I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 57: Chapter 55: Advanced Training

Just a quick glance was enough for Jiang Zuo to reach a conclusion.

The upgrade from a junior to an intermediate Beast Tamer was a massive one!

Jiang Zuo had expected the rewards of an additional Cultivation Beast Cage and a new talent.

What surprised Jiang Zuo the most was that he could now unlock a Talent Slot for his Pet Beasts, and he had also gained an Advanced Beast Cage!

As he advanced to Intermediate Beast Tamer, his Learning talent also rose to LV3.

However, his other talent, Combat, was still stuck at LV1.

The reason for this was that the ordinary Mortal Beasts Jiang Zuo had raised generally only had one Talent Slot.

Great Black was the only exception, a gifted creature with two Talent Slots.

The end result was that, aside from the Learning talent, any other Beast Taming Talents Jiang Zuo possessed were useless.

With an extra Talent Slot available, Jiang Zuo could equip the Combat or Longevity talent on his next Pet Beast and start grinding experience for it.

The Combat and Longevity talents were both excellent choices.

’Longevity increases a Pet Beast’s maximum lifespan, which in turn increases my own.’

’Combat enhances a Pet Beast’s fighting ability. In reality, it boosts the Pet Beast’s attributes like strength, which means it also boosts the Strength, Physique, and Agility attributes I can gain.’

With only one extra Talent Slot, the choice wasn’t difficult.

’Since my lifespan is already secure, the higher my attributes, the better.’

’It seems there are multiple options for advanced training, but right now, I can only choose to use Beast Patterns for my Pet Beast’s ability training. I haven’t been able to unlock anything else.’

Jiang Zuo then turned his attention to the Advanced Beast Cage.

After carefully rereading the description for the Advanced Beast Cage and confirming there were no negative side effects, Jiang Zuo added Great Black to it.

Advanced Beast Cage (1/1): Great Black

——Great Black: ... Has three Talent Slots. Equipped with "Learning" and "Combat" talents. No advanced enhancement training selected.

Looking at Great Black again, its original two Talent Slots had now become three!

Jiang Zuo immediately equipped Great Black with the Longevity talent.

The Longevity talent wouldn’t take effect right away, but would gradually show results as training progressed.

Jiang Zuo clicked on Great Black’s entry again, and the "Beast Pattern Ability Enhancement Training" option appeared above it.

However, only "Porcupine Roar" and "Night Cat’s Eye" were available.

’Night Cat’s Eye isn’t bad either, but this advanced ability training consumes a certain number of Beast Patterns. For now, only Porcupine Roar is a viable option.’

’Porcupine Roar should have a decent degree of compatibility with a dog.’

Porcupine Roar mainly relies on the sound of a roar to stimulate one’s own power while simultaneously intimidating enemies.

In that respect, a dog’s bark could achieve the same.

With this in mind, Jiang Zuo selected the Porcupine Roar Beast Pattern as the ability training goal for Great Black.

Looking at the Advanced Beast Cage again, Great Black’s description had indeed changed.

——Great Black: ... Equipped with "Learning," "Combat," and "Longevity" talents. Selected to train and master the "Porcupine Roar" Beast Pattern Ability. Ability Compatibility: 67%. Training Progress: 23%. Remaining Beast Pattern Power: 99%.

The compatibility between the Porcupine Roar Beast Pattern and Great Black was indeed quite high. Jiang Zuo had considered engraving one on him before.

But his Engraving Skill level was still too low, so giving Great Black a Porcupine Roar would have been pointless. Besides, Jiang Zuo didn’t expect him to be killing foes.

On the contrary, the extra burden might have had a negative effect on Great Black.

So after giving it a little thought, Jiang Zuo had abandoned the idea.

Now, letting him learn it himself through the Advanced Beast Cage was an excellent alternative.

’Remaining Beast Pattern Power... I suppose once the power drops to zero during training, I’ll need to supply a new Beast Pattern. That’s not a problem, though.’

Jiang Zuo was extremely satisfied with the addition of the Advanced Beast Cage.

Now *this* was what being a Beast Tamer was all about!

The last thing Jiang Zuo wanted to test was the "more effective communication" that came with being an Intermediate Beast Tamer.

Since Great Black had just been re-added to the Beast Taming System, Jiang Zuo immediately tried to communicate with him.

To his surprise, Jiang Zuo discovered that Great Black’s thoughts could form vague images in his mind.

