"In my vision, your new skill should still be included within the Illusion Technique system," Shiayar said.
"However, compared to Moon Reading, your new skill, Amaterasu, is an attack technique that can truly cause harm to enemies.
"Though it is a spark born from the cracks between imagination and illusion, it has been manifested in reality.
"Once the target is touched by even a little bit, it will burn eternally, until the opponent is reduced to nothing but ashes.
"It is like an unending, undying curse.
"Just thinking about such a skill, sounds pretty cool, right?"
In the snow-covered ice field, Shiayar casually grabbed a handful of snow from beside him, formed it into a snowball, and weighed it in his hand.
Then, he snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, amidst the howling cold wind of the Northern Territory, a tiny flame took shape out of thin air.
At first, the flame was still extremely blurry, as if it hovered between illusion and reality.
But quickly, that wisp of flame became clear and intense, instantly melting the snowball completely.
On Shiayar's shoulder, the little white ferret watched the illusory flame, its eyes shining brightly.
Its fluffy white tail involuntarily wrapped around Shiayar's neck, making his cheek itch.
"YIP YIP YIP! (Coach! Coach! I want to learn this!)"
"YIP, YIP YIP! (My damage skill! My damage skill!)"
It couldn't be helped; Silver had long been frustrated by its lack of offensive abilities.
No matter how miraculous the effects of Moon Reading were, in the end, it was only a control-type skill primarily for restraining and confusing enemies. How could it compare to the sheer satisfaction of defeating an opponent head-on?
As for the Beginner-level Ripping Claws and the Proficient-level Ice Blade, they weren't even worth mentioning.
In daily battles against enemies of the same level, they barely had any harassment effect.
Sometimes, when facing tank-type Pet Beasts with high defense, high HP, and regeneration, even if Silver used Moon Reading to stun them, it would still have to exert considerable effort to break through the defenses of a completely defenseless target.
If this had been in the past, it might have been acceptable. After all, Silver knew that as Shiayar's main pet, this shortcoming would eventually be addressed by its master's power to enhance it.
But not long ago, that once-naive big rock had broken its seal.
Shiny, being a snub-nosed monkey, was not only just as adorable as Silver but also possessed the even rarer dual attributes of time and space.
This immediately gave Silver a sense of crisis. It feared that, given time, its top position among the pets would soon be in jeopardy.
For this very reason, Silver had long been eagerly anticipating the grand promise of a skill called Amaterasu that its Beastmaster had described.
If it could truly master this skill, then who in battle would ever imagine that a snowy plains ferret born in an ice field could unleash a fire-type ultimate move?
It would be a surefire killer technique, both cool and stylish.
With it, Silver could firmly secure its throne as Shiayar's number one main pet.
"That's why I'm here to teach you, so don't rush," Shiayar said, moving the large tail from around his neck to his other shoulder.
"Silver, you've also learned Moon Reading; you should know the process.
"First, you need to practice and simulate. Based on the prerequisite skill, which is Moon Reading, you must construct the embryonic form of this new skill."
"YIP YIP! (Yes! Yes!)"
The little white ferret nodded eagerly, then promptly closed its eyes to begin imagining.
However, Silver quickly opened its eyes, a look of bewilderment on its face.
As a creature born and raised in the Northern Territory Icy Plains, it naturally struggled to imagine the so-called "blazing inferno" scenario.
"Watch carefully."
The next moment, Silver heard Shiayar's anticipated words.
Suddenly, its ruby-like eyes widened.
Before the little white ferret, a vast expanse of crimson badlands slowly emerged, with crimson lava flowing through the cracked earth.
"This is Flaming Mountain. Legend says that only by borrowing a banana-leaf fan can one extinguish the eternally burning mountain fires here," Shiayar explained.
"Oh, right, this place is also the Bull Demon King's territory. Hmm... or rather, it's ruled by a powerful bovine Pet Beast. As for its rank, it's at least Emperor Rank or higher."
The scene shifted, and the burning mountain peak disappeared.
In its place, a colossal golden crow flew across the sky. Wherever it passed, it left a trail of flowing fire, as if intending to burn everything between heaven and earth to ashes.
"Hmm, this is the golden crow, also a symbol of the sun. Legend says if nine golden crows were to appear together, they would turn the land into scorched earth."
...
One by one, illusory light screens materialized before Silver's eyes. Its spiritual power rose and fell continuously as it absorbed everything from them.
As time ticked by, second by second, a tiny seed in the depths of Silver's soul was slowly developing and taking form.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Just as Shiayar and Silver's spiritual power were nearly depleted, prompting Shiayar to consider temporarily halting the simulation, he finally heard the long-awaited prompt.
[Detection of an unrecorded skill model]
[Please confirm whether you wish to consume three Skill Seeds to materialize this skill prototype]
Creating Moon Reading last time only cost one Skill Seed, but this time it's actually tripled? It seems the skill rank of Amaterasu is much higher than Moon Reading. Well, a skill that ignores the opponent's physical defense and directly inflicts true damage... just thinking about it, its Rank couldn't possibly be low.
Shiayar didn't hesitate and immediately chose to confirm.
[Three Skill Seeds have been deducted. Current remaining Skill Seeds: 0]
[Your Pet Beast Silver has learned 'Skill Prototype: Unnamed']
Almost simultaneously as this information flashed by, Shiayar also saw a new slot appear in Silver's panel, after existing skills like Hunting Rhythms, Ripping Claws, and Bewitchment.
[Skill Prototype: Unnamed]
[Attributes: Spiritual, Fire]
[Rank: Unknown]
[Proficiency: None]
[Description: A prototype of a dual spiritual and fire type skill. It requires a fire spark to be completed.]
[Tip: The quality of the contained fire spark will directly determine this skill's effectiveness and power. Please choose the extraordinary material to be used with caution.]
"I knew it."
Shiayar looked at the skill panel before him, feeling a mix of joy and sorrow.
The joy was that Amaterasu, the skill he and Silver had longed for, had finally come into being. Moreover, judging by the number of Skill Seeds consumed, this skill's potential was likely not low.
The sorrow stemmed from the fact that to complete this skill prototype—that is, the "fire spark" mentioned in the description—he would have to spend a fortune again.
The principle was actually quite simple. Silver, being an ice-type Pet Beast, undoubtedly lacked the ability to create fire on its own. Therefore, when activating Amaterasu, an external Fire Spark Source would be needed. And the final power of Amaterasu would undoubtedly be closely related to the fire source itself. After all, even though both are fire, a small flame from a struck match is on a completely different level than the breath expelled by a pure-blooded crimson dragon.
"To match Amaterasu's rank, the fire-attribute extraordinary material used as the fire spark must be at least 4th Order.
"If I were to be a perfectionist, then it would ideally need to be 5th Order...
"The price of 5th Order fire-attribute extraordinary materials..."
Just thinking about it, Shiayar felt his already lean wallet, thinned further by political contributions and archaeological activities, deflate even more. How many Rhine gold coins would he need to earn before it was enough?