Icefield City Pet Beast Breeding Base.
Night.
A figure emerged from the dormitory building and headed straight for the infirmary.
At pet beast breeding bases, fights among the wild pet beasts being raised were a common occurrence, and breeders were occasionally injured by accident.
As a result, the vast majority of legitimate pet beast breeding bases had infirmaries.
The infirmary here treated both people and pet beasts, and its treatment methods were simple... in the Beast Taming Era, they naturally used pet beasts' healing abilities.
Shi Yu hurried to the infirmary and saw the doctor on duty sitting in a chair, working on paperwork.
"What's wrong?" She looked up when she saw him.
"Doctor, I think I sprained my wrist."
"I'm worried it might affect my work tomorrow..."
Shi Yu stepped forward and held out his hand. It was slightly swollen and still trembling.
"Let me take a look." The female doctor glanced at his wrist, her face expressionless.
From his clothes, she could tell that Shi Yu was an intern breeder here, a student fresh out of school.
Employees like him were usually the ones most prone to accidents. She was used to it by now.
"I'll give it a quick treatment." With that, she murmured softly.
The next second, Shi Yu felt the temperature around him plummet, and a breeze appeared out of nowhere.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~~~
The breeze swept through the room, setting the curtains fluttering.
At the same time, at a thought from the doctor, a huge white-and-green array appeared in midair beside her, its face turned toward Shi Yu. Countless points of light twinkled across it like a star chart.
Ripples spread across the array like those on the surface of water, and a white dandelion puff floated out.
The white dandelion puff was larger than Shi Yu's palm and had no roots. Once the doctor summoned it, it landed directly on the back of his hand.
"It'll be better in no time," the doctor said.
As she finished speaking, the white dandelion puff began to glow with a faint white light that enveloped the back of Shi Yu's hand.
In an instant, beneath the light, Shi Yu felt himself being healed.
The sprain was real, though it wasn't that serious. He had inflicted it on himself on the way over, and it had hurt a little before, but now the pain was completely gone.
Shi Yu marveled inwardly at how amazing it was.
No wonder that intern had said the breeding base's infirmary was so good. It really was impressive.
The existence of supernatural creatures wasn't all bad for humans. In fields such as medicine, they could be a tremendous help.
When the treatment was over, the white dandelion puff floated up from Shi Yu's hand.
At the same time.
In Shi Yu's mind, the stone index opened to its third page.
An image of a White Dandelion appeared: a plant-type pet beast with a mid-level species rank.
[Skill]: High-Speed Healing [Skill Level]: Intermediate [Description]: A wood-element healing ability that accelerates the healing of ordinary injuries. [Status]: No valid subject for teaching
The ability he had successfully recorded and copied this time was an extremely rare healing ability, with tremendous value and versatility!
The White Dandelion had not only used its skill but had also made contact with Shi Yu, just as he had expected.
The doctors at the breeding base's infirmary were all Beast Tamers, and they had all contracted rare healing-type pet beasts. Other employees had come here for treatment after accidental injuries before, so Shi Yu had quickly thought of trying this method to copy a healing skill.
But Shi Yu felt he had been too impatient. His internship still had three months to go, and he might have had other chances later. There had been no need to be so impulsive.
"It should be fine now, right?" The doctor looked at Shi Yu after recalling her pet beast.
"Besides, you made far too much of a fuss. White Dandelion said it was only a minor injury."
Judging by the look on Shi Yu's face earlier, she had thought the injury was much more serious... in reality, if she had waited any longer to treat him, he would have almost healed on his own.
Still, seeking medical attention promptly when something was wrong with his body was commendable.
She had seen many Beast Tamers and pet beasts who paid no attention to minor injuries. Once those injuries piled up, they would eventually turn into more serious problems.
Shi Yu: ...
Sorry, but even giving himself that little injury had taken a great deal of mental struggle.
"I'll be more careful next time. Thank you."
Shi Yu hurriedly nodded and thanked her, feeling rather embarrassed. After all, he had held her up at work. He would buy some snacks that plant-type pet beasts liked tomorrow to thank her...
Using healing abilities to heal injuries was how the pet breeding base's infirmary treated patients.
Even for small wounds, the doctors here liked to use pet beasts. The reason was simple: repeated treatments also helped the pet beasts improve their proficiency with their skills.
Learning a skill didn't mean being able to use it proficiently. It usually took a great deal of practice to truly make a skill one's own.
That was why the Skill Index's ability to increase proficiency by teaching the same skill repeatedly was essentially a bug too. It amounted to accelerating a pet beast's training.
Shi Yu had successfully obtained a rare healing skill through the breeding base's infirmary, and he was in a good mood.
After returning to the dormitory from the infirmary, he washed up and lay down.
Before going to sleep, he began looking forward to the day he became a Beast Tamer.
Once he became a Beast Tamer, many more paths would be open to him.
In particular, if he could pass the professional Beast Tamer assessment, he would have only a few obligations to fulfill and hardly anything else to do. The Beast Tamer Association would even pay him every month. It was practically a leap to another social class.
"Beast Tamers who have just contracted a pet beast are trainee Beast Tamers."
