Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Chapter 150 - 148: Another Pet Beast

"Oh, come on. I already told you, that’s not my Pet Beast. Why won’t you believe me?"

Mr. Gu looked helpless. He tried his best to convince his son that it wasn’t his Pet Beast, but Gu Ming wouldn’t let it go.

Gu Ming turned to Teacher Zhang and asked:

"Last time, didn’t you say it was an unevolved Pet Beast?

"Just now, I saw it with my own eyes. It forced its way through the laser, its whole body poisoned and paralyzed by Cyan Treasure’s toxins. Its muscles were out of control, yet it still managed to break free of the Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster’s control over the earth.

"That’s clearly beyond the power of a One-star Pet."

Teacher Zhang’s mouth twitched.

He knew Gu Ming was right.

The way the Black and White Long-Armed Ape had just burst through the laser was, frankly, ridiculous.

The Hidden Mist Butterfly had used a Mental Suggestion on the Beastmasters present and created an Illusion Realm to conceal the Black and White Long-Armed Ape’s ferocious aura during the fight.

But it hadn’t restricted the Pet Beasts themselves. After all, this was a real battle; restricting the Pet Beasts would have defeated the purpose.

Cyan Treasure had relayed the strange phenomena from the battle through their Pet Beast Contract, and Gu Ming keenly sensed that the Black and White Long-Armed Ape had let its disguise slip.

Gu Ming tried another bluff. "Teacher Zhang, stop hiding it. I know all about your little scheme. You two are ganging up to trick me. How could it be such a coincidence that we run into it twice, both times right when we’re about to train?"

Teacher Zhang immediately clammed up.

He wasn’t part of Gu Ming’s family. Even if the cat was out of the bag, it wasn’t his place to be the one to talk.

This was something for Gu Ming’s parents or grandfather to admit.

He scratched his head and pretended he hadn’t heard anything.

Mr. Gu couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong, or if Gu Ming had truly seen through their charade.

He looked toward the Hidden Mist Butterfly, which sent him a strong Mental Suggestion—

It was just an accidental burst of power from the Black and White Long-Armed Ape in a desperate situation, not strength that surpassed the One-star Level.

However, after fifty days of repeated Dream Realm Cultivation, Gu Ming’s Spiritual Technique was already infinitesimally close to the Master Level.

The Cyan Pine Skill was difficult to practice; in the future, it was meant to be cultivated in conjunction with Compensation Elixirs.

This kind of ascetic Dream Realm Cultivation was extremely rare, which was why he had spent so much time just to reach the verge of Mastery.

Although his Skill Level with the technique had increased, Gu Ming’s Spiritual Power still needed to be slowly built up over time in the real world. Skill Level and one’s actual Cultivation were not the same thing.

At this moment, by relying on the properties of Old Deng’s Health Array, Gu Ming noticed a brief cognitive dissonance regarding his own memories and suspicions.

He recalled the Black and White Long-Armed Ape’s counterattack and thought that maybe he was overthinking things. But in the next moment, he felt something was wrong. ’I’m not overthinking it. Someone’s messing with me.’

There might be another High-star Pet Beast here, influencing him.

But Gu Ming couldn’t see or perceive it. It was like a puff of air, perhaps not even there at all. Maybe he really was just overthinking it.

But as Gu Ming turned and scanned his surroundings, his gaze swept past his mother’s shoulder. He didn’t linger, but it was enough to make both Mrs. Gu and Mr. Gu hold their breath.

"The medicinal broth is ready! Come on over for your bath! You two can stop fighting now!"

The old man’s booming voice instantly drowned out the suspicious murmurs and interrupted everyone’s train of thought.

At that, Mr. Gu and Mrs. Gu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. They immediately walked over with smiles on their faces and struck up a conversation with the old man.

At the same time, they directed Cyan Treasure and Mouse Treasure to soak in the medicinal broth. The two adults chatted nonstop, steering the conversation away and giving Gu Ming no chance to interject, effectively sidelining him.

Cyan Treasure and the Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster had fought two bouts. A few of its scales had been knocked off, and it was bleeding.

The hamster wasn’t much better off; it was black and blue with broken skin, a clear sign that both Pet Beasts had been fighting seriously.

Cyan Treasure slipped out of its weighted vest and slid into the cauldron of medicine.

