"Two of the more common methods for increasing Contract Slots could be found in the Seven Mysterious Sea Regions."
Sitting at his desk, Luo Yu leafed through a book and studied it. "The Sea of Contracts is the silver sea region among the Seven Mysterious Sea Regions. After entering it, all you have to do is bathe in its waters to awaken a new Beast-Taming Space unconditionally, gaining another Contract Slot."
"Besides that, there's the Sea of Void, the gray sea region among the Seven Mysterious Sea Regions. Soaking in it allows people and mutant beasts to comprehend Power of Space and develop an affinity for it."
"Some mutant beasts have learned the rare 'spatial ability' here, while Beast Taming Masters with Mental Talent have learned the superpower 'Teleportation' here... and a Beast-Taming Space is, in essence, also a spatial ability."
"So some Beast Taming Masters have successfully opened up new Beast-Taming Spaces here too."
"However, unlike the Sea of Contracts, where you're guaranteed to gain a Beast-Taming Space after entering, opening one in the Sea of Void depends more on the Beast Taming Master's own comprehension. If it's poor, you gain nothing. If it's good, it's not impossible to open up two Beast-Taming Spaces in one go."
The Seven Mysterious Sea Regions...
Although the locations of these seven places were unpredictable, records suggested the chances of encountering them were fairly high.
Even a small island like Mirror Moon Island had several records of its fleets encountering the Seven Mysterious Sea Regions.
Moreover, the prevailing view was that anyone who sailed around the world would probably encounter a mysterious sea region once, provided their luck wasn't too bad.
Of course, sailing around the world was no small undertaking. After all, the seas were now full of dangerous aberrant corpse beasts and mutant sea beasts...
Besides those, the various natural disasters at sea were countless times more powerful than they had once been.
On top of that, pirates ran rampant in lawless areas. Without enough strength, a voyage around the world was a death sentence.
"A voyage around the world..."
To be honest, Luo Yu found the idea a little appealing. What man didn't have the soul of an adventurer? Most importantly, he really wanted to encounter the Sea of Dreams, the mysterious sea region said to possess the most delicious ingredients in the world. Wasn't living all about getting to eat something good?
Unfortunately, even if he boarded the Mirror Moon Armed Fleet and had the protection of Mirror Moon Island's strongest fleet, sailing around the world would still be nothing but a fool's dream.
They weren't strong enough... Most of the time, these fleets actually wandered around the relatively safe Alliance waters.
"Good thing there are safer, easier ways to get more Contract Slots."
There were quite a few ways to increase one's Contract Slots.
Luo Yu's search revealed that on the Azure Billows Continent, a top biologist at Canglan Ocean University who studied human evolution had extracted the bloodline factors of a certain mutant sea beast and created a Gene Evolution Potion.
A human who drank a bottle of the potion could awaken a new Beast-Taming Space.
However, production of the potion was limited, and it was never sold to outsiders...
Instead, it was given as a prize to outstanding students at Canglan Ocean University. It was one of the ways the university, hailed as the light of humanity, recruited talented young people.
"My conveniently acquired dad and mom both graduated from Canglan Ocean University, but at their level, they were a long way from being 'outstanding students.'"
"If I got into Canglan Ocean University and majored in a research-related field, discovering a way for Water Devil Beast to evolve ought to earn me an outstanding student award at the very least, right???"
"This Gene Evolution Potion is actually the one I'm most likely to get."
Luo Yu continued his search. Beside him, his book attendant July quietly held up various books, obedient and well-behaved.
"That's too demanding..." For example, the Mermaid Goddess, guardian deity of the Deep Sea Kingdom, wielded authority over space and could also help humans develop their potential and awaken entirely new Beast-Taming Spaces... but how was he supposed to gain the favor of the mermaid race?
Unless he married into the mermaid race, joined their faction, and became someone they focused on nurturing.
Since merfolk and fishmen were both humans transformed by mysterious sea regions, there was no reproductive barrier between them.
Children of merfolk and humans could inherit the racial talents of both sides.
"I wonder if my Eye of Data can be passed down through reproduction..."
Mermaids, huh... he could personally do the breeding!... Luo Yu's thoughts had wandered too far again.
There was also the Sky Tree Fruit, which could help humans awaken new Beast-Taming Spaces. Unfortunately, the tree was a sacred tree worshipped by the Sky Tower, and ordinary people couldn't get anywhere near it.
Luo Yu discovered that all five of the major human population centers seemed to have ways of helping people develop additional Beast-Taming Spaces. But aside from the one on the Azure Billows Continent, the other four were all too far away from him...
"Wait, what's this..."
Suddenly, Luo Yu discovered that, besides Canglan Ocean University's Gene Evolution Potion, researcher Luo Shui's notes also seemed to mention another method.
"One Beast-Taming Space, contracted to two pet beasts at the same time. A Bloodline Dependent..."
As he recalled, Bloodline Dependents were supposed to be an ability exclusive to Monarch Species mutant beasts.
It was also one of the reasons Monarch Species mutant beasts could crush Common Species in terms of strength.
That brought him to the greatest difference between Common Species and Monarch Species mutant beasts: Monarch Heterogeneity.
Monarch Heterogeneity was a special mutagenic substance within the bloodline of every Monarch Species mutant beast.
Its greatest use was to place a Bloodline Imprint on another mutant beast, making it submit.
That was where the name "Monarch" came from.
Just as Beast Taming Masters could contract mutant beasts, Monarch mutant beasts could actually have "pet beasts" of their own.
But in the mutant beast ecosystem, this wasn't called a contract. It was called a Bloodline Dependent.
After gaining a Bloodline Dependent, the Monarch mutant beast that served as its Bloodline Master could also borrow the dependent's power to a certain extent in battle.
Speaking of the dependent system, many King Level Beast Taming Masters on the Azure Billows Continent who had contracted turtle-type mutant beasts liked to have their turtle beasts contract a snake as well, forming the classic Black Tortoise Tactic. But the facts had proven it was fuck-all use: it had the form but none of the Black Tortoise's divine marvels;
Alternatively, they could imprint a mutant beast of the same race and have the dependent support the main pet, allowing the Bloodline Master to gain stronger racial power.
But the nature of a Bloodline Dependent wasn't so pleasant. The dependent could only provide power to the Bloodline Master in one direction, while receiving almost no benefits itself. At the same time, if a Monarch Species became the dependent of another Monarch Species, it would also lose the ability to develop Bloodline Dependents of its own.
It could be said that, under normal circumstances in the wild, a mutant beast would only be willing to become a Monarch beast's dependent when seeking protection.
"Monarch Species can have one Bloodline Dependent, Abyss Species two. The higher the racial level, the more Bloodline Dependents they can have..."
Luo Yu read on.
So, if a Beast Taming Master's contracted pet beast was a Monarch Species, all they had to do was give that Monarch Species pet beast a Bloodline Dependent, and it would be no different from the Beast Taming Master having two pet beasts.
Experiments showed that a Bloodline Dependent beast counted as part of its Bloodline Master, and both could enter the same Beast-Taming Space.
There was a distinction between the main and secondary pets.
Luo Yu hadn't paid attention to this ability at first because it was too far out of his reach.
After all, the little penguin July was only a Common Species and lacked the ability to develop a dependent, so he couldn't use this method to give Luo Yu a secondary pet.
But now, Luo Yu had unexpectedly dug up one of his father's notebooks, and it claimed that not only Monarch Species but Common Species could also have Bloodline Dependents?