After finishing measuring the Friendship between himself and the Rainbow Dragon Hatchling, Jiang Xing didn't continue testing further.
There was no need to test his Friendship with the Auspicious Cloud Qilin—it had to be maxed out.
After all, aside from being inherently adorable, the little Qilin also possessed the exclusive Mythical Pet Beast talent Affinity. It would be stranger if its Friendship wasn't maxed.
There was also no need to test his Friendship with the Ugly Waterfowl.
Jiang Xing already knew the answer—definitely not maxed.
There was nothing he could do about it. Even with a mental contract, it was impossible to completely negate the effects of the Ugliness talent.
He had equipped the Ugly Waterfowl with several items that boosted Friendship just to suppress the negative effects. On top of that, he had been splitting his attention across multiple research projects these past few days—there was no way its Friendship could rise quickly.
By his own estimate, it was probably around two hundred.
That was still fairly close. At this point, even without equipment, the negative influence of its talent was almost negligible.
But compared to the fully maxed Rainbow Dragon Hatchling, the gap was still quite large.
To avoid affecting the Ugly Waterfowl's mindset, Jiang Xing decided to keep it a secret for now.
'Lies don't hurt people. The truth is the sharpest blade.'
'The Friendship Detector can even measure human emotions… it's impressive, but it's better not to let that function leak out… When I make a cracked version later, I should remove that part.'
'Unlike simple Pet Beasts, human emotions are far more complicated. This feature does more harm than good.'
Jiang Xing stored the Friendship Detector back into his space, and the system appeared again.
[Proving the existence of Friendship is only the beginning. Only through evolution can Beast Tamers truly realize the power contained within emotions!]
[Come—unveil the curtain of a brand-new evolution to the world!]
[You have received a mission: Host a Friendship Evolution Conference and showcase at least one Friendship-evolved Pokémon.]
[Reward: Based on the conference's influence, the variety of Friendship Pokémon displayed, and the quality of presentation, you will receive a random Pokémon item blind box. (The contents of the blind box are positively correlated with the type of academic achievement.)]
The new mission was similar to the Gyarados task—likely the final mission of the Friendship series.
The results would be evaluated comprehensively based on the number of showcased outcomes.
To be honest, if Jiang Xing were working independently, raising and presenting multiple Friendship evolutions would be extremely difficult…
But now, things were different.
He had already revealed the existence of Friendship.
Combined with the support of numerous doctors, it was easy to predict that many researchers would soon dive into studying Friendship.
Jiang Xing could simply invite these researchers and hold a joint Evolution Conference!
That way, the number of showcased evolutions would skyrocket!
'If I remember correctly, there are fewer than twenty Friendship evolutions in the Pokémon world…'
'If more than twenty—or even thirty—appear at the conference…'
'What would the system say?'
…
Of course, research and raising would take time after the initial announcement.
It wasn't possible to hold the conference immediately.
Jiang Xing quickly set the mission aside.
He picked up his phone and saw a flood of notifications.
After unlocking the screen, he realized they were messages from his newly added contact: Dr. Amru, a specialist in the Necromancy domain.
Dr. Amru was a Beast Taming Doctor from the Egyptian region.
As the name implied, his primary field was necromancy. In addition, he was also the founder of Item Theory, having proposed and proven the inherent connection between items and Pet Beast evolution.
For example:
A ghost evolving into a skeletal undead by equipping bones—forming the Bone Spirit Knight.
A dried corpse evolving into a mummy after obtaining specially crafted bandages—becoming Amumu.
And after acquiring the "Royal Scepter," a mummy completing its evolution into the Pharaoh of the Underworld.
His achievements were numerous and remarkable.
However, due to the special nature of necromancy—and the fact that certain evil organizations favored undead Pet Beasts, even going so far as to create them through killing—
Dr. Amru, as an authority in necromancy, was often suspected of having ties with such groups. His reputation wasn't particularly good.
Even so, he was still a Beast Taming Doctor—a senior figure in the field.
Not only had he sent a friend request, he had also publicly commented about it, showing great enthusiasm.
Ignoring him would be quite rude.
So Jiang Xing accepted the request.
What he didn't expect was that Dr. Amru wasn't being polite—he genuinely wanted to discuss academic matters.
Opening the chat window, Jiang Xing saw a long series of messages, all centered around necromancy and Friendship.
After replying and chatting for a while, the doctor quickly brought up the question he cared about most.
"…This leads me to think: if the emotions of Pet Beasts are a real force—something that can be observed as a measurable value…"
"Then what happens to it after death?"
"For example: after a Pet Beast dies, does its Friendship with its Beast Tamer disappear along with its life? Or does it remain as a form of power within its remains?"
"If it remains within the remains, can this power be awakened?"
"Could it become a condition for the birth of a new undead Pet Beast?"
"Jiang Xing, what do you think?"
As expected of a necromancy specialist—his thinking was incredibly flexible.
In such a short time, he had already accepted and digested the concept of Friendship, and even applied it to his own field.
And Jiang Xing—having completed the Undead Guardian Hound project—already had an answer.
But he hesitated, not replying immediately.
Instead, he asked his own question.
"Doctor, why do you study undead Pet Beasts?"
Dr. Amru gave an unexpected answer.
"Compassion."
"What do you mean?"
Jiang Xing was confused. Wasn't it to bring back deceased Pet Beast companions?
A moment later, Dr. Amru sent a long message.
"I was born in an era when the Egyptian region had not yet emerged from war. In the conflict between dark organizations and the Beast Tamer Association, humans and Pet Beasts died every single moment."
"I've seen too many children crying while holding the bodies of their parents."
"Whether Pet Beast or human—it's the same."
"I want to let the dead return, even if in another form."
"That's why I devote myself to the necromancy field."
"…"
A grand aspiration?
Through the cold screen of a phone, Jiang Xing couldn't tell whether Dr. Amru truly meant what he said.
But Jiang Xing felt that someone who had gained recognition from the Beast Tamer Association—and countless scholars—to become a doctor shouldn't be a bad person.
After a moment of thought, he typed his reply.
"I believe emotions are a power that transcends death. They do not disappear with it—they endure forever."
"Why?"
Dr. Amru was curious about how Jiang Xing came to such a conclusion.
But instead of an explanation, he received only one message: "Tomorrow, there will be an award ceremony in China. You'll get your answer there."
Dr. Amru was completely puzzled.
What did an award ceremony have to do with emotions and death?
A riddle, then?
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