Imperial Caliber, Fishing Alone Through the Ages

Inside the research institute, Yuwan and Luo Yu exchanged a few more words. “This Teacher Yuwan is extraordinary.” After Yuwan left, Luo Yu mulled it over. Since even the researchers had to sign nondisclosure agreements about the Ancient Stone Grotto, how could a mere clerk know so much about it… Chances are she wasn’t an ordinary clerk—at least at the level of the director’s secretary. Besides, both Yuwan and Beast Management Bureau Director Yu Lei bore the surname Yu, so they were probably related by blood or marriage. “She’s a powerful connection!” All she’d done was teach swimming, but from today on, Yuwan was the teacher he respected most. If anyone tried to bully him, he could drop Yuwan’s name—maybe it would come in handy. From Yuwan, Luo Yu learned not only that the institute meeting was a month away, but also an important piece of intelligence… “The discovery of the Ancient Stone Grotto seems like good news, but not necessarily.” “Ever since the earth vein disturbance, zombie sea beasts around Jingyue Island have been active more frequently, and it’s stranger than past Tide Zombie Cataclysms.” “It might be that fluctuations in the earth vein’s magnetic field have some special attraction for those zombie sea beasts…” Hearing this, Luo Yu felt enormous pressure. Before the Great Tide arrived, he had to produce research results—that way, the island would likely assign a few bodyguards to the institute and to him. Of course, since the island was looking after him so well, he also had to demonstrate his own value. Giving him an institute, money, and evolution opportunities—the island’s kindness was endless! “Alright, we finally have money. Now I can buy some nutritious maternity meals for the inkfish.” “Whether we have good days from now on depends entirely on it…” Hefting the money pouch, Luo Yu tidied up and then went to the farmers’ market again to shop. Nutritional supplements for the inkfish were easy to pick: any fresh meat from Water-system mutated beasts was more nutritious than the dried shrimp feed they were eating now. As for July’s, it was harder to choose. Luo Yu ran around many places before finally finding a “mud loach”—a mutated beast containing Earth-system nutrients. Raising non-Water pet beasts was just this troublesome… Resources were too scarce, unlike Water-system resources which were spread across the globe. And among all attributes, Earth-system and Fire-system resources were especially weighty… … After buying the ingredients and returning to the research institute, July still hadn’t woken up. Exercising its special ability took a heavy toll, so dragging its tired body around, it naturally slept even longer. Only when July woke up did Luo Yu serve the cooked mud loaches before it. “Mm.” After the little penguin emerged from the Beast Taming Space, it was immediately drawn to the basin of loaches before it. “Miu?” “Eat, eat.” After receiving Luo Yu’s reply, it lowered its head and pecked at one, then its eyes lit up, and it couldn’t stop. “Cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep—” In a moment, one loach was completely eaten. “Miu~” Its eyes welled with tears from how delicious it was, and it nearly flew with joy. Luo Yu squatted beside it, watching for a long while, carefully observing July’s physical changes. Hmm, its life level was still level 1. It seemed unrealistic to expect its life level to rise from just one meal. So when would it finally break through to level 10, thereby helping him become a novice Beast Master? Luo Yu couldn’t wait to enter that Ancient Stone Grotto and have a look… “Want another? Once you’ve eaten and drunk your fill, training begins.” “Miu!” July extended its flippers. “Two more!” Luo Yu scratched his head. It really could eat… Fortunately, the research funding had come through, so he could afford it. … After the little penguin had eaten and drunk its fill, they continued training. July’s training now focused on developing the “Walking Volcano” talent, with “Burrowing” skill as a supplement. The core of the “Walking Volcano” talent was to use the body as a medium, converting earth vein energy into astonishing heat… Obviously, communing with and resonating with earth vein power was the key to the talent. Earth veins existed everywhere, even beneath the deep sea. And now that they were on the island, the simplest and crudest way to commune with and resonate with earth veins was naturally to let July return to the earth. Spend nearly 24 hours underground, feeling the power of the earth, and take care of eating, drinking, and relieving oneself—everything right there on the spot. But just that was far from enough; after all, July also had to get a sense of “heat.” “Walking Volcano” was more like a dual Earth- and Fire-system talent than a pure Earth-system talent. Only by establishing a conversion between “earth vein power” and “heat” could it truly count as “Walking Volcano.” Judging from the Burrowing skill, the little penguin’s Earth-system talent was no problem. So the key to unlocking its talent was definitely fire. “Don’t blame the Beast Master for being inhumane; it’s all for your own good.” “If the heat becomes unbearable, remember to tell me.” In the courtyard, a bonfire that scorched the earth was lit, and hanging from a tree was a “burning glass” that magnified the temperature of the sunlight. Luo Yu simulated an extremely harsh environment, letting July feel the power of high temperatures. “Miu…” Underground, July gritted its teeth, its features blurred. *Pfft.