Beast Taming: My System is Bugged-Chapter 46 - 45: Misaligned Book Search

Gu Ming shook his head. "They were the ones looking for trouble with me. It’s fine, you don’t need to worry about it."

"What do you mean?"

Wang Teng, eager for gossip, kept pestering him for half the class.

Having no other choice, Gu Ming gave Wang Teng a brief explanation after class.

"That’s it? Are you out of your mind? You actually issued a challenge to Wang Zidong?"

Wang Teng shook his head, completely unable to comprehend Gu Ming’s line of thinking.

He glanced at Cyan Treasure, which was in the middle of Cultivation, and it looked like it was almost ready for Evolution.

"I get it now. You want to defeat a Zero-star Red Fang Dog as a One-star?"

A look of realization dawned on Wang Teng, but then he shook his head again. "You’ve got it all wrong. That Red Fang Dog was raised at the Pet Beast Store for two months before he bought it. It wasn’t a newborn cub raised from scratch."

"It’s really hard to say if you can win. As long as the Red Fang Dog learns the Flame Devourer and Flame Sprint Skills, beating a Grass Attribute Little Cyan Snake will be a piece of cake."

Wang Teng was also part of the Wang Family, so he had his own sources. In the span of a lunch break and a single class, he had already found out the details about Wang Zidong’s Pet Beast.

Gu Ming knew it would be difficult. After hearing Wang Teng’s analysis, he nodded, thinking to himself that it made sense.

’So what’s the system’s take on this?’

He subconsciously glanced at the system’s plot commentary.

You have returned to the repeater class. Your classmates are all discussing the fifty-year-old Old Deng challenging a current student with a boundless future.

Your opponent’s Demon Flame Fang Dog is the evolved form of a Red Fang Dog. It has mastered Entry Level Flame Devourer, Flame Sprint, and Flame Roar Skills. It also has a hidden Bottom Card Technique: the Uninitiated "Demon Flame Wave-Devouring Claw."

Whether in terms of Physical Ability, Speed, or Signature Skills, it far surpasses the Grass and Wood Flood Dragon.

Meanwhile, your Time Dragon, "Cyan Treasure," is near the end of its life and senile. It isn’t even One-star yet. Its only Skills are a Master Level Head Hammer, the Uninitiated Z-shaped Shaking Body Technique, the Uninitiated Elephant-Swallowing Demon Technique, and the Entry Level Green Treasure Breathing Technique. It is lagging behind its opponent in every aspect.

But as Old Deng, you possess a fortitude and cultivation experience that others do not.

Having struggled at the bottom of society for many years and rented one Pet Beast after another, you are familiar with all sorts of training routines and are confident that you can raise Cyan Treasure and develop a Bottom Card Technique for it within a month.

Suggested path: Develop your Pet Beast’s Skills and master a common Ultimate Skill from the Dragon Race lineage. This will grant Achievement Points.

Huh?

The system’s completely nonsensical analysis left Gu Ming stunned.

Never mind the bug that made his rival’s Pet Beast’s rank one tier higher than in reality.

’Since when do I know all sorts of training routines?’

Gu Ming waited for a long while, trying to see if the system’s plot would update further, but it just stopped there and didn’t change.

It was as if it had decided that he was the fifty-year-old Old Deng, a man with decades of cultivation experience who had rented countless Pet Beasts and knew exactly how to unearth a Pet Beast’s potential and develop its Ultimate Skills.

But Gu Ming wasn’t some fifty-year-old Old Deng! He was only eighteen, in the prime of his youth, his life just beginning. All the Beast Taming knowledge in his head came straight from textbooks.

He had no practical experience and had never interacted with any Pet Beast besides Cyan Treasure and Ah Kun. He even needed Teacher Zhang’s help just to create a customized training plan.

HISSS—

Cyan Treasure coiled around Gu Ming’s arm and nudged him with its head, looking at him with its big, round eyes.

’Please don’t be sad, Master. I’ll work hard.’

Cyan Treasure could sense the change in its master’s state of mind. Noticing his low spirits, it had come over to comfort him.

’This little bit of pressure is nothing.’

Seeing its master regain his composure, it resumed its breathing exercises.

Gu Ming took a deep breath. Cyan Treasure was still working hard. What reason did he have to just sit around and wait for the system to hand out rewards?

’I have to take the initiative and figure out how to exploit the system’s abilities.’

