Pay to Win, Feel Good Forever

Eleven had finally learned his first advanced skill, and Shi Yu was very pleased.

Though the legendary super-level skills capable of moving mountains and overturning seas, and the divine-level skills recorded only in myths and legends that could change heaven and earth, were still a distant prospect, this was a huge improvement.

But looking at the "Cooldown: 48 hours," Shi Yu fell into thought.

Rather than prepare lunch for Eleven and the others right away, he picked up the bottle containing the Divine Beans again.

One Divine Bean had canceled out 120 hours of weakness. If he ate another, would he instantly come back to life at full health, perhaps even in better spirits than before?

The instructions said... Divine Beans could be eaten repeatedly in large quantities while one was weakened, until one had fully recovered.

He had bought the lowest-grade Divine Beans, so he didn't have to worry about dying from too much nourishment at once. Eating two or three in one go should be fine.

Brilliant!

This was a pleasure the synthetic Mind-Clearing Capsules couldn't offer.

However, just as Shi Yu was about to eat a second Divine Bean, he hesitated.

A Divine Bean's effects clearly exceeded what was needed for a 48-hour period of weakness. Wouldn't eating one outright be a waste?

The instructions didn't say whether he could split one in half, and if he ate it as it was, rounding it off, he'd be wasting tens of thousands of yuan.

"One Divine Bean costs 100,000 yuan."

"One Ginseng Baby whisker costs 50,000 yuan."

"So perhaps I can switch to another supplement for now."

"No, even a Ginseng Baby whisker isn't a sure thing."

Shi Yu took out the Hundred Flowers Queen Bee's royal jelly, which also came in a small bottle.

Although the queen bee had "queen" in its name, it wasn't a Monarch Level creature, but a Commander Level one.

These creatures grew by absorbing the nectar of different exotic flowers.

The so-called bee jelly had many other names, including royal jelly and queen bee jelly. Even in his previous life, it had been a supplement.

In this world, it had even more nourishing effects.

Shi Yu fetched his goji berry water cup, emptied it, and began making a drink with a different supplement.

Although this small bottle of royal jelly was worth 300,000 yuan, it could be used many times. All he had to do was mix it with warm boiled water and drink it.

So, in theory, using this supplement first would give him the best control over the dosage, letting him try to avoid wasting any.

Shi Yu mixed a third of the royal jelly into a large cup of water.

After mixing it thoroughly, he took a small sip and waited.

It took effect much more slowly than the Divine Bean. Shi Yu waited several minutes before his body showed any reaction.

[Cooldown]: 46 hours

One small sip had shaved a full two hours off his period of weakness.

Shi Yu immediately grew excited.

"It's great to be rich!!!"

He had to admit, you got what you paid for. The Mind-Clearing Capsules he could buy at a pharmacy outside couldn't produce this effect at all!

Mind-Clearing Capsules merely used their medicinal effects to forcibly restore his spirits. They certainly couldn't make the big numbers in the cooldown jump around like this; at most, they helped him recover.

How could they compare to this... Watching the big numbers on the cooldown jump seemed to give Shi Yu a glimpse of a new life.

He might as well never visit that pharmacy again. He wouldn't have to endure the clerk's strange looks anymore.

"Gulp, gulp-"

Shi Yu took another swig and carried the cup with him.

He planned to reduce the cooldown to zero today, then teach another skill that night.

Paying to win felt great. His teaching efficiency had shot up in an instant.

It seemed Eleven and the Green Silkworm shouldn't expect to enjoy much of that ten million yuan in start-up funds. Saving it all to buy supplements was more cost-effective.

He was probably the only Beast Tamer who could get such results out of these supplements.

That evening, Shi Yu had drunk about half a cup of his happy water.

His teaching cooldown had finally reached zero.

Shi Yu was happy, but not all that happy.

He had used a third of his royal jelly to make the cup of happy water, so half a cup was worth about 50,000 yuan.

Yet it had only restored 48 hours' worth of weakness.

The Divine Bean, worth 100,000 yuan, had restored a full 120 hours.

Which was more cost-effective was immediately clear.

"That's not quite the right way to calculate it. After all, Divine Beans are supplements mainly meant to restore physical strength and stamina, while royal jelly has similar effects and can also prevent illness."

Shi Yu couldn't be bothered to do the math anymore. The problem now was that, after taking supplements all day, he had overdone it a little. He would probably have trouble falling asleep again.

"Worm Silk really should be my first choice when teaching a skill at night."

"The roughly eight-hour period of weakness from Worm Silk is just right for falling asleep."

