

Ugly Water Chickens merely contained elements related to "Intimacy" and "Beauty Condition"; that did not mean they possessed only those two evolution forms.

Perhaps, if both conditions were fulfilled at once, Ugly Water Chickens could display an entirely new, truly "Perfect Evolution Form"!

That would be the Ugly Water Chicken's third evolution path!

The idea for the evolution paths was already there. All that remained was the specific cultivation plan.

However, Jiang Xing's energy was limited at the moment.

Besides the Ugly Water Chickens, he still had the evolution subjects of the Rainbow Dragon Cub, Spirit-Guarding Dog, and even the Giant Magnet Monster waiting to be advanced.

Researching both Intimacy and Beauty Condition at the same time would be spreading himself too thin and likely to backfire.

After thinking it over, he decided to start with Intimacy.

"Before beginning the [Intimacy Evolution Form] subject, I first need to [propose and prove the existence of Intimacy]."

"That is the foundation of [Intimacy Theory]."

"After all, Training Power being the Return Move is still only my conjecture."

"And Pet Beast Theory clearly cannot be built upon conjecture. Only through rigorous experiments, after proving this conjecture, can we begin further deductions."

The most important thing in experiments was inspiration.

Once inspiration struck, Jiang Xing quickly designed a plan.

The experiment would center on the [Training Power] move mastered by the Ugly Water Chickens, testing the effects of two variables—"training time" and "Intimacy"—on the move's power, while establishing several control groups.

One group of Ugly Water Chickens would receive no Beast Tamer intervention, independently consume cultivation resources, and train their moves.

One group of Ugly Water Chickens would receive no Beast Tamer intervention, independently consume cultivation resources, and not train their moves.

One group of Ugly Water Chickens would be cultivated by a Beast Tamer, consuming resources while training their moves.

One group of Ugly Water Chickens would build rapport with a Beast Tamer while neither consuming resources nor training their moves.

One group of Ugly Water Chickens...

At regular intervals, he would test the move power of every Ugly Water Chicken and record the changes in the data, using that to determine what exactly affected the power of Training Power.

This experimental plan was extremely simple. As long as they had enough Pet Beasts, any Beast Tamer could replicate it.

No researcher had attempted it before because there were over a million Pet Beast species in the Beast Taming World, and every Pet Beast race had corresponding moves—too many to count.

They could barely finish researching Pet Beast forms, much less moves.

In fact, even Jiang Xing would never have noticed this Normal Move without the system's reminder. So long as its power was normal and matched the Pokédex description, he would never have specifically tested whether the Pokédex was wrong.

This could be considered a blind spot.

"Come to think of it, does Intimacy exist only between Pet Beasts and Beast Tamers?"

"Just like in the Spirit World, where Pichu needs Intimacy to evolve, yet Pikachu, its evolved form, is as common in the wild as stray dogs by the roadside..."

"The Intimacy between Pet Beasts may also affect their evolution and moves."

Thinking of this, and considering the Ugly Water Chickens' disgust toward one another, Jiang Xing added the Lucky Cloud Qilin to the control groups as well.

Its Affinity Talent was highly suitable for increasing Intimacy.

It could effectively test the effects of Intimacy between Pet Beasts.

With that done, the experimental plan for his first research subject had been completed.

Jiang Xing could apply to the state for funding through this subject.

However, after thinking it over, he chose not to apply—

The state's generosity and leniency with research funding depended on the subject.

The Rainbow Dragon Cub possessed limitless potential and involved the Personality Conjecture, so it would naturally attract the attention of reviewers and receive substantial funding.

Intimacy was different—

At least, Jiang Xing's current subject only involved [conjecturing the existence of Intimacy and testing the effects of Training Power].

This subject was not important enough, nor would it cost much.

Jiang Xing could not possibly insist that "the Ugly Water Chickens' food costs ten million a day." That obviously would not convince anyone.

So even if the application passed, he would not receive much funding.

Jiang Xing planned to fund the research himself for now. Once he achieved some results and both the subject's importance and costs increased, he would apply for a large sum.

"Still, this is only the Ugly Water Chickens' subject."

"The other two subjects can be submitted now..."

[The Rainbow Dragon Cub's Subsequent Evolution Forms] and [The Death Regional Form of Howl Dog].

These two subjects clearly had both [importance] and [reasonable costs].

Jiang Xing stayed up for several nights, rushed out research plans for the two subjects, and submitted them to Dr. Xu so his teacher could review them first.

After Dr. Xu finished reviewing them, he waved a hand.

He casually adjusted the listed expenses, added some content, and raised the funding application from two hundred million to five hundred million.

Yet Jiang Xing could not spot a single flaw. He could only describe it as perfect.

Experience truly mattered.

When the funding applications were submitted, the first thing Jiang Xing received was not their result.

It was a call from Chang Feng, a Champion Rank Beast Tamer.

"Student Jiang Xing, you possess a special Secret Realm that can revive Pet Beasts?!"