Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Chapter 171 - 169: Successful Evolution

The Spiritual Energy Hammer controlled by Ma Tianba crashed down, striking the Magic Power Inner Core.

The impact was so immense that it vibrated through the entire Dantian Cutting Board, nearly shattering it.

Fortunately, a wave of Holy Light passed over it, and everything was restored.

Aside from enduring the vibrations from the hammering, Ah Kun didn’t need to do anything else.

It only needed to focus on its breathing and refinement; the rest was left to Ma Tianba’s hammering.

It gritted its teeth and persevered with all its might.

’After all, Master has given me such a perfect opportunity. There’s no reason I can’t make it through this.’

’As long as I can pass this trial, as long as I evolve, I can live for many more years.’

’Survive!’

...

Aside from Gu Ming and Cyan Treasure, no one was very optimistic about its chances. Even Ma Tianba only felt that it had a sliver of hope.

However, as time passed, Ah Kun’s Magic Power Inner Core slowly developed a sixth layer of patterns. Ma Tianba began to pay closer attention, observing Ah Kun’s evolution.

Ah Kun’s efficiency in converting Spiritual Qi was astounding. Ma Tianba realized that this was not a level of Cultivation Technique an un-evolved, Zero-star Level Pet Beast could possibly achieve.

At this, Ma Tianba’s interest was truly piqued.

’What kind of Cultivation Technique is this?’

For some reason, every Pet Beast around Gu Ming seemed to exhibit some phenomenon that shocked him.

They were clearly just Zero-star Level or One-star Level Pet Beasts with low Power and an understanding of Daoist Skills far inferior to his, yet they always managed to surprise him.

Unfortunately, even after scanning it hundreds of times with his Divine Sense, he could not uncover the mysteries of its Cultivation Technique.

It was deeply rooted within Ah Kun’s body, a unique Talent Ability that other species could not replicate.

It was just like Ma Tianba himself. The bloodline of a Celestial Horse Beast flowed through his veins, but before it was awakened, his Power had been as ordinary as Ah Kun’s.

Once the potential contained within a bloodline was unlocked, one’s cultivation would advance by leaps and bounds.

Now, Ah Kun was showing similar signs. Its bloodline was extremely ordinary, but the core of its devouring and digesting Cultivation Technique relied on a racial Talent to function.

"Was it born with this, or did it awaken it later?" Ma Tianba turned and asked Gu Ming.

Gu Ming knew this was the power of the Kunpeng Secret Technique, the secret to Ah Kun’s Devouring Evolution.

Answering truthfully was out of the question. However, with Ma Tianba’s Realm and abilities, he wouldn’t be able to hide the truth for long even if he tried.

Gu Ming could only be vague about the technique’s origin. "It’s a Devouring Secret Technique that Ah Kun comprehended on its own," he said. "It can devour the essence of Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and convert it into what its body needs."

Ah Kun ate every day, performing its Devouring Evolution every day. Its Skill Level with the Kunpeng Secret Technique had already reached an unbelievably high level.

In the system’s eyes, its Skill Level was infinitely close to the Great Success Realm.

After the Great Success Realm was the Perfection Realm.

For a One-star Pet, this was already monstrously talented.

But it still hadn’t evolved.

This was even more incredible, practically unheard of.

Perhaps only the young of legendary Divine Beasts possessed such an aptitude for Daoist Skills.

After learning about the characteristics of the Kunpeng Secret Technique from Gu Ming, Ma Tianba had an epiphany.

No wonder its body had shown signs of reverse aging.

So its devouring and digestion ability was this powerful, reaching a food conversion rate of nearly seventy to eighty percent.

You have to understand, of all the Pet Beasts in the world that consume Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures,

only about ten to twenty percent of the essence is actually absorbed by their bodies.

Even Pet Beasts with great potential—those capable of evolving to Four to Six-stars in the future—only reached a food digestion rate of thirty to forty percent, which was already considered an impressive level.

But Ah Kun grew with every bite, seemingly able to digest anything without restriction. This was the aptitude of a top-tier Divine Pet.

This meant it had the potential to reach the Seven-star Level threshold.

Mind you, not even Ma Tianba himself had reached the Seven-star threshold.

To this day, he was still fumbling about, searching for his own path to evolution.

