"All right, then I won't hold back," Luo Yu agreed.
Inwardly, he thought, *As luck would have it, my training method just happens to involve letting mutated beasts attack them relentlessly.*
Three stings per bee each day, nine stings in total daily.
After nine stings like that, it would be hard not to grow stronger.
***
Before long, Luo Yu returned to the research institute. Back home, he fed the fish, fed the bees, and fed July. Today, he planned to select several more pairs of inkfish for breeding. Since these fish were idling around anyway, he might as well help revitalize their species.
At this institute, the absolute core of the breeding program was the Breeding Exemplar. Currently, Luo Yu had three of them on hand: one first-generation female, and two second-generation specimens—one male and one female.
By now, the first-generation Breeding Exemplar had already completed her second mating, once again paired with that Mercy inkfish. She would likely spawn eggs within the next day or two, making her a veritable model worker.
As for the remaining two second-generation Breeding Exemplars, even though they had hatched not long ago, Luo Yu intended to put them to work as well.
Mutated beasts were fundamentally different from ordinary creatures. An increase in life level also accelerated their physical development, bringing on sexual maturity ahead of schedule. Thus, as long as one was willing to invest resources, there was no need to wait around endlessly for time to pass.
With research funding in hand, Luo Yu naturally fed the inkfish the finest resources available. In less than a week, they could reach Level 2 and gain the ability to spawn.
"I wonder what will happen when a Breeding Exemplar is paired with another Breeding Exemplar..."
Originally, Luo Yu had considered pairing the second-generation female Exemplar with the male Super Antibody individual first to churn out more offspring with antibody talents.
The reason was simple: wounds inflicted by zombie sea beasts carried not only ordinary physical trauma, but also viruses. Even if the virus could not completely infect a Beast Master or pet beast, it would still accelerate the wound's deterioration. Thus, Luo Yu wanted to see whether combining the Mercy talent with the Super Antibody talent could breed a batch of medical specimens specifically tailored to combat the zombie virus.
On second thought, however, Breeding Exemplars were still far too scarce. Enhancing the medical individuals was in no rush. He decided to conduct a round of inbreeding first, letting the two Breeding Exemplars from the same clutch mate together.
In animal husbandry, this was a very standard method for purifying superior genetics. Inkfish possessed neither intelligence nor concepts of morality—only biological instincts. In nature, inbreeding was an exceedingly common biological phenomenon that required no deliberate avoidance.
"As for the Command individual, I should probably hold off on breeding it for a while..."
Luo Yu had set the Command individual apart in its own enclosure. Although he was eager to have it spawn eggs right away, the creature was malnourished, its physical condition lagging behind even the few-day-old inkfish he personally tended. To ensure healthier offspring, Luo Yu planned to feed the Command individual nutritional supplements for half a month first to build up its strength.
Otherwise, if it died of postpartum weakness, he would have nowhere to cry. Inkfish carrying such talents were priceless treasures down to the last one.
As for the other inkfish with advanced talents, despite the cautionary tale of the Dark Eight-Blade Style family, Luo Yu intended to keep gambling.
So what if the inheritance rate of talents was low? The odds of breeding a top-grade individual from a single pair might be slim, but if he set up enough pairs, one was bound to hit the jackpot.
And so...
He paired Danger Sense with Spirit Overload—a fusion of sixth sense and telekinetic talent.
He paired Dark Affinity with Gu King—a combination of the dark attribute and poison attribute.
He paired Indestructible Body with Water Element Immunity—a union of defense and elemental immunity.
He paired Mercy with Gu King—a mixture of poison and medicine.
He paired Mercy with Super Antibody—testing the waters with a single trial pair first.
He paired Ice Element Affinity with Ice Element Affinity, setting up a combination to observe the breeding results of matching identical talents.
He paired Berserker with Mercy—berserking upon injury while continuously healing itself. A berserk healer?
The remaining three pairs were all Mercy with Mercy...
Luo Yu sorted and matched them one by one according to gender and talent compatibility. As for individuals with ordinary talents, he did not waste his energy breeding them.
Although Luo Yu had assembled another ten breeding pairs, he had no real confidence in how many advanced talents they would produce, or whether they would mutate and combine into new advanced talents.
Breeding and inheriting traits was simply pulling cards from a gacha!
Furthermore, Luo Yu did not bother affixing labels or tags to these breeding inkfish. Across the entire world, he was probably the only person capable of deciphering the secrets within.
"When a Breeding Exemplar pairs with another Breeding Exemplar, what kind of monster will they produce...?"
***
The next day.
Luo Yu woke up and washed up. Today, he prepared to head to the Beast Fighting Arena to conduct swimming special training for July.
After drowning so many times, July was finally able to handle the institute's fishpond, if only barely.
However, managing a mild aquatic environment like a pond hardly counted as a real skill. In the future, it would inevitably clash with all kinds of sea beasts. Therefore, besides developing its abilities and talents, July had to build up its resistance against water currents.
In the training grounds of the Beast Fighting Arena, the Turbulent Maze and the Artificial Waterfall were both excellent training spots.
Upon arriving at the Beast Fighting Arena, Luo Yu settled into his deputy director's office. As for the troops under his command—the medical inkfish—it was not yet time for them to take up their posts. At the very least, he had to wait until the male Mercy inkfish finished spreading its seed before putting it to work. As for the female medical fish, she naturally needed to stay home and nurture her eggs.
