Recently, the Friendship Evolution Conference had become the hottest topic across China.
Especially with the participation of several top researchers and two doctors, the conference had already begun to carry momentum comparable to a world-class event!
Countless people were eagerly anticipating the conference, traveling from all across China to Yuzhong City, wanting to take part in this grand occasion that was destined to go down in history.
Flight tickets and high-speed rail tickets to Yuzhong City had skyrocketed in price, becoming nearly impossible to obtain.
The tourist attractions surrounding Yuzhong City were even more overcrowded—especially Yuzhong Waterfall.
At this point, it had already been renamed Dragon Gate Waterfall. According to Jiang Xing's paper, the authorities had established a "permanent Dragon Gate" there, allowing Beast Tamers who had raised Golden-Patterned Koi to challenge it and evolve them.
However, brave-natured Golden-Patterned Koi were extremely rare, and high-aptitude brave fishies were even rarer.
As a result, many Beast Tamers simply raised Golden-Patterned Koi with other personalities and stayed near the Dragon Gate long-term, using repeated exposure to Dragon Might trials to gradually alter their koi's temperament, turning them into brave fishies before finally completing the breakthrough.
Because of this, the scene of koi leaping over the Dragon Gate had now become a permanent spectacle at Dragon Gate Waterfall.
Many tourists came specifically to witness the moment when a Golden-Patterned Koi transformed into a Rainbow Dragon Hatchling with their own eyes.
As the number of tourists in Yuzhong City exploded, Dragon Gate Waterfall became completely overwhelmed. Even after the authorities urgently added several additional Dragon Gate locations, they still couldn't handle the public's enthusiasm and were eventually forced to implement a lottery system.
The city itself was no different. In addition to domestic travelers, Beast Tamers from other countries and regions had also flooded in, filling the city to capacity.
To make maintaining order easier, airspace restrictions were put into effect, strictly prohibiting any unauthorized Pet Beasts from carrying passengers through the air...
After learning about all this, Jiang Xing gave up on the idea of going to the airport to pick someone up.
Even if he asked Champion Chang for flight authorization, the request would still have to pass through several approval procedures—and by the time all that was done, Dr. Amru would probably have already arrived.
Besides, Dr. Amru had also mentioned that, for the sake of attending the conference, he had brought along three large Pet Beasts.
Ordinary flying Pet Beasts couldn't carry that many creatures anyway, so traveling by car was more convenient.
'Only contracted Pet Beasts can freely enter and exit Beast Spaces.'
'In that regard, this world is obviously less convenient than the Pokémon world. Once you stuff them into Poké Balls, weight and size basically become meaningless—even ten Groudon could be carried around with you.'
'And then there's the Pokémon Transfer System... a spatial transportation device like that...'
Jiang Xing genuinely wanted one of those transfer machines!
Putting aside the fact that the transfer process itself could stimulate certain Pokémon and cause them to release evolution energy—essentially functioning as an artificial evolution trigger.
Just the spatial transportation aspect alone was already an incredibly tempting function!
Whether in the anime, the manga specials, or the games—whenever Trainers exceeded the carrying limit and couldn't bring more Pokémon with them, they could remotely send those extra Pokémon to a professor's research institute through the Pokémon Transfer System and have the professor take care of them.
As a researcher himself, Jiang Xing had also essentially let "traveling Lingyin" roam freely outside...
If he had a Pokémon Transfer System, wouldn't he be able to stay home without ever leaving while Li Lingyin—or even more Trainers in the future—directly sent over all the strange and rare Pet Beasts they encountered remotely?
After all, Jiang Xing had more than enough resources available now, and with little helpers like the Honey Attendant around, he wasn't worried about being unable to feed them.
Just imagining it already felt amazing.
Unfortunately, the Pokémon Transfer System wasn't a portable item from the Pokémon world, so the odds of obtaining it through blind-box rewards were extremely low.
If he truly couldn't get one, Jiang Xing would have no choice but to consider developing it himself—
The core of that kind of device was definitely spatial power.
The Beast Taming World also possessed spatial energy—and even a Space Attribute.
