Chapter 173 - 173: Selecting Subjects
Selecting Subjects
The next few days consisted mostly of Osho 'fixing' and then evolving the eggs of the others.
Each time he did, he took some time to rest and recover, and while he did so, he observed as the others hatched their new beasts with interest.
Ellie's new beast surprisingly ended up being an elemental-type beast with the mirror Affinity. It looked like a rotating ball of mirror shards held together by an odd reflective energy. But according to her, this was just one of the forms it could take.
Next was Kurt, and his new beast was quite the surprise.
It was a transparent blob that seemed unassuming at first, until Kurt shared its properties, and even Osho became surprised.
It belonged to a rare type of beast called symbiotic beasts, and as the name implied, it was a sort of symbiote that used its Tamer as a host, but instead of being harmful, it only brought benefits to them.
In this case, when Kurt hatched it and it bonded with him, it entered his body through his pores, and he excitedly spoke about how his senses had gotten much sharper, and with how sharper his senses already are, a large increase must have been something else.
Next was Irene who had originally wanted to go last, but Sam convinced her to go next, and her beast was... interesting.
As soon as she hatched it, a cerulean mist had left the egg, making it extremely difficult to see what was inside, but she managed to make the beast reign it in, and they saw what looked to be a sort of humanoid ant. Its carapace was the same cerulean as the mist it emitted, and its arms ended in sharp scythes.
Finally, there was Sam, and whether it was simply a coincidence or an odd joke of fate, her new beast ended up being a white wolf with the light Affinity, the complete opposite of Blackie.
Sam had wanted to name it Whitie, but when Irene threatened to give her a suplex, she begrudgingly named the creature Lux.
Due to them having just hatched, their respective Tamers hadn't done anything to see what they were capable of yet, but when their ranks were tested, the group was convinced they all had more to show.
All but one was at the Grandmaster rank, and the one that wasn't was another Legendary, which belonged to the mirror elemental belonging to Ellie, whom she'd decided to name Spectrum.
This was interesting.
Bedrock also having Legendary Rank Potential could simply be attributed to a fluke. A pleasant surprise.
But another Legendary as well as 4 more Grandmasters made it clear that things weren't as coincidental as they thought.
It was easy to guess what the reason for this spike in rank was due to Osho fixing the ribbons, but this begged the question. What exactly were those ribbons?
Did they simply act as pointers towards what Osho needed to evolve a beast? But in that case, how could they be damaged? And why did fixing them make the average potential of a beast increase significantly?
Could the ribbons themselves be evolved?
Osho had many questions regarding the matter and added them to his growing list of questions regarding this strange ability of his.
One thing was for sure, though. When the potential of their new beasts was discovered, quite the uproar was going to be caused.
His possessing two beasts with Legendary rank potential was already insane, so if the others were discovered, well. The suspicion on their group wouldn't be small, and while Osho was confident, he had no desire to paint a target on his back early on, which is why they agreed not to reveal the ranks of their beasts easily, and to outright lie if they were pressed about it.
It wasn't the greatest measure, but it was better than being totally transparent, as while the letter would mean their value would increase dramatically, it was likely that it would become more of a burden than a boon.
Anyway, after all of this was done, the others went to their respective residences. Then, Osho decided to quickly settle something that was probably important, but he kept putting it off.
Selecting the subjects for his course.
Mateo and Veronica had asked them to do it within the week, and a few days had already passed, so he'd rather get it done now so he could do a few more things before classes began.
Using his watch, he quickly navigated to the part where his course was listed.
Beast Engineering & Evolution
Core Subjects (Compulsory):
Foundations of Beast Anatomy & Physiology: Understanding the biological structure and core functions of beasts.
Beast Mana Pathways & Affinity Studies: Focused on identifying, mapping, and reinforcing a beast's natural mana flow.
Beast Care & Maintenance: Covers nutrition, habitat creation, and long-term health optimization for partnered beasts.
Applied Beast Engineering: Creating tonics, enhancers, and equipment tailored to a beast's biology.
Elective Subjects (Optional):
Basic Beast Evolution Theory: The bare-bones principles of evolution, rarely chosen because of the impracticality.
Advanced Evolutionary Pathway Mapping: Charting possible evolution branches and identifying compatible catalysts.
