William Carter: ???

William Carter rubbed his eyes and looked at Henry's fist.

What!

I awakened?

I just said I was going to teach you, and you learned it yourself ahead of time?

William Carter fell silent. Is that James Harper reliable or not? Didn't he say it would take about a week for it to awaken the hardening skill?

Why so fast.

William Carter was happy, but also a bit frustrated. He had been looking forward to seeing the look of awe on the iron-eating beast's face after he taught it hardening.

"Let's just clean up the yard."

Henry: o((⊙﹏⊙))o.?

Clean, clean up?

"Forget it, forget it." Seeing Henry's confused expression, William Carter decided to let it go.

Cleaning isn't urgent. Suddenly, he remembered that the skill compendium can be used to teach already learned skills, and teaching a skill repeatedly can increase skill proficiency!

Skill proficiency is also very important. Even with the same skill, a pet beast that just learned it and one that has used it for ten years will have completely different results.

A low-level skill with high proficiency can even outperform a high-level skill with low proficiency.

William Carter took out the basic iron-eating beast training manual that James Harper had given him.

The hardening ability mastered by the iron-eating beast—or rather, all skills—can basically be divided into five stages of proficiency.

The manual had already summarized it: skill proficiency can roughly be described with five words.

Beginner, Skilled, Expert, Master, Transcendent!

They represent entry-level, proficient, expert, perfect, and miraculous.

For example, the hardening ability that Henry currently has is at the entry-level stage—just barely learned, and can only harden a specific part of the body.

According to the manual, once it reaches the proficient stage, it should be able to harden its whole body.

Generally, for a low-level skill to go from entry-level to proficient, it takes at least a month of dedicated training.

William Carter was very curious: if he used the skill compendium to teach once, how many days' worth of proficiency would that be?

He looked at Henry, who was observing the surroundings, and fell into thought.

Come to think of it, using the skill compendium to teach seems to consume stamina.

How much stamina would it take to teach the low-level hardening skill once?

Having never tried it before, William Carter really wasn't sure. He might have been a bit hasty just now—what if teaching a low-level skill exhausted him to death?

"Maybe I should first use the most basic, non-leveled skill, Silk Thread, from the skill compendium to test the consumption?"

After all, the lower the skill level, the less it consumes.

Seems worth a try...

But unfortunately, William Carter would have to find another test subject, because the iron-eating beast and the Silk Thread skill have zero compatibility—it's impossible to teach.

Making the iron-eating beast spin silk would be too much for it.

"Since you've already learned the skill, how about... we have our first battle?"

William Carter suddenly looked at the two persimmon trees in his yard.

To be precise, he was looking at a green figure on one of the persimmon trees.

A green silkworm was lying on a branch, resting leisurely. It was so bold that it wasn't even afraid of being eaten by passing birds.

As the disgrace of the extraordinary world, the green silkworm's combat power is pitiful. Even an ordinary sparrow, a non-extraordinary creature, has a chance of taking it down.

At the same time, it's everywhere. After seeing it, William Carter immediately felt it was the perfect test subject.

This green silkworm was clearly malnourished—much thinner than those raised at the pet beast base.

Usually, such green silkworms have no chance of ever evolving... Most end up as bird food... But meeting William Carter made this green silkworm lucky.

I'll give you a free chance to boost your Silk Thread skill proficiency!

"Catch it, gently."

At William Carter's command, Henry looked at the green silkworm, slightly stunned.

The first battle opponent is this little guy?

But a beastmaster's order must be followed. It immediately climbed the tree and slapped the branch the green silkworm was on, breaking it off without even using a skill. The green silkworm, along with the branch, fell to the ground.

The fall left the green silkworm completely dazed.

"Roar."

Victory! The iron-eating beast Henry on the tree shouted happily.

For the first battle, just having hands is enough.

"Nice!" After all, the iron-eating beast is still a child, so William Carter gave it a little praise.

Raising a pet beast is like raising a child—you have to praise more and criticize less.

Green silkworm: ???

Chapter 10: Stealing the Spotlight

"This green silkworm is probably level one."

After praising Henry, William Carter looked at the green silkworm.

The green silkworm is the pet beast William Carter has studied the most, thanks to his three-month internship experience.

After all, he had filled several notebooks with data on green silkworm growth!

Judging by the markings on this green silkworm, there was only one stripe, so it had only awakened once—a total weakling. So William Carter boldly approached it.

Pet beasts are classified by growth level and species level.

Generally, the higher the growth level, the stronger the pet beast's overall strength.

As for species level, it represents the pet beast's growth potential.

The higher the species level, the higher the maximum growth level it can reach.