Beast Tamer: I Can See Evolution Paths

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'There's a solution to Little Drogo's situation? and it also seems like its fighting spirit has returned.' Vicky's heart was filled with joy.

He needed an intense battle to prove Little Drogo was back in form.

Vicky's eyes sparkled. "Just wait and see."

"When our Little Drogo goes all out, Little Raven won't stand a chance against it."

"Really?" Asher nodded slightly, looking as if he didn't take Vicky's words to heart.

Asher turned to Little Raven, his voice gentle. "Did you hear that, Little Raven? Next, try harder and teach that guy a lesson, okay?"

Little Raven: ᕙ⁠(⁠ ⁠¤⁠ ⁠〰⁠ ⁠¤⁠ ⁠)⁠ᕗ

The look in Little Raven's eyes as it gazed at the dragon lizard on the ground had completely changed.

It had been somewhat serious earlier, but now it was utterly serious, treating the dragon lizard as its true opponent.

The dragon lizard's instincts told it to resist Little Raven.

However, the moment their eyes met, a bone-chilling coldness made the dragon lizard instinctively turn its head away, unable to meet Little Raven's gaze.

Splashes of water erupted on the dragon lizard's scales. The dense scales, under the sound of these rapid explosions, began to loosen. White, cloud-like vapor seeped into the flesh beneath the scales, accompanied by muffled bursts.

Red droplets of liquid oozed out of the dragon lizard's body.

Vicky took a deep breath.

He was certain this was the damage effect caused by the dragon lizard's skill, Cloud Swallow and Spit.

Whether it was trapping the dragon lizard, the initial burst of water splashes, or the secondary explosion of white clouds, all of these were skill-based effects.

A skill that carried both control and two-stage damage wasn't something just any pet beast could learn.

Although he couldn't figure out how Asher and Little Raven achieved this, he knew now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

Commanding the dragon lizard to fight back was what he needed to do.

"Little Drogo, use Dragon Roar!"

In the very next moment, the dragon lizard, which had been lying on the ground, raised its head sharply the moment it broke free of its restraints and intimidation.

"ROAR—"

The massive sound waves rippled through the air like waves, one layer after another.

Not only did it intimidate its opponent, but the sound waves also carried an attack effect.

Little Raven's round, plump body was struck by the shockwaves, tumbling several times in the air. It flapped its wings frantically, barely managing to steady itself.

Little Raven: [○Д○]

What does "not much damage but extremely insulting" mean?

This effect right here.

The attack didn't cause Little Raven any real harm.

But it dealt an irreversible blow to Little Raven's dignity and pride.

Little Raven: 'Furious! Absolutely furious!'

With its pitch-black bean-like eyes, Little Raven glared unblinkingly at the dragon lizard.

The dragon lizard, with its simple mind, couldn't understand what this cross-species bird was trying to convey. It tilted its head at Little Raven, then let out another roar at it.

'What are you looking at, stupid bird?'

Little Raven: 'Fu*k your moth... Ahem!'

Vicky couldn't help but chuckle from the sidelines.

Asher shot him a glare. "Little Raven, use Peck."

"Pfft—" Vicky laughed even harder.

Slapping his thigh, he said with an amused expression, "I'm not trying to laugh, but letting Little Raven use Peck on my dragon lizard? Aren't you worried that before anything happens to Little Drogo, Little Raven's beak will catch fire first?"

Asher sighed. "I should be asking you what nonsense fills your head all day."

Under Vicky's puzzled gaze, Asher watched Little Raven charge at the dragon lizard and slowly added, "In terms of strength, Little Raven and your Little Drogo are both mid-tier, third-rank. Isn't it a bit too confident of you to assume Little Raven can't break Little Drogo's defenses just based on its size?"

This left Vicky utterly flabbergasted.

Vicky: "?"

Vicky spun his head like a sunflower, eyes wide in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?"

"Guess." Asher calmly replied with two words.

