"Speaking of which... why do you think the guardian deity is an Abyss Species rather than a Monarch Species?" Luo Yu wanted to know Lin Li's reasoning.
"Well, because it only appears once a year at the festival and spends most of its time 'sleeping.' So I figured, maybe it's absorbing Abyss power!"
"Some people talk behind its back and say the guardian deity is lazy... but I don't think that's it." Lin Li shook her head.
People actually dared to gossip about the guardian deity behind its back? Then Luo Yu remembered that he and Yuwan had been badmouthing it too... Never mind, then.
In the eyes of some islanders, the guardian deity, the Jingyue Giant Croc, really was a bit "lazy."
It only woke up briefly during the Jingyue Festival when someone offered up delicacies.
As for things like the Tide Zombie Cataclysm brought by the once-a-decade Great Tide, so long as it didn't threaten the total annihilation of the island, the croc never bothered. It left everything to the islanders to resolve on their own, even if many casualties resulted.
Only when an enemy emerged that the island couldn't handle—such as a zombie king beast—would it step in.
The island's official stance: the guardian deity could not protect the island forever, and they couldn't rely on it for every little thing. Therefore, whenever an issue arose, Beast Masters had priority to handle it themselves; only if a situation proved truly insurmountable would the guardian deity intervene.
Luo Yu actually didn't find anything wrong with that reasoning. Although mutated beasts had long lifespans, they weren't immortal. An island could never survive in the long run relying solely on a single guardian deity or a single mineral vein; it needed its own system and framework for cultivating talent.
If the guardian deity solved every problem, the islanders would turn into giant spoiled babies. Once the croc died, the island would be finished.
"Absorbing Abyss power? Can you absorb it without being in an Abyss Zone?" Luo Yu asked.
Deep within the Pacific Ocean lay a bizarre undersea rift continuously spewing specialized energy like a conduit to the abyss, known as the Abyss Zone.
It released an immensely sinister power. Just a touch would cause mutated sea beasts to undergo faulty evolution, transforming them into senseless mutated corpse beasts.
Hence, the Abyss Zone was also known as the Sea of Aberrations—a paradise for zombie sea beasts and one of the ocean's forbidden zones.
However, it was different from the seven great mysterious seas. The seven great mysterious seas had random locations and benefited humanity, whereas the abyss had a fixed location and was harmful to humanity, so they were not lumped into the same category.
Across the world, aside from the wave of mutated corpse beasts spawned by the torrential-rain apocalypse, a substantial portion had subsequently been spawned by the Abyss Zone and dispersed everywhere.
Even so, hazardous as Abyss power was, it remained a profoundly potent force capable of strengthening oneself and raising one's life level. Naturally, not just any creature could recklessly harness Abyss power—not even a Monarch Species could do so.
Only a minuscule fraction of creatures possessing even more formidable racial bloodlines stood a chance of absorbing this power into their bodies.
And mutated creatures of this caliber were "Abyss Species"—species capable of resisting abyssal erosion.
Naturally, even for an Abyss Species, absorbing Abyss power required utmost caution. Tremendous risks remained; a single misstep could trigger genetic collapse and a complete loss of sanity. It was very much a double-edged sword.
Reasonably speaking, Abyss power existed only in the Abyss Zone. Because of that, many Abyss-tier Beast Masters guarded the outer perimeter of the abyss: first, to keep mutated corpse beasts from spreading, and second, to carve up the abyssal power there.
The Jingyue Giant Croc had remained on Jingyue Island all along rather than the Abyss Zone, so where would it get Abyss power to absorb?
"An Abyss Core!" Lin Li said. "Abyss-tier corpse beasts contain a core within their bodies known as an Abyss Core, brimful of Abyss power.
"Absorbing the power inside an Abyss Core is essentially the same as absorbing Abyss power directly in the Sea of Aberrations.
"If anything... the Abyss power in an Abyss Core is even more stable. As far as I know, there hasn't been any precedent of an Abyss Species mutated beast absorbing an Abyss Core's power and suffering genetic collapse.
"Of course, Abyss Cores are exorbitantly expensive, even more costly than top-quality Monarch Species cubs..."
"Are you saying our guardian deity is likely hoarding an Abyss Core and absorbing Abyss power from it this whole time?" Luo Yu asked.
"Mm-hmm!" Lin Li nodded and theorized, "Because Jingyue Island used to have a rare mineral vein, didn't it? But after the vein was mined out, it didn't feel like the island got all that much richer...
"So I guessed... could Island Master Bai Ling have used that money to buy an Abyss Core? That way, the guardian croc could grow stronger by absorbing Abyss power without ever leaving home, continuing to protect the island... without having to venture into the Abyss Zone to risk its life to get stronger like other Abyss Species."
"I see. That really is a possibility." Luo Yu nodded. He looked at Lin Li, who usually didn't seem the sharpest tool in the shed, and felt she was actually quite clever. Things involving high tiers were subjects Luo Yu hadn't yet had the time to delve into or study; after all, just the knowledge regarding Common Species and Monarch Species was already overwhelmingly vast.
"It's settled then," Luo Yu pondered. "I want to meet the guardian deity too."
"???" Lin Li stared blankly. "Do you really want the guardian deity's blood? If you make it angry..."
Luo Yu chuckled. "Either way, let's show our faces and build a good rapport first. We won't bring up the blood for now."
"Then are you going to study cooking too?" Lin Li asked, bewildered.
Luo Yu shook his head. "Too much trouble. You study the food and take charge of putting the guardian deity in a good mood this time.
"I'll just go talk to the director and sign up for the zombie-challenging event at the Jingyue Festival as a rookie Beast Master."
Luo Yu had watched the rookie assessment that day. A few newcomers had contracted High-Rank Species, possessing leads that Bing Liang and the others could hardly overcome no matter how hard they worked.
