Il Ji pressed the button on the elevator to go down. He was interested in three things: First, a Legend or higher bloodline beast. Second, he was looking for a strategic beast- that is, a beast that could present him with additional funds.
Third, he was looking for their skills research department. If he could find the way that they researched skills, or the compilation of their research, he could move forward faster with his new tamer talents.
The door opened to the ninth subfloor.
Walls of pristine white echoed down a long hallway. Panes of glass, some shaded, some not, etched entire habitats between them. Several side corridors existed, both around and through the habitats.
As Il Ji wandered around and marvelled at the sights, he was shortly stopped by a clean-shaven young research associate.
"Hello. I'm Jarvis. Nice to meet you. You're Il Ji, right?"
"Yes, I am." Il Ji shook the proffered hand.
"Good! I was told to give you a tour should you come to this floor."
"I see." Il Ji pointed to the miniature rainforest around him. "I've yet to spot a beast in these enclosures. That being said, the flora here is stunning."
The associate laughed. "Those plants are all extremely poisonous. If you look at the puddles towards the center, you might be able to pick up a small series of round bubbles."
"These enclosures are housing the final step of a Diamond-rank breeding project: The Myriad Poisons Miniature Frog. Those small bubbles are eggs."
"We plan to send the young to the breeding center in the capital. From there, they'll hopefully be able to create a Legendary-level bloodline."
As they walked, Jarvis pointed to an enclosure in the center of the area. "There, in the middle is the parents."
Il Ji looked through the panes. Six small frogs the size of a finger knuckle sat on a small branch.
While they each looked completely different from the next, they all had identical coloring. Thousands of colors marked their skin as it shone in an iridescent rainbow.
"Beautiful, aren't they." Jarvis spoke to the side.
"Indeed they are." Il Ji politely responded. After a few moments, he added, "What else is on this floor?"
"We have two other Diamond Projects and a Legendary Project as well."
"In that case, show me around."
Jarvis took him to the next enclosure. It was a grassy plain with some small logs and holes. This time, the central enclosure was larger, but several smaller enclosures still surrounded it.
"This is the Diamond-rank research project regarding the Berserk Red-Stripe Badger. Alongside the normal retinue of skills, the skills have an increased focus on the berserk state."
"Alongside their skills they have the innate Platinum Skill, [Frenzy Aura] and the [Diamond] Rank skill, [Massacre]."
"Impressive." Il Ji replied. As he looked through the badgers' list of skills, he realized that if he were to add their skill retinue to a larger monster with longer claws and a shadow style, pure annhilation would ensue.
"I truly like these skillsets."
"Haha!" Jarvis laughed. "While we worked on the beasts ourselves, the list of skills and initial concept came from a wandering visitor."
"I'm sure you know of the five greatest Creation Masters in the Federation. The Tide Emperor, Lotus Queen, Mammoth Emperor, Tyrant Queen, and Sky Emperor are all Archaic Tier Creation Master Professionists."
"Between them, the Tide Emperor and Mammoth Emperor both have seven disciples. The Lotus Queen had one former disciple that died in a beast tide. The Sky Emperor has three disciples, and the Tyrant queen has five."
"Her newest disciple visited here recently and provided us with the concept for this badger. The project worked well enough that he has asked to take one of the resulting [Copper] beasts further along personally as one of his pet beasts."
"I can see why." Il Ji replied. The skill combo was very well created, and for a name like 'The Tyrant Queen's Personal Disciple' it made sense to pursue it.
"What's the other Diamond project on this floor?" Il Ji asked.
"It's over here." He took them through the enclosures to another area with four long corridors with ground made of ash and fire-element attribute rocks.
Each cage housed a large, 8-foot tall cat.
"These are the Ember Scale Sabercats. As far as we can tell, this is the end of their line. They were originally locked at the Gold-level, but after some research we were able to advance them all the way to Diamond."
"While they aren't the strongest Diamond beasts, we're quite proud of this research project as originally, the bloodline was limited to the [Gold] rank."
"An entire difference of five ranks means that those who are stuck with the [Gold] rank [Red-Mane Scaled Cat] have an opportunity to advance their beasts."
"It's an admirable project."
Jarvis took them away from the enclosures and to a separate area.
"This is where we keep the only [Legend] rank project on this floor."
"Behold, the Necroslime Corpse Emperor!"
Il Ji looked at a fairly large enclosure. Several skeletons resided within it. However, all the skeletons were covered in a small purple film.
Suddenly, small flakes of food fell from the sky. The skeletons rushed to catch them. When they were done, they formed a single file line and brought them to a small mound.
Nested on top of a stone, a small purple slime was graciously accepting the food.
"After studying it, we were more interested in the workings of the slime than anything else. Using the slime on the skeletons as it's own body rather than using soul power, it's much harder to disconnect the necromancer from the corpses this way."
While it's currently a legend project, we fully plan to turn it into a myth-ranked project down the line.
"I'm not going to lie here," Il Ji began, "this certainly peaks my interest."
Jarvis smiled. "This is the last project on this floor. If you're ready, I can take you to the next floor."
"Works for me."
Jarvis took him to a nearby elevator and they travelled to the tenth floor.
"If you'd like me to show you around this floor, I can. I don't have as much knowledge, but I do know where everything is located."
"As long as the skill readouts exist, I won't mind. How about you continue the tour?"
"I'd be more than happy to take you the rest of the way." Jarvis smiled.
"Floor Ten has four Legendary Beast Projects. From to first to last, we have the Heaven-Splitting Sword, Swamp Elemental, and the Bihorn Skeletal Dragon."
As Il Ji walked through the different areas, he made sure to ask questions and continued checking the skill list. Other than the Slime from earlier, these four seemed alot… less.
Once Jarvis finished the tour, he brought Il Ji up another floor.
"This is Floor 11. Here we have one Legendary project, and two Mythic projects. I'll take you to the Legendary project first."
He pointed into an enclosure. The walls were covered in leaves. "This is the wood attribute Coiling Vine Python. As you can see, there are leaves everywhere."
"This particular python seems to hate light. As such, it bundled its body all over the wall and left its head in the darkness, where we can't see it."
"If you look closely, the leaves are actually growing from the coils themselves."
After a few more minutes, they went to the next section.
"I am glad to personally invite you to one of my favorite places in the entire building. This… is the first of two Myth sections."