Vicky: '…You think I won't guess?'

Vicky was genuinely shocked by Asher's words.

'How long had it been since Asher contracted Little Raven, and its strength is already mid-tier, third-rank?'

Although breaking through the fifth rank was the most challenging for Beasts, that didn't mean it was easy to increase strength below the fifth rank.

Vicky's dragon lizard had taken over half a year, plus various resources, to reach mid-tier, third-rank.

If all went well, the dragon lizard might reach high-tier, third-rank by the end of senior year battles, but breaking into the fourth rank would still require some luck.

And now looking at Little Raven's strength...

Several large question marks floated above Vicky's head.

'What?'

'Isn't Little Raven's mutation supposed to be suboptimal?'

'Why is its strength improving so fast?'

The Oriental Peacock wasn't low in rank either.

The higher the rank of an Beast, the harder it was to increase its strength.

That's why Vicky had so much confidence in the dragon lizard—high-quality pet beast, strong body, and natural bloodline.

It was almost impossible for a low-level Oriental Peacock to cause effective damage to such a dragon lizard...

But after hearing Asher's words, Vicky began to waver.

Little Raven and Little Drogo were on the same level.

And Little Raven could even use the Aura of the King, a skill that should be impossible to learn.

Vicky's eyes filled with despair.

He wanted to slap himself.

But Vicky knew he needed to focus on commanding the dragon lizard to counterattack.

Finally, Vicky stopped underestimating Little Raven. For the first time, he gazed at it with unprecedented seriousness. "Dragon lizard, flip and knock it down from the sky."

Little Raven fluttered its wings, flying around the dragon lizard's back, using its pale yellow beak to attack the dragon lizard's unhealed wounds.

The flesh inside the wounds was stirred again, and a grimace of extreme pain spread across the dragon lizard's face.

Vicky's command had just left his mouth when the dragon lizard began rolling on the ground like crazy. Dust clouds obscured its and Little Raven's figures, making it impossible for Asher to see what was happening inside.

"Nice!" Vicky clenched his fist, punching the air a few times. "Use Slam!"

THUD! THUD! THUD—

The sound of a thick tail hitting the ground echoed.

"Use Heart of Protection," Asher said unhurriedly.

Last time, his reaction was too slow, and he had forgotten that Little Raven had a defensive skill. That small mistake had cost him the match.

Afterward, Asher repeatedly replayed that battle in his mind.

Now, this Asher—

Was no longer the same Asher as before.

He would never make such a low-level mistake again.

WHOOSH!

A golden, shimmering protective shield completely enveloped Little Raven's body.

The Dragon Lizard's slaps couldn't inflict even the slightest damage on Little Raven.

On the contrary...

"Little Raven, use Royal Aura again, then follow up with Peck Attack."

Battles were not turn-based.

And skills weren't used one after another in a fixed sequence.

As long as the beastmaster and their pet were in perfect sync, two skills could flow seamlessly together.

A powerful aura, suffocating even for humans, burst out suddenly.

The Dragon Lizard's body and mind fell into disarray again, unable to follow commands.

Taking advantage of this, Little Raven crouched low and delivered a flurry of fierce pecks directly at the wounds on the Dragon Lizard's body.

The intense pain, combined with continued blood loss and the suppressive aura bearing down on it, caused the Dragon Lizard to roll its eyes and pass out.

"Little Raven, stop," Asher immediately ordered.

The Dragon Lizard had already lost its ability to fight. There was no need to continue; it would just look petty.

Little Raven stopped, bounced twice on the Dragon Lizard's mane, and then flapped its wings to perch on Asher's shoulder.

Vicky strode forward, exclaiming, "Little Drogo?"

After carefully inspecting the Dragon Lizard, he found that its injuries weren't as severe as he had imagined. Most were self-inflicted during its Cloud Swallowing and Fog Spewing skill.

Little Raven's attacks merely caused secondary damage based on the original wounds.

