Angel stuttered for a moment.
Angel: 'This seems a little different from the humans I know.'
Having never encountered a human like Asher before, Angel once again recorded the impression Asher left on it.
["Okay"], This time, Angel didn't say much, silently accepting Asher's words, since they were already partners, there was no need for such formalities anymore. Acceptance, understanding, mutual trust.
Then, the descent accelerated.
1,000 meters.
Deeper layers.
Deep-sea layers.
Ultra-deep-sea layers.
The seawater had shifted from blue to a pure black. Nothing was visible, yet faintly, the ripples and flows could still be sensed. Asher felt like he was holding his breath, and the rapid descent gradually made him feel short of air.
Hurriedly, he put on his mask, took two deep breaths, and finally eased the discomfort.
Even with a protective shield in place, the pressure and fear brought by the increasing depth were indescribable.
Asher was glad he had released two of his beasts to accompany him from the start. Otherwise... Asher glanced at the vague shapes of massive creatures outside the protective shield, those were all beasts lurking in the deep sea.
However, after surpassing the ultra-deep-sea layer, the surrounding currents became less turbulent.
At this depth, even beasts could not reach.
Only mythical creatures, like Angel, or the already-dead unknown beast could exist at this depth.
Asher blinked nervously and hugged the Little Raven in his arms a bit tighter.
The Little Raven didn't struggle, obediently allowing Asher to hold it.
Little Raven: OoO
'So deep.'
'So dark.'
'So terri—bird!'
'Ahem!'
'No, no, that's not right.'
'A bird won't be scared.'
'It's the beastmaster who's scared. The bird is sticking close to better comfort the beastmaster!'
Though thinking this, the Little Raven didn't say it out loud.
'Mhm.'
'Let's give the beastmaster some dignity.'
Asher: "..."
'Well, I really should thank you then.'
The little jellyfish was different.
The faster they descended, the scarier the surrounding seawater looked, and the faster the little jellyfish swam.
Little Jellyfish: *Excited!*
So excited that it flailed its tentacles wildly.
"Gulu!"
The little jellyfish moved close to Asher's ear and made a peculiar bubbling sound.
Due to their contract, Asher could accurately sense the little jellyfish's thoughts, and his emotions became a bit complicated.
The little jellyfish was... singing.
Yes.
That's right.
Happily singing.
Little Jellyfish: 'I love this environment!'
'I can do this!'
Asher & Little Raven: "..."
''No, no, we can't do this.''
Little Jellyfish: O~
'Alright then.'
The little jellyfish gently touched Asher with its long tentacles.
"Gulu!"
'It's okay!'
'As long as you've experienced it, that's enough!'
The little jellyfish was very understanding.
Asher finally understood why Angel had suggested he release the Little Raven and the little jellyfish.
The warmth from the Little Raven gave Asher a great sense of security.
As for the little jellyfish... Forget it. Seeing how happy it looked, there was nothing more to say.
Finally.
Even the depth probe malfunctioned, far exceeding the specified depth limit.
The moment the protective shield abruptly entered a certain depth... Asher's body stiffened.
The Little Raven in Asher's arms, along with the little jellyfish that had been playing with its soft tentacles, also froze.
A savage, overwhelming presence, brimming with deterrence, surged toward them, rendering all creatures immobile.
Even the protective shield could not block out this overwhelming pressure.
Asher held his breath.
A miraculous scene unfolded before his eyes.
In what should have been pitch-black depths, tiny glowing dots, like fireflies, began flickering.
It was as if they were calling out to them, guiding them in that direction.
Under Angel's control, the protective shield moved toward the glowing specks.
Closer... and closer...
As the firefly-like lights entered Asher's vision, they grew larger and brighter.
When one of the "fireflies" collided with the protective shield, Asher finally understood what it was.
"This is... dispersed energy?", Asher inhaled sharply, his mind slightly dizzy.
He wasn't sure if it was because of the unbelievable sight before him or because he had been holding his breath too long.
["Yes."]
["This is energy."]
Angel gently explained to Asher, ["We have arrived."]
Asher: "?"
"Arrived?", Asher was stunned for a moment. He looked left and right, but all he could see were the scattered, glowing energy fragments. How could this be "arrived"...
