The next morning, the sun shone brightly, and the calls of birds and Green Silkworms rose and fell outside.
Shi Yu slept until he woke naturally, then got out of bed in a daze. After mechanically washing up, he lay back down.
"Right, I need to go out later," he muttered.
By now, he had more or less recovered. He checked the Skill Index and saw that the eight-hour cooldown had reached zero, meaning he could use it to teach skills again.
He planned to try teaching Hardening today, but even an ungraded skill needed eight hours of recovery. A low-level skill would surely take a greater toll.
So he planned to go out and buy some supplements to use after teaching the skill.
Whether summoning or recalling a pet beast, using a Beast Taming Talent to strengthen it, or letting it grow in the Beast Taming Space, a Beast Tamer would expend a certain amount.
As a result, there were not only all kinds of nutritional products and medicines for pet beasts, but also plenty of supplements on the market for Beast Tamers.
Shi Yu had only just become a Beast Tamer and didn't know much about this, but he was sure he could buy some. After all, little advertisements for these medicines were practically everywhere.
He had looked into the Skill Index's cooldown yesterday. That time seemed to be calculated on the basis of normal rest.
Taking supplements or resting deeply would speed it up. The cooldown wasn't completely fixed; it depended only on his current condition.
Once the Skill Index judged that his body had more or less recovered, he could begin the next round of teaching.
That made things much more manageable. In the future, he could carry a water bottle and brew some otherworldly goji berries, then tuck a box of restorative medicine into his pocket. He might even be able to endure teaching mid- and high-level skills.
Besides, now that he had become a Beast Tamer, his constitution would only grow stronger. Teaching skills might be so taxing only for the time being.
In any case... he needed to know his limits. Shi Yu didn't want to enter a beast taming competition someday and need the Iron-Eating Beast to wheel him into battle.
"Eleven, keep sleeping in there. I'll let you out after I'm done shopping."
After notifying the little Iron-Eating Beast through Telepathy, Shi Yu resisted the temptation to go back to sleep and chose to head out.
"Right, I forgot to say hello to you."
After Shi Yu walked out of his room and into the courtyard, he suddenly remembered something and looked up at the persimmon trees.
Inside the birdcage hanging from a branch of the persimmon tree on the left, the Green Silkworm was already awake.
It was quite unbothered... calmly eating leaves in the cage. Somehow, a pile of persimmon leaves had appeared inside, some of them half-eaten.
Shi Yu thought about it. The Green Silkworm must have pulled them over with Worm Silk.
Now that its Worm Silk proficiency had reached the proficient level, doing that was easy.
The Green Silkworm paid Shi Yu no attention, simply munching on leaves and staring blankly at the sky by itself.
Why was a worm like it shut in a birdcage?
Then again, from another perspective, the birds were shut outside the birdcage... making it much safer.
"Come to think of it, this Green Silkworm is a little strange too..." Shi Yu muttered to himself just before leaving.
Other Green Silkworms headed for nutritious plants in pursuit of growth and evolution, but this one had no ambition whatsoever. It had come to eat the leaves of his untended persimmon tree, content to stay out of the world's affairs.
No wonder this Green Silkworm was malnourished.
If he hadn't used the Skill Index on it and taught it Worm Silk, it probably wouldn't have undergone a second metamorphosis before the end of its life.
"On my way back, I'll pick a few more kinds of ordinary plants by the roadside to improve its meals..."
He couldn't afford the spiritual plants and rare fruits at breeding bases that promoted Green Silkworm growth, but there were as many ordinary roadside plants as he could want.
As his future Worm Silk supplier, it couldn't be allowed to die too soon from malnutrition...
Hang in there. Once a Green Silkworm reached growth level ten, it had a chance to spin a cocoon and evolve.
When that happened, it would spin silk around itself to form a cocoon. The higher its Worm Silk proficiency, the greater the chance of successful evolution, and the greater the differences between individuals.
So as long as this Green Silkworm stayed obediently in Shi Yu's birdcage, it was entirely possible for it to defy the heavens and change its fate someday...
"It's changed a lot compared to my memories."
After leaving home, Shi Yu walked along the streets of Ping City, once again marveling at how much the place had changed. Besides the towering buildings, the pedestrians along the road best reflected those changes.
Whether or not someone was a Beast Tamer, keeping a pet seemed to have become a trend in this world.
