Chapter 16 The Taotie that Strives to Make Money

Good news, Beast Taming has awakened the rare passive skill Water Concealment.

Bad news, this passive skill isn't suitable for arena battles, only for ambushes in the wild. More importantly, how exactly should one train a passive skill? The books don't teach this.

Chen Xing fell into deep thought. How should he make Taotie cope with others' active skills in the monthly exam with just a passive skill?

[Species] Salty Bay Crocodile (Taotie)

[State] Healthy (Slightly Hungry)

[Attribute] Water Element

[Energy Level] Level 5

[Energy Level Limit] Level 38

[Skills]

Passive Skill: Water Concealment

...

After pondering the innate skill that Taotie had awakened, Chen Xing turned his attention to the new skill that appeared in the Stone Booklet.

The Pet Trainer career path only revealed one skill afterward—[Pet Skill Training]

[Pet Skill Training] Enhances their skill training benefits through playing interactive mini-games with pets, accurately observing the pets' mastery of skills. (0/2)

At a glance, this is a core ability of the Pet Trainer, training pets in skills.

Chen Xing couldn't help but speculate about the three career trees. The Pet Trainer's ability is related to Beast Taming's skills, and the Pet Nutritionist is connected with the growth and development of Beast Taming.

So what direction would a Pet Caretaker's skills take? Treating the injuries of Beast Tamings?

But if it's just treating injuries, then it might as well simply be called a veterinarian or pet doctor.

The role of a Pet Caretaker is not just as simple as a vet. It also includes pet grooming, daily care, and so on.

Uh... Chen Xing suddenly thought of a possibility. He hoped it wouldn't come to a point where the Pet Caretaker would develop skills like doing manicures, dyeing the Beast Taming's hair, polishing, waxing, or offering a full-service wash, cut, and blow-dry!

Shaking his head, he dismissed his wandering thoughts and refocused his attention on the newly emerged skill awaiting activation, [Pet Skill Training].

It only requires 2 skill points to activate, and according to the skill description, it not only enhances the effect of skill training but also allows for an accurate observation of the Beast Taming's mastery of skills.

He had planned to save his skill points for activating Beast Taming Linguistics, then wait to activate Freeze-Drying Production or Intermediate Pet Food.

But now there's a new [Pet Skill Training] skill that boosts skill training effects...

And it only requires 2 skill points.

This cost-effectiveness is somewhat tempting for Chen Xing.

Sigh, he wants all the skills.

Chen Xing, lying on the bed, was searching online for clever netizens who might know how to train passive skills.

He came across a help post with a question similar to his.

"Does anyone know how to train a Beast Taming's passive skill?"

Reply on the first floor: 'Huh? Your Beast Taming has passive skills?'

'Damn it! My two Beast Tamings haven't awakened a single passive skill! Does this world even have passive skills!!!'

'O.o What's a passive skill? Can you show me yours, please?'

'What kind of Beast Taming do you have? As far as I know, passive skills are hard to enhance, but it's not impossible. I have summarized the following three points...'

'Lucky bastard, neither passive skills nor innate skills can be inherited through Skill Orbs; only the Beast Taming itself can awaken them.'

'It seems there have been cases of Beast Taming passive skills evolving, but they are basically inimitable. I heard that many university labs are now studying how to evolve passive skills. Perhaps in a decade or two, there might be some outcomes.'

'Don't listen to others' nonsense. I remember certain Beast Tamings will have their passive skills evolve too if they evolve, and others can experience beneficial mutations in passive skills under specific extreme conditions. But forget about training to enhance passives. Passive skills are untrainable.'

Chen Xing closed the thread and went on to read many other posts.

The answers he found were not entirely satisfactory; the responses were basically that passive skills cannot be trained, and even if there were examples of evolution, those were minority cases that couldn't be replicated.

Forget it, if the passive can't be enhanced, then it can't be enhanced.

At least based on the replies from many netizens online, passive skills are still very rare and can't be inherited through Skill Orbs.

Isn't there still the [Pet Skill Training] skill? Maybe the skills from the career tree will give him a surprise.

He turned off his phone, placed it on the bedside table to charge, turned off the lights, and lay in bed.

Better get some sleep, the monthly exam is in four days.

Lack of skill improvement doesn't affect Taotie's practice of the energy conduction loop structure.

The content their teacher taught in class these days also briefly touched on the energy conduction loop structure. It's a model of energy circulation developed by scholars that can improve the speed at which Beast Tamings condense energy! The essence of a Beast Taming releasing skills is to condense the internal energy into a skill framework structure and then release it.

Simply put, releasing a skill requires "casting a spell," which can also be understood as "channeling."

Practicing this energy structure can shorten the "channeling" time, making skill release faster.

The energy conduction loop structure they are practicing is the seventh generation; after six generations of scholars' improvements, the energy conduction loop structure is very refined.

For students like Chen Xing, it's akin to a precious secret technique. It's like everyone else in the sports track events is still using primitive running techniques, while he has the unique running techniques researched by countless professionals.

Ten minutes later, Chen Xing suddenly regretted his ability to understand Taotie's speech.

Lying in bed trying to sleep, he could hear Taotie's relentless babbling.

"Time to eat."

"Time to eat."

"Hungry."

"You're not asleep, I'm hungry."

Taotie crawled out from under the covers, and with a flip, the giant croc's cold body pressed down onto Chen Xing.

Opening its big mouth, Taotie let out a hungry whine close to Chen Xing's ear, "Hungry hungry."

Clang!

Chen Xing couldn't hold it in any longer, and clenched his fist to knock heavily on its dome!

"Sleep!"

Before, he had never found it so annoying.

Was this the retribution for understanding what it was saying?

