On the day of the research report meeting.
Luo Yu tidied his appearance in front of the mirror, wrestling with a question.
Should he wear the short-sleeved shirt and shorts with orcas printed on them, or a white research coat? No one had told him what to wear to the meeting...
Then I'll wear the shirt and shorts underneath and put a research coat over them...
It was Luo Yu's first research report meeting, and as a newbie, he didn't dare be late.
He was practically the first official attendee to arrive in the conference room... because someone uninvolved was already there.
"You're here? Up as early as a high schooler, huh? Do top students all keep the same schedule?"
Yu Wan sat on the conference room sofa with her legs crossed, sorting through the documents on her lap. Then she said to Luo Yu, "Your seat is number six. There's still plenty of time before the meeting, so just wait."
"Will you be here for the meeting too, Teacher?" Luo Yu sat down in his seat, then gently set his backpack beside him. The octopus was inside, and if it got knocked unconscious, there would be no one to cooperate with him later.
"I'm in charge of taking notes and serving you all tea and water." Yu Wan shrugged. "It's your first time attending, so don't be nervous. Listen more and talk less. It seems we've made some new progress exploring the Ancient Grotto this past month."
"Got it." Luo Yu nodded.
After a while, a middle-aged researcher with spiky hair pushed open the door and entered the conference room, carrying nothing but a thermos.
"Researcher Chen Zhuo." Yu Wan looked at the middle-aged man. He was Chen Bo's father.
"Morning." Chen Zhuo nodded and sat down in his seat. Then he looked at Luo Yu for a few moments and said, "Little Yu, it's been a while. Chen Bo was just talking about you to me last night."
"Uncle Chen, it's been a while," Luo Yu greeted him.
"I've been busy lately and haven't been able to visit you. Your father and I go way back. If you run into any trouble in the future, come find me. If you can't find me, find Chen Bo. You're the same age, so you can talk more."
"Okay." Luo Yu smiled faintly and said nothing more. Apart from being short on money, he didn't seem to have any difficulties. He'd borrow more money from Chen Bo in the future.
Time passed bit by bit, and the heads of Mirror Moon Island's other research institutes arrived at the conference room one after another. When they saw Luo Yu, they each exchanged a few brief greetings with him.
Finally, Yu Lei, director of the Beast Management Bureau, entered the institute.
On Mirror Moon Island, the Beast Management Bureau director's position was a noncombat post, generally held by a beastmaster retired from the ships. The director had to spend years at a desk reviewing case files and could be considered one of Mirror Moon Island's core leaders.
Together with the captain in charge of the Mirror Moon Armed Fleet, the director served as the island lord's left and right hands, one handling civil affairs and the other military matters.
"Looks like everyone's here." After sitting down, he didn't pay Luo Yu any particular attention. Instead, he took out a pipe and lit it. After taking a puff, he went straight to the point.
"This past month, you've all been exploring the Ancient Grotto and conducting research inside it. Your institutes' original projects were all put on hold, so I assume there hasn't been any progress on those."
"In that case, we'll leave them aside. Go straight to reporting on your exploration of the Ancient Grotto over the past month."
Luo Yu could clearly see the fatigue on Director Yu Lei's face. It looked as though he hadn't had a good rest in a long time.
"Hmm... Luo Yu is here too, right?"
Director Yu Lei suddenly remembered something and looked at Luo Yu, the newcomer here.
Of the heads of the various research institutes, Luo Yu was the only one whose level was too low to enter the Ancient Grotto and conduct exploratory research. In theory, he was the only one who had continued working on his institute's original project.
"Little Yu, if I remember correctly, you were going to continue your parents' research on Ink Fish, right?"
"Have you made any progress? If not, I'll have Researcher Chen Zhuo and the others report on their research progress in the Ancient Grotto..."
"You can take careful notes. They might help you raise your Earth Penguin..."
"Yes," Luo Yu replied, then immediately added, "I've made a little interim progress."
Several senior researchers who were sorting through their experimental data looked at Luo Yu, a little surprised, but didn't pay it much mind.
Interim research results could be reported regardless of their significance. Generally speaking, the institutes didn't bother reporting results that were too insignificant, to avoid wasting everyone's time. But Luo Yu was a newcomer who had just taken over his institute. Perhaps he would have felt a little embarrassed if he had made no progress at all.
Everyone recalled the director's earlier instructions... be understanding with newcomers and give them plenty of recognition.
"Mm, go ahead." Director Yu Lei nodded, looking at Luo Yu with a calm expression.
Yu Wan also turned her head slightly. This kid... didn't I tell him to talk less and listen more?
"While studying Ink Fish, I discovered a special individual. Its ink had mutated to acquire a certain healing effect."
Luo Yu opened his backpack and took out a container holding a kind Ink Fish.
"A healing effect?"
The researchers present looked over. Ink Fish ink could heal wounds too?
"Let me demonstrate for everyone."
