Chapter 112

Xie Qingwei was also contemplating the same matter.

When Ellen evolved, the C-level skill [Shadow Cloak] replaced the D-level skill [Reconstruction] to become the new core talent, and later advanced to the B-level skill [Shadow Stealth].

White Fang’s situation, however, seemed to involve the original core talent skill [Howl] fusing with [Intimidation] and its own characteristics, forming a completely new core talent [Eternal Night Echo].

Compared to the possibility that White Fang could suddenly comprehend the A-level skill [Eternal Night Echo] and replace [Howl] as the core talent, the hypothesis of skill fusion clearly had more foundation.

The extent to which Mu Huiyue’s beast-taming talent played a role in this is still difficult to assess at this stage, but Xie Qingwei saw enormous, entirely new possibilities within it.

An alternative path for the advancement of extraordinary skills.

More importantly, this phenomenon of skill fusion evolution was not limited to dark attribute skills; White Fang’s ice-element skills had also undergone fusion evolution.

For pets that lost their potential for evolution due to the lack of higher-level skills, this discovery might bring new hope.

Xie Qingwei had a feeling that the skill tree of fusion evolution would become their main research topic moving forward.

However, for the time being, they still needed to complete the project on [Evolutionary Drivers of Dark Attribute Extraordinary Beasts] first.

In the week following White Fang’s evolution, Mu Huiyue focused most of her energy on the Dark Attribute Research Institute, preparing for the upcoming [College Attribute Research Exchange Conference].

This is one of the most important annual exchange events for college attribute research institutes. Each conference produces cutting-edge information and technology that attracts attention across various industries.

It is also a key battleground for academic researchers. For students like Mu Huiyue and Feng Le, assisting in a research project not only fulfills academic requirements but also provides various resource rewards from the school.

It is said that the Beast Tamer Association is also placing great importance on this year’s exchange conference, offering substantial resource rewards and special training opportunities to nurture outstanding beast tamers who stand out in their research.

Mu Huiyue carefully measured White Fang’s post-evolution physical data and documented it.

She named this new evolutionary form [Frost Night Battle Wolf], and the related species information has been submitted to the Affairs Bureau, where it will be publicly presented as part of her research results at the exchange conference.

After evolving, White Fang has grown in many aspects, but for Mu Huiyue, the most noticeable change is still the change in its size.

The little puppy that could originally be cradled in her arms now stands at over half her height. With the added length of its tail, when it lies down, it can curl around Mu Huiyue entirely, encircling her in its embrace.

Its fur has become even fluffier and more manageable, with a soft glow reminiscent of moonlight. It feels like the most expensive and comfortable velvet, making it impossible to stop touching.

The fur around its neck has also grown larger, allowing Mu Huiyue to dive into it, burying her upper body in the soft fluff.

Perhaps because of the added ice attribute, White Fang’s fur feels cool to the touch, which is very comforting. The slightly frozen tips of the fur shift according to its mood, becoming an excellent defense mechanism during battle.

When a beast tamer wishes to pet it, White Fang will loosen its fur and return it to a smooth, cloud-like softness.

After a day full of busy and fulfilling study, returning to her small apartment to find White Fang lying on the sofa, acting as a large plush cushion to help her recover, is the happiest moment for Mu Huiyue these past few days.

In her beast-taming space, the Night Demon Scarecrow stationed in the [Farmland] is observing the outside world through a group of dark crows.

Harvey has remembered the new knowledge that [Beast Tamers like fluffy things].

Unfortunately, the scarecrow doesn’t have fluff, but its crows have plenty of feathers. Harvey wonders if Huiyue would enjoy petting a fluffy crow.

“Rustle—” It gently swayed its body, greeting the nearby White Fang soldier.

Elder Ellen, rarely seen outside the shadow of a beast tamer, was now confidently leaning against the World Tree, arms crossed, seemingly lost in thought.

Ellen stared at his pale, elongated hand bones.

It didn’t matter. He was no longer the little skeleton who would feel disheartened because fluffy things were more beloved by beast tamers than bones.

His bond with Mu Huiyue, forged through their contract, hadn’t changed with White Fang’s evolution. The healthy bones and rich death mist around him were the best proof of their deep connection.

…Alright, Ellen admitted, he was just a little jealous that White Fang could be embraced and petted by Huiyue.

But it was only natural for a human beast tamer to like petting a fluffy white wolf, rather than frequently petting a skeleton the same size as themselves, right…?

“Rustle…?” Witnessing the increasing intensity of the black mist surrounding Ellen, the Night Demon Scarecrow emitted a confused rattling sound.

“Click.” The skeleton stood up, and the surrounding black mist merged into his back.

He returned to the beast-taming space, intending to consult Harvey about cultivating seeds.

Seeing that Harvey and White Fang, after the contract, had both become high-level monarch species with A-level skills, in the past, Ellen would have definitely felt anxious, worried about being surpassed by his juniors.

However, with the [Nightmare Rose Seeds], high-level monarch species no longer seemed so impressive.

Ellen had a sense that as long as he could make the Nightmare Rose bloom successfully, he would surely be able to enter the imperial species… or even achieve a higher-level life ascension.

As for now… let the little puppy, which is striving to break through its limits and complete its evolution, enjoy a few more happy days.

…

The preparation for the research report was going smoothly. After completing the final product of the [Resonance Crystal], Professor Xie Qingwei specifically organized a physical experiment.

It was not easy to find a pet that met the evolutionary conditions and had reached a bottleneck with its core talent skill. After all, most people wouldn’t want to spend time and energy on a pet with no potential for evolution, and wouldn’t form a contract with such an extraordinary creature from the start.

