Chapter 288: Chapter 280: Relay Cultivation

「On the seventh day.」

Most of the candidates had finished designing their Cultivation Techniques and Arrays.

The candidates who couldn’t even produce the Great Dao Holy Light had already given up and left the field early.

About two hundred candidates remained, still trying to take on the combat portion.

Most of them were people who had triggered the Monochromatic Holy Light, pinning their last hopes on scoring points in the combat test against the Night Demon Duck.

Gu Ming hadn’t fought the Night Demon Duck yesterday because he was helping Mouse Treasure with its Cultivation to complete its Super Evolution.

At the same time, he had also taught the new catalytic Cultivation Technique to Cyan Treasure.

Even though Cyan Treasure didn’t have an Earth Element Spiritual Root and couldn’t fully use this technique, Mouse Treasure was right by its side.

Gu Ming and Lu You were teammates on the same squad. If they were to use this technique, they could perfectly coordinate.

Moreover, both of them had awakened their Divine Sense, so they could communicate without even speaking.

With just a thought, they could package and transmit high-density information to each other, meeting the demands of a constantly changing battlefield.

While everyone else headed to the battle arena, Gu Ming and Lu You hung back. After finishing breakfast, they began the first joint training session for their two Pet Beasts with the new Cultivation Technique.

To be honest, only thirty to forty percent of the Cultivation Technique’s power had been developed.

The information Gu Ming had received was fragmented. He had created it entirely based on his own understanding of Cultivation Techniques, which was like taking a semi-open-book test.

At this moment, the two Pet Beasts were training together precisely to compensate for some of the technique’s flaws.

HISS!

HAH!

Cyan Treasure clung to Mouse Treasure’s back. With the Little Cyan Snake on its back, Mouse Treasure circulated its technique through its palms, channeling Earth Element Mana into Cyan Treasure’s body to flow through and connect its meridians.

Unlike yesterday, only half of the Array was active in Mouse Treasure’s mind this time—the Earth Element Array. This consumed very little of its energy.

Meanwhile, Cyan Treasure was responsible for operating the functional Array for Light Energy, converting the solar energy it absorbed yesterday into the special Life Energy required by the Cultivation Technique. The consumption was similarly low.

The Alien Mana entering its body should have been rejected.

However, the Dragon Pattern Tripod Foundation Platform inside Cyan Treasure actually suppressed the instinctive rejection from a distance, allowing it to accept this Mana.

It guided the Mana to circulate once along the path of the catalytic Cultivation Technique, picking up the converted Light Energy before sending it back into Mouse Treasure’s body.

The Dragon Pattern Tripod Foundation Establishment Platform in Mouse Treasure’s body also operated normally, easily incorporating this energy into the second Great Cycle of its Cultivation Technique, completing a full conversion.

In that instant, a roar like a great bell boomed within Mouse Treasure, and its bloodline surged violently.

An earthy-yellow light glowed in its palm, even more dazzling than yesterday’s—the Cultivation Technique had reached Entry Level!

Improving a Cultivation Technique’s Skill Level doesn’t always require repetitive training.

A moment of coordinated inspiration, the right aura, and a suitable environment can lead to sudden enlightenment, saving countless hours of Cultivation Time.

This was exactly what happened with the two Pet Beasts’ Cultivation Technique. It went from Uninitiated straight to Entry Level Skill Level.

Standing to the side, Gu Ming clearly perceived the explosive surge in the catalytic Cultivation Technique’s aura. A touch of creamy white, carrying the sun’s radiance, had merged into the dense, earthy-yellow halo.

This was an Eight-star Dao Field, where the sun hung in the sky twenty-four hours a day, providing a continuous Cultivation environment for Light Pet Beasts.

Although Mouse Treasure lacked the ability to cultivate with the Light Element, the two Pet Beasts had accomplished an unprecedented "Relay Cultivation," making up for the shortcomings they couldn’t overcome yesterday.

At last, the Cultivation Technique for catalyzing life’s growth finally released the powerful fluctuations it was always meant to have.

Gu Ming still had many Black Ghost Wood Seeds in his possession.

However, he intentionally saved them to use during combat.

Now, he took out a single seed to test the Cultivation Technique’s ability.

He casually dropped a dark Black Ghost Wood Grass Seed onto the ground, not even bothering to bury it.

Ripples appeared in Mouse Treasure’s palm as it lightly sent out an earthy-yellow life pulse.

The pulse shot into the Black Ghost Wood Grass Seed, instantly awakening its desire for growth.

