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(PS: This chapter includes illustrations of ferocious beasts.)
In Great Xia's Jincheng, at Azure Dragon Eight Middle School, within Class Three, Grade One, the ring of the afternoon's first class bell awakened the boy who had been dozing on his desk.
Sitting at his desk, Chen Xing's gaze was somewhat vacant as he felt like he had just had a dream, a dream in which he lived in a place called Hua Xia.
In that world, there was no Beast Taming, instead, terrifying subjects named "Mathematics," "Physics," "Biology," and "Chemistry" had to be learned, and the Eagle Alliance's Bird Language was even listed as a required language. My god, that foreign language was clearly just an elective in Great Xia, but over there, it had become compulsory.
The dream felt so real that Chen Xing wiped the sweat from his forehead.
The class bell rang, and someone shouted in the hallway, "Hurry back to your seats, it's Teacher Lu's class!"
The students horsing around outside quickly returned to their seats, each of them taking out their books and sitting upright.
The sound of leather shoes from outside the door became increasingly clear as the homeroom teacher Lu Junxiang strode into the classroom. Lu Junxiang was not tall, standing just over 1.6 meters, but his eyes were very sharp, and he was dressed in a simple gray Sun Yat-sen suit, with a book tucked into his right waist and a thermos in his left hand, thick black-framed glasses perched on his nose.
"Summon your beasts," Lu Junxiang said slowly after taking a sip of tea.
In the classroom, Chen Xing, sitting at his desk, spread open his right hand, and a summoning array formed in his palm. With the dissipation of the array's light, he held up a thirty-centimeter long crocodile, black and yellow intermingled, in his palm.
Almost simultaneously, the classroom was filled with the sharp cries of "Oh~ oh~ oh~" all around.
All of Class Three, Grade One, had Salty Bay Crocodiles as their beasts; to be precise, all of Azure Dragon Eight Middle School's first-year students' beasts were limited to Salty Bay Crocodiles, Armored Rhinos, or Iron Feather Fighting Hawks.
The twelve-year mandatory education system included the provision of free beasts, and the national distribution of beasts was subjected to layers of screening. They were suitable for novices to raise: not too difficult to breed, easy to start with, most of them with gentle personalities, intelligent, loyal, and apt for beginners.
"Turn to page fourteen, chapter three of your textbook, 'The Restraints and Natural Enemies of the Salty Bay Crocodile,'" came Lu Junxiang's unhurried voice from the podium.
The classroom filled with the rustling of turning pages.
The little Salty Bay Crocodile on the desk seemed to find an interesting toy and lunged forward, its four short legs propelling it as it bit down on a page.
Chen Xing's fingers snapped, "Ding~"
A knock was inflicted on the crocodile's crown, and it shrank back, its non-existent neck retracting as its two front claws covered its head, "Oh!" In that moment, it almost thought it was about to meet the Grand Ancestor.
At the podium, Lu Junxiang spoke methodically, "As we all know, Salty Bay Crocodiles can live both on land and in water. When fully grown, they can reach a length of 8-10 meters and weigh between 2.5 to 5 tons. They are among the larger unevolved beasts and can hold a significant advantage in combat due to their size before evolution.
But, they have short legs! All four of their legs added together aren't as tall as a single leg of some other pets, which is their weakness. They're not fast, crocodiles can only rely on bursts of speed.
On land, crocodiles carry a heavy burden on their bodies. They can utilize their muscle strength for several quick bursts of speed in a short time, but after these bursts, they fall into a state of insufficient stamina. When facing nimble, long-range opponents, Salty Bay Crocodiles are severely limited. All right, now take a minute to think about how you would deal with a nimble, long-range opponent."
A minute later, hands went up all over the classroom.
"Wang Qiming, you tell us," said Lu Junxiang.
"We could just not fight, run away if I see them!" Wang Qiming stood up.
Laughter erupted throughout the classroom.
Lu Junxiang smiled at the response but still said, "Don't laugh; Wang Qiming has a good point. Temporarily avoiding a stronger opponent is a good strategy. To know what cannot be done and still go ahead is indeed courageous, but to be able to admit what you cannot do is also wise. But if there is no chance to run and you must fight, what then? Any other ideas?"
The girl sitting in front of Chen Xing raised her hand.
Lu Junxiang called on her, "Li Zhixuan."
