52: Finish

Xu Yan was not surprised by the situation that appeared on the second Wind Flame Lion King. Or rather, this was the result Xu Yan had hoped for. Being able to achieve the desired outcome without any unexpected issues was, in itself, good news.

He also called it over to stand with the one that had completed its evolution earlier, both undergoing instrument detection.

Xu Yan didn't have to wait long before the screen on the instrument displayed the general information of the two Wind Flame Lion Kings.

The former's various stats were not much different from a normally evolved Wind Flame Lion King. Its strength increased from the original General Rank Mid-grade to General Rank Upper Grade, and there was no instability in its strength as seen during the assessment. Its bloodline level reached Marshal Rank Upper Grade.

Compared to a normal Wind Flame Lion King, the values for its primary and secondary attributes, attack, and speed had reversed, while other values were roughly within the same range.

Seeing this, Xu Yan nodded with satisfaction.

With the first successful result, he could now begin repetitive experiments to determine if it was an accidental occurrence. If all subsequent repetitive experiments were successful, then Xu Yan's research could pretty much be declared a complete success.

After his joy, Xu Yan turned his gaze to the report of the other Wind Flame Lion King.

Compared to the previous one, the situation of this Wind Flame Lion King, which evolved later, was considerably worse.

Its various stats were only 70% of the previous Wind Flame Lion King, its strength barely advanced from General Rank Low-grade to General Rank Mid-grade, and its bloodline level only reached Shuai Rank Low-grade, which was nothing special.

Even compared to the Wind Flame Lion King that evolved during the Breeder assessment, which the lion pack leader called a “defective product,” it was more than a notch weaker.

However, facing such a clearly underwhelming result, Xu Yan showed no disappointment; instead, he revealed an expression that seemed to say, “Just as expected.”

The Wind Flame Lion, as a spirit beast, had excellent attributes and stat distribution. However, it ultimately couldn't break into the ranks of popular mainstream spirit beasts.

The main reason was its initial bloodline level, which was as high as General Rank Upper Grade, and its bloodline level after evolution, which only reached Marshal Rank Upper Grade.

The former was too high, making it unaffordable for those from ordinary families who wanted to choose it. The latter was too low, causing those who could afford its initial form to dislike its low potential.

Coupled with several rare materials needed in the Wind Flame Lion evolution potion, the money required for its evolution far exceeded the Wind Flame Lion's own value.

This led to the awkward situation where the Wind Flame Lion was unaffordable for the poor and overlooked by the rich.

To increase its appeal, one must either raise its potential or lower the barrier to entry.

Otherwise, a destined child would have to appear, bringing a Wind Flame Lion to perform astonishingly in highly anticipated events like the college entrance examination, university competitions, or even national tournaments, attracting the attention of many fans and passersby, gaining significant popularity, and catching the attention of researchers, all while completing the first two points before the popularity runs out.

And the experiment Xu Yan conducted on this Wind Flame Lion King was an attempt to lower the barrier to its evolution.

Though this Wind Flame Lion King had a significant gap in its various attribute values compared to the previous one, its data still ranked in the upper-middle tier among spirit beasts of the same Shuai Rank Low-grade.

Most importantly, the potion required for this Wind Flame Lion King's evolution had most of its rare materials removed, and its price was only one-tenth of the original.

Although it only reduced the evolution price and didn't truly achieve the two situations mentioned earlier, even so, the operability greatly increased.

The price of a Wind Flame Lion, plus one-tenth of its original evolution price, was much cheaper than directly buying a spirit beast of similar strength with a Shuai Rank Low-grade bloodline. And in terms of quantity, there would be many more available.

A Shuai Rank Low-grade bloodline means that the spirit beast has a chance to break through to the Commander Rank. And even the lowest-grade Commander Rank spirit beast, its strength and money-making speed far exceed most General Rank Spirit Beasts.

Furthermore, in Xu Yan's vision, this “incomplete” evolutionary form was not irreparable.

After the instrument detection concluded, Xu Yan took the later-evolved Wind Flame Lion King aside and fed it a spirit fruit he found in the warehouse, which quickly boosted the strength of General Rank Spirit Beasts without causing any adverse effects.

Five days later, after Xu Yan successfully evolved several more Wind Flame Lion Kings and was basically able to confirm the success of his research, the Wind Flame Lion King that Xu Yan had fed the spirit fruit finally reached what Xu Yan considered a safe strength: General Rank Upper Grade.

After confirming that it had not consumed anything other than the spirit fruit and regular food during this period, Xu Yan fed the second bottle of potion, which he had prepared long ago, into its mouth.

This time, no anomaly appeared; only the flames burning on its four paws seemed to grow more vigorous.

He took it to the instrument for another detection. Its bloodline level was still Shuai Rank Low-grade, but its potential was slightly higher than before, and its various stats had also received some improvements and were still continuously increasing.

This increase finally stopped on the afternoon of the third day, and the Wind Flame Lion's various attributes reached the same level as other normally evolved Wind Flames Lions.

Looking at the information displayed on the instrument, Xu Yan let out a long sigh of relief, had Wuxiang organize and integrate his research and recordings from this period, spent a day and a night, and finally completed the first drafts of two papers.

Afterward, he took out his phone, turned it back on, ignored the pile of missed calls and unread messages, and sent messages to Zheng Hui and Feng Jie, telling them that his research was complete.

Then, he put his phone back on silent mode, lay down on the bed, and fell into a deep sleep.

Xu Yan slept soundly without a care, but Zheng Hui and Feng Jie in the outside world were utterly shocked by his message.

The first reaction of the two who received Xu Yan's message was one of disbelief.

Although having a senior's path to reference would speed up the research considerably, wasn't his pace a bit too fast?

Their original thought was that if Xu Yan could complete the research during his freshman year under the guidance of a mentor at the Third Academy, that would be the best outcome.

The investments from both sides were merely to secure a nominal claim before Xu Yan entered the Third Academy, gaining more advantages in future negotiations with the Third Academy.

However, not only had he not entered university, but Xu Yan even sent messages to both of them before the college entrance examination, informing them that he had completed all his research.

How could this not make the two wonder if Xu Yan was anxious because the college entrance examination was approaching and planned to use some other means to appease them?