Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Chapter 175 - 173: Planning for Ah Kun

Gu Ming returned to his school routine and spent the entire day on edge.

He was worried that some powerful Beastmaster might just snatch Cyan Treasure away.

But as it turned out, he had been worrying for nothing.

The world’s attention on the Hall of the Great Dao wasn’t as great as he had imagined.

It wasn’t like the secret realms from the Spiritual Qi Revival, which everyone would scramble to enter for resources the moment they opened.

The residual Great Dao Insights only lasted for a limited time; one couldn’t comprehend them indefinitely.

The later one arrived, the less of the aftershocks one could perceive—sometimes to a negligible degree.

Unless one faced it directly and achieved Enlightenment on the spot, the benefits for latecomers were minimal.

As a result, by the time people rushed over, there often weren’t many Great Dao Insights left to be gained.

The only exceptions were if you were extremely close, or if the light from the Hall of the Great Dao shone directly on you.

Besides, Ma Tianba had done an excellent job with the cleanup. Since nothing had happened so far, things were probably stable.

Back home, Gu Ming could finally plan his future Cultivation in peace.

He first inspected the Foundation Establishment Platform inside Cyan Treasure. It had already taken on the ancient, simple appearance of the Dragon Pattern Tripod. Within the tripod, a Dragon Elephant Illusion was rising, constantly keeping the Magic Power Inner Core suspended above it.

He hadn’t tested it in actual combat yet, but a single glance was enough for him to sense its wondrous uses.

With the midterm exams approaching, Cyan Treasure now had two options:

One was to split its Inner Core and undergo Evolution on the spot.

However, the quality of the Magic Power Inner Core inside Cyan Treasure wasn’t very high yet. Splitting the Inner Core prematurely would only diminish its future potential.

It was true that the commonly accepted maximum potential for a Little Cyan Snake was only Two-star, so splitting the Inner Core early wouldn’t seem to matter.

But Gu Ming’s expectations for Cyan Treasure were far beyond Two-star; he was aiming for a much higher Star Level.

Therefore, Gu Ming had no intention of choosing the first option.

The second option was to continue deepening its Cultivation, push its Mana to the absolute limit, and research the possibly existent path of "Hundred Days Foundation Establishment."

He would wait until Cyan Treasure’s body reached its true limit before initiating the Mana-based Evolution and Splitting the Inner Core.

Due to the day’s events, Gu Ming had played it safe and not allowed Cyan Treasure to use the power of its Foundation Establishment Platform. As a result, it hadn’t trained seriously at all today.

Now that they were home, Gu Ming had Cyan Treasure begin cultivating seriously for a short while.

Noticing that the quality of the Spiritual Qi in its body was insufficient, Gu Ming took a Spirit Stone from his drawer.

After Ma Tianba moved into the Gu Family’s home, his room had been rearranged. The Hidden Mist Butterfly had placed a perception-dampening ward around it.

And given their moral standards, the other Beastmasters and their Pet Beasts wouldn’t actively use their Divine Sense to pry into someone’s private life.

Because of this, Gu Ming’s Spirit Stones still hadn’t been discovered by his family.

The moment the Spirit Stone appeared, Cyan Treasure caught its scent.

Its eyes flickered with excitement as it opened its mouth and swallowed the Spirit Stone.

Instantly, pure Spiritual Qi energy surged through its meridians, entered its Dantian, and arrived at the Dragon Pattern Tripod Foundation Establishment Platform at the very center of its Dantian Realm.

This was the first time Gu Ming had fed the energy of a Spirit Stone to the Foundation Establishment Platform.

Gu Ming knew there was a risk that Ma Tianba might perceive the Spirit Stone he just took out.

If it did, the situation would become unknown and unpredictable.

Admittedly, Ma Tianba had already provided the Gu Family with an extraordinary amount of help. It was only right for Gu Ming to repay the favor and thank it for its assistance.

But Gu Ming had too few Spirit Stones on hand.

There weren’t even enough for Cyan Treasure’s own Cultivation, and besides, there had been no news of Spirit Stones appearing anywhere else in the country.

Gu Ming had no intention of revealing this unique Cultivation Resource.

