CHAPTER 208 THE THEORY OF TAMING SPIRIT-MANIPULATED BEASTS

With Sheridan's long but precise lectures, Rocky was made aware that his way of nourishing Uriah and

Little Rubygon had its shortcomings. Though he fed them based on the ideas in the modern world and

followed the rules and regulations to the letter, he knew that he could do so much better than that.

There was nothing to blame but his lack of experience with spirit-manipulated beasts. He only had few

encounters with them; therefore, there was still so much to know on how to properly nourish and

nurture a spirit-manipulated beast.

He remembered Uriah's bizarre growth during its final cub stage. But it happened by accident – or by

fate as what Rocky would want to believe. When Uriah had eaten a yellow spiritual crystal by mistake,

Rocky thought it would die. Everything went blur for Rocky at that moment. However, to his surprise,

something unexpected happened instead – Uriah instantly reached the adult age as a spirit-

manipulated beast at the second grade of the three-stars. Uriah made a ground-breaking development

for a spirit-manipulated beast by skipping many stages of growth. Rocky knew that he couldn't have

done it on his own. Without the yellow spiritual crystal, he wouldn't be able to raise Uriah and make it

grow with such formidable power.

'I am just lucky that Sheridan took me in as an apprentice. Otherwise, my experiment will all be in vain,

' Rocky thought to himself. He knew that all of this was because Sheridan took him under his wings.

Meanwhile, Little Rubygon's growth was exponentially fast compared to others – all thanks to the

magical saliva. According to the classification of the Beast Taming Skill, Little Rubygon was now at the

medium stage as a cub. Rocky couldn't be any happier seeing his spiritual-manipulated beasts outgrow

others. However, he was somehow worried about Little Rubygon. If he continued feeding it with the

magical saliva, Little Rubygon would reach its adulthood in no time and it would be difficult for Rocky to

tame it. If that happened, everything that Rocky had worked hard for would be just for nothing.

Unlike Uriah, Little Rubygon had not yet established a contract of the spiritual power with Rocky. Time

was ticking away, and Rocky could not afford to lose a second. He had to finish the experiment, take

control of Little Rubygon, and make it obedient to him before it reached adulthood. If Little Rubygon

reached adulthood before Rocky could realize the effect of his experiment, everything would be a

waste. All his previous works and effort would only be meaningless. There was no other way…

'Maybe I should stop feeding Little Rubygon the magical saliva, ' Rocky concluded. It was the only way

he could think of to slow down Little Rubygon's growth.

Besides, Sheridan also mentioned that the feeding practices had a significant effect on the

development of a fully-grown spirit-manipulated beast, also known as the enhancement of the star

level. It was said that the promotion of the star level could only be realized when a spirit-manipulated

beast reached certain basic standards. Unless the spirit-manipulated beast met all these basic

standards, it couldn't elevate its star level. The beast tamer played a significant role in this process.

However, throughout the Wild Spirit Land, only a few spirit manipulators knew about this. Most of them

thought that the power of the spirit-manipulated beast relied on its master. Hence, they tended to focus

on making themselves powerful first instead of enhancing their spirit-manipulated beasts.

There was also a theory that when two spirit manipulators of the same power competed with their spirit-

manipulated beasts of the same power and star level, the two spirit-manipulated beasts should be

matched in terms of strength. Therefore, the competition should be a draw. However, the fact was, the

spirit-manipulated beast with a better physique and foundation would win. For spirit-manipulated beasts

– they might be in the same level, but their power could be different from one another. This was

obvious for wild spirit-manipulated beasts. Even though they were in the same level, their powers were

diverse since they lived in different environments. The environment had a strong influence on the

development of a spirit-manipulated beast. It was the environment they grew in that nourished them –

the food they ate, the ambiance they grew in, and so on.

Aside from the environment, age also had a significant effect on developing the power of a spirit-

manipulated beast. Generally, the older a spirit-manipulated beast was, the greater its advantages

would be over a younger one. But now it wasn't always the case especially after artificial rearing came

into being. A remarkable beast tamer could wipe out that age advantage and make the younger one

more powerful than the other.

All of Sheridan's long teaching and explanation helped bridge Rocky's experience and knowledge gap

with spirit-manipulated beasts. Gradually, Rocky would be able to combine the ideas from the modern

world with the practical experience; thus, a brand-new Beast Taming Skill would be born.

