My beast taming system has absolutely no problems!

Gu Weizhong straightened up, walked around from behind the lab bench, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Welcome to the Donghuang Beast Taming Evolution Research Institute, Mr. Xia. I've wanted to meet you ever since I watched your press conference the other day. I didn't expect to have the opportunity so soon."

"Dr. Gu, you're too kind."

Xia Yu grasped the other person's hands with both of his and said sincerely, "I should be flattered to see someone who has appeared in the textbook standing in front of me. You can just call me Xia."

Gu Weizhong joked, "I'm an old-fashioned person; the future belongs to you young people."

Xia Yu quickly declined, saying, "Dr. Gu, please don't say that."

Ye Nannan stared in disbelief at the scene.

Dr. Gu Weizhong, whom I remembered as incredibly rigid, actually knows how to joke?

After exchanging pleasantries.

Xia Yu's gaze fell on the densely packed data curves on the screen, and he asked curiously, "Doctor, what is this?"

Before Gu Weizhong could speak, the researcher next to him spoke first.

"This is our full-spectrum tracking data on energy fluctuations collected during the evolution of the electric mouse."

Although his tone was calm, Xia Yu, with his keen mental power, still sensed a hint of disdain in it.

I glanced at the name tag on my chest.

[Level B Researcher: Xu Yuanchuan]

As Xu Yuanchuan spoke, he tapped the screen with his finger, bringing up a set of peak data.

He explained, "Manager Xia may not be familiar with this. Simply put, it's about using data to record the entire evolutionary process."

Ye Nannan's use of "Manager Xia" was a genuine term of endearment.

Xu Yuanchuan's address of "Manager Xia"... roughly translates to...

"Do you think you can teach me how to evolve my pet? Listen up, Xia Yu, you're just a worthless item seller!"

Of course, this was just Xia Yu's imagination.

Xu Yuanchuan was quite polite.

At least that's how it appears on the surface.

Gu Weizhong glanced at Xu Yuanchuan, said nothing, but simply picked up the conversation.

The text adds, "To be precise, we are comparing the energy fluctuation charts of the electric mouse evolving into the electric velvet mouse with the fluctuation charts of other pets during their evolution."

He pointed to a very prominent peak between two curves on the screen.

"Look here, the two sets of data overlap in most frequency bands, but only in this frequency band does the curve of the evolutionary state show a sharp increase in energy peak."

Gu Weizhong paused slightly, looked at Xia Yu, and his eyes were full of admiration.

"In other words, your concept of 'intimacy' has been preliminarily verified on our energy spectrum. The intensity of this peak is likely the energy characteristic of when intimacy reaches the evolutionary threshold."

Xia Yu looked at the steep energy peak on the screen and felt a little moved.

When he proposed the concept of "friendship," he was simply and crudely transplanting the settings from the Pokémon world.

It's unclear what exactly intimacy level corresponds to in the energy level of the Beast Taming world.

But within just one week of watching the press conference, this elderly man found solid data to support the "intimacy" feature.

"That's really amazing."

Xia Yu sincerely praised, "I only put forward a conjecture, but you and your team proved it with experimental data."

Gu Weizhong shook his head and said, "The most difficult thing is to make a conjecture. Besides, you have already proven it with the two evolution paths of Bright Spirit Velvet and Moon Shadow Spirit Velvet. I just spent some time and effort to verify it."

He glanced at Xia Yu again, secretly admiring him.

It's truly remarkable that a young person who has just achieved such success can still maintain such humility.

Chapter 113: Stuck on the research into the evolution of the gray-striped loach? I'll speedrun it! (4k, please vote!!)

Xu Yuanchuan, standing to the side, pushed up his glasses expressionlessly.

How can someone who can't even understand evolutionary energy spectrum analysis be called the "father of the theory of intimacy evolution"?

He was just messing around in his pet house and happened to get lucky.

I really don't know why Dr. Gu is being so polite to this kid.

Xia Yu's mental power sensed Xu Yuanchuan's emotions.

He didn't take it to heart.

It's not worth it.

"By the way, Dr. Gu."

Xia Yu cut to the chase: "You invited me to the research institute this time, surely it wasn't just to show me this data?"

