Beast Taming: The Beginning of Hatching an Ancient Dragon

Chapter 5: The Golden Finger Makes Its First Appearance

A vast amount of life energy was drawn from the void into Li Chang’an’s body through the array. Following his meridians, it gradually gathered at the space between his eyebrows. When the life energy condensed into a small sun, Li Chang’an’s eyebrows twitched. It was time to absorb spatial energy.

The spiritual energy in his brain domain guided the Void Stones placed on his thighs. Silver-gray energy collided fiercely with the glowing white life energy. The irregular energy surges caused sharp pain in Li Chang’an’s temples, but he endured it, forcing the two energies to merge.

After about two and a half minutes, the spatial energy and life energy initially fused. The glowing mass, mixed with silver light, seemed to be nurturing life, as if something was about to burst forth. It seemed like this step could be concluded here.

But Li Chang’an knew the hardest part was just beginning. He needed to combine the soul contract with this fused energy. Only then could he summon his pet beast through the array at any time, and the soul contract would ensure the pet wouldn’t get lost in the void while in the Beast Taming Space.

Li Chang’an’s spiritual energy slowly dragged the Star Engraving Contract Array, merging it with the fused energy mass. The moment they touched, a loud boom echoed!

In Li Chang’an’s brain domain, a white sun seemed to rise, akin to the Big Bang of the universe. A black singularity formed in his brain domain.

Control it!

Li Chang’an clenched his teeth, using all his remaining spiritual energy to control the expansion of the black singularity. Finally, the Star Engraving Array scattered tiny starlights, assisting his spiritual energy in stabilizing the singularity.

In the end, Li Chang’an imprinted the Star Engraving Array onto the fused energy mass. Instantly, the fused energy mass expanded violently, and the black singularity continuously contracted. In this expansion and contraction, an illusory space was thus formed.

“Not enough energy!”

This thought flashed through Li Chang’an’s mind, and immediately, the concentration of life energy around him increased another notch. It turned out that Maomao, outside the array, had activated the third level of the array for Li Chang’an.

Nice! Maomao, well done!

Li Chang’an greedily absorbed all the life energy and the spatial energy from the Void Stones. Half an hour later, the illusory world had completely taken shape transforming into a radiant crystal sphere, with the Star Engraving Array reflected on its surface.

A surge of energy rich with life essence flowed from Li Chang’an’s glabella (Between the eyebrows) spreading throughout his body.

The Exclusive energy of a Beast Tamer—Curse Force—was born!

The Beast Taming Space was successfully opened!

Li Chang’an opened his eyes, his excitement evident. He had finally become a Level 1 Beast Tamer. Not one of those half-baked pretenders, but a true Beast Tamer with a Beast Taming Space.

Maomao also let out a cry, transforming into a red shadow and slipping into the newly formed Beast Taming Space. Li Chang’an was left baffled, standing there in a daze.

Wasn’t the Beast Taming Space supposed to only allow entry to pet beasts with the Beast Tamer’s permission? What was going on with Maomao?

Before he could react, Maomao had slipped in effortlessly. Could it be?

Li Chang’an remembered his talent, [Ancient Dragon’s Heart], which made him 100% compatible with ancient dragons. Combined with the mutual influence of the soul contract, this meant Maomao was also 100% compatible with him. Entering his Beast Taming Space was like returning home.

Fine, let it be.

Li Chang’an sighed helplessly. What could he do? The contract was already made, and breaking it was out of the question. He could only spoil this little creature.

After opening the Beast Taming Space, Li Chang’an still intended to call Maomao out. There was one more thing to do today—determine the effects of Maomao’s skills.

Before Li Chang’an could call Maomao out, his vision twisted. The courtyard scenery transformed into a blood-red thorn garden. As if guided by an unseen force, Li Chang’an reached out his hand, and a booklet imprinted with blood-red thorn flowers appeared in his palm.

The contract was complete!

“Oddity [Hunting Notebook] has confirmed the host’s identity. Holder status: Temporary Holder.”

“Detecting the temporary holder’s characteristics, the first page of [Hunting Notebook] is unlocked.”

