Hundreds of years ago, when Pet Beasts first came into contact with humanity, there was a relatively long period of darkness and turmoil. Various ambitious figures rose onto the stage, waging wars across the land. This era was known as the Ancient Beast Taming Period.
It was only in the past century or so that things began to change—civilian Beast Tamers increased in number, the geopolitical situation among nations gradually stabilized, the Beast Tamer Association was established, Mythical Pet Beasts withdrew from the world, and the inheritance of Beast Taming families weakened…
All these complex factors overlapped to form the relatively peaceful global situation of today.
Because of this, the field of Pet Beast research—truly supported by official institutions and conducted in a systematic and scientific manner—has existed for less than a hundred years.
It is still in a phase of technological explosion. Brand-new theories emerge endlessly, research results constantly capture attention, and genius researchers appear one after another.
Things like the Pet Beast Compendium, as well as many Pet Beast theories, have actually only appeared within the past few decades.
Pioneers of modern Pet Beast studies such as Dr. Xu and Dr. Ail are still alive—just a bit older now.
And precisely because of this, it is completely normal for errors to exist in the Pet Beast Compendium, which was compiled by scholars from all over, built over decades through the gradual collection of vast amounts of Pet Beast data.
It is frequently revised due to the publication of new discoveries.
Take the move Training Power, for example.
Perhaps the first scholar who tested it found that as long as a Pet Beast was continuously trained, the move's power would increase—so he named it and submitted it—
Just like the geocentric theory: seeing the sun rise and the moon set, one might assume everything revolves around the Earth. It seems reasonable, yet in reality, it's completely off the mark.
And yet, it forms its own internal logic. Beast Tamers who train normally do see the move's power increase.
So these errors remained hidden within the Pet Beast Compendium, unnoticed by anyone.
Until Jiang Xing examined the "cards" himself—and discovered there was a serious problem.
'That Pet Beast scholar back then probably never imagined what he had missed.'
Looking at the experimental data, Jiang Xing couldn't help but sigh.
It might seem like just a trivial "Return" move, but it is actually the foundation of an entirely new theory!
Not only can it prove the existence and influence of Friendship and emotional energy—
It can also, through deeper research into the relationship between move power and affinity, derive corresponding formulas, thereby quantifying affinity.
Turning it into something tangible—observable and calculable as a measurable "degree."
No longer something vague and intangible, a mere "psychological concept"!
This is the real reason it can become a Pet Beast Theory.
Just like personality theory—
It is precisely because personality truly possesses power and influences a Pet Beast's growth tendencies.
For example, under completely identical nurturing conditions, a Pet Beast with a brave personality will not only be more courageous, but will also have higher strength and speed than others.
That's why it is valued by Beast Taming scholars and becomes a widely discussed hypothesis.
If personality were merely a simple "psychological concept," then not only would it fail to become a hypothesis or theory, but even the number of scholars paying attention to it would greatly decrease.
At most, Beast Tamers would consider the impact of personality on combat when raising or contracting Pet Beasts, without conducting deeper research.
'Pet Beasts are highly idealistic creatures…'
'But Pet Beast research is a materialistic discipline.'
'Evolution conditions cannot become hypotheses just by being casually proposed.'
'Personality, items, environment, genes, moves… only things that truly exist, possess extraordinary power, and can be interacted with are worth studying.'
This is also why Jiang Xing had to first confirm the existence of Friendship before attempting Friendship-based evolution.
The former is the foundation of the latter.
Without the theory of Friendship, if he directly attempted Friendship evolution—
No one would believe in something like "Friendship evolution." Instead, they would analyze it using existing conditions—wondering whether environment, moves, personality, or other factors caused the evolution.
Otherwise, if he claimed, "The Ugly Waterfowl evolved because it loves me very much"…
'Bro, why not say the Ugly Waterfowl remembered its childhood trauma, got depressed, and then evolved?'
Therefore, only when "Friendship exists"—
Can "Friendship evolution" become possible!
On the other side, Beauty follows a similar logic.
It is an even more abstract concept than Friendship.
After all, whether a Pet Beast is "beautiful" is extremely subjective.
Every person, every creature has different standards of aesthetics.
How could such a concept possibly be quantified?
Well—turns out it can!
And it's even simpler than Friendship!
When the system released the task, it had already given a hint—
Technical Machine (Attract).
That's right. The Beast Taming world has many moves related to "charm."
Charm-type moves like Attract, Flirt, Temptation…
Cute-type moves like Act Cute, Spoil, Play Pitiful…
Even intimidation-type moves like Scary Face, Ugliness, Glare…
Without exception, all of these moves and talents contain extraordinary power. They can transcend species, aesthetics, and even gender to affect opponents.
It's just that Beast Tamers have long grown accustomed to them, assuming they are mental-type moves and should naturally have such effects.
Moreover, "charm" is even harder to grasp, improve, and quantify than Friendship.
Even if people suspect these moves are related to charm—
It's difficult to find suitable methods for in-depth research like with the Return move.
Only Jiang Xing—who knows of their existence and possesses a Berry Blender—has the qualifications to research these moves.
That's right.
The energy cubes produced by the Berry Blender don't just provide energy to Pet Beasts.
Depending on the formula, they can also enhance attributes such as Beauty / Coolness / Cuteness / Cleverness / Strength when consumed.
Even though it's absurd that simply mixing fruits can produce such a powerful effect…
There's no doubt—this is the original functionality from the Pokémon world.
Heh. Pokémon technology.
In addition, through professional training and nurturing methods, a Pet Beast's charm can also be fully brought out.
But those are topics for future research.
For now, Jiang Xing's energy is limited, and all his attention is focused on the Friendship project.
After completing data collection, he spent a full day compiling it into a paper.
Then, as usual, he brought it to Dr. Xu for review—
Dr. Xu had just returned from the backyard. When he took the paper, he even joked with Jiang Xing, saying he had been working too hard lately and should rest more—Pet Beast research also requires a balance between effort and relaxation…
But the moment he saw the title: "The Hypothesis and Proof of Friendship"
His expression immediately turned serious.
He stopped talking and began carefully reading every line.
In the quiet room, even the sound of turning pages felt sharp.
After some time, Dr. Xu set the paper down, let out a breath, and his expression carried both relief and astonishment.
He asked: "When do you plan to become a Doctor?"
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---