Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

"What do you want then?" Qiao Sang asked.

When resources become rare to a certain extent, they are usually not something that can be bought with just money.

The difference between S-grade and SS-grade resources might seem like just one level apart, but their actual value is worlds apart. So, Qiao Sang wasn’t surprised when the other party didn’t ask for money.

The middle-aged white man said in a deep voice, "I want half a pound of Ghostfire Essence."

Ghostfire Essence? What the heck is that? Never heard of it…

Qiao Sang was momentarily bewildered but kept a calm expression. She replied, "I don’t have any Ghostfire Essence on me right now, but you can give me your contact information. Once I get my hands on it, I’ll reach out to you."

As expected of someone dealing in S-grade Yin Dynasty Pearls, he remained unfazed even when he mentioned Ghostfire Essence…

The middle-aged white man was both shocked and delighted, feeling hopeful that he might finally acquire the Ghostfire Essence. Without hesitation, he took out his phone and exchanged contact details with her.

After saving his contact as [Yin Dynasty Pearl], Qiao Sang suddenly thought of something and set her social media visibility to only display the last three days.

The middle-aged white man put his phone away and suddenly admitted, "Actually, two other people have also made the same deal with me. I only have one SS-grade Yin Dynasty Pearl. If one of them brings me Ghostfire Essence before you do, I’ll make the trade with them. The same goes for you, if you bring it to me first, I will trade with you."

He's trying to put pressure on me through competition… Qiao Sang nodded.

"I understand."

The middle-aged white man stood up and turned to leave. But just as he reached the door, he looked back and said, "Three days from now, the Kotea Volcano will erupt. You might want to check it out then."

Qiao Sang: ???

Hey, hey, hey, how do you know I was planning to go when the volcano erupts? Also, doesn’t Kotea Volcano erupt almost every two weeks? It hasn’t even been two weeks yet…

A series of question marks flashed through Qiao Sang’s mind, but to maintain her composed persona, she simply responded with a calm expression, "I see."

Seeing this, the middle-aged white man said no more and exited the room.

As soon as the door closed, Qiao Sang immediately picked up her phone and typed "Ghostfire Essence" into the search bar.

Soon, relevant information popped up on the screen:

[Ghostfire Essence is an ultra-rare material used by ghost-type pet beasts when training fire-type skills. Once absorbed, it directly boosts a ghost-type pet beast’s fire skills by an entire proficiency tier.

It might not sound impressive, but to put it into perspective, if a ghost-type fire skill is already at the Mastery level, absorbing this essence could push it straight to the Ultimate level.

Sounds amazing, right? But this stuff is ridiculously rare. You won’t find it on the market. Even if it appears, it’s immediately taken by high-ranking beast-taming families.

If you’re really looking for it, you might try your luck near active volcanoes.

If a volcano erupts at night and spews blue lava, that’s Ghostfire Essence.

However, not all nighttime volcanic eruptions produce blue lava. Currently, the only known active volcanoes capable of producing Ghostfire Essence are Misfortune Volcano in 30th District and Kotea Volcano in 19th District.

If these volcanoes erupt with red lava at night, you can take the risk and check the base, there might be a small amount of Ghostfire Essence inside.

Of course, it’s also possible that there won’t be any at all.]

No wonder that guy told her to check out Kotea Volcano when it erupts. Ghostfire Essence only appears during nighttime eruptions…

Qiao Sang suddenly understood.

She thought for a moment, then left the room and walked to the central virtual screen in the hall, where she posted a request for Ghostfire Essence.

If the information was accurate, even if Kotea Volcano erupted at night, there was still a chance that Ghostfire Essence wouldn’t appear. And going into the volcano’s depths was too dangerous. It would be best to acquire the material through trade…

Qiao Sang weighed her options carefully.

A minute later, the screen's [Please Wait] message changed to [No Transactions Available, Please Try Again Later].

So, the listing duration is only one minute…

With no other choice, Qiao Sang took the elevator back to the upper level.

