I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Tombstone and Wreckage

Beast Taming Reputation: 648!

His Beast Taming Reputation had reached a new high.

This time, however, after some deliberation, Jiang Zuo decided not to dump all his reputation into his stats.

He was making a little progress observing Beast Patterns every day, and Jiang Zuo felt it wouldn’t be long before he could start trying to draw them himself.

Drawing Beast Patterns wouldn’t be easy. If it proved too difficult and he couldn’t get the hang of it, Jiang Zuo figured he might have to use his Beast Taming Reputation to level up his Beast Pattern Drawing skill and force his way into it.

Additionally, Jiang Zuo also planned to spend points upgrading his "Learning" Beast Taming Talent.

If he were only taming Great Black, his Learning talent would have been sufficient.

According to the Beast Taming System, raising a Pet Beast required more than just Jiang Zuo’s training to improve its stats, ensure its obedience, and help it master various skills. There was also a natural factor to consider.

Namely, the Pet Beast’s physical maturation.

Take Great Black, for example.

For it to reach the mature stage as defined by the system, it would need about eleven months.

The most Jiang Zuo could do was shorten this growth period by about a month by feeding it more nutritious food.

For such a long period, a Level 1 "Learning" talent was more than enough.

But that only applied to a relatively smart and obedient Pet Beast like Great Black.

Before he started raising Great Black, Jiang Zuo had tried to raise other small animals.

Chickens, ducks, mice, fish, and even another breed of small, white-furred dog.

But all his attempts had ended in failure.

After adding them to the Beast Taming System, he would train them for a few days. When he saw no progress, he could sense that raising them to a level the system would recognize would take an incredibly long time.

Having no other choice, Jiang Zuo could only remove them from the Beast Taming System one by one.

It wasn’t until he started raising Great Black that Jiang Zuo’s grand Beast Taming enterprise finally got on the right track.

But with a higher-level "Learning" talent, that might change.

He might be able to successfully raise even these difficult-to-tame animals.

The rate at which he gained Beast Taming Reputation had slowed to a crawl over the past couple of days.

He had only gained a little over ten points yesterday, and not even ten today.

Before long, the rate would drop back to what it was before the incident.

After all, most of the people who were going to acknowledge him and grant him Beast Taming Reputation had already done so this past week after seeing the dog he had trained.

Convincing those who were still unwilling would only be more difficult in the future.

If he spent it all now, he might not have enough later, and getting more wouldn’t be easy.

However, Jiang Zuo believed he could probably harvest another small wave of Beast Taming Reputation in a few days when he auctioned off Great Black.

At that time, depending on his total Beast Taming Reputation, Jiang Zuo would set aside a portion to upgrade skills and for age adjustment, and the rest could be put into his stats.

’Getting stronger is what really matters!’

Over the past week, both Jiang Zuo’s and Great Black’s appetites had increased dramatically.

The changes in Jiang Zuo were obvious after his stats skyrocketed.

He had become noticeably more well-built. If he weren’t still young and going through a growth spurt, it would undoubtedly have attracted unwanted attention.

In addition to his physique, whenever Jiang Zuo exerted himself now, powerful, defined muscles would ripple across his body.

Jiang Zuo hadn’t even dared to use his full strength while blacksmithing these past few days.

It would have been too conspicuous otherwise.

The effects of Great Black’s bloodline enhancement also became apparent over the week.

The changes weren’t drastic; its body had grown slightly larger, and its various stats had increased by a little over ten percent.

And this seemed to be the limit, as it couldn’t increase any further.

If there were no further changes to Great Black in the next few days...

...Jiang Zuo planned to take advantage of the current buzz to find a good home for the dog, and in the process, farm one last wave of Beast Taming Reputation.

Quite a few wealthy families were interested in Great Black, so its price wouldn’t be low. The news of the sale would surely spread throughout Red Fox Town, providing him with that final wave of Beast Taming Reputation.

「Three more days passed.」

There were no further changes to either Jiang Zuo’s or Great Black’s bodies.

Without further hesitation, Jiang Zuo went door to door, informing every family that had expressed interest in the auction for Great Black.

In previous years, only seven or eight families had been interested, but this time, more than thirty households had already spoken to Jiang Zuo in advance.

It took Jiang Zuo half a day to make his rounds.

By evening, many people in town knew that at 7:00 AM the day after tomorrow, Jiang Zuo was going to sell the beautiful big black dog he had just finished raising.

"Jiang Zuo, I remember you’ve had some schooling, right? I was hoping you could take a look at something for me."

However, not everyone was concerned with the recent events in town.

For the past ten days, Mr. Yang and his crew of workers had been rushing to finish a job, working from dawn till dusk.

