Xiao Zi lacked long-range anti-air attack skills and could not fly. To defeat the Ironback Hawks, it had to seize the current opportunity.
Zheng Dong reacted quickly. He decided to have Xiao Zi directly confront the two Ironback Hawks.
First, it would use the Harden skill to block the Ironback Hawks' attacks, then use the Amplify skill. While its body was enlarged, it would use its Shattering Gold Claws to instantly eliminate both Ironback Hawks.
It was risky, but if successful, it would instantly take down the two Ironback Hawks.
Due to the contract, Zheng Dong could communicate directly with Xiao Zi telepathically.
Xiao Zi followed Zheng Dong's command.
It unleashed the Harden skill, and the hardening substance instantly covered its entire body, forming armor made of black hardened material.
The Shattering Gold Claws of the two Ironback Hawks struck Xiao Zi, sending sparks flying.
To Zheng Dong's slight surprise, although the Master-level Shattering Gold Claws could not instantly tear through the hardened substance on Xiao Zi's body, they were gradually ripping it apart.
Harden alone could not withstand the Shattering Gold Claws of the two Ironback Hawks.
This was the difference between low-level and high-level skills.
However, the Harden skill bought Xiao Zi time.
It immediately followed up by using the Amplify skill, its body instantly growing four times larger, becoming significantly bigger than the Ironback Hawks, resembling a leopard.
Next, it used Shattering Gold Claws, striking at the two Ironback Hawks. It directly crushed the head of one Ironback Hawk and then tore apart the body of the other.
The battle ended, just as Zheng Dong had predicted.
However, the hardened substance on Xiao Zi's body was also torn apart by the two Ironback Hawks.
In a real fight, Xiao Zi would surely have been injured.
Alas, it still lacked practical combat experience!
Zheng Dong was somewhat dissatisfied.
Outside the virtual training combat room, Teacher Wang Guixiang and Ning Wei were stunned.
"Holy crap, it did it again! Is that really a Treasure Rat?" Ning Wei exclaimed in surprise.
He felt that it was completely different from his understanding of Treasure Rats and somewhat defied common sense.
He wondered if he should also go and pick out a mutated Mechanical King Kong Wolf.
Teacher Wang Guixiang was also in shock, continuously analyzing Zheng Dong's situation.
She had expected Zheng Dong to have Xiao Zi continuously dodge the Ironback Hawks' attacks until they were nearly exhausted before making a move.
She never expected Zheng Dong to have the Treasure Rat directly face the attacks of two Ironback Hawks and proactively counterattack.
He certainly knew how to train his pet beasts!
It was just a bit risky and not steady enough. It needed more practical combat experience.
Perhaps there was hope of entering the top ten in the entire school!
"Zheng Dong, well done. Did you train your Treasure Rat yourself?" Teacher Wang Guixiang asked.
"Yes, Teacher Wang," Zheng Dong nodded slightly.
"To have your Treasure Rat master so many skills in such a short time, you must have been very diligent. However, don't try to bite off more than you can chew. Having more skills isn't always better!
I think you need to integrate these skills your Treasure Rat has mastered to form a set of attack combos suitable for a Treasure Rat!
This way, you can avoid a lot of ineffective attacks, reduce your Treasure Rat's consumption, and also deal a decisive blow to eliminate the opponent," Teacher Wang Guixiang advised.
Zheng Dong also realized this point.
The Treasure Rat currently mastered ten skills. Apart from the special skill, Treasure Hunting, the remaining nine skills could not be effectively combined to form a series of attack combos.
Furthermore, the Treasure Rat could not withstand prolonged battles.
It was easily defeated by troublesome opponents.
"However, at your current stage, achieving this is already very good. After all, your opponents have also just awakened their beast-taming talents, and few can master three or four skills.
Like Ning Wei, he hasn't even contracted a pet beast yet.
So, you don't need to be too anxious.
It's just that in the upcoming school ranking competition, if you encounter an opponent at the Extraordinary level, and you want to defeat them by a higher level, you'd better have a set of attack combos suitable for your Treasure Rat," Teacher Wang Guixiang continued.
"Thank you, teacher. I understand."
After hearing Teacher Wang Guixiang's extensive advice, Zheng Dong had an idea.
He planned to develop a set of attack combos with Shadow Clone as the core.
Meanwhile, Ning Wei, standing nearby, also reacted.
Holy crap, one step behind means being behind at every step!
I don't even know what my contracted Mechanical King Kong Wolf looks like, and you're already thinking about developing attack combos. Are you letting me live?
No, I need to hurry and find my dad to contract with the Mechanical King Kong Wolf as soon as possible.
Teacher Wang Guixiang felt it was about time. She had a general understanding of Zheng Dong's situation and planned to return to the office to register other students.
After a few more pleasantries, Teacher Wang Guixiang and Ning Wei left one after another.
Zheng Dong remained in the virtual training combat room to practice his combat skills.
He increased the number of Ironback Hawks to three.
He intended to hone the Shadow Clone skill and use the clones to gang up on these Ironback Hawks.
Unfortunately, the effect was not ideal.
His Shadow Clone skill proficiency was insufficient. Using a high-level skill once or multiple low-level skills would deplete his energy.
After a few training sessions, Zheng Dong decided to go home to improve the proficiency of Shadow Clone.
To raise the proficiency of the high-level skill Shadow Clone to the Master level would take four times the time of a low-level skill, requiring two days. Then, raising it to Perfect level would take another four days, and to Transcendental level would require another eight days.
That was almost half a month.
This time was still a bit slow!
Zheng Dong frowned.
If anyone knew Zheng Dong's thoughts, they would probably beat him up.
