The three-month internship passed in the blink of an eye.
At the Icefield City Pet Beast Breeding Base's intern keeper dormitory building, the vast majority of the interns were packing their belongings in their rooms.
The internship had taught them a great deal, but now it was time to leave. Rather than reluctance, many felt more anticipation.
Shi Yu, for one, was looking forward to it. Once his internship ended and he received his certificates, he could finally develop freely!
During the internship, Shi Yu had been the hardworking, dependable type, and he had done all his work very well.
When the other interns had free time, they played cards in groups of two or three. Shi Yu was different.
For the time being, he played the part of his predecessor's withdrawn personality and rarely spoke to anyone.
Of course, Shi Yu hadn't been stifled by the lack of conversation. He couldn't be bothered talking to the other interns because he had more important things to do.
Rather than talking to people, he preferred to have heart-to-heart chats with pet beasts and build bonds with them.
He could both train his Telepathy talent and find opportunities to secretly learn skills!
If the Skill Index didn't have a limit on the number of skills it could record, he thought he would have copied dozens by now.
Shi Yu discovered that Telepathy and the Skill Index worked even better when used together.
If he encountered powerful transcendent creatures in the future, using Telepathy to hug their thighs and the Skill Index to shear their wool seemed like a good combination...
Hmm... In any case, he hadn't wasted these three months.
After successfully obtaining proof of his internship, Shi Yu happily left.
Although he no longer had a convenient place to copy skills, he could finally contract a pet beast himself and use the Skill Index, so he was quite excited.
The more he learned about this world, the more he realized that there was little future in not becoming a Beast Tamer here.
For the sake of his future standard of living, he would first set a small goal: become a professional Beast Tamer within a year.
The morning sun shone through the thin clouds onto Shi Yu.
After leaving the Icefield City Pet Beast Breeding Base, Shi Yu, his backpack on his back, looked back at it one last time.
The base did sell pet beast cubs, and there were many kinds...
But having interned there, Shi Yu knew that the cubs were too expensive...
Of course, that wasn't the base's problem. It was his.
So his old home in the suburbs was better after all.
Although there were fewer kinds of pet beasts, at least locals got preferential treatment.
The city Shi Yu was currently in was called Icefield City. His school and internship were both in the city.
Within the country, Icefield City was a second-tier city.
There were more than a hundred second-tier cities like Icefield City in the country.
Icefield City was fairly developed. After all, only the nine first-tier cities, few as they were, could crush it in terms of urban development.
It was the same everywhere: the more developed a place was, the higher the cost of living. For now, Shi Yu could only head somewhere lower.
His place of origin was a suburb under Icefield City's jurisdiction called Pingcheng District.
Although it was a suburb, it had been rebuilt, and its beast-taming industry was reasonably developed.
To support the local beast-taming industry, locals also received preferential treatment when registering as Beast Tamers and buying pet beasts. His predecessor had taken advantage of a promotion to hurry and put down a deposit on an Iron-Eating Beast cub.
By now, that batch of Iron-Eating Beast cubs should have been ready to be picked up.
Once the internship ended, Shi Yu returned to school to complete some formalities. After receiving all his certificates, he returned to Pingcheng District.
Ten years ago, Ping City had been hit by a beast tide. Many families had been shattered, and Shi Yu's family hadn't escaped the calamity.
But after so much time, order had been restored.
A lot had changed in ten years. Ping City, which previously had few defenses, now had high walls, as well as a Beast Tamer Association branch and a beast-taming corps stationed there.
Although Ping City wasn't as prosperous as a major city, it wasn't particularly backward either. At least its transportation and communications were passable; only its entertainment industry lagged a little behind.
In Icefield City's urban area, all sorts of beast-taming competitions were held frequently.
But here in Ping City, beast-taming competitions and the like were much rarer.
Finally back in Ping City, Shi Yu's first goal wasn't to go home.
His destination was clear: the Iron Bamboo Breeding Base, one of Ping City's three major breeding bases.
Hadn't he completed all the formalities before coming back so he could get a pet beast as soon as possible?
He really couldn't wait.
There were three pet beast breeding bases in Pingcheng District.
All three had been established jointly by private individuals and the authorities. They had few kinds of pet beasts, and even the highest-ranked species among them was only at the intermediate transcendent rank. They couldn't compare with Icefield City's official pet beast breeding base.
The Iron Bamboo Breeding Base Shi Yu was going to was a family-run breeding base.
The Iron Bamboo Breeding Base was located in the Iron Bamboo Dense Forest on the mountain behind Pingcheng District, where it raised more than 800 Iron-Eating Beasts.
Iron-Eating Beasts were a distinctive pet beast of Pingcheng District, and even of the country as a whole. Across the entire country, there might not have been more than 5,000 raised in captivity.
Other countries had none at all.
It was worth mentioning that this world differed from Earth. Since transcendent creatures occupied the vast majority of the land, humans had only seven countries.
The country Shi Yu currently lived in was called the Eastern Glorious Ancient Kingdom by other countries. It was one of the oldest nations, known as Dong Huang for short.
Before long, Shi Yu took a bus to the vicinity of the mountain behind Pingcheng District, intending to climb it.
A level path had been built on the mountain. Besides housing the breeding base, the area was also open as a tourist attraction at fixed times.
But it apparently wasn't open during this period, and the surroundings were deserted.
