Since his house wasn’t ready yet, Lin Jin would be sleeping on the cold hard floor of his consultation hall again tonight. With Xiao Huo and the sapphire turtle there, he didn’t feel that lonely. He had also carried Goldy over when he went back home earlier so the room was quite lively the pet beasts around.
The next day, Lin Jin sat in his consultation hall as usual. Surprisingly, Han Dong arrived earlier than the girls and started cleaning up. He seemed pretty obsessive when it came to work.
Lin Jin had assumed that his consultation tokens would fly off the board today, but to his surprise, not a single soul came walking through the door. Despite the customers he received yesterday, they only made up a small portion of the town. Most people still had the impression that Lin Jin was an unreliable beast appraiser.
“That’s okay. True gold will eventually shine.” Lin Jin was nonchalant without a hint of urgency in his voice. He was quite satisfied with his current situation.
At least this was better than before. Previously, he was like a general without an army, all on his own. But now, he had three apprentices affiliated with him, learning the trade under his careful guidance.
“Right, since we have time to spare, let me tell you about some of my beast appraisal experiences.” Lin Jin figured that since Han Dong joined them, he had yet to conduct an official lecture. Today, he would talk about the basics of beast evaluation. Since the educational materials were already in the museum, he just had to randomly pick one case and it would be more than enough to benefit the three apprentices.
‘Let’s do this.’
Having heard Lin Jin’s lectures previously, Zhao Ying and Lu Xiaoyun immediately took their seats with great anticipation. However, Han Dong didn’t seem that enthusiastic compared to them. It wasn’t because he doubted Lin Jin’s skills either.
From yesterday’s observation, he knew how skillful Lin Jin was, and how profoundly knowledgeable. But it wasn’t Han Dong’s first time receiving lectures.
When Han Dong first arrived at the association, he was affiliated with Gao Jiang. But Appraiser Gao had many apprentices, and his peak record went up to having more than thirty students at once. One could imagine that with thirty students under his wing, it was impossible for Gao Jiang to pay attention to them all. Han Dong had to wait for two months before getting a chance to attend Appraiser Gao’s lecture.
Back then, he was over the moon.
Because it was Appraiser Gao Jiang. A famous official beast appraiser. Someone Han Dong admired greatly when he first came into the association. Before the lecture, Han Dong couldn’t even sleep from the adrenaline pumping through his veins. He had prepared a brush and paper, ready to learn everything that came out from his idol’s mouth.
It was an open lecture so there were ten other apprentices in the room. But when Appraiser Gao finally appeared and started the lecture, Han Dong only felt a splash of cold water on his head.
These lectures, as he would learn, were nothing but scams. Nothing useful would ever be taught, and it was then that Han Dong understood the sarcastic saying, ‘educating his disciples would make the master starve’.
That made sense the more he thought about it. How could Appraiser Gao possibly pass on genuinely valuable knowledge and experience to just anyone? Even if he did, only a handful of his ‘trusted aides’ would receive the benefit.
But there was no doubt he would still be largely reserved when teaching these trusted aides.
It was inevitable.
After all, most of a beast appraiser’s experiences came from numerous trial-and-errors before they could obtain an outcome. Such knowledge can’t be passed on to others that easily.
Han Dong understood this reasoning so he knew that lectures provided by their mentors wouldn’t actually teach you decent knowledge. They would only teach you the basics at most. It was just a waste of time, or so he thought.
Because of this, Han Dong couldn’t be bothered to join the lecture.
However, he would never say that out loud. If Appraiser Lin wanted to give a lecture, it would be inappropriate for Han Dong to turn down the offer. He could only sit down with Zhao Ying and Lu Xiaoyun and see just what Lin Jin would teach them.
“Today, we’ll be talking about one of the profound techniques in distinguishing beasts, the Five Elements Identification Method…” Lin Jin began.
There was a specialized elaboration found in the Museum of Deadly Beasts on this technique. It required no activation of the spiritual eye, no usage of beast talismans, and only required basic skills and procedures to appraise a beast.
