The Medallion

Flint was genuinely surprised. Basil always looked weird and out of place, but what he said made sense. But Flint stood by his opinion. "My Could Tiger is a powerful war beast, which means it must have a strong body build. Otherwise, its primary function would be suppressed."

"You're right about that. However genes are main factors that control everything. They can determine qualities like power, speed, et cetera. A war beast's genes determine its strengths. That's not just something you can change by adjusting diet. If, however on the other hand, this war beast can change its genes, then it would be something truly magnificent," Rocky explained seriously. His past as an authority in genetic engineering continued to influence his thoughts.

Flint looked more and more surprised as he listened to Rocky talking nonstop about his theory. He could not understand any of the terminology and was thoroughly perplexed.

"What determines a war beast's constitution is not meat; rather, it is the protein inside the meat that does the job. But beasts also need carbohydrates. Based on what I can see of your war beast, I recommend food with high concentration of starch like sweet potatoes. Not only will it reduce the extra fat from taking too much protein and keep it from being overweight, it will also improve its physique." Rocky decided to give him some understandable insights instead of explaining something too jargonistic and abstract, seeing how Flint was having a hard time trying to make sense of what he said.

"You sound like you really know your stuff. Yet you selected a war beast of less than one star," Flint said drily, glancing at the little beast in Rocky's arm. He appeared rather incredulous about the stuff Rocky was spouting.

"Don't underestimate it. Its saliva is special..." Rocky was going to show off the special healing power of his war beast, but he changed his mind and decided to learn more about Flint's war beast instead. "Does your war beast have any special ability like spitting fire or water?"

"Only dragons and some special spiritual beasts can do those. Ordinary war beasts can only use their physical power. There may be some war beasts also gifted with special abilities. Yet it is very rare, unless they are able to evolve spontaneously," explained Flint.

"I see. Do any of the spiritual beasts have saliva secretions that heal wounds?" Rocky asked, trying to seem subtle. He braced himself for the answer.

"Saliva? You're kidding! I have never heard saliva from any spiritual beasts can heal wounds. However I once heard the secretion of a spiritual dragon could heal nearly anything, but they only existed hundreds of years ago. They went into extinction a very long time ago." Flint rolled his eyes at Rocky. This was common knowledge, and yet this peculiar guy apparently had no idea. Flint once again felt very disdainful towards him. Maybe the previous talk about genes was just a bunch of nonsense.

"How can you be so sure about their extinction?" Rocky faked a smile to cover the question in his mind. 'This war beast clearly is not a dragon, and it can't possibly have anything to do with spiritual dragon. However its saliva has the same healing power as that of a spiritual dragon. Could it be a special war beast? If so, I definitely stumbled on something extraordinary!'

"Let me ask you, those war beasts at the stable, were they born out of artificial mating?" Rocky asked, a light bulb going on in his head.

"There are many reproduction methods for war beasts. And there is no single method that could cover it all. Normally war beasts for the spirit manipulators are all captured at a very young age from some dangerous and mysterious place in the Wild Spirit Land. They are then fed and trained until they mature enough to connect to a spirit manipulator. This method also goes for both spiritual beasts or dragons," Flint explained a little exasperatedly.

"Dangerous and mysterious place? Where is that? Can I go?" Rocky appeared really excited. He wondered if he could catch a couple of young war beasts to study their genes and reproduction. He was still thinking about creating a new species. Perhaps, he could create a powerful war beast! He would then have his own place in the entire Wild Continent.

"You want to go there? I am sorry to tell you, but it would take spirit manipulator who is above the Heavenly Stage to enter places like Beast-slaughtering Valley and Cloud Deity Gully where many war beasts reside. Given your current strength, you will just become an afternoon snack for most of them." Flint laughed at Rocky's blind ambition.

"What about dragons? Where can I find one of those?" Rocky was still feeling optimistic.

"You can forget about those! If you want to catch one, you will have to go to the Hell of Dragon Fang. It is a place where only the spirit manipulators above the Supernal Stage can go. If you do not have such strength, the only thing you will find there is death!" Flint grew solemn and warned Rocky.

Rocky looked disappointed, and yet he continued probing. "How are these war beasts or spiritual beasts graded accordingly?"

"That depends on the level of mutation demonstrated by each war beast. More stars indicate a higher level of mutation. Take my Cloud Tiger for instance. It's a two-star war beast, because it has two scorpion tails while other ordinary one-star cloud tigers have only one tail. The head, wings and tail are the common places where mutations are easily spotted. And of course there are some special mutations which occur inside their bodies, like having multiple organs. Even their bones can mutate sometimes." Flint gave a detailed explanation.

