The two evolution forms of the Honey Attendant did not have especially complicated requirements.
Because of that, the project managed to overtake everyone else on the curve and finish first.
Meanwhile, the neighboring Ugly Waterfowl research team went through failure after failure. Only on the fifth day after the Honey Attendant project was completed did they finally achieve a breakthrough—
Under the gaze of countless spectators, one Ugly Waterfowl donned the Hundred-Bird Robe, soared into the sky, and transformed into the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling!
Only at that moment were the evolution requirements of the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling finally revealed.
[Level + Strong-Willed personality + Phoenix-type move + Hundred-Bird Robe + Beauty ≥ 200 + Friendship ≥ 220 + evolution ritual]
Even among the millions of Pet Beasts recorded in the Pet Beast Compendium, evolution requirements this complicated would rank near the top.
Of course, both Jiang Xing and Su Muli were Pet Beast scholars.
When researching Pet Beast evolution forms, they were not merely trying to discover the evolution requirements. Understanding "the principles behind those requirements" was just as much a core objective for them—
Only by seeing through the surface phenomena and understanding the essence beneath could they turn that knowledge into experience and apply it to future Pet Beast research.
Therefore, no matter how complicated the evolution requirements of the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling were, Jiang Xing and Su Muli still analyzed the data together and roughly inferred the underlying principles behind them.
First, Power Level was the foundational requirement for Pet Beast evolution.
A newly born, weak Pet Beast lacked the necessary foundation. Even if every other condition were maxed out, it still could not evolve—
There was absolutely no such thing as a Pet Beast undergoing consecutive evolutions in a short period of time and leaping directly from Extraordinary to Demi-God.
Second, the Phoenix-type move, the Hundred-Bird Robe, and Beauty...
These three conditions were fundamentally interconnected and mutually reinforcing.
The first two could increase Beauty, while Beauty itself could amplify the effects of the first two...
At the core of all three was the same principle:
[Raise the Ugly Waterfowl's real-time Beauty to the limit—or even beyond the theoretical maximum.]
Only by attaining ultimate beauty could it evolve into the ultimate phoenix!
Among them, the Phoenix-type move itself was also indispensable, because it granted the Ugly Waterfowl "Phoenix-type power."
Finally, the Strong-Willed personality, the evolution ritual, and Friendship...
These three conditions were also closely linked together.
The Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix ritual was similar to Carp Leaping Through the Dragon Gate. Its primary purpose was tempering the Ugly Waterfowl's willpower, thereby stimulating the evolution energy within its body to levels far beyond normal.
The Friendship requirement, meanwhile, was what allowed that evolution energy to be fully utilized.
Just like the Dragonpass Steed and Dragonpass Horse researched by Dr. Xu, the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling was essentially a further, more extreme form that surpassed the Mysticfeather Peacock!
It was likewise the ultimate eruption of emotional power!
And the Strong-Willed personality was what determined whether the Ugly Waterfowl could endure the process.
If it failed to hold on, it would instead turn into a weak and fragile Clouddown Bird that only knew how to cry out "Big Brother~".
'To sum it up, the core evolution requirements of the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling are actually only three things—'
'Phoenix-type energy, ultimate beauty, and ultimate emotion.'
Even after simplifying the core conditions down to only three points, compared to the evolution requirements of other Pet Beasts, it was still absurdly complicated—
For most Pet Beasts, forget special conditions. As long as their strength reached the appropriate Level, they could evolve directly!
Who made things this troublesome like the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling did?
Not only were the conditions complicated, it even had two deceptive prerequisite forms.
If someone unknowingly lacked one of the required conditions and evolved incorrectly into either the Clouddown Bird or the Mysticfeather Peacock instead...
That would genuinely shatter their mentality.
Because—
Evolution leaves no regrets!
Once a Pet Beast completed evolution, its very life essence would undergo a complete transformation.
No known method could revert a Pet Beast back to its previous form and let it evolve again.
Not even "gods" could accomplish such a thing.
'With evolution requirements this complicated, combined with how rare Ugly Waterfowl already are...'
'In terms of rarity alone, it's probably comparable to Demi-God Tier species.'
As for something like that, even Jiang Xing could do nothing about it.
Pet Beasts with powerful talents and extremely high potential naturally being rare was perfectly normal.
After all, not every Pet Beast was like the Rainbow Dragon Hatchling—maturing early, possessing astonishing potential, and somehow reproducing in numbers comparable to stray dogs on the roadside...
At most, Jiang Xing could build an Ugly Waterfowl breeding house beside the lake at the research institute.
That way, his own Clouddown Bird and Mysticfeather Peacock could lay more eggs and expand the population, allowing him—as a Water-type researcher (self-proclaimed)—to contribute a little toward the rise of Water-types.
...
