Chapter 114 — The Proper Use of a Skill Compendium
The Beast-Taming Craftsman Page 4 of 4
"Damn, flew halfway around the island and finally found this place." This Beast Tamer was utterly overjoyed.
"Uh." But as the bone-winged juvenile dragon descended, beating its skeletal wings, the new examinee suddenly caught sight of the Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard and Shi Jin locked in a standoff below.
His expression shifted, and he looked again more carefully.
Then, once he saw that things below were still more or less normal, his heart eased. Good—so the Dragon Soul Grass hadn't been snatched up by someone quicker.
"ROAR—!!"
A bone dragon, and yet it could still produce sound.
As the juvenile dragon landed, its beast tamer Yu Shu began sizing up the Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard radiating dragon might, and the Panda King Eleven, which was simultaneously suppressing its opponent with Intimidation.
In that instant, the ease he had just felt tightened into a knot—his heart lurched and seemed to stop dead.
Damn it. Something was still off.
Where did an Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard with dragon might come from? The Dragon Soul Grass hadn't already been eaten clean, had it?
And just what the hell was this beast tamer riding an Iron-Eating Beast that could use Intimidation???
"Roar—" The juvenile dragon's green eyes flickered, warning its tamer that the Iron-Eating Beast was not to be trifled with—its aura was terrifying.
Yu Shu's expression changed. His good mood at discovering the rumored Dragon Valley popped like a bubble, and he had the distinct feeling that this expedition of his was not going to go smoothly.
"Juvenile Bone Dragon—so you're Yu Shu?" Shi Jin turned to study the newcomer and his bone-dragon pet beast, curiosity in his voice.
In just two short days, he had run into two of the Seven Heroes' celebrated examinees in a row. Not a bad streak of luck.
"And you're Shi Jin?" Yu Shu dismounted from the Juvenile Bone Dragon and studied in silence the boy atop the Iron-Eating Beast, wooden blade in hand. After a moment, he too worked out the other's identity.
Only a handful had scored high on the basic test, and everyone knew everyone else's test pet beast, so guessing identities was easy enough.
Originally, Yu Shu had been indignant that the ability score of a mere Iron-Eating Beast could exceed his Juvenile Bone Dragon's. But now, seeing that this Iron-Eating Beast could actually use Intimidation, he could only call it absurd.
Bah—where did monsters like this come from? His Juvenile Bone Dragon was a high-tier commander species, draconic to boot, and even it was still a little short of awakening Intimidation. What was the deal with Shi Jin's Iron-Eating Beast!
"Mm. From the look of you, you came here looking for this place specifically?" Shi Jin asked.
Yu Shu's face darkened. None of your damn business.
That was what he thought, but he still nodded—there was no hiding it, after all.
"There are dragon-type resources in there that I need. But it seems we discovered this place at the same time. So—how do you plan to compete for it?" He eyed Shi Jin with interest. The Iron-Eating Beast might not look weak, but once his Juvenile Bone Dragon fused with a dragon soul, its combat power rivaled that of a monarch-species transcendent pet beast!
If they settled this by the standard method of resource competition, Shi Jin would be no match for him.
He wasn't even afraid of Yin Huan's Giant Maned Beast. In short, he was determined to have the Dragon Soul Grass. The stuff was exceedingly rare even out in the wider world, nearly impossible to buy. There were high-grade substitutes, yes, but resources of too high a level wouldn't suit his pet beast—whereas this Dragon Soul Grass was exactly the right grade.
Earth-Rock Dragon Lizard: ???
Get lost, both of you—that's mine!
It eyed the Iron-Eating Beast and the bone dragon with still greater wariness, convinced that both parties were coveting the Dragon Soul Grass within the valley.
"So there really is treasure in there..." Shi Jin was taken aback, then intrigued. He had a hunch this resource would be far from ordinary.
Perhaps this trial island wasn't entirely a heap of worthless low-level resources after all...
"Chirp chirp chirp—" Shi Jin hadn't made up his mind yet, but Bug had grown excited. How about it handled the bone dragon and that dragon lizard? It was sure the resource inside would be dragon-type, and it wanted to fight for it itself.
Shi Jin: [You're no match either... unless...]
It wasn't that he looked down on Bug. Even at full battle power, Bug was only on par with a low-tier commander species' transcendent pet beast...
It would struggle even against this lizard, let alone the bone dragon.
Bug: [**Unless gear. Gear, gear...]
What Bug meant was that with mastery-level Phantom Mirage, it could use external objects to raise the quality of its phantom—being on par with a low-tier commander species wasn't full battle power at all. With all those ice-type energy crystals, and that Ice Dragon's Whisker, it could borrow them the way it did in training, transform into an ice dragon, and crush this dragon lizard and bone dragon without breaking a sweat!!!