Chương 109: Ozymandius’ Evaluation

Professor Chartworth looked over at Ozy, who was lying on an observation table. The Professor was leading the study into pets and using them for more esoteric skills like healing. He was one of the Professors who did long-term and in-depth research that was sold to others. He felt research on pets as a support tool for adventurers had monetary potential, which is why he was supporting my efforts with Ozy. He then looked at the new status sheet I had provided for Ozy after the dungeon descent.

I was sticking to checking my status once every three months. Ozy required more frequent checkups to chart his progress and skill gain properly. Unlike humans, the College had minimal information about pets.

Winged Serpent Level: 30/462 Experience: 876/2, 380 Healing: 1, 050/1, 050 Stamina: 350/350 Mana: 850/850 Class: Tier 1, Young Winged Serpent (Red) Effect: Alchemy Skill Growth (+50%), Alchemic Skill Power (+100%) Vitality: 105 () Endurance: 35 () Strength: 52 () Agility: 84 () Perception: 38 () Mind: 96 () Magic: 85 () Focus: 45 () Free Points: 60 T1: Bite (92+5) T2: Toxic Breath (60 +13), Alchemic Vision (42+10) T3: Alchemy (48+8), Poison Insight (24+2), Fire Insight (9+1), Cold Insight (9+1), Arcane Insight (9+1), Spatial Insight (8+1), Soul Insight (3+1) T4: Soul Link (28+5), Flight (23+3), Alchemic Bounded Field (17+5)"His length only increased 3.

82 centimeters. Total length 167. 45 centimeters. An increase of 2. 28%. Increase of 3 levels. We will have to continue to track growth to level," Professor Chartworth said while checking over Ozy and recording the information.

"What about his skill gain?" I asked.

"Higher than average, not that we have a large data set for pets and none for this monster archetype. His free points are interesting. He is waiting for your input before using them. That shows a high degree of trust."

"Any suggestions?".

"One in each stat with the extra two in magic for every ten free points. While you are training to be a support caster, being well-rounded is important for anyone adventuring, human or pet." I mentally conveyed the information to Ozy through our bond. There was no reason to doubt the Professor, and his explanation made sense. Ozy distributed the stat points, but my pet showed no visual change, except a slight increase in Mana around him.

"The fact that he listens so well is a sign that you have been training him well. Keep that up for as long as possible,""I don't plan on going back to the dungeon for a while."

"That is fine. It will give more time for increasing his skills," the Professor said and pulled out an Alchemical crystal from a glass container with a pair of tongs.

"Give this to your pet to eat. It is the skill Healing Insight. He should get started on these skills early on. They will naturally increase. These insight skills are truly broken. It's a shame people can't use them." I took the pair of tongs and gave the Alchemical skill crystal to Ozy, who ate it. His happiness at gaining a new skill was palpable. I checked his status, and Healing Insight was there in tier 3 with one new level.

"It took hold immediately."

"That's expected, since monsters are made of Mana. How was combat with Ozy here in the dungeon? Be detailed and give your opinion."

"Ozy was good, but he struggled in wider and more complex applications of combat Alchemy. That is why I kept the instructions as simple as possible. Avoid danger. Use this elemental attack. His instincts were quite good, helping unexpectedly, like intercepting a monster about to attack me while I was going after a larger threat."

"That is the bond skill. Just be careful that you remain in the dominant position. You should always prioritize your life and reinforce that concept. From what I have seen, you have done a good job. The more the bond skills grow, the more this dynamic will settle into place. However, the dynamic can reverse even if the bond is maximized. So be careful," the Professor explained, and I nodded. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

While I liked Ozy, he was ultimately a pet, a tool, a weapon, to help me. Like my mother's sword, I would treasure and be careful with him, but I wouldn't forget this. I might want to go down a different path and have a companion, but I wasn't about to be stupid regarding what Ozy was. One didn't put themselves in front of their sword. While I would use Ozy for support, this didn't change the fact that he would serve me and would be the best.

"What about his class? Do monsters have classes like humans?"

"No. They change class every 50 levels and start at tier 1, unlike humans."

"His maximum level is listed as 462, which exceeds the known colors."

