Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Director Chen, the reason for the flesh exploding should be because it absorbed too much of the fire element. The explosion was a result of the conflicting energies. There was no trace of fire element in the flesh. The experiment was a failure.” After saying that, Little Zheng raised his head and gave Gao Peng a look. It was an expression that spoke volumes but he managed to quickly hide it immediately afterwards.
“Conflicting energies,” muttered Director Chen with a frown. If the energies conflicted one another, it meant that they did not merge with each other at all, which meant that this experiment was a total failure.
Based on the results of his previous experiments, if there was a chance for success, they should have been able to at least pick up some trace amount of fire element from the blown up pieces of flesh. Either that, or flesh that was partially merged with the fire element. If that was the case, all they had to do was to keep improving the formula and to adjust the amounts of the materials needed.
“Little Gao’s train of thought should be right. We shall keep going,” Director Chen said with a wave of his hand. In his head, he had already prepared for the probability of failure. No one was so lucky as to get it right on the first try.
Gao Peng stared at Director Chen’s back in silence for a moment. He did not expect Director Chen to trust him that much.
But it was not only trust in Gao Peng that spurred Director Chen’s decision. After careful consideration, he too had agreed that Gao Peng’s suggestions did indeed seem feasible.
Furthermore, he had invited Gao Peng over this time specifically for the purpose of nurturing his talent. If one had the talent, it must not go to waste. He had taken in Little Zheng and the rest as students as well because they possessed talents in this area.
There was still a long way to go in the field of Monster Breeding. There is only so much he could do alone to further this field of study. Within his living years, he hoped to see Monster Breeding progress much further.
In order to achieve this dream of his, he would require many talented individuals to join him in expanding the path for Monster Breeders.
For him to become an advanced Monster Breeder, it indeed took quite a lot of talent. This kind of talent was hard to describe in words. It was like some sort of gift that came from the soul. Those with this talent, when breeding Familiars, would often experience that spark in their souls, guiding them to find the crucial details that others would not have noticed.
This was like the Chinese doctors of the ancient times. They possessed none of the high-tech medical equipment of today and knew nothing of things like cells or nerves. But by using Yin and Yang, and the five elements as the basis for their understanding, they perceived the human body as the unification of breath, body and mind. Through the use of the methods of seeing, listening/smelling, asking, and touching, they managed to use their knowledge to treat illnesses. Seen through the lens of modern western medicine, this would all have been metaphysics!
“Mm,” muttered Little Zheng in acknowledgement, even though he did not agree.
Honestly, as one of Director Chen’s very own students, he was rather jealous to see his tutor specially bring a young upstart such as Gao Peng into the laboratory. Director Chen had never seemed to value the rest of them so highly.
He had heard of what Gao Peng managed to achieve at the Monster Breeder examination grounds, but he thought that that was mere coincidence, and that Gao Peng simply got lucky.
This high schooler called Gao Peng should have some abilities. But he felt that the way that Director Chen described him was a little too far-fetched. But since his tutor wanted to continue with the experiments, so be it. As long as the experiments kept failing, the little upstart’s true face would be revealed!
The second experiment failed…
The third experiment continued to fail as well…
The entire afternoon was spent on failures. There seemed to be no progress in the research whatsoever.
Little Zheng and his other fellow researchers silently exchanged looks. In their eyes, one could see a hint of glee in Gao Peng’s failure.
They were looking forward to Gao Peng making a fool of himself.
Gao Peng’s expression changed as if he had thought of something. “Director Chen, we have tried so many ingredients already, I feel that maybe using the Devil Chilies as the sole main ingredient is insufficient. Perhaps we could add in another main ingredient.”
“Two main ingredients? That’s a bold idea,” Director Chen looked up and glanced at Gao Peng.
Gao Peng look over at the Voracious Golden Toad with an expression of sympathy. Numerous chunks of flesh had been cut off from its body. The wounds had already healed, but the missing flesh would unfortunately take a while longer to regrow.
The Voracious Golden Toad gave Gao Peng and the rest a dirty look.
It turned its back towards them, not willing to look at these detestable humans anymore.
Even on its butt, there was a huge chunk of missing flesh.
But Director Chen and the rest still had a heart for this creature. They never cut off too large an amount of flesh each time, so that it had hopes of full recovery in future. They even anaesthetized it every time they had to cut off some flesh.
“For the other main ingredient, what do you plan on using?” Director Chen secretly shook his head. He still did not think very highly of this idea, but he felt that it would not be good for Gao Peng’s enthusiasm to deal a blow.
“Black Soft Soil. It is an earth-attribute soul material that has the properties of dampness and is of Yin nature. We can have the Voracious Golden Toad consume this in order to protect its internal organs. After that, we can also add in some Sparrow Saliva Wood to the list of supporting ingredients for the Devil Chili. Wood feeds fire, and fire creates earth.”
Director Chen nodded sternly. He had heard such words a dozen times that day. All of it was based on the theory of five elements. But the problem was that with that many fire, wood and earth attribute ingredients, it would be a tall task to find the right combination. With every addition of another attribute, the difficulty of this task would rise exponentially.
“We might as well give it a try,” said Director Chen, nodding his head.
The ingredients were prepared in no time at all, and the experiment was carried out. Although the result was still a failure, the fire element was successfully assimilated into the flesh this time, and the amount was substantial!
This method was feasible!
Director Chen’s spirits were roused.
He continued on, making minor adjustments to the quantities, and the medicinal properties of the mixture. He changed a few herbs and chose a few other similar ingredients.
A few hours passed. The flesh lying in the experimental apparatus had changed in color. Starting from a deep, pale yellow, it grew brighter until finally turning into an eye-catching dull red. This time it did not explode.
To think that they had managed to progress this far! A few of the researchers stared wide-eyed until their eyes almost popped out. Impossible, they exclaimed in their minds.
At this point, they finally understood the difference in ability between themselves and Gao Peng.
As for Gao Peng, he had never actually bothered much about these clowns during this whole time. To Gao Peng, they were petty and short-sighted people who were jealous of him even though he never had any conflict with them. These were people that Gao Peng had no intention to get along with.
Gao Peng said to Director Chen, “Why don’t we proceed to live testing? Because many of these ingredients must be consumed before we actually know their results. Just experimenting on a monster’s flesh will not be enough.”
Was he finally extending his demon claws towards the innocent Voracious Golden Toad?!
Director Chen did not agree immediately. The military had given him sufficient permission for carrying out the experiments on the Voracious Golden Toad. It was just that, as a Monster Breeder, he had to be responsible for the life of the Familiar.
“Alright! We shall begin with the live testing,” said Director Chen with a deep sigh.
They prepared a highly heat resistant container and placed the Voracious Golden Toad inside.
Probably because this was a military trained Familiar, the Voracious Golden Toad seemed to be extremely obedient, even towards the researchers. For a monster, this was extremely rare.
The various ingredients were added accordingly in the right amounts and sequenced into the container, and boiled into a frothing red juice. A pungent smell filled the air. Even those wearing a mask began to feel uncomfortable
“Cough, cough, cough,” went one of the researchers. His eyes were red and teary.
