Beast Taming: I Can Add Points

Late at night—

”CLACK-CLACK— CLACK-CLACK—”

While Yu Bao practiced his Skills downstairs, Su Zhi was in the study, typing away.

The forceful sound of keystrokes echoed in the room. A glint in his eyes, Su Zhi’s ten fingers flew across the keyboard.

CLACK—

As the final period was typed, his ten fingers lifted from the keys.

Su Zhi sized up the document before him, ”Yu Bao’s Specialized Skill Path 2.0.” His eyes held a look that was three parts brazen, three parts wild, and four parts nonchalant.

’Founding my own school of thought is no big deal,’ he thought.

At this moment, he was like a fledgling web novelist who had just cranked out 30,000 words in one go, already fantasizing about his ascent to the pinnacle of the literary world.

’My old man? Just some minor ”Great God” author with an average of seventy or eighty thousand subscribers.’

The first step to proving his Dao—submission!

Su Zhi found the profile picture labeled ”Senior Brother Piao” and sent over the academic masterpiece that had cost him an entire evening’s worth of energy and a few stray hairs.

[Senior Brother Piao has received ”Yu Bao’s Specialized Skill Path 2.0”]

Su Zhi rubbed his hands together like a fly.

’Man, I’m a little nervous. Is this the helplessness one feels right before achieving godhood?’

[Senior Brother Piao]: Good news, 2.0 is an improvement over 1.0

’Yes!’

Su Zhi pumped his fist, his expression immediately becoming as relieved as a successful trip to the bathroom.

[Senior Brother Piao]: Bad news, it’s an improvement, but not by much

[Senior Brother Piao]: I skimmed it. There are about 32 flaws.

[Su Zhi]: ??? How is that even more than before?

[Senior Brother Piao]: Yep. Fix a few bugs, create even more bugs. /smirk

[Senior Brother Piao]: I’ll send you a summary of the issues later. You can revise it then.

[Su Zhi]: Mmm...

[Senior Brother Piao]: Don’t lose heart, the real despair is yet to come. /smirk

Liu Junpo went offline to carry out his execution.

Su Zhi slumped in his chair, entering post-nut clarity.

He was like an aspiring web novelist, full of ambition, who had just been brutally rejected, deflating on the spot.

Sigh.

”Yu Bao? Are you still training?”

Su Zhi communicated with the outside Yu Bao through the Beast Taming Space.

”...Woof?” (...Are you done with your work?)

Su Zhi gave a wistful smile. ”I guess. How about you? Coming back once you’re done training?”

”...Woof.” (...I’ll train a little longer.)

Su Zhi checked the time. It was 11 PM on the dot.

’I can’t write anything else anyway. Might as well go out for some fresh air.’

Su Zhi threw on his school uniform and went out.

”Leaving, Xiaoshu?”

”Going to check on Yu Bao. What’s up?”

”I just baked some cookies. Eat them while they’re hot!”

”Oh, ’kay.”

Given that the cookies were a bit too heartwarming in temperature, Su Zhi decided to let them cool for a while.

Su Zhi found Yu Bao by the neighborhood pavilion.

Yu Bao was practicing Desert Concealment on the green lawn next to the pavilion.

He would crouch to build up power, then leap, activating Desert Concealment in mid-air to transform himself into flying sand and extend his jump distance.

After landing, he would paw at the grass to make a mark, then return to the starting point and repeat the process.

With every activation of Desert Concealment, Yu Bao would try his hardest to surpass his previous mark.

If he passed the mark, Yu Bao would get all smug, stick out his tongue, and wag his tail.

If he didn’t pass it, he would mope back to the start and jump with even more vigor the next time.

Sometimes, Yu Bao would get a little clever, stretching his paws out as far as he could to force himself to ”improve” by a little bit.

However, as the mark got farther and farther away, it became difficult for Yu Bao to reach it even by stretching out his paws.

Yu Bao started to ignore his landings altogether, curling into a ball just to jump a little farther.

Unconsciously, the mark moved forward, inch by inch.

And Yu Bao grew more and more tired. He often had to rest for a while where he landed before walking back to the start.

”Yo, yo, yo, if it isn’t Su Zhi?”

A clear voice came from the direction of the pavilion.