"I see. May I borrow your Cloud Tiger for some study?" Rocky looked at it, eyes shining with expectation. Compared to his own little beast, Flint's Cloud Tiger looked more valuable for research.

"No. I am going to practice now. Do not disturb me!" Flint said bluntly. He had grown quite bored of their conversation. After feeding his war beast, Flint hunkered down on his bed and began his own practice without talking to Rocky.

"Little fella. Let's go for a walk!" Rocky said loudly just to annoy Flint, who was clearly ignoring him. He then took his little beast and left the room as he needed to find a quiet place to study its saliva first.

Rocky exited with his war beast through a door at the courtyard. After crossing an opening, he saw a bamboo grove rustling under the moonlight. Rocky went into it and moved forward in the dark. Suddenly, he heard the sound of water. He looked around and found the reflection of the moon shining on a body of water to his left. He kept walking towards the depths of the grove where he came upon a cliff where water was dripping down into a pool below.

"This place is quiet. No one will come and bother me here in the middle of the night." Rocky sat on a rock by the pool, carrying Uriah. He caressed its head tenderly and muttered, "This may be a little uncomfortable. Please bear with me." He then opened its mouth and checked its oral structure.

Rocky soon discovered a small knob in its upper teeth. He put two fingers on it and squeezed gently. Suddenly, it emitted a white light and then a droplet dripped down onto one of his fingers. Rocky discovered that the droplet stuck to his finger like a pearl, staying completely intact.

"The healing powers of Uriah's saliva. Does it have something to do with this droplet?" Rocky smelled the droplet on his finger and detected a light aroma. There was no foul smell. After several looks and a few moments of hesitation, he put his finger in his mouth and licked the droplet off. Instantly, he felt a clear stream spreading from his mouth to his throat and then the rest of his body, which was extremely comfortable.

"This tastes so nice!" Rocky felt rather intoxicated by it.

At this moment, Rocky felt his body twitch and his heart rate increase greatly to dozens of beats per second. It seemed to be just a beginning as he felt all of his blood began to rush at a crazy speed. All of his veins seemed to have expanded, squeezing his muscles as if they were going to burst right out. Within seconds, blue veins covered his entire body, including his face, forehead even his scalp. His appearance became like that of a ferocious and frightful monster.

"What is happening to me?" Rocky widened his eyes with astonishment. They were blood-shot and bugged out of his face like they were about to explode. His body was now out of control and metabolizing at an extraordinary speed. Before long his body was exhausted and thoroughly drenched with perspiration. Along with the sweat, some black substances had come out. Rocky felt extremely fatigued and he knew he was at his weakest.

Just as his body was about to crash, the Dragon Spirit Mark on his left arm flickered. It was not very clear nor strong yet the second it showed, he felt his inner spiritual energy moving according to the path depicted in the first grade of the Mysterious Dragon Skill.

With the change of his physical condition, the moving of his spiritual energy was much faster than before. The full circulation of his spiritual power, which normally took an hour, now only took fifteen minutes. Such speed was extraordinary, and Rocky even felt a little scared.

His weak spiritual power was being strengthened with each circulation. Although it was increased not by much with each circulation, given the extraordinary speed of his spiritual energy, it was still improving quickly. More importantly, with the continuing circulation of spiritual energy, the mutation of his body was slowing down.

When Rocky finally regained consciousness, nighttime had passed. He opened his eyes and saw sunlight filtering in through bamboo leaves. He could hear birds chirping and water babbling. Then his memory of last night flooded back to his mind, sending chills running down his spine.

"I thought I was going to die!" Rocky breathed with relief. He turned around and saw Uriah sleeping next to him. The little beast was sound asleep, as if it had no clue that its master had almost died last night. Rocky thought about it and he believed that the mutation that had happened to him last night definitely had something to do with the droplet from Uriah. The source of the healing power of his saliva might come from this droplet, and his experience last showed him that the droplet was more capable than healing wounds. It could improve the quality of his body greatly.

"Damn! I've been knocked out here all night. Mia will definitely give me a hard time if she catches me." Rocky thought of Mia, and pretty as she was, she turned into a scary spirit in his head. He picked up the still sleeping Uriah and jumped off the rock. The moment his feet touched ground, he was surprised to find that his body was very light.

It was like his entire system had improved significantly in one night. He was no longer weak and ill. In fact, he felt like he had unlimited power in his body. Meanwhile he noticed that his spiritual power, which had been just a spark, had now turned into a ball of fire. Although it was still very small, it had progressed exponentially since the previous night!☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