Beast Taming: My System is Bugged-Chapter 117 - 116: A Small Test of Skills

Wang Teng followed close behind, teaming up with Gu Ming.

Cyan Treasure tilted its head to look at Dumb Flower. The plump creature was no longer as clumsy as it had been before.

On the contrary, its walking speed here on the back mountain trail was no slower than the two Beastmasters, and it moved with ease.

While the grassy terrain certainly gave it an advantage, the main reason was that Dumb Flower’s Speed had increased.

Gu Ming glanced over as well, recalling Dumb Flower’s impressive physical test results from yesterday.

Its Speed, shattering the slow impression from a month ago, had risen to a score of nearly 18, putting it on par with the Little Cyan Snake’s straight-line running speed of 20. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Additionally, Dumb Flower’s Power was nearly on par with the Little Cyan Snake’s, capable of striking with a force of ninety pounds.

And this was before its Evolution. Its physical stats alone were already incredibly close to the post-Evolution Little Cyan Snake.

One could only imagine that once Dumb Flower evolved, it would completely surpass the current Little Cyan Snake in both Power and Speed.

Of course, that didn’t mean the Little Cyan Snake had no chance of winning. No matter how fast Dumb Flower was in a straight line, it wasn’t as agile as the Little Cyan Snake.

Although Dumb Flower’s Speed had increased, its physical limitations were unchangeable.

When it came to making multiple turns and dodging attacks, Dumb Flower’s reaction time was clearly inferior to the Little Cyan Snake’s.

"Did you sense it?" Gu Ming asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yes. Dumb Flower sensed a parasite inside. If its Perception isn’t wrong, it should be a Black Thorn Blightworm. We’ll need Thorn-removing Spirit Leaf Grass, Cold Jade Marrow, and Poison Transformation Liquid..."

Wang Teng rattled off a long list of ingredients. Gu Ming had thought of most of them, but there were a few herbs he hadn’t considered. ’Probably knowledge from the Wang Family’s training,’ he guessed.

"Cyan Treasure, scout ahead."

Cyan Treasure slithered down from his neck and went ahead to scout. Following Gu Ming’s silent instructions, it parted the tall grass and moved forward to check things out.

Wang Teng was also using his knowledge to identify the forest environment, searching for the herbs he needed.

For this test set by the teacher, there was some overlap between the Spirit Medicine and the treatments required for the Spirit Pets.

However, the medicinal properties of most herbs were opposites, meaning the route everyone took up the mountain would determine which Pet Beast they could save first.

If the herbs were picked clean by someone else beforehand, the rescue mission would definitely be slowed down.

It was worth noting that treating a Pet Beast wasn’t about rigidly following the formulas given in textbooks.

Most of the time, herbs with similar medicinal properties could be used as substitutes for one another. It wasn’t that a specific medicine was absolutely necessary.

The students’ search for medicine on the mountain was a test of their compounding abilities. If a certain type of herb was unavailable, they had to find a substitute with similar properties.

A short while later, the two noticed a faint chill in the air ahead, a stark contrast to the surrounding heat. Wang Teng’s Benny reacted; it sensed a dense, icy aura ahead—perhaps the key to solving the Jade Water Turtle’s fire poison problem.

Sure enough, behind a massive boulder, both Dumb Flower and the Little Cyan Snake discovered some Cold Jade Grass emitting a faint blue glow.

They grew in a shaded spot, their leaves long, thin, and black with a faint blue sheen. The veins resembled threads of ice, the stems were lustrous, and tiny, frost-covered flower buds at the tips gave off a bone-chilling cold.

This was the raw material for the Cold Jade Marrow needed by the Jade Water Turtle.

Cold Jade Marrow was a low-level medicine mentioned in the textbooks, made from Cold Jade Grass and Cold Spiritual Water. The process required grinding the Cold Jade Grass into a paste and soaking it in Cold Spiritual Water until it froze into frost particles. This activated its medicinal properties. Then, it had to be heated with a controlled flame to create a slurry, which would cool to form the Cold Jade Marrow.

Cold Spiritual Water was formed from dewdrops that had been infused with either Ice Spiritual Qi or Water Spiritual Qi.

This was no small task; they had to start collecting it as soon as they found the herb.

Otherwise, once the morning passed, the Spiritual Qi preserved in the dewdrops would surely evaporate.

