Sure enough!
Sensing the Myriad Spirits Codex in his mind, Su Ping focused his attention on one particular spot within it.
This unfamiliar record no longer depicted the Forest Wolf Su Ping knew so well, but a towering pine tree.
The pine tree was laden with pine nuts, except these were bright red, as though they might explode at any moment.
Although it was unquestionably a wood element pet beast, the Falling Seed Pine specialized in wide-area attacks. The power of an adult Falling Seed Pine was evident from this record alone.
Almost the next instant, a sheen slowly spread down from the top of the originally gray-black record, like a drop of water soaking through it.
It was just like the Forest Wolf Record that had lit up when he first contracted Xiao Qing.
Although it was only a simple level one, lighting it up was enough to earn an origin reward from the Myriad Spirits Codex.
And that was indeed what happened.
[Record "Falling Seed Pine" activated. Current record level: 1. Origin reward obtained: mind communication.] [Mind communication (Beast Tamer ability): concentrate your mental power to telepathically sense the meaning of a pet beast's words and communicate with it.]
Just as expected!
Su Ping's eyes lit up. The reward for activating a record was as impressive as ever.
Granted, it was another commonplace innate skill like True Eye, an ability countless Beast Tamers received when their talents awakened.
But he had to admit that, although this innate skill was something of a chicken rib-hardly substantial, yet too useful to discard-it really was handy!
The effects of True Eye needed no explanation, and mind communication would let him communicate with pet beasts more deeply in the most direct, intuitive way.
He would no longer have to rely solely on his understanding of a pet beast to guess what its words meant.
Such an effect would offer unimaginable convenience in his breeding work.
In fact, Jin Sheng had mentioned before that, for an ordinary Breeder, the most suitable talent was not some fancy, outlandish ability, but this simple mind communication.
Communication was a bridge.
And communication was also the first step in raising pet beasts.
Without question, the help this talent would offer Su Ping was beyond imagining.
Rather than rushing to test the ability properly, Su Ping merged his consciousness into the Myriad Spirits Codex, and the newly activated Falling Seed Pine record appeared before him in full.
[Record: Falling Seed Pine] [A wood-attribute plant-type pet beast with limited mobility, but possessing long-range, wide-area destructive capabilities rarely seen among pet beasts of its rank. Racial skills: photosynthesis, pine nut shells, pine needle defense, etc.] [Current record level: 1 (5/500)] Known evolution paths, special cultivation: [None discovered yet.] Preferences, habits: [Extremely adaptable to its living environment, with low requirements for sunlight and water. However, its natural growth and advancement are correspondingly slow. High-quality air and spirit spring water will accelerate its growth to a certain degree.] Record log: [Discovered and made contact with an ordinary Falling Seed Pine. Affinity requirement met. Record level experience +5!] [For each subsequent day spent together, record experience +0.5!] [Gain record experience daily based on the number and levels of creatures of this type you spend time with, and by enhancing the abilities of creatures whose affinity meets the requirement. Complete the record and increase its level.]
Its layout was exactly the same as the Forest Wolf Record's.
However, the record log was much shorter, and the experience was pitifully low. Still, this was already enough.
Under the current circumstances, Su Ping had never intended to cultivate this Falling Seed Pine to a higher level. Simply activating its record and obtaining the Myriad Spirits Codex's origin reward was enough.
At that thought, Su Ping opened his eyes in satisfaction.
He looked at the even more excited Falling Seed Pine before him.
The Falling Seed Pine kept swaying its body.
"Swish, swish. (New... skill... shells... happy...)"
This time, amid the Falling Seed Pine's swaying and the involuntary swishing sounds it made, Su Ping seemed to grasp the meaning of its words.
However, the sensation was still extremely faint. He did not know whether that was because he had only just acquired the mind communication talent, or simply because the little pine before him was so young that even the mental fluctuations conveying its meaning could not be picked up.
Like a child who had found a fun new toy, Su Ping's interest soared.
Without a moment's delay, he headed over to the Forest Wolves' training group to continue experimenting.
While Su Ping enjoyed himself and gained a deeper understanding of the Forest Wolves through mind communication,
Li Shu, standing beside the medicinal furnace, was already on the verge of a breakdown.
When Su Ping had taught him how the medicinal furnace worked and what he would be doing next, Li Shu had been excited.
That was because, during his father's routine video-call inspection before bed tonight, he could finally say proudly that he had done something other than customer service, scooping poop, and mowing grass.
Instead, like a real Breeder, he would try his hand at preparing medicinal ingredients, food, or whatever else pet beasts needed.
In short, this was one small step on the road to becoming a Breeder, but one giant leap toward giving his life meaning!
And once he began wielding the pestle while controlling the temperature,
after pounding for five minutes, Li Shu felt that something was slightly off, but overall, it was still tolerable.
After thirty minutes, he was still pounding away. Aside from a little soreness in his neck and arms, things were still fairly manageable.
After an hour of controlling the temperature, Li Shu's pestle-wielding arm had begun to tremble. Every trace of anticipation was gone, and he was even secretly hoping it would end soon.
Two and a half hours later.
His arms were swollen, and he was drenched in sweat as though he had just been hauled out of the water. The boiling steam made him so hot that he felt dizzy, while the horrific stench of crushed Wolf Smoke Grass stirred at high temperatures could not be completely blocked even by a gas mask.
The immense torment, both physical and mental, finally became more than Li Shu could bear.
He entered the stage of questioning his entire life.
If this was what life as a Breeder was like, Li Shu was already considering whether he should give up.
Was this shit even work for a human being?
Wasn't this supposed to be a job for some strong livestock-type pet beast, like a Load-Bearing Donkey?
Li Shu had his doubts.
Clearly, if this job were so easy, Su Ping would not have been drooling over the three-hundred-million-yuan piece of equipment Vice President Liu had sent him information about.
Although a Beast Tamer's body grew stronger as their rank rose, improving their stamina and other physical capabilities, the main improvements were still to their mental power and their own beast taming space.
There really were not many with exceptional physical strength.
And Li Shu, who had only barely reached ordinary tier two, was obviously nowhere close.
Yet, however unwilling he was, as he looked at the foul-smelling liquid in the medicinal furnace that had already begun to reduce in places after heating, Li Shu could only force himself to swing the pestle again and begin the final stage-a torment even worse than a Load-Bearing Donkey's work.
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