A Honey-Water Bee breeding base was something Luo Yu urgently needed to establish. In fact, he valued this breeding project even more than the medical inkfish project, considering it second in importance only to inkfish evolution.
After all, if it succeeded, he would be the greatest beneficiary. For him personally, medical inkfish only served to make money, but Honey-Water Bees could efficiently raise his own strength while bringing in profits as well.
"A Honey-Water Bee farm, is it...?"
Director Yu Lei had only just approved an inkfish farm for the Luo Yu Research Institute, and now Luo Yu wanted a Honey-Water Bee farm as well. Even so, after a moment's consideration, Yu Lei slapped his thigh.
"Approved!"
Money could always be scraped together if they squeezed hard enough. Worst-case scenario, he would slash other budgets. For instance, Jingyue High School had been wanting to renovate their training grounds. Renovate my foot—they could make do with the old ones for now.
"Still, can you really handle conducting research on both inkfish and Honey-Water Bees by yourself?" Director Yu Lei voiced his concern.
Luo Yu replied, "I plan to recruit help. In fact, I already invited Uncle Chen Zhuo's son earlier."
"Oh, right!" Yu Lei paused, then turned to Chen Zhuo. "Chen Zhuo, you're a researcher who specializes in the relationship between mutated beasts and Beast Master enhancement. This project is right up your alley. Your son must have learned plenty from you as well. Go team up with Luo Yu—it'll be a powerhouse collaboration!"
Chen Zhuo said nothing.
"Besides, isn't your son Chen Bo a Trainee Beast Master too? I saw the results of that Sting Training Method—it really is astounding. As a researcher, he'd be among the first to reap the benefits of the enhancement. It should give him a tremendous boost.
"What's the matter? Did your son accept? Don't tell me you refused to let him go?"
Chen Zhuo remained dead silent.
Chen Zhuo wiped away cold sweat. Chen Bo had indeed brought it up with him, and he had flatly rejected it.
But at that time, he had known nothing about any of this!
Thinking back on it now, Chen Zhuo wanted to slap himself.
If this Sting Training Method was genuine, its effects were simply absurd.
Earlier, he hadn't wanted Chen Bo to get distracted simply because he wanted him to focus entirely on preparing for the Canglan Ocean University entrance exams and accumulating strength. Yet now, the Sting Training Method from the Luo Yu Research Institute was the quickest shortcut to gaining strength...
In essence, he had shut the door on his son's fast track to power.
More importantly, could anyone really blame him? Who could have guessed that Luo Yu would roll out a Honey-Water Bee training method right on the heels of his inkfish breeding project? Was this a pace of founding new research projects humanly possible?
"Chen Bo hasn't mentioned it to me yet, but I do think this is an excellent opportunity for him to train..." Chen Zhuo forced a smile.
"I really must thank Luo Yu for thinking of our Chen Bo... Don't worry... tomorrow I'll pack that boy up and deliver him straight over!"
For a study with the potential to transform Jingyue Island's educational framework, being able to get a foot in the door was something Chen Bo truly owed Luo Yu gratitude for, Chen Zhuo thought.
"When our youth are strong, the island will be strong." Director Yu Lei nodded in satisfaction.
With that settled, he continued, "Actually, I have another recommendation.
"Of course, I can't say for sure whether she'll be willing to help."
"Who?" Luo Yu asked. Naturally, the more hands on deck, the better, but quality took precedence over quantity. He only wanted elites who could genuinely contribute, not free riders looking to piggyback on results.
"Have you heard of Linyue Pavilion?" the director asked.
"Yes," Luo Yu replied. "The most successful restaurant on our Jingyue Island. I've eaten there before; the food is indeed delicious."
Yu Lei nodded. "After all, it was personally recognized by the guardian deity as the best on the island. During the Jingyue Festival, there's a ritual offering of delicacies, and in at least eight out of ten contests, Linyue Pavilion takes the championship by presenting the finest dishes.
"You could say they're the culinary giant of Jingyue Island.
"Linyue Pavilion has a signature dish, Honey-Glazed Grilled Fish. One of the ingredients is honey harvested from their own farm-raised Honey-Water Bees.
"They're also the only ones on Jingyue Island who engage in beekeeping."
After a moment of thought, Yu Lei said, "I plan to speak with the owner of Linyue Pavilion and purchase a batch of high-quality Honey-Water Bees from them first for your research."
Luo Yu was genuinely grateful for the island's local breeders—first Wang Defa, and now Linyue Pavilion!
Without them, waiting for Jingyue Island to send ships to other islands for procurement would take far too long.
"And the person you mentioned is...?" Luo Yu asked.
"The owner's daughter. After graduating from school, she didn't join any fleet. Instead, she stayed home to help manage the family business and even earned a Breeder Qualification Certificate. She's the one managing that Honey-Water Bee farm. Most importantly, if I recall correctly, she contracted a Honey-Water Bee Queen. Someone like her would undoubtedly have an in-depth understanding of Honey-Water Bees. How about inviting her to become an assistant at your institute and take part in the research?"
Eager to see results from this research, Director Yu Lei vigorously championed other talent.
"She contracted a queen bee?!"
Luo Yu was slightly surprised.
After all, although a Honey-Water Bee Queen was a mutated evolutionary form of the Honey-Water Bee, its species rank remained only Lower Common Species.
In a one-on-one fight against an outside enemy, its combat strength differed little from an ordinary Honey-Water Bee, and was perhaps even inferior to certain bees with combat talents.
Just like how an emperor wasn't necessarily stronger in martial prowess than a soldier.
However, its talent lay in commanding the swarm, making it an undisputed sovereign in internal warfare.