Mouse Treasure took a small step back.

The Black Ghost Wood Grass Seed actually began to emit a vibrant green light on its own.

Amazingly, although Mouse Treasure and Cyan Treasure didn’t use any Grass Element Spiritual Qi while cultivating their technique, the seed began to absorb Grass Spiritual Qi by itself.

At a speed visible to the naked eye, it sprouted a new shoot. Its tender stalk and green leaves unfurled rapidly.

A dense network of roots, like little earthworms, burrowed into the ground, greedily drawing nutrients from the earth.

This was a miracle of life, and a miracle of external catalysis!

After the Cultivation Technique reached Entry Level, the catalytic process no longer required burying the seed in the soil to complete the "Mother Earth Nurtures" step.

This catalytic efficiency was comparable to Cyan Treasure using its Plant Life Light Wave to forcefully accelerate growth, similarly skipping the time needed for intermediate development.

Gu Ming watched with his own eyes as the Black Ghost Wood Grass Seed grew into a small tree over a meter tall in just thirty seconds.

This growth speed was nearly half of yesterday’s sixty seconds and far surpassed the catalytic abilities of other Pet Beasts. Furthermore, the sapling itself grew better; it seemed to have skipped its Juvenile Stage and entered its growth period.

It was rumored that after sprouting, a Black Ghost Wood Grass Seed had a certain chance of developing intelligence.

Gu Ming looked at the tree. He saw it swaying gently in the breeze, rustling its leaves at him against the wind’s direction.

It looked as if it had awakened its intelligence.

Gu Ming nodded in approval. ’As expected of a genius Cultivation Technique from the future,’ he thought. ’The strong truly are full of surprises.’

Before he could remain surprised for long, he heard a dozen or so faint sounds from behind him.

Turning his head, he saw Elder Huo arriving on the scene with more than ten High-star Beastmasters.

Their gazes were fixed intently on his Pet Beast and Lu You’s Mouse Treasure, and then on the newborn sapling, their throats bobbing.

Elder Huo seemed to have more Willpower than the others. He asked with a chuckle:

"Gu Ming, why didn’t you write about the theoretical part of joint cultivation in your thesis?"

"Sir, I actually did," Gu Ming said. "I just might have written it too concisely. It’s Relay Cultivation."

It was like an expert solving a problem. Others would use a dozen steps to deduce the answer.

The expert, however, would skip the intermediate process, leaving only a few key steps.

After accepting the concepts of the new era’s Cultivation Techniques, Gu Ming was also influenced by future ways of thinking.

He had inadvertently omitted some of the detailed reasoning. With a single phrase like "from this, we can conclude," he had skipped right over the Daoist Skill-related deductions to present the core conclusion.

Only after hearing Elder Huo’s question did he realize his mistake.

He immediately took out his original manuscript and began to clear up their doubts on the spot.

The teachers, who had been extremely critical of Gu Ming receiving a double S Level score, exchanged glances and listened attentively.

The stern-faced group had wanted to rack their brains to find fault.

But after listening for a while, they couldn’t find a single reason to nitpick. Instead, they had the strange feeling of, ’Why do I feel like I’m the one in class?’

After all, the concept of "Relay Cultivation" was too novel. The prevailing trend in the Beast Taming Realm was independent Cultivation, where everyone cultivated on their own.

Who would ever hand over the other half of a Cultivation Technique’s circulatory circuit to another Pet Beast to cultivate?

Just thinking about it, they felt it would be fraught with difficulties, with extremely complex problems to solve.

And yet, a mouse and a snake, two small Pet Beasts at the Juvenile Stage and only Two-star Level, had completed such a highly difficult Relay Cultivation.

This was no longer just a matter of a deep bond of friendship. The design of this Cultivation Technique was simply incredible, cleverly utilizing a path of joint training that none of them had ever encountered.

"S Level! It has to be S Level!"

"This is a whole new track! How could Gu Ming’s technique only be Tri-Colored? That’s not fair!"

The teachers on site erupted into a heated discussion.

Just then, after the two Pet Beasts completed their joint training and Gu Ming added a few small notes in the blank spaces of the manuscript, the original manuscript in Gu Ming’s hand burst forth with an even denser golden light. The aura of the Daoist Skill grew heavier, and the paper in his hand became so weighty that it caused his hand to sink several centimeters.

Elder Huo and Gu Ming both let out a sound of surprise, being the first to sense the anomaly.

Had the Cultivation Technique’s grade just upgraded on the spot?