Free Web NovelChapter 391: Chapter 378: Settling
Rationally, he shouldn’t go in. This was no place for a Two-star Beastmaster.
He’d already gotten the reward for participating in the club activity. Knowing when to quit was a virtue every Low-star Beastmaster should possess.
"Mianmian, we can’t go in. We’ll come back later."
Lu You lowered her head and whispered, already spooked by the nearby Dream Trials.
Each one was an extreme mental ordeal—falling from the sky, plunging into an endless abyss in the sea, or being crushed by something gigantic right at the start.
Each scene was a memory fragment from a High Tier Pet Beast facing a catastrophe. To them, it might have been only a minor trial.
For Low-star Beastmasters, however, it was a complete and utter mental beatdown.
And yet, after every one of these beatdowns, their Spiritual Power would increase, a bittersweet experience that left them in both pain and pleasure.
As a university student, however, Lu You understood the importance of knowing when to stop.
Her Spiritual Power had just gone through a major surge in a very short time, and she was certain it was time to go back and use Purple Essence Sand to consolidate it.
Besides, she had performed the Divine Invitation Ceremony back in June, which had already caused her Spiritual Power to spike once.
Going back into the cavern to increase her Spiritual Power again wasn’t a good thing for a Low-star Beastmaster. It would be rushing her development, doing more harm than good.
"At the Grand Leader’s call, the deep exploration of the Yichuan Ruins has begun.
"Faced with the Grand Leader’s invitation, what is your choice?"
"The Yichuan Ruins is one of the most significant sites discovered in recent years. Each major find has sent the entire Beast Taming Realm into a frenzy.
"As a fifty-year-old, Old Deng, your Spiritual Power may have reached the level of a modern university student, but if you continue exploring, you risk a mental breakdown.
"Your classmate with severe social anxiety has decided to call it quits and go back to consolidate her Spiritual Power."
Seeing these pop-ups, Gu Ming knew he should stop.
He knew the system was often sarcastic. Perhaps exploring inside would lead to an unexpectedly great reward.
But the system’s predictions about the future had a certain degree of accuracy.
This was especially true for new discoveries that would be made years down the line.
Since the system had already confirmed these were the ruins of the Primordial Dream Butterfly, the risks inside were clearly beyond what his current Star Level could handle.
So, he said to Mianmian as well,
"Mianmian, calm down. A call from your bloodline isn’t always a good thing. We’ll stay out here, consolidate our Spiritual Power, and wait for the leaders to come back."
Mianmian was born into a high-intellect environment and had matured mentally at an early age.
Persuaded by the two Beastmasters’ sound reasoning, even with the burning desire in its heart, it was like having two buckets of cold water poured over it. It finally calmed down and suppressed its inner turmoil.
With the decision made, Gu Ming let out a huge sigh of relief. A weight had been lifted from his shoulders.
Immediately, he turned to discuss it with Lu You.
"Let’s process the Purple Essence Sand right here outside the cave. We can borrow someone’s equipment to refine it. You get Teacher Tang on a video call and ask him how to handle it."
Lu You nodded, not thinking too hard about why Gu Ming had asked her to be the one to make the call.
There was a lot of environmental interference near the Yichuan Ruins, but the archaeological team had run cables for their equipment, so the signal was stable.
When Teacher Tang answered the video call and saw the excellent quality of the Purple Essence Sand, his spirits lifted.
Upon learning that Gu Ming and Lu You’s Spiritual Power had increased significantly and they planned to consolidate it rather than explore the cave, he expressed his approval.
"Not going in is the right call. You’re both only Two-star. Even if your Spiritual Power is at a Three-star level, your Pet Beasts don’t have any defenses against spiritual attacks. You’d just be asking for trouble."
With that, he rattled off the titles of two research papers. "There are two methods. Go look them up yourselves. Ask me if there’s anything you don’t understand."
Teacher Tang seemed to have great faith in their ability to comprehend High-Level research, ending the call as soon as he’d given them the titles.
Gu Ming, for his part, had already pulled out his phone, paid the fee, and downloaded the digital versions of the papers.
The physical copies would be delivered shortly by a Sky Beast courier.
The Yichuan Ruins weren’t a restricted military zone, so deliveries could get through.
