Inside the research institute, Yu Wan and Luo Yu talked for a while longer.
"That Teacher Yu Wan is no ordinary person."
After Yu Wan left, Luo Yu thought back on their conversation. Since those researchers all had to sign confidentiality agreements concerning the ancient grotto, yet a clerk knew so much about it...
She was most likely no ordinary clerk. At the very least, she had to be on the level of the bureau chief's secretary. Besides, Yu Wan shared a surname with Yu Lei, the chief of the Beast Management Bureau. They were probably related.
"What a thick thigh to cling to!"
So what if she had only taught him to swim? From today on, Yu Wan was the teacher he respected most. If anyone tried to bully him, he could drop her name. It might work wonders.
From Yu Wan, Luo Yu learned not only that the research institute's meeting would take place in a month, but also another important piece of information...
"The discovery of the ancient grotto looks like a good thing, but that's not necessarily the case."
"Ever since the disturbance in the earth veins, the zombie sea beasts around Mirror Moon Island have been more active than ever. It's even stranger than the usual Tidal Corpse Transformation."
"It might be that the fluctuations in the earth veins' magnetic field have some special attraction for those zombie sea beasts..."
After hearing that, Luo Yu felt as though a mountain of pressure had descended on him. He had to produce research results before the great tide arrived. That way, the island would probably assign a few bodyguards to him and the institute.
Of course, the island had taken such good care of him that he also needed to demonstrate his own value.
They had given him a research institute, money, and even an opportunity to evolve. He could never repay the island's kindness!
"All right, now that I finally have money, I can finally buy the ink fish some nutritious meals for expectant mothers."
"Whether I get to enjoy the good life from now on depends entirely on them..."
Hefting his money pouch, Luo Yu got his things together and returned to the farmers' market to shop.
Nutritional food for the ink fish was easy to choose. Any fresh meat from a water-element mutated beast was more nutritious than the dried shrimp feed they were currently eating.
Food for July was harder to find. Luo Yu went to many places before he finally found a mutated beast called an "earth loach," which contained earth-element nutrients.
That was the troublesome thing about raising non-water-element beasts...
Resources were too scarce, unlike water-element resources, which could be found all over the world.
And of all the elements, earth and fire resources were in a league of their own...
After Luo Yu bought the ingredients and returned to the institute, July still hadn't woken up. Training his special ability had taken a lot out of him, and his exhausted body naturally needed more sleep.
Luo Yu waited until July woke up before bringing the prepared earth loach to him.
"Mm."
As soon as the little penguin came out of the Beast-Taming Space, his attention was drawn to the loach in the basin before him.
"Mwji?"
"Go on, eat."
After Luo Yu answered him, he lowered his head and pecked at it. His eyes lit up, and there was no stopping him.
"Chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp, chirp-"
A moment later, he had eaten the entire loach.
"Mwji~" It was so delicious that tears glistened in his eyes. It was almost good enough to make him fly.
Luo Yu squatted beside him and watched him for a long time, carefully observing the changes in July's body.
Hmm, his life level was still level 1.
It seemed a little unrealistic to expect his life level to rise after a single meal.
In that case, when would he finally break through to level 10 and help Luo Yu become a junior beast tamer?
Luo Yu couldn't wait to go inside that ancient grotto and have a look...
"Want another one? Once you've eaten and drunk your fill, it'll be time to start training."
"Mwji!" July held out a wing. Two more!
Luo Yu scratched his head. He could really eat... Still, the research funding had come through, so he could afford it!
Once the little penguin had eaten and drunk his fill, Luo Yu and July resumed training.
For now, July's training focused primarily on developing his Walking Volcano talent, with practice of his Dig skill as a secondary focus.
The core of the Walking Volcano talent was to use the body as a medium to convert the earth veins' energy into astonishing heat... Clearly, then, communicating and resonating with the power of the earth veins was the key to the talent.
Earth veins were everywhere, even beneath the deep sea.
And since they were on an island, the simplest, most direct way to communicate and resonate with the earth veins... was naturally to have July return to the earth.
He would spend nearly twenty-four hours a day underground, feeling the power of the earth, eating, drinking, relieving himself, and sleeping all in the same spot.
But that alone was still far from enough. After all, July also needed to find the feeling of "heat."
Rather than a purely earth-element talent, Walking Volcano was more like a dual earth-and-fire-element talent.
Only by establishing a conversion between the "power of the earth veins" and "heat" could it be called Walking Volcano.
Judging by his Dig skill, the little penguin's earth-element talent shouldn't be a problem. That meant fire had to be the key to bringing out his talent.
"Don't blame your beast tamer for being inhuman. It's all for your own good."
"If the heat gets unbearable, remember to tell me."
A bonfire had been lit in the courtyard, baking the earth, while "concentrating mirrors" hung from the trees to intensify the sun's heat.
Luo Yu had recreated an extremely harsh environment so that July could experience the power of high temperatures.
