Dong Huang is an ancient country with a history spanning several thousand years, its civilization far predating those of other nations.
In ancient times, Dong Huang had several dynasties, but all of them fell for various reasons.
These dynasties shared a common trait: they all preferred to establish their capitals in the same location.
It wasn't until the modern era that the Beast Tamer Association finally moved the capital, and the political centers of these successive dynasties are now known as the Ancient Capital.
The Ancient Capital has always been a strategic location, and countless wars have taken place here over the millennia. As a result, it is one of the places in Dong Huang with the heaviest yin energy, harboring a large number of undead creatures.
In a first-tier city, outside the Ancient Capital, lies an ancient battlefield plain.
Dark clouds loom overhead, the sky is dim, and the ground is littered with countless bones. Numerous skeletal soldiers wander about.
In addition, countless undead creatures move between the realms of reality and illusion.
The desolate land is filled with a heavy aura of death, making it a paradise for the undead.
However, someone was moving through the sky here without a care.
"Chirp!!!"
This was a giant bird with a sky-blue body, beautiful blue feathers, and a lustrous appearance. It was light and graceful.
Its wings, as blue as the dawn sky, emitted a gentle light that dispelled all the yin energy in its path, causing the undead below to stop in their tracks, unable to move.
If a knowledgeable Beast Tamer were present, they would recognize this as a Qingling Windbird with phoenix bloodline.
Moreover, it was at least a King-level Qingling Windbird.
On the back of the blue giant bird stood a woman with short brown hair, casually wearing a white lab coat. She was silently looking at a message on her phone.
"Plants, gardener?"
"It seems they have successfully deciphered the ruins, much faster than I expected."
However, she glanced around at the environment. There were no plant-type pet beasts suitable for farming, only a bunch of skeletal soldiers.
Faced with Shi Yu, who treated her like an old friend, she really wanted to send a skeletal soldier to help him farm.
At that moment, she rubbed her temples with her slender fingers. This trip to the ruins had been more draining than she had anticipated. She would deal with Shi Yu's matter later.
"Wait until you pass your profession assessment," she replied.
...
"You have to wait."
In the training villa of Bingshui City's Pingcheng District, Shi Yu stretched lazily after reading the message on his phone.
He had asked Lu Qingyi about plant-type pet beasts, expecting her to give him a few options to choose from.
But the profession assessment was coming up soon.
It should be in about four months, right?
By then, his Beast Tamer Space should be at Level 2, and Shi Shi should be close to the Extraordinary level.
After returning home, Shi Shi immediately ran off to train.
The battle against the ice dragon had been a huge setback for it!
At the time, if it had been a real ice dragon hatchling rather than an illusion, Shi Shi felt it would have been defeated.
It had to work even harder!
"Chirp!"
Qingmian, the worm, circled around Shi Yu, wanting to fill out a few more applications, having become addicted to it.
"Enough, this kind of thing relies on your first instinct."
"Once you start changing your mind, it's hard to get it right."
Shi Yu put away his phone, sending Qingmian flying and sharing his experience with multiple-choice exams.
The more you change your answers, the more likely you are to get them wrong.
Moreover, it would be frustrating if Qingmian suddenly decided to evolve into something else when it was almost ready to evolve, with all the skills and materials prepared.
Shi Yu thought the dream manifestation route of the Dream Butterfly was quite good.
"Chirp, chirp."
Qingmian looked regretful, then fell silent for a moment, watching Shi Shi's departing back.
A moment later, it crawled over to join Shi Shi in training.
Shi Yu had explained that all the applications were for evolution, to evolve into a stronger species.
Qingmian might not have understood this before, but now that it had a bit of intelligence, it knew what it meant.
Evolution meant a chance to change its fate.
As a common worm at the bottom of the food chain, its lowly status was evident from the fact that it had fled to Shi Yu's home to escape predators.
However, its desire to dream and imagine itself soaring through the sky in different forms showed that Qingmian was not content with its current situation.
It wanted to change its fate, but due to its lack of intelligence, it was clueless about what to do.
Or rather, even if it knew, it might not have been able to do anything to change its fate.