If he researched deeply enough, creating some kind of teleportation device should still be possible.
Of course, that would also have to wait until the standards of tools, research, and related fields improved further.
…
Jiang Xing didn't wait long before Dr. Amru arrived at the research institute by car.
Dr. Amru looked even older than Dr. Xu. His starfish-like hair had already turned completely white, and several uniquely styled golden ornaments hung from his body beneath a white lab coat.
However, contrary to Jiang Xing's expectations, he didn't carry any gloomy presence associated with the undead.
Still, compared to Dr. Amru himself, the three Pet Beasts behind him attracted far more attention.
They were three earth-brown lions.
Two of them were male lions standing over two and a half meters tall at the shoulder. Their originally fluffy manes had been braided into numerous plaits, decorated with milky-white bone ornaments. Half of a beast skull rested atop their heads like crowns, radiating the savage dominance befitting kings of beasts.
The remaining one was a lioness with a shoulder height of only two meters, noticeably smaller in build.
She lacked a mane, and her body was covered in relatively complete beast bones, as though she were wearing a suit of bone armor. A beast skull covered her face like a mask.
She looked even fiercer, exuding a cold and murderous presence.
Jiang Xing was completely captivated by the three Pet Beasts and simply couldn't look away.
Dr. Amru smiled and spoke.
"Jiang Xing, these are my research results. I plan to bring them to the Friendship Evolution Conference."
"Want to give it a try and see if you can guess my research topic?"
Although registering for an academic conference theoretically required submitting a paper for review first...
That was merely to verify qualification eligibility.
Dr. Amru's status as a doctor was itself a symbol of authority. Even if he submitted no paper at all, nobody would question his qualifications—Beast Taming doctors weren't so idle as to gamble with their reputations.
As such, his paper had never been submitted. Only he himself knew the exact contents.
Jiang Xing naturally had no idea.
Hearing this, Jiang Xing also became interested.
He carefully observed the three lions and first tried recalling their entries from the Pet Beast Compendium—
In the Beast Taming World, the species of Pet Beasts distributed across each country and region varied greatly.
For example, the Golden-Patterned Koi was a unique Pet Beast native to Asian regions, while the Ugly Waterfowl was exclusive to China itself.
As a result, the Pet Beast Compendium was also divided into multiple regional catalogs.
Jiang Xing was extremely familiar with the Chinese Compendium and had practically mastered it completely.
As for other regions, he only knew a bit here and there.
Fortunately, these three lions weren't obscure Pet Beasts. They were actually one of the signature Pet Beasts of the Egyptian region.
After thinking briefly, Jiang Xing recalled their compendium entry.
[Name: Sekhem (Guardian Lion)]
[Attribute: Earth]
[Talents: Earthsource / Immovable]
[Species Tier: Mid Monarch Tier]
[Species Moves: Earthquake Wave, Sandstorm, Earthen Flow Wall, Rolling Boulder…]
[Description: A lion-type Pet Beast symbolizing loyalty. A Guardian Lion will only ever fall in love with a single mate in its lifetime and will use the power of the earth to protect its love.]
Guardian Lions were beloved by many people—
Not only did they have only one mate throughout their lives, but once their mate died, they themselves would also fall into complete depression and wither away before long.
Because of this, many people regarded them as symbols of love, even calling them "love lions."
Judging from their nature alone, they seemed highly compatible with the [Emotion] Attribute Jiang Xing had only recently discovered.
However, now wasn't the time to think about that.
Jiang Xing carefully examined the lions and discovered that the greatest difference between them and the Guardian Lions recorded in the compendium was—
The large number of beast-bone ornaments covering their bodies.
These bone ornaments didn't seem to serve merely decorative purposes. They appeared to contain some sort of power as well.
After noticing this characteristic, and combining it with the Guardian Lion's compendium entry, Friendship Evolution, the identity of Dr. Amru as a Necromancy-type doctor, and various other clues...
A name almost instantly surfaced in Jiang Xing's mind.
'Cubone?'
He spoke in astonishment.
"You used the bones of dead lions together with emotional energy to trigger the evolution of living lions?!"
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