Beast Taming: My System is Bugged-Chapter 52 - 51: Teacher Zhang’s Surprise

After a night of Cultivation.

Gu Ming woke up early. By six o’clock, he had already stepped through the school gates and entered the training room.

He had just set foot in the training room when Teacher Zhang entered right behind him with his Fiery Monkey.

It wasn’t that Teacher Zhang was arriving right on time; he brought his Pet Beast to school with the intention of training it himself.

Seeing Gu Ming in the training room so early, Teacher Zhang was slightly taken aback. "Do you come this early to practice every day?"

Gu Ming nodded.

"Then let’s train together. Come on, I’ll guide you both at the same time," Teacher Zhang said, pointing to the training equipment near him.

Gu Ming was naturally happy to have someone guide him.

Despite having had an epiphany and gaining a lot of training experience yesterday...

...it was all the training experience of a washed-up, fifty-year-old Old Deng, not that of a fifty-year-old expert.

Even with the system’s help to enter a state of Great Dao Insights, Gu Ming’s only real expertise was in the Wood Escape Ultimate Skill.

His specializations in other areas of training still couldn’t match the professional level of a frontline, working teacher.

He brought Cyan Treasure to the training equipment next to the Fiery Monkey. He had the snake lie flat, curl its tail around the bottom bar, and straighten its body.

Seeing that Cyan Treasure was ready, Gu Ming stood to the side to watch Teacher Zhang’s instruction.

Teacher Zhang first had his Fiery Monkey warm up, then turned and pressed his hand on the acupoints in the middle of Cyan Treasure’s body.

"Try to do a sit-up while breathing."

Having already cultivated its Cultivation Technique to the Master Level, it used the Breathing Technique to guide its muscles, lifting its head with ease.

Even with the muscle acupoints in its midsection blocked, it could still easily lift and hold its head straight.

"Good! Hold it! One, two, three, four... seven!"

Teacher Zhang deliberately dragged out the sound of "seven."

Seeing Cyan Treasure hold steady until the word "seven," then smoothly lower its head, it once again lifted its head to train against the blocked acupoints.

It was as if the word "easy" was written on its face; this level of difficulty was nothing to it.

Teacher Zhang’s expression became one of pleasant surprise, but after a minute, this surprise slowly turned to confusion.

’How does it still have strength left? Did I press the wrong acupoints?’

Teacher Zhang muttered, suspecting he had made a mistake. He released his hand and pressed again.

But Cyan Treasure still lifted its head with ease, performing the exercise with its whole body tensed.

"What’s going on?" The more Teacher Zhang watched, the more confused he became, to the point where he started to lose confidence.

Gu Ming coughed and said, "Teacher, Cyan Treasure had a breakthrough in its practice last night. Its Breathing Technique has reached Entry Level."

To avoid scaring the teacher, he didn’t mention that the Breathing Technique had actually reached the Master Level.

’In any case, Teacher Zhang can’t identify the Skill Level of this Cultivation Technique anyway.’

And just like that, Teacher Zhang believed him instantly.

If he could mistake the Entry Level Green Treasure Breathing Technique for Uninitiated, then he could naturally mistake the Master Level for the Entry Level.

After all, he was a human, not a Pet Beast, nor was he Cyan Treasure’s contracted master. Furthermore, he had no idea that the Breathing Technique Cyan Treasure was practicing was one that Zhang Yunpeng had spent decades perfecting.

Given Zhang Yunpeng’s current research progress, he didn’t even know which stage of a Snake Pet corresponded to the Entry Level or Master Level of the Cultivation Technique.

"Good, good, good! A genius snake raised by the top student in the grade, as expected. I knew its future potential wouldn’t be low."

When Teacher Zhang heard that the Breathing Technique had officially reached Entry Level, he couldn’t suppress the smile on his face.

He then used all ten fingers to block ten acupoints in a row, increasing the difficulty of the exercise for Cyan Treasure.

This time, even with a Master Level Breathing Technique, there weren’t many muscle groups left that it could activate.

Cyan Treasure gritted its teeth, its whole body trembling as it lifted its head. It hovered in the air for seven seconds before quickly dropping back down.

HAAAAH—

Cyan Treasure let out a long breath, then began breathing rapidly, using the Breathing Technique to recover its Physical Strength.

