I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Jiang Zuo heard Great Black’s cries, but he already knew what had happened.

You have successfully hatched a Spirit Beast Egg!

You have unlocked the "Lifebound Spirit Beast" slot!

You have unlocked the "Pet Beast Spirit Garden"!

—Lifebound Spirit Beast (0/1): None

1. You can form a Lifebound Spirit Beast Contract with a Spirit Beast that has a high degree of fondness for you. After forming the contract, you will receive an attribute bonus equivalent to 100% of your Lifebound Spirit Beast’s stats.

2. Each Spirit Beast only has one chance to become a Lifebound Spirit Beast. Breaking a Lifebound Spirit Beast Contract will drastically reduce its fondness for you.

3. You can change your Lifebound Spirit Beast once every ten years. If your Lifebound Spirit Beast dies, your attribute bonus will be permanently reduced by 10%.

—Pet Beast Spirit Garden (Beginner) (0/5): An ordinary space for Pet Beasts to live and rest. Can be upgraded.

1. The Beast Tamer must be in physical contact with a Pet Beast, and the Pet Beast must not resist, to be brought into the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

2. Only Pet Beasts that have established a relationship with the Beast Tamer through the system can enter the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

3. The Beast Tamer can add Pet Beast food and items that improve the garden’s environment into the Spirit Garden.

4. Current Upgrade Conditions: 1000 Beast Taming Reputation, 100 Beast Soul Power, 1000 Low-Grade Spirit Stones

...

’Holy shit!’

’A Lifebound Spirit Beast! A 100% attribute bonus!’

’If I form a contract with a Lifebound Spirit Beast, won’t my stats skyrocket?’

’A Pet Beast Spirit Garden! Isn’t this just a portable pet dimension?’

’It might not look very advanced, but it can be upgraded!’

’And no matter how basic it is, it’s infinitely better than nothing!’

’Raising Pet Beasts is going to be so much more convenient from now on!’

...

「Inside the wooden cabin.」

When Jiang Zuo walked in, he saw Great Black staring nervously at the wooden doghouse.

Inside the doghouse, the enormous Spirit Beast Egg had cracked open. A turtle, slightly larger than his palm, had crawled out and was now nibbling on its own shell.

’A Spirit Turtle?’

Jiang Zuo wasn’t surprised.

’An egg this big had to belong to either a bird or a reptile.’ And among reptiles, turtles were the most common.

Jiang Zuo reached out and stroked the Little Spirit Turtle’s head and its deep-cyan shell. The Little Spirit Turtle glanced up at Jiang Zuo without any resistance before lowering its head to continue nibbling on the eggshell.

Great Black still seemed a little lost, only able to watch eagerly from the side.

’The Lifebound Spirit Beast contract has no requirements regarding a Spirit Beast’s cultivation status. The only requirement is fondness,’ Jiang Zuo thought as he watched the Little Spirit Turtle. ’In other words, even if a Spirit Beast is in the Cultivation Beast Cage, I can still form a Lifebound Spirit Beast Contract with it.’

’This Spirit Turtle’s fondness for me is just average. It’s probably impossible to form a contract directly. It’s best to establish a cultivation relationship first and slowly increase its fondness.’

He stroked the Little Spirit Turtle. It didn’t shy away, but it didn’t show any particular affection either.

After some thought, Jiang Zuo attempted to form a Lifebound Spirit Beast Contract with the Spirit Turtle, and as expected, he was rejected.

Seeing this, Jiang Zuo had no choice but to end his taming relationship with one of the Black Stone Fish and add the Little Spirit Turtle in its place.

The moment the taming relationship was established, the Little Spirit Turtle immediately looked up at Jiang Zuo, crawled over to his finger, and gave it a little rub before turning back to its eggshell.

The eggshell seemed to be incredibly nutritious, holding an immense allure for the Little Spirit Turtle.

Jiang Zuo looked at the attribute panel to see what kind of Spirit Turtle it was.

—Unknown Spirit Turtle: There is no information about this Spirit Turtle on this planet; its origins are unknown. Due to having too much of its Spiritual Power siphoned away by an Array, this Spirit Turtle has dropped in rank. A juvenile Spirit Turtle with a gentle temperament and extremely high defense. Possesses six Talent Slots. Current cultivation progress: 1%.

’An Unknown Spirit Turtle! No information on this planet, no one knows its origins! Six Talent Slots!’

Jiang Zuo took a deep breath, somewhat stunned.

’I can basically confirm that this Spirit Turtle is extraordinary. It’s most likely an extraterrestrial creature. Or perhaps its ancestors are from so long ago that no one in this world even knows they existed. Either way, its lineage must be incredibly powerful. Even after being constantly drained of its Spiritual Qi by the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array for ages while still in its Spirit Beast Egg, it still managed to hatch instead of dying.’

Jiang Zuo would be able to verify this guess after some time.

Since he didn’t know its origins, Jiang Zuo could only give it a name himself.

Jiang Zuo wasn’t good at naming things. Even for his own aliases, he planned to just go down the list of common surnames like "Zhao, Qian, Sun, Li" to save himself the mental effort.