The Foundation Establishment Method he was using now was a Daoist Skill he had developed in his search for evolution.

When he realized that Ah Kun’s Talent Ability was something he could not imitate, he gave up the idea of learning any Daoist Skills from it.

After all, some things, like racial talents, simply couldn’t be learned. It was determined by fate at birth.

Ma Tianba didn’t press the matter further, but Teacher Zhang, who had been listening from the side, was a different story.

He was a Beastmaster from modern society, one who held a scientific and pragmatic research philosophy.

Because of this, he firmly believed that it was nearly impossible for an ordinary bloodline to produce a Talent Ability that surpassed its inherent Star Level potential.

If it were possible, someone in the past sixty years would have already developed a Three-star or even Four-star evolution for the Grouper Fish.

He had also looked into the old Grouper Fish that Gu Ming had taken in.

It had been adopted directly from a shop, entrusted to Gu Ming by the owner to be cared for until the end of its life.

Judging by the timeline, that had only been a few months ago.

Ah Kun’s rapid improvement only began after it joined Gu Ming’s household.

It was obvious that the only variable in this equation was Gu Ming himself.

From this, it was clear that Gu Ming’s attainments in Cultivation Techniques had reached a level he could only look up to in awe.

Perhaps Gu Ming was still hiding his true abilities and had other secrets he hadn’t yet revealed.

Teacher Zhang suddenly felt that he wasn’t fit to be Gu Ming’s private tutor.

Gu Ming was so brilliant that he felt inadequate in comparison.

A genius like Gu Ming could find his own evolutionary paths even without a teacher.

His guidance, in fact, was likely holding Gu Ming back.

The work he was doing was merely shoring up the basics, seeing which fundamental skills Gu Ming hadn’t mastered and patching up the gaps.

...

「Noon on the second day of Ah Kun’s evolution.」

After continuous high-intensity hammering from Ma Tianba, the forging of the Nine-Turned Magical Power Inner Core inside its body was finally complete.

As the final hammer fell, an incredibly dense Magic Power Inner Core solidified within Ah Kun’s body.

The instant the Inner Core was complete, a brilliant white light surged from Ah Kun’s body.

A pillar of evolutionary light shot toward the heavens, connecting with the Celestial Dao.

The Celestial Dao fed its power back through the pillar of light and into Ah Kun’s body. The power of the Great Dao flowed through its blood, rapidly coursing through its flesh and bones, strengthening it to the minimum physical standard of a One-star Pet Beast.

Soon, a series of soft CRACKLING and POPPING sounds came from Ah Kun’s body.

Its bones and flesh were being renewed. Its aged body regressed to its prime, and its size grew explosively, enlarging at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Soon, it took up half the space in its small Fish Tank. It had grown so large that it could no longer even turn around freely inside.

The scales that had all fallen off grew back, refracting the Holy Light into a beautiful, dreamlike deep blue.

Ma Tianba lifted his hoof and struck the ground, instantly creating a deep pit that he filled with Holy Water.

Seeing this, Ah Kun gave an agile leap and jumped into the pool Ma Tianba had made, swimming around in the small pond of Holy Water.

It opened its mouth, breathing freely. It had never felt so refreshed; its body was filled with endless vitality.

When it saw Gu Ming arrive, Ah Kun grew even more excited.

To Ah Kun, Gu Ming was the one who had given it a new life. It swam half a circle in the water, flapped its tail, and with a sudden FLICK, sent water splashing everywhere.

It leaped into the air and jumped straight into Gu Ming’s arms, drenching his clothes.

Gu Ming didn’t mind being soaked in Holy Water. He just held the evolved Ah Kun, a wide, happy smile on his face as he lifted it high.

"Whoa, you’re a lot heavier now!" Gu Ming laughed.

The evolved Ah Kun no longer looked as old as before. Instead, it now had the appearance of an adult Grouper Fish.

As it happened, Gu Ming’s Spiritual Technique had recently made a breakthrough.

In another month or two, his Spiritual Power would likely grow enough for him to form a contract with a second Pet Beast.

When that time came, Ah Kun would be his second Pet Beast.

"Ah Kun, will you be my partner?" Gu Ming asked, holding it up.

It nodded vigorously, tears welling in its eyes.

’A hundred percent yes!’