Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

The night was still.

Zhang Yunpeng was still awake, looking for suitable Combat Skills for Cyan Treasure.

He was looking over Cyan Treasure’s latest physical report, which listed its Skill Level for various Cultivation Skills and its physical stats.

In his decade-plus of teaching, he had seen both heaven-sent prodigies and perfectly ordinary Snake Pets.

The physique Cyan Treasure displayed was only in the upper-middle tier among all the students’ Pet Beasts.

He could predict its tri-metric score on the midterm exam wouldn’t be especially high.

Pet Beasts with Four or Five-star potential, for instance, were already starting to catch up.

Still, the fact that it had come this far already made it a Pet Beast with top-tier Talent within the Little Cyan Snake species.

He knew Cyan Treasure’s potential hadn’t been fully tapped yet.

The Cultivation Technique Gu Ming had designed for it still had immense room for growth.

At this thought, Zhang Yunpeng grew excited.

His excitement was so palpable that even his own Pet Beast looked over, flapping its wings.

"What is it?"

He turned to see his Pet Beast bringing him his phone.

His phone had buzzed a moment ago, but he hadn’t noticed.

He opened it and saw that an old classmate had replied to his message.

"I’m very interested in the Little Cyan Snake you mentioned. I can come over tomorrow to take a look and give a few pointers."

The reply was from a senior he’d befriended in a club during his university days, named Secretary Zhong.

He hadn’t sought the school’s support because the Little Cyan Snake was a Grass Element Pet, and the Sub-dragon Race skills in the library didn’t include any for the Grass Element.

There were Earth Element Cultivation Techniques, but they were suited for the Sunflower Seed-eating Hamster.

So, he had asked around in his circle of old classmates. It was a process that had him swallowing his pride and messaging them one by one.

He gave his classmates a detailed account of Cyan Treasure’s Talent, hoping to pique their interest.

After all, the club he had joined back then was primarily focused on researching Cultivation Techniques.

That club had all kinds of talented people.

And this particular elder he’d contacted was a leading expert in the field of Grass Element Pet Beast research.

He’d heard at last year’s reunion that this elder had moved to Duomu Dragon Pharmaceutical Company. He was now a Five-star Beastmaster, the same Star Level as the Gu Family Parents.

That was one of the nation’s top 500 pharmaceutical companies, involved in the production of Grass Element medicinal herbs and Elixirs across various industries.

For Elder Zhong to get into a company like that, even if he was just working at the lowest level, he had to be a very impressive Beastmaster.

Though he was "only" a Five-star, this was the best plan Teacher Zhang could come up with.

Unlike the Gu Family Parents’ combat-oriented work, this man’s theoretical knowledge and teaching ability were top-notch, making him perfectly suited for training Pet Beasts.

He had fifty published papers on Cultivation Techniques alone.

Five of which had been published in the Five-Week Journal. He specialized in developing Cultivation Techniques and Combat Techniques for Grass Element members of the Sub-dragon Race.

He would be much better at guiding the Little Cyan Snake than Zhang Yunpeng himself was.

"Great, great. I’ll wait for you at school tomorrow. The address is..."

Zhang Yunpeng quickly typed out the address and sent it, then let out a long sigh of relief.

He knew that bringing in outside help would expose the secret of the Foundation Establishment Platform.

But as long as he didn’t explain the principles behind it, and Gu Ming’s family didn’t either...

The man would only observe with his Divine Sense; he wouldn’t learn the actual method of Foundation Establishment.

By the time he figured out how to perform Foundation Establishment himself, two or three years would have passed.

Gu Ming would have already published his paper by then.

Besides, asking someone to teach Cyan Treasure Skills that were beyond a high schooler’s level obviously required a show of good faith.

And this Foundation Establishment Platform was the perfect bait.

...

「The next morning.」

Gu Ming got up early and took Cyan Treasure with him for a long run.

They ran all the way to the school’s training room. The moment Gu Ming opened the door, he noticed an unfamiliar teacher inside.

This unfamiliar teacher stood beside Teacher Zhang, and the two were chatting and laughing together.

