Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

In the corner, the pet\'s water-like, rippling ears twitched, immediately sensing someone approaching.

The next second, two bubbles hanging under its nostrils burst, and with a leap, it jumped into the water splashed out from the Ember attack, dissolving completely and disappearing.

If one looked closely, they’d notice the puddle of water had grown slightly larger.

"Xun?"

Little Treasure stopped.

Huh? The scent’s gone?

Unwilling to give up, the little ghost sped up, floating outside the courtyard, sniffing around.

"Xun..." He tilted his head, confused.

The scent really was gone...

Qiao Sang arrived beside Little Treasure and looked around. Aside from the 15 Flame Hound clones, there was nothing else.

Could it have been a scent from beyond the wall that Little Treasure picked up? If that’s the case, his sense of smell has become much sharper.

Suddenly, Qiao Sang realized that tomorrow marked Little Treasure’s full moon, meaning he could soon start training with Yabao alongside him.

The little ghost, still lamenting the loss of the pleasant scent, had no idea his carefree days of relaxation were about to end...

At 10:33 PM, Qiao Sang, having just finished her bath, lay in bed reviewing the data in the Beast Taming Tome.

Ember (Mastery: 15532/20000)

It was the first time Yabao had engaged in long duration skill training after evolving into a Flame Hound.

Without using the F-rank energy recovery potion, each of the 15 clones could use Ember an average of 60 times, boosting the skill’s mastery by 900 points.

This wasn’t even the limit, if Yabao hadn’t been distracted by the TV, his focus split between the two activities, his mastery could have increased even more.

With a thought, Qiao Sang flipped the Beast Taming Codex to the page on Little Treasure.

Level: Beginner (255/1000) +

Unlike Yabao, Little Treasure’s points automatically increased by 3 every day, likely due to his high talent.

Gathering Thought Beads increased by 5 points, the same as Condensing Fire Beads.

After drinking the Dark Ghost Essence last time, his level jumped by 40 points, which meant that in just one month, without any training, his points had already exceeded 200.

Even if left to play around for three more months, he would still evolve into a mid-level pet beast, the Treasure Demon.

Such is the advantage of high talent and abundant resources.

For a pet with lower talent and poor resources, even with a month of hard training, it might not reach Little Treasure’s current level.

Qiao Sang’s eyes moved down the page.

Skills: Lick (Beginner: 1/100) +, Hypnosis (Beginner: 1/100) +, Dream Eater (Novice: 1/100) +, Barrier (Novice: 1/100) +, Telekinesis (Novice: 23/100) +, Teleportation (Novice: 11/100) +

Little Treasure had six skills in total. Except for Dream Eater, the others could be practiced without a target.

After some thought, Qiao Sang decided to focus on Hypnosis, Dream Eater, and Telekinesis.

She preferred offensive strategies over defense.

Hypnosis combined with Dream Eater was a nasty combo to disrupt opponents, and with Telekinesis for control, it would be hard to find a match among beasts of the same level.

The only issue was that Dream Eater required a target.

But who would be a suitable practice partner...?

---

August 6th.

The day Little Treasure turned a month old.

Qiao Sang was abruptly awakened by a loud scream.

“What’s going on? What happened?” She sat up in bed with a start, her heart skipping a beat.

Was there a fire or something?!

“Yap!!!”

Qiao Sang looked in the direction of the sound and saw Yabao standing beside her bed, completely soaked, tears welling up in his eyes as he howled pitifully at the sky.

Upon seeing her awake, Yabao’s mouth quivered, and his cries abruptly stopped. The next second, even more tears welled up in his eyes, and he howled even more miserably.

“Yap!!!”

“Yappp!!!”

Qiao Sang was stunned. She had never seen Yabao cry so pitifully before...

She tried to piece together what had happened.

“You’re saying you woke up and found yourself completely soaked?”

“Yap!”

Yabao nodded miserably.

Qiao Sang pondered. Yabao didn’t sleepwalk, so he couldn’t have played with water in his sleep.

Of course, he wouldn’t play with water when awake either.

Little Treasure might be mischievous, but he wouldn’t pull a prank like this.

And the idea that Yabao wetting the bed didn’t seem right, who wets the bed so much they end up entirely soaked?

If it wasn’t any of those things, then where did the water come from? Qiao Sang couldn’t figure it out.

She turned to Little Treasure and asked, “Did you see anything?”

Little Treasure didn’t like to sleep, so maybe he had witnessed something.

“Xun.”

Sipping on his milk, the little ghost shook his head.

He hadn’t seen anything.

“Yap!”

Yabao’s ears drooped, and he looked utterly despondent.

Qiao Sang sympathized with Yabai’s state of mind.

Yabao hated water, and while he could handle it when prepared, waking up to find himself soaked in its least favorite thing was enough to make him lose it.

It’s like how some people are terrified of cockroaches.

When awake, they’ll avoid even one from a distance. If they woke up to find their body covered in cockroaches, they’d probably have a meltdown too.

Despite her understanding, Qiao Sang found Yabao’s misery somewhat amusing.

“Yabao, you’ve got a Flame Body now. You can dry yourself off.” She said helplessly.

“Yap…”

Yabao’s pitiful wails suddenly ceased. He looked dumbfounded at his Beast Master, then down at himself.

The next second, fiery red stripes and fur on his paws flared up, enveloping his body in blazing flames.

Moments later, the fire dissipated, revealing a completely dry, fluffy Flame Hound standing before Qiao Sang.

Flame Body trait could be activated anytime, though in battle, it required being hit and an opponent getting close for a chance to inflict a burn.

That didn’t stop Yabao from using it normally, though.

“Yap!”

Excited, Yabao spun around in circles, looking at himself.

The water was gone! But soon, he became confused again.

Why hadn’t his Beast Master told him about the Flame Body after his bath a few days ago?

Qiao Sang, seeing Yabao’s expression, immediately knew what it was thinking.

Feeling guilty, she thought, I forgot...

To distract Yabao from thinking further, Qiao Sang coughed and said, “Try using Touch Perception to see if you can recall how the water got on you.”

Touch Perception allowed one to sense past events by touching people or objects.

She had been wanting to test this out properly, but hadn’t found the right opportunity at school.

“Yap!”

Yabao nodded seriously, immediately forgetting whatever he had been thinking before.