Its heart began to beat rapidly, acting as both a blood pump and a mana pump, pumping large amounts of Mana into its aching muscles.

Teacher Zhang was surprised again. ’It has this kind of effect just after reaching Entry Level?’

This already exceeded the expectations he had when designing the Cultivation Technique.

"Can you still train?" he asked.

Cyan Treasure nodded. It used the Breathing Technique for a few seconds to regain some Physical Strength, then lifted its head again, holding it for another seven seconds without faltering.

Then came the third round, and the fourth round of training.

Teacher Zhang gradually started to break out in a sweat just from watching.

He had clearly underestimated the upper limits of this new Breathing Technique. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

It wasn’t until the fifth round of training, when Cyan Treasure collapsed from exhaustion and lay on the soft mat, dripping with foul-smelling sweat, that Teacher Zhang finally let out a sigh of relief.

’Good, so it can’t recover its Physical Strength indefinitely.’

But even so, it was enough to keep Teacher Zhang excited for a long time.

"I never thought this Breathing Technique could recover so much Physical Strength. If it can continuously recover Physical Strength during battle, it would be the king of endurance fights."

Teacher Zhang had Cyan Treasure lie down. As he spoke, he motioned for Gu Ming to come over and learn the massage technique.

"Watch closely. After a Snake Pet trains, you have to massage it like this. It’s different from blocking the muscle acupoints from before. These acupoints can release a Snake Pet’s fatigue and stress..."

Teacher Zhang squatted beside them, teaching Gu Ming how to massage his Pet Beast hands-on.

Gu Ming tried it himself. Perhaps due to his intuitive insights, he learned very quickly, locating all the massage acupoints in less than a minute.

As his fingers pressed gently, he could feel the tremors in Cyan Treasure’s skin and its soft, supple texture.

After he massaged for a while, the exhausted look on Cyan Treasure’s face gradually eased.

"Rest for two minutes, then do three more sets. Repeat this cycle for the next half hour," Teacher Zhang finished, then stood to the side to watch Gu Ming train.

Gu Ming nodded and focused on the massage.

「Two minutes later.」

Teacher Zhang found that he didn’t need to give much guidance.

Both Gu Ming and Cyan Treasure were remarkably intelligent; they understood everything with just a little explanation.

It was no wonder Gu Ming had been number one in his grade for three years straight.

He was the very definition of genius combined with hard work. If he wasn’t amazing, who was?

’It’s just a pity... his Pet Beast’s potential is a bit low.’

Zhang Yunpeng shook his head inwardly and went back to guiding his Fiery Monkey’s training.

He knew Gu Ming didn’t care about Cyan Treasure’s origins, but the college entrance exam was a brutal battlefield.

The competition among students across the country was getting more and more intense. Every year, new training techniques and new medicines were developed.

On top of that, the optimal Evolution paths for each Pet Beast were becoming more established, and the trend of taking out loans was even more frantic than it was a decade ago. The new generation of high school students was likely to push the competition to a whole new level.

In a few months, it was possible that the Pet Beasts of opponents aiming for top-tier universities would all have reached One-star.

Once they reached the One-star Level, the Little Cyan Snake’s One-star Level advantage would be completely gone. Only by reaching the Two-star Level would it have a slight edge.

And even then, it would only be a slight advantage, not a guaranteed win.

The Little Cyan Snake was the lowest of the low. Even if it learned an incredibly potent poison Skill capable of incapacitating a Three-star Pet Beast, the poison would still need time to take effect.

For example.

A One-star Beast with Four-star Potential could typically defeat a Same-star Level Little Cyan Snake in just a few moves.

A One-star Beast with Five-star Potential could defeat a One-star Little Cyan Snake in a single exchange.

By the same token, it would likely defeat a Two-star Little Cyan Snake in a single hit as well.

Don’t be fooled by the Little Cyan Snake’s fast development. Its fragility isn’t something that can be fixed through Cultivation. It’s an inherent weakness. Its only option is to take a Speed-focused path, using its Speed to compensate for its physical shortcomings.

The Little Cyan Snake could dodge, but poisoning an opponent’s Pet Beast to the point of collapse takes a long time.

In other words, its opponents had countless room for error, but the Little Cyan Snake had only one. If it got hit, it was game over.

This was why Teacher Zhang felt it was such a shame for Gu Ming.