"This green caterpillar is probably at level one."
After praising Eleven, Shi Yu looked at the green caterpillar.
The green caterpillar was the pet beast Shi Yu studied the most, which was related to his three-month internship experience.
After all, he had recorded several books of growth data on the green caterpillar!
Judging from the patterns on this green caterpillar, it only had one stripe, indicating it had only awakened once, making it a weakling. Therefore, Shi Yu boldly approached it.
Pet beasts are classified into growth levels and species levels.
Generally speaking, the higher the growth level, the stronger the pet beast's overall strength.
As for the species level, it more represents the growth potential of the pet beast.
The higher the species level, the higher the growth level can reach.
Currently, this green caterpillar is at the first growth level, the Awakening Stage.
At this level, it is the growth phase where most pet beasts awaken their species skills.
Each awakening increases the level by one, enhancing the pet beast's physical attributes and energy capacity, and there is a chance to awaken its species skill.
After ten awakenings, it can attempt to reach the Extraordinary level and become a true Extraordinary creature.
These ten awakenings are generally represented by levels one to ten by beast tamers.
This green caterpillar is at level one, while the iron-eating beast Shi Yu has contracted is currently at level three, indicating they have undergone one and three awakenings, respectively.
However, the number of awakenings does not entirely represent the pet beast's strength.
The strength of an awakened pet beast mainly depends on the species skills it has awakened.
In other words, under the same growth level, the higher the species level, the stronger the combat power, unless a low-species pet beast has mastered a powerful skill beyond its basic species ability.
Therefore, even if a green caterpillar awakens ten times but only knows the unranked skill 'Silk,' it would never be able to defeat an iron-eating beast that has learned the 'Hardening' skill, even if the iron-eating beast is at a much lower growth level. This is due to species suppression.
The advantage of the green caterpillar might be its faster growth compared to other high-species pet beasts, as its short lifespan forces it to grow quickly.
In short, this green caterpillar is very weak. This kind of 'unable to control its own fate' strength directly made it Shi Yu's experimental subject.
"Ji—"
The green caterpillar was thrown to the ground, but because of its light body, it was not injured.
However, the iron-eating beast's branch slap had truly frightened it, leaving it in a state of endless shock after the initial daze.
Green Caterpillar: Σ(°△°|||)︴
It stared with wide eyes, panicking at the giant in front of it and the iron-eating beast that jumped down from the tree, and immediately started to crawl away, without even the thought of resisting with its silk.
But... Shi Yu moved faster, stepping forward and grabbing it in his hand.
At this moment, the green caterpillar finally resisted.
Silk!
Snow-white silk spewed from its mouth, covering Shi Yu's hand, but he simply tore it off.
After three months of internship, he was most proficient at tearing silk.
Your silk is still too weak.
Do you think you're Don Quixote of the green caterpillars?
Green Caterpillar: Σ(°△°|||)︴
"Little guy, be quiet."
"Or I'll feed you to that guy over there."
Iron-Eating Beast: (¯﹃¯*), Can I eat it???
Although it is an Extraordinary creature, the green caterpillar's intelligence is not high, only capable of instinctive emotional responses.
However, even so, Shi Yu's mental induction was somewhat effective, as it was a form of mental communication.
Although the green caterpillar could not understand the meaning, it instinctively felt panic, making it hesitant to act rashly.
[Skill]: Silk
[Skill Level]: None
[Introduction]: A bug-type skill, which might have some effect when used to its fullest.
[Status]: Teachable
Shi Yu looked at the green caterpillar in front of him, summoning the skill compendium in his mind and flipping to the second page.
Among the six recorded skills, he designated the least useful one, Silk, to this green caterpillar.
The green caterpillar's species skill, Silk, is innate, so this green caterpillar would naturally use it. Shi Yu was aware of this from the beginning.
"Teach," Shi Yu muttered in his mind, trying to trigger the compendium under the green caterpillar's bewildered gaze.
This was his first attempt, and he was quite nervous.
What followed was not the green caterpillar immediately learning the skill, but rather, his hands gradually glowing.
Then, the light from Shi Yu's hands passed through the green caterpillar like a stream of water.
