Due to her changed impression, Lu Xiaoyun backed away beside Zhao Ying, in worry of disrupting Lin Jin as he recovered his spiritual energy.
In Lin Jin's case, he hadn't actually exhausted all of his spiritual energy, he was only slightly tired. After all, continuously throwing a heavy fox into the pond was numbing his arm. His spiritual energy was lost because he was helping the red fox regulate its acupuncture points.
This red fox was a rare breed in which regular people were unable to tell its evolution methods, but because of the Museum of Deadly Beasts, Lin Jin had countless techniques laid out for him to choose from.
And he chose the easiest one.
Which was to use the powers from the hidden bloodline this red fox possessed, to assist it in its evolution process.
The main bloodline this red fox carried was of the ancient 'lava mountain fox', other than that, there was also a trace of the 'tridark sunflower water fox''s bloodline. It was a vague detail and of course, Lu Xiaoyun had no idea. With this museum as an asset, any secret a pet beast had would be a secret no more.
All this while, this red fox had been nurtured based on its fire elemental parts. Indeed its powers had grown, but through this, the other bloodline had been unintentionally suppressed. Resulting from this suppression, this method became trickier as the obstacles and difficulty level between the journey to the pet beast's evolution increased.
To be brutally blunt, if they would've kept using the previous method, it wouldn't just take three years, even six years wouldn't be enough to help the red fox evolve because it was the wrong method.
Just like the journey to a location, if the path was wrong in the first place, continuing forward would only be futile.
And so, using his spiritual energy to stimulate the flow, Lin Jin helped the red fox activate and strengthen its tridark sunflower water fox bloodline. This could be accomplished by tossing the creature into the water so it could absorb the water's spiritual energy.
Water was never compatible with fire, but once Lin Jin activated a certain acupuncture point in the beast, it was a whole other story. The red fox had accumulated enough strength, and through the museum's tablet, Lin Jin saw that the little guy had already consumed a precious gem, the 'fire Ganoderma', which increased its chances of evolution.
It was a pity that this detail became the reason the red fox's chances were nullified. If it didn't have a tridark sunflower water fox bloodline, pairing with the fact that if someone were to help regulate its energy flow before, it would have evolved long ago.
Lin Jin just took advantage of the beast's condition and incorporated this absurd technique to help it transform, but to outsiders, what he did was profound and beyond their imagination.
After a while, Lin Jin stood up. Zhao Ying immediately dragged Lu Xiaoyun to him.
"I lost. I shouldn't have listened to the rumors and disrespected you, Appraiser Lin!" Lu Xiaoyun had a straightforward personality and could adapt and improvise under fluctuating circumstances. She used to be apathetic towards Lin Jin, but after witnessing his true form, she dare not display any insolence. Moreover, she wasn't a fool, just by him helping her evolve her pet beast, Lu Xiaoyun knew she owed Lin Jin a huge favor.
Lin Jin smiled and brushed it off. "It's nothing. I don't care about those rumors and this is only a simple task!"
His indifference induced even more respect in Lu Xiaoyun's heart. She even felt a wave of admiration and wondered between Appraiser Gao and Appraiser Lin, who was stronger?
It might be Appraiser Lin because Appraiser Gao couldn't promote her pet beast's level.
Lin Jin stretched out his palm. "Can I have the beast soul now?"
Lu Xiaoyun sobered out of her daydream and quickly presented the item using both hands.
With this, the ingredients to produce the six sun beast soul pill was complete.
Remembering that she had yet to be affiliated with an official beast appraiser, Zhao Ying tentatively asked, "Appraiser Lin, I'd like to be affiliated with you and learn the ways of beast evaluations from you."
Lin Jin knew how the program worked, it was a requirement for apprentice beast appraisers. After all, a guidance teacher's recommendation was a must for a student to qualify for the beast appraiser's certification exam.
Come to think of it, most of the apprentices in this association were affiliated with either the chief or the other certified beast appraiser. Lin Jin had no one. So when someone approached him for it, he was more than willing to accept. After all, there were perks to having affiliated apprentices. Not only would his salary increase, but he could also obtain more materials. Furthermore, if he were to request for a level two promotion, producing powerful students would increase his success rate.
Hence, Lin Jin nodded. Zhao Ying was overjoyed.
All of a sudden, Lu Xiaoyun said, "Appraiser Lin, I… I'd like to learn from you too!"
Since she realized that Lin Jin wasn't a parasite as the rumors said, but instead had a noble character and possessed capabilities that greatly surpassed Appraiser Gao's, Lu Xiaoyun made her decision as well.