Shi Yu promptly went to find the Green Silkworm and taught it Worm Silk for the fourth time since it had reached Expert Level.

Its proficiency increased, but there was no qualitative change.

It seemed he would have to keep teaching it if he wanted to reach Perfect Level Worm Silk.

"It's fine. From now on, I'll teach Worm Silk once every night to help me sleep. I'll probably max it out soon."

"I can raise Worm Silk's proficiency, prevent insomnia and late nights, promote sleep, and ensure my physical and mental health. That's a massive win."

August 2.

Early morning.

Shi Yu took out another Divine Bean and the remaining half cup of happy water, intending to teach Eleven another advanced skill.

"Eleven."

After his morning training and breakfast, Eleven was called over by Shi Yu again, making him a little uneasy.

More precisely, he had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, as Eleven watched, Shi Yu's right hand lit up again.

"Ying!"

What is it this time?

The little Iron-Eating Beast covered his eyes.

"This time, it's a skill that can increase your training efficiency."

[Skill]: Absolute Sleep

[Skill Level]: Advanced

[Description]: A mental-type skill that allows the user to enter an exceptionally deep sleep to quickly restore all aspects of their condition.

[Status]: Teachable

Absolute Sleep didn't seem very impressive, but it was actually powerful.

In fact, when a pet entered a Beast Taming Space, its state was similar to Absolute Sleep.

One could say that if a wild pet mastered this skill, it was almost like carrying around a Beast Taming Space with some of its functions.

And not a low-level Beast Taming Space, either.

Generally speaking, even Entry Level Absolute Sleep should restore a pet's stamina more effectively than an apprentice Beast Tamer's Beast Taming Space.

If Eleven learned it, aside from certain special circumstances, he basically wouldn't need to return to Shi Yu's Beast Taming Space to rest at all.

Unless Shi Yu could raise the level of his Beast Taming Space.

But Shi Yu had a feeling he might not be able to raise his Beast Taming Space's level as quickly as Eleven could raise his proficiency in Absolute Sleep.

In short, once Eleven learned this skill, as long as Shi Yu supplied him with enough food and ensured he got proper nutrition, Eleven could train entirely on his own with the help of Absolute Sleep and High-Speed Healing, and his training efficiency would be very high.

At the same time, if Eleven didn't rely on the Beast Taming Space to rest, Shi Yu, as his Beast Tamer, would have more time and stamina to strengthen it, thereby raising his own Beast Tamer level.

That was right... A Beast Tamer ought to grow alongside his pet.

Otherwise, it would be awkward if Eleven reached Transcendent Level while his Beast Tamer level was still Apprentice.

"Awoo-"

After Shi Yu finished explaining the skill, Eleven opened his eyes.

This skill is great!

"Not only that, once your proficiency in this skill is high enough, you can use it in battle too."

At low proficiency, Absolute Sleep restored stamina relatively slowly and inefficiently. But at high proficiency, perhaps only a short nap would be needed to restore a great deal of stamina.

"When you encounter an enemy, activate Size Alteration, Hardening, and Thunder Palm and charge right in."

"If you get hurt, use High-Speed Healing to treat yourself."

"If you run out of stamina, quickly shrink and go to sleep. Once you're hit awake, keep fighting. Got it?"

Eleven nodded frantically, understanding at once.

Got it, got it. That's a really good tactic.

That day, Shi Yu popped Divine Beans, drank happy water, and watched Eleven train on his own while he rested and recuperated.

He also arrived at a life lesson: pay to win, feel good forever.

Once they had money, both Shi Yu and his two pets were clearly living much more comfortably.

Teaching two advanced skills in two days, with another round of Worm Silk every night, was something Shi Yu wouldn't have dared imagine before.

By August 3, Shi Yu had originally wanted to repeat yesterday's routine and teach Intimidation as well. But despite having supplements, after putting his body through that for two days straight, he inevitably found it a little hard to bear.

It was a psychological factor.

"Forget it. I'll take a day off today and teach a low-level skill to relax."

Also, he had previously promised to visit the Bamboo Stone Dojo when he had time, but two days had already passed and he still hadn't set out. It was about time he went.

After all, the dojo seemed to have prepared training resources for the Iron-Eating Beast. He might as well take them.

The Bamboo Stone Dojo was also in Ping City, and Shi Yu could get there in under half an hour by taxi. Before going, however, he first looked up the dojo's phone number.

He planned to make an appointment before visiting, so he wouldn't arrive to find that none of the people in charge were there. That would be no fun...

The Bamboo Stone Dojo.

It was one of the Iron-Eating Beast headquarters in the ancient nation of Dong Huang.