Asher widened his eyes.
He looked toward the center of the "fireflies."
Due to being without vision in the deep sea for so long, he didn't react immediately.
As his eyes adjusted to the dim, flickering light, Asher finally saw the massive, seemingly endless entity, the mere corner of an abyssal... oceanic behemoth.
'Hundreds of meters?'
'Thousands of meters?'
'Tens of thousands of meters!'
Asher could only make out a barely illuminated part that resembled a fin, or maybe a horn. Even just this one part was too large for him to see in full.
Let alone the creature's complete form.
A Kun.
Asher finally had a direct understanding of what the so-called "Kun" bloodline meant.
'The Kun is so vast that its size is unknown for thousands of miles.'
Ahem!
The more nervous Asher became, the more absurd thoughts popped into his head.
"So this is... the oceanic behemoth that failed to ascend to the level of a mythical creature," As soon as Asher spoke, he realized his voice was stiff.
He swallowed hard.
Snapping back to reality, Asher found that he had been staring at the giant beast for a long time. Sweat had soaked his body, then cooled again.
The clammy, icy sensation made him shiver uncomfortably.
"What do we do next?"
Asher felt miserable.
In this space, he had somewhat adapted to the tension, yet he couldn't truly relax.
His biological instincts kept screaming, Fear, danger, lethal threat, escape...
["Please take out your phone and touch it to those light sources through the protective shield. Once the phone's surface makes contact with the light sources, I can fully absorb the energy."], As if sensing Asher's fear, Angel's voice became even softer.
Gentle, like a true angel.
If only the mechanical and electric undertones weren't so strong.
Asher: "..."
'This is harder than I thought.'
'So what is this, some kind of ghost-catching mission?'
'Am I holding a vacuum cleaner and just sucking up all the ghosts I see?', With the immense pressure mounting, Asher's mind started to spiral into nonsense. A defense mechanism, perhaps.
Taking a deep breath, "Alright."
Asher, moving slowly and with difficulty, finally pulled his phone out from his suit.
He held a vacuum cleaner and went wild, sucking up every ghost he saw with a series of loud "wham-wham" noises?
Once again, this was a violation of protocol.
When he pulled out the phone, the screen was pitch black.
But Asher's expression remained completely calm.
Heh!
Isn't this completely normal?
Whose phone could still turn on after being submerged in water?
If you fished it out in time, maybe it would work.
But earlier, when Asher dived down on his own, he hadn't taken any waterproofing measures at all. The phone had been completely exposed, soaking in seawater for ten, twenty minutes straight… It was done for.
However.
A broken phone didn't affect the Angel's activity. To the Angel, the phone was merely a medium.
A transmission medium.
A host medium.
As long as it existed.
That was enough.
Whether it worked or not?
It didn't matter.
Even on the dark, dead screen, the Angel's form still stubbornly appeared.
A single large eye, surrounded by rings and rings of smaller ones.
Asher had gotten used to it and no longer found it creepy.
Besides.
At this moment, the terror brought by the deep-sea leviathan, of which he had only glimpsed a fraction, far exceeded the unsettling feeling from the Angel on his phone.
He could even look at the Angel and tell it, 'You actually look kind of cute.'
Thinking this, Asher said it out loud.
"Suddenly, I think you're pretty cute," he said with a serious face, spewing nonsense, "At least, when I first saw you, I wasn't nearly this scared."
As if everyone had encountered a true mythological-level beast before—damn it!
Back then, when he first faced the Angel, he hadn't been this terrified either.
["Thank you for your praise. It is an honor."]
The Angel had no idea Asher was just talking nonsense. It responded with absolute seriousness and continued, ["The 'Angel' you encountered was a fully formed mythical creature. Its presence and aura were under controlled release, and the Alchemy Workshop also had suppressive effects on the 'Angel.' What you perceived was not its complete form."]
Asher: "…"
Well explained.
Not that he needed it.
But thinking about it, it did make sense.
The deep-sea leviathan, a failed evolution of the "Kun," had sunk to depths unreachable by both humans and beasts. The ocean itself was the perfect cover.
It concealed the Kun's birth.
It concealed the Kun's death.
It silently swallowed its immense presence and terrifying aura.