The booklet imprinted with blood-red thorn flowers automatically flipped open to the first page. The yellowish paper appeared somewhat ancient, and on the blank page, a heart-shaped pattern emerged.

“First function [Hunting Instinct] activated. The temporary holder can, by hunting supernatural creatures, potentially depriving their abilities or attributes to enhance themselves.”

As soon as Hunting Instinct activated, Li Chang’an felt his blood boiling, as if something had been deeply engraved into his very being. Yet, he remained unaware of this at the moment.

“Detecting that the temporary holder possesses calamitous power, satisfying the desires of the Hunting Notebook, the second page is unlocked.”

Subsequently, the second page of the Manual  slowly opened. Unlike the first page, only the top of the second page displayed a room’s pattern. Most of the page was blank, except for a small Dark red phantom that appeared at the beginning.

“Second function [Thorn Collection Room] activated. The temporary holder can store information about supernatural creatures they kill, plunder, or possess into the collection room.”

“The temporary holder can freely deploy this information, with a limit of ten times per day.”

Then, the scene of the blood-red thorn garden disappeared from Li Chang’an’s sight, and he returned to his home courtyard.

“What just happened to me?”

Li Chang’an shook his head, suddenly noticing a blood-red thorn flower mark on the back of his left hand, which flashed and then vanished. Memories of the thorn garden flooded back.

He realized he had been marked by something. The appearance of the Hunting Notebook was something that had accompanied Little Chang’an for many years. It was a trinket Little Chang’an had bought at a night market as a child, then forgotten about and never looked for again.

It seemed it wasn’t lost but had been inside him all along.

“Meow. (Chang’an, that thing is not good.)”

Maomao’s warning echoed in Li Chang’an’s mind. Of course, he knew the Hunting Notebook was no benevolent entity. Especially with phrases like “satisfying” and “possessing calamitous power,” it might as well have stamped “Evil Faction” on its cover.

But he had signed a contract with it. He vaguely sensed that if he told anyone about it, his fate would not be pleasant. For now, he would observe the situation.

Li Chang’an sorted through the information the Hunting Notebook had provided him. After browsing through it, his lips twitched. Fortunately, he hadn’t told his parents about this thing’s existence.

Before him, the Hunting Notebook had seven holders, all of whom had perished. Two of them died because they leaked its secrets . The Hunting Notebook had ten pages in total. Unlocking all ten would make one its true master.

Unfortunately, the most impressive holder only unlocked seven pages before being caught in a war of destruction and dying.

The Hunting Notebook also contained many warnings left by previous holders. The most common advice was not to rely too much on the Hunting Notebook, not to let it influence one’s emotions, and to always act according to one’s true heart.

Li Chang’an initially thought there was some profound meaning or a twisted story behind these warnings. That was until he sat on the grass, pondering, and casually plucked a white flower from the yard.

“Skill Stone [Ambush Technique] +1. Can be granted to: Li Chang’an, Maomao.”

Li Chang’an: ??!

The white flower was a supernatural plant, possessing the rank of a supernatural being but lacking any lethal power, harmless to humans. Originally, it was an ornamental plant introduced to Red Rock City from the wild.

However, after being bullied by other spiritual plants outside the city, the white flower, once inside the city, became uncontrollable. It easily encroached on the living space of ordinary plants, becoming a successful example of invasive species.

Naturally, such invasive spiritual plants were common in the Li family’s yard. Thus, this scene unfolded.

“So, the plundering of Hunting Instinct means stealing skills from supernatural creatures?”

“And the Hunting Notebook’s abilities are limited. At least, Maomao’s true name wasn’t revealed, only the name I gave it.”

Li Chang’an slightly relaxed, feeling that this ability wasn’t particularly tempting. In Donghuang Nation, it was well-known that skills not only had rank differences but also proficiency levels.

The levels of skill proficiency he knew were: Beginner, Apprentice, Skilled, Master, and Perfect.

The gap between a Beginner-level skill and a Perfect-level one was even greater than that between low-tier and mid-tier skills.

Having a skill without proficiency was like flowers in a mirror or the moon reflected in water—a futile effort.

That was until he plucked a few more white flowers, and the second page of the Hunting Notebook slowly opened.

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