Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Chapter 362 - 349: Assessment

The serious investigation concluded after half a day. The club members had put in a tremendous effort, but ultimately failed to uncover the cause.

As for Gu Ming’s Beast Taming Space, any attempt to probe it was like a stone tossed into the ocean—it vanished without a trace, and not the slightest thing could be sensed.

Everyone understood that this was likely a Beast Taming Space with a Mysterious Attribute. Such spaces were inherently difficult to probe, so it wasn’t considered strange.

A Beast Taming Space was a personal, private domain. In the face of everyone’s curiosity, Gu Ming simply said he had some private items inside and it wasn’t convenient to display them. Hearing this, everyone was tactful enough not to press the issue.

As for his Sea of Consciousness, however, Gu Ming was quite open, allowing others to enter and inspect it with their Divine Sense.

This was the main reason the club’s investigation was able to conclude in just half a day.

Since he had unreservedly opened up even his core Sea of Consciousness, it seemed to everyone that Gu Ming had practically no secrets. Yet even so, no one could find the reason for the mysterious disappearance of the ancient text.

However, the way club president Ruan Qitian looked at Gu Ming was no longer so simple.

Before, he had only seen Gu Ming as a promising newcomer. While he couldn’t serve as a pillar of the club right away, he would certainly become useful after a year or two of training.

Now, however, he was beginning to hold him in much higher esteem.

’With Gu Ming’s luck and unique characteristics,’ he thought, ’if I take him to ancient sites where Mysterious Pet Beasts were once active, maybe his special aura could actually draw something out.’

So, he said to Gu Ming,

"I’m going to test your abilities tomorrow. If you pass, we’ll talk in more detail."

"I’ll be leading the team myself, and I’ll explain all the precautions for the exploration then."

Gu Ming nodded and went back to burying his head in the bookshelves.

He had already read most of the books available to him. Since he didn’t have the authority to access the ones restricted from new members, he could only review what he’d already learned by rereading the books he understood.

While he was at it, he went over to Lu You’s side. They quietly discussed some problems, and he offered her a few pointers from time to time.

Gu Ming’s Identification Skills had already reached the level of Mastery, and all related knowledge was now in his mind, making it easy for him to guide Lu You.

Lu You was a very fast learner to begin with and had already memorized most of the information; she just lacked a systematic way to integrate it all.

After Gu Ming guided her from his more advanced perspective, helping her systematically organize her knowledge from top to bottom, her identification abilities improved at a visibly rapid pace, as if she’d had a major breakthrough.

Previously scattered bits of knowledge instantly clicked together into a cohesive system. Even the look in her eyes as she read the ancient books seemed more perceptive.

Just then, as he was mentally organizing what he had learned, he discovered a new branch had appeared within his Identification Skills.

_Chronological Identification: Mysterious Trace Identification, Master Level Skill Level._

His Chronological Identification Skill Level was still at the Master Level.

But the Skill Level for Mysterious Trace Identification had surpassed that of its parent category, Chronological Identification.

From what the club president had said, Gu Ming knew that the ancient books in the Library Pavilion contained the principles of the Great Dao.

Simply by reading the books normally, one could only train a skill to the Master Level of proficiency at most. It was impossible to go any higher.

Gu Ming was momentarily dazed.

’Does that mean... the only way to break that limit is to do what I did and basically rip out the very "root" of the book?’

’But even breaking the limit only raises the skill to Master Level, so the benefit is limited.’

’It’s great for me, but it’s unfair to those who come after me, since there’s no book for them to read. Lu You, for example, never got to see it.’

Guilt and a sense of responsibility welled up in Gu Ming’s heart. ’I have to help the club find another ancient book to replace it.’

That evening, as Gu Ming was leaving the club, he took a detour through an area of campus known for its ghost stories.

Ah Ji’s ears perked up as it transformed into a shadow and scouted the nearby area.

Gu Ming waited for about ten minutes. When Ah Ji returned, it shook its head, clearly having found nothing.

He compiled a report of his work into a document for his company, considering the day’s task complete.

"Let’s go home, Ah Ji."

Ah Ji tilted its head, as if to ask, *Aren’t we going to search more thoroughly?*

It seemed quite interested in the campus ghost stories.

After all, as a creature with Shadow Escape and Shadow Assault skills, it paid special attention to similar shadow-type Possession Skills.

"This isn’t our main job. Even the school’s instructors haven’t found any clues, so how could we expect to find something right away?"

Gu Ming said, though his tone lacked conviction.

Ever since that bout of misplaced inspiration from the system, he’d discovered that having too much inspiration tended to attract trouble.

’Fortunately, I didn’t hear the supposed cry of a strange kitten for help tonight. I’ll just assume it was a made-up story for now,’ he thought.

For now, Gu Ming’s focus was on grinding his Skill Levels. First, he would go through all the club’s ancient books—they were basically walking EXP farms.

Besides records of Mysterious Pet Beasts, the books also contained Pet Beast techniques left behind by a prior civilization. There might be skills suitable for his own Pet Beasts, which was what he was really after.

The next morning, Gu Ming went to the club for his skill assessment with the president.

When it came to Skills, there weren’t many that Beastmasters could actually master. Most were non-combat related, such as Identification.

This wasn’t simply a matter of analytical processing based on knowledge. It was more like an ability activated through a ritual, triggered by a kind of gut feeling.

A rapid-fire montage of images, like a flashing lantern, would play out in their mind. The one performing the identification simply had to analyze these Memory Fragment-like pictures to determine an object’s age, its associated Pet Beast, its characteristics, and more.

It was an ability that could trigger supernatural phenomena, not a simple application of knowledge. It was also one of the rare means by which Beastmasters could directly learn and display Extraordinary Power.

Of course, this method was driven entirely by Spiritual Power. If Beastmasters could one day use Spiritual Qi Mana, it would be a completely different story.

After all, the range of methods available to them was currently quite limited.

During the assessment, Ruan Qitian placed an antique-looking box in front of Gu Ming.

"Use your Chronological Identification Skills to appraise this relic, which was unearthed the year before last. Determine how old it is and which Pet Beast’s remains they correspond to."

Gu Ming looked at the perfectly square box before him. It looked man-made from every angle. ’How could it be Pet Beast remains?’ he wondered.

Though doubtful, he formed a series of linked hand signs. Ripples spread across his inner Sea of Consciousness as his Divine Sense Sword Body gently pulsed, molding a profoundly arcane thought.

Nearly half of his Spiritual Power was drained in an instant.

In the next second, blurry images flashed through his mind like a movie reel.

Gu Ming focused all his attention on analyzing these fragments, feeling his Spiritual Power drain away like water from a sieve.

’Archaeology is no simple feat of Physical Strength; it’s mentally taxing. It requires not only a vast amount of knowledge but also profound Spiritual Power to sustain it.’

’No wonder the president said newcomers like us couldn’t be on the main team. At best, we’re just reserve personnel for the reserves.’

After only a minute, Gu Ming was drenched in sweat, his Spiritual Power almost completely depleted.

And this was despite the fact that the Cyan Pine Skill he practiced was particularly adept at efficiently refining Spiritual Power, giving him far greater reserves than other Beastmasters at his level. Still, he couldn’t withstand such a drain.

After finishing his analysis, he took a long breath and slowly sorted through the information from his memory... Changdiao Mountain, petrified insect corpse, bird-like appearance...

After a few minutes, he finally spoke. "These are likely the remains of a Flying Bird Stone-eating Insect from Changdiao Mountain, dating back to the year 1020 of the previous era."