After using his innate skill, he could see the evolution routes of beasts. Generally speaking, these routes would include their original evolutionary paths.
Unless it was an beast with no discovered evolutionary route or a brand-new species, there would always be at least one familiar existence among the evolution paths.
Before today, the only exception Asher had encountered was Little Raven.
Little Raven's evolution routes did not include the two original evolutionary paths of the Oriental Peacock.
But now, there was another unexpected case.
"Violent Bear, it...", At that moment, a shocked exclamation came from the entrance.
Abella's eyes were filled with astonishment.
Asher: "..."
He had only wanted to give it a try, but he hadn't expected it to succeed. His face was still pale due to the turmoil in his mental sea, and his mind was racing on how to bluff his way through this situation...
"You don't have to say anything.", As if seeing through Asher's dilemma, Abella quickly restrained the shock on her face and looked at Asher seriously, "Although I don't know what happened or what exactly you did, but..."
"But you definitely did something, and the result is good for the Violent Bear.", Abella paused as she spoke, her gaze briefly sweeping over Asher's pale face before meeting his eyes. She said sincerely, "I should thank you."
"Then how do you plan to explain the Violent Bear's sudden recovery?", Asher was a bit surprised at Abella's understanding, though he could also understand it. He nodded, accepting her words at face value.
Even if Abella did reveal it... for those who couldn't see the milky-white mist, there was no way to explain it. In the end, Abella wouldn't gain anything from speaking out.
Abella had no idea what Asher was thinking. Faced with his question, she pondered for a moment and then looked at the Violent Bear,"The inability to heal its injuries and the decline in its strength were never fully researched or understood. Likewise, its recovery can also be explained as an unknown phenomenon."
"Feign ignorance, go with the flow.", Abella spread her hands.
Simply put, two words—play dumb.
Asher: "..."
Speechless.
But he had to admit, it kind of made sense.
"Alright, let's go with that.", Asher nodded, then suddenly added, "I'm a bit interested in the Violent Bear's new evolution path."
Abella's eyes lit up instantly.
She had long heard of Asher's impressive track record. However, researching new evolutionary paths for pet beasts depended on willingness, luck, and timing... In short, it was a form of mysticism. It wasn't something that could be figured out instantly.
"Alright, if you need my cooperation, I promise to listen.", Abella analyzed the situation in her heart and felt that Asher just wanted to help her better cover up the Violent Bear's sudden recovery.
With that in mind, she looked at Asher with even more gratitude.
Asher: "?"
He had no idea what Abella was imagining, but he truly was interested in the Violent Bear's new evolution path.
Asher: "Then I'll head back first. I'll contact you in a couple of days."
Abella made an "OK" gesture and watched as Asher left the pet beast center.
———
Asher didn't return to his dormitory, nor did he go to the training ground. After thinking for a while, he headed to the university library.
The library at Bluewind University had a total of eight floors. As one of Radiant City's top beastmaster universities, the library even housed many rare books unavailable elsewhere. With a library card, one could read any book inside at will.
Each floor had plenty of study seats and semi-enclosed cubicles. At a glance, the occupancy rate was around 70 to 80 percent. Asher skipped the lower floors and took the elevator straight to the sixth floor, where books related to beast reproduction, cultivation, evolution, and history were kept.
However...
Asher didn't go for those specialized books. He simply picked a general encyclopedia of beast evolution from a common bookshelf. This book contained introductions to all currently known evolutionary paths of beasts.
With the book in hand, Asher casually found an empty seat against the wall and sat down.
First, he closed his eyes and carefully examined the changes in his mental sea. Earlier, the pain had been so intense that he hadn't checked immediately, but now that the pain had lessened, he finally took a look.
To his surprise, his mental sea seemed to have undergone significant changes.
Previously, it had been a sparse, cloud-like mist, almost like a dispersed gas. Now, it had become much more condensed, truly living up to the name "mental sea." And at the very center of his mental sea, Asher could sense something forming.
'A core?'
That was his first instinct.
