Beast Taming: The Beginning of Hatching an Ancient Dragon

Chapter 3: True Name: Lyon Discator!

Li Chang’an couldn’t wait to check the little creature’s status panel.

Race: Infernal Flame Dragon

Attribute: ??

Level: Infant Stage

Potential: ???

Abilities: ????

Low-tier Skills: Infernal Flame (Contact Level), Flame Claw (Contact Level)

Mid-tier Skill: Flame Spirit Coil (Contact Level)

Status: Asleep.].

Three skills? And one of them is a mid-tier skill!

With all of young Chang’an’s knowledge, Li Chang’an was shocked. He knew what this meant.

Beast companions weren’t like Pokémon from his past life. Infant-stage beasts usually didn’t have powerful skills at birth. Most only had skills like “Howl” or “Tackle,” which were either used to loudly remind their caretakers to feed them or to physically nudge them for food.

But this little creature was different. It was born with three attack skills, one of which was a mid-tier skill typically only learned by elite-tier beasts. It was practically screaming “I’m combat-ready” from the start.

Moreover, unlike ordinary beasts, this little one had a true name. This was similar to high-level pure-blood dragons and other mythical races.

Li Chang’an lowered his head in thought. Indeed, he should give the little one a name, just in case. According to young Chang’an’s memories, true names didn’t hold power but were tied to causality. This was especially true for humans and high-level races. If someone with ill intentions used a beast with special attributes to perform a curse ritual, a beast that had its true name revealed would be at a significant disadvantage—possibly even life-threatening.

Forget it. He’d wait until the little one woke up and ask for its opinion.

Li Chang’an carefully lifted the kitten and placed it on his bed, gently covering it with a small blanket. Then he left the room, went to his mother’s studio to fetch some milk, and returned to his room to use his computer to look up more information about this world.

After briefly browsing the web and combining it with the memories in his mind, Li Chang’an felt somewhat reassured. There were no major events happening in Eastern Glory Country recently, so his life was secure.

However, a fragment of memory caught his attention. While life was secure, his academic performance might not be. Li Chang’an groaned and slapped his forehead. There was a final exam this Monday!

With young Chang’an’s memories as a foundation, he wasn’t worried about subjects like language, math, geography, or biology. Beast food preparation was also fine—young Chang’an had practiced it many times, and it was now second nature to him.

The only problem was the beast language course. This was a real challenge for an otherworldly visitor like him. Even young Chang’an, a top student, had struggled with this subject, let alone him.

The beast language course in Eastern Glory Country’s high schools included three major beast languages: Del, Slu, and Dragon. These came from three races that had formed eternal alliances with Eastern Glory Country.

Del originated from the Ailu race, Slu from the Yalie race, and Dragon from the Divine Dragon race.

The Ailu were a small beast-human race, resembling upright cats but with intelligence comparable to adult humans. They were now found throughout Eastern Glory Country. For example, Li Chang’an’s mother’s teahouse had an Ailu cat working as a pastry chef.

The Yalie race wasn’t as intelligent as the Ailu, typically having the mental capacity of a seven- or eight-year-old child, with occasional variant individuals reaching human-level intelligence—though these were rare.

The Yalie were a medium-sized beast-human race, divided into quadrupedal hunting dogs and bipedal dog-headed humanoids. Most Yalie were the former, while the latter were variant individuals. Both could be contracted by humans. Adult Yalie could grow up to two meters tall, with variant individuals reaching over four meters. The current record was six meters and three centimeters.

Unlike the Ailu, who provided life assistance to humans, the Yalie excelled in hunting and combat. They were invaluable allies to human beast tamers. A beast tamer with a Yalie companion was in a completely different league from one without.

Finally, there was Dragon, the most difficult of the three beast languages. It originated from Eastern Glory Country’s ally, the Sky Dragon Island. Although dragon language had many variants, only three had practical power: the Divine Dragon language of Eastern Glory’s Divine Dragon race, the Dragon language of the Golden Orchid Empire, and the Ancient Beast language of the Ancient Dragon race.

“Practical power” referred to the ability to manifest effects through speech—a language imbued with power.

In high school beast language courses, Dragon language wasn’t heavily emphasized. It was mostly used as a final exam question to filter those with an affinity for dragon-kind.

With such little time, Li Chang’an couldn’t adapt to any of these languages.

Just as he was groaning in despair, the little creature woke up, roused by the scent of the thermos on the computer desk.

“Meow! (I’m hungry!)”

A soft, childlike voice suddenly echoed in Li Chang’an’s mind, clear and slightly groggy. His first thought was that the house was haunted, but he quickly realized—oh, the little one was awake.

Li Chang’an turned around and saw the kitten struggling to stand up, then deftly climbing up his pant leg. Its small body skillfully flipped onto the computer desk, unscrewed the thermos, and began gulping down the warm milk.

Li Chang’an blinked. Why did this scene feel both unusual and yet perfectly normal? A newborn Ancient Dragon using a thermos so skillfully, and even drinking it by holding it? Weren’t feline-like creatures supposed to lap up their drinks?

“Lyon, how do you know how to use a thermos?”

The little creature finished the milk in one go, licking the white milk stains around its mouth. It then loudly declared, “Meow! (Another cup!)”

Li Chang’an chuckled and took the thermos from the kitten, fetching more warm milk from his mother’s room. After downing two thermoses of milk, the kitten finally let out a milk burp.

“Meow? (Chang’an, what were you saying earlier?)”

Li Chang’an: “…”

After explaining his suspicions to the little one, the kitten responded matter-of-factly:

“Meow, meow! (I’m Chang’an’s partner. Isn’t it normal for me to know these things?)”

Li Chang’an was taken aback. Memories flashed through his mind, eventually settling on a lecture he had attended. The lecture was about the effects of soul contracts.

A beautiful lecturer from the province, dressed in office attire with sheer black stockings and black high heels, meticulously explained the intricacies of soul contracts. While most of his classmates were distracted by her appearance, young Chang’an, the beast enthusiast, was completely absorbed in the knowledge.

“Hmm, she looked decent, but her figure was too slim to truly showcase the beauty of a pencil skirt,” Li Chang’an objectively evaluated the memory.

The lecturer had said, “A soul contract isn’t a master-servant contract. Although it carries a hierarchical nature, it’s closer to an equal partnership. This means the soul contract is bidirectional. Especially for initial beast companions, young beasts are influenced by their tamer’s personality and memories, making them more attuned to human society. Humans, too, are influenced by the bloodline hidden within their beasts. The higher the beast’s tier, the greater the influence.”

“Many beast tamers who recklessly contract numerous beasts undergo drastic personality changes, even developing split personalities. This has led to the emergence of many distorted, insane, and anti-social superhumans.”

“The original evil God cult was to be led by such individuals. Therefore, every beast contract must be carefully considered. It’s not just about compatibility—temperament, personality, and race must also be taken into account. Otherwise, I don’t want to see your names on the Beast Taming Association’s most-wanted list someday.”

Recalling this, Li Chang’an remembered the surge of causing massacre he had felt earlier. It must have come from the Infernal Flame Dragon’s bloodline. He sighed in relief, glad he had suppressed it. Otherwise, his life in this new world would have taken a dark turn before it even began.

No wonder schools advised students not to hastily contract their initial beasts. A bunch of emotionally immature kids encountering such influences would likely collapse and develop self-destructive tendencies, shouting, “It’s not me who’s wrong, but the world!”

Cases like his, where the influence was successfully suppressed, were exceedingly rare.