Vicky: "..."

His emotions were complex.

Asher, petting the proud Little Raven standing on his shoulder like a victorious general, couldn't help but smile.

"Well done, Little Raven." He stroked the tuft on Little Raven's head and praised it with a laugh.

Little Raven raised its small head even higher.

At the same time, it cast Asher a look: 'Stop touching me—you're messing up my feathers.'

But just as Asher withdrew his hand, Little Raven eagerly snuggled up to him again.

Little Raven: 'Happy! Victory! Beastmaster, did you see how awesome I am?'

With a pair of sparkling beady eyes, Little Raven stared at Asher, looking expectant for praise and pets.

"Awesome, awesome," Asher said with a mix of amusement and exasperation. "But we also need to comfort your opponent a little."

Little Raven's little bead eyes turned in confusion.

'Comfort the opponent?'

'Why?'

Asher brought Little Raven along as he approached Vicky. "Carry Little Drogo inside. The service station can treat these injuries; they'll recover quickly."

Having a battle right in front of the service station had its perks—no matter which side lost, the treatment was always extremely convenient.

Little Raven didn't need any treatment and perched on Asher's shoulder, watching as Vicky struggled to pick the Dragon Lizard up from the ground.

"Your arm strength…" Asher remarked, watching Vicky's bulging arm muscles with a touch of amazement.

Tsk tsk.

Vicky's physical strength must have been rigorously trained.

Vicky forced a difficult smile. "What can I do? Little Drogo likes being carried in my arms, and I can't just make Little Drogo go on a diet—that wouldn't be good for its growth… So I can only suffer myself."

Hearing this, Asher's face lit up with curiosity.

"Can I ask… what's Little Drogo's weight?"

"Ninety-two jin now." [T/N: 1 Jin= 0.6 kg so it's 55.2 kg]

"And still increasing?"

"Of course." Vicky's expression grew increasingly dismal. As he followed Asher toward the equipment room, he couldn't help but lament, "At this rate, I'm already dreading the day when I can no longer carry Little Drogo… What am I supposed to do then?

"What if Little Drogo thinks I don't love him anymore…"

By the end, Vicky let out a long, heartfelt sigh.

Asher: "..."

Asher glanced at the dragon lizard, recalling its peculiar mental activities... Actually, he couldn't entirely deny Vicky's worries.

He patted Vicky on the shoulder. "Good luck. Pay close attention to my grandchild's mental health."

After placing the Dragon Lizard into the treatment device, Asher relayed the information he'd gleaned from his innate skill, disguising it as something he had observed himself. He explained the situation to Vicky simply.

"Basically, it seems Little Drogo was… misled by someone—or some Beast—which caused its abnormal behavior."

"Once Little Drogo regains its clarity, have a good heart-to-heart as a Beastmaster with your pet. That should resolve the issue."

Vicky nodded repeatedly, fully convinced by Asher's explanation.

If Asher said so, there had to be a reason.

His precious boy would never lie to him.

As for how Asher figured it out… did it matter?

Vicky: 'Not at all.'

Perhaps his dear son was just a once-in-a-century prodigy with a unique connection to Beasts.

Vicky successfully convinced himself with his own logic.

Asher smiled as well.

Having someone like Vicky as a friend—and being able to call each other "father" and "son"—was also a stroke of luck for him.

"No need for formal thanks." Vicky, seeing that the Dragon Lizard's injuries were fully healed, patted the still-unconscious creature before storing it back into the Beast Space within his spiritual sea.

He waved to Asher. "I'll head home now to sort out the communication issues with Little Drogo. Once everything's resolved, Dad's treating you to a feast when school starts in a few days." [T/N: Campus arc will start soon, I guess.]

That afternoon, Asher received an enthusiastic voice message from Vicky, full of gratitude.

The Dragon Lizard's minor issue had been thoroughly resolved.

Vicky was overjoyed.