After only a few steps, Shi Yu arrived at the guard post of the Iron Bamboo Breeding Base. This was the only way in; the surrounding area was sealed off. Shi Yu glanced at the booth beside it and walked over.
By the booth's window, an elderly man with thinning hair and a green coat draped over his shoulders was reading a newspaper. When he noticed someone approaching, he pushed up his reading glasses, looking as though he were trying hard to see who it was.
Shi Yu: "..."
Seriously, this is the guard?
Forget it. I shouldn't judge a book by its cover...
Someone who looks unreliable might be able to summon a giant dragon with a wave of his hand.
"Hello, I reserved an Iron-Eating Beast cub here earlier. I'm planning to complete the pickup formalities soon, and I wanted to come take a look today."
Shi Yu spoke loudly, afraid the old man wouldn't hear him clearly.
"Oh." The old man might have looked unreliable, but he was by no means muddleheaded.
As soon as he heard Shi Yu, he understood.
"Wait a moment. I'll notify a keeper inside to come over right away," the old man replied, dialing the landline on the desk.
After the old man explained the situation into the receiver, Shi Yu settled down to wait.
He didn't have to wait long before a figure nearly two meters tall came walking over from inside the breeding area. It was black and white, with a plump, full body, a round head, and a short tail.
Shi Yu fell into thought as he watched the fellow waddle toward him.
Then the fellow, who looked like a giant panda standing upright no matter how he looked at her, opened the gate from the inside and came up to Shi Yu.
She also pointed to the badge on her chest.
It read: "Staff."
"Hello there." She rubbed her bear paws together and spoke in a low voice that was hard to identify as male or female.
Shi Yu: ???
Can't they send an employee from the world of the living who isn't fooling around?
"No need to be surprised. This is just a life-size Iron-Eating Beast mascot costume," the staff member said.
It's precisely because you're wearing a mascot costume that I'm surprised! What normal person wears one on such a hot day?!
"I'm a staff member here, Lin Xiuzhu."
"I'm Shi Yu," Shi Yu said. "But doesn't wearing that really make you hot?"
"There's no helping it. It's all so I can better understand how Iron-Eating Beasts feel," Lin Xiuzhu said. "If you want to raise Iron-Eating Beasts well, you have to understand them thoroughly."
"That's the most basic skill a keeper needs."
Shi Yu said, "That makes sense."
Like hell I believe you.
Whatever you say.
As long as you're happy.
"If I remember correctly, Mr. Shi Yu, your records said you also graduated with a major in beast keeping. No wonder you can understand me."
There probably weren't many people who had recently reserved Iron-Eating Beasts. She actually knew Shi Yu's details from his name alone.
"Yes, but I'm still just a rookie. I'm a long way behind you, Senior Lin."
Although her name sounded very masculine, Shi Yu could still tell from her voice that she was a woman, and he had also concluded that she was a graduate of a beast-keeping program.
Calling her senior immediately brought them closer. Hopefully, he could get a discount later.
Lin Xiuzhu said, "You flatter me. Anyone can try this method. Once you pick up your pet beast, I can sell you two mascot costumes at a discount."
Shi Yu: ???
It is a discount, but not quite the discount I wanted.
Are you a business genius or what?
I don't want them!
Shi Yu didn't say it out loud for now. He would turn her down after choosing his pet beast...
Bundling food with the sale is one thing, but selling cosplay outfits too? Is that really appropriate?
Next, the staff member named Lin Xiuzhu led Shi Yu into the booth beside them.
She first began taking off the mascot costume.
Only then did Shi Yu see what the person beneath the costume looked like.
Underneath was a mature beauty of about twenty-four or twenty-five.
She had delicate features, a tall, slender figure, and beautiful long black hair. However, because she had just been wearing the mascot costume, her hair was a little messy.
She didn't seem to mind, though, and her expression was quite casual.
Right now, Shi Yu really wanted to ask just how much she liked giant pandas.
The clothes beneath her mascot costume were also styled after an Iron-Eating Beast.
They consisted of white shorts with black spots and a black-and-white sweatshirt that was loose but bulged slightly, with a hood bearing panda ears hanging down the back.
Is she going to try to sell me a set of those clothes too?
"Let's register you first. By the way, did you bring all the documents?" She let out a long breath and spoke to Shi Yu.
The formalities for buying and picking up a pet beast from a breeding base were quite troublesome.
All the more so for someone like Shi Yu, who was taking out a loan to buy one.
The breeding base had to receive a complete set of certification documents.
Going through the whole process would take a lot of running around.
Fortunately, Shi Yu had obtained all the certificates while he was in Icefield City, so his documents should be fairly complete now.
"I brought everything."
Next, Shi Yu registered with Lin Xiuzhu's help, and the two of them verified the relevant documents one by one.
After the verification, Lin Xiuzhu nodded and said, "Then you should be able to pick up your pet beast today."
"Today?"
"Can I choose one now, then?" Shi Yu was surprised.
The deposit he had paid earlier hadn't been for a specific individual.
So the Beast Tamer still had to choose which Iron-Eating Beast cub to take in person. Whether the two took a liking to each other at first sight was very important.
Lin Xiuzhu shook her head. "You came too late. If you'd come a little earlier, you might still have been able to choose."
"Here's the situation now: only one cub from this batch of Iron-Eating Beasts is left after the others were chosen."
"And there are some slight problems with this one's physique and temperament..."
"..." Shi Yu froze. What's going on? This development... I'm Ash?