Strictly speaking, this was a method not found just anywhere. It was a profound technique that beast appraisers came up with through their own field experience. However, the Museum of Deadly Beasts had too many of such techniques, and quite frankly, after studying and researching on his own, Lin Jin realized that it wasn’t useful for him.
His reasoning was simple. No matter what type of deadly beasts or pet beasts, just by touching the creature, the museum would automatically appraise the beast and have it recorded. Hence, no matter how profound a technique was, it couldn’t compare to the museum.
However, for everyone else who didn’t have the Museum of Deadly Beasts any random bit of knowledge from that place was priceless to them.
Lin Jin wasn’t trying to hoard all the information for himself. But it was true that he only chose a relatively low-leveled and normal technique to teach out of the wide range of selections. Because even he had yet to research and understand the higher-level techniques.
Zhao Ying and Lu Xiaoyun were completely immersed in the lecture. Having listened to Lin Jin’s lectures before, they knew how genuine the knowledge he imparted was. There was no nonsense mingled in his words, so they had to be extra focused. Otherwise, they might miss out on some critical piece of information.
Han Dong hadn’t been paying attention at first. But soon, he was dumbstruck.
‘This isn’t right… These aren’t gibberish…or a blatant regurgitation of what we learned.’
To be able to become an apprentice beast appraiser meant that Han Dong wasn’t a mediocre chap. He could tell what was good and bad. There hadn’t been one single blather since Lin Jin began his talk. It was genuine knowledge from the start, and they were all vital information. This was obviously a lecture of experience and Han Dong was completely awestruck by it.
But he managed to react quickly by hastily opening up his notebook to jot down the details.
Only idiots would forego knowledge. Although he was a spy sent here to keep an eye on Lin Jin, if an opportunity to learn presented itself, Han Dong wouldn’t let it slip.
Once he began tuning in, he finally started feeling the thirst his peers experienced. It was like finding nectar after a long drought. Or like gangsters visiting a brothel. In short, it was so indulging and immersive that he lost track of how much time had passed.
Lin Jin had spent about thirty minutes giving this lecture. Without taking any breaks in between, his mouth was parched from all the talking.
“Let’s stop here for today.”
Lin Jin planned to rest but the three apprentices across him looked unsatiated, especially Han Dong. As he stared down at what he had recorded, Han Dong was trembling slightly in excitement. Simultaneously, he was just as depressed.
His dejection stemmed from not paying attention earlier that he ended up missing out on a lot of vital information. If he were offered another chance, Han Dong would surely take this seriously.
After re-reading his notes, Han Dong was dumbfounded.
‘Why is Appraiser Lin so unconventional?’
Everyone in the association knows that lectures given by official beast appraisers were mainly just basic stuff. Rarely would they bestow any useful information, and even if they did, there would only be about one or two notable points in one lecture. If you wanted the entire set, it would take at least half a year to piece together the puzzle.
But in one lecture, Appraiser Lin had managed to present a full set of information. Despite how profound the theories were, it could be easily understood by someone with a solid foundation. Unlike unrealistic theories and empty shells, Lin Jin’s teachings were grounded and could withstand scientific scrutiny.
‘This is true experience, genuine skills!’ When Han Dong came to realize this, he felt mixed feelings like a spice rack had just spilled over inside his heart.
Then, he saw Appraiser Lin flick his sleeve and said, “If there was anything you didn’t understand, feel free to ask me.”
Han Dong was instantly ashamed of himself.
What did one mean by honorable character?
What did it mean to be someone’s teacher?
Compared to Appraiser Lin, who did Wang Ji and Gao Jiang think they were?
What have those two ever taught? Even if Appraiser Lin’s skills weren’t amazing, at least he didn’t try to fool others during his lecture. He kept his word concise and conveyed as much information as he could.
And who did Han Dong think he was?
At that moment, Han Dong felt an urge to come clean. To tell them about his spy work because it seemed like that was the only way he could ease the guilt in his heart.
However, there was sudden commotion outside. Several people could then be seen carrying a plaque as they came in.