As it turned out, stupidity and laughter weren't the only things that could spread. Hard work could be contagious too.
After finishing their boxed meals, Chen Kai and the others watched the Iron-Eating Beast, who was still training, during their short break. They could hardly sit still.
Even the habitually lazy Iron-Eating Beast was working so hard, so diligently, without wasting a moment. What right did they have to rest?
"Now I finally understand why the pass rate for the city's professional Beast Tamer assessment is so high..."
"Do all the Beast Tamers who go to school in your city work this hard? And just how did you raise your pet to be so self-disciplined...?" Chen Kai asked, his face twitching.
Was the standard of education in the city really that much higher than in the suburbs?
He had never seen anything like Shi Yu's situation among the Beast Tamers around him.
"It's not quite that exaggerated..." Shi Yu said.
Had he unwittingly raised the three of their opinions of Beast Tamers from the big city?
A misunderstanding. It was purely a misunderstanding.
He carried supplements purely because he had no choice.
He didn't want to push himself so hard either, but the cost of using the Skill Index was simply that high. What could he do?
As for Eleven, he was purely an accident too!
He had come with the hardworking attribute from the start. It had little to do with Shi Yu...
Eleven had been left over after everyone else made their picks, letting Shi Yu scoop up a bargain.
Back then, probably only Lin Xiuzhu and Shi Yu himself had recognized Eleven's extraordinary potential.
Lin Xiuzhu had seen it because she had extensive experience raising pets. As for Shi Yu, he had simply been confident no matter what pet he chose, thanks to the assurance of the Skill Index.
It was only through a combination of chance and circumstance that this unscientific reaction had occurred between Shi Yu and Eleven.
In short, there was really no need to learn from them. They were exceptions, so never believe what your eyes saw!
They'd only learn themselves to ruin.
Even so, Shi Yu couldn't exactly explain it. Surely he couldn't tell other people not to work hard.
"How is it not exaggerated?"
"But a little exaggeration is good. That's how you get ahead. Say no more. From now on, I'm going to make my Ice Armor Beast train at this intensity."
"And me too. Tomorrow I'm going to the pharmacy to buy a whole box of Mind-Clearing Capsules and stay up late studying."
"I refuse to believe I can't do it. We've all got two arms and two legs... If he can do it, so can I," Chen Kai said through gritted teeth.
He had shamelessly insisted on accompanying Shi Yu on the mission because he wanted to see exactly why Shi Yu was so strong and find the reason behind it.
Now that he had finally found it, of course he wanted to give it a try too.
Zhuang Yue and Yu Jingjing exchanged glances. Though neither said anything, they also felt that perhaps they really had slacked off a little.
They clearly still had plenty of time they could spend working hard... Definitely tomorrow.
Shi Yu: "..."
Were they really going to push themselves that hard?
Then he wished them success.
In any case, working hard and being diligent wasn't a bad thing...
Shi Yu was gratified that his fine qualities could influence others.
"Shi Yu, are you planning to take the professional Beast Tamer assessment? Oh, right, you're a breeding major... Or are you planning to take the professional breeder assessment?" Chen Kai asked.
"Well..."
A professional Beast Tamer followed the traditional path of advancement for Beast Tamers, and the assessment tested a Beast Tamer's combat strength.
The professional breeder assessment, on the other hand, tested a Beast Tamer's ability to raise and nurture pets. Most of their future work would be at breeding bases.
More advanced breeders could strike out on their own and help other Beast Tamers care for their pets. Related professions had even emerged, such as skill instructors and evolution planners.
By rights, Shi Yu was a breeding major and also had the Skill Index. If he qualified as a professional breeder, he would definitely make so much money that his hands cramped from counting it...
But his second talent was just too strange. Shi Yu really was afraid that if it were exposed, he would be captured and sliced up for study.
Although this country was also a society governed by law, there was clearly a class divide between high-level Beast Tamers and ordinary people. The fact that there wasn't even a relatively fair path of advancement like the college entrance examination showed how severe the monopolization was in this world.
Things like Beast Tamers using underhanded tactics against each other in public battles also occurred endlessly. Factional rivalries and competition between nations were both dangerous to get caught up in.
What was more, some highly intelligent transcendent creatures were eyeing human territories like tigers watching their prey... He didn't want to lose his freedom.
After thinking it over, Shi Yu decided that if the Skill Index's teaching method couldn't be changed, he would absolutely never use this talent to teach skills to other people's pets until he was strong enough to protect himself.
He wouldn't even teach wild creatures with a little intelligence.
