New Research: The Retainer Evolution Method!

Luo Yu held his notes and read them in all seriousness. "Just as mutated beasts, beyond their own species abilities, can also learn higher-tier skills through training later in life, Monarch Essence can be simulated as well—and the essence a Common Species condenses through such simulation is called Commander Essence, which likewise carries the ability to brand bloodline imprints and establish a retainer system." So that was how it was... He had rather underestimated this bargain dad of his; the man really knew quite a lot. The man's study was a treasure trove. Luo Yu kept reading. "However, for a Common Species to condense Commander Essence depends heavily on aptitude, and it also takes expensive resources." That much he could understand... Luo Yu rubbed his chin and glanced at the little penguin beside him. July's aptitude went without saying. As for resources, he already had a steady way of making money and could no longer be counted among the poor. "A Common Species that condenses Commander Essence is generally also called a Commander-tier mutated beast, and is more powerful still. This condensation method was developed by a biology PhD at Canglan Ocean University, who never kept it secret—he would even bring it up casually in class." Canglan Ocean University again... The Genetic Evolution Potion was one, the essence condensation method another—both had been born here. It truly lived up to its name as a holy land of Beast Master research. "First, the required materials: a basin of blood from an Abyss Species mutated beast, enough to submerge a pet beast... plus a portion of Blood-Coagulating Algae. As for the procedure, you set up a large pot, bring the abyssal sea beast's blood to a boil, and, like a 'medicinal bath,' have the Common Species soak in it." "The boiling abyssal blood briefly activates the 'Monarch Aura,' which strikes every life aperture in the Common Species' body and sets its blood boiling in turn, while the Blood-Coagulating Algae seeks out the bloodline factors inside the Common Species that resonate with the Monarch Aura and condenses them into Commander Essence." "The process is extremely dangerous, so it can never be rolled out on a large scale. Both Abyss Species blood and Blood-Coagulating Algae are far from cheap, and an ordinary Common Species pet beast simply cannot endure blood boiling as hot as magma." "And so, even though this PhD worked out a way for Common Species mutated beasts to gain retainers, almost no one uses it." "On top of that, building a retainer system has its own rules: a retainer's species rank may not exceed the species rank of its bloodline master." "That is to say, the retainer of a Lower Monarch Species can at most be a Lower Monarch—it can never take a Middle Monarch as its retainer." Under that constraint, even if someone poured vast resources into their Common Species mutated beast, condensed Commander Essence, and contracted a retainer, they would only gain one more retainer of the same rank. How much could that really raise their strength? Far too little value for the cost. The gains came nowhere near justifying the resources spent and the risks of condensation. With that kind of money, topped up with a little more, you might well go straight out and put a down payment on a monarch cub. Apart from those Beast Masters who shared an exceptionally deep bond with their Common Species pet beasts yet searched in vain for a way to evolve them, probably not many would be willing to use this method to raise a Common Species pet beast's strength. "In other words, even if July condensed Commander Essence, it could at most contract a Lower Common Species as its bloodline retainer..." When he finished reading, Luo Yu felt a slight headache coming on. Not only was it dangerous—the payoff was small. No wonder he had never heard of it before. Normal people simply had no use for it. Only because Luo Yu's parents had seen the wider world and gone off to study in a big city did they know of this outlandish secret breeding manual at all. "In theory, this secret manual is a bit of a dud..." "But my situation here seems to be a little different???" "Suppose I want the Water Demon Beast to become July's retainer." "Normally there would be no way to pull it off—after all, the Water Demon Beast stands a full tier above July." "But the Water Demon Beast evolved from the inkfish, a Lower Common Species." "If the little penguin first contracts an inkfish as a bloodline retainer, and that inkfish then evolves to Monarch-tier while keeping its place as a retainer, wouldn't July have a monarch retainer after all?!" "And if that works..." Even without a new Beast Taming Space, wouldn't he still have two pet beasts? Still—a Monarch Species becoming a Common Species' retainer. Wasn't that turning the natural order on its head? A retainer weaker than its master leaves the bloodline master unaffected. But what if the retainer was stronger? Stronger by a lot! Might the bloodline master undergo some special change? A good change, or a bad one? The bad outcome: after the inkfish evolved, the bloodline imprint might scatter outright—like a contract being severed, a pet beast defecting from its Beast Master. But the good outcome... could it be that when the inkfish evolved, July would complete an unorthodox evolution of its own? "When one man attains the Dao, even his chickens and dogs ascend to heaven"... No—to put it precisely: the retainer evolves, and