After opening the Beast Taming Space, First slowly walked out.
Chest held high and head held proud, he exuded the imposing air of a king of beasts—a stark contrast to his original, adorable little fluffball appearance.
Xu Bai watched from the side, pleased. Not bad. He finally looked a little like a bodyguard.
First was just as excited to leave the Beast Taming Space. He bounced around the courtyard, eagerly inspecting his new coat.
First was happy, but the flowers and plants in the courtyard suffered for it. A meter tall wasn't much for a Soul Beast, but he was still bigger than most large dogs.
The courtyard was small to begin with, and Soul Beasts weighed much more than ordinary beasts of the same size. As First bounded around, dust billowed through the yard, and plenty of flowers and plants were trampled.
"First, take it easy. Don't step on the Blue Silver Grass over there. It might become your companion someday."
Seeing First inch closer to the Blue Silver Grass by the corner of the wall, Xu Bai hurriedly warned him.
At that, First finally came to his senses. Everything he had now was thanks to his Beast Tamer.
As a Soul Beast who knew how to be grateful, he naturally understood what he ought to do.
So before Xu Bai could react, First pounced on him and knocked him to the ground, then turned into an eager lapdog and licked him furiously.
"All right, you know how dirty you are, don't you? Why are you jumping all over me?"
Xu Bai shoved First aside with a disgusted look, then sprang to his feet and quickly dusted himself off, trying to brush away the black powder on his clothes.
Though his Beast Tamer had rejected him, First remained in high spirits. His eyes brimmed with gratitude and adoration as he gazed at Xu Bai.
Without his Beast Tamer, who could have guessed that this waste—whose clan had deemed his bloodline impure and who was thought incapable of awakening a racial skill in his entire life—would awaken one just a few days later, and even break through to the Hundred-Year level?
As the saying went, he could never repay his Beast Tamer's kindness—not in this lifetime.
Xu Bai was quite pleased. What Beast Tamer wouldn't like a talented pet beast who also knew how to be grateful?
He ruffled First's head, then focused his thoughts and opened the Manual in his mind:
[Beast Tamer]: Mutated Green-Red Tiger (First) [Attribute]: Metal [Current Age]: One Hundred Years [Species Potential]: Thousand Years [Species Skill]: Metal Spirit Power (Beginner) [Evolution Direction]: None [Currently Recorded Soul Beasts]: 6 (View)
"A Hundred-Year Soul Beast standing one meter tall. Looks like First belongs to the mage category."
Xu Bai mused to himself, then looked at First and smiled. "First, use your racial skill. Let me see what you've got."
At that, First perked up. Before he'd been driven out of the clan, the thing the tigers had criticized him for most was his inability to awaken a racial skill. Now he'd finally succeeded, though his skill seemed a little different from those of his clanmates...
First took two steps back and focused his thoughts, beginning to control the mysterious power he had just mastered.
In the next instant, a faint golden energy spread rapidly outward from First, soon covering the entire courtyard.
"A domain-type racial skill? What does it do?"
Xu Bai, who had been watching from nearby, had barely formed the thought when he realized what the skill did.
A sudden clanging came from the kitchen, like metal striking the walls. From the house came the creaking sound of nails being pulled out of wood.
At the same time, Xu Bai suddenly felt a tug at his waist. He looked down and saw his last remaining metal ornament floating in the air as if pulled by a force. The source of that force was First.
"That's enough, First! Stop!"
Xu Bai was alarmed and hurriedly called out to stop him.
Though First wanted to keep testing his racial skill, he still drew the energy back, reluctantly.
As soon as the energy was withdrawn, the strange occurrences in the courtyard stopped.
Only then did Xu Bai finally breathe a sigh of relief. He'd more or less figured out First's racial skill: Metal Spirit Power could probably control metal, much like the Male God's Iron Fist Hu.
Since the skill was only at the beginner level, First probably couldn't yet pull metal elements straight out of the ground. Once his skill level and age increased, he ought to be able to do it.
Even this display was terrifying enough, though. If Xu Bai hadn't stopped him in time, his courtyard might have collapsed by now.
After all, Douluo I had a rather Western-style world setting. Aside from the major factions, most buildings were Western in style.
For a wooden courtyard like his, without mortise-and-tenon joints, steel nails and the like were naturally used to hold it together.
If First pulled those nails out, even if the courtyard didn't collapse right away, Xu Bai doubted he'd dare live in it.
First realized that he'd nearly caused a disaster and instinctively hunched his shoulders.
But then he remembered that his Beast Tamer had ordered him to use his racial skill, and his confidence returned. His tail swished slightly as he acted as if nothing had happened.
Seeing this, Xu Bai chuckled. He hadn't meant to blame First in the first place. He could only say helplessly,
"Looks like I'll have to take you somewhere open when we train this skill in the future. My little courtyard can't withstand many more stunts like that."
Skills were all about practice. The more you used them, the more proficient you became; sooner or later, you could grind your skill level up.
Xu Bai already had an idea for training the skill. He just didn't know whether the Manual had a more systematic method.
Thinking this, he opened the "Records" section of the Manual:
[Name]: Mutated Green-Red Tiger [Attribute]: Metal [Species Potential]: Thousand Years [Evolution Route]: None [Introduction]: Bloodline may have reverted to its ancestral form. Lost its original wood attribute and gained the more aggressively lethal metal attribute. [Note]: Spend a large amount of mental power to deduce an evolution route and method? (Yes/No) Spend a small amount of mental power to deduce a second-stage cultivation method? (Yes/No)
The mental power required to deduce an evolution route and method hadn't changed. It was probably because the branch hall's library had too few books on Green-Red Tigers.
But the problem was, he'd already read every book in the branch hall about tiger-type Soul Beasts.
Looks like he could only help First evolve after recording enough Soul Beasts to raise his mental power—then he could brute-force it with overwhelming effort.
The good news, though, was that the cost of deducing a cultivation method had gone down.
"Guess those books weren't a waste of time after all..."
Xu Bai muttered, then started the deduction.
After the Manual displayed a loading circle for a while, he regretted it...
In an instant, he felt like his head was about to explode. His eyelids were already starting to close against his will.
His face had gone deathly pale, and cold sweat poured down his temples. He looked as if he might drop dead at any moment.
"Damn, I clicked too fast!"
Cursing inwardly, Xu Bai didn't even bother to check the Manual's results. He rushed into the bedroom and collapsed into bed.
He'd already been forcing himself to stay awake when he had First use his racial skill.
Now, after starting the deduction, his mental power had gone straight into overdrive. The fact that he hadn't dropped dead on the spot was already a stroke of luck.
As for First, he just stood there in the courtyard, staring at his fur, now covered in black powder. Then he looked toward the kitchen, and finally toward the direction Xu Bai had gone, letting out a low whine: If you won't wash me, fine, but... are we still eating today?