Looking again at Little Raven and the Cat-Worm resting in the beast space, both little guys had expressions like they were intoxicated (or drunk?), lying there in a deep, dizzy sleep.
Their sleeping postures were completely different.
Little Raven slept peacefully, tucking in its wings like an obedient little bird.
Cat-Worm, on the other hand, lay belly-up with all six legs in the air, occasionally punching and kicking in its sleep, the very picture of restlessness.
Seeing this, Asher couldn't help but smile.
He was tempted to put the little white snake coiled around his wrist into his beast space as well. He wondered if combining the drowsiness effect of dragon blood with the primal energy's sleep buff would create some interesting results.
Itching to try!
After hesitating for a moment, Asher ultimately abandoned the unreliable idea.
If nothing happened, fine. But if something did... Ahem, it would be difficult to explain to the pet beast center exactly what he had done.
Asher wasn't oblivious.
Plenty of people privately speculated that he had performed some strange or even illegal modifications on his beasts. Otherwise, how could they be so absurdly strong?
Asher: ʘ‿ʘ
He couldn't say their guesses were completely off, but they were at least a 100,801 miles from the truth.
He had no intention of adding fuel to their speculation.
Still, the changes brought by the primal energy to his mental sea all seemed positive and beneficial.
As for what unique properties his mental sea had after this transformation, he could only wait and see. For now, Asher couldn't quite figure it out.
He temporarily set aside his self-exploration.
He flipped the book to the page on Violent Bear and reopened the talent skills, carefully examining the two evolution paths of Violent Bear.
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[Sky-Shaking Bear]
Evolution Requirements:
Favorability (89/101)
Tacit Understanding (95/101)
Beastmaster Tier 1 (Achieved)
Violent Bear Tier 7 (6/7)
Consume 2 pieces of Earth Core Rock (0/2)
Consume 10 drops of Earth Essence (0/10)
Absorb and fuse 8 strands of Primal Energyergy (8/8) [Achieved]
[Evolution possible once all requirements are met]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Ancient Bear Monster]
Evolution Requirements:
Favorability (89/100)
Beastmaster Tier 1 (Achieved)
Violent Bear Tier 6 (6/6)
Consume 16 Fighting Attribute Energy Stones (14/16)
Consume 8 Battle Qi Flowers (2/8)
Absorb and fuse 7 strands of Primal Energy (8/7)
[Evolution possible once all requirements are met]
[If the Ancient Bear Monster evolution path is chosen, it may reach peak state after evolution.]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Asher was momentarily stunned, then quickly realized why.
Because the Ancient Bear Monster evolution path only required 7 strands of Primal Energy, but the Violent Bear had already absorbed and fused 8 strands. The extra strand naturally wouldn't go to waste and would, to some extent, affect the potential of the Violent Bear.
Asher stroked his chin.
Judging by the stricter requirements of the two evolution paths, Sky-Shaking Bear was likely stronger than Ancient Bear Monster.
"So, the special trait of this Primal Energy is that it makes beasts mutate in a better direction to some extent?", Asher's lips moved slightly as he murmured in an almost inaudible whisper.
'Hard to say.', Asher sighed inwardly.
'Why can't my golden finger be a bit more generous? At the very least, it should let me fully understand what Primal Energy was, what its effects are, and how to maximize its value.'
Unfortunately.
No.
No idea.
Even worse, this thing wasn't easy to inquire about. Asher had no choice but to study it on his own.
Taking a deep breath, he looked again at the book's description of Violent Bear and Earth-Splitting Violent Monster Bear. There were no detailed descriptions of their evolution paths—those required a Beastmaster to contract the corresponding pet and then apply to the Alliance for information.
But Asher wasn't interested in the complete evolution path of Violent Bear. He was just using the difficulty level of Earth-Splitting Violent Monster Bear's evolution to assess the difficulty of evolving into Sky-Shaking Bear and Ancient Bear Monster.
It was obvious.
[Sky-Shaking Bear > Ancient Bear Monster > Earth-Splitting Violent Monster Bear]
And the key factor in evolving into Sky-Shaking Bear and Ancient Bear Monster was the absorption and fusion of Primal Energy. The Violent Bear had already completed this step, making the other required resources relatively easier to obtain.
