Goo Goo Gah Gah

Fine… After a moment, Luo Yu could more or less accept that July, too, had a formidable fishing talent… As for why the talent panel didn't display it—the panel probably didn't think a fishing talent was of any use. And in fact, it really didn't look all that useful. "But not everything needs to be 'useful.'" "Meaning is something you give things yourself… as long as you love them, that's enough." He himself was exactly that kind of person. Back in school, Luo Yu had already discovered his own talent—a talent for languages, presumably? English, Japanese, Russian, whatever the language, he picked it up fast. By all rights, he should have applied for a foreign-language major, gone into related work, and put his strengths to full use. But even with that gift for languages, Luo Yu simply didn't like them, so he resolutely applied for animal science instead. So in his own philosophy of life, "what you love" outranked "what you're good at." Having noticed July's talent for fishing—and that July genuinely loved the thing itself—Luo Yu suddenly changed his mind. He added "fishing" to July's special training, giving it more time to dig into its hobby. Would that waste energy? Luo Yu didn't think so. A mutated beast's strength doesn't rest on how well it has mastered its "special ability" alone—it touches every aspect of the creature. General qualities—focus, reflexes, coordination, perception—could all play decisive roles in combat. He thought it over. Since the little penguin was interested in fishing, that seemed fine in itself—and fishing as a sport seemed able to train quite a few qualities. An angler has to wait a long time for prey to take the hook, holding impatience in check—excellent practice for patience and focus. Then there's emotional management: long stretches with nothing on the line, big fish slipping off the hook—enough to make any angler seethe. And observation, bodily coordination, reflexes… none of them could be lacking either. Mulling it over this way, Luo Yu found that fishing trained a surprising number of all-around qualities. "Those who raise pet beasts by mainstream, conventional experience are, at best, ordinary Beast Masters." "Those who can train a pet beast according to that individual's talent are what you'd call excellent Beast Masters." "And someone like me, who trains a pet beast by combining its 'talent' with its 'interests'—that's what makes a top-tier Beast Master! As expected of you, Luo Yu." He patted his own shoulder and talked himself around in no time. …… In the blink of an eye, three days passed. July's fishing talent really was astonishing. That school of "ordinary talent" inkfish quickly became its angling targets, and after a little practice at live-prey angling, it didn't take long for it to dominate the inkfish pond. Catch, release; catch, release… The inkfish clan gave themselves up as martyrs to the very last. Those with good talent became breeding-experiment subjects; those with poor talent became practice partners for its fishing drills. Unfortunately, inkfish were too dumb and too easy to hook to give July a proper workout. If they had even one-tenth the brains of an ordinary octopus, July would never have had it so easy. After careful thought, Luo Yu released the batches of earth mud loaches he had bought into the pond. These things… were on a whole other level of agility compared to inkfish. Even with the makings of a Great Emperor and a fishing talent to match, when July faced the conceptual god of "cunning as a loach," it came back beaten every single time. The things were slick all over; even once hooked, a few twists and they slipped off the line again. It tormented July no end—truly a resounding success at emotional-management training. "Weejee…" Its grudge against the earth mud loaches ran so deep that even during special-ability and talent training, July couldn't get them out of its head. Underground, where it was supposed to quiet its mind, concentrate, and carefully resonate with the earth vein power, July's head was now entirely occupied by earth mud loaches. Its thoughts began to wander; its focus was nowhere near enough to let it seriously feel the power deep within the earth. It drifted off, started seeing things, and kept replaying the loach slipping off the hook, time after time… "Still too young. Perfect chance to toughen up its resilience." Watching this, Luo Yu, who was reading nearby, shook his head. Rookies are all restless. Not like him—even half a day without a catch left him as calm as still water… "So it slipped the hook at the crucial moment—so what? Stay calm…" Luo Yu was consoling July when, the next instant, he sharply sensed that something was wrong. So close… just a little more and it would have landed it… The little penguin, endlessly replaying the fishing in its head, went red-hot all over with anger. The more it thought, the angrier it got; its body burned hotter and hotter, and then things seemed to be slipping beyond its own control. It realized that what should have been only a slight rise in temperature from anger was now climbing fast, and kept on climbing. Its body flared up like a colossal furnace, and a terrified July scrambled up out of the ground. Fwoosh!!! July leapt up, and Luo Yu at once beheld a little penguin steaming with scalding heat, the air around it