More importantly, she heard from Zhao Ying that Appraiser Lin didn't have a single student. An expert like him should not be buried under untruthful slanders. So with Lu Xiaoyun's hot-headed personality and hatred for injustice, she decided to change her affiliation from Appraiser Gao to Appraiser Lin.
Now that someone was willing to be affiliated with him, Lin Jin had no reason to refuse.
He hurriedly brought the two over to the association to register. Zhao Ying's process was simple because she had never affiliated with any teachers, Lu Xiaoyun's was a little more complicated but it was just a matter of formalities.
With this, Lin Jin now had students under his wing. In the future, be it an evaluation or consultation, he could bring his disciples along and they could perform menial tasks in his place.
For example, now, Lin Jin had instructed the girls to get him a pellet furnace for pellet refinement.
"Appraiser Lin, you want to refine a pill?" Lu Xiaoyun was shocked.
This was natural because pellet refinement was tedious. The association mostly did only pelletization, even Appraiser Gao didn't know how to refine pills. Only the level two chief knew how to, even so, he only did it occasionally.
"That's right. I want to refine a pellet. Are you girls able to get me this furnace?" Lin Jin was a broke man so it was impossible for him to own a furnace.
Zhao Ying didn't have one either. But Lu Xiaoyun had an amazing older brother, so this task was up to her.
"My brother has a pellet furnace. I'll go and get it." Lu Xiaoyun didn't shy away from the task. Now that Lin Jin was her teacher, why should she evade a task given by her instructor?
In a flash, Lu Xiaoyun went and came back with a pellet furnace.
Pellet furnaces were expensive mainly because their manufacturing materials were rare. For Lu Xiaoyun to be this generous, Lin Jin was thankful. So after some thought, he whipped out his calligraphy brush and wrote a beast evaluation report for Lu Xiaoyun.
"Is this Xiao Hu's evaluation report?" As Lu Xiaoyun perused, she was struck dumb, her agitation increased as she read on. When she was done, Lu Xiaoyun bowed in salutation.
The weight of importance this report held was too great.
Not only did the report explain in detail both of Xiao Hu's hidden bloodlines, but it also listed out the illnesses it had concealed within. With nourishment, the red fox's potential could still increase and on top of that, the report was finalized with the proper prescriptions. It was no exaggeration to say that even Chief Wang Ji wouldn't be able to pen down such a refined report.
Lu Xiaoyun understood the price of this evaluation report. It was worth infinitely more than the beast soul she gave away, so all in all, she was the one who got the best deal out of this trade.
Starting from this moment, Lin Jin was her idol.
Now that he had the pellet furnace, Lin Jin journeyed straight into a secluded area in the association. There was a burrow here. Down the winding road, through a wall of heat, a stone door emerged into view.
An old man was sitting upright in front of the door with a gigantic fire lizard pet beast lying beside him.
Lin Jin greeted the old man. "Elder Mo!"
Maple City's Beast Appraiser Association had three elders and Elder Mo was one of them. He guarded one of the association's most important locations, the Earth Fire Spirit Stream.
The elder looked up faintly and nodded. "Lin Jin, are you here to borrow the flames of the earth to cultivate your pet beast?"
Pet beasts of fire attributes could improve better in locations with dense fire spiritual energy. Lin Jin was a regular at this place, but Xiao Huo had been too much of a disappointment to him time and time again, absorbing in only a minimal amount of fire spirit each time they visited.
Lin Jin shook his head. "I'm here to borrow the earth flames for pellet refinement."
"Pellet refinement?" Elder Mo opened his eyes wide. After a closer look, Lin Jin was indeed holding a pellet furnace. Elder Mo immediately gave an exasperated response. "You should know that just like beast evaluations, pellet refinement can't be mastered in a day. You haven't even acquainted yourself with pelletization but here you are, trying to perform refinement. What nonsense!"
Lin Jin remained respectful. "I am only trying to learn. I hope Elder Mo would permit me."
People who were studying pelletization would indeed want to try out the process. They weren't really refining the pill, only familiarizing themselves with the process and flame controls, so this wasn't an odd request.
Hence, Elder Mo nodded without saying more. His pet beast, the huge fire lizard, swung its tail and opened the stone door. Thanking him quickly, Lin Jin led Xiao Huo inside.
Once Lin Jin was inside, Elder Mo mumbled to himself, "He has a good nature but terrible skills. His pet beast was also not worth mentioning. What a pity."