Gu Ming first skimmed the abstracts. One paper was about consolidating Spiritual Power, the other about enhancing its activity. Both were certified by the Tri-Colored Holy Light, and the prerequisite knowledge involved several theories on pre-processing mineral powders.
This was all first-year university material. Luckily, in preparation for the competition, both Gu Ming and Lu You had already studied and mastered it. They only lacked hands-on experience.
As the two of them read the papers, their experience points slowly ticked up.
By the time the Sky Beast flew in with the physical copies of the research papers, they opened the papers, which were printed on Great Dao Gold Paper. Every word was a gem, and to see the characters was to perceive the Great Dao itself. It was a moment of sudden enlightenment, and all the previously hard-to-digest concepts clicked into place in their minds.
"Your classmate with severe social anxiety is learning a new consolidation method for Purple Essence Sand."
’I had her contact the teacher specifically with the hope of triggering a system bug.’
’Let the ’smarter’ version of her test if there was some new, future technique.’
’And there really was. I hit the jackpot.’
They spent the rest of the day poring over the papers.
During the day, they went around to the various tents of the archaeological team, visiting researchers until they finally found an unoccupied set of refining equipment. They could use it as long as they paid the rental fee.
The two of them immediately got to work.
This new consolidation method mentioned by the system involved adding a comprehensive medicinal formula to the basic process. This allowed for a deeper filtration of the Purple Essence Sand, removing mineral components that were more irritating to the human body.
The filtered-out residue was perfect for their Pet Beasts.
This way, both Beastmaster and Pet Beast could receive the benefits of consolidation—the best of both worlds.
Gu Ming first made sure he understood the basic procedures from the paper, then incorporated the new modifications mentioned in the pop-ups to form a new interpretation, which he explained to Lu You.
Lu You was quite sharp herself. Through his repeated explanations and their brainstorming, her understanding gradually broadened, but she still had a question.
The method in the paper was straightforward. The extra intermediate step Gu Ming was talking about would actually reduce the medicinal efficacy by thirty to forty percent.
’Is this really a good idea?’
But since it was Gu Ming’s experiment, she didn’t voice her concern and simply followed his lead.
Two hours later, two completely different products sat on the lab bench.
One was a fine sand suffused with a purple glow. Each grain in the small pot looked like a tiny, dream-like Star, and just looking at it soothed the spirit.
The other was a liquid shimmering with a phantom-like, ethereal blue light. The sand had been refined to the point of being invisible, flowing like water and exuding a potent spiritual will.
This watery filtrate was far more appealing to Gu Ming’s and Lu You’s Pet Beasts.
Cyan Treasure, Ah Ji, and Ah Kun stared at the ethereal blue liquid, wagging their tails frantically. Mouse Treasure and Mianmian looked on, practically drooling.
If the two of them hadn’t sternly stopped them,
their pets would have pounced and gulped down all the liquid in the pot.
Gu Ming took out a neutral-material spoon, scooped up a little of the purple, glowing sand, and swallowed it. He then channeled his Divine Sense to adjust his Spiritual Waves, using a special technique to sink the sand into his Sea of Consciousness for refinement.
A moment later, he could clearly feel his turbulent Spiritual Power being suppressed. He nodded. "It’s safe to take."
’Even though the consolidation effect is a bit weaker, I’m sure this new method is safer.’
The two of them divided the finished products, then consumed and refined their respective portions.
Ah Ji, Cyan Treasure, Ah Kun, and the other Pet Beasts shared the ethereal blue liquid.
Their cultivation session lasted until evening.
When the two humans and their handful of pets opened their eyes, they all felt their Spiritual Power had become remarkably dense and consolidated. The auras of the Pet Beasts had also stabilized considerably.
Gu Ming stepped out of the tent and looked toward the club’s temporary camp. The members who had stayed behind were still cultivating with their eyes closed. There was no sign of the leader and the others returning.
He had already told the members on watch that he would be refining medicine in the tent, so they knew what he was up to. He walked over to ask,
"The leader’s group isn’t back yet?"
The member shook his head. "No word. They’re probably still exploring deep inside."
Gu Ming thought for a moment. Seeing he still had time, he turned to the little black cat. "Ah Ji, we can form our official contract now. Are you ready?"
