I'm Just a Beast Tamer

The Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas!

Jiang Zuo then looked at the other new item that had appeared on his attribute panel.

He could tap it on the attribute panel to open it like a book.

’So any Pet Beast I’ve personally come into contact with will be displayed in the Atlas?’

Jiang Zuo flipped through it page by page. The first few pages were filled with creatures like chickens, ducks, and birds—animals he had encountered early on but had never raised.

Each Pet Beast occupied a single page. The ones he hadn’t raised were grayed out, showing only their name and appearance with no further details.

But for Pet Beasts that Jiang Zuo had raised, like Great Black the dog, the page was blue and displayed data on its attributes, preferences, age, and the progress of its racial talent development.

’I can even see the progress of their racial talents? The black dog’s racial talent is Scent, and its development progress is 23%? This is amazing. If I had continued raising the black dog, I probably could have fully developed its Scent talent in about ten years.’

’But a racial talent like Scent is probably common to many Pet Beasts. When I have time in the future, I can research whether the Scent talent is universal across different Races.’

’The Black Stone Fish’s racial talent progress is already at 100%, and its page is golden!’

’Huh? On the Black Stone Fish’s page, there’s a button labeled "Set as Armor’s Main Element." What’s this?’

Jiang Zuo tapped it, and related information quickly appeared in his mind.

The Ten Thousand Beasts Armor!

A Pet Beast whose racial talent had been fully developed through raising could be set as the main element of the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor!

All other creatures registered in the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas would serve as sub-elements!

Once he set the main element for the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, Jiang Zuo could, with a single thought, form a tangible Ten Thousand Beasts Armor around his body to block enemy attacks and damage.

The Ten Thousand Beasts Armor had an energy bar, which was supplied with varying amounts of energy based on the Pet Beast’s page color in the Atlas and the rarity of the Pet Beast itself.

Wearing the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor would automatically consume energy, and taking damage or launching an attack would also consume different amounts of energy.

’It can even launch attacks?’

Jiang Zuo’s interest was piqued.

In the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas, only the Black Stone Fish could currently be set as the armor’s main element.

After setting the main element, Jiang Zuo went to the lakeside and willed it.

In the reflection on the lake’s surface, Jiang Zuo saw a suit of black scale armor materialize on his body in the next instant.

Upon closer inspection, the scale armor looked remarkably similar to the scales of a Black Stone Fish.

’Even though I’m wearing armor now, it just feels like a light layer. It doesn’t affect my movements at all.’

Jiang Zuo moved his arms and legs a bit.

The Ten Thousand Beasts Armor looked like metal armor, but that wasn’t actually the case.

’After equipping the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, I can use "Stampede of Ten Thousand Beasts." It consumes a large amount of energy to summon numerous phantoms related to the main element to attack the enemy!’

’So it really does have an attack skill. I wonder how powerful it is!’

Jiang Zuo was overjoyed.

This was the first attack skill he had acquired since obtaining the Beast Taming System.

Suppressing the urge to test it immediately, Jiang Zuo thought for a moment, then, still wearing the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, he jumped into the lake.

SPLASH!

The moment he hit the water, Jiang Zuo felt a huge difference.

’Just as I thought. Different main elements give the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor different effects! Right now, there’s no difference between me and a fish underwater!’

’No! I should say, I’m even better than a fish underwater!’

Wearing the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor with the Black Stone Fish as its main element, Jiang Zuo felt as if he had returned to his natural element.

He dove to the bottom, and with a kick of his legs, he shot through the water at an astonishing speed, much faster than he could run on land.

It was utterly absurd!

Jiang Zuo could clearly feel that if he were to remove the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, his speed would drop dramatically.

Although he had the Underwater Breathing Technique, without the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, he still couldn’t compare to a fish in the water.

But once he put on the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor, he was more fish-like than a fish.

"Stampede of Ten Thousand Beasts!"

After returning to the shore, Jiang Zuo activated the skill, aiming at a large boulder on the bank.

Phantoms shaped like Black Stone Fish instantly materialized, flying toward the boulder like a volley of black arrows.

BOOM!

The boulder instantly shattered.

This Stampede of Ten Thousand Beasts was quite powerful. It looked like it could shatter even sturdier objects!

’Unfortunately, the energy consumption is too high. The armor’s energy bar dropped below half in an instant.’

’There are still too few Pet Beasts in the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas, so they can’t provide much energy.’

Glancing at the energy bar, Jiang Zuo deactivated the Ten Thousand Beasts Armor.

According to the description, the energy bar would recover slowly after the armor was deactivated. The more Pet Beasts registered in the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas, the faster the recovery speed.

Jiang Zuo continued flipping through the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas.

’A Celestial Fox? When did I ever come into contact with a Demon Beast like a Celestial Fox?’

Jiang Zuo froze as he turned to the last page.

’There’s only a name, no picture. It seems I must have encountered it when it was in human form.’

Jiang Zuo thought as he looked at the gray page.

He had a vague suspicion, but he shook his head and didn’t dwell on it.

Closing the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas, Jiang Zuo fiddled with the Beast Taming System for a while longer and was surprised to discover that the "Change Race" option, which had been unusable all this time, was finally available!

’As long as a Pet Beast is registered in the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas, I can choose to change into its Race!’

’However, the quality of the transformation will differ depending on the color of the page in the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas.’

’A golden page guarantees the best racial aptitude and talent. A blue page gives a chance to obtain better aptitude and talent. A gray page only grants ordinary aptitude and talent.’

