16: Chapter 16 You are a genius, one in a million

The training room was much emptier in the afternoon, with incandescent lights casting long shadows from the equipment.

Lin Chen sat cross-legged on a padded mat, facing the Flame Claw Beast, who was also sitting upright.

"Your performance today was excellent."

Lin Chen was generous with his praise.

In today's debut battle, facing the wild Velvet-Tusk Boar, the Flame Claw Beast hadn't been nervous or shown any fear; instead, it had exerted a powerful sense of pressure.

More importantly, it had obediently followed his commands.

The Flame Claw Beast tilted its head slightly, its eyes full of pride, yet it waved its claw dismissively as if it were no big deal: "Gagu~"

It was alright, it was alright.

"But."

The next second, Lin Chen's voice rang out, and the Flame Claw Beast's movements froze.

"During battle, unless I explicitly order it..."

Lin Chen looked into its eyes and said word by word, "...do not carry out attacks that could endanger the opponent's life or cause irreversible, severe injury."

The Flame Claw Beast's performance in combat was indeed outstanding, but perhaps because it had grown up in the wild and due to the general temperament of its species, its every move displayed a fierce brutality.

"Gagu?"

The Flame Claw Beast tilted its head, looking somewhat dazed.

Lin Chen understood its confusion and explained patiently:

"The environment we're in now is different. Under the rules of human society, unless we're facing an extreme threat that must be eliminated, incapacitation and driving them away are the priorities."

Pausing for a moment, he added, "And on a formal battlefield, making the opponent lose consciousness counts as a victory."

"Gagu..."

The Flame Claw Beast blinked its large eyes, falling deep into thought.

Didn't that mean it had to hold back in battles from now on?

Lin Chen shook his head. "No, in the wild or under special circumstances, you don't need to consider these things."

"If we really encounter such a situation, I'll remind you."

After saying that, he smiled slightly and made a throat-slitting gesture with his hand.

The Flame Claw Beast mimicked Lin Chen's movement, raising its sharp claws and making a throat-slitting motion in the air. Its mouth widened into a savage grin: "Gagu~"

I get what you mean.

When the timing is right, just take them out!

The human and the pet, both making throat-slitting gestures, smiled at each other.

Not far away, a young employee who had just finished training happened to catch sight of this scene.

He shivered for no apparent reason, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up. He quickly looked away, muttering to himself:

This new temporary worker and his pet don't look like good people...

After this brief interlude, Lin Chen regained his focus and began today's proper review.

"Alright, back to today's battle."

He opened the memo app on his phone and pulled up several points he had quickly recorded during the day:

"As it stands, your combat power is above average for pets of the same tier."

"Your physical fitness is solid, your combat intuition is excellent, you remain extremely calm when facing opponents, and you strictly execute tactics. These are your strengths."

The Flame Claw Beast lifted its head, crossing its claws over its chest.

"However."

Lin Chen shifted the topic again, tapping the screen with his finger:

"This is still far from enough."

"You should know that a pet's comprehensive combat power is determined by various factors: species rank, growth level, depth and proficiency of the skill pool, and the Beast Tamer's command level."

"Species rank and growth level require time and resources to build up slowly. As for command level, I will work hard to improve mine."

"Currently, the thing we can work on strengthening the fastest is your skill pool."

Generally speaking, there are three ways for a pet to learn new skills:

First is by increasing the growth level, where the pet naturally comprehends and masters skills during the process of gaining strength.

Second is being taught by other pets.

Third is purchasing and studying skill teaching videos online.

Each of these three methods has its pros and cons, but Lin Chen summoned the system panel, looked at the [Small Blast Move Learning Machine] in the items column, and thought to himself: But I have a fourth way.

Without hesitation, he thought: "Use Small Blast Move Learning Machine."

[Please confirm target for use?]

"Flame Claw Beast... no, Agumon."

[Beginning infusion of skill model and energy circuit guidance...]

The moment the system notification rang in his mind, an imperceptible speck of milky-white light condensed out of thin air in front of the Flame Claw Beast's forehead. Then, like a water droplet merging into a sponge, it silently sank into the center of its brow.