* Unable to hold on, it quickly burrowed out, jumped into a pond full of inkfish, and took a cold-water bath. Then it successfully drowned in the pond, flailing for a while before Luo Yu fished it out. Training went back and forth like this, time flew by, and in this way Luo Yu recorded the inkfish’s condition while accompanying July in developing its talent. Soon a week passed. Although the first goal wasn’t achieved, during this process July’s life level successfully reached “level 2.” It broke through naturally while sleeping. At the moment it broke through, Luo Yu, as its Beast Master, also received some feedback. He could clearly sense that his soul power had grown stronger. However, while July was sleeping, Luo Yu tried again to project his soul and control the Ghost Ship, but unfortunately it still didn’t work. He estimated he’d need his soul to undergo a major strengthening first before he could become a Ghost Captain. Neither revolution had yet succeeded, but seeing July’s efforts, Luo Yu wanted to reward it. During this time he found a moment to go to the fishing tackle shop in town, planning to spend money to custom-order a fishing rod—also counting as fulfilling a previous promise. “Never Skunked Fishing Tackle Shop…” Luo Yu looked up at the shop’s name and fell into thought. “Anyone there?” He pushed open the door and entered, then froze. An old man sat before the counter, constantly wiping a fish he held… The old man was no stranger—he was the very old man who had been fishing on the bridge back then. The root of all evil that had gotten the little penguin interested in fishing. “What can I get you?” The old man with cool white curly hair looked up at Luo Yu. “I want a custom-made fishing rod,” Luo Yu said. “Here are the requirements. Can you do it? The materials don’t need to be top-notch, after all, the user is still growing and will need a replacement later.” After speaking, he handed the old gentleman a full page of tables recording July’s physical data, including height, weight, strength, and so on… “Easy as pie. When do you—” The old man took the requirements table, glanced at it, and his words stopped abruptly. “Sir, may I ask—what do you mean by height 40 centimeters, weight 3 kilograms, hand length 21 centimeters? Can you explain that to me?” “Oh, this… it’s a long story, but I’ll make it short?” Luo Yu rubbed his chin. A penguin wanting to fish was reasonable, wasn’t it? … Another day of good weather. After July woke up and was about to go find something to eat, it saw Luo Yu pull out a homemade mini fishing rod beside it. “Miu?!” A fishing rod? Seeing the fishing rod, the little penguin was overjoyed, and its stomach wasn’t hungry anymore. “Do you want this?” Luo Yu asked with a smile. July nodded quickly. Luo Yu chuckled and handed over the fishing rod… Getting the fishing rod, the little penguin treasured it like a treasure, holding it high and examining it with trembling flippers. Hmm… Looking at it, Luo Yu had a foreboding feeling at this moment. After giving this penguin a fishing rod, would it pull up weird and strange things when sailing at sea in the future? It felt dangerous. “I’m probably overthinking it…” It was just a Ground Penguin. Even if it could barely use tools, it probably couldn’t amount to much. Even humans extremely skilled at using tools needed talent to catch big fish. Let alone, it was a penguin. Watching July hold the fishing rod and not want to let go, he felt it was like a child suddenly taking a liking to some toy; maybe the enthusiasm would fade in a few days. But the next moment, Luo Yu’s expression suddenly froze. He saw July begin to tentatively wave the fishing rod. Under its control, the rod gave a light flick, the fishing line tracing a beautiful arc, precisely hooking a trash bag on the table. Then, the trash bag traced another gorgeous arc, and the little penguin tossed it into the trash can… This scene, landing in Luo Yu’s eyes, smoothed out his wrinkled brain, and he couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing. “Fuck.” He was stunned, looking with difficulty at the little penguin that had just picked up the rod and was already playing it with masterly skill, and said: “How did you do that?” July looked over blankly. How did I do what? Just imitating that old man on the bridge… “Wait a moment!” Luo Yu was genuinely confused by the little penguin. He fell into thought and checked the little penguin’s information again… There was no “fishing”-related talent, after all? Even if it had the “Cleverness” talent, that was just an ordinary talent. It shouldn’t give such a huge bonus to using tools, right? “Do it again,” Luo Yu said, wanting to see if what happened before was an accident or a coincidence. The next moment. July focused intently on waving the mini fishing rod. The fishing line instantly hooked the trash can bag, and after a hard yank, the trash can flew up. “? ? ?” Luo Yu fell silent. After a long silence, he slowly said: “You shouldn’t be called Ground Penguin. Maybe you should go back to your pre-mutation name: Emperor Penguin.” Damn, this was truly the talent of a sovereign—fishing alone through the ages! For crying out loud, was your top-tier talent Walking Volcano or fishing?!