After taking a stroll around, Bellick still hadn't found Dominic, but he did come across the evolved Golden-Eyed Lion King.
Bellick: "?"
'What's going on?'
'Has something changed in the Fourth Legion that I don't know about?'
"What is this?", Bellick sneaked up beside the nearest Fourth Legion Beast Tamer soldier and asked in a hushed tone.
The newly recruited Beast Tamer soldier who had just joined: "?"
He looked at Bellick with an incredulous expression.
'Seriously?'
'There is actually someone who doesn't know about the recent events in the Fourth Legion?'
'Is this guy really not a spy who has infiltrated our ranks?'
Just as he was about to command the Golden-Eyed Lion King to capture this suspicious person, a veteran Beast Tamer soldier who recognized Bellick finally stepped in.
"Ahem."
Watching a bit of a spectacle was amusing, but things shouldn't get out of hand.
He understood the importance of moderation.
The veteran patted the rookie on the shoulder, "This guy isn't a suspicious character. He's the commander of the neighboring Thunder Fang Tiger Legion."
The rookie: "..."
Once again, he looked at Bellick with an expression of complete incomprehension.
Bellick: "Ahem!"
Bellick cleared his throat a little awkwardly.
"Wait, wait, wait. First, explain this to me. Your pet beast…", He pointed at the Golden-Eyed Lion King, then, unable to suppress his curiosity, continued, "What exactly is going on?"
"Commander Bellick, have you not been online, or have you been in seclusion for half a month?"
Bellick: "?"
"What does that have to do with anything?"
"I've been deep in the mountains for the past month or so, in places without cell service."
Looking at the Fourth Legion Beast Tamers' expressions—as if he should already know everything—Bellick was genuinely confused.
'Is there something I am supposed to know?'
"Explaining… sigh, explaining would be a hassle. Just search for Professor Asher's name, and you'll understand," The veteran opened his mouth, intending to explain, but decided it was too time-consuming.
Instead, he simply told Bellick to look up Asher's name himself.
Then, he pulled his comrades back to their duties.
Regrouping.
Training.
This time, they held a trump card.
They needed to familiarize themselves with the Golden-Eyed Lion King's abilities as quickly as possible to improve their survival chances in the upcoming beast tide.
Left standing alone, Bellick watched them train with enthusiasm and didn't want to interrupt.
So, he took out his phone.
And searched for Asher's name.
"Professor Asher? Which characters are those?", As he typed, Bellick mumbled to himself, "I don't even know…"
But as soon as he entered the first alphabets, Asher's name popped up on the keyboard.
Bellick lightly tapped another question mark.
'Seriously?'
'Is this person really that famous?'
With a hard-to-describe feeling, Bellick searched for Asher's name.
And then… nothing more needed to be said.
Bellick understood.
His eyes lit up so much they nearly glowed.
Rubbing his chin, Bellick started thinking, "So, if Professor Asher is this amazing, is there a chance I could invite him to visit the Thunder Fang Tiger Legion?"
'And if, in the process, he can study the evolution path of Thunder Fang Tigers, that will be even better.'
'Ahem!'
'Although the Fifth Legion also have their eyes on Asher…'
'Still, a person should have dreams!'
'How would I know the result if I don't try?'
Bellick, now full of enthusiasm, switched his target from finding Dominic to finding Asher.
This time, luck was on his side.
He found him.
Asher was standing beside Miles.
Next to Miles was a massive pet beast that closely resembled a War Blood Lion King but had distinct differences upon closer inspection.
Bellick was shocked.
'What kind of pet beast is this?'
'It looks… like an evolved form of the Little Lion Beast!'
'My goodness!'
'So this is the evolution professor that several legions are fighting over, even offering second-class merits as a reward?'
'I see now—this guy's the real deal!'
'Impressive!'
So impressive that now that Bellick had found him, he suddenly felt embarrassed to approach.
How was he supposed to ask?