Everything was buried in the abyss.
If not for the Angel's help, Asher would never have reached this depth, let alone found the unfinished "Kun", or been scared out of his mind.
The Angel's situation was different, though.
Simply put, alchemy was something else. The Alchemy Workshop was really something else.
Asher let out a long sigh, shaking his head to clear away the mess in his brain, 'Asher, you can't keep spacing out. Get moving!'
'Alright, just one more moment of zoning out.'
"Nothing to be afraid of," He'd just pretend he was ghost-hunting.
And if that didn't work, pretending he was cleaning up trash wasn't a bad idea either.
Asher hyped himself up. Little Raven and the little jellyfish huddled beside him, trembling, cheering him on in their own ways.
Little Raven: 'Charge!'
Little Jellyfish: 'Go, go!'
'Beastmaster!'
'We believe in you!'
'Hurry up, hurry up!'
'We really can't stay here much longer!'
They knew the leviathan was dead. There was no real threat.
But this overwhelming presence, this crushing aura… It was suffocating.
Asher held up his phone.
Locking onto the nearest "firefly," he commanded the Angel to attach itself, then went wild with the "wham-wham" suction.
After absorbing a moderately sized golden energy orb, the protective shield instantly became much more stable.
Asher: "!"
'Good.'
'It works.'
'Hunting time—begin!'
With perfect coordination between Asher and the Angel, an hour passed.
At last, they had absorbed every visible energy source in the vicinity.
Asher didn't even spare the tiniest energy fireflies.
After all…
"If these scattered energy particles drift upward, they'll cause another wave of beasts turning [Corrupt]. We have to eliminate the problem at its source," Asher sighed.
He had no idea how much deeper he had gone.
The enormous horn was no longer visible, only a series of mountain-like ridges.
Asher chose not to think about it.
Whether these were normal parts of the leviathan's form, or remnants of a Titan's corpse.
None of it concerned him.
"What's the energy recharge at now?", What he cared about most was the Angel's status.
How much did they gain from this trip?
["76.3%."]
The Angel swiftly reported the precise figure.
["Typically, 89% of the energy in a failed evolution is usable for the 'Angel.' 0.5% and 0.2% were absorbed by Little Raven and the little jellyfish, respectively."]
["Of the remaining 12%, 8% scattered into the air, 5% of which the 'Angel' absorbed. The last 4% dispersed into the ocean, where various beasts absorbed it, triggering this massive [Corruption] event."]
Asher was stunned.
'Holy sh*t.'
'4%?'
'Just 4% leaking into the ocean is enough to cause all this?'
The Angel noticed Asher's shock and explained further.
["Unawakened beasts can only tolerate up to 0.05% of this energy. Any excess causes mutations. Awakened ones can absorb more, but it depends on their bloodline's strength and purity."]
["Most beasts cannot regulate the intake precisely."]
["Moreover, the airborne energy molecules inadvertently enter other beings' bodies."]
["And these energies cannot be fully absorbed, metabolized, or dissipated. When a beast dies, the majority of its stored energy reverts to the ocean and air, continuing to spread and infect others."]
Asher: "…"
'So this stuff just perpetually exists in different forms?'
Angel: 'Exactly.'
["Only by being absorbed and utilized by the 'Angel' is this energy truly consumed."]
["Natural dissipation takes an extremely long time for the energy to fully break down."]
Asher: '…This really feels like a new kind of water pollution.'
'No.'
'It's not just a feeling.'
'It is water pollution.'
The only silver lining, only 7% truly escaped. The rest was recovered by the Angel for reuse.
Oh, well, not all by the Angel, Little Raven and the little jellyfish took some too.
"0.5% and 0.2%?", Earlier, those numbers had seemed small to Asher.
But now, after understanding the sheer potency of mythical energy, he was worried.
'Isn't that too much for them?'
Little Raven had absorbed ten times what a normal beast could handle.
The little jellyfish had taken in four times as much.
'If Little Raven have an awakened bloodline and can barely endure it, then what about the jellyfish…?'
["You need not worry. Both Little Raven and the little jellyfish have absorbed energy within their tolerable, digestible, and transformable range. They are well below their limits, each still has 0.1 to 0.2% of spare capacity."]