For example, when Jiang Zuo asked Great Black about his surroundings, an image of the Li River and the surrounding trees appeared in his mind.

Though it was rather blurry, this method improved their communication efficiency by leaps and bounds.

Previously, Jiang Zuo could only vaguely understand what his Pet Beasts wanted to express.

Now, even if his Pet Beasts weren’t intelligent and didn’t know how to express themselves, it wasn’t difficult for them to conjure images of what they had seen.

At the same time, Jiang Zuo could also transmit simple images of his own thoughts to his Pet Beasts.

In the past, if he wanted to recall his Pet Beasts, he had to go find them.

Now, thanks to this ability, he could issue a recall command by forming an image in his Pet Beasts’ minds from a considerable distance, which was incredibly convenient.

...

’The Beast Pattern Engraving skill affects the outcome of advanced training. Looks like I need to level it up.’

Jiang Zuo then looked at his Beast Pattern Engraving skill.

His Beast Pattern Drawing skill was already LV3, but Beast Pattern Engraving hadn’t been touched.

However, it wouldn’t be difficult for Jiang Zuo to level up his Beast Pattern Engraving skill now, even without using Beast Taming Reputation.

After Beast Pattern Drawing reached LV3, he could create Porcupine Roar Beast Patterns with a bit of luck, producing about 50 of them a year.

His Beast Pattern Drawing had reached LV3 in his eighth year of living by the Li River, and it was now his seventeenth year.

In those nine years, Jiang Zuo had stockpiled 432 Porcupine Roar Beast Patterns.

Jiang Zuo had already planned to use these Beast Patterns to grind his skill experience.

He just hadn’t found a suitable subject to engrave them on, so he decided to save up more and level the skill all at once when he finally found a good target.

The ideal subject for engraving would naturally be a pig.

But upon a successful engraving, an ordinary pig would very likely go berserk.

The thought of a large number of pigs going berserk all at once was not a pleasant one.

Jiang Zuo felt it was best to avoid that path unless he had no other choice.

"I’ll try it on the Black Stone Fish!"

Jiang Zuo quickly made his decision.

The Black Stone Fish Jiang Zuo raised had a high Physique Attribute. Although the Porcupine Roar Beast Pattern would place a significant burden on them, he figured it wouldn’t be enough to kill them.

At worst, they just wouldn’t be able to use the Beast Pattern’s ability after it was engraved.

With that, Jiang Zuo summoned an old Black Stone Fish.

He had lived by the Li River for seventeen years, raising an average of three Black Stone Fish per year.

Aside from a few that had disappeared due to accidents, Jiang Zuo now had a total of 47 Black Stone Fish in the Li River.

The oldest Black Stone Fish was nearly eighteen years old.

A Black Stone Fish’s lifespan was about 22 years, and the one Jiang Zuo had summoned was the oldest of his stock.

If it had no issues, the other Black Stone Fish wouldn’t either.

Just in case, Jiang Zuo had all the other Black Stone Fish swim far away to prevent any accidents from affecting the entire school.

Beast Pattern Engraving!

Jiang Zuo slapped the Black Stone Fish’s body. A Porcupine Roar Beast Pattern flashed silently upon its scales and then vanished without a trace.

The Black Stone Fish’s body suddenly swelled slightly, and its normally clear black-and-white eye instantly became bloodshot!

Just as Jiang Zuo began to worry this Black Stone Fish would suffer the same fate as the small fish that had exploded before, it merely began to dart about frantically underwater.

After a good while, it gradually calmed down.

Jiang Zuo observed it carefully and found that other than its eye becoming a bit red, there seemed to be no other changes.

’It seems to be fine!’

Jiang Zuo let out a sigh of relief.

Looking at his status panel, he saw that the experience bar for his Beast Pattern Engraving skill had finally gone up.

1/100!

Since the Black Stone Fish could handle it, the next step would be much easier.

The only thing limiting Jiang Zuo’s rapid leveling was his own Spiritual Power.

Jiang Zuo could only engrave about ten Black Stone Fish per day. It took him nearly a week to finish engraving all of the remaining 46 fish.

The Black Stone Fish that gained the Beast Pattern Roar ability couldn’t actually let out a roar to intimidate enemies.

The compatibility gap was enormous, making it almost impossible for the Black Stone Fish to use the ability at all.

However, when the nearly fifty Black Stone Fish with this ability gathered together, Jiang Zuo was surprised to discover that their collective presence felt somewhat different than before.

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