He had come here intending to mooch off his expertise.
Bellick decided he needed to think this through more.
Before Asher and Miles noticed him, he turned around and ran off to find Dominic instead.
Bellick: 'Ugh! It's still more comfortable dealing with a shameless guy like Old Dominic!'
'Time to go!'
Asher, who noticed Bellick's gaze: "?"
"He was Bellick Westmore, commander of the Thunder Fang Tiger Legion," Miles also noticed Bellick arriving and then leaving, but since Bellick didn't come over, he didn't think much of it.
He simply gave Asher a brief introduction.
"Commander Bellick has a good personality, but sometimes… he and our commander are just too similar," At this point, Miles seemed to recall some unpleasant memories and decided to drop the subject.
"Professor Asher, I'm asking you again, personally—are you sure you want to stay?", Miles asked with great sincerity.
Although Asher had said that the War Blood Lion Emperor's evolution path could be used by other qualified Little Lion Beasts, the truth was, so far, only his own Little Lion Beast had actually evolved into a War Blood Lion Emperor.
Miles had deep respect and gratitude for Asher.
He didn't want anything to happen to him.
"According to our scouting, the beast tide will likely arrive tomorrow. If you regret staying…"
Asher waved his hand, his expression unwavering, "I've never faced a real beast tide before, but I have the courage to stand my ground and take responsibility for any possible consequences."
"Of course," Asher winked at Miles, "As I've said before, I'll protect myself. I value my life."
If he could avoid dying, who would willingly throw their life away, right?
Miles sighed, "All right, all right. I just couldn't let it go and wanted to ask again… I should have known a Beast Tamer's personality by now."
Danger?
Life and death?
For those who dreamed of becoming excellent and powerful Beast Tamers, these were not things to fear—becoming stronger was their greatest pursuit.
Just like Dexter, who left the Fourth Legion to head to Star City.
Every Beast Tamer walked their own path to strength.
———
News of the upcoming beast tide near the Fourth Legion didn't usually attract much attention.
The government and the Beast Tamer Alliance rarely publicized such information online.
Most netizens, living in relatively peaceful environments, only had a superficial understanding of beast tides—at most, they had seen them in movies or documentaries.
However, this beast tide was different.
Due to the online buzz surrounding the legions and Asher's genius reputation, the discussions hadn't faded as expected.
And with the beast tide's arrival—
Boom!
The situation changed.
A storm of discussions erupted online about the Fourth Legion and Asher.
Some comments even took a negative turn…
[How is the Fourth Legion handling the beast tide this time? I've analyzed past instances where the Fourth Legion faced beast tides, and their casualty rate is generally around 10%. You have to admit, that's really high.]
[I wonder how Professor Asher's research on the new evolutionary path for the little lion beast is going this time…]
[I'm not afraid of him failing to complete the research. I'm just worried that if he gets stuck halfway, neither progressing nor stopping, it might affect the mindset of the Beast Tamers.]
[I actually think the internet has overhyped Asher. Saying he can research several beast evolution paths in just a week? Do they really think researching pet beast evolution is as easy as eating or drinking? That he can just instantly come up with one? They must be dreaming!]
[I just hope the Fourth Legion's training plans haven't been disrupted!]
[Keeping an eye on how the Fourth Legion handles the beast tide!]
[If the Fourth Legion really falls into trouble this time, shouldn't Professor Asher be held responsible?]
Cyberspace-surfing Angel: ?
'What are these humans doing? The beast tide hasn't even arrived yet.'
'The battle hasn't started.'
'And they're already predicting failure?'
'But since this is only spreading in a small circle and haven't drawn much attention yet, the overall questioning of Asher isn't widespread—just a small group of people.'
'If this small groups are left unchecked…'
Angel took action.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH—
Power flowed through the network cables, hacking skills soaring. Angel could also analyze the mindsets of these netizens who were doubting Asher.
Those who were simply worried? That group was relatively small, so Angel ignored them.