Not just for his pet partner when school resumed, but also for the bond he shared with Little Drogo after nearly a year together.

With the Dragon Lizard's issues treatable, Vicky had no intention of applying for a pet separation procedure with the Alliance to replace Little Drogo with another.

Such a choice would hurt both Beastmaster and pet when emotions were involved.

Thankfully, that was no longer something he had to consider.

Vicky was so thrilled he could hardly wait for school to start, determined to personally cover all of Asher's meals.

Adding Little Raven into the equation? Not a problem at all.

[Asher: Just treat me to a couple of good meals, and remember to keep an eye on Little Drogo's mental health. Oh, and don't forget about your homework—there are four days left before school starts.]

[Vicky: Homework? Oh crap—]

Perfect.

Vicky had completely forgotten about the existence of homework.

Hearing his howls and pleas for "let me copy yours," Asher decisively closed the chat interface and chose to ignore him.

What? Copy what?

He didn't see a thing.

———

After work.

On his way home, Asher casually bought two cold dishes and made a simple meal for himself.

After eating, Asher's expression grew serious.

Little Raven: "?"

First, Asher gave Little Raven a meticulous warm bath, using bird-specific pet shampoo several times—so much that he nearly scrubbed Little Raven from pure black to snow white.

Then he spent another half hour thoroughly cleaning himself up.

Once everything was tidied, Asher sat at the bedside, his expression solemn, and activated his skill.

It was time for a serious draw session.

From the time he'd hosted that academic conference to the present, three days had passed.

The public recognition points for the [Fire Fox Queen] had gone from zero to 21,700.

Not much, really.

That's just 2,170 people who now knew about the [Fire Fox Queen].

These points weren't enough for even four single draws, let alone a ten-pull.

But—

The [Fairy Butterfly]'s public recognition had soared to an astonishing level.

Because of the honeybug's unique trait of being suitable even for ordinary people to raise, nearly 5,000 people learned about it in just two days.

And over time, this growth only accelerated.

Through discussions among colleagues, friends, family, and classmates, awareness of the [Fairy Butterfly] would only increase further.

Fast forward to over a month later, and the [Fairy Butterfly]'s public recognition points had reached a staggering 27 million.

That meant a whopping 2.7 million people had deeply understood its traits and evolutionary path.

And the number was still climbing.

The current recognition level for [Fairy Butterfly] translated to roughly 5,400 draws.

Recognition points were abundant.

If all 5,400 could be converted into the [Fire Fox Queen]'s pool, Asher would be even more thrilled.

Fortunately, while they couldn't all be swapped into the [Fire Fox Queen] pool, every ten unsuccessful pulls would earn him one universal draw for any pool.

"Previously, I did one ten-pull and missed seven times. Calculating it… using up all 5,400 draws would grant around 300 universal chances."

After some quick math, Asher couldn't help but click his tongue.

Three hundred-plus draws.

Sounded decent at first.

But thinking about it again, there was only one word for it—scam.

What a massive scam.

Still, no matter how bad the odds were, he had to pull.

He started with the [Fairy Butterfly] pool.

[Fairy Butterfly] had four skills in total, one of which, [Heart of Protection], Little Raven had already mastered.

Every 30 draws guaranteed one skill.

Within just 100 pulls, Asher successfully unlocked all four of the [Fairy Butterfly]'s skills.

Asher silently typed a question mark.

"Seriously? I still have 5,300 draws left. Do you want me to keep drawing duplicates, or…?"

Although hesitant, he knew there was no avoiding it.

Asher resumed pulling without pause.

Ten draws, another ten… a hundred ten-pulls… by the end, Asher just wanted to ask his innate skill, could it allow a hundred-pull all at once?

Otherwise, there were just too many pulls.

He couldn't finish them all!

540 ten-pulls were physically exhausting to complete.

Toward the end, Asher stopped caring about what he was drawing and mechanically continued.

