"It can even withstand that?"
A moment later, Luo Yu gasped in surprise.
He had still underestimated the advanced talent, Indomitable Heart.
Faced with such brutal roasting, this rock sheep had actually braved the extreme heat and leaped right out. Its willpower was terrifyingly stubborn!
The moment it stuck its landing, it glared fixedly at July, clearly intent on sending the penguin flying with a headbutt.
"Guka!"
July's expression turned solemn, acknowledging its opponent.
Who would have thought that even its ultimate move, Barbecue Oven, wouldn't suppress the other side?
"Baaah—"
Looking as though its whole body was ablaze, the rock sheep charged furiously toward July.
Yet the moment it got moving, July took a step back and flapped both wings. With a tremendous rumble, another huge hole opened up beneath the rock sheep's hooves.
Right on cue, another mishap befell the rock sheep.
Already dizzy and seeing stars from the heat, it plunged straight in headfirst.
*Whoosh!*
Like a wicked little fire dragon, July darted to the rim of the pit and used Heat Breath, continuously pumping scorching heat down into the hole.
If roasting it once wasn't enough, then twice it was!
Against this combo chain—Twice-Cooked Pork—even the rock sheep's staggering defense and indomitable will began to falter.
"Baaah—"
"What on earth kind of tactics are these?!" The twin-braided girl's pupils contracted repeatedly, utterly baffled by this fighting style.
Was this still the Age of Voyages?!
Why was this Ground Penguin's Burrowing so absurdly overpowered?!
And why... could it develop a fire-type ability with such blistering heat?!
Worst of all... when these two abilities were combined, who could possibly endure it?
"I forfeit!" Her vision went dark. Unwilling to let her pet beast suffer any further, she conceded on the spot. Never in her life had she fought such an infuriating, suffocating battle.
"A pleasure sparring with you." Luo Yu smiled faintly and called July back.
By now, July also felt like it had nearly turned into a roast chicken. It scampered over to the water pool and soaked for a bit to cool off before climbing out to catch up with Luo Yu.
Luo Yu walked up to Chen Bo. "Well? Did you record any valuable data?"
Chen Bo: "?"
*You threw her damn sheep straight into a barbecue oven! I couldn't see a thing through the dirt, so aside from the delicious aroma, what else was I supposed to pick up?*
"I knew I couldn't rely on you."
Luo Yu shook his head. "Never mind. Good thing I've already observed about eighty percent of it. Let's go. We'll see if there are any other Beast Masters with contracted rock sheep and find a few more opponents to check out."
Luo Yu led Chen Bo away. Staring at the battered arena now marred with two massive craters, the twin-braided girl fell into a daze.
"So... that was why you made me cover the venue fee?"
*Damn out-of-town swindlers, coming here just to rob me blind!*
***
Regrettably, Luo Yu and Chen Bo failed to encounter any other Beast Masters with rock sheep after that.
"If I'd known, we wouldn't have left in such a hurry. We should've chatted longer with that twin-braided girl," Chen Bo remarked.
Luo Yu replied, "Forget it. She just lost a battle; why would she be nice enough to give you details?
"Besides, getting a general sense of the rock sheep's combat style is plenty. A rock-armored creature that relies on bull rushes... It's a shame, really."
"A shame about what?" Chen Bo asked.
"If we were picking a rock sheep for combat talent, the data from that match would've given us plenty of insights. But the core individual we need to pick isn't one suited for fighting—it's one that produces better milk," Luo Yu said.
"So..." Luo Yu pointed ahead. "Go buy a cup for July and me to taste. Let us do a proper critique. After all, you still owe me money."
Chen Bo looked over and spotted a storefront on the corner with a sign that read: *Pearl Milk Tea (Pure Natural Rock Sheep Milk Recipe).*
***
"What kind of trash milk tea is this to be so expensive?"
After buying the drinks, Chen Bo's heart ached with regret...
Luo Yu smiled. "It's no ordinary beverage, after all. It's a nutritional product that increases rock element affinity..."
Too bad he hadn't brought any honey along. Otherwise, he could have tried adding some to the tea.
*Gulp, gulp, gulp...*
Beside his leg, drinking pearl milk tea for the first time, July's eyes lit up brightly.
"Guka!" It waved its wings, making it clear it wanted to drink this often from now on.
***
That evening, the two returned to the hotel. Shui Wuyue looked at Luo Yu and Chen Bo and asked, "Make any gains?"
"Well..."
Chen Bo set the two cups of takeout milk tea on the table. "Rock sheep milk tea... Care for a taste?..."
"Aside from that, we also took turns sparring against a Beast Master who had contracted a rock sheep," Luo Yu said.
"That's right. We observed her rock sheep from two different perspectives," Chen Bo chimed in.
"What do you mean, two different perspectives?" Shui Wuyue asked, puzzled.
Luo Yu explained, "From the winning perspective and the losing perspective. He lost, and I won."
Chen Bo: "..."
"At any rate, as long as you learned something, that's good," Yuwan said. "Tomorrow we'll first conduct the trade for the rock element gems with Qianyan Island. The two of you can still head out and look around."
"Tomorrow Luo Yu and I had better split up," Chen Bo said. "That way our intelligence gathering will be more efficient!"
He had the distinct feeling that staying with Luo Yu never led to anything good.
Today he had truly lost both his money and his shrimp.
Luo Yu added, "Right, I feel the rock sheep data can be cross-analyzed with Rock-Armored Turtles and Sea Gazelles. I'll head back to my room first to compare and analyze them."