Although the evolution conditions for Qingmian were relatively simple for a contracted Beast Tamer, the probability of a wild Qingmian evolving was less than one in ten thousand.
"Chirp, chirp."
But that was in the past. Now, with a bit of intelligence, Qingmian knew what it needed to do to change its fate.
Train hard, change its fate!
To be honest, this wasn't the concept Shi Yu had imparted to the newly intelligent Qingmian. The first to impart this concept was Shi Shi...
This training fanatic and disciplined bear had been telling Qingmian about the benefits of training since it was very weak.
It was the only way to change its fate, but Qingmian didn't understand at the time and was forced to train.
Now, Qingmian finally understood what it meant to be strong and, influenced by Shi Shi and enticed by the prospect of evolution, decided to train with Shi Shi.
This was something the previously lazy and sleepy Qingmian would never have done.
"Chirp, chirp..." In the blink of an eye, Qingmian was gone.
Shi Yu watched, lost in thought.
The worm had grown up and become more sensible.
But it seemed he had forgotten to tell Qingmian that he had prepared an evolution route similar to the Dream Butterfly, where dreaming and sleeping could make it stronger. Why was it going to train with Shi Shi?
With that time, it might as well sleep more.
Learn how to control dreams, how to have lucid dreams.
Lucid dreaming is not a skill but a physiological phenomenon where the dreamer remains conscious during sleep and can even alter the dream.
Even an ordinary person can learn this with training.
Shi Yu had tried something similar before he crossed over, but he didn't seem to have the talent for it, succeeding only once or twice after a long time.
That was on Earth without extraordinary powers, but in this world, lucid dreaming is common, thanks to the existence of dream beasts.
Generally, dream beasts can easily control dreams, both their own and those of other beings.
They are natural lucid dreamers, and Shi Yu hoped Qingmian could achieve something similar, which would be crucial for creating dream illusions in the future.
"Never mind, let it train with Shi Shi for a while. It's not bad to have a role model."
"Once it's tired from training, it will sleep better."
Today was a day worth celebrating, and Shi Yu planned to take a day off, not adding any more points. It's important to balance work and rest.
To be precise, he intended to study the relic bead and how to turn the Ethereal Stone into evolution materials.
As for the dragon whiskers, Shi Yu thought it best to hold off for now and keep them.
What if they were important for activating the ice dragon ruins? It wouldn't be good if he lost them.
Moreover, the current Qingmian didn't need such materials to strengthen its silk threads.
After all, its silk threads weren't at the Master level yet.
This was Shi Yu's next goal.
For the next period, he planned to focus on cultivating Qingmian, putting Shi Shi's points on hold and letting it practice its combination techniques.
Combination techniques, even with skill proficiency, require self-coordination and can't be fully learned from a guidebook.
It's said that professional-level battles are all about combination techniques.
Master-level battles are about the strength of pet beast auras.
The creation of combination techniques and auras tests the imagination and wisdom of the Beast Tamer.
This is harder to train than individual skills, and pet beasts need to put in more effort.
What Shi Yu could do was help Shi Shi build a solid foundation, and then they could research various combination techniques and auras together.
It was time to focus on the worm...
Shi Yu was also curious about how many points a Perfect-level skill needed to reach the Master level.
The current eight-hour weakness period of the silk threads was not a big deal for Shi Yu, making it perfect for experimentation.
After reaching the Master level, the silk threads would undergo a qualitative change.
This change would be in their attributes.
Depending on the food consumed over a period, Qingmian's Master-level silk threads could carry different attribute effects.
If it ate lightning-type resources for a while, the silk threads would become electrified, with a slight paralyzing effect.
If it ate ice-type resources for a while, the silk threads would become frosty, freezing enemies when entangled.
It seemed strong, but it was still just a low-level skill at the Proficient level.
In any case, because of this property, Shi Yu was curious about what the dragon whiskers could do to its silk threads.
Or what the Ethereal Stone could do to its silk threads.
Cutting through space with a boundary line?
Shi Yu felt he was getting ahead of himself...
"Bead, bead, can you hear me?" Shi Yu looked at the relic bead in his hand, activating his telepathic talent, hoping to hear the echoes of history.