8: skill training

Today was the weekend, so there were no classes, but at noon, I could still go to school to get a free lunch for my Beast Taming.

The school cafeteria also operates on weekends, and all enrolled students can bring their Beast Taming to school for a free lunch every day.

The Saltwater Crocodile's length had already reached 52.8 centimeters, 5.6 centimeters longer than yesterday's 47.2, meaning its growth rate after taking the potion was equivalent to two days' growth in one.

It was now a standard half-meter-class contender, with a large head nearly ten centimeters long, and when its mouth opened, the dense, small white teeth inside were quite lethal; the teeth closer to the back could easily bite through a chopstick.

But this size also brought trouble; compared to a few days ago, it was now quite difficult to put the Saltwater Crocodile in a pocket.

Its legs were also short, and short legs meant slow walking, so leading it to school was not an option; he could only carry it to and from school every day.

It was fine now, but in a few months, Chen Xing might not be able to carry it anymore, though he could ride the crocodile to school.

"Hey, your crocodile seems to be growing quite fast," Zou Minghan said, also holding a crocodile. He was surprised to find that the crocodile in Chen Xing's arms seemed a whole size larger than his own.

Previously, his deskmate's Beast Taming and his own Beast Taming were similar in size.

But after not paying attention for a few days, he suddenly noticed it was a whole size larger than his own Beast Taming.

Everyone's Beast Taming was of the same species, so it was easy to tell at a glance.

"Did you secretly give it supplements too?" Zou Minghan was somewhat shocked. "I thought we were all in the same boat, but you secretly gave it special treatment!"

"Children need to eat more when they're growing," Chen Xing did not deny.

Wang Qiming, hearing Zou Minghan's words, leaned his head over for a look, secretly relieved when he confirmed it was smaller than his own Beast Taming, then laughed heartily, "Not bad, your Beast Taming looks quite spirited."

A well-informed student, who usually liked to hang out with classmates from other classes, spoke up, "I heard that someone in Class Two already has a Beast Taming at Level 5 and has started practicing skills."

Wang Qiming had clearly just heard this news and looked very shocked. His family had spent nearly 100,000 this month on his Beast Taming, and it was only Level 4. Someone was already Level 5? How much did they have to spend for that?

And if they could spend that much, why didn't they go to a private high school instead of a public high school to raise a free Beast Taming provided by the state?

Although the free Beast Taming provided by the state had decent racial talents, for example, a Saltwater Crocodile could grow to Level 38 when mature, there were still better options.

But Wang Qiming quickly adjusted his mindset; other people's money was their business, and envy was useless.

Although he couldn't compare to such a freak, his Beast Taming's progress was already far ahead of most classmates in the class.

"My Beast Taming should reach Level 5 in a few days. Then we'll see if it can awaken a good skill. If it can awaken a good skill, it will save a lot of money. If the skill is too poor, I can only find a way to reset the skill and engrave a new one," Wang Qiming sighed.

Gao Jianqiang's eyes were full of envy, "I heard skills seem very expensive too."

Deng Hongtao chimed in, "Not all of them are expensive; there are cheap skills, but cheap skills are generally mediocre."

After the Saltwater Crocodile finished lunch, Chen Xing took it to the school's energy level testing room. The test result came out as 2.5 energy levels. The school's energy level testing room could only detect up to one decimal place. It was said that some professional institutions could even detect two or even three decimal places after the energy level.

After returning home, under his sister's supervision, he took the Frost Prism to the park for skill training.

The spacious park was sparsely populated. Perhaps the park knew that people often came here for skill training, so putting up signs was useless. They simply left a clear area near the lake at the back, where only some wild flowers and plants grew freely.

Chen Lingya said, "Just let it release Frost Prism. I'm also planning to let it practice this skill more recently to improve its proficiency."

Chen Xing immediately commanded the Frost Prism, "Frost Prism, release Frost Prism towards the open space ahead."

The Frost Prism glanced at its owner, and seeing Chen Lingya nod, it released its skill towards the open space ahead.

A ball of ice-blue mist rapidly condensed in the air in front of the Frost Prism, taking shape in less than half a second.

A physical entity, nearly a meter long, like an ice crystal spear, floated in mid-air, its tip pointing forward. Under the sunlight, the Frost Prism glittered.

After a brief pause, the Frost Prism seemed to be pushed by an invisible hand, flying forward at an extremely fast speed.

Thud!

It exploded directly after embedding itself one-third into the ground, scattering countless tiny ice shards in all directions.

Palm-sized ice prisms were scattered across an open area of five meters in diameter.

This skill had two stages of damage: the first was the insertion, and the second was a small-scale explosion diffusion.