["When they grow stronger, they can start actively absorbing airborne energy."]
Asher: "…Wow, thanks so much for that."
["No need to thank me,"] the Angel replied matter-of-factly.
Asher felt like he'd just choked on air.
He turned away, giving up on trying to banter with the Angel.
In any case, after confirming that Little Raven and Little Jellyfish were fine, Asher let out a sigh of relief.
At the same time, his brain started working rapidly.
"These energies floating in the air can only be consumed at a rate of 0.01% through a beast's body. In this process, many beasts die. But who's to say that some beast didn't get incredibly lucky?", Asher murmured to himself.
Having potential.
Being able to restrain oneself in the face of great temptation.
Beasts that possessed these two qualities had a very high chance of gaining benefits from this "whale fall¹."
Yes.
In Asher's view—
The death of this ocean behemoth was not much different from the process of a whale fall.
Only, while a whale fall meant, one whale falls, all things thrive, this was one Kun dies, and everyone dies with it.
Ahem!
Of course.
Just as Asher said, there were beasts that could benefit.
One in a thousand, or even one in ten thousand.
"We should go back now," All the energy that could be absorbed had been completely taken in. As for the rest… it wasn't something Asher could clear away.
Thinking about how long he had been submerged… If not four hours, then at least close to three.
Asher was sure, if he didn't return soon, those three people would really come looking for him.
Just kidding.
Before coming down, Asher definitely wouldn't have gone in unprepared, relying purely on their self-restraint to make sure his actions remained undiscovered.
One thing had to be said, Mythical-grade beasts could still do whatever they wanted, even if their strength hadn't fully recovered.
Monitoring.
Optical illusions.
Anything was possible.
Aside from the fact that it all required energy to sustain, everything else was perfect.
Asher: (•‿•)
As he shot upward at high speed, Asher asked, "76% of energy sounds like a lot, but once you start using it, it goes fast."
"When the energy runs out, how do we replenish it next time?"
Where was he supposed to find another beast that had failed to break through its Mythical bloodline for the 'Angel' to absorb?
Suddenly, Asher felt like he understood why the 'Angel,' created as the 'ultimate weapon,' had been sealed away, powerful, yes, but a massive energy consumer.
Unbearable.
Completely unbearable.
["The Angel's energy consumption is not as fast as imagined. Even when using skills, normal skills generally consume 0.5% to 1%, while energy maintenance for things like shields requires more."]
["Mythical skills consume between 5% and 10%."]
["When the total energy is above 50%, the Angel can condense energy from the air and absorb the essence of the sun and moon, recovering 0.5% of energy every ten days."]
Asher's mouth twitched violently again.
0.5% every ten days.
That was such… a generous number.
1.5% per month.
18% per year.
Asher: "…"
Alright.
That was pretty generous.
If the 'Angel' didn't consume even a shred of energy, in one year, it would be fully recharged.
["No."], As if guessing what Asher was thinking, the 'Angel' suddenly spoke.
Asher: "?"
"Hmm? Is there a problem?", Asher looked at the surrounding seawater, which had shifted from deep black back to a deep blue. Instinctively, he shifted his gaze from the water to the Little Raven in his arms.
'Hmm.'
'Now I can see Little Raven clearly.'
The seawater… After this trip, his thalassophobia hadn't improved at all, if anything, it had turned into a bit of deep-sea PTSD.
"Your previous body…", Asher thought of the body that had crumbled into dust before his eyes, completely disintegrating, and asked in a small voice.
["It is gone."] The Angel's voice was mechanical, without any fluctuation, like a phone's built-in text-to-speech function, ["The Angel was always a created and bestowed lifeform. If I wish to restore my previous appearance, a new, identical body must be manufactured."]
Asher: "…"
Not happening. Not even a little bit.
"A phone is just fine," Asher paused for a moment, then added, "If you're not satisfied with a phone, there's also a tablet or a computer to choose from. Smart wearable devices aren't out of the question either."
["The Angel does not care about appearance. This is fine."], Saying this, the 'Angel' even squatted slightly before adding, ["By following you, the Angel has seen many things I have never seen before."]
A pleasant consensus was reached.
Asher decided to drop the subject.
No need to make things difficult for the 'Angel.' No need to make things difficult for himself.
