Luo Yu pulled out a notebook and made a few notes.
Of the sixteen eggs, twelve had advanced talents and four had ordinary ones.
The four ordinary-talent individuals all carried "Thick Hide," having inherited the Mercy inkfish's other talent—the worst aptitude in this whole batch of inkfish eggs.
They could only be exiled to the pond, there to have their fun alongside "July the Great."
Among the twelve advanced talents, nine carried "Mercy"—exactly Luo Yu's breeding goal.
Two more carried "Breeding Exemplar," an unexpected delight; he hadn't thought that talent could be inherited too. Going forward, through them, Luo Yu would be able to breed even more valuable inkfish.
The last one carried "Indestructible Body."
[Individual Talent]: Indestructible Body (Advanced talent. The body possesses extremely strong defense and self-healing ability.)
Clearly, this "Indestructible Body" talent had combined the blow-taking toughness of "Thick Hide" with the healing properties of "Mercy," remaking its bearer into an individual of extraordinarily tenacious vitality.
Still, on an inkfish this talent wasn't worth much cultivation. Its greatest use was telling Luo Yu that two different talents could, in offspring, fuse into a brand-new one.
"That's a rich haul."
"The Breeding Exemplar and Indestructible Body individuals were unexpected gains on top of it—after all, the original goal was just to breed more Mercy inkfish."
"A pity, though—no 'dual talent' individual seems to have been born this time."
"The two of them each passed their advanced talents down separately; not one egg ended up carrying 'Mercy' and 'Breeding Exemplar' at once."
There might be no Breeding Exemplar with Mercy, but as a first attempt at breeding inkfish, this result already left Luo Yu very satisfied…
After checking the ecosystem tank and making sure the inkfish eggs had a suitable hatching environment, Luo Yu hurried off to cook—food for himself, for July, and for these inkfish…
……
The next day, right at first light—before the post office gulls had even clocked in for work—Luo Yu set off for Wangyue Peak again.
But where yesterday had been an aimless hunt for mutated beasts, today his target was clear: the home nest of the "wild honey-water bees."
Following up on yesterday's clues, he widened the search outward from Moyue Pool. Very luckily, it didn't take long before, in a giant tree, he spotted a hive hanging beneath a thick branch, completely out in the open.
"This brazen?"
Luo Yu, hiding behind a patch of grass, blinked. True, honey-water bees, as Water-system mutated beasts, feared neither cold snaps nor rain—but with their nest this conspicuous, weren't they afraid of natural predators?
One petrel flying past and you'd all be done for…
But he soon learned why the colony dared be so brazen. First, there were the numbers: honey-water bees everywhere nearby, every nectar-gathering squad made up of dozens of fist-sized bees. Numbers alone would count for little, though. The real key was that inside the hive, Luo Yu had seen a queen of a very high level!
Level 11…
On Wangyue Peak, that made her a tyrant of the neighborhood. Anything plotting trouble would surely have to weigh its chances first—and the queen could command the whole swarm to fight as one… This was probably the largest honey-water bee colony on the entire peak.
Luo Yu hadn't come to pick a fight this time, either. He just sat quietly to one side counting bee heads, neither side crossing the other. Honey-water bees had a gentle temperament; as long as he kept away from their territory, they wouldn't attack him unprovoked. He counted until evening, and by then he had this colony pretty well figured out.
"Three of them have enhancement talents."
"The one I saw yesterday is here too."
The three were "Strength Enhancement," "Defense Enhancement," and "Five Senses Enhancement"!
[Individual Talent]: Strength Enhancement (Ordinary talent. The venom of its own Poison Sting enhances the strength of other living beings.)
[Individual Talent]: Defense Enhancement (Ordinary talent. The venom of its own Poison Sting enhances the defense of other living beings.)
[Individual Talent]: Five Senses Enhancement (Advanced talent. The venom of its own Poison Sting enhances the five senses of other living beings.)
"So there really was something special about the honey-water bee as a species." When he discovered the "Five Senses Enhancement" individual, Luo Yu felt the day hadn't been wasted in the least.
You have to understand: most of a mutated beast's individual talents worked on the beast itself.
Only a rare few could also work on other living beings.
In terms of altruism, the latter sort was obviously far more likable.
If the Mercy inkfish was a "doctor," then the enhancement honey-water bees were "coaches."
That "Five Senses Enhancement" honey-water bee in particular was the very cream of the crop. If he caught it and had it put the little penguin through daily "sting" training, wouldn't the penguin's sight, hearing, smell… get highly efficient exercise?
With sharper sight, it could pick out faster enemies. With keener hearing, it could dodge attacks it never even saw…
And strength and defense were both things the little penguin lacked.
With plenty of honey-water bees like these sparring with July, how could its progress be anything but swift!
