Rebirth of the Prime Dragon Master
Chapter 207 Rocky As Sheridan's Apprentice

"I understand you want to teach me, but I don't want you to be my teacher,” Rocky responded coldly. He enjoyed torturing the old man by making him wait in suspense. The truth was he was ecstatic when he found out how much Sheridan wanted to mentor him. He had mastered the Magical Evaluation Skill, the most powerful evaluation skill in the Wild Spirit Land. If he were to gain both Beast Taming Skill and Beast Curing Skill from Sheridan, he would improve enormously. He saw how desperately Sheridan wanted him, and Rocky decided to play hard to get. In that way, Sheridan would not withhold anything from him and would exhaust any means to help Rocky learn.

"Hey, young man. Show your teacher some respect. Actually, scratch that. I don't really care for formalities and stuff. Starting tomorrow, you'll be learning the Beast Taming Skill. After that, I will teach you the Beast Curing Skill. You still have a long way to go before you can master the Beast Evaluation Skill and you have still yet to learn about the spirit-manipulated beasts. Through the years, I have compiled this much information about spirit-manipulated beasts. Have a look," Sheridan told Rocky as he took out a thick, worn out directory from under his coat.

"There's no need for that. My brain is filled with information about spirit-manipulated beasts. I bet I know more about them than you,” Rocky answered as he waved his hand dismissively. He had all the information from the Beast Encyclopedia stored in his brain. He could describe each and every kind of spirit-manipulated beast in detail.

"I doubt that. Please don't make any more excuses to get out of our lessons.” Sheridan thought Rocky was making this up. He did not know Rocky owned the only copy of the Beast Encyclopedia in the whole Wild Spirit Land.

"If you don't believe me, quiz me then. If I answer any question wrong, I'll take you as my teacher. But if I get them all correct, you have to call me teacher,” Rocky wagered, raising his eyebrow slightly. He was eager to provoke Sheridan.

"Oh, you're on!" Sheridan agreed. He was very skeptical of Rocky's declaration; he didn't believe he got everything memorized.

Sheridan started to quiz Rocky with difficult and quaint questions about spirit-manipulated beasts. An hour passed and Sheridan was frozen in disbelief. He stared at Rocky in awe and dubiety. He was rendered speechless by Rocky's vast knowledge about spirit-manipulated beasts. Rocky had answered all the questions he raised correctly and quickly. Rocky's answers were even more accurate and informative than the information he had.

"What now? Did I win?" Rocky asked with a cunning smile.

"Hey, kid. Tell me. How did you know all those stuff about spirit-manipulated beasts?" Sheridan asked, still confused by how Rocky did so well. He was still struck with disbelief at how knowledgeable Rocky was regarding spirit-manipulated beasts.

"Did you not think there exist other people who are better than you? Well, a deal is a deal. You lost. You have to call me teacher,” Rocky teased as he laughed at Sheridan's expression.

"Ha, ha. I will exhaust all means to teach you. I believe you can definitely surpass me. I have high hopes for you, and I am sure you will accomplish a whole lot more than me. When that time comes, I'm sure Priest Dean's mouth will bubble with envy.” Sheridan erupted in a laughing fit.

“That is if he still got time to envy you. By that time, I would have taken everything from him. I will leave him with nothing but a bad reputation, * Rocky thought, his eyes blazing with cruelty.

"I've got to go now." Rocky grew tired of the conversation he and Sheridan were having. He turned his back towards Sheridan, preparing to leave.

"Hey! Make sure you get here early tomorrow," Sheridan reminded Rocky.

Rocky continued to walk away. He just waved his hand as a response, then disappeared in an instant.

At the crack of dawn the following day, Sheridan who was habitually late arrived at the beast farm. He paced up and down by the beast stable, looking around constantly.

"Why isn't he here yet?" Sheridan looked anxious, afraid that Rocky wouldn't come. The more usual case was that people looked for teachers desperately. It was quite the other way around for him. He was eager to take Rocky as his apprentice. He considered himself so fortunate to have crossed paths with the exceedingly talented Rocky. He had a feeling he would regret not taking Rocky as his apprentice.

