Unscientific Beast Taming Chapter 4

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Once Shi Yu snapped back from envisioning the future, reality hit him hard. Beyond just feeding the Snow Wolves, plenty of other duties awaited him, and they would occupy his whole morning.

Only by noon did he get a break, yet the afternoon schedule remained fully booked.

Following their midday meal and a short rest, the interns from Shi Yu’s dorm building faced the identical afternoon assignment.

In truth, they had handled this particular work for quite a while already.

It matched exactly what the worksheet had outlined before:?

In the afternoon.

Shi Yu blended into the crowd quietly as they ventured into the woods teeming with Green Silk Worms.

Dense foliage made the forest tough to navigate.

Green Silk Worms stood out as the most abundant creatures in this area. While Icefield City’s pet base housed merely 50 Snow Wolves, it sheltered thousands of these green silk bugs.

Four simple words captured their essence: overwhelmingly plentiful.

Their power level was disappointingly feeble too. Unlike Snow Wolves, which reliably unlocked four racial skills in their growth phase, these green worms possessed just a single ability.

Furthermore, Worm Silk generated material comparable to thin wire at best, even when executed flawlessly.

Beast Tamers classified the powers of extraordinary beings into tiers based on strength and impact. Ranging from lowest to highest, they included levelless skills, low-level skills, mid-level skills, high-level skills, super-level skills…

Take the Worm Silk ability these worms wielded—it didn’t qualify as a low-level skill. It lacked any level whatsoever.

Thus, labeling Green Silk Worms as low-grade transcendents seemed harsh. Most ordinary animals could overpower them easily. Their rating stemmed solely from evolutionary potential.

Still, varying cultivation approaches yielded diverse applications for the worm silks from Green Silk Worms.

Yet, the pet breeding base didn’t cultivate these bugs for their silk output.

They maintained these frail pets because Green Silk Worms ranked among the rare natural species capable of a single evolution.

With sufficient nourishment intake, they transformed into Wind Crystal Butterflies, potentially unlocking a new racial skill known as Wind Blade to boost their fighting prowess.

Even post-evolution, their species rank stayed at low-level transcendent due to limited lifespan, but Wind Crystal Butterflies proved the simplest worm-type pets to rear. They served as the top pick for average Beast Tamers.

Now, Shi Yu and his team’s duty involved logging and monitoring the development of these green silk worms to pinpoint their evolution timeline.

Unlike the more threatening Snow Wolf, the green worm posed little danger—after all, it measured only palm-sized.

Featuring a fuzzy green form, pure eyes, and a pair of yellow head antennae, it closely resembled Earth’s Citrus Phoenix Butterfly larvae.

Upon closer acquaintance, Shi Yu grasped why they earned the title of the pet realm’s weakest creatures…

The silk these untrained green silk worms spun broke effortlessly under Shi Yu’s light pull…

While observing, worm silk coiled around Shi Yu’s hand.

Less sharp-minded than Snow Wolves, the green silk worm struggled with Shi Yu’s limited telepathy skills, leading to poor interaction and the creature’s mild pushback.

Yet this pushback felt utterly innocuous.

Still, that wasn’t the part that stunned him most.

What truly baffled Shi Yu was the mental index revealing that the advanced mental Deterrence skill could be imparted to green worms!

A green worm boasting king-level aptitude???

Were compatibility criteria really this flexible?

Shi Yu’s gaze toward the green worm shifted dramatically.

Clearly, the Skill Index held more depth. After all, Green Silk Worms were infamous as the bottom-tier pets, unable to grasp anything beyond Worm Silk prior to evolving…

As Shi Yu pondered this twist, the green worm wriggled free from his grasp, prompting the index to update again.

Now, he turned to the second page.

A fresh green worm illustration appeared.

Accompanying text filled the space below.

Shi Yu: “?”

Never mind, never mind… Had he simply duplicated and stored the bug’s silk ability like that?

It appeared he had met all three requirements.

At present, the skill index had captured a second, seemingly pointless skill: Worm Silk… Strangely, joy evaded him, given how ineffective it seemed.

Hold on… This feeble ability could serve as a trial to gauge the energy drain of imparting skills.

Throughout the remaining afternoon, while others focused on watching and noting the green worms, Shi Yu did the same—but with an extra pursuit: delving deeper into the mental skill index.

His sole noteworthy find was that he could instruct green silk worms already versed in Worm Silk!

Despite mastery, they remained eligible for reteaching!

Shi Yu probed further. The skill index indicated that reapplying a skill enhanced its mastery level!

He got the concept, but regretfully, he hesitated to test it on-site…

…

Come evening.

Post-dinner, Shi Yu headed back to his quarters.

Once settled, he pulled out a guidebook and began flipping through it.

Unlike the assessment manual, this one cataloged the 51 species at Icefield City’s pet breeding base, along with their racial skills.

Shi Yu aimed to scout potential skill sources discreetly.

He sought abilities fitting for his Iron Eater to acquire.

The skill guide couldn’t conjure abilities from nowhere; he needed to catalog them manually.

Nevertheless, securing a rare skill in the index would render it unbeatable.

No Beast Tamer had ever raised a green worm capable of Deterrence, right?

For now, Shi Yu viewed the skill index as his secondary Beast Taming Talent. Armed with it, his upcoming objective stood clear.

He must devise methods to duplicate advanced skills and archive them for his future pets once he became a Beast Tamer…

Sadly, scanning the 51 base species via the manual yielded no trace of the sensing skill he desired…

The juvenile pets here typically awakened standard low-level abilities—too ordinary to bother replicating.

Naturally, amassing more skills was ideal; preparation counted for much.

However, after copying Worm Silk, a concern struck Shi Yu.

Did the skill guide impose a cap on recordable skills?

Until clarifying the index’s storage limit, Shi Yu avoided squandering slots. Prioritizing mid- and high-level skills made sense.

“Seems I’ll need to switch prospects.”

Actually, beyond the vast array of wild pets, Icefield City’s pet breeding base hosted numerous Beast Tamers as well…

Their companions’ skills fell within his copying range too, much like the Snow Wolf King’s Deterrence.

Beast Tamers’ pets boasted far greater odds of rare skills compared to the base’s younglings…

This realization sparked a daring notion in Shi Yu’s mind.. He paused to consider it.