"This year, Li Zelin signed up for the Friendship Evolution Conference? If I remember correctly, he's one of the country's top wood-element researchers…"
"Dr. Amru registered too? Did he already achieve results that quickly…?"
"What do you mean even Dr. Xu signed up?!"
The official organizer responsible for preparing the Friendship Evolution Conference sent over a participant list every day.
When Jiang Xing saw the names of the attendees, he nearly thought he was hallucinating—
Dr. Amru had been extremely interested in Friendship and emotional energy from the very beginning. Even now, he still maintained close contact with Jiang Xing, frequently discussing related topics with him.
During those discussions, Jiang Xing himself had gained quite a few inspirations.
So Dr. Amru registering for the Friendship Evolution Conference wasn't really unexpected.
But what the hell was Dr. Xu doing here?
His teacher had also been researching Friendship and even signed up for the evolution conference?!
Jiang Xing had absolutely no idea!
Feeling deeply puzzled, Jiang Xing pondered for a moment before suddenly realizing the truth.
After completing his Friendship paper, he hadn't uploaded it to the academic archives of the Beast Tamer Association. Instead, he had immediately handed it to Dr. Xu for review and correction. That was an enormous display of trust.
With Dr. Xu's prestige, if he had wanted to, the entire Friendship Theory field would probably bear the surname Xu by now.
Although Dr. Xu never said anything outright, he was likely extremely gratified deep down. That was probably why he had already begun treating Jiang Xing as his inheritor, even opening up the library collection that represented the accumulation of his entire life's work…
Under those circumstances, the reason Dr. Xu never deeply discussed Friendship-related topics with Jiang Xing was probably to avoid suspicion.
He didn't want to appear overly interested in his student's research findings.
But as a Beast Taming doctorate holder, how could he possibly feel no interest at all when witnessing the birth of an entirely new field?
Not to mention that Friendship was closely tied to Pet Beast growth and belonged to a highly versatile theory. Many evolution-related studies could potentially incorporate similar elements.
It was only natural for Dr. Xu to be interested in Friendship.
So he casually devoted a bit of energy to conducting independent Friendship-related research and ended up producing some results of his own…
With his attainments in Pet Beast studies and the foundation of his research institute, doing something like this was practically effortless.
As for why he wanted to participate in the Friendship Evolution Conference, it was probably to support Jiang Xing while conveniently using the venue to publish a paper—
For doctorate-level researchers like Dr. Xu and Dr. Amru, participating in a national-level conference could no longer bring them any additional glory.
On the contrary, their presence itself would elevate the influence of the conference and make it far more prestigious!
After all, labels like "national-level" or "world-level" had never been determined by the value of the rewards, but by the scholars and research findings participating in the event.
If more than twenty Beast Taming doctorate holders from around the world gathered together, then even casually discussing ideas would already qualify as a top-tier academic summit comparable to a world-class conference!
'Never expected Teacher to be this considerate deep down…'
After piecing together Dr. Xu's thought process, Jiang Xing couldn't help but sigh emotionally.
His teacher really was incredibly thoughtful.
Thinking about it carefully, it made sense. His teacher merely possessed outstanding academic attainments and countless achievements, but he wasn't some flawless saint.
He would teach Jiang Xing how to ruthlessly milk research funding using Commissioner Smith's influence; he would maintain questionable emotional entanglements with a master craftsman thousands of miles away…
He wasn't the stereotypical "doctorate holder," but a real "person" with preferences and emotions.
That realization caused some of Jiang Xing's reverence to fade, replaced instead by a sense of closeness.
At the same time, he also began to feel a growing sense of anticipation and excitement—
The system's mission rewards were not only related to the number of Pet Beast species displayed, but were also closely tied to the influence of the conference itself!
Two doctorate holders, one top-tier researcher…
Wait, it should be two top-tier researchers.
Senior Su was also researching Friendship Evolution, so she would most likely participate in this year's Friendship Conference as well.
On top of that, the Friendship field itself was an entirely new domain.
The actual influence of this Evolution Conference would definitely reach true world-class status!!
Wouldn't the rewards from this blow the roof off?!
Please give me an Alpaca Slate, thank you.
Jiang Xing had already started placing his order, hoping the System Bro would be sensible enough to understand.
Of course, such an extravagant attendee list also made Jiang Xing feel a trace of pressure.
After all, he had voluntarily stepped back from participating in the paper awards competition, instead choosing to take part in this Evolution Conference as a judge and award presenter.
That clearly meant he possessed absolute confidence in his own research findings and believed he could crush everyone else.
When the time came, if he failed to produce a sufficiently heavyweight research paper, things would become extremely awkward when he had to present the "Best Achievement Award" to someone else.
'With the Ugly Waterfowl's three evolutionary forms as my fallback, at the very least, my Pet Beast research findings won't lose to anyone else's.'
'As for academic achievements, I'm the founder of "Friendship Theory" itself—the true pioneer who opened this path—and I even selflessly open-sourced the connection between Friendship Evolution and moves.'
'Other people's research is fundamentally just further proof of my theory.'
'No matter how important their research findings are, they can't erase my contribution.'
Thinking this through, Jiang Xing finally relaxed a little.
Fortunately, he didn't need to worry about embarrassing himself.
But avoiding embarrassment was only one part of it. He also wanted to prove that he truly possessed the qualifications to present awards to these top-tier scholars.
So Jiang Xing devoted even more energy to the Ugly Waterfowl evolution project—
First, the evolution conditions of the Clouddown Bird were highly likely tied to Friendship, making it evidence supporting Friendship Evolution.
Second, through this project, he could summarize the concept of "Beauty" and release it at the Evolution Conference as another major research finding on the same level as Friendship.
Although Friendship and Beauty actually had no connection whatsoever and were two completely different factors…
Jiang Xing believed nobody else would care about that detail.
…
The Ugly Waterfowl's Species Tier was very low. As long as it reached Mid Extraordinary Level, it would satisfy the evolution requirements.
The second batch of Ugly Waterfowl brought over by Senior Li mostly possessed High Awakening Level strength, with some even reaching Low Extraordinary Level, meaning they weren't far from evolution at all.
This greatly reduced the amount of time Jiang Xing needed for training.
This time, he first invested key resources to rapidly help the Ugly Waterfowl grow and reach Mid Extraordinary Level.
Then, using the Friendship Detector, he monitored and recorded the Ugly Waterfowl's Friendship values in real time while accelerating the process through factors such as the Auspicious Chime Bell.
Only a few days later, the second batch of Clouddown Birds successfully evolved.
Through the recorded data, Jiang Xing confirmed that the Clouddown Bird's evolution condition was [Level + Friendship ≥ 198].
Personality, Beauty, Phoenix-type resources, and similar factors had no effect on the evolution result.
Whether timid or strong-willed, all Ugly Waterfowl could evolve into Clouddown Birds.
'This evolution requirement is actually extremely easy to satisfy.'
'If Ugly Waterfowl weren't solitary creatures but social Pet Beasts instead… Clouddown Birds probably would've appeared long ago.'
Jiang Xing sighed emotionally.
And during his research into the Clouddown Bird, he discovered something rather strange—
When Clouddown Birds used the move Return, its power became abnormally high.
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