At most, it subtly adjusted the algorithm in their phones, so in the coming period, they would see more content showcasing Asher's reliability and the nation's dependability.
Those always indulging in conspiracy theories?
Wiped out, completely erased.
The remaining categories were more complicated.
Internet trolls—people who found fault with everything, even criticizing a stray dog on the street but were decent individuals in real life.
Troublemakers—who just enjoyed spreading anxiety online.
Know-it-alls—who believed only their opinions were correct, while everyone else was wrong.
And within the smallest fraction of this group—Asher's peers, or those who weren't even qualified to be his peers but could only vent their frustration toward him online.
Angel: …
'If you ask, I'm in a tough spot.'
'Humans are just too diverse.'
Even while controlling the internet, Angel didn't know where to start if it wanted to retaliate for Asher.
Angel: 'Anyway—first, suppress these harmful, unhealthy statements, preventing them from spreading. Then, one by one, study these humans' behaviors.'
'Perfect.'
'Consider it a research and learning project on human species diversity.'
'Highly valuable.'
———
The Alliance Headquarters' Information Department, monitoring online discussions about Asher: "?"
'Hmm? Where did those posts go?'
'Did those people suddenly change their minds?'
'Looks like there's no major issue. Not worth worrying about.'
———
Angel, who quietly did a great deed: ◉‿◉
Understanding humans, studying humans, becoming… Well, okay, still can't become human yet, but Angel still felt it had gotten a little closer to them.
Discussions about Asher and the Fourth Legion remained highly popular online.
Slowly, they climbed to the top of trending topics.
Celebrities who had their trending topics suppressed again: "…"
So, what's the deal with this Asher?
Why does he keep hijacking their trending slots?
They clenched their teeth but didn't dare make a move.
After all, he was a pet beast professor. And this involved a beast tide.
They could only watch helplessly as their hard-earned trending spots vanished without a trace.
Might as well check out the Fourth Legion's situation while they were at it.
Then…
On the third day after the Fourth Legion's battle against the beast tide ended, a trending topic marked with #Explosive# shot straight to the top of the headlines.
[Fourth Legion's Latest Casualty Rate: 0%]
Netizens who had been following the updates: "!"
Officials and the Beast Tamer Alliance: "!!"
Other legions: "!!!"
'Is this for real?'
Upon seeing this news, everyone had only one thought in their minds.
Anyone even remotely connected to the Fourth Legion had only one course of action—call them! Call the Fourth Legion like crazy!
Verify whether the news was true.
———
Fourth Legion.
"Hiss—"
The battle had ended just the day before. It had taken over a full day of treatment and rest. Finally able to get out of bed, Miles opened his eyes to see a mountain of pending tasks.
Miles: "???"
"Just to confirm, I only rested for one day, not half a month, right?", Pointing at the towering pile of work, Miles weakly asked.
Beside him, Griffith didn't even look up, "Yes, one day."
"Don't even think about running. When Old Dominic arrives later, we'll keep him here. Then we'll find a way to drag Bellick and his deputy over too."
Without even glancing up, Griffith blocked Miles, who was about to sneak away, and casually dangled a carrot in front of him.
Miles, who wasn't really tempted: "…"
'Fine, fine.'
'Might as well take a look at what's going on.'
Even Miles was curious. Normally, their workload accumulated over a month wasn't this much. Why had just a single day off resulted in such a pile-up?
But upon checking…
"Professor Asher… Professor Asher… Why is it all about Professor Asher again?"
"Is everyone's attention just glued to him or what?"
After skimming through a few reports, Miles's expression turned into a headache.
How was he supposed to handle this?
He had never dealt with anything like this before.
"Handle it properly," Griffith's voice carried an unnatural calmness, "What else can we do?"
"Could we just throw Professor Asher out there and let him deal with it himself?"
"Repaying kindness with ingratitude… that's something we absolutely can't do."
Absolutely.
Not an option.
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