Still, they fell short compared to July. Luo Yu was confident he could stand out.
That way, he could become the best rookie Beast Master of the year and receive the guardian deity's blessing.
Naturally, the guardian deity's mood on the day was of paramount importance. Luo Yu didn't want to end up like that unlucky girl Yuwan, receiving nothing more than a verbal blessing.
Thus, he decided to supply Lin Li with "premium ingredients," finding chickens, ducks, fish, and meats with the Delicious Flesh talent in advance so she could triumph through raw ingredient quality.
When the time came, savoring delicious food would definitely put the guardian deity in high spirits.
Then both he and Lin Li could receive the guardian deity's blessing. If he could seize the opportunity to have the deity help July break through to the Commander level, that would be ideal.
Even if not, he could witness the guardian deity's might with his own eyes, gaining a clear understanding of Jingyue Island's ultimate trump card.
"Oh, okay," Lin Li said. "So... is honey-glazed spicy garlic offal soup fine for lunch?"
"..." Luo Yu said, "We'll eat that today. Tomorrow, buy more ingredients, and I'll decide the menu."
…………
That very day, Luo Yu went to make his request to the director.
"Well, I know your Ground Penguin is remarkably cultivated, and you even have that sting training method, but..." Director Yu Lei said thoughtfully, "I don't recommend you participate."
"Why is that?" Did the director think July couldn't measure up to those High-Rank Species?
"On land, I believe in you two. But the problem is, the Jingyue Festival is held on the island's Yingyue Lake. The event where island rookies challenge zombie sea beasts takes place entirely on the water..."
The director wasn't looking down on July; on the contrary, he found July downright freakish, but the general environment had to be taken into account.
"The outstanding rookies on the island have contracted either Water-system mutated beasts or Wind-system mutated beasts, so fighting on water poses virtually no issue for them. But that Ground Penguin of yours..."
Ground Penguins couldn't fly, nor could they swim.
Luo Yu understood. Indeed, on an entirely aquatic battlefield with no solid ground, July might not perform better than those Water-system High-Rank Species. But there was still time, and it could be treated as a challenge. He said to the director, "Don't worry, it's working hard on learning how to swim right now."
The director: "..."
It damn well still has to learn how to swim? How does your pet beast sound reassuring in the slightest?!
Other people's pet beasts are born knowing how to swim!
"Fine... I'll submit your name." Director Yu Lei sighed helplessly. Luo Yu was a major contributor to the island; for something so minor, he could let Luo Yu have his way. In any case, even if the Ground Penguin started drowning, lifeguards would be there.
"Still, let me warn you beforehand: Lord Guardian Deity is actually pretty stingy. It's only generous when it's fed something exquisite. Don't harbor too much hope for Lord Guardian Deity's blessing. My niece Yuwan..."
That was a story Luo Yu had already heard.
Having confirmed that he could participate in the Jingyue Festival, Luo Yu returned contentedly and slept soundly.
Early the next morning.
After twelve days, the batch of eggs laid by the two Breeding Exemplars finally hatched. However, if he wanted to put them back into breeding work, they would need a few more days of rearing to mature. Aside from that, the first batch of mated Honey-Water Bees in the research institute had begun laying their first eggs...
Yet these initial eggs were of poor quality. Out of the large batch, only one possessed an advanced talent, and that talent was Bee King, the most common advanced talent.
Even the bee with the Many Offspring Brings Many Blessings talent, having only just begun breeding, laid an egg with merely a common talent.
It was a late-game scaler, so Luo Yu was in no rush.
Still, without the participation of Breeding Exemplars, achieving notable breeding results among the Honey-Water Bees would likely require pulling the gacha for a long time.
"Time to visit the Ancient Grotto again..." This time, Luo Yu brought along a Honey-Water Bee with the Rock Element Affinity talent to see what would happen when it came into contact with the Ancient Evolution Stone.
And the result... as expected.
Sure enough, just having a rock-system talent wasn't enough; it had to be a direct descendant of dinosaurs to stand a chance at evolving.
After that brief test, Luo Yu didn't linger long for the sake of his physical and mental health.
Returning to the research institute, he saw that Lin Li had already returned with fresh ingredients today. He couldn't help heading to the kitchen in person to pick through them, preventing her from inventing some new dark cuisine to feed everyone.
"Huh..."
Looking around, Luo Yu's gaze suddenly locked onto several squids.
[Species]: Coral Flower Squid
[Attribute]: Grass
[Species Rank]: Lower Common Species
[Life Level]: 1
[Species Ability]: Flower Blade
[Individual Talent]: Whetstone (Common talent; body is sharper than ordinary individuals.)
The Coral Flower Squid was a Grass-attribute mutated aquatic beast resembling a cuttlefish with a flower growing from its head. This flower was quite sharp, aiding it in handling small prey while naturally imparting a floral fragrance to its flesh, making it delicious.
The reason Luo Yu paid special attention was neither because one had a formidable talent nor because he was craving teppanyaki squid...
Rather, it was a rare Grass-attribute mutated beast.
This Grass-attribute mutated beast reminded Luo Yu of a Honey-Water Bee with a special talent he had obtained three days earlier.
[Individual Talent]: Flower-Plucking Thief (Advanced talent; can steal the bodily nutrients of Grass-attribute mutated beasts and convert them into highly nutritious special honey.)
Luo Yu had found this talent intriguing back then, but since Grass-attribute mutated beasts were scarce, and his schedule had been thrown into disarray over the past two days by the Ancient Grotto, he hadn't had time to test its effects. Who would have thought Lin Li would bring home a Grass-attribute ingredient today... It seemed like the perfect chance to test Flower-Plucking Thief!
"Little squid, come with me and let me pluck you a bit..."
Chapter 43