"Yes, it does, but getting a monster to that level naturally has never happened. Ozy is a Winged Serpent. A monster that is normally found below the 20 th layer. And he is clearly an egg from a Champion-level monster, which is even rarer. His parents were probably around level 230 and a blue core monster. People have tried training pets up to get a higher-level core, but you have seen the experience graphs, it is brutal," the Professor said, and I nodded.

"That is how we know of a violet core. Someone did a huge test in the past to feed a singular monster tremendous amounts of Mana deep in the dungeon, naturally increasing its level. Eventually, it gained a violet core. Unfortunately, the costs were too prohibitive to continue since the experiment caused the dungeon to send swarms of monsters. One of the few things that has made the dungeon react."

"I was wondering how people knew of violet cores when no one had gone that deep,""It isn't something that is advertised. Otherwise, people might try setting up monster farms in the dungeon, which is foolishness. That is how you have dungeon breaks, and that is probably what caused the most recent disaster. Some experiment hidden away had built up too much Mana and then erupted. So, while some people know such things, they don't spread them." That made more sense than my mother causing such a situation.

"But what about increasing the potential of a monster's class ahead of time?"

"That isn't possible. Someone attempted it, but it failed. We don't understand the more complex workings of class advancement and monster cores. Research into Mana remains a complex and difficult field of research."

"What about training? I know you mentioned creating a training curriculum?"

"Indeed. I want to discover whether Alchemy and Bounded Alchemic Field applications can improve insight skills. Rapidly training insight skills would make pets a much more viable option for adventurers. Instead of waiting years or decades for these insight skills, adventurers could train a pet in a much shorter time." Ultimately, the College made more money from selling its research and discoveries.

While that part of the College impacted the courses I took, aiming to increase leveling speed, there was also more research in other areas, especially System mechanics and System interactions. Over the decades, people had lightly explored pets, but the Professor hoped to develop some breakthroughs. If the Professor could better monetize a breakthrough, he would receive more prestige and funding from the College. In time, if pets became big enough, they might start a new discipline here at the College.

This would set up Professor Chartworth as the new Assistant Dean of the discipline. More likely, it would lead to the creation of several courses that the Professor would appoint his disciples to manage as Professors in their own right. The competition between the Professors was just as intense as that between the students, even if it wasn't as readily visible. Each of them wanted to achieve a major breakthrough and leave their names in history.

If the insight training methods were good enough, future texts might reference the Chartworth Insight Pet Training Methodology. He showed me to a room with Ozy, where Ozy had to transform one substance into another using Alchemy and Bounded Alchemic Field. The transformations involved heating, cooling, and phase changes. For safety, they secured the samples behind a glass wall. The Professor and I also had to wear goggles and breathing masks just in case.

While we wouldn't die, Alchemic tests at the College had specific safety requirements that needed to be followed.

"You will bring Ozy here once a day for an hour and use up all his Mana. I have designed a series of training exercises to improve his insight skills as rapidly as possible. We will do weekly tracking of his leveling progress."

"Isn't that a bit much?"

"No. Not for a pet and this type of training. Monsters learn differently from humans, especially with insight skills. While the overlays of our status might look similar, the mechanics underlying them are quite different." I looked at Ozy, who just looked back up at me with his red eyes.

"Do you know of any way I can increase the color of my class besides a soul fruit?"

"There is an entire research group here at the College devoted to investigating this. They would be the best ones to ask about your class if you are looking to improve the color," Professor Chartworth said while stroking his short beard.

"Such things aren't cheap, and you are already going into quite an enormous debt with your pet."

"I know, but I am curious if there are other options besides soul fruits."

"I wish you lots of luck. I bet you already have a blue or indigo class?"

"Blue," I answered, and he nodded.

"Then you will be in for a hard time increasing the base potential of your class. It is inherent in individuals and not easily changed. It has been something people have been asking since the dawn of time. A class is incredibly powerful. Those percentage improvements might not seem like much, but they add up over time if you focus on learning or in combat as a powerful force multiplier."

While it was easy to look down on the 10% boost to various skill and stat training, it was incredibly powerful—especially the stat training. If there was any reason I picked a class with similar effects, it was probably because of that. Stats were the foundation of so much. My constant issues with the Mind stat proved this. But once I got into spell skills, Mana reserves from my Magic stat would become increasingly more important.

Skill acquisition might not seem like a significant boost, but it made learning new skills easier. If I could further improve the potential of my class, it would really shine.