Chapter 205: To Achieve Divine Power, One Must First Suffer a Loss of Eight Hundred!

In the end, Asher still didn't ask that question.

It wasn't because he was embarrassed.

It was because Asher felt that these guys wouldn't reflect on themselves at all. If anything, he might end up being the one speechless.

Besides, Asher now understood why Angel hadn't notified him about this matter. Honestly... it had nothing to do with him. It was just netizens running wild with their imaginations.

"Alright," Asher decisively skipped the topic, "The holiday is over. You guys should get back to work. Just in time, I've got a new idea for Silverfang Tiger's evolution path."

As soon as he said this, just as Asher had expected, everyone's attention instantly shifted to Silverfang Tiger.

What?

The online storm?

That had nothing to do with them.

A new evolution path for Silverfang Tiger?

Great!

"We're starting, right now!", Eliana was the first to take the lead.

The others were also very interested in Silverfang Tiger's evolution path.

Of course.

Their interest was different from Asher's.

They were more eager to learn how Asher thought things through.

Did Asher know?

Of course, he knew.

He just didn't care.

The newly joined research assistants Pierce, Levi, and Eliana were very useful. Asher naturally didn't mind their little intentions.

If they could actually learn something from him, Asher would even praise them 'Good skills.'

However...

Asher's talent skill panel evolution still needed 64 hours. Until the evolution paths were fully revealed on his panel, he couldn't be sure if his ideas were correct.

He wanted to test them.

After seeing enough and summarizing often, he had picked up a thing or two, right?

———

One day later.

Asher looked at the second successfully evolved Striped Thunder Tiger, his eyes filled with a bit of disbelief.

'Wait.'

'It actually worked?'

"Professor Asher, I can't thank you enough! You're truly amazing!"

The Beast Tamer of the newly evolved Silverfang Tiger was a tall, thin, slightly tanned man. His teeth were exceptionally white when he smiled, which instantly reminded Asher of Vicky's teeth.

The soldier tightly gripped Asher's hands, repeatedly expressing his gratitude, his eyes filled with excitement.

"This is what I should do," Asher responded instinctively. Then, he quickly composed himself.

With a calm expression and a smile, he looked at the soldier encouragingly.

"Besides, you and Silverfang Tiger worked very hard, didn't you?"

"You weren't defeated by war. You didn't succumb to psychological trauma. You kept facing and solving problems."

"To have persisted until now, you two are already incredible."

Hearing Asher's sincere words, the soldier's voice became choked with emotion. He unconsciously tightened and loosened his grip on Asher's hands repeatedly, his emotions fluctuating visibly.

Asher withdrew one hand and patted the soldier's shoulder.

"Suffering ends, the storm passes, everything will be alright."

"Believe in yourself. Believe in Silverfang Tiger... Ah, no, I should call it Striped Thunder Tiger now. You two will definitely go further in the future," Asher smiled.

The soldier nodded firmly.

His emotions were still stirred, but with his newly evolved Striped Thunder Tiger constantly rubbing against him, the tears in his eyes turned into a bright smile as he petted his companion.

Seeing this, Pierce couldn't help but sigh.

"Professor Asher is truly amazing!"

"Seeing him like this, I really hope that one day, I can become someone like him."

Not just helping pet beasts evolve—

At the same time, helping Beast Tamers and their beasts break free from their mental shackles.

Levi and Eliana wholeheartedly agreed.

Eliana even took out a small notebook and started scribbling furiously.

Sarah curiously peeked over.

Then, she pretended as if nothing had happened and quickly withdrew her gaze.

Yeah.

It wasn't that she was bad.

It was just that these young ones were too good.

She couldn't understand a single word written in that notebook, so she decisively gave up.

———

No one found it strange that Asher had thoroughly studied and mastered Silverfang Tiger's evolution.

In fact, they all sincerely felt that it was only natural.

A new evolution path for Silverfang Tiger?

Honestly.

It had taken Professor Asher almost a week. That alone seemed a bit odd to them.

Logically speaking.

Shouldn't Professor Asher have solved this in just three days?