Catalyst Design & Synthesis: Creating and optimizing catalysts to guide or accelerate evolution.
Mutation Risk Analysis & Stabilization: Handling failed evolutions or preventing unwanted mutations.
Beast Soul Resonance Studies: Research on syncing with a beast's soul to increase compatibility and evolution success.
Combat Conditioning & Training for Beasts: Designing regimens to maximize a beast's physical growth and adaptability.
Reading through the list, Osho was immediately saddened.
'The name of the course is Beast Engineering & Evolution, but it's like the actual evolution part is simply an afterthought. So much so that the brief description straight up warns that Basic Beast Evolution Theory is rarely chosen due to its impracticality. That's truly unfortunate.' He sighed. However, he couldn't exactly blame anyone for it being that way.
At some point in the past, Beast Evokution had been the number one focus of prominent scientists and humans in general. The amount of resources, time, and effort that had been thrown into it by pretty much everyone was absurd, and yet, the results yielded were little, and eventually, everyone realized that it wasn't worth it.
So the fact that there were even courses related to the subject at all was surprising. Still, it was definitely sad to see.
'I suppose that's where I come in.' Osho thought.
He had another goal.
He'd been experimenting a lot with his ability, and he was determined to mass-produce a method to evolve beasts that normal people could use. It wouldn't be as good as his ability, obviously, but it would be enough to bring a difference.
After some deliberation, Osho made his picks.
Foundations of Beast Anatomy & Physiology (Core)
Beast Mana Pathways & Affinity Studies (Core)
Applied Beast Engineering (Core)
Basic Beast Evolution Theory (Elective)
Advanced Evolutionary Pathway Mapping (Elective)
Catalyst Design & Synthesis (Elective)
Mutation Risk Analysis & Stabilization (Elective)
Beast Soul Resonance Studies (Elective)
Yeah. He chose everything except one.
To be clear, Osho only needed to do 6 Subjects. 4 compulsory and 2 electives. But he felt like doing so would be too restricting, so he picked all the ones that interested him.
There technically wasn't a limit to the number of subjects one could choose, it was just discouraged to pick too many so that a student would be allowed to actually have time for other things and not burn themselves out.
Luckily, Osho could make his own timetable. And if he didn't, due to his value, they would do it in such a way that he'd have time for other things. Stellaris placed a lot of importance on what the student wanted to do and what they wanted to become, as that was the reason they grew in the first place, so if their studies started to affect them adversely, changes would be made.
With that done, Osho got up and decided to head towards the beast habitat.
Gale and Bedrock had been spending quite some time in there as the environment was simply too suitable for them, and Osho had no desire to make them uncomfortable by keeping them away from a proper environment, so he allowed them to stay there unless he needed them for something.
Now, though, was the time for him to settle something that was a bit overdue.
Entering the habitat, he quickly spotted a four-winged figure in the air, more or less just suspended in the same position with his wings stretched.
'Gale.' Osho called out, causing the bird to shift. From what he could sense, he'd been sleeping. How he was sleeping while also keeping himself afloat? Osho had no clue, but he'd stopped trying to make sense of the strange things the bird was capable of, so he simply ran with it.
'Come down here. I want you and Bedrock to do something. Speaking of, Bedrock, come here too.' Osho swiftly commanded through his bonds, and a moment later, Gale glided downwards and landed on Osho's head perfectly with a small chirp.
A few seconds later, the ground in front of Osho opened up, and a small gorilla came out of it.
Bedrock looked a bit different compared to last time.
He'd spent pretty much the entire time munching on different rare ores and assimilating them. Hence, his body was covered in these various ores to the point where it looked as though he was wearing some strange armor made of different materials.
He also looked a bit bigger. At least a head taller than before, and his previously lithe frame was quickly gaining more muscles as the days went by. And the moment he appeared, Osho noticed the surrounding earth Mana suddenly stabilized.
Right now, he had another piece of rock in his hand and was eating it like a candy bar.
"Alright, Bedrock. I'm sure you've had enough time to settle in, so I think it's time we do a bit of a test for you, just to see what you can do." Osho said, and as soon as he did, Gale who looked on the verge of dozing off suddenly perked up, and Bedrock grinned as he made a chittering noise of excitement.