"…I swear, I'll never play gacha games again."

After exhausting all 5,400 pulls, Asher collapsed onto his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.

Drained.

'Finally, it is all gone.'

'Not a single draw left.'

Asher felt he needed to take a good break, adjust to the emptiness after overdrawing from the gacha, and then get back up to fight again.

Hearing the thud when Asher collapsed, Little Raven worriedly flew to his side, rubbing its soft feathers against Asher's face.

Its pair of black, beady eyes were full of concern as it looked at him.

"I'm fine. I'll just lie here for a bit," Asher turned his face slightly and nuzzled against Little Raven with his cheek.

Reaching out... No, his hands were still slightly cramping.

If asked, the answer was simple: too much gacha-pulling. For now, he didn't want to use his hands for anything else.

Little Raven's gaze turned complex, as though it had thought of something, but it obediently stayed by Asher's side. Occasionally, it would pat Asher lightly with its feathers or make small movements.

Until the moonlight shone through the wide-open window.

Only then did Asher spring up like a carp flipping out of the water, sitting cross-legged on the bed to examine the results of his 5,400 pulls.

The text of four skills—Sweet Nectar, Heart of Protection, Wind Blade, and Fairy Sparkle—glimmered with a dazzling golden light in his eyes.

He randomly tapped on one.

[Sweet Nectar (MAX): Automatically gained at maximum proficiency upon learning.]

'Maximum proficiency?'

Asher's eyes lit up, but before his excitement could fully bloom, his expression dimmed.

"Damn..." The curse was halfway out before he swallowed it back.

"It ate nearly 180 pity guarantees to upgrade these four skills to golden maximum level. If I want to do the same with Fire Queen's fire-element skills, how many pity guarantees will it take?"

On average, it had taken more than 40 pity guarantees per skill to reach gold. Could he really grind fire-element skills to gold too?

Asher gave up thinking.

He turned to look at what else he had pulled besides skills.

The storage space was crammed with four full pages of colorful items.

Unsurprisingly, the majority were [White-Grade Items]:

[A Book (White-Grade Item): The Evolution and Care of Foxes. Reading it increases understanding of Beasts classified as "Fox," improving their care and training.]

[A Book (White-Grade Item): A Guide to Caring for Dragon Lizards. Reading it increases understanding of Dragon Lizards, improving their care and training.]

[A Book (White-Grade Item): A Comprehensive Cultivation Guide for Centivine. Reading it increases understanding of Centivine, improving their care and training.]

[A Cat Treat (White-Grade Item): No energy content, but irresistible to Beasts of cat or dog type. May slightly increase their favorability toward you—or they might decide they'd like a taste of you instead.]

[Fresh Fruit (White-Grade Item): No energy content, but irresistible to herbivorous and omnivorous Beasts. Unlikely to make them want a taste of you, but also unlikely to greatly increase their favorability.]

[A Handful of Sunflower Seeds (White-Grade Item): No energy content, but a flavor some extraordinary birds or small rodents might enjoy.]

[A Bunch of Nuts (White-Grade Item): No energy content, but the taste is strangely delightful, like opening a blind box. Let Beasts who love nuts give it a try.]

Asher's eyes scanned through the list, dumbfounded.

It wasn't until he pulled that he realized: the gacha pool contained so many strange and quirky items beyond skills.

He clicked his tongue in disbelief.

His hands itched. Among the white-grade items, quite a few piqued his interest.

Although the descriptions made it clear these items were mostly for fun and of little practical use, Asher still found them intriguing.

After some thought, he redeemed one white-grade item, [Fresh Fruit]. A large, fresh orange appeared in front of him.

Startled by the sudden appearance of an orange several times its size, Little Raven jumped back in shock.

Little Raven: (ΩДΩ)

"Don't be scared, don't be scared. It's harmless." Asher patted Little Raven's feathers and picked up the orange.

