"Sure, then I won't hold back." Luo Yu thought, As it happens, my training method is to have mutant beasts attack them nonstop.
Each bee gave three stings a day, nine stings in total.
After nine stings, it would be hard not to grow stronger.
Before long, Luo Yu returned to the research institute. After getting back, he fed the fish, the bees, and July. Today, he planned to pick out a few more groups of Ink Fish to breed. The fish were idle anyway, so they might as well revitalize their species.
At this institute, Breeding Paragon was unquestionably the core of the breeding program, and Luo Yu currently had three Ink Fish with the talent: one first-generation female, and two second-generation fish, one female and one male.
The first-generation Breeding Paragon had already completed her second mating, once again with the Mercy Ink Fish. She would probably lay eggs again in the next day or two-a model worker through and through.
As for the remaining two second-generation Breeding Paragons, although they had only recently been born, Luo Yu planned to put them to work as well.
Mutant beasts were different from ordinary creatures. An increase in life level also accelerated their physical development, bringing sexual maturity forward. So, if one was willing to invest the resources, there was no need to wait it out.
Now that Luo Yu had research funding, he naturally gave the Ink Fish the best food. In less than a week, they would probably reach level 2 and become capable of laying eggs.
"I wonder what the offspring of two Breeding Paragons would be like..."
Originally, Luo Yu had wanted to breed the second-generation female Paragon with the male "Super Antibody" individual first, to produce more fish with the antibody talent.
The reason was simple: wounds inflicted by zombie sea beasts involved not only ordinary physical injuries, but also viruses.
Even if the viruses couldn't fully infect Beast Taming Masters and pet beasts, they would still accelerate the deterioration of their wounds.
So Luo Yu wanted to see whether, if he could eventually combine the "Mercy" and "Super Antibody" talents, he could breed a batch of healing individuals with a "special advantage against zombie viruses."
But on further thought, there were still too few Breeding Paragons, and there was no hurry to strengthen the healing individuals. So Luo Yu decided to conduct an inbreeding trial, first having the two Breeding Paragons from this brood breed once.
This was a very common method of purifying superior genes in animal breeding. Ink Fish had no intelligence or concept of morality, only biological instincts. In nature, inbreeding was an extremely common biological phenomenon, and there was no need to deliberately avoid it.
"Also, I'd better hold off on breeding the Dominion individual for now..."
Luo Yu had given the Dominion individual its own place and special care. Although he also wanted it to lay eggs immediately, the thing was malnourished and less developed than the Ink Fish he had cared for, which were only a few days old. So, to make its offspring healthier, Luo Yu planned to feed it nutritional supplements for half a month first, to build it up a little.
Otherwise, if it died of weakness after giving birth, he wouldn't even have a place to cry. Every Ink Fish with a talent like that was a treasure.
As for the other Ink Fish with advanced talents, despite the cautionary example of the Dark Eight-Sword Style family, Luo Yu still planned to gamble again.
If the probability of inheriting a talent was low, then so be it. If a single group had a low chance of breeding an exceptional specimen, he could try a few more groups. One of them was bound to hit.
And so...
"Danger Sense" was paired with "Mental Overload," a combination of sixth sense and Telekinesis talents.
"Dark Affinity" was paired with "Gu King"... a combination of dark and poison attributes.
"Indestructible Body" was paired with "Water Element Immunity"... a combination of defense and immunity.
"Mercy" was paired with "Gu King"... a combination of poison and healing.
"Mercy" was paired with "Super Antibody"... a first small trial.
"Ice Element Affinity" was paired with "Ice Element Affinity," another group to test the results of breeding the same talent.
"Berserker" was paired with "Mercy." It would go berserk when injured, healing itself as it took damage-a berserk healer?
The next three groups were all "Mercy" paired with "Mercy"...
Luo Yu matched them one by one according to sex and talent compatibility. As for the individuals with ordinary talents, he didn't bother spending the effort to breed them.
Although Luo Yu had set up another ten breeding groups, he had no confidence in how many advanced talents they could produce, or whether they could mutate and combine into new advanced talents at all.
Breeding and the inheritance of traits... was gacha!
Besides, Luo Yu hadn't put labels or anything on these breeding Ink Fish. Probably only he himself could understand the workings behind it all.
"What kind of monster could a Breeding Paragon paired with a Breeding Paragon produce..."
The next day.
Luo Yu got up and washed. Today, he planned to go to the arena to give July special swimming training.
After nearly drowning so many times, July could now just about handle the institute's fishpond.
But being able to handle a mild water environment like a pond was hardly much of an accomplishment. He would surely have to deal with all kinds of sea beasts in the future, so besides developing his special abilities and talents, he also needed to train his resistance to currents.
At the arena's training base, the Torrent Labyrinth and the artificial waterfall were both excellent training locations.
At the arena, Luo Yu took a seat in his deputy director's office... As for the troops under his command, the healing Ink Fish, it wasn't time for them to start work yet. At the very least, he had to wait until the male Mercy Ink Fish had sown their seed before bringing them over to work. The female healing fish, of course, had to stay home and carry their young.
