novelraw Chapter 176 - 174: The System’s Heaven-Defying Routes
Chapter 176 - 174: The System’s Heaven-Defying Routes
Based on Ah Kun’s constitution and its innate Devouring and digestion Talent Ability, Teacher Zhang recommended a Skill that would continuously consume Mana.
It was selected because of the dense Magic Power Inner Core within Ah Kun, and the Skill was called the Water Attachment Technique.
This Skill would allow a Pet Beast to constantly generate moisture with its Mana, suffusing its body both internally and externally. This way, the Fish Pet’s skin would remain moist.
The method was a good one, but Gu Ming was still set on the future self-adapting Cultivation Technique.
Seeing no updates from the system, Gu Ming had Teacher Zhang pick out a few more Cultivation Manuals for him to review.
’Maybe I just haven’t picked enough of them to trigger the system’s bug.’
Teacher Zhang looked troubled. He had already selected the most suitable survival Cultivation Technique for Ah Kun; looking for others seemed rather pointless.
Gu Ming could see over the video call that Teacher Zhang wasn’t pleased, but he had to bite the bullet and say,
"Ah Kun’s circumstances are unique, and its Talent is exceptional. I’d like to reference more Cultivation Techniques to take advantage of its Devouring and digestion ability. Could you please help me find a few more, Teacher Zhang?"
Hearing this, Teacher Zhang’s expression softened slightly.
He recalled the Foundation Establishment Evolution Method that Gu Ming had developed. ’The kid really does have a Talent for this sort of thing.’
The existing Cultivation Techniques on the market were all developed based on the current mainstream approaches to cultivation.
What Gu Ming wanted was something custom-tailored.
However, Gu Ming’s family couldn’t afford those custom Cultivation Technique services.
Gu Ming could only create one himself.
A few months ago, Teacher Zhang would have just thought he was fooling around, but things were different now.
Seeing Gu Ming’s determination, it seemed reasonable to let him use Ah Kun to try and develop a new Cultivation Technique.
After all, the competition was coming up after the mid-term exams. It was probably for the best to let Gu Ming experiment as much as possible right now.
The task would be most burdensome for Teacher Zhang. Gu Ming had asked him to find Cultivation Techniques, which meant facing a veritable sea of data, and there was no telling how much time it would take.
"Alright, I’ll do it," Teacher Zhang said.
...
「The next day at noon, at the community Pet Beast Store.」
Teacher Zhang brought several books. They were all survival-type Cultivation Techniques for Water Element Pet Beasts, designed to allow a Water Pet to leave its aquatic environment and survive in dry conditions.
"I brought the books. Here, take a look."
"Huh, this is..."
Gu Ming took the books and saw from the text on their covers that these were no ordinary, cheap manuals.
Every single page within them contained the principles of the Great Dao.
Just a single glance sent a wave of moisture washing over him, as if he were bathing in a gentle breeze and a fine drizzle.
Ah Kun had also been brought to the store for Cultivation today and was looking at the books with Gu Ming. It felt a sense of unfamiliarity, seeing that the covers depicted other Water Element Pet Beasts instead of Fish Pets.
Teacher Zhang explained,
"Most Fish Pet Techniques for surviving dehydration have been standardized. They’re all just variations on the Cultivation path of the Water Attachment Technique."
"However, other Water Element Pets have different internal Cultivation paths. Perhaps they can give you some inspiration."
These included Pure Energy Water Element Pets, amphibious Pet Beasts, and even Water Element plant-type Pets.
These were all categories of Pet Beasts that differed greatly from a Grouper Fish, and the Water Element Techniques they cultivated were likewise very different.
A look of delight appeared on Gu Ming’s face as he flipped through the books.
The system, which had been quiet for half the day, finally responded to his actions and began updating with content related to the books he was reading.