the bloodline master ascends! If it worked... Luo Yu summed it up. [1. Through condensing Commander Essence, have the Common Species contract the Dominion inkfish as a retainer.] [2. Then let the inkfish evolve into a Monarch Species.] [3. That way, the Common Species would have a monarch retainer.] [4. With the monarch retainer's power at its command, the Common Species might undergo tremendous change.] Whether that change proved good or bad would take further experiments to learn. "Worth looking into... I'll be raising plenty of Water Demon Beasts going forward anyway, so this can count as 'related research.'" Luo Yu turned it over in his mind and, for now, dubbed the topic the [Retainer Evolution Method]—using the power of a bloodline retainer to make the bloodline master evolve. Of course, since no one could say whether it would bring benefit or harm, Luo Yu certainly would not dare try it directly on the little penguin. But as long as this path to "evolution" existed in principle, plenty of people would likely be willing to serve as guinea pigs and test subjects, to see whether it could succeed. After all, far too many Beast Masters, once famous and successful, still cannot bring themselves to replace their original Common pet beasts. Through fortuitous encounters they may have opened second and even third spaces and contracted stronger monarch pet beasts, yet by some twist of fate they never come across a method to evolve that first Common pet beast... Just a couple of days ago, he seemed to have seen a similar bounty in the Alliance Monthly. Qiao Yi, a young Heavenly King-tier Beast Master of the Canglan Continent, had begun with a Heart-Sea Jellyfish, a Lower Common Species healing-type pet beast, as her initial pet. She had originally meant only to become a grassroots medical worker, but who could have guessed the fortuitous encounters that followed: she opened a second Beast Taming Space and contracted a Monarch Species pet beast, switching paths all the way into a combat-type Beast Master. Today she stood among the top powerhouses of the Ocean Guardians Alliance's young generation. By now the Heart-Sea Jellyfish, merely a Lower-tier Species, had long fallen behind her, yet she could not bear to cast off her initial pet beast, so she kept a standing public bounty, hoping some biologist would develop a method to make the Heart-Sea Jellyfish evolve. Even if it only evolved to Upper Common Species, the reward would still be generous. Beast Masters like her were exactly the audience for the Retainer Evolution Method Luo Yu had conceived. And if he later failed, through the "Ancient Grotto," to find a way to evolve the little penguin, he would naturally hope the Retainer Evolution Method worked—then he could use this method to strengthen the little penguin himself. …… "Come on, let's make another trip to the farm." Luo Yu tugged July along, already resolved to treat the Dominion inkfish like a sacred treasure. In this research institute right now, as far as experimental material went, the Dominion inkfish absolutely ranked on par with the Breeding Exemplar—if anything, a notch higher. After scooping the Dominion inkfish up, Luo Yu took a look—female. "Phew, good, good." "Thank goodness the Breeding Exemplar birthed two more Breeding Exemplars, one of them male. Otherwise breeding really would have been a headache." …… The next day. Humming a little tune, Luo Yu waited bright and early for Teacher Yuwan to come pick him up and take him to take up his post at the beast-fighting arena. "Luo Yu, get out here!!!" But before Yuwan arrived, a voice thick with resentment made Luo Yu freeze for a moment. Who was that? It sounded rather familiar. Luo Yu opened the window and looked down from the second floor, lost in thought. Wasn't that Chen Bo? What did Chen Bo want with him so early in the morning... A moment later, Luo Yu walked out of the research institute in his slippers, looked at Chen Bo, and said, "Something??" "You..." Chen Bo drew a deep breath. "I want to challenge you!!" "A challenge??" Luo Yu looked utterly blank. Why on earth challenge him? "If heaven bore Bo, why did it need to bear Yu as well!" Chen Bo's heart ached beyond measure. Originally, he could have broken the record of the Breeding Qualification Examination and become its youngest-ever passer. Then Luo Yu had charged out of nowhere—fine, he had swallowed that; just bad luck, he told himself. But now Luo Yu had inexplicably produced some medical research achievement. He couldn't understand it! From then on, every day had been a life worse than death. His parents rode him relentlessly, and his study and training loads had far more than doubled. And the chief culprit behind it all was that "other family's kid," Luo Yu. The more Chen Bo dwelt on it, the more wronged he felt. He had held this anger in for a week and truly needed to vent some of it. "Don't tell me he got a lecture from his parents?" Luo Yu was amused; from the look of Chen Bo, he could guess the gist. These parents really were no fun. Wasn't this kid already quite outstanding? And still not satisfied. What was the point of comparing the kid to him... "Did you pass this month's Breeding Qualification Examination?" Luo Yu asked. "So what if I did?" Chen Bo said. "Well, that's decent. If home life is miserable, why not come be my son... no, wait—why not come work for me instead? I'm short one fish-feeder." "I'm giving you a job opportunity to become excellent. Free of charge." Chen Bo: ?