As he surfaced from the seawater, the moment his entire body reconnected with the air, Asher felt alive again.
"Phew—"
Removing the temporary oxygen mask, Asher took a deep breath of the outside air.
"Professor Asher!"
"Professor Asher! Do you want to come up?"
"Jade Maiden Fish, bring Professor Asher up."
Compared to the two who were still asking questions, Sophia had already taken action.
Tuco and Muller, who were a step too slow: "…"
Alright.
Since the young lady had already made her move, the two grown men wouldn't fight over it.
With a gentle swish of her body, Jade Maiden Fish followed the water's flow and reached Asher's side.
Asher didn't resist at all, letting Jade Maiden Fish carry him back to the deck.
Stepping onto solid ground again, even though it was a ship, Asher still had a sense of being reborn.
The deep sea was just too much pressure.
"It's almost dark. No matter whether you found the source or not, Professor Asher, you should have come up by now," Sophia said, firm yet slightly apologetic.
After all, suddenly bringing someone up wasn't exactly polite to a professor in the middle of research.
Many professors and scholars had their own habits and tempers.
"It's fine," Asher shook his head, removed his hood and equipment. As for the wetsuit… well, there were girls on the deck. Plus, Asher couldn't bring himself to expose his body in such a wide-open environment.
He could only pull at the collar and take a couple of deep breaths.
"The source has been found."
Sophia, Tuco, and Muller: "!"
"Where?"
"Do we need to handle it?"
"What should we do?"
"How serious is it? Professor Asher, when did you find it? Why didn't you tell us?"
The three, who had just been a little concerned about Asher's condition, suddenly grew anxious.
Had the source really been found?
Thinking about those beasts that had been eroded and polluted, they could imagine how terrifying this source must be.
But Professor Asher hadn't told them anything.
This should have been something for them to handle.
"It's a bit tricky, but I can take care of it," Asher immediately saw through their thoughts. His expression was somewhat helpless yet amused as he said, "If it were you guys..."
'Forget it, forget it.'
'They really won't be able to handle it.'
If it weren't for the Angel, even Asher wouldn't be able to deal with it.
What was even more unimaginable was...
The 5% in the air and the 77% in the deep, deep sea, when would they fully erupt, triggering a maritime disaster and crisis that humanity simply could not resolve?
Especially after integrating mythical energy into marine debris.
Asher thought of another problem, 'Will these energies be carried inland by rainfall, spreading from marine beast to land beasts?'
'And among them, could there be those wild, untamed, and already violent beasts from forbidden lands...'
Asher: 'Nightmare! This is simply a nightmare!'
'Forget it.'
'It's just speculation.'
It hadn't happened before, and after he and the Angel worked together for a grand cleanup, it was even less likely to happen.
No big deal.
.
.
.
[Spirit City Beast Tamer Alliance]
"The source has been dealt with?", President Marina's misty water-like eyes widened in surprise as she looked toward Asher.
"Professor Asher, you... this is really...", Marina curled her lips into a smile as beautiful as mist and flowers, "This is definitely the best news I've heard recently."
"The part that hadn't spread yet has been dealt with. As for the part that has already spread...", Asher shook his head.
Unlike the cautious probing during the departure,
the return trip only took two days in total.
Asher omitted the unspeakable parts and did not describe the source in detail. He only mentioned that it was an unknown energy of extreme pollution.
Marina didn't ask further.
For her, as long as it was solved, that was all that mattered.
As for everything else... Hmm~
Not that important.
Even when Asher went on to say that the already dissipated portion would continue spreading like a virus, endlessly propagating until... who knew how long it would take to disappear, Marina did not show any shock or emotion.
"The part that has already spread will take time to naturally decompose and disappear... It's fine, as long as no more beasts get eroded."
Marina's lips curved slightly, "The amount of beasts eroded by the already spread energy is within a range we can manage if we come up with a strategy."
"Let's just treat it as a special small-scale beast tide resistance event."
"Think of a good gimmick, and maybe we can even attract a bunch of Beast Tamers to do the hard... Ahem, help eliminate the beasts," Marina coughed lightly, her gaze on Asher never wavering, "And while we're at it, we can also give a little boost to Spirit City's struggling economy."