A Rock-Armored Turtle's special ability was also Rock Armor, while the Sea Gazelle was a water-attribute mutated sheep. Jingyue Island was quite familiar with both pet beasts.
Yuwan and Shui Wuyue exchanged glances, thinking that Luo Yu and Chen Bo were surprisingly diligent. If anything, the two of them were the ones looking like slackers.
The next day.
Shui Wuyue and Yuwan set out to trade for the special elemental ores.
Meanwhile, Chen Bo and Luo Yu split up, each going off to investigate rock sheep information. Though termed an investigation, for Luo Yu it was more like sightseeing.
He strolled around casually, sampled local food, and took in the customs and atmosphere of Qianyan Island.
At the same time, he brought July along to guzzle sheep milk enthusiastically all day.
In the afternoon, upon returning to the hotel, Luo Yu finally saw the so-called rock element gems known as the "Heart of Rock." Jingyue Island had purchased a total of five from Qianyan Island. As for why they hadn't bought more—they were simply too expensive.
"I'll take one to study first." Luo Yu claimed one on the spot and hung it around July's neck.
Immediately afterward, he led July to the hotel's back garden.
Back on Jingyue Island, he had already fed July turtle honey. Once here, it had drunk plenty of rock sheep milk, and now it was wearing a gem capable of boosting rock element affinity...
With so many resources poured into it, July's rock element talent had to have reached at least the "quasi-advanced" level by now, right?
"Feel anything?" Luo Yu asked July.
Wearing the Heart of Rock, July blinked in brief confusion, then nodded vigorously.
It slowly stretched out its wing...
Resonating with earth vein energy, it converted that earth vein energy into extreme heat.
Unlike before, when only pure high heat surged forth, this time, with the rock element gem equipped, July felt another power inside its body awaken. As that power was mobilized alongside the other, it gradually merged with the searing heat.
Dark red specks of light converged on July's wing... *Buzz...*
A fire-spewing droplet roughly the size of a marble took form!
Yet this was no water droplet!
July panted heavily, and the droplet tumbled onto the lawn. It instantly incinerated the grass it touched; then, as time passed and its heat dissipated, it cooled into a charred black stone...
It was molten rock!
Luo Yu's eyes widened. He almost hugged July in celebration, but thinking of its body temperature, he quickly thought better of it.
Heaven above!
No,
the earth stood above heaven!
July could finally condense magma out of thin air!
Previously, July could manage something similar, but that required picking up a wild rock from the ground, heating it with high-temperature energy for quite a while, and melting it down into magma. That process had been time-consuming, laborious, and utterly useless in real combat!
Now, however, it was just like unleashing a special ability—it could manifest magma out of nothing!
The Walking Volcano talent... had finally begun to take shape!
Granted, for now it relied on the power of the rock element gem, but this was still a monumental leap toward success!
"Once we get back, I'm requesting one of these gems for good."
***
With July mastering magma power for the first time, Luo Yu slept soundly that night.
He dreamed that July had transformed into a towering molten behemoth, striding across the ocean, forging a new stretch of land with every step.
The dream didn't last long, however. Early the next morning, Yuwan woke him up, telling him it was time to select the rock sheep.
"There are several rock sheep breeding farms on the island, but most are leased out to private individuals. They're only allowed to produce and sell milk, not the sheep themselves.
"The only one qualified to sell live sheep is Chishi Farm."
"What a terrible name for a farm," Luo Yu and Chen Bo muttered together.
Downstairs, Shi Ning, a deacon of the Liuli Merchant Guild, was already waiting for them with a beaming smile.
"Good morning. I shall take you to the farm right away."
The person responsible for receiving Luo Yu and the others at the farm was an elderly man wearing a straw hat. Led by him, the group arrived at a massive open-air sheep pen housing over a hundred rock sheep...
"These are all ewes that gave birth less than a month ago. Their lactation period lasts about a year, meaning they can produce milk steadily for a full year.
"Once the lactation period ends, they must become pregnant and deliver lambs again before starting another cycle of milk production...
"If I recall correctly, you ordered ten ewes and five rams, yes?
"Let's pick the ewes first..."
Watching the ewes graze on the grass, Shui Wuyue and Yuwan fell into thought. To the naked eye, they all looked practically identical.
"Let me talk to them," Chen Bo offered.
This was precisely why Shui Wuyue had brought along an interpreter: by utilizing a Beast Master with telepathy, he could ask the rock sheep directly whether they felt unwell anywhere.
If any did, they were bound to be diseased individuals.
"Go right ahead, young man." The straw-hatted elder gave a raspy chuckle, well aware of Chen Bo's concerns.
However, there was no way the farm would put obviously diseased animals up for sale in the first place... He wouldn't spot anything wrong.
By the same token, the farm would never offer top-tier stock for sale either.
Among these ewes, fifty percent were ordinary specimens, but the other fifty percent were inferior... Some had milk yields only half that of other rock sheep...
Others had difficulty conceiving... and still others were picky eaters that were a pain to manage...
Luo Yu was browsing as well, and in no time at all, his gaze locked onto one. Having a see-through cheat really made things convenient.
[Species]: Rock Sheep
[Individual Talent]: Masochist (Ordinary talent: possesses masochistic tendencies; milk yield and milk quality increase after enduring abuse.)
*Just what kind of damn logic is that?*
Chapter 54