Then he turned his head and saw Professor Desmond's expression.
Cleveland's heart also thumped.
'Something... seems to be out of our control and expectations?'
Asher: 'Yes! That's right! It's me!'
"It sounds pretty impressive," Asher finally spoke.
When Cleveland heard that, he instantly shifted his gaze from Professor Desmond to Asher.
Seeing it was a young man.
Cleveland didn't think much of it.
He gave Asher a look that said, "Yes, keep complimenting us like that."
Asher: ◉‿◉
'Are some people overthinking things?'
Asher coughed and continued his performance: "I'm not sure what the Drilling Bug in your Nation looks like."
Cleveland frowned slightly, vaguely sensing something off.
But still didn't see a big issue.
'Issue?'
'Is there an issue?'
'Isn't this just a normal inquiry?'
Besides, if they wanted to continue researching the Drilling Bug project, sooner or later they'd have to take out the Drilling Bug they brought.
As for the research results, they certainly wouldn't let Soren see them.
But to hide the Drilling Bug itself?
That's impossible.
"It's not that difficult if you want to see it," Cleveland raised his head, speaking proudly, "We also hope Soren will have more and better ideas after seeing it."
While talking, he didn't forget to sneak in a bit of sarcasm.
Professor Desmond: "..."
Professor Hubert: "..."
'Heh!'
The two of them, one sharp, one kind, both looked at Cleveland like he was an idiot.
Cleveland, riding his own high, didn't notice.
Standing beside him, Dustin also felt his heart pound twice.
'Does Soren have some hidden card?'
Dustin tugged at Cleveland's clothes, trying to signal him to slow down.
But it was too late.
Cleveland raised his hand.
Immediately, someone from the research team behind him stepped out, and a huge Drilling Bug appeared in the open area ahead.
Asher stepped back in disgust.
Couldn't blame him.
This Drilling Bug from Eastern Nation was really… Asher didn't even know how to describe it, just difficult to put into words.
Asher had seen Drilling Bugs before.
At first glance, it looked like a giant version of a maggot.
In reality, it really was just a giant bug, though not as fleshy.
Because of its attribute, its body was a kind of reddish-brown.
Its exterior was covered in a hard, armor-like layer of dirt.
A bit weird.
But still within an acceptable range.
However, this Drilling Bug from Eastern Nation, perhaps due to some attribute change, its body had turned from reddish-brown to a mix of white with brown, hard to describe and even harder to evaluate color-wise.
And it was constantly secreting some kind of sticky, gooey liquid.
Forget Asher who was seeing it for the first time.
Even Professor Hubert and Desmond, who had seen the Eastern Drilling Bug before, silently and quietly took a step back.
'Mm!'
They just wanted to adjust their viewing angle to observe more carefully.
They were definitely not disgusted by this so-called Drilling Bug.
They were pet beast professors.
How could they have such an emotion as disgust.
Asher: "..."
If everyone's movements weren't so synchronized, he might've actually believed that.
But Asher still activated his innate skill, looking at the gooey creature before him that looked less like a Drilling Bug and more like a slug.
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
[Pet Beast: Drilling Bug]
[Attribute: Ground + Steel*]
[Species: Intermediate Transcendent, Low Tier]
[Level: Tier Three, Transcendent High]
[Skills: Drill, Dig, Body Hardening, Mucus]
[Does not meet evolution conditions for now]
[So uncomfortable… so uncomfortable…]
▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬
Asher raised an eyebrow.
'Hmm…'
'So this Drilling Bug really does look super off?'
Asher swept his gaze past the Drilling Bug's skills.
Then immediately frowned.
"What did you guys do to this Drilling Bug? It looks like it's in pain."
Asher didn't ignore the Drilling Bug's inner emotions.
Mainly because the same three words kept repeating.
It was obvious.
The Drilling Bug was really extremely uncomfortable.
Cleveland frowned at the words and looked at Asher again.
'Uncomfortable?'
'How can this young guy tell that the Drilling Bug is uncomfortable?'
Because Asher was so young, Cleveland really hadn't taken him seriously at first.
Just thought Asher was there to make up numbers.
But now...
"What are you saying, sir?", Cleveland feigned a confused and innocent look, "How did you tell the Drilling Bug was uncomfortable?"