For the rest of the day, she browsed nearly all the market stalls, but she found neither the Yin Dynasty Pearl she needed nor any Ghostfire Essence.

Unlike in TV dramas, she wasn’t being stalked or targeted. Everyone was simply focused on their own business. The underground trading market was far safer than she had imagined.

---

Sota Hotel. Room 3406.

After mailing a VIP ticket to the Beast-Taming Professional League International Team Tournament to [Love Me, No Outcome], Qiao Sang leaned against the headboard and logged into the Beast-Taming Center’s official website on her phone.

She navigated to the task posting section and published a request for Ghostfire Essence.

Once the task was successfully posted, the system automatically classified it as a four-star mission.

A four-star mission… I wouldn’t even qualify to take it myself…

Qiao Sang sighed in frustration.

As expected, anything valuable enough to trade for an SS-grade Yin Morning Pearl wouldn’t be easy to obtain.

Poor me… I have an unlimited credit card, yet it’s completely useless when it comes to materials of this caliber…

She thought for a moment, then scrolled through her social feed.

Tomorrow was the college entrance exam. The only thing that could bring her some comfort right now was seeing everyone else struggling with their exam preparations in their posts…

---

Three days later.

5:20 PM.

The hotel room phone rang.

"Xun xun?" Little Treasure picked up the receiver.

There was a brief silence on the other end before a voice said, "Could you pass the phone to your beast tamer?"

"Xun xun~" Little Treasure called out to his master.

Qiao Sang opened her eyes, stopped meditating, and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

A pleasant female voice came through the receiver:

"Hello, this is the front desk of Sota Hotel. We have just predicted that Kotea Volcano will erupt around 7 PM tonight. Would you like us to arrange transportation or a pet beast to take you to the site?"

7 PM… a volcanic eruption…

Qiao Sang immediately recalled what the SS-grade Yin Dynasty Pearl tamer had said three days ago. She paused for a moment and asked, "Is the information accurate?"

The receptionist chuckled.

"Of course, it’s accurate. Kotea Volcano is one of our major attractions, and while it typically erupts every two weeks, it’s not always exact. We use Meltmelt Beasts to predict eruptions, and they provide the most precise timing."

Meltmelt Beast, a fire-type beginner pet beast with the Heat Prediction trait. It can predict volcanic eruptions by sensing surface temperature changes. When a Meltmelt Beast detects an eruption, flames will burst from its body. Professional researchers analyze the flame’s temperature to determine the precise eruption time…

So, that SS-grade Yin Dynasty Pearl tamer must have used a highly skilled Meltmelt Beast for his prediction. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to predict an eruption three days in advance…

Qiao Sang recalled the information on Meltmelt Beasts, then calmly declined, "I understand. No need to arrange transportation."

"Alright. Have a pleasant evening." The receptionist remained polite.

Qiao Sang hung up the phone and checked the time. Only a little over an hour remained until 7 PM.

Three days ago, no beast tamer had taken her task request. The urgency of obtaining a Yin Dynasty Pearl had slightly diminished when she noticed that Little Treasure’s level stopped increasing at [Advanced (92118/100000)+] while reading the Beast-Taming Codex two days ago.

However, while S-grade Yin Dynasty Pearls might be found in high-resource zones, SS-grade ones were another matter entirely. If possible, she still wanted to obtain Ghostfire Essence for the trade.

Besides, one of her main reasons for coming here was to visit Kotea Volcano. She wouldn’t miss this opportunity.

Qiao Sang put on her jacket and shoes. With a flick of her wrist, she recalled Gangbao into her Beast-Taming Codex, picked up Yabao, slung her backpack with Lubao inside, and stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, gazing at the still-dormant volcano in the distance.

"Little Treasure, teleport us there."

"Xun xun~"

Knowing exactly where his master wanted to go, Little Treasure’s eyes glowed blue.

The next second, Qiao Sang and her pets vanished from the room.