"Mwji..." Underground, July gritted his teeth, his features blurred.
Puff.
When he couldn't take it anymore, he hurriedly burrowed out and jumped into the pond full of ink fish for a cold bath.
Then he promptly began to drown in the pond. He floundered for a while before Luo Yu fished him out.
They repeated this training as time flew by. Luo Yu recorded the ink fish's condition while accompanying July in developing his talent, and before long, a week had passed.
Although they hadn't achieved their primary goal, July's life level had successfully reached "level 2" in the process.
He had broken through naturally in his sleep.
The moment he broke through, Luo Yu, as his beast tamer, also received some feedback. He could clearly sense that his soul power had grown stronger.
While July was asleep, however, Luo Yu had tried once again to leave his body and control the ghost ship. Unfortunately, it still didn't work. He probably wouldn't be able to become a ghost captain until his soul received its first major strengthening.
Neither of their revolutions had succeeded yet, but Luo Yu had seen July's hard work. To reward him, Luo Yu had found time to visit the town's fishing tackle shop, intending to spend some money on a custom-made fishing rod for him... It would also fulfill his earlier promise.
"Never Skunked Fishing Tackle Shop..."
Luo Yu looked up at the shop's name and fell into thought.
"Anyone here?"
He pulled the door open and stepped inside, then froze. An old man sat behind the counter, holding a fish and repeatedly wiping it down... He was none other than the old man who had been fishing on the bridge.
The root of all evil who had sparked the little penguin's interest in fishing.
"What can I get you?" The old man, who sported a head of cool white curls, looked up at Luo Yu.
"I'd like a custom-made fishing rod," Luo Yu said. "Here are the specifications. Can you do it? The materials don't need to be too good. The user is still growing, after all, so it'll have to be replaced later."
With that, he handed the old gentleman a full page of July's measurements, including his height, weight, strength, and so on...
"Easy as pie. When would you..." The old man took the specifications and glanced at them. His words came to an abrupt halt.
"Young man, may I ask what you mean by a height of 40 centimeters, a weight of 3 kg, and arms 21 centimeters long? Can you explain that to me?"
"Ah, well, it's a long story. Want me to keep it short?" Luo Yu rubbed his chin.
It was perfectly reasonable for a penguin to want to fish, wasn't it?
It was another fine day.
After July woke up, he was just about to look for something to eat when Luo Yu, beside him, pulled out a homemade miniature fishing rod.
"Mwji?!"
A fishing rod?
At the sight of it, the little penguin was overjoyed. He wasn't even hungry anymore.
"Do you want this?" Luo Yu asked with a smile.
July nodded rapidly.
Luo Yu chuckled and handed over the fishing rod...
Once the little penguin had the rod, he held it high as though he had obtained a priceless treasure, examining it with trembling wings.
Hmm... Watching him, Luo Yu couldn't shake an ominous feeling.
Now that he had given this penguin a fishing rod, he wouldn't fish up strange things while they were sailing at sea in the future, would he? It felt dangerous.
"I'm probably worrying too much..."
He was just an earth penguin. Even if he could manage to use tools, he probably wouldn't amount to much.
Even humans, who were extremely skilled at using tools, needed talent to catch big fish.
Let alone a penguin.
He watched July fondle the fishing rod, unable to put it down, and figured he was like a child who had suddenly taken a fancy to a toy. His enthusiasm might fade in a few days.
The next moment, however, Luo Yu's expression suddenly froze.
July tentatively swung the rod. With a gentle flick under his control, the fishing line traced a graceful arc and precisely hooked a garbage bag on the table. Then the bag traced another spectacular arc as the little penguin tossed it straight into the trash can...
The sight smoothed out every wrinkle in Luo Yu's brain. He could hardly understand what he had just seen.
"Holy shit."
He froze, looking in disbelief at the little penguin, who had only just picked up the fishing rod yet was already handling it with consummate skill. "How did you do that?"
July looked over blankly. What did he mean, how had he done it?
He had just copied the old man on the bridge...
"Wait a second!"
Luo Yu was genuinely baffled by what the little penguin had said. He fell into thought and checked the little penguin's information again...
He didn't have any talent related to "fishing," though?
Even with the Intelligence talent, it was only an ordinary talent. Surely it couldn't give him such a huge boost in using tools?
"Do it again," Luo Yu said, wanting to see whether that had been an accident, a coincidence.
The next moment.
July swung the miniature fishing rod with intense concentration. The line instantly hooked the bag in the trash can, and with a hard tug, the trash can flew into the air.
"???"
Luo Yu fell silent.
After a long silence, he slowly said:
"You shouldn't be called an earth penguin. How about you go back to the name you had before you mutated: emperor penguin?"
Damn it, he had the makings of a Great Emperor, fishing alone through the ages!
What the hell? Was his top-tier talent Walking Volcano, or fishing?!