"What on earth happened...?" Luo Yu pressed.
Luo Yu had never expected this to be what Yu Wan had meant. How had it become connected to the Earth Penguin's evolution...?
"It's a long story, so I'll keep it short. Not long after your parents left the island, the ley lines beneath Mirror Moon Island stirred, and a part of Moon-Gazing Peak collapsed. An Ancient Grotto was excavated underground."
Yu Wan walked to the window and gazed at the sky.
"A cavern valley... where traces of the age of dinosaurs were imprinted in the ley lines' memory, and where a great many dinosaur fossils existed!"
"The ley-line magnetic field in that place is extremely strange."
"This Azure-Scaled Snake was caught nearby. Perhaps because of the ley-line magnetic field there, it also has a certain amount of ancient Dragon Blood in its body."
"The ley lines?" Luo Yu fell into thought.
As Luo Yu saw it, a ley line could be understood as a "channel for underground energy."
Many places rich in energy today were actually affected by the power of ley lines.
These channels continuously carried natural energy from deep beneath the planet to the surface, creating all manner of feng shui treasure lands and influencing the ecology aboveground...
Wait a minute!
Luo Yu suddenly realized something.
[Individual talent]: Dragon Blood (ordinary talent. Influenced by the ley lines, it possesses a faint ancient dragon bloodline.) [Individual talent]: Walking Volcano (top-tier talent. Influenced by the ley lines, it is born with an exceptionally deep resonance with the earth and can use its body as a medium to convert ley-line energy into astonishing heat. When the energy gathers to its utmost limit, everything around it will turn into churning magma; once cooled, the magma will become new earth.)
The little penguin's top-tier talent...
Hadn't it seemed to arise precisely because of the ley lines' influence?
And the snake's Dragon Blood talent was also due to the ley lines' influence... Luo Yu understood everything at once.
"This stone cavern is highly unusual. Research has shown that when mutated beasts spend a long time inside it, their physical strength is enhanced to a certain degree. It seems to be able to subtly change their bloodlines over time."
"You know the three major ways mutated beasts evolve, don't you?" Yu Wan asked.
Luo Yu nodded.
At present, there were only three paths for a mutated beast to achieve species evolution.
The first was for it to possess evolutionary potential of its own.
As its life level rose, it would reach a certain fixed point and evolve as naturally as water flowing into a channel, causing its species level to leap upward.
The Wind-Entwining Worm was one such example.
The second was to consume a top-tier resource capable of changing its bloodline, causing that bloodline to change all at once.
The third was to evolve with the help of a specific environment and ritual.
One kind of mutated beast, the Golden Carp, evolved through the "leaping over the Dragon Gate" ritual and the environment of a particular waterfall, becoming a member of the dragon race.
The Ink Fish had most likely evolved by the same path, merging together through some specific ritual to complete its evolution.
Of course, it was said that some Beast Taming masters also used various evil powers and methods to forcibly modify mutated beasts and raise their life level. However, this could easily cause evolution to fail, breaking down a pet beast's genes and resulting in an erroneous evolution into a mindless zombie beast.
So...
Was this stone cavern one of those specific environments that could allow mutated beasts to evolve?
"At present, the researchers on Mirror Moon Island have already placed quite a few avian mutated beasts in the stone cavern to raise them."
"Can you guess why?" Yu Wan asked.
Luo Yu immediately said, "You just said that this Ancient Grotto has traces of a large number of ancient dinosaur fossils, and that the ley lines bear an imprint of the memory of the ancient age of dinosaurs..."
"And birds are the only direct descendants of dinosaurs still alive today. They evolved directly from theropod dinosaurs."
"So Mirror Moon Island wants to see whether raising avian mutated beasts in this place will cause them to mutate through atavism toward dinosaurs?!"
Right, penguins were birds too!
They were "descendants of dinosaurs" that had survived to the present day.
Their evolutionary lineage could roughly be divided into small feathered dinosaurs → prehistoric flying birds → birds that survived the mass extinction 66 million years ago → early seabirds → primitive penguins that appeared 61 million years ago!
Luo Yu's breath caught, and his gaze drifted involuntarily toward the little penguin in his beast-taming space, fast asleep with its belly in the air.
No wonder Yu Wan had asked whether he had a special reason for contracting an Earth Penguin.
She had suspected that he had learned of the cavern in advance and deliberately contracted an avian pet beast.
Of course, that wasn't what had happened. Luo Yu hadn't known about the cavern, but what he could now say for certain was that the Earth Penguin's top-tier talent had indeed arisen because of the disturbance in the ley lines, which had brought it to his attention.
Seen that way, top-tier talents really were rare.
The birth of the little penguin's top-tier talent was definitely closely connected to those ley lines, rather than inherited from its parents.
Perhaps the egg had even mutated because of the ley lines' influence, making its parents feel it wasn't their own, so they had thrown it out from underground, where the hunter had found it.
