Free Web NovelChapter 427: Chapter 414: Daydreaming
Mouse Treasure’s palm strike could have unleashed a tidal wave, one powerful enough to shatter a cliff.
Instead, there was a muffled THUD.
The Water Prison trembled a few times, ripples spreading across its surface.
But the spherical Water Prison, which should have shattered on impact, didn’t collapse as it usually did.
"Squeak?" Mouse Treasure let out a surprised cry.
The two Pet Beasts had fought just this morning.
There was no way Ah Kun’s Water Prison, formed by the Wave-Swallowing Technique Abyssal Stop, could withstand its full-powered attack.
’Could it be the power of Innate Qi?’
In the distance, Lu You saw her Mouse Treasure was in trouble. After a moment of confusion, her Divine Sense flared, instructing Mouse Treasure to immediately strike the same spot with all its might.
It didn’t dare to delay and immediately mustered all its Mana.
The Earth Dragon Illusion behind it grew more solid, letting out the roar of an ancient Earth Dragon and elevating its Combat Techniques to another level.
Its palm was covered in a hard, earthy-yellow luster, and rocky, mountain-like patterns appeared inch by inch on its arm.
BOOM!
This time, with a deep, explosive sound, the Water Prison finally gave way, forcibly shattered.
Large cracks also appeared on the earthy-yellow stone layer covering Mouse Treasure’s arm, which instantly crumbled.
Reacting in a flash, it escaped through the opening it had smashed in the Water Prison and landed on the ground.
In the distance, Ah Kun didn’t look too good either.
The Water Prison created by the Wave-Swallowing Technique Abyssal Stop required an enormous amount of Mana to maintain.
Especially those two palm strikes from Mouse Treasure, both of which were delivered with the intensity to part seas and shatter mountains.
To counteract that force, Ah Kun had also consumed a great deal of Mana.
At this point, Gu Ming waved his hand, signaling the two Pet Beasts to pause their fight.
"Alright, you two take a break. Let’s review the fight." Gu Ming clapped his hands to stop them.
He beckoned the two Pet Beasts over.
Gu Ming walked over to Lu You. If he was going to review the fight, he naturally had to do it with her.
Lu You, with a look of curiosity and confusion, stole a glance at Gu Ming before turning her head slightly to look at Ah Kun as it swam over in its cloud of water vapor.
"What... what was that?"
Lu You knew the two Pet Beasts had similar combat power.
After mastering the Wave-Swallowing Technique, Ah Kun had indeed soundly suppressed Mouse Treasure for a while.
But Lu You hadn’t been idle either, helping Mouse Treasure master powerful Combat Techniques of the Sub-dragon Race.
This was all thanks to the Dragon Pattern Tripod Foundation Platform; otherwise, a Pet Beast with Mouse Treasure’s racial Talent would have been unable to learn them.
Mouse Treasure could also clearly feel that its recent attack had also utilized the power of Innate Qi. So why was the difference in effect so obvious?
Gu Ming’s Divine Sense had enveloped the entire battle, focusing on comparing the difference in effect when Ah Kun and Mouse Treasure used Innate Qi.
He sent a sliver of his Divine Sense into Lu You’s Sea of Consciousness and said, "Take a close look at the memory I just recorded..."
The latter’s face flushed slightly. Feeling Gu Ming’s presence enter her mind, she nodded with a soft "mhm" and began to carefully read the "memory" he had sent her.
"To be honest, there’s definitely an extra ’hidden bonus’ when it comes to affinity and efficiency in using Innate Qi."
"Actually, Mouse Treasure’s palm strike was infinitely close to the breaking point of the Water Prison."
"But that tiny bit of extra Resilience and strength in Ah Kun’s Skill, granted by the Innate Qi, was just enough to offset your burst of power, creating that minuscule gap."
It was precisely this tiny, insignificant advantage that ultimately led to a visible improvement in practical combat effectiveness.
’The Kunpeng’s Devouring Evolution Secret Technique truly is extraordinary,’ Gu Ming thought, feeling both amazed and pleased.
Ah Kun was originally just an ordinary Grouper Fish. Under the system’s influence, the Kunpeng’s Devouring Evolution had gradually become its true Talent.
This was truly a joyous development.
And the Power it devoured and refined could be converted more directly and efficiently into specific Attributes, enhancing its Skills.
In fact, it had shown this effect before.
It was just that Gu Ming had to raise three Pet Beasts.
And he couldn’t let his own Cultivation fall behind either.
Therefore, his attention and nurturing of Ah Kun hadn’t been constant; it was more of a half-hands-off, half-guided state.
Next, the plan for Ah Kun’s Three-star Evolution sent Gu Ming back into deep thought.