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Li Zhixuan said, "You can use the Water Attribute skill 'Chasing Waves' to approach quickly. If there's a chance to get close, then use 'Ambush Flow' to launch a sneak attack on the opponent. If there's still no opportunity, then use 'Chasing Waves' to escape and hide in the nearby deep-water area."
Lu Junxiang nodded in satisfaction. "Good, it looks like you've previewed the next part of the content."
"As everyone knows, besides their innate physical abilities, the greatest difference between Beast Tamers and wild beasts is that they can master skills!"
"Based on the energy level detection inside the Beast Tamer, we currently classify them from level 1 to 100. Every 5 levels, they can imprint and learn a new skill within their body. It can be an active skill or a passive skill. But how to match skills is also a big study. The proficiency level of mastering skills, the combination of different skills, and the timing of skill release all have a significant impact on combat."
"Therefore, to deal with an opponent who has an attribute advantage over it, one needs to break the conventional approach. Using skills is the key to turning the tide of battle!"
Then, Lu Junxiang talked non-stop about the problems that Salty Bay Crocodiles are likely to encounter in actual combat and methods to deal with them, continuing until the bell rang for the end of class before stopping.
"In half a month, it will be the first monthly exam. Right now, your resources are all the same, but in one month, your resources will vary according to your rankings. The higher your rank, the more abundant your resources. Sometimes, the gap widens bit by bit like this. If you want to gain more resources, you must show your attitude! Fight for it! Compete for it! I hope you won't become the worst class I've ever taught."
Chen Xing rubbed his eyes. Since waking from his nap, he had been feeling that his vision was intermittently blurry with illusions. After making sure no one around him was paying attention, he focused his attention again.
In front of him, a piece of translucent gray stone gradually emerged in the air. Chen Xing was startled, but noticed that his classmates seemed not to see it, as if no one except him could see it. Soon, he confirmed this suspicion because the gray stone was stuck halfway into the head of a classmate in front of him.
As Chen Xing focused his attention, the stone slowly floated in front of him.
The next moment, the stone in front of him suddenly flipped open to the left, revealing the first page carved with a complex tree-like vein pattern. At the top of this pattern, there was a line of text—Pet Trainer.
This was not any language he recognized, but he knew the meaning it conveyed at first glance.
Pet Trainer?
Why does that sound familiar?
Before Chen Xing could think about it, the Stone Booklet flipped continuously through two more pages, each bearing equally complex tree-like diagrams with their respective texts: Pet Caretaker and Pet Nutritionist.
This seems so familiar...
Chen Xing racked his brain until he finally figured out where this sense of familiarity came from. In the dream he just had, he went to university, and his major was veterinary science.
Aren't Pet Trainer, Pet Caretaker, and Pet Nutritionist all professional certificates that could be acquired in that world from his dream?
Shit! That sounds a bit weak!
What is a Pet Trainer? It's a person who trains pets to foster good habits, enabling them to perform designated actions and tasks. Similarly, Pet Caretaker and Pet Nutritionist are more or less the same.
I admit that a professional Pet Trainer definitely has some professional skills, but don't forget that in my world people specialize in breeding Beast Tamers! How can an emerging profession from the near modern age compete with a mature civilization that has hundreds of years of history?
Chen Xing viewed this with pessimism, but one can use the stones of other hills to polish one's jade; maybe some of these techniques might be of referential use...
But soon Chen Xing had to admit that he had been too vocally dismissive earlier.
These three professions seem to have a bit of a "billion" difference from the three he understood.
Each of these three professional Skill Trees has a prerequisite skill.
The foundational skill at the very top of the Pet Trainer tree is "Beast Taming Linguistics". Upon learning, one could understand pet language, facilitating communication with pets for subsequent training (0/1).
Prerequisite foundational skill for Pet Caretaker: "Affinity Knowledge". Upon learning, it elevates the host's affinity, giving a warm and welcoming feeling, making it easier to establish friendly relationships with Beast Tamers (0/1).
Prerequisite foundational skill for Pet Nutritionist: "Health Scouting". Upon learning, one can assess the current state of Beast Tamers, providing a more direct understanding of one's own Beast Tamers (0/1).
Subsequent skills require activating prerequisite skills to unlock viewing. However, unlocking them requires Skill Points. After trying for a while, Chen Xing, who couldn't find a way to gain Skill Points, suppressed his inner desire because class was about to start, and it was better not to appear too abnormal.