Chapter 117: Chapter 107: New Skill Training

If I were the judge, even if I went against my conscience, I couldn’t have given such a high score.

Primarily because the scoring is based on the body’s instinctual level of satisfaction.

If it tastes good, it’s good, and if it doesn’t, it’s not.

No matter how hard you try to justify it, disliking something means you can’t give it a high score despite lying to yourself.

Chen Xing took out the pre-marinated meat cubes from the bag next to him and continued to thread them onto the skewers one by one. He warned Taotie in advance again to not swallow the skewers later on.

At first, to prevent accidents, he only bought thirty skewers, intending to reuse them.

Now only twenty remained, and ten had ended up in the belly of a certain glutton.

The intestines of an evolved creature are indeed exceptional—swallowing barbecued meat without spitting out the skewers.

These alloy skewers cost three yuan each!

Thinking of this, Chen Xing kicked Taotie’s front leg.

“Ow?”

Taotie didn’t understand why its master would kick it, but it knew there must be a reason for it.

So, Taotie simply lay down on the ground, flipping its massive body to expose its white belly.

Chen Xing’s eyes twitched as the twenty-plus meter long creature acted like a dog to gain favor, causing some elderly people walking nearby to look over.

“Young man, you’ve raised this crocodile just like a dog,” the passing old man complimented.

Chen Xing couldn’t help but smile wryly as Taotie did indeed seem a bit like a dog when facing him.

But only toward him.

After the old man left, Chen Xing finished skewering the second batch of meat and handed it to Sìxiàng to continue barbecuing.

At that moment, a park maintenance worker approached and saw Taotie lying like a log on the ground and Sìxiàng grilling skewers. He couldn’t help reminding him, “Young man, you can’t have open flames in the park.”

“Sorry about that.” Chen Xing quickly got up; he had chosen a spot by the pond to barbecue, plus Taotie was a Water Element Beast.

“It’s okay, just be careful next time. What kind of kebabs are you grilling there? They smell pretty good.”

The old man eyed the skewers Sìxiàng was grilling, blinking.

Chen Xing immediately said, “You can try one once they’re done.”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”

Soon Sìxiàng had finished grilling a new batch of skewers. Chen Xing had cut the meat into rather small pieces, so each skewer didn’t have too much meat on it, which made grilling and eating convenient and also made it easy to taste.

After all, the game didn’t specify how much meat had to be on each skewer, so he didn’t put much meat on each of them.

It was similar to the “Beef Galore” skewers in a skewer shop.

The old man received a skewer, blew on it to cool it down, and gently bit into it.

The next second, the old man’s expression changed slightly—he felt his whole body heat up after taking a bite.

Especially his blood, which uncontrollably flowed to a particular region, a sensation he hadn’t experienced in many years.

An old tree stump that had been barren for many years was sprouting new roots once again.

The old man took a deep breath, “Young man, what kind of meat is this?”

“Monster Dungeon Ghost Shark meat, just bought this morning,” Chen Xing said after taking a bite himself, which made him go “Mmm.”

An old man and a young man sat in silence looking at each other.

The old man bowed slightly and gave a small piece of advice, “Just be careful not to light anything on fire around here, and keep it quiet.”

After saying that, he hurried away, apparently eager to deal with the sudden surge of energy in his body.

Watching the old man’s hasty exit, Chen Xing dared not eat any more skewers himself since he was a young man with vigorous blood and vitality, and the meat was too nourishing with just one bite.

Half an hour later, all the barbecued meat he brought was gone.

Sìxiàng’s barbecue skills… Dark Death Nether Flame Proficiency Level skyrocketed.

Dark Death Nether Flame (Mastery) (438/500)

Chen Xing stood up, recalled the two beasts back into Beast Taming Space, and then took a taxi to the monster meat market, sending a message to the stall owner on the way.

Upon arriving at the stall, the bespectacled man was packing up, “You sent a message just now; I’ve saved some meat for you, all the best cuts.”

After saying that, he handed Chen Xing a bag, “Here are the ten pounds of meat you wanted.”

After paying, Chen Xing couldn’t help but reflect on how expensive monster meat was.

Of course, this was also because he had purchased the tender belly meat of the Dungeon Ghost Shark, which was the softest and most energy-rich part of the meat, hence the price was steep. Meat from other parts was much cheaper.

Carrying the meat home, Chen Xing dropped it to Taotie at the bottom of the building, “Grind it into mince.”

Taotie opened its mouth wide, performing a mini “Death Roll”!

Chen Xing picked up the minced meat and carried it back to his house.

It wasn’t that he was being lazy, but this meat was genuinely tough to cut, hard to imagine how a lump of meat as tough as cowhide could barely leave a tiny mark despite aggressively grinding the knife on it.

A Taotie-brand mincer was indeed more useful.

After marinating the meat, Chen Xing took the seasoned meat to the suburbs.

Barbecuing in the park was indeed not such a good idea, mainly because it attracted too much attention during the day.

That’s why this time Chen Xing chose a more secluded spot.

“`

He needed to grind fiercely!

He aimed to raise Dark Death Nether Flame to a perfect proficiency level as soon as possible.

