Chapter 231

Chapter 231

Time always passes quickly, and before we know it, the weather has already turned cold.

The lush green leaves of the cotton trees in the Animal Pet Shop began to wither, and other beast pets, like the Windbreaking Horse, except for the Glassy Ice Flame Dog, had grown a thicker layer of fur.

When Lorant slipped on the thin woolen sweater Ruth had knitted for him, he suddenly realized a whole year had flown by.

At this time last year, their family was still crammed into the affordable housing provided by the Knights Academy for students. Every day, Lorant watched the crowded lower-tier beasts in the backyard with great anticipation.

For the sake of those lower-tier beasts and other beasts, Ruth and his brother made space in their already cramped wooden house to accommodate them.

But truth be told, even in those hard times, Lorant never felt that his family was suffering too much. Having a small space of his own and two family members who, even if they didn’t understand, still accepted him, Lorant considered himself very lucky.

However, the conditions back then were indeed quite harsh. Even acquiring a low-level live beast was a huge challenge, and it was ultimately Silem who used his credits to exchange for the first beast for him.

At that time, Silem wasn’t doing very well in the Knights Academy either. His talent wasn’t particularly outstanding, and his family couldn’t provide him with any help. In many cases, he had to rely on the academy’s basic assistance to get by.

Yet Silem never complained, and he never told Lorant how much effort it had taken to acquire such a rare beast.

During that time, Lorant spent long hours every day checking on the condition of the lame Claw Wolf, hoping that a few beast eggs would hatch from its belly so that his family could get out of their difficult situation.

All the hard work and perseverance from that time have now become the sweetest rewards, enriching Lorant’s life.

The lame Claw Wolf, having fulfilled its purpose, was now enjoying retirement. After giving birth to the first batch of beast eggs, Lorant gave it ample time to rest.

Unlike other Claw Wolves, it had its own single room and was fed well every day. Now it had the ability to breed again.

And now, their family not only lived in the conveniently magical house of the Animal Pet Shop but also owned a manor in the orc race’s territory and a vast territory in the Kamku area.

A room in the Moonlight Fortress was much larger than their entire previous yard.

Each of these changes, on its own, would have been enough to leave people speechless, but for Lorant, looking back, he could only feel deep emotions.

The most joyful thing for Lorant over the past year wasn’t the amount of assets he had acquired or the envy-inducing forces and abundant gold coins.

What made Lorant happiest this past year was meeting Lancelot.

At the darkest moment of his life, just before things started to improve, this knight appeared and truly showed him the light.

The more Lorant came into contact with the upper class of this world, the more he realized how lucky he had been.

While Lancelot had his share of noble flaws—arrogance and disdain for others—he was far more polite and considerate than many other nobles who treated ordinary people like second-class citizens.

If someone else had met him at that time, given Lorant’s lack of strength back then, the outcome might not have been so good.

Fortunately, there are no "what ifs" in this world. He met the right person at the right time.

Besides meeting Lancelot, the second thing that made Lorant happy was having so many beloved beast pets by his side: Baby, Maomao, Xiao Bai, and Bear Two.

Each of his exclusive beast pets was a treasure in his heart, and to Lorant, they were almost as important as his family.

Owning a beast pet makes a world of difference to a human.

Just like in 'The Little Prince,' where the roses in the garden belonged to others, only the little rose that had tamed him was truly his own. Lorant felt the same way about his beast pets.

Lorant has the same mindset when facing his beast pets.

Even though he has bred so many of them, each of these creatures is unique to him.

Maomao and Baby are already exceptional, but even the soft, white Dream Weaver by his bedside, which looks like any other, is the best in Lorant’s heart.

Bear Two, however, holds even deeper significance. As a witness to Lorant’s childhood memories, it was already meaningful, and becoming a beast pet made it something Lorant cherishes. Every night, he would rub his face against Bear Two’s soft fur and hug the beady-eyed little bear tightly to fall asleep.

As Lorant dozed off, hugging his beast pets on the bed, he couldn’t help but think that it’s wonderful to have these little ones by his side!

While waiting for the Lightwing Butterfly to hatch, Lorant stayed busy.

As the weather turned cooler, the number of guests at the Slime Family inn increased dramatically.

With business booming, the esteemed shopkeeper finally remembered the existence of an accidentally bred SR-level Fluffy Slime, “Spark Fur,” in the Beast Tower.

Lorant had high hopes for that special slime.

If large-scale breeding were possible, this unique slime could assist practitioners and bring new business opportunities to the Slime Family.

Currently, the products from beast pet slimes were only suitable for ordinary people. Plain wool and down jackets held little appeal for practitioners, with only the poorest low-level practitioners choosing to use them to get through the winter.

But even minor additional effects would elevate the status of slime by-products entirely.

Lorant wondered if the people at the Beast Tower had found a suitable method to ensure the special bloodline could be passed down.

If such a method existed, Spark Fur could be mass-produced and launched into the market.

And if this method could be applied to other beast pets, Lorant wouldn’t worry about the bloodline of Little Qing and the others continuing.

