At night before going to bed, Li Miao prepared some late-night snacks and candies to replenish her spiritual energy in her bedroom.
These spiritual-energy-replenishing candies were plentiful and cheap, costing just over ten yuan each. They were mainly targeted at novice beastmasters, as one candy could restore a small amount of spiritual energy.
Such things were helpful for beginners but completely useless for veterans, so they weren't expensive.
While Erha slept, she entered the beast-taming space, opened the "Book of Taming," and found her talent page.
[Talent Skill]: Evolution Compendium
Active Skill:[Evolution Recommendation] – Can recommend evolutions based on the beast's inherent traits and, to a certain extent, consume the beastmaster's spiritual energy to simulate evolution processes.
Passive Skill:[Evolution Points] – Contracted beasts can obtain various training points daily for enhancement.
The former could be divided into two modules: "Evolution Recommendation" and "Evolution Simulation." This was completely different from her other talent skill.
[Talent Skill]: True Sight
Active Skill:[Knowledge Peek] – Can partially glimpse information based on the beastmaster's own knowledge, with a 10% chance to reveal a beast's stats, attributes, skills, and level-up conditions.
Passive Skill:[Data Conversion] – True Sight includes a data conversion feature that forms data when True Sight is triggered. This skill can only be used when True Sight is active.
Though True Sight was powerful in its own right, compared to the Evolution Compendium, it was child's play.
Li Miao opened the "Evolution Recommendation" under the Evolution Compendium and found a row of black avatars resembling a mind map. The first avatar was Erha's silly dog face, branching to the right into three paths, each of which had further subdivisions. The further along they went, the more branches there were, becoming increasingly dense.
Besides this, Li Miao also spotted Yaya and Sakurako's avatars under Erha's dog head.
She was startled.
As she suspected, this skill wasn't limited to only the beasts she had personally contracted.
Calming herself, Li Miao looked at the three branches behind Yaya. The branch avatars were all pitch-black. She tapped the middle one with her spiritual energy but found no reaction. After a moment, she remembered something and experimentally poured in some spiritual energy.
As soon as the spiritual energy surged in, the black avatar brightened momentarily before displaying Erha's face within seconds.
Li Miao opened it—
[Beast: Erha
Species: Siberian Husky
Attribute: Ice
Quality: Silver
Level: 1
Base Stats: Speed 15 (+), Physique 20 (+), Attack 15 (+), Defense 20 (+)]
Just like before, Erha didn't seem much different. The only change was in quality.
From Bronze to Silver… It actually worked!
Epic!
Li Miao was ecstatic and wanted to carefully check the conditions for quality evolution, only to find that "Evolution Recommendation" didn't show the conditions.
She had to go through "Evolution Simulation" first to see the evolution requirements.
Damn!
Wasn't this just another form of pay-to-win!?
Only, others spent money—she spent spiritual energy!
No wonder the two skills were grouped together. Turns out she had to check "Evolution Recommendation" first, then simulate to get the conditions.
Li Miao sighed inwardly but comforted herself—having such an amazing talent skill already put her ahead of 80% of beastmasters her age.
Indeed.
Comparisons were necessary.
Thinking this way, Li Miao instantly felt much better.
She tapped on the "Evolution Simulation" to the right of "Evolution Recommendation" and found the interface was largely the same. The only difference was that when she clicked an avatar, she saw—[Evolution Condition: Spend 10 points of spiritual energy to simulate and acquire.]
Li Miao exited the talent page, thought for a moment, and reopened Erha's contract page. She noticed a (+) symbol next to the quality stat.
This meant she still had some spiritual energy left to spend.
So… how much spiritual energy had she just spent on "Evolution Recommendation"?
Li Miao recalled that she had 30 points of spiritual energy in total. She had spent a small portion earlier but still had enough to simulate, meaning she still had some left.
She didn't rush into simulating. Instead, she reopened "Evolution Recommendation" and glanced at the remaining two black avatars—one above and one below the already lit one.
"Ugh, my damn OCD."
Anyone who wouldn't light these up isn't human!
Without hesitation, Li Miao lit up the top black avatar.
[Beast: Erha
Species: Siberian Highland Tundra Dog
Attribute: Ice
Quality: Silver
Level: 1
Base Stats: Speed 20 (+), Physique 15 (+), Attack 20 (+), Defense 15 (+)]
The avatar didn't change much—it was still Erha's goofy husky face, except compared to the one below, the fur on this one was significantly lighter.
Li Miao fell into deep thought.
The base stats for both Silver-quality variants were about the same. The only difference was that the Highland Tundra Dog was faster and had higher attack power than the Sled Dog, but its defense and physique were notably lower.
So… what was the difference between a Siberian Highland Tundra Dog and a Siberian Husky!?
Li Miao checked the branches again and examined each one, realizing that the longest branch was one she hadn't lit up yet. The branches for the Tundra and Sled Dogs weren't even a third as long as the subsequent branches.
Got it.
She understood now.
The length of the branches represented the beast's evolution ceiling.
The longer the branch, the higher the evolution limit.
If nothing unexpected happened, she should follow the route with the longest branch.
"This really is like a game compendium…"
Li Miao muttered before glancing at Erha's quality stat again. The (+) had vanished, meaning her spiritual energy wasn't enough to cover the 10 points required for "Evolution Simulation."
She had started with 30 points and wasn't in a weakened state yet, meaning she still had some left—but less than 10 points.
Indeed.
Having a spiritual energy tester at home would've been better.
Ultimately, it all came down to money.
A spiritual energy tester cost at least several hundred thousand yuan—far beyond what ordinary families could afford.
"Ugh, not gonna think about it. Sleep."
Li Miao patted her cheeks and was about to bury herself under the covers when her phone buzzed.
Li Miao: "…"
Her fingers sneakily reached for the phone.
Just for a little while.
She swore she'd sleep by eleven!
Two hours later…
"Damn, it's midnight already? Sleep sleep!"
The next day, she was enthusiastically awakened by Erha—by being stepped on.
Yep.
Stepped on.
Li Miao's face contorted: "ERHA!"
"YOU DIDN'T WASH YOUR PAWS YESTERDAY!"
Erha flattened its ears: "Awoo!"
Yes, I did!
Li Miao didn't believe it: "No way!"
Erha barked frantically: "Awoo awoo awoo!"
I really did! If you don't believe me, smell them! SMELL THEM!
Still barking, Erha shoved its paw right into Li Miao's face.
Caught off guard by the sudden dog-paw assault, she gasped in shock: "Erha…?"
"Are you trying to murder me?"
Erha: ?
No no, I just wanted you to smell my foot.
Li Miao grinned wickedly: "Murder attempt, huh? Oh Erha, today I'm punishing you… hehehe…"
Erha backed away in panic.
"Whimper~"
"No amount of cute faces will save you—punishment it is!"
Li Miao, with sinister glee, pinned the dog down and buried her face into its belly.
"Today's Erha is extra cute… in a pink heart-patterned outfit… hehehe."
Dressed in a frilly pink dress with heart prints, Erha lay on the ground in despair, resigned to the beastmaster's relentless torment.
There is nothing left in this world to miss…
Too tired. Just end it all.
Erha's heart turned to ash.