Its master, Lin Hongnian, was one of the few Master Level Beast Tamers in Icefield City.

Although he hadn't earned his Master Level title through an Iron-Eating Beast, and his strongest pet wasn't one either, his signature pet was undoubtedly an Iron-Eating Beast.

The Iron-Eating Beast was the first pet Lin Hongnian had contracted. Because of that bond, he had always hoped to find a better way to nurture Iron-Eating Beasts, or even a way for them to evolve.

Unfortunately, held back by the limitations of their species, Iron-Eating Beasts had always struggled to break through a certain bottleneck.

That remained true even after he developed two skills outside their racial skills that were exceptionally well suited for Iron-Eating Beasts to learn.

As time passed, even after Lin Hongnian contracted stronger pets, he still couldn't let go of that idea.

In the end, Lin Hongnian didn't give up. Building on the Iron Bamboo Breeding Base he had inherited from his family, he chose to open the Bamboo Stone Dojo and recruit disciples far and wide.

Any Beast Tamer who had contracted an Iron-Eating Beast could join the Bamboo Stone Dojo to learn.

Especially talented apprentices even had a chance to gain access to the skill manuals for Thunder Palm and Cannon Fist.

He hoped to use this method to train more capable Iron-Eating Beast Tamers. Once more people were raising Iron-Eating Beasts, perhaps someone more talented than him would find a better path for nurturing them.

At that moment, in the Bamboo Stone Dojo's training ground, ten apprentices of varying ages were training with their Iron-Eating Beasts.

The Bamboo Stone Dojo only accepted Apprentice Level apprentices and provided basic training.

Once they became professional Beast Tamers, they were more or less considered to have completed their training. However, there were also apprentices like Little Bear Yan Qi, who failed the professional assessment and quit halfway.

Of course, that applied to ordinary apprentices. Master Lin Hongnian would take talented apprentices as personal disciples and teach them earnestly without holding anything back.

Unfortunately, aside from his own daughter, not a single Iron-Eating Beast Tamer had enjoyed the instruction given to a personal disciple.

Although he had trained a whole group of professional Beast Tamers, Lin Hongnian still hadn't found a disciple worth teaching with all his effort.

Then Lu Qingyi came to him and entrusted him with looking after someone.

Since he had agreed to the request, Lin Hongnian would naturally teach that person with all his effort, regardless of his talent. After all, his two intermediate skill manuals were nothing much to someone like Dr. Lu.

Then, right afterward, Lin Hongnian heard about Shi Yu from Little Bear Yan Qi.

Expert Level Hardening in less than a month.

A genius!

And he had a connection to a favored daughter of heaven like Dr. Lu. His future prospects were immeasurable, and he might well be able to raise an Iron-Eating Beast to Monarch Level.

Even without his connection to Lu Qingyi, Lin Hongnian would have had to teach a genius Beast Tamer like him with all his effort.

That was what Lin Hongnian had initially thought.

However, when Little Bear Yan Qi told him that Shi Yu and his pet had learned Thunder Palm in one day, Lin Hongnian came to a realization.

Sorry, he wasn't worthy.

He also wanted to know how to learn Thunder Palm in one day using an Electric Slime and Electric Ore.

"Father."

On a raised platform above the training ground, Lin Xiuzhu looked at her father, who was gazing down at the training ground below, and said quietly, "Let's eat out for lunch. Let's go to the Dragon Palace Fish Restaurant."

Lin Hongnian frowned. "Have you finished your daily training?"

"Ah..." Lin Xiuzhu was speechless.

Lin Hongnian looked at his disobedient daughter and felt a pang of regret.

Originally, under his instruction, Lin Xiuzhu had passed the professional Beast Tamer assessment at the age of eighteen. She had had a bright future ahead of her, and might even have surpassed him and raised an Iron-Eating Beast to Monarch Level.

Yet who would have thought that Lin Xiuzhu would choose to major in breeding and take evolution research as an elective, wanting to study how Iron-Eating Beasts evolved?

He didn't know what had possessed him to agree back then. As for the result... Lin Xiuzhu had gained nothing on either front: her strength had fallen behind, and her research into an evolutionary path had produced no results.

"We'll talk when you've finished your training," Lin Hongnian said, strict and serious.

"But it's my mom who wants fish," Lin Xiuzhu said. "Not me."

Lin Hongnian fell silent for a moment.

"Just this once. You can't neglect your training in the future."

Lin Xiuzhu: "..."

While father and daughter were discussing what to eat for lunch, a dojo apprentice came running over in a hurry.

"Master Lin, a Beast Tamer named Shi Yu said he might come visit today and asked whether you have time."