"Sigh… junior, you were really too reckless…"
In the reception room, Li Shun felt deep regret. If he had known his junior would be this rash, he wouldn't have said anything about the Fish King—
And now look at this. A student of Dr. Xu had actually contracted a Low Extraordinary Koi.
If the professor found out, wouldn't he scold him to death?
"It's fine, senior. This was my own decision. My advisor won't blame you."
Jiang Xing smiled and shook his head.
For a Beast Tamer, contract slots were extremely important. They determined the structure of their future system, even their entire path as a Beast Tamer. Randomly contracting low-level Pet Beasts was no different from crippling oneself.
But then again—
Jiang Xing wasn't a Beast Tamer, nor did he plan to become one.
He was just a plain and simple researcher. Compared to being a Beast Tamer, he would rather become someone like Dr. Xu—respected by all, even capable of influencing the entire world: a Beast Taming Doctor!
And for a doctor, contract slots weren't actually that important.
After all, even if Dr. Xu didn't contract a single Pet Beast and remained just an ordinary person, Legendary Beast Tamers would still treat him with great respect.
Even if Dr. Xu had no contract slots, those top-tier Pet Beasts he had raised—those "Water Guardians" comparable to Legendary Beast Tamers, even ones he had personally raised—would still regard him as a father.
That was something that truly transcended combat power—
Influence!
So using one contract slot in exchange for a Golden-Patterned Koi Fish King that was willing to follow him, thereby increasing the success rate of his research, was absolutely worth it.
What's more…
"Senior, if I successfully evolve the Golden-Patterned Koi into a dragon-type Pet Beast, then there won't be any such thing as 'wasting' a contract slot, right?"
"And when people find out that the Fish King in your farm has transformed into a true dragon… it'll definitely create a huge wave of attention and bring you a massive number of customers!"
Hearing this, Li Shun couldn't help but laugh.
His junior was still too young. Research wasn't that simple. And an idea derived from the legend of a carp transforming into a dragon—it was nothing short of wishful thinking, with almost no chance of success…
But when Li Shun saw the confidence in his junior's eyes, along with that surging youthful vigor—
For a moment, he seemed to see another person.
Su Muli.
Two years ago, Junior Su had carried the same kind of confidence, smashing through countless doubts and rising to become the youngest—and most outstanding—researcher in China.
Li Shun paused, then shook his head.
His teacher had been right back then.
This was the gap between him and his juniors.
Too many thoughts. Too much hesitation. Too much worrying about gains and losses.
That might allow him to become a successful breeder, but it would never make him an outstanding researcher—
If you wanted real research results, how could you be afraid of failure?
Even knowing the probability of failure was extremely high, you still had to give it your all and believe you could succeed—
If you didn't even have that kind of conviction, then naturally, you could never earn the favor of the "god of success" through countless failures.
"Then I'll take your words as a blessing." Li Shun cast aside his distracting thoughts and smiled. "If you can make the farm thrive, then whatever water-type Pet Beast you need in the future, I'll provide it for free!"
Jiang Xing's eyes lit up. "Senior, you mean it? I won't go easy on you!"
"I mean it!" Li Shun laughed heartily.
Setting aside the benefits of building a relationship with a future water-type researcher—
If Jiang Xing succeeded and evolved the Golden-Patterned Koi into a dragon-type Pet Beast, then the price of all Golden-Patterned Koi in the farm would naturally skyrocket, allowing him to make a huge profit.
A sharp glint flashed in Li Shun's eyes.
Seems like he should start stocking up on Golden-Patterned Koi with brave personalities in advance.
…
After leaving the water-type breeding farm, Jiang Xing's expectations for the Golden-Patterned Koi's evolution rose even further.
Once he completed this research, future projects would require far less funding!
After all, the Golden-Patterned Koi was one of the cheapest ornamental Pet Beasts, costing only a few thousand per fish on the market.
True combat-type Pet Beasts usually started at one hundred thousand, with prices increasing exponentially depending on their future potential.
Pet Beast cubs with Overlord Tier potential could reach prices of one billion, and were often out of stock—
At that point, they were considered strategic resources, monopolized by nations, associations, noble families, and conglomerates. They were never sold, and only occasionally appeared on the black market.
From this, it was easy to see how high the research costs for top-tier Pet Beasts could be.
Of course, even though his senior had said he would provide them for free, Jiang Xing wouldn't actually ask him to hand over a batch of Overlord cubs…
That would be far too shameless.
He planned to cooperate with his senior—he could save on research costs, and his senior could profit from the results.
A win-win situation was the foundation of long-term development.
'That is, if the Golden-Patterned Koi can really transform into a dragon.'
'System, don't let me down.'
Jiang Xing shifted his attention back to the Golden-Patterned Koi.
Originally, he had planned to cultivate a large number of Golden-Patterned Koi first, then select the most talented among them based on real conditions, focus resources on them, and use early evolution to drive later evolution…
But now that he had unexpectedly obtained a Fish King, he could discard that plan and move directly into the advanced stage—
Concentrate resources, train the Fish King, and attempt to evolve it into a dragon!
'According to my deductions, transforming into a dragon likely requires four conditions.'
'Condition one: Level.'
'The average Power Level of Golden-Patterned Koi is around Mid Awakening Level, equivalent to the level of combat-type Pet Beast cubs.'
'The Fish King, however, has already surpassed Awakening Level and entered Extraordinary Level, reaching Low Extraordinary Level. It can evolve into the next stage at any time.'
After contracting it, a Beast Tamer could observe a Pet Beast's detailed status—more accurate than any experimental instrument.
After taking a look, Jiang Xing couldn't help but sigh in admiration.
As expected of a Fish King.
Previously, he had raised nearly a hundred fish, investing large amounts of resources and training time just to push them to Extraordinary Level.
Yet this Golden-Patterned Koi Fish King had reached this level just by sneaking food in the pond—
Its talent was truly exceptional!
Unfortunately, its Species Tier determined its upper limit.
Unless it completed evolution or encountered an extremely rare opportunity, it would forever be stuck at Low Extraordinary Level, unable to grow any stronger.
'Condition two: Water-leaping move.'
The Golden-Patterned Koi Fish King had already mastered four species moves. Among them, Water Leap and Tackle had reached Proficient mastery, which was quite impressive.
This saved Jiang Xing a great deal of training time.
'Condition three: Dragon-type energy and dragon-type moves.'
Jiang Xing had already received news—Senior Su had sent over the move data.
Next, he just needed to prepare some dragon-type resource fruits and use them to make energy cubes.
'Condition four… perhaps the most important one—'
'A fearless heart that dares to strike the Dragon Gate.'
Jiang Xing raised his hand. Above his palm, a small phantom of the Golden-Patterned Koi appeared—it was resting inside the Beast Taming Space.
Through that phantom, Jiang Xing seemed to see its resolute gaze once more—
That gaze was also the reason he had chosen to contract it.
If it was this one—
Then perhaps it really could transform into a dragon!
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