"A wild man..."
Luo Yu's current outfit really did look like a wild man's—wrapped up so completely that his face couldn't be made out, and stinking to boot. The other party hadn't been wrong.
"Doesn't look like a wild man to me—more like a zombie!" the other two students said, studying him carefully.
"Don't talk nonsense," the middle-aged Beast Master said, glancing at Luo Yu. "Probably a hunter from one of the villages nearby."
A moment later, Luo Yu had walked to within a short distance of them.
"Am I disturbing you?" Luo Yu asked.
"No. I'm a teacher at Jingyue High School, out here leading my students on field practice. Looks like it was a misunderstanding."
Luo Yu nodded. "Good, as long as I'm not disturbing anything. If there's nothing else, I'll be off."
"Mm. Stay safe." The teacher nodded back.
"See you." It surprised him a little that there were people in the area now, but Luo Yu didn't mind. With a capable Beast Master nearby, if anything went wrong on his end, he could call for help along the way—that was a good thing.
After this one encounter, Luo Yu walked on and started searching for those Honey-Water Bees.
Watching his back, one of the boys couldn't help asking, "A village hunter? ... He dresses so strangely. Why on earth does he make himself so smelly?"
"The strange clothing is probably for dealing with mutated beasts..." The school teacher had seen plenty of the world. "I believe I've taught you this: fighting a mutated beast head-on, beast against beast, isn't the only way to handle one..."
"You're in luck. You've run into an expert—just the chance to see how he goes about dealing with mutated beasts..."
He, too, watched Luo Yu's departing back. "The equipment he's carrying must have been prepared against his prey's weaknesses. This is an excellent real-world observation lesson. You may follow at a distance and watch—though of course, don't disturb him."
The three students traded glances, then trailed far behind Luo Yu as their teacher had instructed.
They watched him swagger straight into the Honey-Water Bees' territory.
"Here to capture Honey-Water Bees?"
The school teacher pondered.
"Teacher, look..." A while later, the students suddenly cried out in wonder. They had seen Luo Yu walk right up to quite a few Honey-Water Bees—and every one of them simply ignored him, as though the man didn't exist.
Honey-Water Bees had very strong territorial instincts. Any other creature that got too close to the hive was certain to be attacked, yet this man was perfectly fine.
"See?" the school teacher said. "What did I tell you? Those are wilderness survival skills. This man must be a seasoned old hunter."
After searching for a while, Luo Yu finally found that Five Senses Enhancement individual again—and sure enough, this Honey-Water Bee ignored him too.
At the sight, Luo Yu grinned, gently undid the burlap sack he carried, and clapped it over the bee in one motion!!!
Bzzz!!!
In a flash, the Five Senses Enhancement Honey-Water Bee was caught in the trap. The scent of fermented Dragon-Snake Orchid inside the sack instantly left it dizzy and disoriented.
It didn't struggle, and it couldn't send out any call for help. The whole thing ended without a ripple.
"Whew..." Luo Yu had been extremely tense too, but seeing no movement anywhere around, he let out a breath of relief.
"Cheap Dad really came through."
Next, Luo Yu found the two Honey-Water Bees with "ordinary enhancement talents" and captured them just as smoothly.
Everything done, he hurried out of the Honey-Water Bees' territory—and only then noticed that those teachers and students had been watching him from far off the entire time.
First, he ruled out murder and plunder.
Nobody that bored out of their mind would bother robbing a fellow of a few scraggly bees that looked utterly worthless.
"Something you need?" Luo Yu asked, tugging the burlap sack along.
The school teacher chuckled. "Hello. A moment ago my students and I watched you capture those Honey-Water Bees, and we admire your technique very much. We'd like to ask you to share a little of your wilderness survival insight with them—if it's no trouble, that is."
Luo Yu pulled off his mask and hat, revealing a young face. "I don't come out to the wilds very often myself. I don't have any insight worth passing on."
So young!
The teachers and students were taken aback. They had expected a hunter well along in years—and instead he was a boy in his teens?
"You look young," the school teacher said, astonished. "Are you a student too? Which class?"
Luo Yu shook his head. "School? I never went."
In this era, around age fifteen was when humans generally awakened their Beast Taming Space special ability, and it was also the age of "adulthood" nowadays.
After the "nine years of compulsory education" handed down from the Old Era, once they had learned the basics, Jingyue Island's beast-taming school—Jingyue High School—was where these trainee Beast Masters studied advanced beast-taming knowledge and navigation, along with a great deal of hands-on practice.
But Luo Yu had never enrolled at all.
As for the little handful of high school courses, his parents had taught him all of them when he was small... Going would only have been a waste of time.
"Never went?"
"Mm," Luo Yu said.
"If there's nothing else, I'll be off."
Luo Yu turned and left. Watching his departing back, the students were utterly lost. Who on earth was this man?
The school teacher thought for a moment, then said,
"I believe I know who he is."
"For this year's age group, there should be exactly one person not attending a beast-taming school..."
"That genius boy who passed the Breeding Qualification Examination at fifteen and inherited his father's research institute—his name, if I remember right, is Luo Yu... If it's him, everything makes sense. Besides seasoned hunters, biological scholars like that can also handle mutated beasts without a drop of blood being spilled..."
"Luo Yu?!" The three students started slightly. They had hardly ever heard the name. After all, the Breeding Qualification Examination was one of those social licensing exams on the management track—it didn't much concern ordinary students.