Curious about Robert’s progress, Lorant chose a sunny day to head to the Beast Tower.

Riding a beautiful Windbreaking Horse, Maomao, now tall enough, still jumped and rubbed against Lorant’s calf, acting spoiled.

The Windbreaking Horse’s disgruntled snort was completely ignored by Maomao.

In a place without its kind, the little one seemed very relaxed, no longer needing to put on a front as it did in front of the Glassy Ice Flame Dog pack. Instead, it happily followed Lorant in small, joyful hops like a playful puppy.

Lorant smiled as he watched the little one hopping around his legs, thinking that if it saw a butterfly on a flower, it would likely chase after it in an adorable way.

Just like the innocent puppies he had seen before.

Lorant gazed at his towering, nearly two-meter-tall beast pet with the same affectionate look he would give a cute cub.

Unfortunately, there were no butterflies in this world, and the closest thing to what Lorant imagined as a “butterfly” was a third-level Illusion Butterfly.

The Illusion Butterfly had a powerful ability to create illusions and wings that resembled a complex combination of many eyes. At first glance, it fit Lorant’s imagination of a butterfly, but upon closer inspection, one could see that beneath its beautiful wings was a hideous, fat, and disgusting body.

Just by its body, this beast seemed more like a terrifying large moth than a butterfly.

In any case, it was something hard to like.

Lorant shuddered and expelled the image of the ugly beast from his mind.

Perhaps after the Lightwing Butterfly hatched, he could find one to keep Maomao company, Lorant couldn’t help but think optimistically.

Smelling the fresh scent of grass juice from the flattened lawn, Lorant soon walked from the front of the Beast Tower to the beast pet slime ranch behind it.

The Beast Tower was a peculiar place. A group of mages led by Jacqueline were quite exclusionary, so in the eyes of the magic parliament, they were seen as eccentric outsiders.

In fact, Lorant felt that, to some extent, there was some truth to that.

Even though he was walking from the teleportation array—meant only for internal personnel of the Beast Tower—towards the Slime Ranch, he still discovered dozens of different magic traps along the short journey of a few hundred meters.

The density of these traps made the phrase "one every ten steps" sound like an understatement.

If it weren’t for the proof of the Beast Tower protecting Lorant, he probably would have ended up dead in the wilderness just minutes after leaving the teleportation array.

As Lorant had expected, Robert was indeed in the Slime Ranch.

"Good morning, Robert," Lorant called out, pulling the reins to direct the Windbreaking Horse toward the mage in the distance.

Robert, who had been fiddling with a newly born, not-yet-fully-grown Fluffy Slime, looked up with a smile. "Morning? Good noon, shop owner!"

Lorant, slightly embarrassed, rubbed his nose. "Well, call it whatever you like."

Since Robert and Lorant were quite familiar with each other and had always had a good relationship, Robert immediately rolled his eyes. "Whatever I like? Young master, don't tell me that just because you woke up late, you're calling eleven in the morning early!"

Lorant smiled and didn’t argue. "Alright, alright, let's move on to the next topic, what are you doing?"

Robert seemed like he wanted to tease the shop owner, who often slept in and lived more comfortably than anyone, a bit more. But upon hearing Lorant's words, he immediately pushed those thoughts aside.

"Oh! Come quick and look at my beast pet Slime!" Robert, excited, immediately pulled Lorant over without regard for anything else. "The mutated variety 'Spark Fur' you mentioned before, I've found a suitable breeding method!"

This piqued Lorant's interest. "Oh? Have you bred the Spark Fur?"

Excited, Lorant leaned in and only then did he realize that what Robert had been fiddling with seemed to be a Spark Fur offspring.

This SR-grade Fluffy Slime had originally been a single one, but now, in the enclosure specially marked out in front of Robert, there was a large group of beast pet Slimes with tiny sparks flickering on their bodies.

From their size, it was clear that these beast pet Slimes were newly born offspring, the earliest having been born just last night.

Beast pet Slimes grew incredibly fast, reaching adulthood in just a few days.

Lorant, like Robert, picked up a Fluffy Slime with slight static electricity. At this moment, these Slime offspring were only about the height of Lorant's calf.

At this size, the Spark Fur looked especially cute and endearing.

Lorant rubbed one of the Slimes in his hands, playing and observing the artificially bred SR beast pet. From its appearance, Lorant couldn't find any difference between this little one and the original Spark Fur.

Moreover, what was more important was that the ability chart in his mind acknowledged the existence of this little one.

When Lorant held this little one, the page in his mind's ability chart for Spark Fur glowed faintly, as if eager to reveal more.

Lorant opened the page and was surprised to find a line of data that had never existed before.

"Breeding Method of Spark Fur":

Fluffy Slimes with special abilities that wished to retain their abilities could use the method of 'single-sided expansion and fission' to operate. External stimulation could help the Fluffy Slime regain the fission ability of beast Slimes, thus completing fission after external stimulation.

After fission, the Spark Fur retained the same abilities as the original but lost the possibility of mutation, only inheriting all the genes of the fission parent.