A white-haired girl sitting in the pavilion swung her legs gently, waving at Su Zhi with a comical expression.

”WOOF!”

Yu Bao was instantly back to full health and ran Bling Bling over to find Su Zhi.

Su Zhi picked up Yu Bao, bounced him a little in his arms, and also walked into the pavilion to sit down.

”What are you doing down here too?” Su Zhi asked curiously.

Shao Ya ruffled Yu Bao’s head. ”Yu Bao wanted to train with Xiaoyue, but Xiaoyue didn’t want to come out, so I came down to keep him company.”

Speaking of Xiaoyue, Shao Ya covered her mouth, stifling a laugh.

”Xiaoyue got beaten into a funk by the senior sister’s Pet Beast this afternoon. The whole way back he kept insisting, ’I don’t mind,’ ’I don’t care about winning or losing’... but he totally cares, hahahaha~”

Su Zhi looked at Yu Bao again.

Even though he’d been beaten up by Wanzi, Yu Bao wasn’t emo about it; he still looked full of life.

’It’s good to be a silly little dog sometimes.’

Yu Bao suddenly squirmed.

”Woof.” (I’m rested, I want to train.)

”You’re rested already?”

The moment Su Zhi let go, Yu Bao zipped back to the lawn to train.

But from his wobbly movements, it was clear he had reached his physical limit. Every Skill activation was a major struggle.

”Yu Bao is pushing himself a little too hard. He’s been training for nearly four hours, since just after seven.”

Shao Ya also propped her chin on her hand, watching the little guy’s training figure.

”Several times, Yu Bao was so tired he couldn’t even walk, and I had to go pick him up. But he’d only rest in my arms for a moment before running off to train again.”

Su Zhi nodded. ”Is that so...”

”SPLAT.”

Yu Bao finally ran out of Energy to maintain the Skill and fell to the ground.

His four short legs splayed out in different directions as he tried to push himself up, only to flop back down just as he was about to get up.

Su Zhi went over and picked him up.

”Woof...” Yu Bao still tried to struggle.

”That’s enough for today. Get a good night’s sleep; you can train again tomorrow.”

Su Zhi smiled and patted Yu Bao. As he was about to leave, he remembered something, took out the cookie, and offered it to Shao Ya.

”My mom baked it. Here, you have it.”

Shao Ya puffed out her cheeks. ”Who carries a cookie around in their pocket...”

”Then I’ll eat it myself.”

”Gimme that!”

Shao Ya didn’t take it with her hands. She just leaned in and chomped the cookie down in one bite.

Startled, Su Zhi instinctively pulled his hand back, his pinky even sticking out in a delicate pose.

”Hee hee~ Bye!”

The girl ran all the way home, her cheeks puffed out.

Su Zhi petted Yu Bao with the hand that had held the cookie, and then headed home as well.

·

Wash up, go to sleep.

Su Zhi was about to turn off the lights when he noticed Yu Bao hugging the Brown Relics in a daze. Something seemed off.

Yu Bao had fought in three spars that morning and gone through high-intensity extra training at night. Logically, this should be the time he needed to absorb resources to replenish his Energy.

When a Pet Beast absorbs resources, it subconsciously grows sleepy, not to mention Yu Bao was already exhausted.

’He should be crashing the moment his head hits the pillow, so how is he still awake and alert?’

”What’s wrong, Yu Bao? Something on your mind?”

Yu Bao lifted his head, blinking his button-like black eyes.

”Woof-woof?” (Actually, powerful Beast Tamers don’t usually stay contracted to a single Pet Beast forever, right?)

Su Zhi froze for a moment, then looked at Yu Bao as if trying to hold back a laugh.

Yu Bao lowered his head. ”Woof woof...” (I’ll work hard! But if I can’t evolve into a Yu Dian Farm Dog...)

He suddenly felt the touch of a light kiss on the top of his head.

Yu Bao looked up in a daze, his eyes meeting his Beast Tamer’s.

Su Zhi yawned, turned off the light, got under the covers to sleep, and tucked Yu Bao into the blanket with him.

Su Zhi’s voice came from the darkness:

”And here I was thinking you had something serious on your mind, but it was just this.”

But Yu Bao didn’t hear him. He was already fast asleep.

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