The Taotie, having been knocked on the head, resentfully crawled back to its spot.

Taotie closed its left eye while its right eye was slightly squinted, slowly becoming unfocused. Glancing at its owner beside him with its increasingly lax right eye, it gradually closed both eyes.

Only when it was sleeping beside Chen Xing at home could it rest assured and close both eyes.

When sleeping outside, it had to keep at least one eye open.

...

In the blink of an eye, another weekend had arrived, with just two days left until the monthly test, and the pet food made at home had long been eaten up.

Chen Xing had also started his own money-making plan.

After breakfast and tidying up, Chen Xing was ready to go out. Today he planned to take Taotie to participate in a children's Beast Taming challenge race in the city.

This challenge race was sponsored by a Beast Taming milk powder company in Jincheng and was a long-term event held there. With two events each week, the challenge did not offer much prize money but had attracted quite a few spectators due to its fun nature. Moreover, the exciting moments of the competition could be edited and uploaded to the company's social media.

The contents of the challenge were a bit like the game "Boys and Girls Forward," but it was a children's Beast Taming version. Anyone who could clear the challenge would win a prize of three thousand.

Chen Xing calculated that this amount of money was almost enough to cover half a month's food expenses for Taotie, whose appetite had been increasing as it grew.

Chen Xing discovered that to keep it growing at the same rate as before, he needed at least to feed it until it was full. Although it was just ordinary beast meat, the price was not cheap when the quantity increased.

Holding Taotie, Chen Xing boarded the bus. The driver glanced at Taotie's size but didn't ask Chen Xing to buy two tickets.

Some small Beast Tamed creatures could ride for free, but not the larger ones; they had to pay for tickets, and some very large ones even needed to buy several.

Arriving at the event venue, they saw a spacious water park with a registration booth outside. Behind the booth, there was a large advertising banner – "Four Sheep Milk Powder."

Chen Xing, who had already registered on Four Sheep Milk Powder's official website the day before, took out his ID for confirmation and received the contestant's badge.

The water park, which was bigger than a stadium, had staggered "checkpoints" erected.

Depending on the type of Beast Taming, the challenge courses were divided into land, water, and air tracks.

High platforms, each five stories tall, were built on three sides of the water park. Many relaxed-looking spectators were standing at the railings outside the high platforms, and there were also shops. It was said that the rent from these shops alone was enough to cover the prize money every year, not to mention the company's promotional reach brought about by the event.

The event required that the participants' beasts be no older than three months.

In the backstage waiting area, it was all Beast Tamers "pampering their babies."

Chen Xing was indeed in for an eye-opener. There was an under-month-old Kirin kid, whose owner was feeding it with a bottle while advising it on how to proceed with the challenge.

There was also a knee-high hyperactive monkey, hopping around like an acrobat.

And a bald eagle chick which hadn't even shed all its baby fuzz, already experiencing what seemed like half of a lifetime's journey in its infancy.

Soon it was Chen Xing's turn in the line.

Holding his beast, the host looked at the Taotie in Chen Xing's arms and joked, "Well, here comes a big one. How old is this Beast Taming creature?"

"Just turned one month."

"This is one month old?"

"Yep, one month."

The host looked at the crocodile that was over a meter long in Chen Xing's arms, his expression exaggerated, "Well, that's some fast development. Alright then, let's hope this one-month-old little crocodile can successfully complete the challenge."

In fact, those who were able to participate had certainly been checked, and there would be no instances of over-age beasts. The host said this to lighten the mood, and regardless of whether the audience found it cliché, it was part of his job.

Chen Xing squatted down and gently patted Taotie's head, "Perform well, and I'll give you an extra meal tonight. Don't eat the meat along the way."

The eyes of Taotie immediately lit up.

In its mind, only two words remained – extra meal!

It oinked twice at its master and then dived into the water.

The organizers had placed some aromatic bait along the course. If a Beast Taming creature couldn't resist the temptation and went for the bait, it would trigger a mechanism leading to failure.

Swimming with a flick of its tail in the water, Taotie smelled the tempting scent of the bait and couldn't help salivating.

But remembering the extra meal promised by its owner, it swallowed the saliva with a heavy heart and made a strong push with its four legs to race forward!

Underwater ball retrieval, diving through hoops, underwater maze... Taotie passed one challenging checkpoint after another that were quite difficult for young beasts.

For mature beasts, these obstacles were very simple; the main difficulty lay in obedience and suppressing natural instincts. If these two challenges could be overcome, the whole course was relatively easy.

When Taotie leapt over the last small waterfall and pushed up the ball, the challenge came to a successful end.

Chen Xing lifted the prize plaque in front of the camera and maintained a smile.

...

"Are you buying some supplements for your two kids?"

"Right, Sister Zhang, you have experience. You help me take a look."

"I'm not working today; I'll accompany you to the city to have a look. The Beast Taming milk powder for my kids just ran out. The brand we tried last time was pretty good, and it's on sale with discounts right now."

"How's it working out?"

"Not bad at all, I'm telling you. I heard from those experts online that just like children, young Beast Taming creatures need to drink milk powder! It promotes bone development."

...

"What do you think? This brand is quite attentive. They often organize some kind of challenge events on weekends. Last time my child almost succeeded with their beast. The prize was three thousand; if you add a little of your own money, you can buy five cans of milk powder." Sister Zhang, accompanied by Liu Yuzhen, picked out products from a specialty shop on the high platform. "Buy three cans, get one free; buy five cans, get two free, and one can is just 699. Hey, what are you looking at?"

Liu Yuzhen withdrew her gaze, looking somewhat distracted, and smiled at Sister Zhang, "Nothing much. Hey, shop assistant, I'll take five cans."