I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 40: Chapter 38: Speculation and New Pet Beast Selection

’If every generation of Great Black’s offspring could inherit a portion of the previous generation’s bloodline, then after five or six generations at most, their descendants could achieve Mutation.’

The idea was wonderful, but after a moment’s thought, Jiang Zuo shook his head.

His hypothesis was built on the assumption that every generation of Great Black’s offspring could inherit the bloodline enhancement effect of the previous one.

But in reality, the chances of that were not high.

Not to mention the dam’s bloodline hadn’t been enhanced, so the puppies born might not inherit the sire’s bloodline at all.

Even if both dogs had undergone bloodline enhancement, birthing offspring with enhanced bloodlines still came down to luck.

After all, even for beasts that had undergone Mutation, their offspring would most likely be just ordinary specimens.

Great Black, moreover, had only undergone bloodline enhancement and hadn’t reached the level of Mutation.

However... after some more careful consideration, Jiang Zuo felt he could still perform a bloodline enhancement on the thirteenth-generation Great Black.

For one, he could find out just how much it would change after receiving another bloodline enhancement, given that it had already inherited the effect.

For another, while the chances of it birthing offspring that inherited the bloodline enhancement effect were low, it wasn’t as if it could only have one child.

Jiang Zuo could afford to wait. Over several decades, as long as the probability wasn’t absurdly low, it would eventually produce an offspring that inherited the bloodline.

It was just that this process might take a very long time.

But Jiang Zuo had plenty of time, so he could take things slow.

He decided to perform the bloodline enhancement on the thirteenth-generation Great Black, but he didn’t rush to do it immediately.

Before that, he first had to test the effects of his Junior Beast Tamer abilities.

After the thirteenth-generation Great Black joined the Beast Taming System, it became even more affectionate toward Jiang Zuo.

After playing with it for a short while, Jiang Zuo was surprised to find that he could sense its intentions quite clearly.

Before the Beast Taming System was upgraded, Jiang Zuo could sense a Pet Beast’s intentions, but only as a vague feeling.

The sensation was especially vague when the Pet Beast was still young.

But now, the little black dog had just joined the Beast Taming System, and Jiang Zuo’s sense of its intentions was already clearer than it had been for the fully raised Great Black dogs of the past.

At the same time, Jiang Zuo also tried giving the little black dog some commands.

Some of them it still didn’t quite understand, but others it could comprehend, executing Jiang Zuo’s orders as if it had already been trained.

Jiang Zuo had raised so many Great Blacks, and this was something he had never seen before.

Usually, they needed two months of his training to reach this level.

’It seems this is the "mastery of basic Beast Taming techniques" the Junior Beast Tamer description mentioned.’

Indeed, for a Beast Tamer, understanding a Pet Beast’s intentions and making it understand and execute one’s commands was the most fundamental of basics.

If he couldn’t do that, it would be just like when he’d tried to raise fish and chickens before. He couldn’t understand what they were thinking, nor could they comprehend his commands, making it impossible to tame them.

Jiang Zuo came to a realization. After his promotion, his Beast Taming abilities had improved to a visibly massive extent.

As for the "trait that attracts beasts," Jiang Zuo needed to go into the wild to test it more clearly.

Since there was nothing else urgent, Jiang Zuo immediately took the little black dog out of the city and went to the riverbank west of Red Fox Town.

The river water was clear, and several small fish could be seen swimming in the shallows by the bank.

"YAP!"

The little black dog had never seen such small fish before, and with a yap, it tried to pounce on them.

But just as it was about to step into the water, it chickened out.

The small fish by the riverbank were already startled and scattered in an instant.

"Settle down. Stay to the side."

Jiang Zuo stopped the little guy, who still wanted to cause trouble.

There were a few more small fish not far away. Jiang Zuo walked over and gently reached his hand into the river.

Under normal circumstances, the small fish in the river would have been scared away long ago.

But not only did these few fish not flee, they even swam toward Jiang Zuo’s fingers, wiggling their bodies, and nudged against them.

Jiang Zuo’s spirits lifted.

’This trait of attracting beasts is amazing!’

’Time to test its effect on birds!’

In a vegetable patch in the distance, a few sparrows were foraging for food.

Jiang Zuo walked over, and the little black dog hurried to follow.

Then Jiang Zuo discovered that as soon as the little black dog got close, the sparrows quickly flew away.

Jiang Zuo could only have the little black dog stop while he went forward alone.

This time, the sparrows didn’t fly away.

Jiang Zuo extended his palm, and several sparrows flew over on their own accord and landed on it.

Several more sparrows from nearby also flew over, circling around Jiang Zuo.

It was a good thing no one was around; otherwise, seeing this scene would have made their jaws drop.

"YAP YAP!"

Seeing so many sparrows, the little black dog couldn’t help but dash over.

With a sudden FLUTTER, all seven or eight startled sparrows took flight.

Jiang Zuo didn’t say anything to the little black dog. He now had a general idea of his Junior Beast Tamer abilities, and they were much stronger than he had expected.

’I have an extra Cultivation Beast Cage. What should I raise in it?’

With that thought, Jiang Zuo turned his attention to the newly added Cultivation Beast Cage.