Unless they were pets with practically no intelligence, like Green Silkworms. After being taught, a Green Silkworm wouldn't even know what had happened, so only then would there be no safety risk.
In short, Shi Yu could only teach pets who had signed a soul contract with him without worry.
Therefore, Shi Yu thought it would be more reliable to take the professional Beast Tamer assessment first and increase his own combat strength.
Some outstanding Beast Tamers could teach their pets skills outside their species' repertoire. The Iron-Eating Beasts at the Bamboo Stone Dojo, for example, included many who could master lightning and fire skills.
Even some rare wild pets with good talent could potentially master skills outside their species' repertoire.
For instance, the wolf kings of Snow Wolf packs had generally mastered Intimidation.
Private secret methods for teaching skills like these, however outrageous, were relatively common in the higher-level Beast Tamer world. They weren't impossible.
On the other hand, a Beast Taming Talent that could copy skills and teach them to pets with a single touch had never appeared before. Besides, he was a transmigrator who had started out with two talents...
In other words, he was an invasive species. It wasn't safe...
In this relatively dangerous world, strength was the foundation of everything... There was no going wrong with improving his own strength first.
"Although I'm a breeding major, I want to prepare for the professional Beast Tamer assessment first," Shi Yu said.
His answer immediately caught the interest of Chen Kai and the two girls.
Chen Kai said, "Let me see. The next one... no, the one after next, right? Looks like we might even be able to take it together."
The professional Beast Tamer assessment was held once a year, on January 1.
It was already July, leaving less than half a year until the next assessment began.
Shi Yu's Iron-Eating Beast was currently at Awakening Level Five, while Chen Kai's Ice Armor Beast was at Awakening Level Six. Neither met the standard for taking the professional assessment.
The minimum requirement for the first round, the basic test of the professional Beast Tamer assessment, was for a Beast Tamer's pet to possess Transcendent Level combat strength.
That was the level after Awakening Level Ten.
Even reaching Level Ten in half a year would be a stretch for their pets, let alone reaching the Transcendent Level. So Chen Kai instinctively assumed that Shi Yu, like him, planned to take the assessment after next.
However.
"If I don't pass the next assessment, we could take the one after that together," Shi Yu said seriously.
Without another source of income, his meager savings couldn't support raising Eleven for a year and a half...
So obtaining a professional certificate sooner would help ease Shi Yu's financial pressure.
He planned to take the next professional assessment directly, in half a year.
Chen Kai: ???
"But isn't your Iron-Eating Beast only Level Five?"
"Wouldn't reaching the Transcendent Level in half a year be a bit of a stretch...?"
When it came to growth levels, they naturally became harder to raise the further one went.
The bottleneck between the Awakening Stage and the Transcendent Level had stopped who knew how many creatures in their tracks.
The transformation from an ordinary creature to a transcendent one depended entirely on whether it could cross this transcendent threshold.
"It's all right. Reaching the Transcendent Level might be a little difficult, but Awakening Level Ten shouldn't be a problem..."
As long as he kept strengthening Eleven's racial skills, his growth level would transform along with them.
Shi Yu felt that reaching Level Ten in half a year shouldn't be much of a problem. There was even a strong possibility of reaching the Transcendent Level.
Even if Eleven couldn't reach the Transcendent Level, being at the Awakening Level didn't necessarily bar him from the professional assessment. Those with strength had always enjoyed privileges.
"You mean that special assessment???"
Chen Kai realized something.
"The one where you challenge an opponent above your level??" The other two girls had heard of it too.
The professional assessment had a special standard for certain genius Beast Tamers and pets with high species levels.
Pets who hadn't reached the Transcendent Level in growth but could defeat a genuine Transcendent Level creature while still in the Awakening Stage, and thus possessed transcendent combat strength, could also participate in the rest of the professional assessment with their Beast Tamers.
"Right, that one where you challenge an opponent above your level... If he can't reach the Transcendent Level, we can take that route," Shi Yu said with a smile.
For a pet with high-proficiency skills and high-level skills, wasn't challenging someone above his level a piece of cake?
Chen Kai understood now too. For an Iron-Eating Beast who had mastered an Expert Level racial skill at Level Five... challenging an opponent above his level really wasn't difficult!
He had already been beaten by someone below his level!
The more he thought about it, the more he regretted asking so many questions. His mentality was shattered. Compare one pet with another, and you'd anger the Beast Tamer to death...
Once he got back, he absolutely had to super-double his Ice Armor Beast's training intensity!!!
In the eyes of the three of them, Shi Yu was still mysterious and powerful. They just didn't know whether he could really pass the very next professional assessment...