Gu Ming immediately had the Little Cyan Snake follow Dumb Flower to collect the nearby Cold Spiritual Water.

About ten minutes later, the two Pet Beasts returned, each carrying a leaf or two filled with Cold Spiritual Water.

The two began the process.

They ground the Cold Jade Grass into a paste and placed it in the leaves filled with Cold Spiritual Water.

With a SIZZLE, the water rapidly froze into frost, and layers of Cold Qi rose from the surface.

At this point, they needed a beaker for heating.

Since both of them were aiming for the Cultivation Element, they naturally came prepared with such equipment.

As for a fire source, they could either start one by drilling wood or simply use a lighter.

During this process, a rustling sound came from the forest.

A team of student Beastmasters stumbled upon the scene and saw the two of them refining the medicine.

Although Beastmasters of the Cultivation Element weren’t typically skilled in combat with one another, when competition arose and there wasn’t enough Spirit Medicine to go around, they might resort to snatching it directly from other Cultivation Element Beastmasters.

In such a situation, one couldn’t have high expectations of the other party’s moral standards.

Wang Teng, who was controlling the temperature to refine the potion, saw the newcomers and his expression immediately changed.

"Damn it, the Cold Jade Grass is all gone."

"They have Cold Jade Marrow in their hands..."

"Dumb Flower, stop them!"

"Go!" Gu Ming shouted.

In fact, as the opponents had approached, Cyan Treasure had already circled around behind them.

The moment they looked at the beaker in Wang Teng’s hands, Gu Ming seized the initiative and had Cyan Treasure strike.

Cyan Treasure immediately bit the back of one Pet Beast’s neck, injecting it with venom. Then, with a flash and a twist, it used its Master Level Body Technique to get behind the other Pet Beast and delivered another swift, light strike.

The two students’ faces fell.

Their Pet Beasts were a Yellow Dog and a Green-headed Duck—one Earth Element, one Grass Element.

The two had worked together, searching for medicine until they reached this spot, only to be ambushed by Gu Ming’s group.

By the time the two students reacted, both of their pets had been injected with venom. A purplish-black color slowly appeared on their bodies, and their movements became sluggish.

Cyan Treasure waited for about ten seconds. Seeing that the two pets still had some strength left, though their movements were much slower, it immediately moved in to deliver two Head Hammers.

THUD!

THUD!

Both Pet Beasts immediately fainted, losing their ability to fight.

"Good job, Cyan Treasure!" A smile appeared on Gu Ming’s face as he petted the Little Cyan Snake, which had come over looking for praise.

The entire battle had been overly simple; a real fight had never even broken out.

’Well, they’re Cultivation Element Beastmasters, after all. They aren’t skilled in combat to begin with,’ Gu Ming thought.

Seeing that their Pet Beasts were down, the two students could only scowl, take out their phones, and report their pets’ defeat in the class group chat.

Immediately after, a nearby proctor arrived, guided by their location. A mere five seconds passed before a Healing Pet Beast cast a curative light, and points were awarded to Gu Ming’s team.

After this flurry of activity, Wang Teng, having controlled the heat perfectly, finished refining the Cold Jade Marrow. It now just needed to cool.

During this time, Gu Ming and the others set off again to find the remaining Spirit Medicine.

Wang Teng was still shaken after seeing Cyan Treasure’s agile, lightning-fast movements.

He thought to himself, ’If Dumb Flower were to face Cyan Treasure, it would probably be bitten and rendered helpless in an instant.’

He asked, "Aren’t you going to try for the Combat Element score?"

"There’s no rush. We can just snatch it later."

The 100 medicine bottles were buried on the back mountain, and they still had to search for clues there.

Gu Ming planned to first complete the Cultivation Element task, then randomly intercept and rob a Combat Beastmaster on the way down the mountain.

This kind of strategy was common in past exams.

Therefore, the difficulty of the next battle would certainly not be low. It wouldn’t be as easy to launch a successful sneak attack as it had been just now.

Wang Teng thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Sorry, I probably can’t help much. With Dumb Flower’s current abilities, it would be difficult to provide any support."

Gu Ming hadn’t been counting on Dumb Flower to be a core fighter anyway. "It’s fine," he said. "I have another helper."

Wang Teng was taken aback. He knew who Gu Ming was talking about.