With a FSSSHHH, the medicinal broth began to boil like water, with greasy green bubbles popping furiously to the surface.

An expression of agony crossed Cyan Treasure’s face, as if it were being roasted over a fire. The pain from its scaleless wounds was so intense that it sucked in a sharp breath.

The old man advised, "Endure it. This is what military combat training is like. If you can bear the pain of your wounds now, you’ll be better able to adapt to the battlefield."

Cyan Treasure forced itself to endure the agony from the medicinal broth. Through the Pet Beast Contract, Gu Ming felt his Pet Beast’s pain in perfect sync.

An idea struck Gu Ming. He walked over to the cauldron and touched its searing-hot side.

Text immediately popped up from the system:

「Cyan Treasure is soaking in a medicinal broth you personally prepared.」

「Physical Strength +1, Endurance +1, Mana +1...」

Prompts announcing attribute increases continuously appeared in the system’s text box. The attributes were rising so quickly mainly because the broth contained some ingredients from Ma Tianba, giving Cyan Treasure a massive boost.

’When I prepare this medicinal broth myself in the future,’ Gu Ming thought, ’the Medicinal Power and attributes will probably be even stronger.’ Just as he was thinking this, his sharp eyes spotted a new attribute notification.

「Light Attribute Affinity +1」

「Grass Attribute Affinity +1」

He had never seen these two attributes before. None of the pills Cyan Treasure had taken in the past had increased them. Moreover, the two medicinal ingredients capable of raising affinity were extremely rare on the market; one might find a price for them, but never a seller.

This confirmed it for Gu Ming. This was the medicinal broth from the future.

Next, Gu Ming ran over to the cauldron belonging to his classmate, Lu You, and touched it.

「Mouse Treasure is also soaking in a medicinal broth you personally prepared.」

Satisfied, Gu Ming pulled his hand back.

Of course, it was the old man who had prepared the broth.

However, according to the system’s logic, the Gu Family were all dead and could never be brought back to life.

What had happened in the other timeline was irreversible.

With nothing else to do, Gu Ming decided to practice his Cyan Pine Skill.

Cultivating the Cyan Pine Skill was quite mentally taxing. However, since it would take a long time for the two Pet Beasts to absorb the effects of their medicinal bath, now was the perfect time to practice.

He might not have noticed otherwise, but the moment he began to cultivate the Cyan Pine Skill and observe the ripples emanating from the Cyan Pine in his mind, Gu Ming sensed an anomaly.

Gu Ming practiced the Cyan Pine Skill daily; he was intimately familiar with every single ripple that spread across his Sea of Consciousness.

Yet now, as Gu Ming observed the ripples spreading from the Cyan Pine, he could clearly see some unfamiliar nodes within them.

Furthermore, the frequency and sound of these ripples were somewhat jarring. They weren’t the natural ripples of the Cyan Pine, but rather resembled small waves kicked up by an external wind.

These waves were tangibly affecting Gu Ming’s conscious judgment.

It was a type of Spiritual Interference. It didn’t penetrate deep into his mind, only disturbing the surface. It felt deliberately subtle, as if it was afraid of being discovered.

If his Skill Level with the technique hadn’t been so high, he might have mistaken these sudden, strange ripples as a normal part of the Cyan Pine Skill.

’No, that’s not right. A Pet Beast must be interfering with me,’ Gu Ming thought.

He focused on the unfamiliar ripples in his mind and fully activated Old Deng’s Health Array, using it to suppress the abnormal fluctuations on the surface of his mental sea.

A few seconds later, an inexplicable sense of clarity washed over Gu Ming, as if dark clouds above his head had been swept away.

’I’ve smoothed out the Spiritual Interference. So who’s affecting me? The Black and White Long-Armed Ape? No, it can’t be.’

The suspicion returned to Gu Ming, and this time, he couldn’t push the thought down.

He could feel it strongly: as soon as the suspicion arose, those unfamiliar waves rippled across the surface of his Sea of Consciousness again.

While using the Array to forcibly suppress the abnormal ripples in his Sea of Consciousness, Gu Ming also activated it to generate ripples of Spiritual Energy, sending them emanating outward from his body.

These ripples possessed an ability similar to Divine Sense, allowing him to perceive the details of the outside world. Perhaps, he thought, he might be able to sense something.