Cyan Treasure’s path was to gather Innate Qi into its two Inner Cores, refine them through daily nurturing, and then wait for a qualitative change before performing a Scattered Pill reorganization to complete its Qi Refining Evolution.
If Ah Kun were to evolve, it would naturally have to take the path of Qi Refining as well.
But it possessed the unique "Devouring Evolution" Talent. Perhaps it could add some extra Attributes or other traits to its Inner Core before evolving.
However, Ah Kun was currently a Water Attribute Grouper Fish Pet Beast with an ordinary natural foundation.
If he wanted to add other Attributes to it, many methods that worked for others wouldn’t be suitable for Ah Kun. It would have to rely on its Devouring to gain Attribute growth, slowly changing its physical constitution by eating... a lot.
Gu Ming first let the Pet Beasts train on their own.
He himself headed to the library at Wenquxing University, diving headfirst into a vast sea of books to browse literature specifically about multi-attribute cultivation for Water Element Pet Beasts.
After spending half a day in secluded reading, he could now mentally separate the information from the current books from the research articles on multi-attribute Pet Beasts from the next thirty-two years.
He quickly noticed something.
All cultivation plans involving post-natal acquisition of multiple Attributes had a minimum requirement of a Three-star Level Pet Beast.
Two-star Level Pet Beasts were not included.
The reason was simple.
The various medicinal herbs and resources needed to add a new Attribute were extremely expensive.
Low-star Pet Beasts not only lacked the physical strength to withstand the risk of Attribute conflict, but their own evolutionary potential had not yet been fully realized.
It was better to let a Pet Beast grow to Three-star first. Once its physical foundation was stable, one could then cultivate a new Attribute.
This not only reduced the risks but could sometimes even save the vast majority of consumable materials.
But burning through money was a secondary concern.
Since returning from the Yichuan Ruins, Gu Ming was now sitting on a huge amount of resources.
If he had to burn money to raise Ah Kun and push its limits...
...then burn it he would.
Money was the kind of thing that would only depreciate if left sitting in an account.
A look at the money his parents had saved versus the current monetary inflation in the Beast Taming Society made it clear: the money earned couldn’t keep up with the rate of inflation.
The only right way was to convert the money on hand into genuine growth in strength, making his Pet Beasts stronger the more he spent.
Gu Ming put down the book, ignoring the occasional classmates who would pretend to walk by and strike up a conversation with him, as he organized the future knowledge in his mind.
The real difficulty lay at the "Spiritual Root" level.
’How do you make a Pet Beast grow an additional Spiritual Root?’
Cyan Treasure had only managed to develop a Light Spiritual Root with Ma Tianba’s help.
Similarly, if Ah Kun wanted to develop a new Spiritual Root, there were only two paths:
First, rely on the baptism of top-tier Spirit Medicine or Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures to forcibly nurture a new Spiritual Root.
Second, use its "Kunpeng" Devouring Evolution Talent to directly devour a new Attribute into existence.
If he were to look for a reference...
...Ah Ji was a ready-made example.
It was born with Light and Dark Dual Spiritual Roots. The Dark Spiritual Root was dominant, while the weaker Light Spiritual Root was unable to grow, suppressed into the shadows. Later, with Gu Ming’s help, it successfully developed its hidden Light Spiritual Root.
But due to the special nature of the system, Ah Ji wasn’t limited to a dual-element path; it could instead attempt to walk the more mysterious "Chaos" route.
However, it had only attended a few lectures for its specialized course on the Balance Dao and had yet to comprehend its own new system.
This case study hadn’t progressed far enough, so for now, it couldn’t provide any experience for cultivating a multi-element Spiritual Root for Ah Kun.
Ah Kun didn’t have a Chaos Attribute either. However, the path of "Devouring" itself emphasized solid accumulation—it could be said that it welcomed all comers.
Theoretically, it could devour anything.
The more it devoured, and the better the quality of what it devoured, the faster it would grow.
Gu Ming couldn’t help but think of the Yichuan Ruins.
That place was rich in water vapor, located by the sea, and had an abundance of Spirit Medicine.
And in the memories of the Primordial Dream Butterfly, there were often shadows of colossal deep-sea beasts.
Those precious memories and powerful Water Element Daoist Skills were perfect for Ah Kun to comprehend.
Maybe those memories also contained battle scenes of multi-attribute Water Pets.
’Is it possible...’
He couldn’t help but fantasize, ’...to have Ah Kun go to the Yichuan Ruins and use its Devouring Talent to literally devour a "Spiritual Attribute" into existence?’
To be honest, that was highly unlikely—nothing more than a daydream.
Still, the Yichuan Ruins were an absolute treasure trove. He would definitely go back.