Gu Ming went through the system’s message history over and over, organizing the suggestions for earning Achievement Points one by one.

Evolution, mastering key Cultivation Techniques, training Skills, developing Ultimate Skills, and the previously mentioned Branded Visualization Image all offered Achievement Point rewards.

Among them, the Visualization Image Branding was the quickest task to complete. Once he trained his Breathing Technique to Master Level tonight, he would find Teacher Zhang tomorrow to get the Branded Visualization Image.

Next was a rundown of his Cultivation Techniques.

The Elephant-Swallowing Demon Technique was still Uninitiated. However, in Teacher Zhang’s eyes, it was already at Entry Level. This was probably because the Technique wasn’t what it seemed; the Elephant-Swallowing Demon Technique was far more High-Level than the Snake Swallowing Elephant Technique, making it much more efficient and causing Teacher Zhang to misjudge it.

Speaking of which, thanks to the Undigested Fruit Core from Teacher Zhang, Cyan Treasure was constantly practicing the Elephant-Swallowing Demon Technique. A "+1" to its experience would pop up from time to time.

Right now, the progress for the Elephant-Swallowing Demon Technique was 102/500. It wasn’t fast, and he estimated it would take another ten days or so. Eating was the fastest way to gain experience, but a Pet Beast couldn’t eat constantly, so he could only wait patiently.

Then there was the Dragon Race Ultimate Skill mentioned by the system.

An Ultimate Skill was also a type of Skill, but it was many times more powerful than an ordinary one.

An Ultimate Skill was often a powerful ability formed by combining several Cultivation Techniques and Skills. With Gu Ming’s limited knowledge, he wasn’t equipped to teach Cyan Treasure an Ultimate Skill.

But even if he didn’t know how, the system might.

Coincidentally, there was a self-study period that afternoon. Students were free to arrange their own study activities, which included taking their Pet Beasts to train.

Gu Ming’s choice of destination: the high school library!

The eighteen-year-old Gu Ming didn’t have the cultivation experience of a fifty-year-old Old Deng. However, he knew that by cramming knowledge at the library, he might be able to trigger the system’s cognitive dissonance mechanism and substitute what he was seeing with the knowledge of the fifty-year-old Old Deng.

After one class ended, the next period was the self-study session.

Wang Teng was getting ready to go to the training room to work on his Dumb Flower’s Physical Ability and invited Gu Ming to come along.

Gu Ming shook his head, saying he planned to take Cyan Treasure to the library.

"What, you’re going to the library? What’s the point of reading at a time like this? The right thing to do is train," Wang Teng said, confused.

"Cyan Treasure’s body can’t handle the intensity of multiple rounds of sit-ups yet. I’m going to read a bit and enrich my mind," Gu Ming said.

Hearing this, Wang Teng didn’t press him further. After all, Cyan Treasure’s Physical Ability and body strength were poor, so going would just be a waste of time.

Gu Ming left the classroom and headed to the library with Cyan Treasure, happening to notice several other classmates going to the library as well.

One of them was a familiar face: the current top student in their class, Zhou Ruoyun.

However, in the system’s version of reality, she was his "daughter" and was named Zhou Qingyun.

Gu Ming didn’t speak to her. After entering the library, he went straight to look for books, searching for ones about Ultimate Skills for Snake Pet Species.

The Ultimate Skill books available for public reading like these were all from forty or fifty years ago and were already outdated.

Whether it was the Cultivation Techniques or the accompanying Skills, they all had shortcomings and could only be used as a reference.

But Gu Ming wasn’t there for past Ultimate Skills. His idea was to use the system’s bug, its "misalignment," to trigger a flashback about future Ultimate Skill books.

And just like that, after walking a lap in front of the bookshelf for Snake Pet Ultimate Skills, he triggered an update from the system’s commentary in less than a minute.

You head to the library and stand before the Sub-dragon Race Ultimate Skill bookshelf, reminiscing about the past.

Faced with rows of unfamiliar books, you flip through them repeatedly but can never find the book on the Iron Gall Lone Dragon’s Ultimate Skill that you once read.

The person beside you sees you lost before the sea of books. She takes pity on you and kindly reminds you: "The old books can’t keep up with the times anymore. The library has replaced them with a new batch. If there’s a book you’re looking for, you can ask me."

Gu Ming was wondering where that dialogue was coming from when a woman’s voice, as faint as a mosquito’s buzz, sounded from behind him.