Jiang Zuo realized he had a lot of options.

In the future, when he reached the Cultivation Realm, he would be able to encounter more rare Spirit Beasts and Demon Beasts.

If he could transform into one of those legendary Spirit or Demon Beasts, even with gray-level aptitude, it would be far superior to other Pet Beasts.

However, unless absolutely necessary, Jiang Zuo would still choose to remain human.

...

’I’ve obtained the Underwater Breathing Technique and unlocked the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas. It’s time to leave this place.’

Jiang Zuo gazed at the vast lake before him, unable to help but feel a wave of emotion.

When he left the Li River back then, he had thought he was close to mastering the Underwater Breathing Technique.

He never expected that after arriving here, nearly eighteen years would pass in a flash.

From the time he started raising black fish by the Li River, a total of forty-seven years had passed!

He was only twenty-one when he arrived at the Li River, and it felt like only yesterday. But in the blink of an eye, he was now sixty-eight years old.

He had spent such a long time raising the Black Stone Fish, but it was all worth it.

After unlocking the Ten Thousand Beasts Atlas, Jiang Zuo felt that the Beast Taming System was now complete. If he wanted anything more in the future, he would probably have to rely on increasing his Beast Tamer level.

’Time to go!’

Jiang Zuo didn’t linger. He put away Great Black and Xiaoqing and strode toward the nearest mortal town.

Back then, he had avoided all mortals, traveling through desolate and uninhabited lands until he reached this place.

And here, he had stayed for eighteen years.

He had stored a large amount of seasonings and spices in his storage bag, but now they were almost all gone.

Jiang Zuo had no idea where he was or what territory it belonged to. He needed to find a mortal town to ask for directions before deciding where to go next.

However, Jiang Zuo didn’t plan on using his Beast Taming Reputation to reduce his age, return to his youth, and start a new life with a new face just yet.

This was because Jiang Zuo was now not far from reaching the Perfection realm of an Inner Breath Grandmaster.

Perhaps because of his battle with the Grandmaster at Celestial Gate Pass, after Jiang Zuo settled by this lake...

...less than half a year later, Jiang Zuo woke up one day to find Inner Breath generated within his Qi Veins, making him an Inner Breath Grandmaster.

After becoming an Inner Breath Grandmaster, Jiang Zuo’s lifespan instantly increased by 50 years, and his aging process slowed down significantly.

Although Jiang Zuo was now sixty-eight, he still had the appearance of a middle-aged man.

For the next seventeen years, Jiang Zuo cultivated his Inner Breath relentlessly every day.

The Cultivation of Inner Breath involved using it to break open the body’s apertures.

The Qi Veins could generate Inner Breath, but the amount they could store was very limited.

An Inner Breath Grandmaster needed to continuously open the apertures within their body to store Inner Breath and become stronger.

A typical Inner Breath Grandmaster who opened twelve apertures could project their Inner Breath outside their body, entering the Dark Force realm.

With twenty-four apertures, their Inner Breath would become sublime, transforming into Transforming Force.

With thirty-six apertures, one would reach Great Success and could consider breaking through to become an Innate Martial Artist.

Of course, the scarcity of Innate Martial Artists showed just how low the chances were of breaking through with only thirty-six apertures.

Based on his previous experience, Jiang Zuo felt that the human body must have more than just thirty-six apertures.

After a vague sensing, he became more or less certain that his guess was correct.

After becoming an Inner Breath Grandmaster, the Blood God Skill was no longer of much help in his Inner Breath Cultivation, and Jiang Zuo’s Cultivation speed did indeed slow down.

But that was only relative to his own past progress. Compared to other Grandmaster Martial Artists, Jiang Zuo’s speed was actually astonishingly fast.

For Grandmasters like Hong Yangtai and Mu Yedong, it was considered good progress to open even one aperture in one or two years of Cultivation.

Moreover, once they reached a certain level of Cultivation, their body’s potential would be exhausted, making it incredibly difficult to open even one more aperture.

Jiang Zuo, on the other hand, could open an aperture in a little over two months, without encountering any bottlenecks along the way.

After so many years, Jiang Zuo had determined that the total number of apertures should be one hundred and eight. He had already opened ninety-seven of them.

He was just eleven apertures away, which would take about two or three years of effort, and then his Inner Breath would reach Perfection.

Under these circumstances, Jiang Zuo naturally planned to cultivate his Inner Breath to absolute perfection.

After that, he would reduce his age and switch to cultivating the Life Essence Returning Skill. By then, he would probably have a much clearer understanding of what made the Life Essence Returning Skill so extraordinary.

Before leaving, Jiang Zuo glanced at his current attributes.

Name: Jiang Zuo

Lifespan: 68/358

Beast Taming Reputation: 461

Attributes:

Strength 999+180

Physique 999+511

Agility 748.3+28

...

That’s right. After advancing to Grandmaster and opening nearly a hundred apertures...

...aside from his Agility, both Jiang Zuo’s Strength and Physique had reached 999!

And a stat value of 999 seemed to be the limit for a mortal’s attributes.

A normal Grandmaster Martial Artist might have a Strength stat of over 500 at best. Even after cultivating to thirty-six apertures, they would still be a long way from the attribute limit of 999.

However, the attribute cap of 999 seemed to be merely a numerical limit.

Over the years, Jiang Zuo could clearly feel that his strength was, in fact, still continuously increasing.

It was just like when he had first received the attribute bonus from Xiaoqing; the number didn’t increase, but its quality was improving.