Ahem!

Noted.

No stereotypes allowed.

In any case, everyone found it completely normal. So normal that it couldn't be any more normal.

Only Asher himself had a rather complex feeling about it.

Without relying on his talent skill or golden finger at all, he had discovered a new evolution path purely through his own research.

A little exciting.

Not that exciting, but still.

At that moment, Asher suddenly realized something.

Talent skills might be a golden finger—

But they were also truly his talents. They were a part of him.

Thinking of this, Asher couldn't help but smile.

"Professor Asher…"

The comrades of the soldier whose Silverfang Tiger had evolved were now eyeing their own Silverfang Tigers and… sigh.

Who knew how long it would take for theirs to evolve?

They could no longer hold back their excitement.

"Do you think our Silverfang Tigers have a chance to evolve?", One of them asked cautiously.

Asher pondered for a moment, rubbing his chin.

'How should I put this?'

'It is hard to say.'

He had to admit, luck played a role in the success within a day.

But the most frustrating part for Asher was this—

He had a reasonable suspicion that the key to Silverfang Tiger's atavistic evolution lay in… emotional extremes.

From despair, blooming into hope… Ahem! A very poetic way to put it.

But essentially, it meant:

They had to first experience pain and despair, endure all the negative emotions. Rage, frustration, etc. and then climb out of it.

And if their bodies also suffered potentially irreversible damage affecting their potential, all the better.

Because that was part of the atavistic evolution process.

Asher: "…"

Speechless.

Good lord.

'To achieve divine power, one must first suffer a loss of eight hundred, huh?'

He understood the principle of breaking before building. But… who in their right mind would willingly self-destruct before rebuilding?

Asher's gaze drifted toward the newly evolved Striped Thunder Tiger.

Fine.

Maybe there were exceptions.

Like the Silverfang Tiger Corps, which probably had quite a few meeting the conditions.

"Let's take it one at a time. There's a chance for everyone."

Then, Asher paused as if remembering something.

Speaking of which… there was something he hadn't tried yet.

Yes.

Asher wasn't referring to anything else—

But the Three-Legged Golden Crow's blood, which he had brought back from the Red Soil Secret Realm and used in a trade with the new president of Red Soil City's Alliance, Rosa.

Asher glanced at the Striped Thunder Tiger lounging in the courtyard, sunbathing.

This was the very tiger he had rescued from the battlefield.

Because of various reasons… Asher really wanted to find it a new Beast Tamer or at least something to do, but unfortunately, it refused.

So what could Asher do?

Nothing.

Except… raise it like a big dumb cat.

And this was also the major contributor who led Asher to discover the phenomenon of "atavistic evolution." Asher really couldn't bring himself to just drive the big tiger away.

His heart wasn't hardened to the level of someone who has killed fish at fish market for ten years.

Asher sighed.

'Sigh!'

'I am still too kind-hearted.'

Humans...

Being too kind-hearted means being bound by all sorts of worldly rules.

*Dumbledore shaking his head*

Even though he had considered that the red mineral might play some role in this process. Such as better facilitating the atavistic regression of the Silverfang Tiger's bloodline or something else...

Asher didn't plan to let them test it just yet.

Not because the red mineral was precious.

With Little Raven around, this stuff was as much as he wanted, whenever he wanted. He could enter the Red Soil Secret Realm at any time.

The crystallized blood of the Three-legged Golden Crow was no issue at all.

The problem was... without an innate talent ability for direct observation, Asher couldn't determine the true effect of the blood crystal in the Silverfang Tiger's atavistic evolution.

'What if it is just a waste?'

'Better to wait a little longer.'

'It won't be long now.'

Asher glanced at the 41-hour countdown and repeated to himself in his heart, 'Soon, soon, really soon.'

———

[Star City]

"You actually don't have to work overtime today?"

In a stylish, small-bourgeoisie-style café by the street, Jasmine sat by the window in a corner, holding a cup of coffee, and looked at her friend in surprise.

"To be honest, when you asked me out, I was quite curious."

"Logically speaking, isn't this the time when you all are working overtime like crazy?"