"Looking at the time, they should be here soon, right?" Luo Yu had made arrangements with Teacher Wang. He would bring his students over today, and Luo Yu would draw up a brand-new training plan for them.
Luo Yu was taking money to do a job. Teachers were a high-income group, and once the other party's annual salary was in his hands, he and July could enjoy extra meals at upscale restaurants for a while.
"Scholar Luo Yu, these are my three students: Bing Liang, Mi Xiaoyu, and Zhuang Feng. I'll leave them in your care from here on."
"Please order them around and train them however you like." As agreed, Teacher Wang Ze brought his three students before Luo Yu.
Even now, the three students were still a little dazed. Early that morning, Wang Ze had told them he had found an extracurricular tutoring class for them.
But the teacher of this class was actually Luo Yu?
"All right," Luo Yu said with a smile.
"You must listen to Scholar Luo Yu," Wang Ze reminded them again. He was making a huge gamble himself.
After Wang Ze left, Luo Yu looked at the three of them and said, "You don't need to be nervous. Don't let Teacher Wang's kindness go to waste. First, bring out your pet beasts... I'll take another look."
The three exchanged glances, then all brought out their pet beasts.
Luo Yu nodded and assessed them one by one. First, he walked up to Zhuang Feng's Wave Dog, observed it for a moment, then lifted its paw.
"Watching your battles yesterday, I actually noticed a few problems already."
"You're Zhuang Feng, right? Your Wave Dog's claws have more potential than its teeth. Starting today, have it go to the artificial waterfall and use its claws to fight the waterfall."
"Train its claws?" Zhuang Feng asked, puzzled.
"Yes. The goal is for it to concentrate water-element power on its claws, just as it concentrates water on its teeth, and form Water Flow Claw. Its claws are very hard, so they can bear a more forceful current under greater pressure. Have you heard of a high-pressure water jet?"
"Don't be afraid of injuries. Rock, steel-whatever can hone its claws, attack it hard. Once you're done each day, go to my research institute. I have healing pet beasts there... I won't let it be left with lingering injuries."
With that, he came before the Cold Mist Lizard and said to Bing Liang, "Your Cold Mist Lizard... has always been raised as a mobile artillery platform, with a focus on attack and defense... right?"
"Starting today, cut back on the time spent on those exercises and go to the arena's Torrent Labyrinth to train its agility."
"Uh..." Bing Liang was also taken aback. Train a Cold Mist Lizard's speed?
The raising manual the Frost Pet Beast Shop gave out when customers bought pet beasts said that Cold Mist Lizards should mainly train their special abilities, with defense as a secondary focus... Speed, on the other hand, wasn't a Cold Mist Lizard's strong attribute at all.
"Just do as I say. You'll discover a whole new world."
Finally, Luo Yu looked at Mi Xiaoyu, the girl he hadn't met yesterday. Her pet beast was a Wind-Entwining Worm...
[Species]: Wind-Entwining Worm [Attribute]: wind [Species rank]: Low-Rank Ordinary Species [Life level]: level 5 [Species ability]: Wind Gathering [Individual talent]: Ice Element Affinity (advanced talent, possesses the aptitude to learn and master ice-attribute special abilities.)
Well, well.
Its aptitude was much better than both her classmates' pet beasts'.
That Wave Dog only had the ordinary talent "Steel Claws," and the Cold Mist Lizard had nothing more than the ordinary talent "Agility."
Here, there was an advanced talent right off the bat. However, this ice-element talent was also much harder to activate than the other two.
"I probably... don't have anything in particular to train, right? Just let it keep training its special ability?" Mi Xiaoyu said. "A Wind-Entwining Worm... basically only has some fighting power after it has fully evolved."
That was also why she hadn't followed her two classmates to the arena for extra training.
A Wind-Entwining Worm was too weak in the very early stages, so even Teacher Wang hadn't had any expectations for her early progress.
But just as the three thought Luo Yu would nod, he fell into thought as he looked at the Wind-Entwining Worm. Then he asked, "Why did you choose this Wind-Entwining Worm in the first place?"
Mi Xiaoyu recalled, "When I chose this Wind-Entwining Worm, it was winter... The other Wind-Entwining Worms were all sluggish, but this one was very lively and kept eating. I thought it seemed full of spirit, so I bought it."
Luo Yu smiled faintly and said, "I see. That was actually a manifestation of its talent. I've studied Wind-Entwining Worms too."
"You mean its talent is good?" Mi Xiaoyu was taken aback. To be honest, after forming a contract with this Wind-Entwining Worm, she hadn't noticed anything special about it.
"As for its training assignment from now on..." Luo Yu pointed at the Wind-Entwining Worm. "It's cold-resistance training."
"Have Bing Liang's Cold Mist Lizard make enough ice for you every day. This Wind-Entwining Worm needs to practice Wind Gathering among the ice, gathering cold winds."
"Huh?"
"Try it for a few days and you'll see," Luo Yu said. "Don't let your teacher's kindness go to waste. He paid to have me guide you..."
"My training methods can activate their talents to the greatest extent possible. I'll give you one week. I want to see your results."
The three scratched their heads. Sure enough, it was different from what the books taught...