He had a gentle expression and was dressed in a white shirt and black pants, looking like a casual office worker taking a break from his busy schedule who had somehow wandered onto school grounds.

The moment Gu Ming saw the man, the man’s gaze swept over to him.

His eyes met the Little Cyan Snake’s, and a flicker of surprise crossed his face.

"This must be Gu Ming and his Cyan Treasure," he said.

"And you are...?" Gu Ming asked uncertainly.

"Haha, let me introduce you. This is the teacher who will be teaching Cyan Treasure some Sub-dragon Race Combat Techniques this week. He’s an elder from my university club. You can just call him Teacher Zhong."

"Hello, Teacher Zhong."

Gu Ming nodded slightly, studying the man.

He could feel the man’s Spiritual Fluctuation, which was as vast and deep as the ocean, nearly on par with his parents’ Spiritual Power.

’Could he be a Five-star Level Beastmaster?’

Teacher Zhong was also sensing Gu Ming’s Spiritual Fluctuation. He found the quality of the boy’s Spiritual Power to be very solid. It was faint, but it was already approaching the quality required of a Two-star Beastmaster.

And Gu Ming was only a high school senior.

To have such quality, he either had an exceptionally good diet or had mastered an excellent Spiritual Technique.

According to the information from Zhang Yunpeng, it had to be Gu Ming’s incredible Talent for Cultivation Techniques; he must have used a very high-quality technique to reach his current level.

"Young Gu Ming has built a fine foundation," he praised.

Teacher Zhang chuckled. "How does he compare to the seniors in Celestial Cloud City?"

Before Gu Ming arrived, the two had been chatting about work-related topics.

As an employee of the Duomu Dragon pharmaceutical company, Teacher Zhong was responsible for a collaborative Pet Beast cultivation program with the seniors at a local high school.

"He’s more or less on par with the students in the top one hundred," he said, choosing his words carefully. In reality, Gu Ming was still a little behind.

Celestial Cloud City was far more formidable than Lanqi City. It was the capital of a province known for its fierce competition in the college entrance exams, a city teeming with geniuses.

For Gu Ming to even be comparable to their top one hundred students was incredibly high praise.

In any other smaller city, he would be the undisputed top student of his year.

Teacher Zhang looked surprised; he hadn’t realized Gu Ming was that impressive.

Looking again at Gu Ming’s Essence, Qi, and Spirit, he realized the boy wasn’t far from being able to contract a second Pet Beast.

He figured that after the midterm exams, Gu Ming might have a chance to contract his second Pet Beast.

Contracting a second Pet Beast before the college entrance exams! An extra Pet Beast meant a significant boost in combat power.

Unfortunately, however, Gu Ming was on the competition track.

There wouldn’t be enough time to raise a newly contracted Pet Beast. The competition was in May, so there was definitely not enough time to train it up.

The three of them chatted for a little while longer before getting straight to the point.

Right then and there, Teacher Zhong reached out to take Cyan Treasure’s "pulse." He then sent his Divine Sense into its body to get a rough idea of its internal condition.

"Huh? Why is there such a strange phenomenon inside this Pet Beast’s Dantian?"

Secretary Zhong opened his eyes, his face a mask of astonishment.

"This is precisely why I asked you to come," Teacher Zhang said. "Can you teach it Sub-dragon Race Combat Techniques?"

The information Secretary Zhong had received before coming was that Cyan Treasure, a Little Cyan Snake, had accepted a gift from a Six-star Celestial Horse Beast and obtained a Light Spiritual Root.

It had gone from a single Grass Spiritual Root to Light Grass Dual Spiritual Roots, learned a Light Element Laser Skill, and even learned cross-Attribute Skills like the Earth Escape Technique.

These characteristics combined already made it an exceptionally outstanding and rare Grass Element Snake Pet.

As someone who loved to design cultivation prescriptions for new types of Pet Beasts, this was precisely why he had come.

He never expected that after examining it in person, Cyan Treasure would be even more enticing than he had imagined.

This wasn’t just rare; it was a priceless, one-of-a-kind treasure.