Asher: "..."
Very well.
Quite the business mindset.
Whether Tier 2 or Tier 3 Beast Tamers would come was uncertain.
But those young, hot-blooded Beast Tamers, as long as the gimmick was appealing enough, they might really be able to lure in a whole bunch of them.
Anyway, this had nothing to do with him.
"Since the problem has been solved and the cleanup is almost done, I can prepare to return to NY—"
Before Asher could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Sophia and Tuco.
"Wait, Professor Asher, stay for two more days. I haven't even had time to thank you for the evolution of my Rainbow Scaled Koi!"
"Me too! Now that the Rainbow Scaled Koi has evolved and become so strong, we have to at least express our gratitude. Let us treat you to a meal."
Marina, who had been pondering ways to make money from the situation, suddenly froze: "?"
'Huh?'
'Huh! huh! huh?'
'What is this about?'
'Rainbow Scaled Koi, evolved?'
Marina felt like she had caught onto a key point. She narrowed her eyes and looked toward Sophia and Tuco.
"Sophia... well, the girl hasn't graduated yet, so she's not under my jurisdiction for now. But Uncle Tucooooo—", Marina dragged out her words.
Soft.
Gentle and seductive.
It should have been a very pleasant and mesmerizing voice.
But in Tuco's ears, it was no different from a death knell.
"It wasn't me!", Tuco raised his hands in surrender and swiftly passed the blame to its rightful owner, "It was that brat Muller who stirred things up."
"Professor Asher just happened to choose the Rainbow Scaled Koi in the end."
He laid out the whole cause, effect, and conclusion in one go.
Muller's scalp tightened.
"You...."
'Biting the hand that fed you?'
Tuco looked at the sky, the ground, anywhere but at Muller.
Serves him right.
He had warned him back on the ship.
As for whatever else he had agreed to later. Sorry, in the face of the president's impending wrath, Tuco chose self-preservation over loyalty.
Asher and Sophia watched the scene unfold with curiosity.
'Wow~'
'So, just what kind of means does President Marina have to make the entire Spirit City Beast Tamer Alliance obediently toe the line?'
Unfortunately.
The little black room. He couldn't see.
———
With Sophia and Tuco's warm hospitality, Asher stayed for one more day.
Finally, on the very last day of winter break, he returned to NY City.
"Hmph! Hmph! Hmph! A certain busybody is finally back."
The moment Asher got off the plane, he was blocked by three figures.
June and Ivy stood arm in arm, wearing matching outfits, one an ethereal, fairy-like long dress, the other a heroic, sharp short suit. Together, they were the most eye-catching duo in the airport waiting area.
Standing beside them, Vicky could only be labeled as "the other guy."
Vicky/The Other Guy: 'What's the big deal?'
"Hehehe! Asher! Over here, over here!", Vicky jumped excitedly, waving both hands with a silly grin on his face, "If you didn't come back now, school would start, and we wouldn't have a winter break gathering this year."
"That would be such a shame."
Ivy: "Asher is busy, we understand. Was this year's New Year lively?"
June, completely out of sync with the others: "..."
Fine.
Since her friends were all concerned about Asher, she would play along.
The four of them found a bright and clean fast-food restaurant, nearly empty with school about to start.
As they ate their comfort meals, Asher gave a brief recount of his long winter break. The three of them all looked shocked.
"Are you sure you only went through one winter break?", June bit down on a French fry, looking like a little hamster that had forgotten how to chew, her face full of disbelief, "...Why do I feel like our winter breaks were completely different?"
They had thought they were already working hard enough, already pushing themselves to the limit.
But compared to Asher...
The gap was brutal.
Garymont, Spirit City, ancient tombs, the ocean, there was so much happening at once that they didn't even know what to say.
"No wonder, you were really busy," Ivy nodded gently with a smile, "Asher, you rushed back on the last day before school starts just for us, right?"
Otherwise, staying in Spirit City for a few more days to rest and adjust wouldn't have been impossible.
Asher smiled but didn't say anything.
They had known each other for a long time; there was no need to say anything overly sentimental.
"...Wait a minute, you're saying that while solving Spirit City's ocean problem, you also casually figured out a new evolution path for a beast?", As the conversation went on, June caught onto the key point.
