Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

T/n: Thank you, Ko-Fi Lover @walwyn for the donation!😊💙

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Class 1, Beast Taming Department.

A middle-aged man with a lean face stood on the podium, lecturing: "Some pet beasts possess multiple attributes, but they always have a primary and secondary attribute. Generally speaking, it’s much harder for a pet to learn skills related to its secondary attribute than its primary one."

"Sometimes, blindly making your pet learn powerful or constantly new skills isn’t the right path for someone who wants to make a name for themselves as a professional beast tamer."

"Mastering a single skill to its peak or combining two skills of different attributes effectively is far more worthwhile than spreading your efforts thin on powerful or new skills."

"A pet’s energy is limited, and this is your prime age."

"I hope you’ll start prioritizing which skills to focus on, abandon the useless ones, and invest your time in skills that can more easily be combined into combo techniques."

As he spoke, he formed hand signs with both hands.

Soon, a pet beast around 20 cm tall appeared on the podium. It was mostly green, with short limbs, oversized ears about half the size of its face, and its body was covered in spikes.

The man introduced: "This is my Ear-Spike, and its Grass Needle skill has reached late Intermediate proficiency."

Then he looked at the Ear-Spike: “Show them.”

"Big Ear!"

The Ear-Spike let out a cry.

Suddenly, over a dozen sharp green needle-like projectiles materialized in front of it.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The grass needles shot out violently.

The entire class watched the needles’ path.

About a meter before they hit the back wall of the tiered classroom, the needles stopped mid-air and fell to the ground without continuing forward.

"This is the current range limit of Ear-Spike's Grass Needle skill." The man nodded at the Ear-Spike after speaking.

"Big Ear!"

Understanding its tamer's intention, the Ear-Spike let out another cry. Again, sharp green needles appeared in midair.

They fired out.

This time, Ear-Spike puffed its cheeks and blew out a strong gust of wind.

The wind instantly caught up with the needles.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The needles accelerated and deeply embedded themselves into the classroom’s back wall.

"Grass Needle at late Intermediate stage normally reaches that distance, but combined with the Wind Blow skill, both speed and range are significantly improved." The man said as he waved his hand and recalled the Ear-Spike into his Beast Codex.

"This is a combo technique."

"Of course, this is just a basic one. Next class will be outdoors, I hope each of you can demonstrate your own combo techniques."

During the break, a senior from the maintenance department entered and had her accompanying pet beast skillfully repair the needle holes in the wall.

Qiao Sang sat at her desk, holding a pen and thinking about combo techniques.

She had studied them back when she participated in the national campus beast mastering league.

Yabao had the Clone skill, and his skill proficiency improved quickly. As long as any skill reached a high enough level, combining them wasn’t hard.

But not hard didn’t mean suitable.

Back then, she used brute force methods, like combining Clone with various skills or using Telekinesis to control the direction of attack-based skills, like an upgraded version of the Reflective Shield.

Now, considering Yabao had so many new skills, there might be better combo possibilities.

She pondered. Yabao's attack power was already high, and his skill proficiencies were rising fast. There didn’t seem to be a pressing need to use combo techniques just yet.

As for Little Treasure’s Shadow of Darkness, once it reached the later stages, he could produce hundreds of illusions.

If he could use that to perform other skills, his offensive power could multiply.

Especially when paired with Shadow Control.

Actually, the power of Shadow Control was closely related to the pet's size.

The bigger the body, the larger the shadow.

In both 2D and 3D versions of Shadow Control, a larger pet meant a broader range and more control.

So far, Little Treasure hadn't really revealed this weakness, mainly because he could teleport and quickly move near a target or his shadow.

But recently, Little Treasure needed to practice Spatial Lockdown, and his Shadow of Darkness skill wasn’t yet proficient enough. By tomorrow's class, he definitely wouldn’t be ready to show off...

Just then, Dorothy’s voice came from beside her: "Now that the seniors have stopped challenging you, don’t you plan to challenge the ones ranked above you?"

"Who says no one's challenging me? There’s still one left." Qiao Sang said as she took out her phone and tapped around.

Only to find that the last challenge request had vanished, the page was now blank.

Qiao Sang: …

"I’ll wait a bit before challenging anyone." She casually put the phone down like nothing happened.