A sharp, tangy, slightly bitter aroma, like freshly snapped branches, filled the air.

As soon as he peeled off the orange's skin...

An irresistible fragrance wafted out, making both man and bird drool uncontrollably.

Little Raven: (﹃)

Asher: "Sssllluuurrrp—"

It wasn't their greed.

Honestly!

This orange just smelled too good.

"...Can birds eat oranges?" Watching Little Raven drool, Asher hesitated for two seconds.

Now that he thought about it, was it safe for Little Raven to eat oranges?

If not, wouldn't that mean the whole orange would be—

Little Raven: (へ╬)

Little Raven flapped its wings and lunged for the orange with its beak wide open!

Asher quickly blocked it with his hand. "I was just kidding. Of course I'll share. I was just worried about your safety, not that I didn't want to give you any."

"Trust me, Little Raven." Asher looked at it with sincere eyes.

As he spoke, he deftly peeled off a segment and fed it to Little Raven.

Instantly, Little Raven squinted its eyes and sprawled lazily on Asher's shoulder.

'Delicious!'

Then, another segment was fed into its beak.

'Little Raven: So good!'

Satisfied, Little Raven suddenly noticed that Asher hadn't taken a single bite himself. Feeling a little guilty, it thought back to how it was about to start a fight over food just now.

'Aww~ It misunderstood my Beast Master.'

'Beast Master clearly adores me.'

'It made me worry unnecessarily.'

Feeling bashful, Little Raven spread its wings and gently nudged Asher's hand when he tried to offer it another piece.

Little Raven: 'You eat too, Beast Master.'

Asher chuckled. "Alright, this one's for you, and the next is for me."

Little Raven opened its pale yellow beak, gobbled down the piece, and smiled contentedly.

Only after watching Asher eat a segment of orange did it continue eating its next bite.

'Little Raven: Beast Master really loves me.'

The two of them finished the giant orange together before Asher resumed checking his haul.

[Cozy Little Nest (Blue Item): A warm nest that can adjust its size according to the Beast's body shape, making it feel happy and cozy when it sleeps inside.]

[Pet Beast Toy (Blue Item): Can appropriately relax a pet beast's mood, bringing joy and happiness during playtime.]

[A Bag of Cookies (Blue Item): Special cookies with minor effects. Each cookie has a different positive or negative buff lasting three minutes, with no significant impact regardless of the effect.]

[A Super Deluxe Cat Stick (Blue Item): Infused with special energy, it's an irresistible treat for all cats and dogs. Even the fiercest ones will turn into soft and cuddly pets after eating it, with effects lasting five minutes.]

[A Set of Bird Feather Cleaning Tools (Blue Item): Comfortable care that provides extraordinary birds with a special experience and good mood.]

[A Set of Scale Cleaning Tools (Blue Item): What scaled Beast could resist the sparkling process of detailed cleaning? This care will significantly improve their mood.]

Compared to white items, blue items were far fewer—about two hundred in total.

And many of them were duplicates.

A small portion were upgraded versions of white items.

Not exactly disappointing.

Asher shifted his gaze to the purple items.

As the man who pulled a purple item on his very first ten-draw, Asher had always assumed purple items weren't that rare.

Until this moment—

5,400 draws.

27 purple items.

Finally, Asher had a direct understanding of the rarity of purple items.

[Lucky Four-Leaf Clover (Purple Item): Carrying this on grants a temporary luck buff (effect is halved if given to others).]

[Advanced Shield (Purple Item): Carrying this on makes you immune to a single attack from an Beast below the sixth tier (transferable).]

[Advanced Disguise Potion (Purple Item): After use, you can disguise yourself as another person for 24 hours (non-transferable).]

[Advanced Camouflage Component (Purple Item): A pair of red demon horns that, when worn by an Beast, emit the aura of a high-tier demon-type Beast. For two hours, the disguise is absolutely undetectable (non-transferable).]