"Are you falsely accusing us?"
Cleveland stood righteously.
Trying to splash dirty water on Asher in return.
"Heh," Asher hadn't said anything yet, but Professor Desmond stepped forward first.
His face full of mockery, looking at Cleveland with disdainful eyes, "How did he tell? Of course through his innate skill!"
"As for what it is, we have no obligation to explain to you," Professor Desmond cut off Cleveland's questioning in one sentence.
"Now it's your turn to explain."
"Professor Asher's innate skill cannot possibly be wrong!"
Cleveland looked a little flustered.
'An innate skill that senses pet emotions?'
'That might actually be possible.'
Thinking of that, Cleveland wanted to curse.
But he still tried hard to stay calm and stuck to his previous statement, "I don't know anything. Is Soren trying to smear us?"
At this moment.
Cleveland became the pre-set idiot NPC.
No matter how aggressive Professor Desmond was, he had only one line.
Cleveland didn't react much.
But Professor Desmond was about to explode with anger.
Just as the situation was about to turn chaotic again, Asher walked toward the Drilling Bug.
At once.
Everyone stopped arguing and all looked toward Asher.
'What is he doing?'
Everyone had similar thoughts in mind.
Except for the still-stubborn Eastern Nation, the other two countries already believed that what Asher and Professor Desmond said was true.
That Drilling Bug was really not doing well.
But what could Asher do now?
Turns out, Asher could do far more than they imagined.
He walked to the Drilling Bug…
Well, not quite "in front of."
Because it's a bug, Drilling Bugs don't have faces.
At most, you could tell the front and back by the mouthparts and excretion port.
He walked to the mouthpart.
Asher pulled out a small red crystal.
Everyone: "?"
'What's that?'
Same doubt appeared in their minds.
Before Cleveland could scold Asher for messing around, the Drilling Bug that was just half-dead a second ago suddenly perked up.
Its mouthparts opened wide and lunged toward Asher.
Professor Desmond: "!"
In an instant.
The hairs on Professor Desmond's body stood on end, and he immediately tried to run toward Asher.
That opened mouthpart looked like it could swallow Asher whole in one bite.
"It's fine!", Asher shouted loudly without even turning back to the people behind him.
"The Drilling Bug has no hostility toward me, don't rush over."
Professor Hubert dashed over with a whoosh, and even though he looked older, he actually ran faster than "young" Professor Desmond.
Professor Desmond, immobilized after being caught by Professor Hubert: "?"
'What?'
'When did this world suddenly become so fantasy-like?'
Professor Desmond looked at Professor Hubert with shocked, incredulous eyes.
He never expected Professor Hubert to have such a move.
Professor Hubert smiled, "Trust little Asher, don't make trouble for him."
Over by Asher—
The situation wasn't as dangerous as imagined.
But…
It also wasn't as easy as he said.
Asher's mouth twitched as he looked directly at the Drilling Bug with its gooey mucus dripping down after rearing up.
This scene was way too intense.
While shouting "so uncomfortable" internally, the Drilling Bug leaned its head toward the Three-legged Golden Crow blood crystal in Asher's hand.
"Awoo—"
One gulp and it swallowed it down.
Although it looked incredibly eye-burning.
The Drilling Bug didn't harm Asher at all.
Didn't even scratch his oily skin one bit.
Seeing that, Asher couldn't help but curl his lips into a slight smile.
The crystal, once swallowed, instantly ignited into flames inside the Drilling Bug.
Purging the lesions.
Visibly.
The Drilling Bug's condition improved.
Cleveland: "!"
The Drilling Bug's Beast Tamer: "!"
"The Drilling Bug is really healed…", The Drilling Bug's Beast Tamer looked at it in shock, then at Asher.
He spoke in Eastern language.
Asher understood.
Asher turned his head and looked at Cleveland.
In the moment their eyes met, Cleveland didn't know why, but his whole body shuddered.
"You… you…", Cleveland's mind went blank, wanted to speak but didn't know what to say.
Just then, Dustin beside him stepped out, staring directly at Asher, "What did you feed the Drilling Bug?"
"If it affects the Drilling Bug's future evolution…"
Dustin was basically cut from the same mold as Cleveland.