Yet the problem was that the swarm and the queen were not a single entity. Even if a Beast Master contracted the queen, they could not store the entire swarm inside their Beast Taming Space. As a result, unless they carried hundreds or thousands of Honey-Water Bees with them wherever they went, they could never utilize the queen's true advantage.
Naturally, if one truly could transport large numbers of Honey-Water Bee soldiers, contracting a queen made one extraordinarily formidable—likely comparable to certain High-Rank Species. It counted as a very distinctive type of pet beast.
A legion combat model!
Yet that was equivalent to maintaining an entire army of mutated beasts. Beast Masters without considerable financial backing couldn't afford it in the slightest.
Still, if she was the daughter of the owner of Linyue Pavilion... well, she was likely another wealthy heiress.
It was worth noting that after mutation, the reproductive system of Honey-Water Bees had undergone a radical departure from ordinary honeybees.
In an ordinary bee colony, only the queen was responsible for propagating the colony. She mated with multiple drones and laid eggs, while the drones that mated with her died shortly after.
As for the worker bees responsible for gathering nectar, they were suppressed by the queen's pheromones and did not reproduce, laying unfertilized eggs only in rare circumstances, such as when the colony lost its queen.
Thus, in an ordinary colony, the queen was the absolute core of reproduction.
Among mutated Honey-Water Bees, however, this dynamic was reversed.
Ordinary Honey-Water Bees could mate and lay eggs normally, no longer suppressed by the queen, behaving no differently from any other species. The queen, conversely, became the only sterile individual in the entire swarm!
A lonely ruler!
Furthermore, queens no longer evolved from larvae fed royal jelly; instead, they evolved through mutation when an ordinary Honey-Water Bee possessing the Bee King talent raised its life level!
Luo Yu had observed that all the queens on Wangyue Peak possessed an advanced talent called Bee King.
[Individual Talent]: Bee King (Advanced Talent. Honey-Water Bees possessing this talent will mutate into a Bee King upon breaking through Life Level 5.)
Once an ordinary Honey-Water Bee evolved into a Bee King, it lost the ability to reproduce, but in exchange gained the power to command the swarm—a trade-off of gains and losses.
Moreover, a colony could only tolerate a single Bee King. If multiple individuals with the Bee King talent appeared within the same swarm, the evolving kings would slaughter one another until only a single sovereign remained.
Consequently, if Luo Yu wanted to establish a Honey-Water Bee farm, he merely needed to locate a large number of ordinary individuals with high-grade talents; there was no need to deliberately breed queens.
Even so, since Common Species could possess dual talents, Luo Yu was genuinely curious: what would happen if a Bee King possessed both the Bee King and Enhancement talents? Would the sovereign's sting yield even better results?
To achieve this, all he needed to do was mate an unevolved individual possessing the Bee King talent with one possessing the Enhancement talent... After all, the loss of reproductive ability only occurred after ascension to kingship.
"If she's willing to come to the Luo Yu Research Institute as an assistant, I would certainly welcome her. Having a Beast Master who has contracted a queen would indeed make managing the swarm much easier," Luo Yu said.
More importantly...
The daughter of a restaurant owner...
She had to be a great cook, right?!
Could it be... that the Luo Yu Research Institute was finally going to get its very own chef?!
"Excellent!" Director Yu Lei chuckled. He suspected Linyue Pavilion would be more than happy to sponsor this research. The bureau was genuinely out of funds with too many expenses to cover, leaving him no choice but to solicit sponsorships from local businesses across the island.
The meeting drew to a close.
A cohort of senior researchers from Jingyue Island saw Master Luo Yu off as though they were fresh recruits.
***
That evening.
At Chen Zhuo's home, the dinner spread was as sumptuous as ever: crab roe noodles, cold tossed kelp, takoyaki...
"Son, tomorrow you're going to the Luo Yu Research Institute to help out," Father Chen said.
"Learn diligently, don't be afraid of pain, and take along my experimental notes on human body evolution for your research reference."
Chen Bo looked up. "Huh? What happened?"
***
The next day, Luo Yu arrived at the director's office once more. Director Yu Lei cut straight to the chase.
"Boss Lin of Linyue Pavilion has agreed. You may go to their farm and freely select Honey-Water Bees for your breeding research—completely sponsored, free of charge.
"Furthermore, his daughter Lin Li will follow your instructions to assist in your Honey-Water Bee research, and she won't take any salary."
"Free?" Luo Yu grew vigilant. Had the director strong-armed them? An official forcefully muscling into a private enterprise...
"Heh heh..." Yu Lei laughed. "Don't underestimate yourself. First the medical inkfish, then the enhancement Honey-Water Bees... anyone with eyes can see the Luo Yu Research Institute's potential."
If they didn't invest now, when would they?
"Besides, she has a Honey-Water Bee Queen under contract. Now that a scholar researching Honey-Water Bees has appeared, being able to learn at that scholar's side makes her more than thrilled. You should know how many Beast Masters dream of having renowned biologists research their pet beasts' species."
Luo Yu was actually well aware of this. For instance, hadn't that Qiao Yi been pleading with biologists everywhere to help research the evolution path of the Heart-Sea Jellyfish?
Biologists who produced tangible research results were treated as honored guests by traditional Beast Masters.
When seeking partners, many formidable Beast Masters were equally delighted to pair up with breeders and researchers.
"Come on, I'll take you over to the Honey-Water Bee farm for a look." Director Yu Lei intended to escort Luo Yu personally. As he spoke, he couldn't resist pulling out a cigarette.
"I've got a light."
"July, give the director a light." Quick on the uptake, Luo Yu summoned July. The penguin stepped forward at once, extended a wing, and with a soft sizzle, the cigarette flared to life...
Chapter 36