Across from her, Charlotte: "..."

Holding an iced Americano with an unsweetened cake in front of her, Charlotte's expression was... hard to describe.

She took a sip of the espresso-strength iced Americano, which no longer tasted bitter to her. If anything, it wasn't strong enough. Then, calmly, she said, "Ah… you mean that mess with those two idiot countries?"

Jasmine smiled without saying anything.

Silent understanding.

"Actually, we were supposed to be working overtime, but…"

As she spoke, Charlotte's expression became complicated again.

Jasmine: "?"

'What?'

'Stopping mid-sentence? What kind of bad habit is that?'

'Speak!'

'Finish what you were saying!'

"Wait, let me think about how to phrase this so it doesn't sound too ridiculous or funny," Charlotte raised a hand, making a pause gesture.

Jasmine stared at Charlotte.

Charlotte ate and drank at a leisurely pace, her expression gradually turning more satisfied. Just before her friend was about to lose her temper, she finally spoke.

"How should I put this... Eastern Nation is stirring things up, trying to step up and squeeze into the ranks of top-tier nations. It's not entirely unreasonable."

"They are, after all, already in the second tier, right?"

"But ambition aside, actually achieving it is a bit tricky."

In this day and age, becoming a great power wasn't something you could just decide to do.

It depended on all aspects of national strength.

And the most crucial factor, was high-level Beast Tamer combat power.

That's right.

Not beast cultivators. Not beast evolution scholars. But actual high-level Beast Tamers.

In this aspect, Soren was miles ahead.

If you had to pinpoint the reason, population size was one factor, but the well-established social system integrating Beast Tamers and ordinary people was another.

Think about it—

Some countries still had major conflicts and tensions between Beast Tamers and regular folks, practically on the verge of dividing society into 'nobles' and 'commoners.'

Charlotte shook her head at the thought.

As if Beast Tamers somehow lived outside of society, not needing to eat, drink, sleep, or live like everyone else.

'What's wrong with ordinary people?'

'Ordinary people can be amazing too!'

As for beast breeders and beast evolution scholars, they represented soft power, the future, the proof of progress and inheritance within the Beast Tamer community.

It wasn't enough to just have a bunch of strong Beast Tamers right now.

They needed to keep emerging.

That's why beast breeders and evolution scholars were crucial.

As for other countries… well, let's just say they were trying to play smart. Since they couldn't compete with Soren in hard power, they shifted focus to a soft power competition.

As time passed and patterns emerged, some second-tier nations started having delusions, thinking, "Hey! Our hard power isn't enough, but if our soft power is strong enough, we can still sit at the big boys' table."

To this, Charlotte had only one thing to say—

"If your brain isn't working right, go get it checked! Stop daydreaming all day long!"

The world wasn't that kind.

That's right.

She was talking about Eastern Nation.

"Cold Nation and Eastern Nation keep claiming their so-called 'geniuses' are the real deal. Naturally, other countries took issue with that. Words alone don't cut it, if they wanted others to acknowledge their superiority, they needed to show real results."

Charlotte took a sip of coffee, her voice steady.

As she spoke, she suddenly burst into laughter.

Jasmine: "?"

She sensed something was off and looked at Charlotte curiously.

"Stop keeping me in suspense. Just say it."

"Okay, okay… Haha! No, I can't! Haha! Just thinking about it makes me laugh."

Barely getting a few words out, Charlotte started laughing again.

Jasmine just sat there quietly, staring at her.

Charlotte: "Hahaha!"

Charlotte: "They presented their geniuses' latest research results… Haha! Can you imagine? It was the exact same thing!"

Jasmine: "?"

'Huh?'

'What?'

Jasmine blinked, looking bewildered.

'Wait… wait?'

'What does that mean?'

Finally realizing what Charlotte was implying, Jasmine stared at her in shock.

"You're saying that Cold Nation and Eastern Nation's geniuses presented the exact same findings?", Her voice carried a hint of disbelief, "Couldn't it just be a coincidence?"

"No!"

"It was identical!"

"Even the research reports were word-for-word the same!"

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