Decision made: he had to catch these three honey-water bees, put them to work for him, and set them up as the little penguin's coaches!
Of course, with no contract to bind them, they would never submit to Luo Yu easily. Once caught, they could only be forcibly locked in cages. Thankfully, cooperation wasn't a concern—as long as they fought back with their Poison Stings, that already counted as cooperating. What Luo Yu was after was exactly those attacks.
"Could I secretly have the makings of a capitalist?" Luo Yu sank into deep thought.
Forget it!
All those merchants on the islands were squeezing mutated beasts to create value for themselves. If he refused to join in, how could he ever outdo them?
Of course, right now Luo Yu was stuck at the very first hurdle… how to catch them.
Those three enhancement-talented honey-water bees were only level 1 or 2 themselves, but the swarm was a communal one—even working apart, the bees never strayed far from one another. And the colony had a level-11 queen… Getting at them would be a little tricky.
Startle just one into sending out a distress signal, and a whole mass of honey-water bees would presumably come swarming in to attack.
……
Luo Yu didn't act rashly. Having confirmed where they were, he went straight back to the research institute to look up detailed records on this mutated beast.
"Honey-Water Bee."
"A small bee-type mutated beast."
"Found it."
Luo Yu's parents' research covered a wide range; they had touched on every mutated beast common to Jingyue Island.
Of course, their research being broad but shallow was their shortcoming too.
Flipping through Luo Shui's leftover research notes on the honey-water bee, Luo Yu found, after some searching, the knowledge he wanted.
The honey-water bee's weaknesses.
"Honey-water bees build their communication system mainly on smell and pheromones, with vision in a supporting role."
"They are active by day, forming squads to gather nectar, and return to the hive to rest at night."
"1. Visual flaw: honey-water bees cannot see purple clearly and will ignore purple objects."
"2. Olfactory weakness: the smell of swamp mud severely disrupts a honey-water bee's sense of smell, leaving it unable to tell friend from foe."
"3. The scent of the Dragon-Snake Orchid plant sends low-level honey-water bees into a weakened state, their bodies going limp…"
In truth, for humans, dealing with certain mutated beasts didn't necessarily take brute force.
Wisdom was humanity's most powerful weapon.
Many biologists held that no absolutely perfect creature existed in this world. Even the mightiest mutated beasts carried certain weaknesses in their genes; nature always kept something around that could check them.
Finding those weaknesses, and the means to exploit them, often let a Beast Master deal with mutated beasts without lifting a finger.
For instance, while learning about fishing in this world, Luo Yu had noticed that the anglers here were extremely particular about their bait.
Some miraculous baits not only lured mutated sea beasts in but, once the beasts touched them, left them weak all over with their combat power badly slashed—letting the angler reel in mighty sea beasts with ease.
Reading the notes, Luo Yu murmured to himself, "If I put on a purple protective suit from head to toe and smear swamp mud all over my body, I might just be able to approach the honey-water bees safely, without being tagged as an enemy or an invader."
"And to catch them, I'll need the Dragon-Snake Orchid. Put the orchid's sap and snapped-off twigs into a burlap sack, creep up on a bee without a sound, and bag it in one quick motion—the orchid's scent inside will knock the trapped bee out in no time, so that it stops resisting and can hardly call its companions…"
Luo Yu figured it was worth a try. Part of why he dared try at all was that even if it failed, he could always have July dig a tunnel; a stretch of hiding underground would put them in the clear. He couldn't hold out in a head-on clash, but Burrowing was a supreme life-saving skill.
Besides, honey-water bees were a cautious lot. Faced with a troublesome individual, unless the hive itself was damaged, they generally wouldn't fight to the bitter end—this was a species that would write off its ordinary bees and make a strategic retreat to protect its base.
With these habits of the honey-water bee understood, Luo Yu began preparing tools and materials, determined to make the catch himself.
……
"How come there are people here?"
It took two days to get the gear ready; then Luo Yu came to Wangyue Peak again, to the area near the honey-water bees' hive.
On arrival, though, his brow furrowed slightly: on the only path in, a middle-aged man was hovering about with three boys and girls not far from Luo Yu's own age, heaven knew doing what.
Judging by the setup, though, Luo Yu guessed these were a Beast Master school's teacher and students…
Hands-on field lessons, was it?
"Who's there?" Luo Yu's full battle kit had been prepared purely to fool honey-water bees, so naturally it couldn't slip past a keen Beast Master's senses. The man's gaze suddenly swung toward him. Discovered, Luo Yu stepped out into the open without fuss.
The moment he did, the stench of swamp mud clinging to him assaulted the four like a biological weapon.
The three students shrank back half a step, pinching their noses as if facing a mortal enemy.
"Where did this savage crawl out from…" One boy, clapping eyes on the reeking Luo Yu, jumped in fright.
Chapter 17