Looking at the deep-cyan Turtle Shell on the little turtle’s back, Jiang Zuo decisively named it "Xiaoqing."

...

Xiaoqing became Jiang Zuo’s first tamed Spirit Beast, but he had no clue how to raise it.

However, Jiang Zuo wasn’t in a hurry to train it. He planned to first understand its habits and increase its fondness for him before trying anything else.

Although Xiaoqing was a Spirit Turtle, it was the relatively active type.

Especially in the water, where it could spend the better part of a day playing with a school of Black Stone Fish.

The Mutated Black Stone Fish loved leading the school of Black Stone Fish to play with Xiaoqing.

On land, Xiaoqing moved much more slowly, but it was still a lot faster than an ordinary sea turtle.

Perhaps because Great Black had hatched it, Xiaoqing loved staying with Great Black.

The feeling was mutual; Great Black was extremely protective of Xiaoqing.

Seeing Xiaoqing crawl so slowly on land, it would even lie down so Xiaoqing could climb onto its back, then carry it around everywhere.

Because of Xiaoqing, the big white dog that had recently been getting along much better with Great Black was now being neglected again.

Jiang Zuo kept Xiaoqing’s existence a secret from Wen Shulin and Zhuang Ruying.

Although they were just children and unlikely to notice how extraordinary Xiaoqing was, it was better to be safe than sorry. Whenever the two of them came over to play, Jiang Zuo would have Xiaoqing take the school of Black Stone Fish to play in the depths of the Li River.

As for the Pet Beast Spirit Garden, Jiang Zuo also found time to study and test it in depth.

The beginner-level Pet Beast Spirit Garden was only about the size of a soccer field.

Inside the Spirit Garden, there was initially nothing but bare ground, with some areas higher and others lower.

Jiang Zuo could send inanimate objects, plant seeds, and even living plants he was touching into the Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

However, he could only specify their location upon entry; after that, he had no control over them.

For example, if he sent a freshly uprooted tree into the Spirit Garden, it would just lie on the bare ground and eventually wither and die, unless he sent Great Black in first to dig a hole.

For now, Jiang Zuo hadn’t sent too many things inside. He just moved a large amount of water in to form a small lake and then had Great Black help him transplant a small tree by the shore.

Jiang Zuo couldn’t directly take things out of the Spirit Garden.

But it wasn’t impossible. For items that weren’t too large, he could have Great Black hold them in its mouth.

When Great Black came out, whatever it was holding would be brought out with it.

At present, the Pet Beast Spirit Garden’s greatest use was making it convenient for Jiang Zuo to travel with his tamed Pet Beasts.

If he didn’t mind the hassle, it could also be used to store small items.

As for upgrading the Pet Beast Spirit Garden, Jiang Zuo only had enough Beast Soul Power. He was a long way off from meeting the Beast Taming Reputation and Spirit Stone requirements, so that would have to wait.

...

The newly hatched Xiaoqing grew extremely fast. Even though Jiang Zuo hadn’t done much, Xiaoqing was growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

In just one month, Xiaoqing’s body grew to the size of a soccer ball, and its cultivation progress reached 6%.

However, Jiang Zuo had a faint feeling that this growth rate wouldn’t last for long.

’Its rapid growth during this period is probably thanks to the eggshell it ate.’

Another month passed. After Xiaoqing’s body grew to be slightly larger than a soccer ball, its growth almost completely stopped. The cultivation progress stalled at 8%.

It was around this time that Jiang Zuo returned to the underwater cave where he had found the Spirit Beast Egg.

In just two months, the cave had filled with a large amount of rocks and mud washed in by the river.

In ten years at most, this seven- or eight-meter-deep cave would be completely filled in.

’It seems Xiaoqing really did come from beyond the heavens,’ Jiang Zuo mused. ’After crashing here and creating this deep cave, it never moved again. I wonder what it would have been like if Xiaoqing had landed in the Cultivation Realm and been hatched there.’

The underwater cave had only remained unfilled because of the Spirit Beast Egg’s presence.

Xiaoqing had lain there in its egg for as long as the cave had existed.

It was terrifying to think that after all that time, its Spiritual Power hadn’t been completely drained by the Heaven and Earth Sealing Spirit Array.

After returning from the underwater cave, Jiang Zuo waited for another month.

Seeing that Xiaoqing’s growth had completely stopped, Jiang Zuo decided not to wait any longer and to form the Lifebound Spirit Beast Contract with it.

This time, Xiaoqing didn’t refuse. Jiang Zuo successfully formed the contract with Xiaoqing.

The instant the contract was formed, Jiang Zuo felt a massive power surge within him, as if his body was being enveloped by some unknown force.

It was a strange sensation. He should have received the 100% attribute bonus from Xiaoqing.

But it felt completely different from when he raised his stats by allocating points himself.

Jiang Zuo looked at his own attribute data on the status panel.

The moment he saw the numbers, Jiang Zuo was utterly stunned.

Stats:

Strength 136.5+175

Physique 57.6+506

Agility 57.1+22