143: Two months

Time flew by quickly; two months had passed since the activity between Xu Yan and the Combat Department concluded.

During these two months, Xu Yan dedicated the vast majority of his energy to attempting to create Monarch Rank spirit food and potions, repeatedly deducing, simulating, and then experimenting based on the two Breeder notes he held.

However, the Monarch Rank is ultimately a watershed, separating two vastly different domains—the period before Monarch Rank and the Monarch Rank itself. This applies not only to the strength of spirit beasts and Beast Tamers but also to other fields.

During these two months, guided by the two cultivation experience records he possessed, Xu Yan also attempted to create spirit food and potions several times after deduction and simulation. Unfortunately, the final results were all less than ideal.

The preliminary preparations, such as extraction, posed no major issues. However, as soon as Xu Yan progressed to connecting with the Power of Heaven and Earth, various problems would arise, leading to the ultimate failure of the attempt.

Fortunately, Xu Yan had prepared for the possibility of failure. Thus, when selecting resources, he chose those that could be disassembled and reused. Otherwise, the materials and academic credits in Xu Yan's possession would have long been exhausted by repeated failures.

Of course, while repeated failed attempts consumed materials, Xu Yan was not without gains.

While his technique for making spirit food and potions became more skilled and proficient through successive cross-rank attempts, Xu Yan's control over the Power of Heaven and Earth also grew increasingly adept.

During these two months, Xu Yan rarely used the Heavens Mandate Guidance Innate Talent to "cheat."

Initially, due to his previous encounter with the Xuan Niao, Xu Yan felt a certain awkwardness regarding his Innate Talent and developed the idea of not relying on it too heavily.

He decided to use this method of taking shortcuts as little as possible, or not at all, when enhancing his own strength. This was to prevent his power from becoming unstable or even collapsing due to these shortcuts if he ever encountered a situation, like with the Xuan Niao, where he needed to abandon this power.

Subsequently, through repeated attempts and failures, Xu Yan discovered that during this process, both his own mental strength and his control over the Power of Heaven and Earth were rapidly improving, and the consumption incurred by using the Power of Heaven and Earth became increasingly minimal.

After noticing this change, Xu Yan completely abandoned the idea of using the assistance of the Heavens Mandate Guidance Innate Talent to break through to Monarch Rank Cultivator. Instead, he honestly proceeded with repeated attempts and trial-and-error, improving himself in all aspects during the process.

In the eyes of outsiders, this method of using Monarch Rank resources for self-improvement might seem luxurious or even wasteful. However, for Xu Yan, who had just acquired a large batch of resources and academic credits from the Combat Department and the Cultivation Department, it was within an acceptable range.

On this day, after completing his daily training, Xu Yan suddenly experienced a feeling of inspiration striking his heart. Although his mental strength was still at Commander Rank Level 9, and there was still a significant gap before breaking through to the Monarch Rank.

However, regarding the Power of Heaven and Earth, Xu Yan felt that his control over it, which had been improving and accumulating over the past two months, finally completed its final leap today, reaching a new stage.

As he completed this final leap, Xu Yan had a feeling that if he attempted to create Monarch Rank spirit food and potions again, the previous issues would no longer occur.

After this feeling arose, Xu Yan went to the laboratory, retrieved the prepared materials, and, according to the formula he chose, repeated the spirit food creation process he had attempted numerous times over the previous two months.

Under Xu Yan's swift and skilled operation, he quickly reached the stage that required connecting with the Power of Heaven and Earth—the stage where Xu Yan had always failed before.

Xu Yan's previous feeling had not deceived him. The process of activating the Power of Heaven and Earth proceeded smoothly, without the mutual repulsion or destruction between the Power of Heaven and Earth and the materials that had occurred before. Xu Yan successfully activated the Power of Heaven and Earth, catalyzing the materials he had processed, causing them to begin merging.

After completing this most crucial step, the subsequent procedures became simple. Under Xu Yan's focused operation, he successfully completed the creation of the spirit food.

Looking at the dozen or so cyan spirit foods placed on the tray, Xu Yan stretched his slightly stiff body, let out a long breath, and then picked up one piece and placed it into the testing apparatus nearby.

Five minutes later, the test results appeared on the instrument's screen.

Name: Wind Howl No. 1

Attribute: Wind

Level: Monarch Rank Low Grade

Quality: Standard

Score: 63 (Out of 100)

Effect: Accelerates the cultivation speed of Wind-attribute spirit beasts; long-term use can increase the wind element affinity of spirit beasts... Looking at the information on the testing instrument, although the finished spirit food was only of Standard Quality, Xu Yan still showed a satisfied smile.

Regardless of the quality, and regardless of whether Wind Howl No. 1 was among the easiest batch of Monarch Rank spirit food to produce, Xu Yan had ultimately succeeded in creating Monarch Rank spirit food.

Afterward, while his touch was still hot, Xu Yan retrieved several more sets of materials and began the creation process according to the previous procedures.

The increasing number of finished products proved that Xu Yan's earlier success was not accidental. Xu Yan could now consistently produce Monarch Rank Wind Howl No. 1 spirit food. Furthermore, as Xu Yan continued crafting, the spirit food's score also began to rise; the spirit food made from the final set of materials had reached the minimum standard for Excellent Quality.

After finishing this, Xu Yan found a stool and sat down, closing his eyes. He rested to recover the mental strength consumed during the spirit food creation, while simultaneously organizing his previous successful experiences.

After resting, Xu Yan retrieved another set of materials and began making potions. After two failures, he successfully completed the creation of a Monarch Rank potion.

Although it was only the most basic type of Monarch Rank spirit food and potion, by being able to consistently produce both, Xu Yan had formally stepped into the Monarch Rank in the Breeder domain.