He held out his arm, and only then did everyone notice the white bandage wrapped around it. As Luo Yu removed it, a bright red wound that looked like a knife cut was revealed.
Next, Luo Yu reached in, took out the Ink Fish, and squeezed it. The Ink Fish instantly sprayed a stream of ink that landed squarely on his wound.
Beneath the wash of ink, Luo Yu's wound began to squirm visibly. Several people exchanged glances, and after a moment, they saw that the wound really had begun to heal slowly.
"Interesting. Ink Fish can actually have a medical talent?" A mature female researcher with large, wavy curls looked interested.
"But kid, you're ruthless enough with yourself, using yourself as a test subject. Wait, why are there so many needle marks on your arm?" said the pale-faced virus researcher.
"This healing ink should only have a healing effect for a few seconds after it's sprayed, right?" An elderly female researcher spoke up, her gaze sharp and piercing. She had spotted the key point at a glance.
"That's right." Luo Yu nodded. He had already tried it. The ink only had a healing effect if it touched a wound within a few seconds of being sprayed; it couldn't be stored for later use. He guessed that was also why his parents hadn't discovered that Ink Fish's medical talent.
Under such stringent conditions, finding an individual with this medical mutation would have been extremely difficult without the Eye of Data.
The researchers nodded at Luo Yu's discovery, thinking he had been lucky, but that was all.
It wasn't rare for a tiny number of individuals in a species to mutate and possess abilities the others didn't have.
A medical Ink Fish...
The discovery was certainly valuable. It proved a certain possibility-that Ink Fish could possess medical talent-but it wasn't all that useful.
That was because, under normal circumstances, it was difficult for the offspring of such a mutated individual to inherit the mutated talent.
Even if both parents had the talent, it was still extremely difficult for their offspring to inherit it.
It was like how the intelligence of a child born to two highly educated people with high IQs would still regress to the average.
So discovering one individual with a medical mutation was nothing. Only if that mutated talent could be passed down reliably, or a way were found to teach other Ink Fish a healing skill, would it be an earthshaking achievement.
At this point, everyone thought Luo Yu's report was over. Recalling the old director's words, they were just about to offer Luo Yu some recognition when what he said next left everyone present dumbfounded.
"After I discovered that an Ink Fish had a medical talent, I began breeding it."
"This Ink Fish is actually one of the offspring I bred."
"So far, the Luo Yu Research Institute has bred nine Ink Fish with healing abilities, and I'm confident I can continue breeding more medical individuals."
"This is the Luo Yu Research Institute's research report on breeding Ink Fish with medical mutations..." Luo Yu stood up and gave the director a copy of the report he had prepared first.
Ink Fish... a research report on breeding individuals with medical mutations?
What was this kid saying?
Had he really used breeding to reliably pass the talent of a chance mutant down to a whole bunch of offspring?
How was that possible!
Normally, it really would have been difficult.
But Luo Yu had also found a Breeding Paragon individual...
That had turned instability into stability.
It had created a breeding miracle.
If someone else bred the kind Ink Fish, it might have taken a hundred eggs before a single medical individual inherited its talent.
But Luo Yu had used the power of the Breeding Paragon to amplify those odds infinitely.
"I brought a few... but because they were too heavy, I left a few more at the institute," Luo Yu added.
After speaking, he looked down and took out several more containers of Ink Fish, arranging them neatly on the table.
Inside the containers, the Ink Fish crawled back and forth, trying to break out.
"..."
"...?"
When the director saw the research report, his first thought was that it was absurd. He suspected Luo Yu was bragging.
But there was no point in faking something that could be checked so easily. So it was true?
The gazes of several researchers and Yu Wan kept darting between Luo Yu, the director, and the Ink Fish. No one spoke; they were still digesting it.
"..." Yu Wan silently stared at the Ink Fish, somewhat dazed.
She actually knew what her uncle had been anxious about lately.
With the Tidal Corpse Transformation imminent, Mirror Moon Island had spent the past year purchasing medical supplies from other islands. Even so, given the size of Mirror Moon Island, Mirror Moon Hospital would definitely be overloaded when the time came.
The reason was simple: Mirror Moon Island had no dedicated breeding channel for medical pet beasts, and there were too few medical pet beasts on the island.
Whenever it faced a major battle, demand for medical resources exceeded supply.
If this research report was true, and if there really could be a reliable breeding channel for medical Ink Fish, it would definitely have an enormous impact on the medical field of Mirror Moon Island.
"Why... isn't anyone saying anything?" Luo Yu asked.
None of the researchers present spoke. As one, they looked at Director Yu Lei, who was studying the breeding report with a solemn expression...
Director, didn't you say newcomers' interim research results might be pretty beginner-level, and tell us to give them more recognition and be more understanding?
So finding a reliable breeding method for the medical pet beasts Mirror Moon Island desperately needs is beginner-level?
He solved the medical resource problem that had plagued Mirror Moon Island right off the bat, and that's beginner-level? Then what did that make their research results?!