Li Ang clearly felt his heartbeat accelerate.
The system's ability to tame demons, the possibilities it presented, made him shiver with excitement.
The most direct improvement was that the low tier demons he tamed would inherently have more combat wisdom than those subdued by mental suppression by others.
Mental suppression had a chance of causing summoned beasts to forget their special attack usage, so in the summoned beast market, the difference between good and bad often depended on this.
This feature alone was already incredibly valuable.
He swiped through the system's summoned beast panel a few more times, besides the unlocked taming function, there were also "Enhancement" and "Nursery Construction".
[Summoned Beast Enhancement: After taming a summoned beast, it will display enhancement paths. The main controller needs to collect the appropriate food and materials to help the summoned beast grow stronger.]
[Nursery Construction: Choose a suitable site, arrange and construct materials according to the plan, to build a self-sustaining living space for the summoned beast to rest and thrive.]
Li Ang glanced over it briefly, the nursery also had levels; the lowest could be built with not-so-precious materials, while the highest directly opened up a dimensional space, containing a separate small world capable of holding many demons.
Of course, when choosing a site, he thought the best place would be on the first base of the Sky Cavalry: the team's flying airship. This way, wherever the team went, he wouldn't have to worry about the summoned beast following.
Thinking of this, his thoughts shifted to how to acquire a flying airship.
The system popped up the flying airship panel again, and Li Ang closed it right away.
He had been standing still for a while, and Zoe beside him was curious about why he was zoning out, so she started poking him.
If you carefully look at each panel of the system, you can't finish even by sunset.
Li Ang put away the two-legged flying dragon egg and bent over to pack the remaining iron ore.
He didn't plan to tame the two-legged flying dragon for now, even with the system's help, this kind of demon was still too low tier.
Moreover, it wasn't like it could immediately grow up to become fighting power; before that, the feed and care would cost a huge amount of energy. Before traveling, even raising a cat made him exhausted, he knew this kind of thing well.
Besides, if anyone he knew found out he was carrying a two-legged flying dragon as a summoned beast now, they would definitely die laughing.
After packing, Li Ang set off towards the village on Satus Island with a basket full of ore and two-legged flying dragon materials on his back.
Zoe followed beside him, holding a few multicolored stones, observing them. They were small crystal fragments that fell out when the rock bed collapsed. Her cheeks were red; she clearly liked them a lot.
The scenery along the way was monotonous, getting to the village required crossing through the center of the island. The open grasslands were a familiar sight to the two of them.
Zoe seemed to find it boring, after pocketing the stones, she began to swing the Wind Breath Sword.
Her delicate little face was initially expressionless, but gradually, as if recalling something, a smile appeared, and her body moved accordingly, starting to appear in front of Li Ang.
Seeing her somewhat blocking his way, he inwardly thought this was not good.
With so many things just now, he forgot to take the sword from her.
"I saw you use magic, able to create water, break stones. Magic is really amazing."
"Mm."
"But it seems like you need certain things or you have to touch something directly, does that mean without doing so, you can't use magic?"
"..."
She discovered the characteristics of a witch.
Even other casting professions liked to use mediums to cast spells, although they typically used magic wands or staffs, not always relying on casting materials.
As a witch, casting either required casting materials or communication with the spirit within objects.
This pattern was discovered by Zoe, her observational skills were quite good.
"I figured out the rules of magic, so—"
Zoe took two quick steps and stood directly in front of Li Ang.
"Let's duel again, this time I'll definitely dodge your magic. I thought about it, I'll have a move then."
Li Ang wouldn't doubt her cleverness, but there was no way she could defeat a seasoned Level 9 professional, and the focus wasn't on whether to fight or not.
"Give me your sword, let's not talk about this anymore."
"Oh right, the sword was just temporarily returned to me."
Zoe's enthusiasm diminished a little, she held the sword hilt and hesitated partway through extending her hand.
After holding it for a while, she whispered: "I understand having lost, I must give something up. I won my candy from others."
This kid is still a king of children, whether the candy was won or seized, Li Ang couldn't say.
"This sword was left to me by my dad, I've always cherished it... I know I lost it myself, so, can I exchange something else to get it back?"
Li Ang looked at her serious eyes and sighed.
"You've misunderstood the key point. I'm not coveting your sword; I want you to understand that casual dueling comes with a price. Besides, you don't have anything else—"
"I really don't know if I have something you'd like, Li Ang, you can say it, anything I have, I can give you."
Li Ang looked at the innocent face of the young girl and reached out his hand.
"Ouch, that hurts!"
He couldn't resist flicking her smooth forehead hard.
"Don't say things like that, such words invite bad people to take advantage."
"Wh-what do you mean? I read it in the books my mom left."
The girl covered her forehead with both hands, gazing at Li Ang with grievance.
"You'll understand later."
Li Ang suddenly understood some parental feelings; sometimes it wasn't a lack of willingness to communicate, but really having no words to start with.
"If I can't exchange, then I can only duel with you."
"Alright, I'll put in some effort to explain why we can't duel—"
"Duel, duel."
"..."
Li Ang started to get a headache.
"Are you scared, scared?"
"..."
"Even though you're much older than me, you're afraid to duel me, really a coward~ coward~ soft and impotent~"
"Hey!"
Li Ang felt his forehead vein throb, and he glared at Zoe, catching a fleeting glint of slyness in her eyes.
This brat!
She wasn't stupid; she knew Li Ang didn't want to duel for certain reasons, and she knew her actions might be wrong, but she was still deliberately acting out.
In the past, she would run away at any scare, making Li Ang think she was a frightened little deer; maybe now because she got more familiar with Li Ang, she had grown a bit bolder, or perhaps her true nature was that of a sometimes gentle, sometimes claw-brandishing wild cat.
"Where did you learn to say such things?"
"From the books Mom left behind, sometimes you have to do it, it's called provocation."
What a crappy provocation.
Zoe's mother, this unseen lady, you're something else indeed.
Sigh, protagonist of the world... haven't even witnessed any official plot twists, and I'm already stressed out. I haven't even provoked her once, should I just run away?
Li Ang covered his face but saw Zoe through his fingers, chin up, pointing with the sword tip and laughing.
This personality needs to be corrected.