Wooden Head had finished growing, but Su Ping was in no hurry to ask Qin Xiaoxue to summon Sun Chaoju and Vice President Liu to settle their wager.
They had agreed on a full fifteen days, and more than half that time remained. There really was no need to rush.
Although he wanted to get his hands on accelerated growth and the Ten Thousand Woods Wolf's evolution method right away, he had to eat his meal one bite at a time.
Besides, even if he obtained them now, the Myriad Spirits Codex lacked the experience needed to complete them.
And Su Ping already had quite a packed schedule.
He had set it all himself, so these past few days had been fulfilling to the extreme.
In the morning, he took Li Shu along to feed the Forest Wolves, shovel their droppings, and plan their training for the day.
Those that performed best in training were rewarded with a portion of Woodheart's Magic Potion.
Yes, a portion. Of the two Forest Wolves from before, one had taken a tenth of the potion and shown no change.
The other had taken half. When Su Ping gave it the remaining half the next day, it comprehended the skill.
Half portions worked, so Su Ping later tried quarter portions. Those worked too.
Giving them the Woodheart Potion all at once was too conspicuous. Feeding it to them in separate portions actually worked better.
During the day, sunlight was abundant. Thanks to Sunlight Absorption, the Forest Wolves recovered their stamina and everything else exceptionally well.
That made their training even more effective.
Leaving everything else aside, in just a few days, apart from the unsurprising breakthroughs in skill level, several Forest Wolves had also made enormous advances in their tiers.
One young Forest Wolf that had been stuck at Ordinary Tier Ten even advanced into the adult Elite tier.
Raising pet beasts was not just a matter of looking at their species' potential ceiling!
Although the Forest Wolf's species ceiling was Elite Tier Ten, that was the upper limit of its advancement, not a level every Forest Wolf could reach!
For some lazy Forest Wolves that did not improve themselves through combat and training, even breaking into the Elite tier through natural growth was already quite an achievement.
Once the Forest Wolves' training had been arranged, Li Shu served as the front-desk attendant for the morning, while Su Ping took care of something else.
Building a good relationship with Li Shu's Falling Seed Pine.
As Li Shu put it, Ping treated his Pine Nut better than he treated him.
Not only did Su Ping personally nurture it, he even occasionally obtained some low-grade spirit spring water to irrigate Pine Nut.
Over the past few days, Pine Nut had practically grown a whole size "fatter."
In the afternoon, Su Ping experimented with the suggestion Li Shu had made several days earlier.
He also trained new Forest Wolves.
Indeed, after the advertisement through the Breeder Association and the completion of his registration, business at Woodheart had suddenly boomed. Although Su Ping had raised his prices and only trained one per week, people still lined up.
It was only one Forest Wolf, and in truth, it did not require much transitional training. If anything took a little extra time, it was probably Su Ping building the Forest Wolf's affection for him during the process.
Besides earning another batch of experience for the Forest Wolf entry in the Myriad Spirits Codex, he might even gain a returning customer.
He could make money along the way too. Why not?
All that aside, the most noteworthy thing was still Su Ping's experiment.
A rather inhumane experiment, at that.
His test subjects were two Forest Wolves of his own.
Both were Ordinary-tier Forest Wolves.
These two were special members of the pack, because they were the very ones that had each taken only a tenth of the Woodheart Potion.
Su Ping had never given Wolf Smoke Grass much thought before, but adding it had dramatically increased Woodheart's effects.
That suggested this unusual plant, which grew and reproduced exceptionally quickly but had an extremely pungent smell, might have some use he knew nothing about.
And so, these two little fellows became Su Ping's test subjects.
Indeed, under Su Ping's orders and Old Sha's pitying supervision, the two little fellows had been coming to the Spirit Creek River every day.
To do what?
Simple!
Eat grass!
One ate grass, while the other basked in the sun.
Meanwhile, every morning, Su Ping brought out Woodheart's Magic Potion and gave each little fellow a tenth of it.
That ensured their changes would not differ because of outside factors.
Yet after several days, Su Ping still had not noticed any changes.
He looked at his journal.
A simple line was written in it:
[The effects of Wolf Smoke Grass on Forest Wolves taking the Woodheart Potion, as a basis for deducing Wolf Smoke Grass's unknown properties.]
This was already the sixth day of the experiment.
Su Ping had spent all six days this way.
He watched one Forest Wolf lazily basking in the sun, while the other miserably gnawed on the Wolf Smoke Grass growing all over the ground.
The little fellow's resentful gaze made its indignation perfectly clear. Why could I never finish eating this damned Wolf Smoke Grass?
Ignoring its resentment, Su Ping held his notebook and glanced at the exceedingly vigilant Old Sha nearby, then smiled.
"Don't worry. Woodheart may be on the outskirts of Linzhou City, but the Beast Tamer Association and the Military's Beast Tamer Corps regularly drive wild pet beasts away from the city's perimeter. There won't be any danger."
Strangely enough, every time Su Ping had brought the two little fellows here over the past few days, Old Sha had followed. Even when Su Ping told him to stay and watch the Forest Wolves train, Old Sha refused.
From Old Sha's stubborn behavior and the meaning behind some of his actions, Su Ping realized that he was actually worried about his safety, afraid there might be enemies here.
Of course, that was only Su Ping's interpretation. Although he now understood Forest Wolves thoroughly, without the innate skill of telepathic communication, he could not fully grasp a pet beast's meaning, especially a wild one that had not formed a soul contract with him.
Still, Su Ping did not mind. Old Sha was family. If that was what he wanted to do, how could Su Ping force him otherwise?
Besides, Old Sha meant well, and the Forest Wolves were training extremely diligently now. Even without Old Sha supervising them, there was little cause for worry.
Yet as he looked at Old Sha now, a little concern rose in Su Ping's heart.
Old Sha had lived for over forty years. He truly was very old.
As he dwelled on that somber thought, Su Ping's gaze suddenly shifted.
Of course, no enemy had appeared.
Instead, one of the Forest Wolves began to change at that very moment!
Halos of light swirled around it, scattered motes settling over its body.
The next instant, a piercing wolf howl rang out. Though youthful, it still carried an indescribable joy!
Su Ping abruptly rose and rushed to its side in a few long strides, staring at the sight before him in disbelief.
The other Forest Wolf, still lazily basking in the sun, also pricked up its ears and blinked. Watching its companion suddenly transform, its little eyes filled with enormous confusion!
The sixth day! Su Ping clenched his fists. The sixth day!
In other words, by that reckoning, this young Forest Wolf had actually taken only six-tenths of the potion, just a little over half.
Yet under those circumstances, the young Forest Wolf had comprehended the skill so many days early. Did that mean Wolf Smoke Grass really had an effect he knew nothing about?
And just then, within the Myriad Spirits Codex in Su Ping's mind, the Forest Wolf's record slowly opened once again.
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