There was a reason Sheridan wanted to mentor Rocky so desperately. Like he'd said before, beast tamers and beat curers were scarce in the Wild Spirit Land. Only a few were willing to learn these essential skills. The other people who wanted to learn these said skills had poor aptitude. Their end goal was to master the skill so they could profit from it. It would be a waste of time to teach people who didn't have ambitions; they would never achieve anything. These were the reasons Sheridan did not take any apprentice before.

But time passed, and Sheridan did not stop getting old. He got worried the practice of Beast Taming Skill and Beast Curing Skill would die if he didn't find anyone he could pass them down to. If this were to happen, it sure would be a shame and a pity. The spirit manipulators in the future would lack crucial skills necessary living in a world with spirit-manipulated beasts.

The Beast Taming Skill and Beast Curing Skill were, after all, very important to spirit manipulators who aspired to control spiritual beasts. No matter how extraordinary a spirit-manipulated beast was, it would not be tamed without the Beast Taming Skill of a spirit manipulator. It would end up being a waste. If not for the Beast Curing Skill, many spirit-manipulated beasts that were abandoned due to injuries would end up dead.

When Sheridan discovered how gifted Rocky was, he got very excited and he knew it would be a big mistake to let this chance go. He would exhaust his every resource if it meant Rocky would agree to be his apprentice. He planned on teaching Rocky at least the Beast Taming Skill and Beast Curing Skill. When his day was to come, his skills would be passed down to the next generations.

"How dare he stand me up on the first day!" Sheridan grew more anxious the longer he waited for Rocky. He decided to wait for a few more minutes before he went looking for him. He would do anything to get Rocky here.

After a little while, he found Rocky walking slowly towards the beast farm. He sure took his sweet time.

"So, you decided to show up. It's so inconsiderate of you to have kept me waiting for so long. Shame on you!" Sheridan complained. It was what he said, but deep down, he was very pleased by the fact that Rocky showed up.

Rocky seemed languid as he nonchalantly approached the older man.

"Were you willing to wait for me here all day long?" Rocky asked, a smile forming on his lips. He was able to keep Sheridan interested yesterday and was certain he would wait for him. He arrived late on purpose to test Sheridan's patience. He thought Sheridan wouldn't be such a good teacher if he were not a patient person. Although he did not care whether or not Sheridan was a good teacher. He was confident he would be an exemplary apprentice with his quick wit and high intellect.

"Nope. I would have gone to find you, tie you up, and then drag you here," Sheridan said firmly. Rocky shrugged and smiled. He could see that Sheridan had made up his mind to take him as his apprentice.

"Now let's begin. Today, I will be teaching you the basics of the Beast Taming Skill," Sheridan said as he walked towards the beast stable.

Rocky followed him inside.

Sheridan then broke into a long speech,

Rocky took in Sheridan's idea and combined with hid modern theory. He immediately found out that the modern theory could not be applied on spirit-manipulated beasts. The spirit-manipulated beasts had several stages of the life cycle.

Generally speaking, the spirit-manipulated beasts owned by spirit manipulators were captured when they were cubs. They were then fed and tamed. Spirit-manipulated beasts have three developmental stages. Their feeding method varied in every stage. The most distinct difference was the food they ate. During their early developmental stage, spirit-manipulated beasts" diet consisted of soft and liquid foods. These foods were the only ones their undeveloped stomachs could digest. In their middle developmental stage, beasts started to consume meat. Protein became a staple in their diet that helped them strengthen their bodies. At the final developmental stage, spirit-manipulated beast could eat any kind of food they wanted. It was when they reached maturity. By that time, the cubs started to receive taming exercises. Spirit-manipulated beasts were more difficult to tame when they were fully grown. So at the final developmental stage, cubs were fed huge amounts of nutritious food to keep them energized for their taming exercises.

Different taming methods were developed to adapt to every kind of spirit-manipulated beasts. The ultimate goal of taming was to reduce the coarse behaviors of spirit-manipulated beasts. Once they got tamed, their potential to serve people better was activated.

Tamed spirit-manipulated beasts, when fully grown, remained under the command of their masters. They were able to join battles and fight side by side with their masters.