Same righteous tone.
Same eagerness to slap hats on Soren the moment they got a chance.
Asher didn't even bother rolling his eyes at the two.
Waste of time.
"Don't think too highly of yourselves," Asher looked at the Drilling Bug whose emotions were gradually calming, his voice cold.
"Your research direction was wrong from the start."
"No matter how you tinker with the Drilling Bug, you'll never get the results you want."
Eastern Nation team: "?"
Cold Nation team: "?"
Professor Desmond: "!"
"Uh… what do you mean?", Looking left and right, seeing no one speaking, Haynel cautiously, though extremely curious. She asked softly.
The atmosphere was definitely strange.
But if she didn't ask anything now, and Asher really didn't explain later, she'd definitely regret it.
Haynel fearlessly stepped forward.
"First, I don't get why you think the Drilling Bug can evolve into a dragon-type beast."
"Just because one of the known evolution routes of the Drilling Bug ends in something called the Drilling Demon Dragon?", Asher looked disgusted as he complained.
That name was given by people too.
The evolved Drilling Bug's body becomes nearly ten times larger.
Though it's still long like a worm.
But calling a big bug a big dragon isn't completely unreasonable.
At least from size alone, there's some resemblance.
However.
In terms of attribute and bloodline, the Drilling Bug and the Drilling Demon Dragon are completely unrelated.
"The Drilling Bug does have a new evolution route," Asher continued, "It's interesting."
"Did you guys discover that the Drilling Bug seems to be capable of flight after evolving?"
Cleveland: "!!!"
Dustin: "!!!"
If before, they were just rebutted.
Or just scolded.
Or just…
Fine.
Anyway, nothing Asher said earlier mattered much.
But this sentence, the two of them, the entire Eastern Nation research team, including the accompanying Beast Tamers, their faces all changed drastically.
Others: "!"
'Alright, alright!'
No need to ask anymore.
Just from the Eastern people's expressions, it was clear Asher hit the nail on the head.
However…
Everyone's gaze turned back to the giant bug.
'This thing—'
'And they're telling us—'
'After evolution, it can fly?'
'You've got to be kidding, right?'
It's just that there was already Eastern Nation saying that the Drilling Bug could evolve into a dragon-type beast before.
So now hearing that the Drilling Bug can fly after evolving, it doesn't seem like anything strange or incomprehensible.
"That's still not right though," Upon hearing this, Atu also leaned over.
Two tall guys standing next to Asher.
Asher in the middle looked like a pelvis depression, inexplicably just shrank down.
Asher: "..."
He doesn't really care about height.
Asher pretended not to see Atu and Haynel beside him, quietly moved one step forward.
Haynel and Atu, who didn't sense any problem, also subconsciously moved one step forward with Asher.
Professor Hubert hooked the corner of his mouth.
'Young people, huh.'
'Hahaha!'
Asher continued to stay silent.
Asher stopped walking.
Atu was still talking, "But the Drilling Bug's attribute is ground attribute!"
"We all know, conflicting attributes cannot appear on the same beast."
Ground attribute.
Is destined not to be able to fly.
Flying attribute elves cannot absorb energy through feet on the ground.
This is common sense.
"Not strange," Asher shook his head, "This world is so big, and there are so many beasts."
"Even beasts with ground + steel attributes can evolve into dragons."
"Why can't there just be an extra flying attribute, a case of conflicting attributes?"
Asher seriously dragged Eastern Nation Nation into the water.
The people from Eastern Nation Nation who wanted to refute were blocked by Asher: "..."
Uncomfortable.
Holding it in feels uncomfortable.
"No way," Asher seemed to just remember the people from Eastern Nation Nation were behind.
He turned around pretending to be surprised: "You guys wouldn't believe that Drilling Bug can evolve into a dragon-type beast, but don't believe that Drilling Bug can simply fly after evolving?"
Professor Desmond even helped fan the flames from the side: "I also think, saying the Drilling Bug can fly sounds more reliable than it turning into a dragon."
"This is your great discovery? The kind completely based on guessing?", Haynel sincerely looked at the pet beast professors from Eastern Nation Nation.
With a sincere tone, stabbed a knife into their hearts.
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