「The Juvenile Kunpeng has not yet evolved the ability to survive outside of an aquatic environment. You have instructed Teacher Zhang to plan a development path.」
「Teacher Zhang has brought you multiple optional paths.」
「Path One: Water Attachment Technique. A common Cultivation path for fish-type Pet Beasts. After Cultivation, it will allow Ah Kun to shroud itself in water and survive outside of an aquatic environment.」
「Difficulty: Zero.」
「Path Two: Everlasting Pure Water Technique. A Cultivation Method for pure Water Element Pets, intended for beings without flesh and blood. It is not suitable for Ah Kun, but forcing it to cultivate this technique is not entirely out of the question.」
「This path begins with pure Life Energy circuits, reversing the body’s fundamental requirements and inducing a Super Evolution of its life form.」
「Difficulty: As hard as ascending to the heavens. However, for a being born as a Kun, it is not impossible. Requires an ultimate Water Attribute Affinity.」
「Path Three: Light Synthesis Method. This is a new-age technique, an iteration of the Aquatic and Land Plant Method. It further develops the path of photosynthesis within aquatic plants, allowing the technique to self-adapt based on the environment.」
「This method is not suitable for Ah Kun, but forcing it to cultivate this technique is not entirely out of the question.」
「Treat the body as an aquatic plant, grow roots, and plant them in the sea. After soaking day and night for eighty-one days, absorbing the essence of the sun, and comprehending the path of photosynthesis, one can reverse their life’s original form and successfully survive without water.」
「Difficulty: As hard as ascending to the heavens. However, if it gives up on being a Kunpeng, it’s not impossible. Requires an ultimate Grass Attribute and Water Attribute Affinity, and a minimum of 10,000 Plant Attribute points.」
「Path Four...」
...
After watching for a moment, Ah Kun couldn’t keep up with Gu Ming’s reading speed.
All it could see was Gu Ming flipping page after page without any explanation.
It had no choice but to look away and check out the other Pet Beasts in the store.
Now that Gu Ming was back at the store, he no longer needed to work.
He was here to take advantage of the free Dao Field benefits and to maintain his relationship with Manager Ruan.
For Ah Kun, coming here was like a hero’s glorious return; it was the coolest kid in the whole village.
Having evolved to One-star, it could feel gazes from all over the store. Some held envy, others jealousy, but most were filled with curiosity and admiration.
Manager Ruan walked over to the Fish Tank and stroked the evolved Ah Kun, a curious look on her face.
"Old Ban, I never thought you’d evolve." Ruan Jing’s gaze was intense as she stared at the Grouper Fish, her thoughts unreadable.
She knew Gu Ming had taken several days off last week.
It didn’t really matter whether Gu Ming came to the store or not.
His salary wasn’t much, and the contract for the Visualization Image had already been signed. The Ruan Family was making a steady stream of money from it.
A Cultivation Technique genius like Gu Ming held immense value as a future investment.
In fact, there were already proposals within the Ruan Family to offer Gu Ming a "genius" contract.
The terms they were offering were far more generous than what the school principal had proposed. The initial resources were valued in the hundreds of millions. It wasn’t all cash; most of it was in the form of Cultivation Resources that would help Gu Ming’s progress skyrocket and secure him a spot in international competitions.
Not just any genius was qualified to receive such a massive investment of resources.
In recent years, only Gu Ming had met this standard and captured the Ruan Family’s interest.
Ruan Jing knew that the Ruan Family was currently grooming the next generation of successors.
Therefore, geniuses who were close in age to these successors were also targets for the Ruan Family to recruit.
After Gu Ming’s incredible Talent for Cultivation Techniques was revealed, the Ruan Family immediately negotiated the rights to the Visualization Image. They also put out the offer for the genius contract, which was preliminarily conveyed to the head of the Gu Family today.
Unfortunately, Gu Ming’s family rejected it flat out.
This didn’t anger the Ruan Family. On the contrary, it piqued their interest even more.
They were confident that no other family in the city, aside from their own, would make such a massive offer of future investment to an outsider.
There had to be a reason why the Gu Family would so firmly refuse an astronomical amount of resources.
Manager Ruan looked at Ah Kun and Cyan Treasure and sensed something was off.
A short while ago, the focus of Gu Ming’s Cultivation had been on Cyan Treasure.
’So why is he suddenly poring over material related to Fish Pets today?’
’And Ah Kun has even evolved. I remember it was just an ordinary Grouper Fish with only a few months left to live.’
’Could it be that he developed something new during his seclusion these past few days?’