Gu Weizhong, being an old scholar, naturally didn't beat around the bush and nodded directly, saying, "Of course not. In fact, we recently encountered a bottleneck when trying to evolve a pet. The evolution stones did work on it, which means that it has an evolutionary form."

"The intimacy level between the Beastmaster and the Beast has reached the threshold you announced, according to our current testing standards."

"But we've tried all the known water-attribute spiritual materials, and none of them can trigger an evolutionary reaction, so we'd like to ask you to come and take a look."

"After all, no one in the entire Eastern Empire knows the specific mechanisms of intimacy evolution better than you."

As soon as Gu Weizhong finished speaking, a system voice suddenly sounded in Xia Yu's mind.

[Ding~ Urgent Mission: Dr. Yamanashi's Request!]

[At Professor Yamanashi's invitation, you've arrived at the Pokémon Lab in Sandstone Town. Professor Yamanashi requests your assistance in his research on Pokémon evolution. Please guide him to spend over 100,000 yen and build a deep friendship with this renowned Pokémon professor from the Sinnoh region!]

[Mission Rewards: 100 Breeding Coins, 1 Secret Amber!]

stop stop stop!

What does it mean when "Dr. Yamanashi has sent you a request for assistance; please guide him to complete the purchase"?

Brother Tongzi, you're getting more and more outrageous!

No matter what the task is, it can always be turned into selling goods, right?

So you really haven't forgotten your original intentions...

Despite his inner complaints, Xia Yu would still do his best to complete the task.

Because it's different from the quests triggered when you meet Long Du or Lu Weirui.

The reward for this quest is [Secret Amber]!

As a seasoned treasure enthusiast, Xia Yu was no stranger to this prop.

In the game, players can carry this item to various fossil restoration sites on the map to revive them as fossil pterosaurs!

That's right, it's Aerodactyl, the main Pokémon of the Dodo, which can learn Dragon Dance and has "dragon" in its name, but is still not a dragon.

Xia Yu was worried that the fossils he could find were not complete enough to be revived using the [Fossil Resurrection Device].

The system then issued this task.

It's simply divine intervention!

If you don't complete this task properly and get the [Secret Amber], you'll be letting down the heavens.

......

I pulled myself back to reality.

Xia Yu pondered for a moment and asked, "What is that pet beast?"

Gu Weizhong said, "It's in the lab next door. Let's talk as we walk."

The four of them left the office and walked outside.

According to Gu Weizhong, their current research topic is the evolution of the grey-striped loach.

This pet is very famous.

Not only is it ugly, it's also weak.

Not only are they weak, but their population is also small.

If you really want to ask if there are any advantages... maybe being particularly ugly counts as one?

Legend has it that long ago this pet was called "Ugly Loach," but later the league stipulated that pets should not be given discriminatory names.

That's why it was changed to its current slightly better-sounding name.

In short, compared to those pets that are born with the potential to become immortal, the Gray-striped Loach can be described as a "chosen one".

Gu Weizhong led Xia Yu through the corridor and into a more spacious laboratory next door.

The layout here is very different from that of a typical laboratory; it has been almost transformed into a shallow water area.

Several interconnected, large, transparent tanks contained slightly murky water, with a thin layer of mud and sand at the bottom.

The turbidity is not due to mismanagement, but rather a deliberately created suitable living environment for the gray-striped loach.

Amidst the gently swaying aquatic plants at the bottom of the tank, several small fish, grayish-black in color with disordered fine lines on their bodies, resembling loaches, were swimming.

Xia Yu didn't think it was ugly at first glance.

But when he met its dull and lifeless eyes, a thought suddenly popped into Xia Yu's mind.

It's so damn ugly!

Xia Yu was slightly taken aback.

Is this spiritual pollution?

Gu Weizhong, who was standing to the side, seemed to know what Xia Yu was thinking and explained, "Although the gray-striped loach does not have any spiritual attributes, its unique characteristic is called 'ugliness,' which can cause cognitive interference to people and pets who observe it."

"This can be considered a self-protection mechanism of the gray-striped loach, which can reduce the psionic damage it receives."

Xia Yu nodded knowingly.

The principle is probably the same as Lady Xue Ling's unique [Charming Bone] ability.

However, Lady Xueling was so beautiful that one couldn't bear to hit her.