The Skill Index? I Could Do Without It

Next, Shi Yu took over the electric cave occupied by the Electric Slime, without question.

There was plenty of Electric Ore here, enough for Eleven to eat his fill.

As for the Electric Slime, Shi Yu wasn't in a hurry to exchange it for points.

"I'll give you two pieces of Electric Ore to eat every day, but you have to discharge all the electricity you consume."

Shi Yu communicated telepathically with the Electric Slime, whose consciousness was still hazy.

This fellow was an excellent generator. Its Discharge skill could train Eleven's resistance to lightning, thereby increasing his lightning affinity.

It was roughly equivalent to tempering his body with lightning.

Ordinary pets definitely couldn't train this way, but Eleven was an exception.

His tiny bit of lightning talent, combined with Proficient Level High-Speed Healing, which could restore the damage caused by lightning stimulating his body at top speed, allowed Eleven to train with lightning without restraint.

Electric Slime: I might not be human, but you really aren't human.

Just like that, the drained Electric Slime became the second training tool after the Green Silkworm.

"Awoo!!"

After hearing Shi Yu explain the new training regimen, the little Iron-Eating Beast danced with excitement.

Eleven was quite interested in this new training method.

Eating Electric Ore and getting zapped by a weakened version of Discharge seemed no less effective than the jump-off-a-building training method.

The only thing was, after training like this, Eleven's fur became much fluffier, making him look a size fatter.

"This..."

In the safe zone, Little Bear Yan Qi, who had told Shi Yu he could come train at Magnetic Mountain, sank into thought.

He watched the Iron-Eating Beast on the screen jogging with a discharging Electric Slime in his arms, question marks hovering over his head.

He had told Shi Yu that putting an Iron-Eating Beast through a lightning baptism after it ate Electric Ore could also increase its lightning talent.

But he hadn't expected Shi Yu to simply keep an Electric Slime as a tool pet.

The Telepathy talent was so OP...

Shi Yu's even more inhuman move came later. Using insulated gloves, they soon found the first Slime a companion.

The Electric Slime living in another electric cave on Magnetic Mountain was also captured by Shi Yu and his pet.

The next day, the third Slime failed to escape their clutches and was captured by Shi Yu and the Iron-Eating Beast.

In the end, the situation plainly became one where three Slimes helped Eleven train together.

Shi Yu arranged the three energy-depleted Electric Slimes in a triangle, with Eleven right in the middle.

Shi Yu would provide a piece of Electric Ore, and after absorbing a little energy, the Slimes had to release some electricity so the little Iron-Eating Beast in the middle could temper his body.

Although the Slimes were unwilling, they could only submit to Shi Yu and the Iron-Eating Beast's oppressive might.

They had no choice. Shi Yu controlled things too well, never giving the Slimes too much food and keeping their combat power at the level of electric modeling clay, leaving them utterly unable to resist.

When it came to controlling meals, Shi Yu had accumulated a wealth of experience with the Green Silkworm, and the Electric Slimes suffered beyond words.

Just like that, with a large amount of Electric Ore and the Slimes' Discharge to temper Eleven's body, Shi Yu and his pet saw results after only a day in the Magnetic Mountain Area.

Noon on the 29th.

By now, after a day, Shi Yu and his pet had searched every ore deposit in the Magnetic Mountain Area that was relatively easy to find.

Eleven trained under lightning while eating like crazy... and then something happened.

"Awoo!!"

After one round of electrocution, the fluffy-haired Eleven held out his palm.

The next second, a current of blue-white electricity burst from his palm, coiling around it wildly!

Intermediate skill, Thunder Palm!

"Holy crap."

The change nearly made Shi Yu, who was resting nearby, fall over.

What was going on?

Eleven... had comprehended Thunder Palm on his own???

Shi Yu hurriedly stuffed the three Slimes into a Worm Silk sack and returned to the previous safe zone.

He found Little Bear Yan Qi again to register, then called Eleven out.

"Mr. Yan Qi, is this what you meant by Thunder Palm?"

Crackle.

The little Iron-Eating Beast held out his palm, his expression intensely serious. A second later, more than a dozen blue-white arcs of electricity burst out of thin air from its center.

