There were plenty of missions, but few seemed suitable for Eleven.
The missions here were purely a way for people to hire Beast Tamers as temporary workers for a low price.
For example, the mission to capture live Wind Locusts had been posted by the Beast Tamer Association on behalf of a restaurant.
Wind Locusts were supernatural creatures, agricultural pests, and a popular delicacy on the dinner table.
Compared with buying live Wind Locusts directly from a farm, purchasing them through a mission here was more economical.
The only drawback was probably the slower pace, but this clearly wasn't a time-sensitive emergency mission. The restaurant wanted a steady stream over time.
Catching flying Wind Locusts was quite troublesome. Although these creatures weren't much stronger than Green Silkworms, they were highly agile. Their racial skill was Wind Wings, and they were very fast.
After looking through the missions, Shi Yu thought he might have chosen that one if Eleven could fly. Without that ability, the mission would be too difficult.
Although they had won the battle just now fairly easily, Shi Yu had still reflected on it.
The Ice Armor Beast's attacks had been swift, and Eleven, who had little practical combat experience, could only instinctively harden his entire body to defend against them.
But there had actually been another option: judge where the opponent was attacking and defend only that part of his body.
That would have saved a lot of stamina.
Expert Level Hardening gave them the means to fight with Eleven's whole body hardened, but winning at the smallest possible cost would clearly demonstrate a pet beast's superior combat proficiency.
"Perhaps I should arrange for Super Vision as the next skill."
Although Iron-Eating Beasts had explosive bursts of speed, when it came to reaction speed and eyesight, those who knew, knew.
Shi Yu reckoned his eyesight would be better than Eleven's even with sunglasses on.
This racial flaw had kept Eleven from accurately judging where the enemy was attacking during the battle, leaving him no choice but to harden his whole body.
But if Eleven got Super Vision, the situation could improve greatly. In battle, he would be able to clearly see the enemy's attacks.
Missions like catching agile Wind Locusts were also evidently a fairly good way to train Super Vision and reaction speed, so Shi Yu naturally considered them an option.
"Actually, this mission to clear out Earth-Burrowing Rats could work too..."
Since Eleven couldn't fly, Shi Yu turned his attention to another mission.
Earth-Burrowing Rats were also creatures at the bottom of the pet beast world. Their racial skill was Earth Escape, and they excelled at fleeing underground. As for combat strength, an Awakening Stage Earth-Burrowing Rat was at most comparable to a stray dog; an adult with a weapon could handle one in a one-on-one fight.
What made these creatures troublesome, however, was that they bred too quickly, were vast in number, and moved nimbly. They often worked together when faced with danger, so their threat couldn't be judged by normal growth stages.
Fortunately, unless driven into a desperate situation, their absolute first choice upon encountering another creature was to flee. Otherwise, their impact would surely have been even greater.
Even so, these creatures were worse than Wind Locusts and were listed as one of the Four Pests. They were frequently active, ate whatever they could get, ran rampant, and searched tirelessly for food.
They weren't limited to stealing grain and gnawing through crops; their Earth Escape skill also damaged buildings.
There might have been relatively few in the city, but in some rural areas, Earth-Burrowing Rats were so numerous and difficult to eradicate completely that they were a major headache.
The mission to clear out Earth-Burrowing Rats had been jointly posted by several towns and villages under Pingcheng District. It was also a long-term mission, and almost every day, Beast Tamers formed groups to go into the countryside and eliminate the pests.
Wiping out Earth-Burrowing Rats wasn't necessarily easier than catching live Wind Locusts, and it seemed like it could also train Eleven's reaction speed.
It reminded Shi Yu of a game...
Whac-A-Mole!
Spotting an Earth-Burrowing Rat and taking it out before it escaped underground-wasn't that just like the Whac-A-Mole minigame?
The reward for this mission was calculated according to the number of Earth-Burrowing Rats eliminated, and the pay wasn't high, falling short of the Wind Locust-catching mission.
Shi Yu suspected the main reason was that their bodies were built like clods of dirt and nobody wanted to eat them. They tasted far worse than Wind Locusts, so the price was low...
"Taking Eleven to train his reaction speed for a few days wouldn't be bad."
"Hardening training can stop for now. Expert Level Hardening is enough at the moment."
Raising a pet beast required well-rounded development!
Having decided to take the Earth-Burrowing Rat clearing mission, Shi Yu took his identification and prepared to register.
But as he stood in line, he happened to notice that the person in front of him looked very familiar.
The Beast Tamer ahead of him also seemed to sense something in the unseen, and instinctively turned around, only to see Shi Yu smiling at him.
"What a coincidence."
"Has your Ice Armor Beast recovered?"
This person was none other than Chen Kai, the honor student Shi Yu and Eleven had crushed after school just now.
When Chen Kai turned and saw Shi Yu, his face instantly darkened.
"It has," he said unhappily.
"Are you here to do a mission too?" Shi Yu asked.
Chen Kai nodded.
After his Ice Armor Beast's injuries were treated by a Beast Tamer with healing abilities at the battle venue, he grew more upset the more he thought about his loss.
Chen Kai then decided to strive for improvement and take a mission over the weekend to train himself. He had taken a taxi here and arrived a step ahead of Shi Yu, who couldn't bear to spend money on a taxi.
"Are you here for one too? What mission are you planning to take?" Chen Kai asked after nodding.
He wanted to know what kind of training mission an "expert" like Shi Yu was taking. Perhaps it would be useful as a reference.
"Clearing out groundhogs-no, wait, I think they're called Earth-Burrowing Rats," Shi Yu said.
"On your own?" Chen Kai was stunned.
Shi Yu nodded.
"Is there a problem?"
"No... Generally speaking, that mission is better suited to a team. Earth-Burrowing Rats are too cunning, and working together usually makes it easier to clear them out on a large scale."
"How about I team up with you? I'll take that mission too," Chen Kai eagerly asked.
Shi Yu: ?
What was with this guy?
It wasn't as if Shi Yu were some beauty, and he had just trounced Chen Kai. Why was Chen Kai so eager?
"There's no difference between one person and two, is there..."
"I can go call two more classmates. Then we can have someone controlling, someone drawing aggro, and someone dealing damage. It'll be more efficient."
Shi Yu: "..."
Are you fighting a boss here?
Shi Yu thought it over. A few Earth-Burrowing Rats really weren't much of a threat, but if there were a lot of them and he ran into a whole nest, they would indeed be troublesome.
Teaming up seemed like a good choice too. He couldn't keep shutting himself off like before.
"Sure." Shi Yu nodded and said, "Then let's take the mission together."
"Great. I'll call two more classmates tonight and put together a standard four-person party." Chen Kai smiled.
If it had been an ordinary peer, he wouldn't have been so eager. The main reason was that Shi Yu's strength had dealt him a real blow, and he wanted a closer look at how Shi Yu trained his pet beast.
Could Shi Yu really do something special training a lazy Iron-Eating Beast?
Once they had settled it, the two agreed to meet here the next morning.
Afterward, Shi Yu didn't stay out much longer. On his way home, he stopped by the pharmacy to restock his supplements.
"You again?" Inside the pharmacy, the young doctor wore a strange expression when he saw Shi Yu.
This was already Shi Yu's third visit in the past half month.
What on earth was this person doing every day? He suspected Shi Yu had a Fusion talent.
"Ahem, my pet beast has been training and fighting a little more, and I've been in poor health since childhood, so I can't help it..." Shi Yu explained.
The young doctor expressed understanding and sympathy, then got the supplements for Shi Yu. At the same time, Shi Yu was considering whether he should switch pharmacies, or his reputation would be ruined sooner or later.