This was only a basic skill with only 'mastery' proficiency. How much more powerful were other skills?

Chen Lingya explained from the side, "Actually, the Frost Prism isn't very good at casting spells. It's not a spell-casting Beast Taming. A spell-casting Beast Taming would cause more damage with the same skill."

Since her brother wanted to practice, no matter the purpose, since it was practice, he should learn something, otherwise the time would be wasted.

Chen Lingya then said to the Frost Prism, "Your skill release speed is still a bit slow. It seems you've been a bit lazy recently. Go back and practice the energy transmission ring structure for another hour. Try to improve the skill condensation speed to within 0.3 seconds."

"Ow." The Frost Prism's face fell upon hearing this, looking pitiful, just like a big cat.

Chen Lingya completely ignored the Frost Prism's attempt to act cute, showing no mercy, "Hmph, acting cute is useless."

The Saltwater Crocodile, standing by, watched with great interest, especially when the Frost Prism released its skill just now. It seemed to stir its warlike bloodline, its eyes brightened a few points, and it was eager to try.

It kept crying out, as if saying, "Coach, I want to learn this too."

Chen Xing also seemed to feel the Saltwater Crocodile's enthusiasm, squatting down to comfort it, "Don't worry, we'll learn it later. Since you're so eager to learn, how about we learn two more hours every day from now on?"

The Saltwater Crocodile didn't understand the meaning behind this yet, only nodding excitedly.

The Frost Prism looked at the innocent little Saltwater Crocodile with pity. This poor child didn't know what that meant yet.

After half an hour of training, the Frost Prism's energy was almost exhausted, and the training stopped.

While training the Frost Prism, Chen Lingya also constantly corrected Chen Xing's training techniques.

"Training a Beast Taming isn't just about letting it throw skills. Although that can also improve proficiency, the method is too clumsy and inefficient.

You need to observe what shortcomings it has when releasing skills. For example, if the release speed is too slow, or the accuracy is too low, these all need targeted improvement.

Training a Beast Taming to release skills is also training for yourself. You need to know the upper limit of your Beast Taming's internal energy, how many times it can release skills, and clearly understand the release speed, damage radius, skill characteristics, and power of each skill."

"When they are fighting, due to the environment, their judgment of the situation is definitely not as detailed as an outside observer. At this time, you are its second brain, and it is your extended body."

"You are human. In combat, you must bring your human wisdom, cunning, ruthlessness, and strategy to the extreme. As long as it's a battle, you must use every means necessary, with victory as the sole objective."

Actually, what his sister said was also in books, but knowledge gained from paper always felt shallow.

Many things had to be experienced firsthand to gain a deeper understanding.

Chen Xing thoroughly enjoyed commanding a Beast Taming today. Unfortunately, the Saltwater Crocodile was too small now and hadn't awakened any skills. Its size was also small, only slightly larger than a roasted fish on the dinner table.

It was fine for bullying the flowers and plants in the park, but its combat power at this stage was not as good as his own fists.

However, this was also a necessary experience. Basically, most novice Beastmasters went through this, including the current Frost Prism, which was once a milky white kitten that hadn't even opened its eyes. Two years passed in a blink of an eye, and now it was a big cat whose mouth was large enough to fit his entire head.

He obtained the 6 skill point fragments from the Frost Prism and the Saltwater Crocodile today, bringing the total number of skill point fragments to 21.

On the way home, Chen Xing silently chanted "activate."

On the skill tree diagram, the gray skill icon representing [Beginner Carnivore Pet Food Production] immediately lit up!

[Beginner Carnivore Pet Food Production] You have learned to make scientifically nutritious pet food that can help your pet develop quickly and healthily. (Activated)

At the same instant, some knowledge about pet food production appeared in his mind.

He paused, and after careful discernment, Chen Xing confirmed that it really seemed to be just the production process of ordinary pet food. There were no magic spells, no added technology or harsh chemicals, and the raw materials were very simple. It didn't require expensive Beast Taming meat; ordinary animal meat would suffice. It only needed some carrots, broccoli, and seaweed added inside. At least, it sounded quite scientific. The only requirement was that all steps involved had to be completed by him personally, not by others.

"Sis, I need to go to the supermarket to buy some things."

"Buy what?"

"The Saltwater Crocodile's appetite has been quite big lately, so I'm getting it some extra food."

"Don't just feed it randomly on your own. It's not that feeding more is better; there's a knack to it," Chen Lingya cautioned.

"Why are you more naggy than Mom? Is your menopause coming early?"

No girl could accept the compliment of "menopause." "Frost Prism, bite him!"