Free Web NovelChapter 385: Chapter 372: New Work Assignment
Inside Tang Tianyi’s office at the Cultivation Method Company.
Gu Ming and Lu You came here together to check on the Ghost Kitten that was caught at the school.
Right now, it was inside Teacher Tang’s office, sparring playfully with the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul.
Gu Ming could see the two of them engaged in a sparring match in a small area cleared out specifically for them in the lab.
They took turns, one attacking after the other, trading left hooks and right hooks as they dodged and charged at each other.
Seeing this rough-and-tumble play, Gu Ming felt a little more at ease.
As he saw it, their daily play was nowhere near the level of a life-or-death battle.
It seemed that sending the Ghost Kitten to Teacher Tang’s lab had been a good choice.
At least Teacher Tang wasn’t mistreating it. Instead, he was raising it like a normal research Pet Beast, studying its abilities.
Gu Ming had come this time because the company had given him a new assignment.
Now that his last job was complete, the company naturally wouldn’t let him remain idle.
Even a student attending school has free time.
The company had no intention of letting Gu Ming’s free time go to waste, so they assigned him a new job: create an offensive skill for the Ghost Kitten, similar to Shadow Assault.
"Shadow Assault..." Gu Ming muttered.
He figured the company was likely referencing the Shadow Assault skill of his new Pet Beast, Ah Ji, and wanted him to try developing a similar offensive skill.
Besides, Ah Ji’s progress with the Shadow Assault skill had been incredibly fast.
Just from the momentum it generated, it had already developed unique techniques like Shadow-Throwing Flying Needle and Flying Shadow Stealing.
But its skill was still no match for the company’s experts.
Even so, the company still assigned him the task—at the very least, they couldn’t let Gu Ming stay idle.
Seeing Gu Ming arrive, Teacher Tang said,
"I was the one who assigned you that research project.
"If I hadn’t, someone else would have been responsible for assigning you a task tomorrow. You would have been requisitioned by another team, which would have been worse."
Gu Ming first thanked him, then stood to the side to observe the playful fight between the Ghost Kitten and the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul, watching its combat abilities.
As he watched, a line of text popped up in his vision from the system:
[Mo Ying’s body data has been recorded!]
Oh?
Gu Ming’s eyes lit up. Now that the data was recorded, he could have Ah Ji spar with the Ghost Kitten in the Dream Cultivation Space. This would help him better understand the Ghost Kitten’s combat abilities and be a massive help in developing its Cultivation Technique.
At this stage, he hadn’t created that many combat-oriented Cultivation Techniques.
Most of the Cultivation Techniques he’d developed were either for Mana Cultivation and Physical Training or were other Body Technique types.
Skills like Wave-Swallowing Technique were all redevelopments of techniques that already existed on the market; they didn’t count as completely original combat innovations.
Since the company wanted him to develop a new Combat Skill based on Shadow Assault, Gu Ming knew he had to incorporate the Ghost Kitten’s abilities and introduce some new ideas of his own.
For example, he could have the Ghost Kitten completely fragment its Spiritual Power, allowing it to flow like a liquid into another Ghost Element Pet Beast’s shadow as a countermeasure.
And this idea of dispersing and regrouping gave him another flash of inspiration.
He couldn’t help but recall the Dynamic Change Array he had researched with Lu You before the competition.
This time, it seemed like it could be useful again.
The paper on it had been accepted by the Hall of the Great Dao, but Gu Ming hadn’t published it yet.
He had originally planned to publish it if the opportunity arose during the international competition, but he hadn’t been able to attend due to the incident in the Cloud Country. Now, however, he could put it to use.
"Teacher Tang, I have an idea, but it uses some of my previous work."
"Oh? Let’s hear it."
Teacher Tang was still researching Foundation Establishment. He wasn’t having the Ghost Kitten fight just to record its combat abilities; he was actually using the two Pet Beasts’ play to construct its Foundation Establishment.
This method of Foundation Establishment was exceptionally strange and clever. It involved turning combat memories into an intangible Dao Root, which then became the material for Foundation Establishment, rather than using remnants of Ancient Dao Principles.
This was Foundation Establishment using readily available materials. There were no references, no shortcuts—only hard work and sweat.
With Tang Tianyi’s financial resources, he could have easily borrowed some ancient artifacts suitable for Mo Ying from old acquaintances, letting it try to establish its foundation using them as a base.
But he didn’t do that.
Researchers have their own particular interests.
It was known that Gu Ming’s Foundation Establishment Method had a certification above the seven-colored rank, making it a fairly complete Evolution Method.
If he were to continue down the path of Ancient Dao Self Foundation Establishment, he could certainly do it, but the upper limit would by no means be very high.
However, developing an ecosystem around Gu Ming’s Foundation Establishment Method would be beneficial for further understanding the method and expanding his own knowledge base.
Therefore, his approach to Foundation Establishment was a little different from Gu Ming’s Foundation Establishment Evolution Method.
It could be considered a development built upon that Foundation Establishment Method, and it was currently in a trial phase.
He collected data while listening attentively.
Gu Ming paused for a moment, then said,
"While Lu You and I were researching Walking on Water, we created a Dynamic Change Array that allows a Pet Beast to move across the water’s surface using its own Power, similar to the feeling of the Lightweight Water Floating Technique."
Hearing this, Lu You, who was standing to the side, also recalled their time training by the river.
Upon hearing this, Teacher Tang didn’t take much time to process it. After about ten seconds, he said,
"You can just publish those findings at school. Afterward, write up the Combat Skill for Mo Ying here at the company. Let’s call it ’Ghost Attachment Attack’ for now."
Gu Ming agreed, then continued to observe the two Pet Beasts fight.
"By the way," Teacher Tang said suddenly.
"The outdoor expedition is about to start. Be careful and cautious when you go this time.
"You’re going to an undeveloped ancient site. Remnants of a previous civilization’s power still linger there. With the Spiritual Qi Revival, the Spirit Gathering Array within the Ancient Array will slowly accumulate enough energy to activate the entire ruin.
"When that happens, you could be sealed inside the ruins or trigger a deadly array at any moment."
Just as Gu Ming was about to thank Teacher Tang for the extra advice, he saw him direct the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul to float before him and pull out a faint, bluish thread.
He said, "This is a strand of Ghost Silk that the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul separated from itself.
"If you find yourself in a moment of crisis, in grave danger, you can burn this Ghost Soul Silk to perform a sacrificial ritual.
"I will teach you a simple prayer ritual to pray to the Profound Celestial Beast Ghost Soul. My Pet Beast will sense your prayer, and I will try to come and save you.
"Of course, this is just a precautionary measure. It’s best if you don’t have to use it."
When Gu Ming heard this, the joy on his face vanished, and his expression grew a little more grave.
He asked tentatively,
"Teacher Tang, do you already have some inside information?
"Which ancient site am I being sent to?"
Tang Tianyi shook his head. "I don’t know. It’s just my personal intuition."
Gu Ming, however, didn’t entirely believe him.
He knew very well that Teacher Tang wasn’t one to make baseless statements.
If he was saying such things, there had to be an unspoken reason behind it.
Even though he could guess at some of the inconvenient, hidden details, it wasn’t his place to press the issue. He could only give a soft "mm" and suppress the doubt in his heart.
The most urgent matter at hand was to increase his Pet Beast’s combat power as quickly as possible within the next two days.
Otherwise, if something unexpected happened later, he and Lu You would be forced into a passive position.
By then, trying to fix the situation would come at a completely different cost.