'Goddamn'
'How many days had passed?'
'And this is something Asher discovered casually!'
Every time June thought Asher's life was already ridiculous enough, he always managed to do something even more absurd, proving that, no, no, she had underestimated him. Asher could always be even more over-the-top.
June: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
"Yeah," Asher nodded, "Oh, right, after evolving, the Rainbow Scaled Koi can take two forms; Spirit River Fish and Jade Maiden Fish. You guys can see if you're interested."
"Spirit River Fish is strong."
"Jade Maiden Fish, not only strong, but also very good-looking."
"How good-looking?", June perked up at that.
Asher pulled up a photo on his phone of a Spirit River Fish and a Jade Maiden Fish standing side by side.
June, seeing both at the same time: "..."
"So this is the difference between a mermaid and a fish-man?"
"Mm... The Rainbow Scaled Koi, huh?", Ivy looked at the photo of the Spirit River Fish and the Jade Maiden Fish, especially the Jade Maiden Fish, and felt a little tempted.
June immediately picked up on Ivy's thoughts, "No way, Ivy, you're thinking of contracting a Rainbow Scaled Koi?"
"Evolving into a Jade Maiden Fish is fine, but if it ends up as this Spirit River Fish..."
June: *Painful grimace*
She was already preemptively mourning her eyesight.
She felt like her eyes would be suffering for a long time.
"Actually, the Spirit River Fish isn't that bad-looking," Asher said.
"And based on what I found... If a Rainbow Scaled Koi prefers beautiful, elegant things, it's more likely to evolve into a Jade Maiden Fish, right?", June missed.
Asher: "Not enough experimental samples to be sure. You can try."
"Or you could wait a bit. Once my research institute finishes studying it, you can still contract one then."
Ivy shook her head.
The bow in her hair swayed with her movement.
Her expression was unusually serious.
"The preliminary rounds of the Beast Care Competition are about to start, one month after we start school. I probably can't wait that long."
"The competition tests how well Beast Tamers care for and nurture their pets. The most basic criteria include appearance and compatibility between the pet and the master. Based on past experience, good-looking pets always receive some extra favor and bonus points."
Just like how people naturally prefer good-looking individuals.
As long as the system remains as fair as possible, people will still subconsciously feel more favorable towards things they find visually appealing and provide them with more positive emotional feedback. That was simply human nature.
Of course.
If someone's pet care skills were top-notch, making an ugly pet look stunning would also be a skill in itself.
But Ivy knew she wasn't capable of that. So, she had to find ways to maximize her advantages within the existing rules.
Contracting a good-looking pet was one way.
The Fairy Butterfly was already beautiful.
Adding a Jade Maiden Fish on top of that, pushing herself to her very limit while maximizing the pet's natural advantages, was an optimal strategy.
"I support your decision," Asher glanced at Ivy, a little surprised.
He had long since realized that Ivy wasn't suited for combat.
But with all her friends pursuing the path of battle-oriented Beast Tamers, he thought she would be confused about her direction for a year or two, which would have been perfectly normal.
Fortunately, they were all still young, with enough time and room for trial and error.
He hadn't expected Ivy to figure out her path so quickly and even make plans accordingly.
"I'll come watch when you compete," Asher said.
Ivy pursed her lips and smiled shyly, "Okay, but maybe not the preliminary rounds, if I make it to the main competition, I'll definitely invite you all."
"It's just the prelims! You'll definitely pass!", June clapped Ivy on the shoulder with confidence.
Ivy didn't say anything, but her eyes reflected her belief in herself.
Making it to the finals might be tough, but getting past the preliminaries wasn't much of an issue.
"Oh, by the way, should we bring banners and stuff to support her?", Asher suddenly thought of something and rubbed his chin.
Ivy's smile froze.
Asher: (✯ᴗ✯)
He definitely remembered something and was plotting revenge.
'Will he really do that?'
*Stiff*
And then, they all burst into laughter.
"Hahaha... why do I feel like laughing so much?"
"Probably, maybe, definitely because we're thinking of Asher's competition banners?"
"We should totally make one! I think it's a great idea!"
"I think it's not!"
Laughing, Asher suddenly felt his phone vibrate.
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