"Gagu?"

The Flame Claw Beast's entire body jerked, as if stung by a weak electric current.

It dazedlly raised a claw to touch its forehead, then shook its head in confusion.

The Flame Claw Beast felt as if some strange images and sensations had appeared in its mind, like a tangled ball of yarn, making it feel a bit dizzy.

Its head was so itchy; it felt like it was about to grow a brain.

"How do you feel?"

Lin Chen asked at the right time.

"Gagu?"

The Flame Claw Beast swayed like it was drunk, shaking its head vigorously in an attempt to shake off all those strange things in its mind.

Seeing this, Lin Chen's eyes burned with intensity as he spoke directly: "Flame Claw Beast, use Small Explosion."

Small Explosion?

Hearing this unfamiliar term, the Flame Claw Beast's eyes remained dazed.

When did it learn this skill?

The Flame Claw Beast's mind was still trying to parse the meaning of the words, but its body's subconscious reaction was faster.

It instinctively faced the target and crouched slightly.

Instead of the rapid accumulation and spitting it used for [Flame Breath Bullet], the Flame Claw Beast took a deep breath. Its chest puffed out significantly, and a low hum vibrated deep within its throat.

An orange-red light quickly lit up in its mouth. This light wasn't a diffusing sphere; instead, it was extremely compressed and condensed inward. The color deepened, gradually turning towards a brilliant white, emitting a terrifying high temperature that made one's skin tighten.

It brewed for about four seconds.

"Gagu—!"

The Flame Claw Beast suddenly raised its head, and a solid, almost blinding pillar of orange fire erupted outward!

The fire pillar tore through the air with a sharp whistle, crossing several meters in the blink of an eye and slamming hard into the center of the thick, specialized target!

BOOM!!!

It was no longer a 'bang' explosion, but a duller, more penetrating roar.

A blinding red light instantly lit up on the surface of the target, and the entire heavy target body shuddered backward slightly.

There was no large-scale fire splatter at the point of impact. Instead, a charred black indentation with molten edges appeared, surrounded by a dense web of fine cracks.

After releasing this strike, the Flame Claw Beast was stunned.

Maintaining its posture of head-raised fire-spitting, it stared blankly at the smoking charred pit on the distant target, then looked down at its own body, and finally looked up at Lin Chen, its face full of disbelief.

"Gagu?"

It did that?

When did it learn this skill?

The Flame Claw Beast tried hard to remember, but it only recalled that all its movements had just followed bodily instinct, as if this skill had been imprinted deep in its bloodline all along and had only just been awakened.

"It worked!"

A flash of joy crossed Lin Chen's eyes.

A pet learning a skill was usually a long and arduous process; it would inevitably take time to go from learning to mastery.

But a move learning machine was different. It allowed a pet to skip the learning process entirely and go straight to mastery and usage. This meant saving a vast amount of learning time.

Furthermore, the destructive power of [Small Explosion] seemed much higher than that of [Flame Breath Bullet].

"With this kind of power, it should be an intermediate skill," Lin Chen thought to himself, his eyes flickering.

Although both were fire-type skills, [Flame Breath Bullet] focused on a direct and rapid burst of fire energy, while the key to [Small Explosion] lay in first compressing and brewing fire energy in the mouth before erupting it all at once.

The former was a low-consumption, low-power basic skill.

The latter was a high-burst, high-damage skill with a longer preparation time.

For the Flame Claw Beast, this was undoubtedly a new trump card—one that could break a deadlock and cause lethal damage at a critical moment.

As these thoughts flashed by, he walked to the side of the still-dazed Flame Claw Beast and patted its shoulder firmly, his face full of undisguised admiration:

"It seems you are a one-in-a-million genius."

The Flame Claw Beast felt a bit dizzy from the praise. The confusion on its face was instantly replaced by immense excitement and pride, its eyes shining brightly: "Gagu Gagu!"

Was it really a genius?

"Yes, don't doubt yourself. You are a genius," Lin Chen nodded, his tone meaningful.

Only geniuses get their engagements broken off, after all.