"Teacher, then compared with the top few in our school, which one is stronger?"
The Beast Master teacher chuckled. "In terms of knowledge, this Luo Yu probably has the edge. But when it comes to combat ability... that's harder to say..."
The moment he finished, his face abruptly changed, and he looked toward the forest. From that direction came the frantic woo-bzzzing of an agitated swarm, and he blurted out, "Uh-oh—the queen's found out her kin have been kidnapped! We have to move, fast!!!"
………
Back home, Luo Yu's first order of business was to find three iron cages, put the sleeping Honey-Water Bees in them one apiece, and hang the cages in a tree.
Before long, away from the Dragon-Snake Orchid's atmosphere, they gradually woke and discovered their predicament.
"Woo-bzzzz!!!"
"Woo-bzzzz!!!"
First the three Honey-Water Bees flew wildly around their cages like headless flies; then they began stabbing at the bars for all they were worth.
Naturally, at their current levels, there was no way they could escape...
Luo Yu watched for a while, then put in their favorite flower nectar...
The next moment, they quit struggling altogether and settled down to eat inside their cages. When they were full, they simply fell asleep on the spot.
"Well, aren't you practical...!"
Luo Yu was speechless. Whoever has the milk is your mother, is that it?
Didn't they have any self-respect at all?
"According to the records, Honey-Water Bees of level 10 or below carry very weak venom—not fatal. But... their stings hurt astonishingly!"
"And the pain is persistent. For an ordinary person, it takes at least three days for the swelling to barely go down."
Pain, was it?
As long as he could grow stronger, a price like this wasn't worth mentioning.
In theory, he counted as "other life" too, so presumably the Poison Sting's effect could work on his own body.
Of course, Luo Yu didn't rush to be his own test subject. He first collected a bit of venom from the enhancement-talent Honey-Water Bees, checked it with instruments and an earth mud loach, and only after confirming that the toxicity really was ordinary did he dare hold out his arm in front of a cage.
The next moment, the already-irritated Honey-Water Bee drew out its Poison Sting again and jabbed it through a gap in the bars at Luo Yu.
"Hss..." The violent pain instantly brought cold sweat out all over him.
"Not bad..." he gritted out through clenched teeth, mouth twisted in a grimace.
"An opportunity like this—July should hurry up and try it too."
"The thing Honey-Water Bee venom fears most is high heat. When the temperature climbs too high, the venom is deactivated and loses its effect."
"July is still young, but it holds the power of high heat, so it should be perfectly safe."
With that thought, Luo Yu summoned the little penguin and had a talk with it.
July tipped its head up, took a look at the fist-sized Honey-Water Bee and the Poison Sting as thick as a drinking straw, and fell deep into thought.
"Wu-ji!!!"
Its super intelligence informed it that this thing... was a little frightening.
Did it really have to train like this?
It kept feeling that this method was not scientific.
"It's scientific. Trust me." Luo Yu chuckled.
July gritted its teeth and nodded. Fine then—it would give it a try... and possibly give up the ghost...
"Good child. When the time comes, we'll have Auntie Inkfish treat your wounds." Luo Yu was thoroughly gratified. He scooped July up, pressed it against the front of the cage, rear end aimed at the Honey-Water Bee.
The next moment, the Honey-Water Bee decisively jabbed at the little penguin.
"Chirp!!!"
That single sting made every fiber of July's down stand on end, and the lancing pain from the Poison Sting nearly launched it off the ground.
"Chirp-chirp-chirp-chirp!!!"
Luo Yu set July down, and it immediately went rolling back and forth across the ground.
"Wu-ji..." It shot the Honey-Water Bee a vicious look, then bent down and blew on its wound.
"..." Luo Yu smiled off to the side, having already decided to add stinging practice to the daily routine.
After that one sting—illusion or not, who could say—Luo Yu genuinely felt quite a bit stronger, as if he'd been given a shot of stimulants...
As for any qualitative change in his strength, though, there was none. Presumably he would have to keep up the stinging every day, and only after a long while would the effect become noticeable.
………
In the blink of an eye, another half month had passed...
In that half month, all sixteen inkfish eggs hatched without a hitch, every one of them healthy—and sure enough, the hatching had come early.
What truly defied belief was that along the way, the Breeding Exemplar had mated with the Mercy inkfish one more time... There might well be another batch of eggs in a few days.
The Dark Eight-Blade Style family, meanwhile, was much slower—as of now it still hadn't managed a first laying. That, at least, was a normal pace.
In recent days, on top of his usual training, Luo Yu had added one more task: sorting through the various experimental data and reports on the Mercy inkfish.
The monthly regular meeting Yuwan had spoken of—the "Institute Meeting: Research Report Session"—was drawing near. Now that the Mercy inkfish had produced preliminary breeding results, Luo Yu didn't want to drag his feet. He wanted to use this stage's results as quickly as possible to pry loose more research resources. That way, whenever he wanted to keep a few more pet beasts, he wouldn't have to weigh the cost of feeding them.
And he ought to have a security team, right?
Best to hire a few assistants as well.
What's more, his parents had spent all those years researching inkfish evolution—if he didn't carry that work through and unlock the inkfish's evolution as well, Luo Yu would feel awful about it. He wanted to expand the research institute and bring in more inkfish to study. And all of that would take money!",
Chapter 18