"Looking at the time, they should be here soon, right?" Luo Yu had an appointment with Teacher Wang, who was supposed to bring his students over today so Luo Yu could design an entirely new training regimen for them.
Luo Yu was being paid to do a job. Teachers belonged to a high-income bracket; with a full year's salary in hand, he and July could indulge in high-end restaurants for quite a while.
"Scholar Luo Yu, these are my three students: Bing Liang, Mi Xiaoyu, and Zhuang Feng. I'll be entrusting them to you from here on."
"Feel free to order them around and train them however you see fit." Right on schedule, Teacher Wang Ze brought his three students before Luo Yu.
Even now, the three students were still somewhat dazed. Early that morning, Wang Ze had informed them that he had arranged an extracurricular tutoring class for them.
Except, was their tutor actually Luo Yu?
"Very well," Luo Yu said with a beaming smile.
"Make sure you listen to Scholar Luo Yu," Wang Ze exhorted them once more. This arrangement was quite a gamble on his part.
After Wang Ze left, Luo Yu looked at the trio and said, "There's no need to be tense. Don't let Teacher Wang's good intentions go to waste. Release your pet beasts first... Let me take a look."
The three exchanged glances before summoning their pet beasts.
Luo Yu nodded and offered his appraisal one by one. He first walked up to Zhuang Feng's Wave Dog, observed it for a moment, and lifted its paw.
"Watching your battle yesterday, I actually noticed a few issues."
"Zhuang Feng, right? For this Wave Dog of yours, the potential in its claws is far greater than its teeth. Starting today, send it to the Artificial Waterfall to pit its claws against the falling water."
"Train its claws?" Zhuang Feng asked in confusion.
"Yes. The goal is to let it condense water elemental energy around its claws just like it condenses water on its teeth, forming water-flow claws. Its claws have very high hardness and can sustain more turbulent, higher-pressure streams of water. Have you ever heard of a high-pressure water jet cutter?"
"Don't be afraid of injuries. Whether it's rock or steel, as long as it tempers its claws, have it strike relentlessly. Every day after practice, head over to my research institute. I have medical pet beasts there... It won't be left with any lingering ailments."
Having said that, he moved in front of the Cold Mist Lizard and turned to Bing Liang. "Your Cold Mist Lizard... has always been raised as a mobile turret, focusing on offensive power and defense... correct?"
"Starting today, reduce the time spent on those exercises. Send it into the arena's Turbulent Maze to train its agility."
"Uh..." Bing Liang was equally taken aback. Train a Cold Mist Lizard's speed?
The training manual included with the purchase from the Frost Pet Beast Shop clearly stated that Cold Mist Lizards should focus primarily on training their abilities, with defense as a secondary attribute... Conversely, speed was not an advantageous attribute for a Cold Mist Lizard at all.
"Just do as I say. You'll discover a whole new world."
Finally, Luo Yu turned his gaze toward Mi Xiaoyu, a young girl he had not met yesterday. Her pet beast was a Coiling Wind Worm...
[Species]: Coiling Wind Worm
[Attribute]: Wind
[Species Rank]: Lower Common Species
[Life Level]: Level 5
[Species Ability]: Wind Gathering
[Individual Talent]: Ice Element Affinity (Advanced talent; possesses the aptitude to comprehend and master ice-attribute abilities.)
Good grief.
Its aptitude was far superior to the pet beasts of her two classmates.
That Wave Dog merely had the ordinary talent Steel Claws, and the Cold Mist Lizard possessed only the ordinary talent Agile.
Yet right here sat an advanced talent—though this Ice Element talent was undeniably much harder to activate than the other two.
"I shouldn't... have anything special to train, right? Should I just let it keep practicing its ability?" Mi Xiaoyu asked. "A Coiling Wind Worm... basically needs to reach its final evolution before it gains any real combat strength."
This was also why she had not joined her two classmates for extra sparring at the Beast Fighting Arena.
In the early stages, a Coiling Wind Worm was simply too weak, which was why even Teacher Wang had harbored no expectations for her early performance.
However, just when the three expected Luo Yu to nod, he fell into contemplation while staring at the Coiling Wind Worm, then asked, "Why did you choose this Coiling Wind Worm in the first place?"
Mi Xiaoyu recalled, "When I chose this worm, it was winter... The other worms were all sluggish, but this one was full of energy and kept eating non-stop. I thought it was very spirited, so I bought it."
Luo Yu smiled faintly. "So that's how it is. That was actually a manifestation of its talent. I've done research on Coiling Wind Worms as well."
"Are you saying... its talent is very good?" Mi Xiaoyu paused in surprise. Honestly speaking, after contracting this Coiling Wind Worm, she had never felt anything special about it.
"Its next training assignment..." Luo Yu pointed at the Coiling Wind Worm. "...will be cold-resistance training."
"Have Bing Liang's Cold Mist Lizard create enough ice blocks for you every day. This Coiling Wind Worm must practice Wind Gathering between those ice blocks, gathering the freezing winds."
"Huh?"
"You'll understand after trying it for a few days," Luo Yu said. "Don't let your teacher's good intentions go to waste. He paid good money to hire me to guide you..."
"My training methods can awaken their talents to the greatest extent. I'm giving you one week; I want to see your results."
The three scratched their heads. Sure enough, this was completely different from what the textbooks taught...
Chapter 29