Under normal circumstances, to cultivate a skill to the Transcendental level required not only time but also luck and the pet beast's comprehension ability.
Pet beasts with poor comprehension might never be able to cultivate Shadow Clone to the Transcendental level in their lifetime.
Zheng Dong returned home and decided to browse the internet for any resources that could accelerate Xiao Zi's cultivation of the Shadow Clone skill.
The network in the Yanhuang Kingdom was highly developed. Besides various online shopping websites, there were also many forums related to pet beast cultivation.
Logging into the largest official Yanhuang breeding forum, Zheng Dong quickly found several resources that could assist in cultivation.
For example, Enlightenment Flowers, Soul Washing Incense, and Vitality Grass, which were resources for improving a pet beast's comprehension.
However, the prices started from millions of Dragon Yuan, and the effects only lasted for one or two hours.
Zheng Dong felt it was not worth the purchase.
Of course, this was from his perspective.
For other beast tamers, perhaps one Enlightenment Flower, a drop of Soul Washing Incense, or a stalk of Vitality Grass could allow their pet beasts to quickly break through skills that had been stuck at the Transcendental level for a long time, achieving a finishing touch effect, which would be worth any amount of money.
In addition, one could also purchase dark element crystal stones, dark element liquid,幽心草 (You Xin Cao), dark night crystals, and other dark-element resources, and hire specialized beast tamers proficient in teaching pet beast skills for on-site instruction.
However, this was even more expensive.
After much deliberation, Zheng Dong purchased some resources that could strengthen Xiao Zi's dark attribute, intending to use his beast-taming talent to further accelerate Xiao Zi's cultivation.
As for the effect, he would have to try it to know.
Purchasing resources was also simple.
On the major official resource sales websites, except for particularly rare resources that were often out of stock, most first and second-level resources could be bought.
Moreover, Tu Qionglan had also given Zheng Dong an internal welfare website for the special task force, where reserve members could enjoy a 10% discount.
If he ordered now, it would be delivered tomorrow, which was very convenient.
Next, Zheng Dong also bought some Life Essence and Earth Marrow for himself to replenish his physical energy during cultivation.
Every time his physical energy was exhausted using his beast-taming talent, he was challenging his body's limits. With each attempt, his body was also continuously strengthening.
Soon, nearly 120 Dragon Yuan were spent.
Zheng Dong then gave all the remaining dark element resources to Xiao Zi to see the effect of cultivating the Shadow Clone skill in the skill domain using resources.
He cultivated from the afternoon until the next morning.
He cultivated for a total of about eighteen hours, stopping three times to replenish his physical energy, which took over an hour.
The overall cultivation effect was quite good, equivalent to cultivating for a day in the domain of his beast-taming talent skills without using resources.
Unfortunately, the dark element resources were also depleted.
However, not long after, the resources purchased yesterday were delivered by the courier.
A courier wearing a blue uniform knocked on Zheng Dong's door.
Behind him was a Swift Thunder Leopard.
The Swift Thunder Leopard was also carrying a large blue box.
The courier quickly took out the resources Zheng Dong had purchased from the blue box. After Zheng Dong confirmed receipt, he rode the Swift Thunder Leopard and disappeared.
Zheng Dong watched the courier's retreating figure. The courier was at least a beginner beast tamer. If he didn't join the special task force, he would probably have to work like this to earn money in the future.
Earning money as a beast tamer was easy, but the expenses were even greater.
The 5 million Dragon Yuan given by Tu Qionglan to Zheng Dong was also reduced to just over 3 million.
How could he get more money and more resources?
Go treasure hunting?
Zheng Dong thought about it and sighed:
"Xiao Zi, as a mature pet beast, the future King of Treasure Hunting, you need to learn to support yourself!"
"Of course, no problem. Didn't the master rely on me to support him before!" Xiao Zi replied from within the beast-taming space.
What the heck, bringing up sore points!
Before Zheng Dong could speak, Xiao Zi continued:
"Master, how about we go to Sky Monkey Mountain? I feel there's a big secret there, perhaps a hidden secret realm or ruin space. Maybe the resources inside will be enough for us to live on for a lifetime!"
Zheng Dong was startled.
"Did you go to Sky Monkey Mountain several times before specifically for secret realms and ruins?"
"Sort of. I don't actually know if Sky Monkey Mountain has secret realms or ruins, but my intuition tells me there are treasures there, just like when I found the Origin Fruit." Xiao Zi replied.
Zheng Dong knew that Xiao Zi's intuition came from its treasure-hunting talent.
There shouldn't be any unexpected issues.
However, he didn't dare to go now.
"Don't rush. When you reach the Extraordinary level, we'll go look," Zheng Dong comforted.
Next, Zheng Dong continued to cultivate.
Another eighteen hours passed.
Xiao Zi's Shadow Clone skill successfully reached the Master level.
At the Master level, the number of clones remained nine, not increased.
However, the quality of the clones had significantly improved.
Each clone could continuously use high-level skills three times, or intermediate-level skills five times, or low-level skills seven times.
Most importantly, the clones could independently cultivate and mobilize natural power to supplement their own consumption.
As a result, the combat power of each clone had greatly increased.
When it came to ganging up on opponents, unleashing a series of attack skills was no problem at all.
Zheng Dong did not stop cultivating. He still had over thirty hours before he had to go to school, so he continued to cultivate the Shadow Clone skill.
Cultivating Shadow Clone to the Perfect level would take four days. With氪金 (kè jīn - spending money/microtransactions) it would be faster, taking just over three days. Zheng Dong hoped to cultivate it to the Perfect level before going for wild experience.
By then, Xiao Zi's growth level might reach the Extraordinary level.