blurred by the temperature. A blazing red aura of flame wrapped the little penguin whole, making it like an erupting volcano—and outside it, astonishing heat. Volcano talent, activated! "It worked?!" Luo Yu froze for a moment, hardly believing it. "So it resonated because it thought back on its failed catch and got so angry it overheated? I told you the fishing training method really works." The little penguin was steaming with heat from head to toe. Judging by feel alone, Luo Yu figured the temperature around it was definitely already past 100 degrees. "Goo, goo, gah, gah." At this temperature, the little penguin looked rather miserable. Every part of its body felt scorched, and its throat was so inflamed that its voice changed—it had lost its adorable calls and now let out hoarse sounds of no clear meaning. That was only normal. After all, even a person with a fever sounds strange. At this temperature… any other mutated fish in the water would probably have been roast fish long ago. Yet its feathers showed not the slightest hint of catching fire—its constitution had already been perfectly remodeled by its top-tier talent. "Don't be afraid." "Calm yourself down first." "You can control this heat. You have the talent for it." Luo Yu reminded it through mental communication. July nodded with difficulty. Before long, July's fire began to ebb, the searing heat around its body fading away. Panting, the little penguin returned to its usual state. "Goo-gah…" Its face was full of lingering dread. Then it looked toward the pond, meaning to go take a nice cold bath… A moment later, Luo Yu fished the little penguin out with practiced ease. "Goo-gah…" It sat on the ground, its face full of lingering dread all over again. "There, there," Luo Yu said. "Find that feeling from before again, and dry yourself off." "Goo-gah…" The little penguin nodded. "Remember, learn to control the temperature. Just as you control the force you use to pull the rod, you can control that heat too." Luo Yu could see that at the little penguin's current level, it was nowhere near condensing magma; all it could do was temporarily raise the temperature around itself. Which made its next training objective self-evident… teach it to keep the temperature within a range its body could endure! The force of pulling the rod… Luo Yu's example set the little penguin thinking. It closed its eyes and, just as before, recalled the embarrassment of failing to hook the loaches. Its body began to run hot with anger, resonating with the power deep in the earth, its temperature climbing fast… With that first experience behind it, the little penguin judged it well this time. The moment the heat rose to the point of mild discomfort, it immediately—like easing off on a pull—cut off the endless climb. The next moment, a heat-giving creature like a little sun stood glowing brilliantly before Luo Yu. Feeling the heat pouring off the little penguin—hot enough to blur the air—Luo Yu took out a thermometer and clipped it between its wings. Before long, the reading began to shoot up. It finally settled at 220. "Holy crap!" Luo Yu blurted. The little penguin's surface temperature had actually reached 220 degrees. Keep in mind: that was hot enough to carbonize protein. An inkfish, if it touched the little penguin as it was now, would have its tentacles and flesh dried out and charred on the spot. For an ordinary creature, that was a lethally dangerous temperature—and yet the little penguin seemed entirely at ease. Top-tier talent—what terrifying power! But the state lasted only a few seconds before the little penguin flopped down on its bottom, as if every ounce of strength had been drained away. "…" Utterly spent, it wiped its sweat. "Evidently, even though this temperature didn't hurt its body, it still drained stamina the whole time… so before long it couldn't hold out anymore." Luo Yu scooped out a slimy mud loach for the little penguin to eat, to restore its strength. Dead tired as it was, the little penguin pounced on it in a flash. Watching it gobble away like mad, Luo Yu rubbed his chin. "Flooding its whole body with heat wastes far too much power." "It's too weak right now. It has to get the maximum out of every bit of energy." "Its talent is excellent—it controlled the temperature on its first try. After some simple training, confining the heat to just its 'wings,' its 'feet,' and its 'beak' shouldn't be impossible." "That way, it would have a certain degree of combat capability." "With the heat focused in its beak, it can cook food in an instant, killing parasites and toxins." "Wings of High Heat: a single flap can inflict severe burns on enemies—its main close-combat weapon." "Tread of High Heat: wherever it lands is severely scorched… good against larger enemies—leap onto the foe's body and do damage." Luo Yu decided the little penguin's next training should move toward localized high heat. As for condensing magma and Create Land… given how it looked right now… they would take it one step at a time. He even gave these three talent-development directions their matching skill names. Wings of High Heat: Blazing Blade. Beak of High Heat: Pecking the Sun. Tread of High Heat: Treading Flame! Once July had truly mastered these three talent skills, Luo Yu felt, it wasn't as though it couldn't hold its own against a Mid-tier Species!