Because Jiang Xing had already postponed things once before, to express his apology, he deliberately chose not to wait for the academic conference.
Instead, he directly uploaded the evolution papers for the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling, the Mysticfeather Peacock, and the Little Healing Fairy all at once into the academic archives of the Beast Tamer Association.
Afterward, he logged into his social media account, pasted the link, and posted a new update.
"Phew, the project is finally finished. Sorry for making everyone wait so long. To make up for it, I'll throw in an extra research result this time!"
"@Su Muli, thanks for all your help during this period, Senior Sister!"
When Jiang Xing posted the update, Su Muli was standing right beside him.
The two of them stood together in the research institute with their respective dragon and phoenix aces, smiling at the camera as they snapped a group photo for the post.
The moment the post went live, Su Muli immediately liked, commented, and reposted it.
"(Sticker: Storm Sea Lizard pointing forward — Let me help you)"
Both of their social media accounts already had over ten million followers.
On top of that, the hype surrounding the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling had remained at a fever pitch these past days, with countless Water-type Beast Tamers eagerly waiting for news.
As a result, the moment the post was published, it shot straight onto the trending charts within minutes.
The number of comments skyrocketed. Figures from all sorts of top-tier Beast Tamers began appearing, making it feel as though Beast Tamers from every corner of the country had crammed themselves into this tiny comment section.
"What a dream collab! My two favorite researchers actually worked together!"
"With these two prodigies backing us, Water-types can finally rule supreme!"
"Two top geniuses joining forces—what a terrifying duo hiding behind those friendly smiles!"
"It's over. The inevitable has arrived. The supreme Water Phoenix is about to descend upon its loyal battlefield... Is it still too late to surrender now?"
"I need to start training a Water Phoenix team immediately!"
The evolution forms of the Ugly Waterfowl had been foreshadowed for a very long time.
Now that they had been fully revealed, every Water-type Beast Tamer was grinning from ear to ear.
Meanwhile, Fire-type Beast Tamers could barely breathe.
The nightmare had finally become reality, and by now, it was already too late.
However, once they clicked the link and opened the paper...
Complete reversal!
Every Beast Tamer's mood underwent a full one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn!
The Water-type Beast Tamers instantly lost it.
"??? Wait, this paper isn't joking?"
"The Ugly Waterfowl needs to satisfy seven evolution conditions to evolve into the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling? And every single one is ridiculously difficult?"
"If the requirements are this insane, then how the hell did you even research this thing?!"
"Answer me! Does this look reasonable to you?!"
On the other side, the Fire-type Beast Tamers burst into laughter.
"Hehehe, now you're panicking."
"I'm telling you, this is perfectly reasonable... How could every Pet Beast be like the Rainbow Dragon Hatchling, absurdly strong and easy to raise?"
"Phoenixes were always supposed to be rare Pet Beasts. Did you really think everyone could own one?"
"Exactly, brother!"
As a rare field-type Pet Beast, the Abyssal Water Phoenix Fledgling could influence the entire flow of battle.
So the moment information related to it was released, arguments and controversy were inevitable.
In fact, many of the Beast Tamers joining the debate were not even Water- or Fire-type Beast Tamers—
Just like the elemental type chart itself, the battle arena was an extremely complicated environment.
For example, Wood-types countered Water-types, yet were countered by Fire-types. So if Water-types became stronger and Fire-types got suppressed, Wood-type Beast Tamers would naturally be delighted.
Earth-types were countered by Water and Wood, yet countered Fire in return. Naturally, they did not want to see the other two types grow stronger while Fire-types weakened, so they stood on the Fire-types' side and spoke in their defense.
Meanwhile, Metal-, Wind-, Thunder-, and other attribute Beast Tamers all had their own positions and interests as well.
That was the true core behind these online flame wars.
On the surface, it looked like nothing more than a conflict between Water and Fire.
But in reality, it was closely tied to the interests of Beast Tamers from every attribute.
At times like this, the group that truly stood above the conflict—while also representing power and authority—was actually the Dragon-type Beast Tamers.
Those Dragon-type Beast Tamers born into Dragon-Taming clans, whose contracted Pet Beasts were all various dragon species, people who had stood above the clouds since birth—
When they looked at these online wars, all they felt was amusement at the noise below.
An Ink Realm that counters every attribute? What does that have to do with us Dragon-types?
That's right. We noble dragons are completely unaffected by the mere Ink Realm and can unleash our full power!
Even these so-called phoenixes are only fifty-fifty against true dragons at best!
Noble dragons may fear Ice-types a little, but aside from that, they discriminate equally against every other attribute...
As for T0 attributes like Space-Time and similar nonsense, those almost never appeared in normal competitions anyway. They were outside-the-standard monsters.
Phoenixes, chickens, whatever...
Come talk to us loudly again after an attribute that actually counters dragons shows up!
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I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
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