Additionally, the offspring produced through 'single-sided expansion and fission' could not fully inherit the breeding abilities of the original. Only one or two offspring could completely inherit all the traits of the Slime.

The remaining offspring were simply expanded forms and could not undergo further fission.

To increase the breeding efficiency of Fluffy Slime, the following methods can be used:

1. Feed the Fluffy Slime with Snowflake Grass for about three weeks. This can effectively increase the number of split bodies after the Fluffy Slime divides.

2. Soak Fire Attribute Crystals in water and spray it on the Fluffy Slime offspring after they complete their split. This increases the likelihood that the offspring will inherit the traits of the original body.

3. ...

The numerous tips summarized left Lorant genuinely impressed by the level of detail.

The breeding chart was summarized so meticulously that Lorant believed Robert hadn't fully grasped all this content yet.

If Robert had truly understood everything on this chart, he would have been eager to claim credit by now.

Robert might have accidentally succeeded through luck, or he might have been researching in the direction of split bodies all along. However, he hadn’t figured out the underlying principles and had only mastered the method.

The abundance of content in the chart was probably the result of its own deductions after Lorant came into contact with this Fluffy Slime.

Robert might have stumbled upon the work, but for the chart, it was enough to instantly collect and refine the information.

Lorant was quite satisfied with the chart's ability.

After finishing reading the chart, Robert also completed his work summary.

"Unfortunately, the pets split from the most primitive Slime method seem to have some inherent deficiencies," Robert said regretfully after the excitement had worn off, shaking his head at the Slime in front of him. "Even though all the numerical tests show no issues, their growth rate is significantly slower than that of normally bred pet Slimes."

"However, even so, if this breeding method is truly feasible, the number of Fluffy Slimes could surge in a short period of time," Robert said, perking up again.

"The splitting ability of Slimes is truly astonishing. With just two more steps like this, in a month, the Fluffy Slimes will have taken shape!"

Lorant nodded secretly. If they could grow exponentially, the number of Fluffy Slimes would indeed increase rapidly. Robert was right.

Unfortunately, Robert hadn’t had time to verify if each of these split Fluffy Slimes could divide again.

Or maybe he hadn’t realized that many of the split Fluffy Slimes were one-time products that couldn’t continue dividing.

Lorant didn’t directly tell Robert the conclusions drawn by the chart. This was Robert's discovery, and he should enjoy all the fun and honor that came with it.

If he answered the remaining questions now, Lorant knew that with the pride of these great mages, they would definitely push all the credit onto him.

Lorant didn’t want to steal his good friend's credit.

So he just shook his head with a mysterious smile and said, "If it really turns out that way, that would be wonderful. I'm looking forward to the day the Fluffy Slime ranch opens."

"But I don't mean to discourage you, Robert. To me, these split Fluffy Slimes seem to be missing something." He held a small Fluffy Slime seriously and said, "I don’t think every Fluffy Slime can split the same way as before. It feels like something’s missing from them."

Robert listened very seriously with a solemn expression. "Really, Lorant? What is it? Do you feel something different?"

Robert asked while mimicking Lorant’s actions, rubbing the Fluffy Slime in his hand, trying to feel if there was anything different.

Lorant couldn’t help but smirk. "I said it’s just a feeling. I can’t really explain it. It might just be my imagination. You should observe it later. I can’t be sure."

As an ordinary person, how could he feel any difference? He only said that because of the chart. Who would have thought Robert would take it so seriously?

But really, it wasn’t that surprising.

It wasn’t just Robert who trusted Lorant like this. Even if Jacqueline were here, if Lorant said something felt off, Jacqueline would pay full attention and seriously consider if there was a problem with her experiment.

This had nothing to do with whether Lorant was an ordinary person or not.

The unwavering trust that people have in Lorant when it comes to beast companions is something he has built up bit by bit with his impressive success in breeding beast companions.

Despite his lack of obvious talent as a practitioner, Jacqueline and the others are very certain that Lorant must have something extraordinary about him.

Otherwise, how could he have achieved so much in such a short time with things no one had ever seen before, right?

Even someone with extraordinary talent would need a stroke of incredible luck to reach Lorant's level, so there must be something about him that no one has yet understood.

Everyone has their secrets, and prying into them is both impractical and disrespectful.

Especially when the person is no longer someone who can be easily manipulated, probing into someone's secrets isn't just a matter of politeness—it could have serious consequences.

Therefore, the practitioners at the Beast Tower have not attempted to uncover Lorant's special situation.

Even if it were purely a matter of luck, such remarkable luck would still demand their attention.

Lorant quickly understood why Robert was nervous, and he couldn't help but shake his head, amused but silent.

He couldn't provide a reasonable explanation for his own actions, and since everyone believed in him like this, he might as well just go with the flow.

After checking in on the Slime Ranch with Robert, Lorant gave him some small guiding suggestions on the issue of Spark Fur, such as how the energy in plant beasts like Snowflake Grass, which had an entirely different nature from Spark Fur, might have interesting effects on beast companions. With that, Lorant left.