Great Black dogs were easy to raise, but the market in Red Fox Town was only so big. If he raised two a year, in less than two years, the price of Great Black dogs would plummet. The price of two dogs combined would be less than that of just one.

Rather than do that, it would be better to try raising other Pet Beasts. In the future, if he needed to switch to raising different ones, he wouldn’t have to scramble.

At the same time, Jiang Zuo also wanted to conduct further tests on the Beast Taming System.

Previously, when Jiang Zuo had tried raising things like fish and chickens, they had all been difficult to raise.

But now things were different.

Fish and birds would now actively approach him, and with his Junior Beast Tamer abilities, he could communicate with them better.

However, this didn’t mean that the learning ability of fish and birds had increased. Raising them would likely still not be easy.

After some thought, Jiang Zuo simply upgraded his "Learning" talent, which was 7 experience points away, to Level 2.

—Learning LV2: A universal talent that effectively improves a Pet Beast’s learning ability and efficiency.

The effect of the Level 2 Learning talent was upgraded from "slightly" to "effectively."

This way, he wouldn’t have to worry about a Pet Beast being too dumb to learn.

’So, what exactly should I raise?’

Jiang Zuo pondered.

After so many years of raising Great Black dogs, Jiang Zuo was certain that his own sense of smell had become somewhat more sensitive as a result.

Jiang Zuo had always suspected that by raising Pet Beasts, besides obtaining their lifespan and attribute bonuses, he could also obtain some of the Pet Beast’s special traits.

If that was true, he desperately wanted to obtain a fish’s swimming ability and underwater breathing, or a bird’s ability to fly.

Any one of them would bring him great convenience, not to mention another life-saving ability.

So Jiang Zuo planned to choose either a fish or a bird to try and raise.

Based on the changes to his body, he would be able to confirm whether his theory was correct.

If he was right, then the Beast Taming System was far more powerful than he currently knew.

’I’ll raise a fish first.’

Jiang Zuo made the decision without much hesitation.

He would have to raise both a fish and a bird at least once to figure out their respective raising conditions, then see which one was more convenient and required less time.

Even if his hypothesis was true, whether it was fish or birds, the number he would need to raise to obtain their special traits would certainly not be small.

The one with easier raising conditions and a shorter raising time would naturally be the top priority.

After deciding to raise a fish, the first step was to choose a species.

Different fish have vastly different growth periods; some reach adulthood in just three or four months, while others take five or six years.

Jiang Zuo ultimately chose the Yellow Thorn Bone, which had a growth period of about a year.

Different Pet Beasts have different raising conditions that need to be met. If the conditions are easy to meet, the time required is naturally shorter.

But with so many unknowns, Jiang Zuo chose one with a growth period similar to that of the black dogs, making it easier to compare samples.

The Yellow Thorn Bone is covered in hard, sharp spines. It has few natural predators in the river, so it isn’t likely to be suddenly eaten by other fish while being raised there.

It was relatively dominant in its river niche, so whatever raising conditions it had could be met without external interference.

After a little over ten minutes, Jiang Zuo found a suitable juvenile Yellow Thorn Bone by the riverbank and added it to the Cultivation Beast Cage.

—Yellow Thorn Bone: Small fish, juvenile. Temperament: Aggressive. Has one Talent Slot. Current Cultivation Progress: 11%.

You couldn’t tell much from a Pet Beast in its juvenile stage. Jiang Zuo glanced at it, then tried to interact with the Yellow Thorn Bone a little.

’Fish can’t live out of water, which will severely limit the types of training I can do. Swimming speed, stamina, the ability to swim against a current, sense of smell underwater, fighting other fish, the ability to leap forcefully from the water... taken to an extreme, it might even include how long it can survive out of water.’

’Hmm, that last one is a bit too extreme. As for the others, I’ll just have to try raising it with each method and check the cultivation progress to see if I’m on the right track.’

Jiang Zuo thought as he looked at the Yellow Thorn Bone.

Back when he raised the first-generation Great Black, it took Jiang Zuo nearly nineteen months.

A lot of that time was wasted on confirming the raising conditions.

Jiang Zuo was still unclear about a fish’s raising conditions, but since it was confined to the water, there weren’t many actions a fish could perform. After listing them all out, he felt he was most likely on the right track.

With his theories in mind, Jiang Zuo had the Yellow Thorn Bone hide in the river for now, so it wouldn’t be accidentally caught by someone or killed by another big fish.

After returning home, Jiang Zuo began to make feed.

Whether raising fish or birds, feed was the most important thing.

And Jiang Zuo happened to know a very simple and effective method for making it.

It was something he had seen while scrolling through videos in his past life.

By mixing several eggs evenly, pouring them into a large plate of millet, mixing them together, and then stir-frying the millet in a pot over low heat until dry, you could make a type of feed called "egg millet."

Egg millet was very nutritious and suitable for both juvenile and adult birds and fish.

It also had a long shelf life; one batch would last for half a month without any problem.

There was no millet in Red Fox Town, but grinding up rice would have a similar effect.

After making the egg millet feed, Jiang Zuo also tossed a handful to the little black dog.

While the little guy was eating happily, Jiang Zuo chose to perform a bloodline enhancement on it.

The earlier the bloodline enhancement was performed, the greater its impact on physical growth.

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