"That Iron-Eating Beast cub should be your initial pet beast, right?"
"And is this Green Silkworm another pet beast you're raising?"
Lu Qingyi had chosen the gifts she intended to give him based on those two pet beasts. She had noticed the Iron-Eating Beast and the Green Silkworm long ago.
The Iron-Eating Beast was no surprise. Shi Yu's records showed that his initial pet beast was an Iron-Eating Beast, but the Green Silkworm was a discovery not mentioned in the records.
She could tell that the Green Silkworm probably hadn't signed a contract with Shi Yu, which meant it was currently wild.
There was nothing unusual about raising wild pet beasts. Besides the major breeding bases, many Beast Tamers with the Telepathy talent liked doing it.
Some Beast Tamers were limited by their level and couldn't contract more pet beasts, but still wanted to raise more. The solution was simple: just don't contract them.
With the Telepathy talent, they could communicate with wild pet beasts without any barriers. As long as their relationship was good enough, a contract was optional. The only pity was that the pet beasts couldn't enter the Beast Taming Space to grow quickly.
In Lu Qingyi's view, this Green Silkworm was probably an additional pet beast Shi Yu was raising.
Perhaps he wanted to keep it for fun, or perhaps he wanted to raise it into a Wind Crystal Butterfly and contract it later...
At least from what she could tell, this Green Silkworm had been raised very well. Its Worm Silk level was probably quite high, and it would definitely have no trouble evolving successfully. Shi Yu was indeed worthy of being a graduate of a breeding program.
"Skill manuals... evolution methods... pet beast cubs?"
Shi Yu would have been quite satisfied with the ten million arriving in his account, but now she wanted to give him more things. He fell into thought.
One shouldn't accept rewards without doing anything to deserve them. Wouldn't it be a little bad to keep accepting gifts? Forget it. I've already taken the ten million, so why be modest now?
A skill manual for Iron-Eating Beasts would be nice... Although Eleven didn't lack skills, the more the merrier.
Besides, he could use skills obtained through normal channels without worrying.
As for the Green Silkworm's evolution method, that would be nice too.
Shi Yu had originally planned to release Chongchong into the wild, but now that he thought about it, there was no harm in hearing about it.
He had taught Chongchong Worm Silk so many times and raised him for so long. It would be a pity to just release him.
He had raised Chongchong for so long without selling his Worm Silk even once. What a huge loss... But if the Green Silkworm could evolve into a decent species, he could keep working for Shi Yu.
A high-species pet beast cub... Shi Yu actually did want a special pet beast to broaden his horizons, preferably a fantasy creature like the ones described on Earth.
A dragon girl, for example, or a flower fairy, or a mermaid...
"Do I have to choose just one of the three?" Shi Yu asked.
Lu Qingyi: ?
"You want them all?"
"I have to grow stronger quickly so I can contribute to archaeology..." Shi Yu said.
Lu Qingyi fell into thought as well. She looked carefully at Shi Yu's face, sizing him up. She hadn't expected him to be so thick-skinned.
"All right." Lu Qingyi nodded. Very well, she would treat it all as wages paid in advance.
"Even if I gave you a high-species pet beast cub now, you wouldn't be able to contract it. We'll talk about it after you become an advanced Beast Tamer."
Shi Yu was currently an apprentice Beast Tamer and could only contract one pet beast. Only after becoming a junior Beast Tamer could he contract a second.
However, although a junior Beast Tamer could contract enough pet beasts, that still wasn't quite enough to contract the high-species pet beast cub she had mentioned. A Beast Taming Space at that level couldn't sustain the accelerated growth of a high-species pet beast cub.
Shi Yu: "..."
True, even if he were given an extra pet beast cub now, he wouldn't be able to contract it.
"As for the Iron-Eating Beast's skill manuals... I don't know much about that kind of pet beast, but I've heard that the Bamboo Stone Dojo in Ping City has two skills suitable for an Iron-Eating Beast to learn."
"I'll also give you a letter of recommendation tomorrow. You can go to the Bamboo Stone Dojo and learn from the dojo master whenever you like."
Shi Yu: "..."
That had already been part of his plan!
But his previous plan had been to go challenge the dojo and secretly learn the skills.
Now, instead, he would be taught personally by a master-level Beast Tamer and have a legitimate way to learn.
The Bamboo Stone Dojo only taught the secrets of its skills to direct disciples who joined the dojo. Very few people had mastered them, and they were an internal inheritance. But since the Eleven Bureau had so much influence, it wasn't impossible for an outsider like Shi Yu, who hadn't joined the dojo, to learn them.
"Okay." Shi Yu nodded. That worked too. Having a legitimate way to learn was better than secretly copying them.
"Then there's the evolution method... By the way, are you raising the Green Silkworm to turn it into a Wind Crystal Butterfly and then contract it?"
Finally, Lu Qingyi glanced at the Green Silkworm in the birdcage again and asked.
"No. It's just that the Green Silkworm is one of the most adaptable pet beasts, and I couldn't resist trying to raise one."
In plain language, Green Silkworms' Worm Silk was highly adaptable. Different buyers wanted Worm Silk raised in different ways, and he was short of money, so he couldn't resist raising one.
Green Silkworm: ...
Shi Yu meant one thing, but Lu Qingyi understood it differently.
The Green Silkworm was indeed one of the most adaptable pet beasts. Among the currently known evolution paths, it could evolve into the greatest variety of pet beasts.
As a pet beast that underwent complete metamorphosis, it could evolve into the vast majority of moth and butterfly creatures during its first evolution, depending on how it was raised. Dozens of kinds were already known.
Almost every researcher studying evolution used a pet beast like the Green Silkworm as their first experimental subject.
The reason was simple: Green Silkworms had a short breeding cycle, and the process of breaking out of the cocoon as a butterfly was like a lottery. Everyone was a gambling addict, and no one knew what would emerge from the cocoon. That sense of anticipation was incredibly thrilling.
"I won't tell you about the paths that lead to a transcendent-level species after evolution. I know three commander-level evolution paths. You can choose one."
"If it's raised successfully, this Green Silkworm's potential can leap past that little Iron-Eating Beast's, making it very suitable as your second pet beast," Lu Qingyi said.
Eleven: (｡・`ω´･) Growl.
Beside them, Eleven had a vague feeling that someone was talking badly about him. It seemed to be that bad woman...
"Chirp-"
The Green Silkworm was still as silly as ever, looking none too bright. He didn't care about evolution either. After all, one couldn't expect a worm to have the intelligence of a mammal. Perhaps only evolution could make him smarter.
"Which three?"
"The three evolution paths lead to the low commander level, medium commander level, and high commander level respectively. Their evolution requirements also range from easy to difficult."
"First is the Ice Crystal Swallowtail, a low commander-level pet beast with both wind and ice attributes. The strongest species skill it can awaken is Blizzard."
"Next is the Ghost Beauty Butterfly, a medium commander-level pet beast with the dark attribute. It specializes in curse-type skills and is an expert at ambushes and assassination."
"Then there's the Goddess of Light Butterfly, a high commander-level pet beast with the light attribute. It can master various kinds of light rays and is an expert in illusions."
"Besides certain materials and foods, evolving into these species requires the Green Silkworm's Worm Silk proficiency to reach at least the expert level before it forms a cocoon. The perfect level would be best, as that would draw out as much of the pet beast's potential as possible during evolution."
"However, raising Worm Silk proficiency to the perfect level is far too difficult, so there's no need to force it. After all, a Green Silkworm's lifespan and talent are limited."