By evening, the ten jin of meat that had been skewered was finally all dealt with.

Taotie smacked its lips.

Although it didn’t eat much meat, especially for its size.

But this was the flesh of a Level 71 monster, brimming with abundant energy.

After spending the entire day eating nothing but this meat, it was completely full.

Especially the scent of the grilled skewer seasoning, Taotie was still savoring the taste, having never experienced such a flavor before with its first encounter with skewers.

Hmm… although it wasn’t as delicious as the pet food made by its master, it was a different taste indeed!

This novel taste made it feel very fresh, like a kid who eats healthy food every day experiencing the taste of spicy strips for the first time.

Chen Xing checked the skill panel of Sìxiàng.

Dark Death Nether Flame (Perfect) (2248/5000)

The proficiency level had directly upgraded to perfect, and Chen Xing clearly felt the change when Sìxiàng used this skill.

Dark Death Nether Flame wasn’t like some attack skill, it was more like summoning fire itself, which could either armor the body like a suit of armor or be thrown out.

As the proficiency level grew higher and higher, Sìxiàng’s control over the flame also rapidly improved.

Even after reaching a perfect level, the Dark Death Nether Flame could take on various intricate shapes and perform complex variations under Sìxiàng’s control.

With the continuous improvement in proficiency level, the flavor of the meat skewers roasted by Sìxiàng got better and better.

Every time it flipped the skewers over the flames, the crisply golden skin gradually became crispy under the fire’s roast, and the internal fat of the skewers was forced out by the heat, making the entire skewer fuller and juicier.

Once the surface of the meat was roasted to a golden brown, Sìxiàng would skillfully sprinkle on chili powder and various spices, followed by a garnish of fresh green onions. Each bite was a feast for the taste buds.

Chen Xing couldn’t help but take another bite and then provided Sìxiàng with 2 points of skill proficiency.

“You’re definitely going to be a qualified skewer chef in the future!” Chen Xing said, giving a thumbs-up.

Sìxiàng: …

The head-hung Sìxiàng kept silent, spreading its right paw to reveal flames writhing in its palm, shape-shifting into a small black snake made of flame slithering within.

For Sìxiàng, today’s experience was indeed quite wonderful.

It had awakened the Dark Death Nether Flame skill several months ago and so far could only barely release the skill proficiently. However, today, under the guidance of Chen Xing while practicing through roasting, it felt its proficiency in Dark Death Nether Flame soar at a rapid pace.

This rate of improvement was so fast that even Sìxiàng found it incredible.

It started to wonder if this was the mystical power of a Beast Tamer? If it really was, then that was simply too terrifying!

Indeed, as terrifying as it was.

Chen Xing, looking at the small black flame serpent in Sìxiàng’s palm, also felt quite satisfied.

All the result of his hard work skewering meat!

“Sìxiàng, are you able to release two skills at the same time?” Chen Xing asked with a sudden inspiration, “For example, combining Dark Death Nether Flame with Thunder Spear?”

Hearing Chen Xing’s words, Sìxiàng also became curious.

It attempted to combine the two skills but soon discovered that it wasn’t easy.

Dark Death Nether Flame and Thunder Spear were like two fundamentally incompatible modules; as they approached each other, they produced a strong repulsion.

Although Sìxiàng tried to wrap strands of Dark Death Nether Flame around the Thunder Spear to form a magnificent spectacle of thunder and fire intertwined, every attempt ended in failure.

The moment it loosened control over both skills, they would immediately conflict, with Dark Death Nether Flame being shattered into countless sparks flying everywhere, and Thunder Spear unleashing wild electrical arcs all around.

The scene looked extremely fearsome, and Chen Xing realized that perhaps combining the two skills was not as easy as he thought. Maybe it was simply an impossible task.

Returning home, the next day Chen Xing continued to take his Beasts to a deserted area in the suburbs for training.

This time, he had Sìxiàng train Soul Shock.

Soul Shock only required a deck of playing cards.

And he also prepared a large bag of raw eggs for Taotie’s skill training today.

“Today your task is to train Soul Shock while also coordinating with Taotie to practice the Death Roll skill,” Chen Xing said unaffectedly.

Although Sìxiàng was puzzled as to why it had to coordinate with Taotie during its training, it didn’t question its master out of trust.

If the master says so… there must be his reasons!

Seeing Sìxiàng so obedient touched Chen Xing, saving him the trouble of preparing the persuasive speech he had ready.

As the two Beasts’ training got on track, Chen Xing also took out his tablet to continue learning related knowledge.

Previously, he had studied the breeding methods for Water Element Beasts, which included the knowledge taught by his teacher.

But now, in addition to the Water Element Beast, he had Sìxiàng, a multi-attribute Beast.

Beasts with different attributes have different daily living habits, and as a Beast Tamer, Chen Xing naturally needed to learn relevant knowledge in advance to better care for and nurture his Beasts.

Thus, a month ago, Chen Xing consciously took time to study in this area.

But the sea of knowledge is vast, and Chen Xing felt like a sponge, the more he learned, the more he realized his own shortcomings.

“`