The more thriving the beast taming culture in a place, the closer the relationship between people and pets.
He saw a middle-aged man riding a four-wheeled cart, pulled along by a leashed Icefield Dog that looked like a husky.
Good grief, truly green travel: natural and pollution-free, though a little hard on the dog.
And besides people walking dogs, there were people walking cats.
Shi Yu saw a girl chasing a Gem Cat all over the place.
If walking a dog was like riding a horse, walking a cat was like fighting a bull. Most of the time, it wasn't the person walking the cat, but the cat walking the person.
The situation was out of control... most likely because the cat's owner wasn't a Beast Tamer and the two hadn't signed a contract. She was keeping the Gem Cat as a pet.
Gem Cats resembled the ragdoll cats of Earth. They were very pretty, and their combat power was a little greater than that of Green Silkworms.
Like Green Silkworms, their method of evolution was publicly known, and their upper limit wasn't low.
As long as one had a rare Cat's Eye Gem, a Gem Cat could gain different racial abilities depending on the type of gem and complete its evolution.
The better the quality of the Cat's Eye Gem used, the greater the power the Gem Cat gained. It was a pet beast that used ocular techniques.
Basically, a Gem Cat without a Cat's Eye Gem could only be a pet, while one with a Cat's Eye Gem was a quality battle pet.
Shi Yu didn't look for long. It was an ordinary Gem Cat with no signs of evolution. Perhaps it was still in the basic training stage.
After all, a Cat's Eye Gem cost more than a Gem Cat itself.
Gems were natural resources and exceedingly scarce, but cats could keep breeding. As time went on, the price of Cat's Eye Gems rose, while the price of Gem Cats fell...
Taking in the atmosphere of present-day Ping City, Shi Yu searched for a pharmacy.
Eventually, he arrived at a place called the Hundred Herbs Hall Pharmacy, four kilometers from his home.
The layout was no different from a pharmacy on Earth. After entering, Shi Yu saw all sorts of boxed and bottled medicines in glass display cases. If he had to point out a difference, perhaps it was that pharmacies in this world served both people and beasts.
Because of cultural differences, even doctors who specialized in treating people knew a thing or two about treating animals.
The reason was simple: money. They only had to earn one more qualification, and their income would at least double.
"Can I help you?"
After Shi Yu entered the pharmacy, the young doctor at the front desk asked him.
"Do you buy Worm Silk here too?"
Shi Yu had immediately noticed a sign inside the pharmacy listing the various medicinal materials it purchased. One of them was Green Silkworm Worm Silk.
"Yes, but it has to come from Green Silkworms fed on certain medicinal materials. It also has to be of high quality. Once it passes an ingredient test, we can buy it here."
"The medicinal materials are listed on the sign. You can take a look."
"Okay." Shi Yu nodded and really did study it carefully.
Depending on what a Green Silkworm ate, the properties of its Worm Silk also varied. For example, some textile factories required Worm Silk with various cold-resistant and heat-insulating properties.
An outfit made from cold-resistant Worm Silk was very expensive. For instance, ordinary Beast Tamers who wanted to explore the snowy mountains outside Icefield City needed cold-resistant expedition clothing.
As for the Worm Silk this pharmacy bought for medicinal use, it naturally had to be raised to contain certain ingredients.
The so-called high quality probably meant the Green Silkworm's Worm Silk proficiency had to reach the expert level. If its proficiency reached the perfect level, the price would be several times higher.
After looking at the purchase price, Shi Yu swallowed. Counting his inheritance and various subsidies, and considering that he had a loan to repay every month, he and the Iron-Eating Beast could only hold out for a year at most.
If he didn't make something of himself within that year, such as becoming a professional Beast Tamer, he would have to settle down and clock in at a breeding base. The funding for raising the Iron-Eating Beast would also dry up.
But if he could raise the Green Silkworm's Worm Silk to perfect quality, then even accounting for food costs, a single little worm could support the Iron-Eating Beast. If he opened a Green Silkworm breeding farm, he would be financially free.
He seemed to have found a real business opportunity. He was the bug-catching boy all along.
"Are you a Beast Tamer? Are you interested in selling Worm Silk?"
While Shi Yu studied the sign, the young doctor casually asked him a question, bringing him back to reality.
"Not for now. Please get me two bottles of that medicine." Shi Yu pointed toward one section.
Doctor: ???