I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Chapter 63: Chapter 61: Level 4 Skill, Great Black’s Heart Sickness

A gecko that likes to gamble?

And it’s a Tier-3 Obsession Relic!

Jiang Zuo stared at the gecko’s body, a little speechless.

No wonder its corpse hadn’t decomposed after death. It really was a Tier-3 Obsession Relic.

’It seems that Obsession Relics of Tier-3 and above have some sort of unusual manifestation.’

Jiang Zuo mused, looking at the gecko’s corpse, which seemed to have died only recently.

He was reminded of the Tier-9 Desolate Heaven Beast Bone Armor.

He had originally assumed the Desolate Heaven Beast Bone Armor was so extraordinary because the Desolate Celestial Beast itself was immensely powerful, and the armor had inherited some of that power.

Now, it seemed that might not be the case.

As a Tier-9 Obsession Relic, the Desolate Heaven Beast Bone Armor might have been capable of generating extraordinary power on its own.

’The sample size is still too small, but this is a potential avenue to explore. If this is true, finding Obsession Relics in the future will be much more convenient.’

Tier-1 and Tier-2 Obsession Relics blend in with ordinary items, showing no unusual signs.

Trying to find them was like looking for a needle in a haystack. The task Jiang Zuo had given Ruan Jianglan all these years was of a similar difficulty.

If it weren’t so difficult, it wouldn’t have taken ten years just to find one by chance.

Jiang Zuo decided that the next time he saw Ruan Jianglan, he would instruct her to pay closer attention to items that showed unusual properties.

’Go to a casino, win money, and then offer up the winnings. This task isn’t exactly hard, but it’s not easy either.’

Jiang Zuo’s thoughts returned to the gecko corpse’s obsession.

This gecko corpse’s obsession was so intense that trying to complete it by cheating would most likely fail.

’According to the description, this gecko knows what cheating is.’

’I’ll know whether I’m cheating or not, and that awareness will naturally be fed back to the Obsession Relic.’

’I have a large bankroll, so winning some money won’t be difficult. But casinos aren’t charities. Win a little too much, and I’ll attract trouble.’

’Whatever. Worst case, I’ll just do a good deed while I’m at it. It might even teach this gambler gecko that gambling is a fool’s game.’

Jiang Zuo never agonized over such things and quickly made a decision.

In Jiang Zuo’s opinion, the Beast Patterns from Tier-1 and Tier-2 Obsession Relics were all rather mediocre.

After all, this was a world of Cultivation. In Jiang Zuo’s view, the effects of Tier-1 and Tier-2 Beast Patterns were little more than a novelty.

Their main purpose was to increase his Spiritual Power, help him recognize the mysterious characters within, and fuel the Refining Stone Stele.

Speaking of the stele, Jiang Zuo had been continuously refining that blasted Refining Stone Stele for nearly twenty years.

He refined it three times a year, sacrificing almost sixty years of his lifespan in the process.

But the stele still showed no reaction. Jiang Zuo felt that his progress wasn’t even at 10%.

He had no clue how much further he had to go.

Only someone with a lifespan as long as Jiang Zuo’s would persist. Anyone else would have given up by now.

The Tier-3 Obsession Relic, the gecko corpse, possessed some unusual properties, so Jiang Zuo was somewhat looking forward to the effects of a Tier-3 Beast Pattern.

Jiang Zuo was also very curious about how much Beast Soul Power it would grant him.

However, Jiang Zuo didn’t rush off to a casino. Instead, he investigated the personality and habits of the White Jade Gang’s Vice Gang Leader.

’A gambler, as expected. It seems he’s won a fair bit of money, too. They even call him the "Gambling God" in the White Jade Gang.’

’This gecko corpse might even be able to influence human behavior. Perhaps this person won so much money because of it.’

Jiang Zuo speculated.

Obsession Relics of Tier-3 and above might be even more extraordinary than he had imagined.

It was just that he had the Beast Taming System. No matter how extraordinary an Obsession Relic was, it would be absorbed by the system, unable to affect him.

There were originally many underground casinos run by various gangs outside Lizhou City. But because Jiang Zuo had wiped out the White Jade Gang, they had all been laying low recently. Many gang-run casinos simply suspended operations or began operating behind closed doors, refusing entry to anyone but regulars.

Jiang Zuo wasn’t in a rush; he was just scouting for casino locations.

When he did go, he would use the old-man disguise provided by the Red Fox Bracelet.

Subai had once told him that the Red Fox Bracelet’s effect only lasted for a hundred years.

Twenty years had already passed, so it would be a waste not to use it.

That way, if he caused any trouble, he wouldn’t have to worry about it implicating his real identity.

Even after raising fish for twenty years, Jiang Zuo hadn’t grown tired of it. He felt he could keep at it and had no desire to move because of some casino trouble.

More than a month passed after Jiang Zuo returned.

Since no other gangs ran into trouble, their casinos gradually started to reopen.

Jiang Zuo put on his Red Fox Bracelet disguise and began to frequent the casinos.

Although it had been over thirty years since he’d transmigrated to this world.

Jiang Zuo hadn’t had much contact with the world’s true underclass.

In these casinos, Jiang Zuo truly witnessed the ugliness and madness of human nature, the cold indifference of the world.

Jiang Zuo had been mentally prepared for this before he started frequenting the casinos.