She had too much on her plate right now, and challenging the top 100 didn’t offer much other than a better dorm.

She already rented a villa outside, and she’d return to Blue Star after this semester. Getting a better dorm seemed pointless.

Dorothy hesitated, looking like she wanted to say something.

She really wanted to see Qiao Sang beat the crap out of those seniors, but Qiao Sang didn’t seem to be in a rush.

Anyone else with her strength would’ve already challenged the top three to boost their credits, but Qiao Sang didn’t care at all.

Then it hit Dorothy, Qiao Sang was an interstellar exchange student. Credits probably didn’t matter to her.

Her expression darkened.

The admissions office must have a spy from Blue Star…

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The bell for the last class of the afternoon rang.

The teacher dismissed class on time.

Qiao Sang looked toward the floating Black Flower nearby.

Little Treasure, holding the flower in his paw, revealed himself. His eyes glowed blue, he was about to teleport.

"Yap!"

At that moment, Yabao sniffed the air like he caught a delicious scent, looking excited.

“Wait.” Qiao Sang said.

“Xun xun…” Little Treasure’s eyes dimmed.

“Let’s go see what smells so good.” Qiao Sang said to Yabao with a smile.

There were many beast-related restaurants in the Yulianton University. Whenever they walked through campus, Yabao always got distracted by food smells. Qiao Sang always let them eat what they wanted.

After all, their rich days wouldn’t last forever.

“Yap!”

Yabao wagged his tail happily.

He jumped off her knee and trotted ahead.

Qiao Sang followed him out of the classroom and down the elevator.

Huh? Not heading toward the food street… After about five minutes of walking, she began to wonder.

Then Yabao’s eyes lit up, and he suddenly sped up.

He stopped beneath a giant tree.

Under the tree sat an elderly man with graying hair and a black soft cap. He was feeding a bright red bird-like pet with a fluffy black tail.

“Yap!”

Yabao barked excitedly: It smelled amazing.

This guy looks familiar… red energy pellets… Qiao Sang was stunned by the man’s face but quickly shifted her gaze to what he was feeding, and was shocked.

She’d seen plenty of market and custom-made energy pellets, usually brown or black, regardless of element. This was the first red one she’d seen.

“Hello, may I ask where you bought this?” Qiao Sang approached.

Yabao wagged his tail, looking expectant.

The old man looked up at Qiao Sang and smiled kindly.

“It’s not bought, I made it myself.”

He held out the pellet to Yabao: “If you want to try, go ahead.”

Yabao wanted to, badly, but looked to his tamer first.

Qiao Sang nodded.

“Yap!”

Yabao eagerly took a bite.

Maybe it was her imagination, but Qiao Sang thought his flame wings suddenly expanded a little after eating.

“Do you like it?” The old man asked.

“Yap!”

Yabao’s eyes sparkled, and he wagged his tail wildly.

He loved it!

“Xun xun!”

Seeing Yabao's reaction, Little Treasure appeared and let out a sound, clearly wanting to try it too.

The old man seemed to understand. He smiled and said, “This pellet is only for fire-type beasts. If you want one, I can make a different kind.”

Qiao Sang suddenly asked, “How many credits does it cost?”

The man’s face twitched but quickly masked it and replied: “No credits needed. I don’t have much time, but if you come find me, I’ll teach you how to make them.”

That… Qiao Sang hesitated.

Making energy pellets was clearly a big undertaking and time-consuming…

But then she asked, “How many credits to learn how to make them?”

The old man twitched again.

“Also free.”

What a good person… Qiao Sang thought emotionally.

Who said Yulianton University required credits for everything?

“Yap!”

Yabao wagged his tail, full of anticipation.

Seeing his look, Qiao Sang no longer hesitated.

“May I ask your name?”

The man smiled: “Linus Berg.”

Holy crap. I remember now… Isn’t he the head of the Breeding Department?! Qiao Sang looked stunned.

Back during orientation in the main hall, one of the nine VIPs on stage was this very man!

He’s offering to teach me how to make energy pellets?

And for free?

Is this reasonable?!

Qiao Sang was dumbfounded.

Did she happen to catch the eye of a bigshot?

Or did he see some amazing beast-breeding potential in her?