See? The Skill Index? I could do without it.

"Yip." This time, he had successfully learned a new skill without Shi Yu adding points!

"Holy crap."

Yan Qi exploded on the spot.

"How is that possible?"

"This isn't scientific."

He stared dumbfounded at Eleven, the Iron-Eating Beast cub whose palm could now be wreathed in electric current, and sank into contemplation about life.

"It's only been a day. How could your Iron-Eating Beast awaken his lightning talent so quickly?"

At present, his own Iron-Eating Beast's control over lightning even seemed inferior to this little Iron-Eating Beast's!

This was absurd. According to common theory, it was impossible to awaken lightning talent so easily using only Electric Ore and electric shocks.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few Iron-Eating Beasts at the Bamboo Stone Dojo that had mastered Thunder Palm...

There should have been other steps needed to assist the process, so how had Shi Yu and his pet completed all the training in a single day with such simple materials?

"Maybe we worked really hard?" Shi Yu said, putting on a thoughtful expression.

Yan Qi was suddenly at a loss for words, because whenever he noticed Shi Yu and this Iron-Eating Beast, they were always fighting, training, or eating!

He rarely saw them rest, and even when they did, it was only for a short while before they quickly set off again.

Had he been looking at a fake Iron-Eating Beast? Were they sure this was an Iron-Eating Beast and not a hyperactive husky beast?

"It's still not scientific..." Yan Qi looked at the little Iron-Eating Beast. Even so, wasn't this talent a little too monstrous?

"So this is Thunder Palm, right?" Shi Yu chuckled. It really wasn't scientific.

But he thought he knew what had happened. It might have been because of High-Speed Healing.

The wood-type skill High-Speed Healing involved using one's own life force and represented growth.

And in the system of the five elements and eight trigrams, lightning also belonged to wood. Healing the damage caused by lightning body tempering with a wood-type skill had not only improved training efficiency; some marvelous reaction had probably occurred between the two, speeding up Eleven's mastery.

It wasn't scientific, but it was very much fantasy.

"I..." Yan Qi said, still questioning his life, "Although its power looks a little weak, it really is Thunder Palm..."

"Mm, its intensity still isn't quite enough. At most, it has just reached the beginner standard. Only when the palm can withstand a high-intensity current, allowing the condensed lightning to have a strong paralyzing and piercing effect, does Thunder Palm become truly powerful."

"I understand." Shi Yu nodded, delighted.

This was like getting something without any effort at all. He had thought he would have to copy Thunder Palm at the dojo for Eleven to master it, but Eleven had actually comprehended and learned it on his own, giving Shi Yu a complete surprise.

Seen this way, there seemed to be a certain connection between different skills.

After learning one skill, learning another became much easier.

For example, Thunder Palm could actually be considered a superior version of Discharge. Once he knew Thunder Palm, it was effectively the same as knowing how to use Discharge.

However, although Eleven had already learned it on his own, Shi Yu still decided to record Thunder Palm in the Index later.

In Shi Yu's view, the Index's function for grinding skill proficiency was also very important. An intermediate skill ground to the maximum level might be no worse than a super-tier skill.

"Then, sorry for the trouble, Mr. Yan Qi, but could you help me register the points for the Slimes?"

"Are you going back to the Magnetic Mountain Area after this?"

"No. There isn't much Electric Ore left over there now."

Yan Qi: "..."

Beasts!!!

The points from that pile of Electric Ore were probably worth more than the three Slimes, and you ate it all???

After Shi Yu left, Yan Qi still hadn't recovered. Stiffly, he called Master Lin at the Bamboo Stone Dojo.

"Yan Qi? What is it?" Master Lin Hongnian asked on the other end.

"Master Lin, that Shi Yu did go to Magnetic Mountain to train, just as I suggested."

"Oh? How did it go?"

"Very well. His Iron-Eating Beast ate a whole mountain's worth of Electric Ore, and then they caught three Electric Slimes to help with training. He's already successfully mastered Thunder Palm."

Lin Hongnian: ???

Huh? Are you freaking kidding me?