Li Qian felt much more at ease now that he understood Shi Gui Fang’s true intentions.
As long as she wasn’t after his good looks, everything was fine.
"I believe I mentioned my situation to you."
After some thought, he decided to reiterate his circumstances. "I can only be here for a little over a month. Are you sure you still want to offer me these terms?"
The reason he felt the need to repeat himself was that the compensation offered by the young boss, Shi Gui Fang, was simply beyond his expectations.
These terms would be more than enough to hire an Advanced Breeder.
It was no wonder Li Qian was wary; using such terms to hire an Intermediate Breeder who could only work for a little over a month was highly unusual.
"We considered this carefully before making you this offer."
Shi Gui Fang listened, nodded, and then explained her reasoning in a serious tone. "We believe you are entirely worthy of these terms."
As she said this, she silently added to herself,
’Since this is a grand gesture to attract talent, the shorter you work, the better it is for our Cultivation Base, in a way.’
At least it would cut down on expenses.
This was Shi Gui Fang’s reasoning, but she kept it to herself.
Li Qian thought for a moment and understood the logic behind it, so he said no more.
"Alright, since you trust me so much..."
He held out his hand, took a pen from his Space Necklace, and unhesitatingly signed his name.
After signing his name, he looked at the petite woman with a confident smile. "I just want to say, your trust in me will certainly be rewarded."
Li Qian didn’t make any specific promises.
He wasn’t the type to make grandiose boasts.
Besides, with some things, words don’t matter. Only actions do!
...
And so, Li Qian settled in at the Sky Realm Cultivation Base, which was currently undergoing restructuring.
The moment he officially moved into the Sky Realm Cultivation Base, he turned his attention to its library of paper-based research.
There was a mountain of material, but Li Qian was highly focused.
He didn’t waste time on other documents, dedicating himself completely to the file titled "Gray Bean Dove—Storm Eagle—Lie Kongzuo."
The document wasn’t very long, and by the third day, Li Qian had read through it meticulously.
After another four days—a week in total—Li Qian finally understood the reason his Inspiration Value had increased.
It was because of a material mentioned in "Gray Bean Dove—Storm Eagle—Lie Kongzuo"—Xunfeng Bamboo.
It was a Wind Attribute Extraordinary Resource.
It was a relatively precious resource, but since supplies were decent, it wasn’t too difficult to acquire.
At least, that was the case for Li Qian.
"True knowledge comes from practice. I guess it’s time to get started."
After three more days with no new insights, Li Qian decided to begin testing directly.
The method for the test was simple: buy a Gray Bean Dove that had reached its Racial Potential Limit and train it to learn the Instant Movement skill.
Li Qian remembered it clearly.
Back then, while riding the Yunyan 97 to Zhonghai City, he and Wu You had been attacked by Cultists from the Black Divine Teachings.
During the attack, he saw a mutated Storm Eagle.
That Storm Eagle had actually used the Instant Movement skill.
It was precisely the Storm Eagle’s use of the Instant Movement skill that had caused the progress on his task, "Evolution path from Gray Bean Dove to Sky Escape Eagle," to jump forward.
Back then, Li Qian had suspected that the Sky Escape Eagle’s evolution was very likely related to the Instant Movement skill.
Combining this with the information he had obtained from Professor Yan, Li Qian had already formed a tentative hypothesis.
For the evolution from Gray Bean Dove to Sky Escape Eagle, learning the Instant Movement skill was likely one of the prerequisites.
Therefore, he decided to put it to the test.
Li Qian felt his hypothesis was logical and well-founded, but the reality of the situation left him feeling a bit helpless.
Because neither the Gray Bean Dove he had purchased himself nor the dozen or so at the Sky Realm Cultivation Base could learn the Instant Movement skill.
Ten days had passed, but his progress was practically zero.
This was starting to make Li Qian feel impatient.
Watching "Xiaohui," the Gray Bean Dove that was practicing again and again to no avail, Li Qian fell deep into thought.
"Why can’t any Gray Bean Dove learn the Instant Movement skill?"
Li Qian muttered to himself.
Just as he was lost in thought, a petite figure suddenly appeared.
"What are you thinking about?"
Shi Gui Fang asked, "Lately, I’ve noticed you always seem to be deep in thought..."
"Little Boss."
Li Qian greeted her.
Having spent the last ten days or so with Shi Gui Fang, Li Qian felt he had gotten to know her a bit.
This petite woman before him was both what he had expected and, in some ways, completely different.
As he’d expected, she was a woman with very high emotional intelligence.
She had a way of speaking and handling things that put people at ease.
She didn’t have the "princess attitude" typical of a rich kid or a Second Generation Beast Tamer.
Li Qian had actually anticipated this from their first meeting.
What did surprise him, however, was how dedicated and serious Shi Gui Fang was about the Sky Realm Cultivation Base.
She had the air of someone genuinely passionate about building her business.
Moreover, her methods for dealing with clients and staff alike were remarkably adept.
Far beyond what one would expect from someone her age.
’On second thought, it isn’t that surprising.’
’Putting aside the stereotypes about the rich or Second Generation Beast Tamers, she’s had a better education and more scientifically sound training than any ordinary young Beast Master. Why would she be an incompetent fool?’
’That’s not a reasonable assumption.’
’It seems I was still influenced by my own preconceptions.’
He’d greeted her with a new title. After all, "Boss Shi" sounded a bit harsh, while "Little Boss" was acceptable. Most importantly, Shi Gui Fang didn’t seem to mind.
And so, the "Little Boss" moniker stuck.
After greeting her, Li Qian didn’t hide anything and told her the problem he was facing. "I’m training Gray Bean Doves, hoping they can master a skill that’s neither Normal nor Wind Element!"
"A skill that’s neither Normal nor Wind Element... That won’t be easy to accomplish!"
The petite woman frowned slightly at Li Qian’s words.
She knew a bit about Gray Bean Doves herself.
After all, the Sky Realm Cultivation Base had a dozen or two of them.
"Have you seen another Gray Bean Dove use this skill, then?" Shi Gui Fang asked subconsciously after a moment of fruitless thought.
Li Qian didn’t think twice before blurting out, "No, I haven’t. But I have seen a Storm Eagle use it."
Shi Gui Fang didn’t ask what the skill was.
After all, this was Li Qian’s research and likely involved private information.
Prying could very well make Li Qian resentful.
Smart as she was, she naturally knew how to respond.
After a moment of thought, she offered a tentative suggestion. "So, you’ve seen a Storm Eagle use this skill."
"But now, after training so many Gray Bean Doves, you’ve gotten nowhere..."
After a brief pause, she proposed a possibility. "Have you ever considered that maybe... it’s a skill that a Gray Bean Dove simply can’t master? That only an evolved Storm Eagle can learn it!"
[Inspiration Value +1!]
The moment the words left her mouth, a familiar notification chimed in Li Qian’s mind.
[Task 1: Evolution path from Gray Bean Dove to Sky Escape Eagle. Current task progress: 100%!]
Hearing the sudden notification, Li Qian froze, unable to process it for a second.
’It’s complete?!’