But knowing about it was one thing; witnessing it firsthand was another entirely.

Seeing too much of this inevitably put him in a foul mood.

Then, one casino, seeing that he was winning, not only started cheating but even threatened him.

Jiang Zuo lost his temper for a moment and wiped out the entire casino.

The casinos that had only just reopened were like birds startled by a bowstring. They all immediately shut down or went back to operating in private.

Jiang Zuo was speechless. Still, it was a good chance to take a break.

This gecko corpse’s obsession seemed simple, but actually doing it was more exhausting than writing a novel for the Night Cat’s Eye.

Fortunately, the gecko corpse was generous with its Beast Soul Power. In less than a month, Jiang Zuo had already managed to fleece it for over thirty points.

Not until two months later did the casinos gradually start to reopen.

From then on, Jiang Zuo only went occasionally.

But having learned from his previous experience, Jiang Zuo would only go when he was in a good mood.

As for the gecko corpse’s obsession, it wasn’t going anywhere. Even if he took his time, he could surely finish it within ten years.

The only difference was whether it was sooner or later.

It was also around this time that Jiang Zuo obtained his first Level 4 skill.

—Pet Beast Diagnosis Level 4 (0/100,000): Your diagnostic skills have become superb. You can now easily find the root cause of most Pet Beast problems.

’It needs 100,000 experience to level up? That’s a twenty-fold increase all at once. And looking at the skill description, I get the feeling Level 5 will be the max level.’

Jiang Zuo muttered to himself.

As a diagnostic skill, its job was to find the root cause. Unless it could evolve to actually cure the problems, Level 5 seemed to be the limit no matter how he looked at it.

If Level 5 was the max level, then needing 100,000 experience to upgrade made sense.

Not only that, but when Jiang Zuo tried to grind experience points from his Black Stone Fish, he found that no matter how he diagnosed them, the skill didn’t gain a single point of EXP.

’Oh well. That’s one less chore to worry about in the future.’

Jiang Zuo thought with a lazy sense of resignation.

「Time flew by.」

In the blink of an eye, Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying had turned sixteen.

"You two, when are you planning to get married? Have you set a date?"

Jiang Zuo asked Wen Shulin.

Today, it was just Wen Shulin and the big white dog, Bai. Zhuang Ruying hadn’t come.

Sixteen was a suitable age for marriage. Even if they didn’t marry immediately, they would at least formalize the engagement.

"My family thinks it’s too early to get married. It’ll probably be another two years," Wen Shulin replied.

The poor had to start families early, but for a scholarly family like the Wen Family, sixteen was still a bit young. Eighteen was a more appropriate age.

Delaying it for a few more years for the sake of one’s career was also no great matter.

"Zhao, when Ruying and I get married, will you come to our wedding banquet?"

Wen Shulin asked after a moment of thought.

"No, I don’t like crowds. But I’ll send you a small gift."

Jiang Zuo shook his head.

’What would I even do there? Go eat a meal with a bunch of strangers?’

’I have plenty of time, but it still seems like a waste.’

"Alright."

Wen Shulin wasn’t surprised.

Perhaps as a small act of asserting his independence, he had actually been hoping Jiang Zuo would attend.

Although his family had never made any demands of him, Wen Shulin was gradually realizing that this was only because he had always been walking the path they had laid out for him.

In the future, when his family did make a real demand of him, the so-called "freedom" he had enjoyed since childhood would leave him with even less right to refuse.

Wen Shulin left with the reluctant Bai, and Jiang Zuo watched him walk into the distance.

Jiang Zuo could faintly sense what Wen Shulin was thinking. The young man would inadvertently reveal his thoughts during their conversations.

But Jiang Zuo had no intention of indulging him.

In Jiang Zuo’s eyes, this was, at best, a rich kid’s growing pains—hardly a real problem.

"Great Black, are you sure you won’t consider Bai? If you don’t make a move soon, she’ll be old in a few years."

Jiang Zuo then turned his gaze to Great Black, who was beside him.

Unlike Great Black, Bai’s lifespan was probably less than thirty years.

She had been a gift, specially delivered when Zhuang Ruying was born.

In other words, Bai was now over sixteen years old. In a few more years, she would be past twenty.

After she passed twenty, Bai would grow increasingly frail.

"WOOF WOOF!"

Great Black glanced at Bai’s retreating figure and barked twice.

A blurry image suddenly flashed through Jiang Zuo’s mind.

In a dim bamboo forest, a small black puppy desperately nursed from its mother. But the mother dog was already lying weakly on the leaf-strewn ground.

’Is this Great Black and the stray that gave birth to him?’

Jiang Zuo recalled what Steward Luo had said when he gave him Great Black.

Now that Jiang Zuo had Pet Beast Diagnosis Level 4, he could discern the general problem even from a blurry image.

Great Black’s bloodline was extraordinary, so he required a vast amount of nutrients even in the womb.

But his mother, a stray, simply didn’t have enough nourishment for him to absorb.

With any other puppy, the result would have been malnourishment at birth.

But because of his bloodline, Great Black’s body prioritized its own needs, taking nutrients at his mother’s expense.

This ultimately led to the mother’s death.

Great Black remembered this scene vividly. It was likely his subconscious, warning him that he couldn’t be with an ordinary female dog.

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