The final choice was a senior who had already graduated, contracted with a medium-tier warrior species pet from the dark attribute, called Night Bell. Its core talent skill was a C-level dark attribute skill, [Bell Ringing], which had no higher-level skills.

After enhancing and breaking through the contract entropy threshold with the [Resonance Crystal], Night Bell chose the [Ritual], which was to return to the senior’s hometown cemetery and release [Bell Ringing] once more.

Fortunately, the senior was from the Jingzhou area. The research team went to the cemetery where her family members were buried. There, Night Bell released [Bell Ringing] for the last time and evolved into the low-tier monarch species of the dark attribute, [Night Soul Caller].

Night Soul Caller is a very special dark attribute creature. It does not inherently possess the undead attribute, but it has the ability to summon lost souls.

Its core talent skill changed from [Bell Ringing] to the B-level undead control skill, [Necromancy], which is the higher-level skill of [Bone Spirit] mastered by Ellen.

Night Bell met the senior in this cemetery. It had always hoped that after its evolution, it could bring back the senior’s deceased relatives, and it had trained toward this goal. However, due to its core talent skill, it had never been able to evolve into Night Soul Caller.

Now, it had finally achieved its wish and had gained the ability to summon and control the undead, but the senior’s relatives had passed away long ago. Even if there were undead energies such as lingering attachments, after such a long time, they had already dissipated without a trace.

Night Soul Caller was quite disappointed by this. The senior, on the other hand, was more accepting. She had long since gotten used to living without her loved ones, and Night Soul Caller had become the important companion to accompany her for the rest of her life.

The research team recorded the entire evolution from Night Bell to Night Soul Caller. This experiment not only verified the feasibility of the [Resonance Crystal] and [Ritual] theory but also proved that driving the change in core talent skills through [Contract Entropy] is entirely possible.

Depending on the emotional resonance between the beast and the beast tamer, this drive can even surpass attribute limitations. Night Soul Caller, for example, gained an undead core talent skill.

Although it currently only has a dark attribute, if Night Soul Caller continues to evolve, it will undoubtedly acquire more undead attributes in the future.

Unfortunately, Night Soul Caller’s evolution did not exhibit the miraculous skill [Fusion] evolution phenomenon seen in White Fang.

With this experimental record in hand, the research team returned to the Dark Attribute Research Institute to continue wrapping up their report.

Xie Qingwei considered conducting another physical experiment, but struggled to find a suitable target.

Feng Le’s vengeful spirit puppet had reached a high-level growth stage. This type of pet, with its vast individual form differences, had not yet shown any record of evolution, and Feng Le also wanted to let the rabbit try to evolve.

However, based on his understanding of the rabbit as a beast tamer, the [Ritual] it wanted would likely be impossible to complete around the current lab, so they would have to think of another way.

After thinking for a while, Xie Qingwei turned her attention to her own guardian spirit.

“Xiao Ye, do you want to try evolving?”

Her guardian spirit had already reached the fully-formed first stage, and with all the years of accumulation, it was now on the verge of possibly reaching the imperial species level.

“Uuuu…!” The slender guardian spirit floated over, its dark halo briefly flickering. The shape of its wing-like black mist wrapped around its body in front, forming a large “X” to express its intention.

Its movements were so vivid, full of human-like details and expressions, that Mu Huiyue almost felt like she was seeing a lively little girl crossing her arms and shaking her head wildly in rejection.

“Uuuuu…” The guardian spirit wore a face full of patient concern.

Xie Qingwei smiled helplessly. “Alright, I know you’re unwilling. You evolved into a guardian spirit for the purpose of [Shared Fate]. If another evolution were to change your core talent, Xiao Ye, you would definitely refuse.”

“Uuuuu.” The guardian spirit nodded in agreement.

Mu Huiyue, curious, asked, “Professor Xie’s guardian spirit… well, I should say, when it was alive, was it someone you knew? It looks like a rather young girl…”

Most back spirits are souls of humans who have passed away but possess strong lingering emotions. These spirits attach themselves to living individuals with whom they have a connection, remaining with them until the individual awakens as a beast tamer and realizes their presence.

A more common situation involves ancestral blessings—spirits of ancestors who died long ago attach themselves to their descendants, becoming their protectors.

In the ancient kingdom of Dayan, there are even renowned historical figures and generals whose battle experiences from life transformed them into powerful back spirits, evolving into unique guardian spirits that protect the beast tamers among their descendants.

However, in Professor Xie’s case, the guardian spirit with such a distinct personality is quite rare. It appears more like a modern person’s soul, unbothered by things like chain smoking and banter, and it can easily understand human language.

“Uuuuu…” It seemed that Mu Huiyue’s words made the guardian spirit quite happy. It floated over to the black-haired girl, its wing-shaped black mist draped over its slender body, striking a pose as if it were a human with hands on hips and head tilted back, looking rather smug.

See, even after all these years, it still retains the posture of a young girl, unlike Xie Qingwei, who has long turned into a research workaholic. I’ve told her to pay attention to her lifestyle and take good care of her health!

Xie Qingwei chuckled quietly. She was long past the age to be called a “girl,” but compared to the average age of professors and researchers, she was still considered young.

…It was only Xiao Ye who was forever stuck in the form of a young girl.

She gently stroked the guardian spirit’s slender body, glanced at the curious Mu Huiyue, and then at Feng Le, who was peeking over but too embarrassed to say anything.

“Let me tell you about Xiao Ye.”