[A Book (Purple Item): Encyclopedia of Herbs—reading it provides profound knowledge of all herbs. It's a rare and valuable book.]

Each item was strange and intriguing, all deeply captivating to Asher.

Who would've thought?

Really, who would've thought?

The pool contained so many fascinating things.

Unfortunately, most of the draws yielded white items. Blue items were decent, but purple items were truly scarce.

As for the highest-grade gold items...

Asher had drawn one.

But after seeing its function, he wasn't sure whether it was useful to him or not.

[Universal Negative State Dispelling Potion (Gold Item): Consuming this removes all existing negative states from the body (including but not limited to poisoning, burns, frostbite, genetic collapse, mental disorder, etc.). After consumption, all negative states are automatically repaired.]

Asher touched his chin.

Poisoning, burns, frostbite—physical negative states like these could already be treated with existing devices.

If this potion could only treat those, Asher felt it didn't live up to the name of a gold item.

But when including genetic collapse, mental disorder, and so on...

The potion instantly became extraordinary.

Even though the world's medical technology had reached a level that astonished Asher, some challenges still plagued researchers in medical equipment.

Genetics, mental health, cellular issues... all domains of the divine that humans couldn't conquer.

If humanity ever managed to resolve these issues easily, it wouldn't be long before they ventured beyond Earth and into the solar system.

Still, as good as the potion was, Asher hoped he'd never encounter a situation where it had to be used.

Stretching lazily, Asher set everything aside.

White items were so abundant that he didn't feel bad using them.

As for the books, Asher decided he'd read them all when he had time.

Since he had chosen the path of beast evolution research, he needed to immerse himself in this field.

Even without relying on innate skills, he had to understand the states of Beasts inside and out.

"Now, with 378 draws remaining... At 30 draws per guaranteed reward, I should be able to pull about 12 skills."

Excluding the Aura of the King he already had, there were six fire-element skills. If he got lucky, he could pull all of them twice.

Even if the proficiency of each skill didn't max out, learning them wouldn't make him a beginner.

If he mastered all six, he'd achieve fire-element skill proficiency, wouldn't he?

Asher's eyes sparkled.

'Draw!'

'I must keep drawing!'

It wasn't possible to teach all six skills to Little Raven at once; it needed time to absorb and practice.

But that didn't stop Asher from pulling them all first.

After 378 draws, plus the 4 left in the pool, Asher completed 38 ten-draws.

As he expected, he drew all six fire-element skills twice.

No gold or purple items appeared, but he gained over a dozen more white items.

Asher was reasonably satisfied.

Looking at Little Raven, who was almost falling asleep from waiting, Asher decided to teach the skills tomorrow.

Tonight, he'd let Little Raven rest well.

He was tired as well.

Shaking out the blanket, Asher lay down on the bed.

A peaceful night of dreams… didn't happen.

All night long, Asher dreamed of drawing cards, drawing cards, and still drawing cards.

Empty gacha pools.

No guaranteed skills

Not a single gold.

Triple nightmare combo.

When Asher woke up in the morning, he still had two huge dark circles under his eyes.

At work, he almost scared Ron out of his wits.

"...What did you do last night?"

Believing he had no grudges with Asher and utterly unable to resist the lure of juicy gossip, Ron asked curiously for the first time.

Asher: "Had nightmares all night."

"Ohhh!" Ron's eyes lit up, clearly not believing a word, while a weird, eye-burning grin hung on his face.

Asher pretended not to see.

'What is Ron thinking?'

Asher, pure as a high school boy, neither knew nor wanted to know.

Until the noonday sun hung high. [T/N: It sounds musical]

Asher, nearly roasted by the sun, finally shook off the mental sluggishness brought on by the nightmare.

Watching Little Raven hopping around, bouncing here and there, Asher waved it over.

Little Raven: "?"

Little Raven hopped to Asher's side, its beady black eyes signaling a question.

