Chapter 114 — The Proper Use of a Skill Compendium
The Beast-Taming Craftsman Page 3 of 4
Yet this one useless skill, according to research, can raise the Dragon Carp's species potential.
At this moment, seeing the Dragon Carp, Shi Zhuo sank briefly into thought.
Come to think of it, these no-tier skills may be garbage, but they don't seem entirely useless either.
It felt as though, from now on, he might look around for other suitable no-tier skills to teach Eleven and Buggy.
After all, no-tier skills are so effortless to teach—without spending much stamina or time essence, they can be quickly maxed out, then turn rot into wonder; and once maxed, they can be deleted, freeing up pages in the skill compendium. By comparison, skills like Concealed Edge and Plant Control in his compendium—who knew how long it would take to delete those? Shi Jin felt that even if he became a legendary beast tamer, those two super-tier skills would probably still be lying in his compendium.
From a certain angle, perhaps this is the proper use of the compendium's delete function?
……
One day later.
Shi Jin had ridden Eleven and swept the area around the landing point clean.
Along the way he ran into many examinees, but the assessment forbade teaming up, so there was little interaction between them.
Still, seeing Shi Jin riding an Iron-Eating Beast, the examinees he encountered were thoroughly shaken.
It was the first they knew that an Iron-Eating Beast could be used this way—yet they couldn't fathom what use there was in using one so. The Iron-Eating Beast wasn't a mount species, was it?
To save stamina for travel? Clearly, none of them would ever get the chance to witness Shi Ying's hardened sword technique.
At present, everyone who had seen Shi Jin make a move was dead—meaning the fierce beasts.
……
"More tier-three resources already???"
"Yip!!!"
In merely a day's time essence, Shi Jin and the others had gathered many rare resources.
Since the assessment task was already complete, Shi Cen no longer cared about the number of fierce beasts hunted, seeking out only valuable resources and fierce beasts with a clear goal.
Their efficiency at gathering resources was still quite high, thanks to Eleven's perfect-grade super-vision, which could judge the intensity of energy fluctuations from far away and use that method to determine which direction or corner held rare resources—finding them with unerring accuracy.
"Yip yip yip!!"
This time, however, Eleven seemed unusually grave.
Moreover, there was a feeling of every hair on its body standing on end.
This change was a first.
"Chirp." It wasn't just Eleven—even Buggy seemed to feel something familiar.
"Yip!!!"
In the end, the two pet beasts widened their eyes and became utterly certain—
It seemed to be dragon might!
There was an aura of dragon might!
"Is it a dragon-type creature, or dragon-type resources?" Shi Cen froze.
...
On the stone path, Little Eleven the Iron-Eating Beast scampered along on its stubby legs, nimbly carrying Shi Jin as it ran.
It was growing ever more skilled at being a mount.
Right now, its eyes were bright with delight—dragon might! So it was here!
Dragon might was, in fact, a Intimidation skill as well.
It was just that only when used by a dragon race could it properly be called dragon might.
And because dragons surpassed other creatures in every attribute by a wide margin, the display of dragon might far outstripped the Intimidation of any other monarch-tier creature.
After all, purebred dragons were born kings—not a single race among them ranked below monarch tier.
Eleven had experienced the dragon might of the Ice Dragon Phantom before, and it truly was extraordinary. So this time it was thrilled, feeling as though it could pit itself against a giant dragon once more.
Shi Jin, for his part, thought it was dreaming. In a godforsaken place like this, how could there possibly be a giant dragon?
Before long, Shi Jin and the others arrived outside a valley.
Around this valley, not a single examinee was to be seen, nor a single wild creature—it seemed they had all been frightened off by the dragon might.
At this moment, merely approaching the valley, Eleven, Shi Jin, and Bug all felt an exceedingly powerful oppressive force. Had Eleven not been holding it back at the front with its own Intimidation, Shi Jin and Bug might not have been able to withstand it.
"Approach."
Shi Jin's gaze sharpened. He ordered Eleven to draw closer to the valley, wanting to see just what was going on.
Yet the moment they took a single step forward, a brown figure like a giant lizard appeared.
"ROAR—"
This brown giant lizard, its whole body rough as rock, trod upon gravel and issued a warning with eyes full of majesty. Then it burst forth with a fierce wave of Intimidation—so it was the Intimidation skill after all. Yet judging by the force of it, it was merely entry level, nothing at all compared to Eleven.
Even so, Shi Jin and the others were deeply astonished.
Because this was a wild savage beast.
A pet beast that had awakened the Intimidation skill without reaching monarch tier—apart from his own, Shi Jin had only ever seen one such creature.
That was the Ice Wolf King at the Icefield City breeding base.
Moreover, Shi Jin felt that this lizard's Intimidation was not ordinary Intimidation at all—there was even a hint of dragon might to it!
[Name]: Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard
[Attribute]: Earth
[Race Tier]: Low-grade Commander
The Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard was a commander-tier evolutionary branch of the extraordinary-race Rock-Back Lizard and Earth-Rock Lizard, a transitional stage on the path toward dragon-type evolution. Strictly judged, it was not even a sub-dragon species yet, but it had already begun to take on certain draconic characteristics.
Now, seeing a creature like this comprehend dragon might, Shi Jin could not have been more astonished.
Good heavens.
Exceptional talent?
Monarch potential?
Had the assessment rules not forbidden taking away or contracting the live savage beasts here, Shi Jin would truly have loved to capture it alive and bundle it up.
But he understood the Association's misgivings.
A savage beast that had grown to extraordinary tier in the wild was essentially impossible for a Beast Tamer to tame—its wildness and ferocity were too great. It could only be forcibly contracted, but then, as the savage beast grew, there would be a risk of it turning on its Beast Tamer in the future. Few Beast Tamers would contract one while bearing that risk, no matter how formidable the pet beast's talent and potential.
By comparison, were the docile, obedient pet beasts bred at the breeding bases not better?
Capturing and contracting high-grade live savage beasts carried too much risk. The mainstream view in Beast Tamer circles was to advise Beast Tamers to contract pet beast cubs and raise them from a young age—only thus could bonds be properly forged.
Of course, this was not an absolute rule. There were Beast Tamers who specialized in capturing well-grown wild savage beasts, but their mortality rate was several times that of other Beast Tamers.
At this moment, because Shi Jin and the others showed not the slightest fear of its Intimidation, and because Eleven kept projecting a stronger, more terrible, almost materialized Intimidation, the pupils of this extraordinary-tier Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard were filled with wariness.
"Is it that this Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard is simply talented, or is there some rare resource inside?"
Shi Jin looked at the Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard's tense manner, then gazed toward the depths of the valley.
"ROAR—!!"
Just then, from somewhere far off in the sky, another impassioned dragon cry rang out, making both the Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard and Shi Jin's group start in unison.
Moments later, a black speck appeared in the sky. A young Bone Dragon, some two meters in size, with an ink-black skeleton, came flying over—and atop the幽-boned young dragon's frame sat a frail Beast Tamer.