They had heard about the thief and the big black dog, but hadn’t given it a second thought.

All they wanted to do after work each day was sleep.

And today, the wooden cabin for Jiang Zuo’s new next-door neighbor was finally finished.

A house of considerable size had been built in less than two weeks; the pace was undeniably fast.

However, Mr. Yang still had one loose end to tie up.

The other workers had already gone home for the day, but after a moment’s hesitation, Mr. Yang decided to find Jiang Zuo.

He remembered that Jiang Zuo had boarded at the town’s school for two years, and he had seen him attending classes there afterward.

"No problem. What is it?"

Jiang Zuo agreed readily. He wasn’t busy at the moment anyway.

"Come with me. It’s just over here."

Mr. Yang breathed a sigh of relief and led Jiang Zuo to a grassy area behind the new neighbor’s house.

"This is it."

"We dug up this skeleton and tombstone on the first day while digging the foundation. There’s some writing on the stone, but none of us can read it. I was hoping you could see what it says."

"If it belongs to an ancestor of one of the families in town, we’ll have to return it to them."

Mr. Yang said, looking troubled.

He had a feeling it would be trouble the moment they dug up the skeleton.

If the skeleton belonged to the ancestor of a local family, it could lead to disputes.

Then they could forget about finishing the job on time.

So, Mr. Yang simply told everyone to keep quiet, toss the skeleton and tombstone aside, and deal with it after the house was finished.

Once they had their wages in hand, they could afford to let any potential disputes drag on.

Jiang Zuo glanced at the tombstone and shook his head. "I don’t recognize the writing on it either. It’s not the script of our current dynasty."

"Not from our dynasty? Then it must be from the previous one?"

Mr. Yang jumped in alarm at his words.

There had always been a rumor among the common folk that the founding emperor of the Da Xi Nation, Emperor Wu, was not from the previous dynasty. He wasn’t born on this land but was an outsider.

After ascending the throne, Emperor Wu spent a century abolishing the script and customs of the previous dynasty, instituting a new writing system from a distant empire and completely severing all ties with the past.

For a time, even mentioning the previous dynasty was taboo.

Many of the tales passed down among the people were stories of conflict between the old and new dynasties.

No matter how epic and dramatic the protagonist’s journey in those tales, any ordinary person who got mixed up in such affairs rarely came to a good end.

Although Mr. Yang had never heard of any remnants of the previous dynasty still being around...

...he still instinctively wanted nothing to do with anything related to it.

"It’s possible. But in any case, it can’t be the ancestor of any family in town."

"Keeping it around is just asking for trouble. Let’s just dig a hole and bury the bones and the tombstone,"

Jiang Zuo said.

"Yes, yes! Let’s do that!"

Mr. Yang nodded eagerly.

He didn’t doubt Jiang Zuo’s words, because the characters looked completely unfamiliar to him as well.

The school in Red Fox Town was established with funding from the County Magistrate’s Office. Any child in town who wished to could attend for a small fee.

Most, however, only went long enough to learn how to recognize and write their own names before stopping.

Mr. Yang was no different. Although he was largely illiterate, he could still tell that the characters on the tombstone were distinctly different from the ones he was used to seeing.

The skeleton and tombstone lay scattered on the grass. Jiang Zuo didn’t stand idly by; he bent down to help gather them up.

The tombstone looked as if it were carved from bluestone. It was dark green with a missing corner, and it gave off a sense of great antiquity.

If the writing was indeed from the previous dynasty, the tombstone had to be at least a thousand years old.

The skeleton, by contrast, was remarkably complete, with only a few bones missing.

The bones themselves, however, showed few signs of decay from the passage of time.

As Jiang Zuo picked up the bones, he was surprised by how heavy they felt.

"Let’s go bury them somewhere farther away. Mr. Yang, you take the tombstone, and I’ll carry the bones. I’m young and full of vigor, so I’m not afraid of any lingering evil."

Jiang Zuo said to Mr. Yang, pointing into the distance.

"Jiang Zuo, thank you so much! I’m so glad I came to you for help!"

Mr. Yang said gratefully.

The common folk were very superstitious about such things as gods and ghosts.

The two of them walked over a thousand meters away, dug a pit, and buried the skeleton and the tombstone.

Mr. Yang thanked him profusely once more before finally leaving.

Jiang Zuo, acting as if nothing had happened, returned home, washed his hands, and started making dinner.

After dinner, the sky had grown dark.

Jiang Zuo had Great Black stand guard while he slipped out into the night.

「A short while later.」

Like a phantom, Jiang Zuo reappeared at the spot where they had buried the skeleton and tombstone earlier that evening.

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