'Now, which of these two evolution paths should I choose?'
Sky-Shaking Bear evolution path.
The best choice among the three evolution paths.
But the Ancient Bear Monster evolution path, given Violent Bear's current state, would likely allow it to achieve the highest potential within that path upon evolution.
Asher wasn't sure how much of a difference there was between Sky-Shaking Bear and Ancient Bear Monster.
Asher hesitated for three seconds before coming up with the optimal choice—
Let the real beastmaster of the Violent Bear make the decision.
Abella, who was still at the pet beast center and had just received Asher's message: "???"
'Wait, what?'
'Asher was actually serious about this?'
She had thought he was just saying it casually to help her cover up the Violent Bear's anomaly. But now, not only had he figured out an evolution route, but it seemed to be two different evolutionary directions.
Abella was stunned.
Even a workhorse in a labor camp wouldn't be this efficient.
Asher was just ridiculous.
After the initial shock, she calmed down and carefully reviewed the two evolution paths he had described.
They both were very vague. He only said that one had a very high upper limit in itself, but it may take natural time to achieve it. However, the other would definitely achieve the high upper limit after evolution based on the violent bear's own situation.
Abella: ["First one. I'll choose the one with the highest potential."]
Higher potential? That was obviously the better choice!
Better to evolve first and deal with any challenges afterward.
As for whether they could maximize its potential, that was a problem for her and her evolved beast to figure out.
Asher wasn't surprised at all by Abella's choice. For a Beast Tamer, pursuing greater power was the most natural thing. What did surprise Asher a little was that Abella didn't hesitate in the slightest and made her decision with absolute decisiveness.
Better to be the tail of a phoenix than the head of a chicken.
[Asher: "Alright, I'll apply for a week off. Tomorrow, we'll go back to NY City together."]
It just so happened that this year's resources hadn't been applied for yet, and there was still a lot left.
Might as well take the opportunity to squeeze a little more out of Bluewind University.
Unlike Asher, who was practically never seen in class for ten days or even half a month at a time, applying for a week-long leave was a bit more troublesome for Abella. However, as soon as she mentioned Asher's name and that she was collaborating with him to develop a new evolution path for the Violent Bear, her leave was approved in minutes.
The academic advisor was even incredibly considerate, asking Abella, "Is a week enough? If not, I can approve a bit more."
This kind of treatment was unheard of. Usually, getting a leave was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Abella: "..."
"…I'll take it.", Speechless, Abella took a few more leave slips.
She'd keep the extras for next time.
The advisor generously handed over additional leave slips, practically rolling out the red carpet for her.
Just as Abella was about to turn and leave, the advisor called out loudly from behind her, "If the Violent Bear evolves successfully, you don't have to return the extra leave slips. If it doesn't evolve, then bring them back."
Abella's steps faltered for a second.
The next moment, she pretended she hadn't heard anything and bolted from the scene.
———
NY City.
"WOW—", Abella had seen the research institutes of two Beast Professors before, but the one before her still exceeded her imagination. Whether it was the sheer size or the completeness of its equipment, it left her utterly shocked and speechless.
"…You're seriously loaded.", Abella looked at Asher and spoke with genuine sincerity.
Some of the equipment used by Beast Professors could be provided by the Alliance upon request, but a significant portion had to be purchased with money. And the state-of-the-art equipment in this institute? Just one look was enough to tell her that it had cost a fortune.
Asher: "?"
Asher's face was also filled with shock.
'Huh? Huh? Huh?'
'Hadn't I only been gone for ten days… a month… three months… okay, fine, almost half a year?'
'Why does the entire research centre look completely different?'
Gone was the simple, modest exterior and interior.
Now, from the inside out, it screamed "MONEY" in giant capital letters.
"Professor Asher, you're finally back!", Just as Asher was trying to figure out what had happened in the past six months, a voice filled with excitement and enthusiasm rang out from inside the institute.
Asher looked up.
A huge crowd? …Nope, just four people, rushing toward him with excitement.
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