Luo Yu had long wondered how a small place like Mirror Moon Island could have given rise to a talent as outrageous as "Walking Volcano." Heredity was clearly out of the question, and a genetic mutation? Even that would have required a sufficiently powerful trigger, and this wasn't a volcanic island...
Once Yu Wan told him about the Ancient Grotto, Luo Yu finally had an answer. That made sense.
"Exactly."
"That's why, when I thought about how you'd contracted an Earth Penguin, I wondered if you'd learned something in advance," Yu Wan said. "The underground cavern is still supposed to be a secret. I thought perhaps a researcher who was on good terms with your parents and had access to it had told you."
"Pure coincidence..." Luo Yu said.
"That's true. Of course... none of the research in the underground cavern has succeeded yet. To date, not a single avian mutated beast has completed a mutation and evolution in the Ancient Grotto."
"Originally, the Luo Shui Research Institute-your parents-were also qualified to enter the underground cavern and conduct research, but who could have known such an accident would happen? We didn't even have time to tell them."
"And now, you've inherited the research institute."
"The Azure-Scaled Snake just now was a test, I suppose. The director asked me to see whether you were capable of entering the underground cavern to conduct research. As things stand, you're more than qualified."
"In short, the island has decided to give you this opportunity: a chance to enter the Ancient Grotto, explore it, and conduct research. This research will also come with funding. I just don't know whether you're interested." Having finished, Yu Wan looked into Luo Yu's eyes.
Luo Yu nodded.
So that was it... Speaking of which, Chen Bo had said his own father had gone to take part in some closed-door research. Was this what he meant?
"Of course I'm interested. Thank you to the leadership for their trust."
"I just don't know what my specific duties-or rather, the Luo Yu Research Institute's specific duties-would be."
Yu Wan smiled. "Your specific job would naturally be to study how to get your Earth Penguin to complete its evolution in the Ancient Grotto."
"You'd be more invested in and attentive to studying your own contracted pet beast than someone else's, wouldn't you?"
"If your pet beast can complete its evolution in the stone cavern, then by applying what you learn to similar cases and drawing on that experience, it won't be hard to find a way for other avian mutated beasts to evolve there."
Luo Yu felt a surge of suspicion. How was this a research assignment?
She was plainly using this approach to hand him a huge benefit for nothing.
Knowing that his contracted beast was a bird, she was letting him into the stone cavern to enjoy the benefits all to himself.
She was even offering research funding without assigning any strict tasks. How was that any different from handing him money for free?
"All right, I'll do my best. When do I start?" Luo Yu said.
"That's what I was waiting to hear. But there's no rush to start work." Yu Wan suddenly stepped forward and grabbed Luo Yu's arm.
A moment later, she let go and said, "Although I can tell you've been exercising, your physical condition is still a little lacking. That underground stone cavern is extremely cold, and it also has a chaotic, powerful magnetic field capable of affecting your mental state. Wait until you become an official junior Beast Taming master and your body receives its first major strengthening before you go."
"Your task now is to raise your own level and your pet beast's level as quickly as possible. When the time comes, someone will naturally come to pick you up."
"Oh, right, your innate talent is...? If it's 'defense' or 'spirit,' that would be ideal. You probably wouldn't be affected much then," Yu Wan asked.
Luo Yu said, "Neither. It's soul."
"It's all right if it isn't... Wait, wait a second?" Yu Wan's eyes suddenly widened. "What did you say it was?!"
"Soul?!"
Had a second beast tamer with the soul talent finally appeared among the tens of thousands of people on Mirror Moon Island?
At present, the vice captain of Mirror Moon Island's largest fleet, the Mirror Moon Armed Fleet, was a beast tamer with the soul talent. He could be called the fleet's pillar that calmed the seas, more important even than the captain.
Yu Wan had never imagined that Luo Yu would have the soul talent...
Beast tamers with the soul talent were born helmsmen, and the sea was their backyard. But Luo Yu had now displayed such a strong talent for research as well, and clearly wouldn't be going out to sea on adventures... What a waste!
Honestly... comparing yourself to others could drive you to death with envy. How had so many impressive talents all appeared in the same person?
While Yu Wan stood there in a daze, Luo Yu was also thinking over what she had said.
I didn't expect to find an opportunity for July to evolve so soon...
In his mind, he pictured July wearing a dinosaur costume. Yes, he did look considerably more formidable.
Still, with so many veteran researchers on the island unable to produce any major mutation or evolution in avian mutated beasts in this Ancient Grotto, figuring the place out probably wouldn't be easy.
Phew... Yu Wan came back to her senses.
"The soul talent... I imagine even the director will be startled."
"In any case, let's leave it at that for now. Now that you've inherited the Luo Shui Research Institute, I'll tell you when the next 'research institute meeting' is. The meetings are held regularly, and the heads of the major research institutes use them to report their research results at each stage to the director and exchange ideas with one another. The director also offers some guidance..."
"Of course, you don't need to worry. You've only just inherited the research institute, so it's fine even if you don't have any research results for the time being. We mainly want you to come and listen in, so you can learn more about things like the Ancient Grotto..."