Among all the nature and qualities which the spirit-manipulated beast had, Rocky recognized a special
one which was a silvery ray. It was usually owned by spiritual beasts, dragons, or other extremely rare
species. The silvery ray stood for Ice, which was the same as the Ice of dragon spiritual power owned
by a royal spirit manipulator. Generally, a war beast couldn't have such a property.
But some war beasts, according to the Beast Encyclopedia, had the same special abilities as the
spiritual beasts if their ancestors were hybrids of war beasts and spiritual beasts. Thus, a war beast
might have a hidden spiritual ability like a recessive gene. Once activated, the recessive gene could
release a special ability typically owned by a spiritual beast.
So the nature of Ice shown by Cloud Tiger could be regarded as an inherited recessive gene. It would
have the same nature of Ice as a spiritual beast would after being activated.
"Now Flint, you owe me a big favor," Rocky grinned.
After checking out other nature and qualities of Cloud Tiger, Rocky concluded that apart from the
hidden Ice, it had strong force and sensitivity but very weak defense which was represented by a blue
ray. It meant Cloud Tiger would appear strong but had bad resistance to attacks, which was probably
attributed to its genes. Since Ice was the most defensive nature, Cloud Tiger could make up its defect,
once its Ice was activated.
"Little Tiger, do you want to be stronger?" Rocky cuddled its head.
Spirit-manipulated beasts usually repelled or even opposed people they disliked. Perhaps there were
some traits in Rocky which made Cloud Tiger obey him.
Cloud Tiger howled as if replying to Rocky.
"Alright then, let's get started. The time your master gave is not going to be enough. I will have Uriah
practice with you these three days. You should be careful with him because he is very sexually active
and violent. I hope it behaves well, especially after it sees a female beast like you." Rocky patted Cloud
Tiger's head. Then he summoned Uriah.
Seeing Cloud Tiger, Uriah was not modest at all and rushed at her with alacrity. Cloud Tiger was too
scared to react and got beaten off the ground, rolling back a few meters. At a respectable distance she
was able to stand up. She was so irritated that she roared at Uriah, staring at it angrily.
"Be tougher, Uriah. Don't be shy," Rocky firmly commanded.
Uriah howled furiously and rushed at Cloud Tiger again.
After an hour-long fight, Cloud Tiger was on the ground, wounded and panting, while Uriah was
crouched on the other side, expecting another attack. After a moment's hesitation, it licked Cloud
Tiger's wound, which healed instantly like nothing had happened before.
"The fight has to be fiercer tomorrow," Rocky deliberated as he brought Cloud Tiger back to the room.
Seeing them return, Flint checked out Cloud Tiger. He calmly asked Rocky, "You didn't do anything
strange to Cloud Tiger, did you?"
"Of course I didn't. I'm only interested in women!" Rocky joked. After returning Cloud Tiger to Flint,
Rocky went back to the bamboo forest to practice the Mysterious Dragon Skill.
Now he was in the fourth grade of the Mysterious Dragon Skill, but the progress got slower. The
Mysterious Dragon Skill was the primary spiritual method of Dragon Master Clan, and it could be
refined to the Earthly Stage. A higher grade of the stage meant a higher grade of strength. The
refinement had been going on well until he reached the fourth grade of the Mortal Stage where the
progress was not so obvious.
"I will have to refine to the fifth grade directly," Rocky decided after considering the situation.
So, Rocky skipped the fourth grade of the Mysterious Dragon Skill and started the fifth grade. This was
theoretically impossible because the higher the grade of the Mysterious Dragon Skill was, more
complex the refinement would become, and more spiritual power would be needed. Without enough
spiritual power, it would be hard to maintain it, causing an otherwise deviation. Generally, the fifth grade
of the Mysterious Dragon Skill called for a fifth grade of the Mortal Stage.
Since Rocky had the magical saliva which helped to circulate his spiritual power several times faster,
he didn't need to worry about his insufficient spiritual power.
It was no problem at all for him.
Rocky was probably the only person who could refine to the fifth grade of the Mysterious Dragon Skill
being at the fourth grade of the Mortal Stage. This would definitely shock people who once disdained
him.
The next morning, he had to go to the dragon field for practice. He went to his room and changed his
uniform and reached the dragon field as instructed by Mia. Barely did Rocky show up, the young
manipulators began to point towards him and started whispering around.
Rocky looked coldly at them. The young manipulators timidly lowered their heads out of fear. Everyone
knew he had a war beast that had defeated Bear's three-star Lion Eagle, so offending Rocky now was
surely like asking for trouble.
But there were still a few arrogant royal spirit manipulators who kept looking at Rocky satirically.
Rocky didn't care about them at all because he was busy thinking of ways to activate Cloud Tiger. He
didn't want to fail in his first trial on Cloud Tiger. He was not very confident about it because of the
inadequate time he had. If he had half a month, he could have done it easily. However, Flint only gave
him a limited time and he had to make use of it. Flint would have doubts if he asked for more days.
Rocky sensed a malicious gaze on him. He was sure it was Bear. So he casually snubbed him.
After the young manipulators gathered together, Mia appeared in front of them.
"From today, you will practice in pairs, learn to master the dragon spiritual power, and understand its
properties. In half a month, you are going to attend the Dragon Birth Festival and compete with the
phoenix spiritual manipulators of the Magic Phoenix Empire. If you don't want to lose face, you have to
practice as hard as you can. You'd better nurture the mutual understanding with your war beasts and
practice in collaboration. So that even a defeat on that day won't be a disappointment and disgrace,"
Mia advised.
Her words caused a bustle and everyone was excited. Excitement was in the air because the Dragon
Birth Festival was a national celebration and it was extremely difficult to get the rare chance to compete
with the phoenix spiritual manipulators of the Magic Phoenix Empire. Moreover, the person who would
stand out in the Dragon Birth Festival would get favors from the royalty. And a bright future was
assured. Everyone waited for such an opportunity and wanted to test their luck and destiny.
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