Normally, establishing a new system of Beast Taming Skill would take time. It was not something that

could be done overnight. However, if Rocky could comprehend Sheridan's Beast Taming Skill

thoroughly, he could establish a new Beast Taming Skill in no time.

In the blink of an eye, it was already noon. How time flew by so fast when one was having fun!

"Do you remember what I said?" Sheridan asked as he turned back to look at Rocky.

The sound of Sheridan's voice suddenly awakened Rocky from his deep thoughts. He stretched his Content held by .

arms and yawned, pretending to be bored by Sheridan's words. But deep down, he had already

achieved mastery through a comprehensive study of it. He replied, "Are we done here? Can I leave

now?"

"You brat! Don't waste my time! Do you understand it? If not, I can repeat the lesson!" Sheridan said,

staring disappointedly at Rocky.

"Nah! If you continue, I'm afraid you won't stop till midnight. Let's save it for tomorrow, shall we?" Rocky

waved his hand as he dismissed Sheridan's offer, and then he turned away.

"Oh yeah? Well, tomorrow, you're in for a treat! I'll tell you something you'll be truly interested in! Better

be ready for it, boy!" Sheridan told Rocky with certainty as the latter was leaving. He couldn't believe

that after all the things he taught Rocky, the latter would still make a fool out of him. It never occurred to

him that Rocky would easily change his cynical attitude.

Sheridan had been completely immersed in pandering to Rocky's taste.

There were so many things that Rocky wanted to do. First, he went back to his room to change. Then,

he went to the Ghost Village with Uriah and Little Rubygon to feed the three Dark Heaven Insects. After

this, he cured Uriah's wounds with the Spirit Possession.

Two days passed by quickly. Indeed, time felt like a blurred concept to Rocky when he was having fun.

After his class with Sheridan at the beast farm in the morning, Rocky immediately went to the Evian

City alone to get the twelve huge shackles he had booked.

It was early when Rocky arrived at the Evian City and his appointment wasn't until late in the afternoon,

so he decided to wander around the city a bit. As he mindlessly roamed around, he came to the branch

store of the Super Beast Farm. He hesitated at first, but finally decided to come inside the store. He

wasn't interested in anything inside the store except for the auction on the second floor, so he helped

himself upstairs.

There weren't many people at the auction when Rocky arrived. He looked around and found that the

auction items on the stage were all rubbish. He shook his head in disappointment and was about to

leave when he heard a voice from behind.

"Sir! You're finally here!" Rocky turned and was surprised to see the store boss approaching him.

Rocky just nodded to him in reply.

"Sir, I've been waiting for you for so long. Remember the treasures I sold for you last time? Well, since

they were bought, the other auction items here at the Super Beast Farm are left without anybody caring

for them," the boss said in a seemingly jolly tone.

"Oh? I didn't know." Rocky was stunned, his eyebrows raised in surprise. He didn't know how to

respond to the boss's remark.

"So, sir, what do you have for us this time?" the boss asked. He was certain that Rocky still had

something he would want to sell.

"Well, I just chanced upon your store while wandering around the city. To tell you honestly, I have

nothing with me," Rocky replied and shrugged his shoulders. The boss's face turned from delighted to

discouraged like a dissatisfied wife.

Rocky looked away before he could feel any guilt. As he was trying to find an excuse to steer the

conversation away, he chanced upon what looked like a silver cutter on the stage. When he saw it

carefully, he realized it was like a long and thin scalpel. His eyes immediately lit up.

"Hey, do you have more scalpels like that?" Rocky asked, his eyes still fixed on the marvelous scalpel

on the stage.

The boss looked in the direction and shortly fell silent as he thought about it. He gasped and said in a

sad tone, "Unfortunately, it's the only piece we have. I bought it recently. The person I bought it from

said it is made from the silver bones of a kind of wild spirit-manipulated beast called the Primitive Calf."

"I see. The craftsmanship is quite exquisite. The details in the scalpel are wonderful…" Rocky said as

he continued to marvel at the beauty of the scalpel.

"Indeed! I wouldn't have bought it if it wasn't one of a kind. Anyway, I got it from the Buck Knife Shop.

I'm sure you've heard about its great reputation around the Holy Dragon Empire." the boss explained.

He was pleased that Rocky liked the scalpel he just bought.