’If I want to repay Ma Tianba’s kindness, I’ll have plenty of time and resources to do so once I’m stronger.’

BUZZ.

Nourished by the Spiritual Qi from the Spirit Stone, the tripod’s patterns on the surface of the Foundation Establishment Platform grew more active. The Dragon Elephant Illusion opened its golden eyes and let out a series of draconic roars.

It wanted Gu Ming to provide more Spirit Stones; the Foundation Establishment Platform needed them.

Cyan Treasure’s Foundation Establishment Platform quality has improved!

Foundation Establishment Experience +1000!

With one Spirit Stone consumed, Cyan Treasure’s Foundation Establishment Experience rose again.

Keep in mind, Cyan Treasure’s Foundation Establishment Proficiency had already reached the Master Level. The subsequent Great Success Realm required a million experience points.

A single Spirit Stone provided a thousand experience points, which was far faster than learning on its own.

However, Gu Ming noticed that besides adding experience, the Spirit Stone also increased the Cultivation of the Foundation Establishment Platform itself.

’As expected, Foundation Establishment isn’t the end. There’s more to this path.’

’Worthy of being a Seven-Colored Holy Light Technique certified by the Celestial Dao. Its Cultivation is quite complex.’

What Gu Ming didn’t know was that this technique actually had a Nine-Colored Certification. Ma Tianba had never mentioned this to him.

The technique’s influence was too great, so Gu Ming had no intention of publishing a paper on it anytime soon.

If he were to publish it, he’d probably have to wait until after the competition results were settled to even consider it.

Whether he published it then or not would depend on the situation.

Gu Ming continued to feed Spirit Stones to Cyan Treasure, wincing as he watched the number of stones in his drawer deplete at a visible rate.

He was almost out of Spirit Stones again.

’I need to find a way to earn more Spirit Stones.’

Payday from Manager Ruan was approaching. He decided he would ask tomorrow if he could get his salary in advance.

In addition, Gu Ming’s own Sea of Consciousness had also grown, and the increase was significant.

After cultivating the "Sword of Thought," which was similar to Divine Sense, and being tempered by the Celestial Tribulation and the Hall of the Great Dao, Gu Ming felt that his Spiritual Power had grown substantially.

’If I keep cultivating at this pace, I might be able to form a contract with a second Pet Beast after the midterm exams.’

This was already a remarkable feat.

Speaking of which, his parents had actually been secretly giving him good things to eat all along.

Things like the milk he drank and the fruit he ate were all high-value foods.

It was just that whenever he ate them, the Hidden Mist Butterfly would use a Mental Suggestion to make him mistakenly believe he was eating ordinary fruit or meals.

So after his parents came clean, the food the Gu Family ate was only about ten percent better in quality, with the value being more obvious. Compared to their usual expenses, it was only a slight increase.

Based on the Gu Family’s current savings, supporting Gu Ming through university was not a problem.

As for the resources needed to contract a New Pet Beast after starting university, Gu Ming would have to acquire those himself.

Gu Ming’s parents’ Pet Beasts had stopped their Evolution long ago. They no longer consumed huge amounts of resources and were maintained at a level where they could eat their fill and still work.

This was the state of "upkeep" that most Pet Beasts entered after they were fully raised and their potential had been completely tapped.

In truth, the phase where a Pet Beast consumes the most resources is during its growth period, when it’s accumulating what it needs for the rapid advancement toward a higher Star Level Evolution.

Once fully developed in the later stages, as long as their muscle strength was maintained, their resource consumption would decrease significantly.

Thus, the Gu Family’s current savings were just enough. They could borrow from relatives and squeeze out another year’s worth of resources, but given the Talent Gu Ming was currently showing, it was completely unnecessary.

Returning to the matter at hand, if Gu Ming wanted to contract a second Pet Beast, he would have to teach Ah Kun a Skill that would allow it to leave its Fish Tank and survive freely in the air.

Otherwise, Ah Kun would be restricted to aquatic environments, which would be a major disadvantage in future exams.

It was time to teach it how to survive outside of water.

Beastmasters live on land, so a Fish Pet naturally had to adapt as well.