The light flowed, and in the next second, the glow on Shi Yu's hands disappeared, covering the green caterpillar's entire body, making it glow.
Buzz!
At this point, after everything was completed, Shi Yu felt a part of his stamina being drained, as if his mental state had sharply declined, leaving him hungry, tired, and sleepy.
However, the subsequent changes quickly brought him back to his senses, as the green caterpillar's body began to develop before his eyes.
This green caterpillar underwent its second awakening, with a second stripe slowly appearing on its body. Shi Yu quickly put it down to observe carefully.
From the green caterpillar's perspective.
This green caterpillar was probably also bewildered.
As the light integrated into its body, its physical attributes and energy capacity were suddenly enhanced.
At the same time, vaguely, the green caterpillar felt itself using Silk countless times in an unconscious state.
This experience directly made the green caterpillar feel more proficient in using Silk.
Although it was still unclear what exactly happened, it knew it had become stronger.
However, these details were not important.
With the green caterpillar's intelligence, it could not judge what had happened, only what it should do now.
Continue to escape from Shi Yu's clutches—
It did not realize that Shi Yu was a strong ally and that the changes in its body were due to Shi Yu. It just wanted to run away and find a safe place to continue enjoying the breeze.
The green caterpillar twisted and ran again, but was stopped by Shi Yu.
"Ji—"
White silk spewed from the green caterpillar's mouth, and it launched its second resistance, but the silk was again mercilessly torn off.
Although Shi Yu was now weak, he was still more than capable of handling the green caterpillar.
In the green caterpillar's desperate gaze, Shi Yu subdued it again. This time, it gave up struggling and curled up to one side.
"The strength of the silk has indeed improved..."
"It is also being used more skillfully than before..."
While engaging in a battle of wits and strength with the green caterpillar, Shi Yu made his judgment.
He looked at the marks on his hand and then at the green caterpillar.
Is this the proficiency of the silk skill, from beginner to proficient?
This level of silk strength is already comparable to the high-quality green caterpillars raised in the Ice City breeding base using spirit plants.
Its growth level might not be as high, but its silk proficiency is definitely the highest.
The increase in the green caterpillar's silk skill proficiency was within Shi Yu's expectations, but the increase in its growth level was unexpected.
Could it be that a deeper understanding of its species skill led to an overall improvement in its strength, resulting in a second awakening?
Or did the teaching of the skill also involve a feedback of some of his own power to the green caterpillar?
Regardless, these changes made Shi Yu very satisfied with the effects of the skill compendium.
And the experimental results...
Shi Yu's expression suddenly changed.
Because...
As he flipped through the skill compendium, he noticed that all the pages had become darker.
Below the status bar of each skill, a cooldown timer appeared.
[Cooldown Time]: 8 hours
This meant he had to wait 8 hours before he could use the skill compendium again.
Shi Yu: ???
There's a cooldown time?
Shi Yu was taken aback.
But it seemed reasonable.
The experiment of teaching the unranked skill Silk, although within his tolerance, was not negligible.
This cooldown time was like a protective mechanism, preventing him from overusing the skill compendium and being drained.
8 hours... He would need to eat a meal and take a nap to recover.
To use the skill compendium effectively, he would need to strengthen his body. An unranked skill required an 8-hour recovery period, and low-level skills might take 1-2 days.
What about mid-level, high-level, and extraordinary skills?
Shi Yu suddenly realized that the skill compendium wasn't as good as he thought. The pet beast benefited, but he was the one who suffered.
Would eating some high-nutrient food help speed up recovery?
If so, preparing some in advance might allow him to quickly replenish his state after teaching a skill. Pet beasts have nutritional supplements, and beast tamers definitely do too.
Shi Yu looked at the iron-eating beast, which was still confused. Eleven had no idea what his beast tamer had done.
"I brought some bamboo shoots from the breeding base. We'll have bamboo shoot and meat strips with white rice for dinner."
Bamboo shoots are hard, but the shoots are edible and very nutritious, much more so than common vegetables. Shi Yu felt he needed to replenish himself so he could teach the iron-eating beast the Hardening skill in full condition tomorrow.