"Once both a trainee Beast Tamer and their initial pet beast reach a certain standard of ability, they can take the Beast Tamer Association's unified assessment."
"Pass the assessment, and you become an official professional Beast Tamer."
Shi Yu mused to himself, wondering how long it would take him to go from trainee to professional with the Skill Index...
With the Skill Index, he should have a great advantage when it came to raising pet beasts.
At around eighteen years old, he was also at the ideal age to become a Beast Tamer.
As he pondered, Shi Yu fell asleep.
After transmigrating here, Shi Yu had spent a day trying to adjust to the new world.
At the same time, he had settled on his next goal.
Early the next morning, Shi Yu got up and began a new day's work.
He also found time to buy a thank-you gift and give it to the auntie who had helped treat his injury the day before.
After settling his mindset and suppressing his urge to become a Beast Tamer as quickly as possible, Shi Yu began slowly blending into this world.
In the blink of an eye, three months passed. His internship was about to end, and Shi Yu could finally go and collect his pet beast.
Taking advantage of his work, he had also managed to copy and record two more skills during that time.
The first was the intermediate skill "Super Vision," which came from the Azure-Backed Eagle, a wind-element bird pet beast with a high supernatural species rank. They were the pet beasts that patrolled the skies above the breeding base.
Super Vision, as its name suggested, was a skill used to enhance sight.
Eagles already had excellent eyesight, but creatures that had awakened Super Vision had even more flawless vision. Not only could they see in the dark and into the distance, as well as see through ordinary illusions, but any opponent's movements within their field of vision would also appear several times slower to them.
Although it didn't appear to provide combat power directly, its potential was extremely high and its uses were wide-ranging. Pet beasts that relied on their eyesight for reconnaissance and patrol in various cities had basically all mastered Super Vision.
Unfortunately, it still fell a little short of the perception skill Shi Yu had in mind, one that strengthened all five senses to their limits... if he could have found one, who would have settled for less?
Still, this skill was pretty good too. If an Iron-Eating Beast could learn it, its combat awareness would certainly increase by more than a little.
The second was the advanced skill "Absolute Sleep."
It came from a pet beast with a high supernatural species rank, the Sleep Demon.
Sleep Demons were undead-type pet beasts with only two species skills: the psychic skills "Hypnosis Wave" and "Absolute Sleep."
Clearly, this Sleep Demon was also a breeder's pet beast.
Its owner often used the Sleep Demon's "Hypnosis Wave" ability to help some young pet beasts sleep soundly. It was a very good support skill.
As for "Absolute Sleep," it was a skill used on oneself. It induced a state of deep sleep, restoring stamina at ultra-high speed. It was a recovery skill.
Very few pet beasts could master Absolute Sleep, but given how much Iron-Eating Beasts loved sleeping, it should be possible for one, right?
Shi Yu had copied this skill because he wondered whether they could be self-sufficient in the future...
Once he became a Beast Tamer, he would certainly have to train his pet beast if he wanted it to grow quickly.
But training consumed a lot of a pet beast's stamina. Pet beasts got tired too, and they needed rest.
In such cases, Beast Tamers could generally recall their pet beasts into their Beast Taming Spaces to speed up their recovery, but that would be a considerable drain on the Beast Tamers themselves.
Those with more money to burn could buy nutritional supplements.
But Shi Yu was different. His thinking was that if his pet beast could learn "Absolute Sleep," wouldn't it be able to recover its stamina at high speed on its own? It would save both money and effort. Besides, Iron-Eating Beasts loved sleeping anyway. Sleeping was sleeping, wherever they did it.
Even if it got injured during training, there would be no need to buy medicine or go to the hospital, because he could also teach it the healing skill "High-Speed Healing" and let it heal itself.
That would save another considerable sum...
He really was a genius.
Of course, Shi Yu definitely hadn't copied these skills because he wanted to slack off and loaf around... he had simply been forced into it by circumstances.
He was sure the Iron-Eating Beast he had yet to meet would understand him. Their family was just too poor.
Shi Yu had gone to the trouble of moving nine oxen and two tigers to copy both skills, just as he had when secretly learning High-Speed Healing.
But why only two...? Because after the index recorded five skills, it seemed to have reached its limit.
That had left Shi Yu thoroughly depressed.
Although he had guessed there would be a limit, five to start with was far too few.
Fortunately, he hadn't rushed to copy any low-level skills, or he would have suffered a huge loss.
At present, the Skill Index could record a maximum of five skills...
As for adding new pages, Shi Yu guessed that, much like developing certain special Beast Taming Talents, he would probably have to raise his own Beast Tamer level.
The way for Beast Tamers to improve their abilities was actually quite simple.
They continuously strengthened, reshaped, and expanded their Beast Taming Spaces through meditation.
The sturdier the Beast Taming Space, the higher the level of pet beast that could be contracted and the stronger its restraint on the pet beast.
The better the environment inside the Beast Taming Space, the faster the pet beast would grow.
The larger the Beast Taming Space, the more pet beasts a Beast Tamer could contract.
Beast Tamers could choose how to develop their Beast Taming Spaces according to their own roles; they didn't need to perfect all three paths.
And as the Beast Taming Space advanced, its associated special Beast Taming Talent would grow stronger as well.