"In less than three days, I'll be starting school. By then, we'll make another trip to the breeding base, get your vaccines, and pick up your food supply for the second half of the year. We're almost out at home."

Asher sat up straight.

"And then... still want to get stronger?"

Little Raven: "!"

'Want!'

Little Raven's eyes shone bright enough to light up.

Hearing the familiar question, Little Raven raised its little wings high in excitement, its eager gaze fixed intently on Asher.

Asher opened the system.

From six fire-attribute skills, he selected [Fireball] and [Smoke Screen] as the first two fire-attribute skills for Little Raven to learn.

Mainly because these two were relatively easy to learn.

Even if Little Raven, not being a fire-type, learned and used them, others wouldn't find it strange.

Especially [Smoke Screen], a practical and simple skill often taught to beast pets by many Beast Tamers.

As for the remaining fire-attribute skills, they could wait until Little Raven mastered these two. The public explanation would be that Little Raven had a talent for learning fire-attribute skills, so it wouldn't attract too much attention.

The two skills quickly integrated into Little Raven's body.

As usual, Little Raven felt nothing at all.

If Asher hadn't checked using his talent skill, he wouldn't have noticed that Little Raven had already learned two fire-attribute skills.

"Smoke Screen isn't convenient. Fireball, we can test." Asher pointed at a small tree not far away.

There weren't many other things in Aspengrove Village, but there were plenty of trees.

"Use Fireball."

Little Raven opened its tender yellow beak, and fist-sized fireballs gushed out of its mouth.

One after another, they landed precisely on the small tree.

The powerful firepower burned the tree into a charred black stick in under thirty seconds.

Both Asher and Little Raven were stunned.

'Wait…?'

Little Raven's Fireball seemed a bit different from the Fireball used by that little Fire Fox back then?

Asher rubbed his chin and started pondering: "Is this because the little Fire Fox evolved into the Fire Fox Queen, so the skill upgraded along with it? Or is it Little Raven's doing?"

"Or maybe it's due to skill proficiency."

Though Fireball's proficiency hadn't yet reached mastery, it was at least at a somewhat familiar level.

With insufficient samples, Asher couldn't be sure.

For now, he could only set it aside and keep it in mind.

Once he'd drawn more skills, a comparison would make things clear.

Having realized it had grown stronger again, Little Raven was overjoyed, hopping onto Asher's palm to rub against him fervently.

'So comfy!'

'My beast master is amazing!'

Innocently assuming Little Raven was just expressing happiness, Asher laughed and, before deactivating his talent skill, pulled out a fresh white apple and a handful of sunflower seeds. "Want some?"

Little Raven's mind instantly emptied of all other thoughts.

It hopped in front of Asher and opened its beak wide.

Eat!

Must eat!

Whatever it was, everything could wait until after eating!

———

Three days passed in a flash.

Asher packed up the belongings he'd left at the service station and said goodbye to the place where he'd worked for two months.

Seeing Asher leave, Ron even personally saw him off.

"Good luck! If you want, you can definitely get into Bluewind University. I look forward to you becoming my junior." Ron sincerely wished Asher well.

Looking back at his previous prejudices, Ron only felt shame in hindsight.

He wouldn't dare harbor biases anymore, but if he could become Asher's senior, he thought that'd be pretty nice!

Asher smiled and nodded. "Sure, I'll think about it."

But…

Asher suddenly remembered what Henry and Harry had mentioned before: he might get a recommendation?

There hadn't been any news lately.

After some thought, Asher decided to let it go.

'Whatever.'

First, he had to enroll, no way around that.

Traveling light and carefree.

What Asher didn't expect was that the moment he stepped onto campus, he was surrounded by people.

"Asher? That's Asher, right?"

"Yes! It's him. Turns out the new genius researcher from NY City is my schoolmate."

"Feels like our school just became way cooler."

"Isn't that right?"

Asher: "..."

Ahem.

His vanity got a bit of a boost.

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