Beast Taming: I'm Really Not a Cultivation Master

Chapter 339: Chapter 309: Mutated Three-tailed Cat

After a few uneventful days of class, Li Qian adapted well and slowly began to blend into the campus environment of Shazhou Beast Taming University.

’Looks like there must be quite a few geniuses like me at this university.’ Li Qian couldn’t help but speculate this when he realized that after classes officially began, neither his class advisor, Teacher Wu, nor the dean of the Cultivation College, Dean Fei, had contacted him. As for the school’s upper administration, he hadn’t met a single one.

’The university must not care that much because there are many other specially-recruited students on my level.’

”This is good, too,” Li Qian murmured to himself. He had assumed that since the university paid such a high price to recruit him, he would surely be treated differently. He never expected that he would seem to be no different from any other student.

Li Qian was quite pleased with this. It was in his nature; he wasn’t the type who liked to be in the spotlight.

If he could spend his university years peacefully on campus just like most ordinary students, Li Qian would be more than satisfied.

What Li Qian didn’t know was that the school had arranged things this way—without giving him special treatment—precisely because they wanted him to be able to study and grow smoothly, with as little outside interference as possible.

On Friday night, the arrival of someone he had been expecting disrupted the quiet university life he had just begun to settle into.

This person was none other than his freshman military training instructor—Zhou Jiahao.

Zhou Jiahao had not come empty-handed. He brought the item he had promised last time: an Apprentice Adventurer’s Badge.

This was something Li Qian had learned through his own channels recently: given that he hadn’t graduated or taken the Beastmaster Association’s exam, an Apprentice Adventurer’s Badge was the only thing Instructor Zhou could have possibly obtained for him through his own connections.

’Come to think of it, if anyone had actually met Instructor Zhou’s requirements back then, they probably still would have had to go through all the official procedures at the Beastmaster Association to get an Ordinary Adventurer’s Badge.’

With this in mind, Li Qian smiled gratefully at the instructor who had made a special trip to deliver the badge. ”Thank you, Instructor Zhou.”

”The reason I agreed to request an Apprentice Adventurer’s Badge for you is because... I saw your Potential, both in cultivation and in combat.”

”I believe that in the future, you will surely become a pillar among us human Beast Masters.”

Instructor Zhou stated his reason, silently adding a thought to himself, ’Of course, it also has to do with the fact that the Apprentice Adventurer’s Badge only allows entry into the Dimension Plane but not travel outside the city, which guarantees a certain level of safety.’

After a brief explanation, Instructor Zhou left without so much as a glass of water.

The next day was Saturday. With no classes, Li Qian decided to go check out Yuntian City in the Dimension Plane.

Using the method Instructor Zhou had taught him, Li Qian arrived in Yuntian City without wasting much time.

At the entrance to the Teleportation Array in the School Pet Beast Center, Li Qian was briefly questioned. However, after he showed his Apprentice Adventurer’s Badge, the person questioning him quietly let him pass.

”Boss, how much for this?” After entering Yuntian City, Li Qian left the Teleportation Plaza and began to wander through a nearby market, where he quickly spotted something that caught his eye.

”This is a Dimensional Communicator. As long as you’re within range of a signal tower, you can communicate freely,” the portly, middle-aged owner explained, pointing to an old-fashioned, palm-sized phone.

”Oh? And what areas do the signal towers cover?” Li Qian asked.

”You can communicate freely within the ten cities in this Dimensional Rift,” the portly owner replied.

”Within the range of ten cities... That range must have a distance limit, right?” Li Qian immediately picked up on the key detail in the owner’s words.

”Of course there’s a limit. If you’re within the city limits, you can communicate freely between all ten cities.”

The owner explained, ”Outside the city limits, you can only contact the nearest city, and that range is also limited. For a large city, it’s about a hundred kilometers. For a small one, it’s only twenty or thirty. But the exact situation differs for each city, so that’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own.”

”Of course, you could also go to the Beast Taming Center and ask some of the old-timers. They’ll probably have a much clearer idea,” the owner suggested.

Li Qian nodded. After asking the price and comparing it with a few other shops, he bought the Dimensional Communicator from the portly owner.

The device was clearly inferior to the temporary communication watch Instructor Zhou had issued earlier. However, since Li Qian couldn’t leave Yuntian City right now, there was no point in buying a better one, so he decided to make do with this for the time being.

In truth, he only bought the Dimensional Communicator just in case he needed it. There weren’t many people he could contact anyway—only Elder Tie, Teacher Han Ke, Irina, and Senior Brother Du.

’This task is a little interesting...’ After wandering around Yuntian City for a while longer, Li Qian contacted Senior Brother Du as it approached noon. Coincidentally, Senior Brother Du was in the city, so Li Qian treated him to a meal. During their conversation, Senior Brother Du revealed what he had been busy with, which sparked Li Qian’s interest.

He pressed on, asking, ”Do you know why there are so many tasks to capture Mutated Three-tailed Cats?”

Ah Du had taken on this very task and had been busy with it for the past few days. He answered while eating, ”This is actually related to that training exercise you all went on.”

”During that exercise, a deep-seated Dimensional Rift, suspected to be Third Level, suddenly appeared in the Moon Shadow Forest. If the Peacock Monarch hadn’t intervened in time, the consequences could have been quite severe.”

”Capturing the Mutated Three-tailed Cats now is part of the cleanup from that incident.”

He paused for a moment before revealing a secret. ”Of course, from what I know, cleaning up the aftermath of that incident is only part of the reason.”

”The main reason so many people and organizations are issuing tasks to capture the Three-tailed Cats is that the ones that escaped from that deep-seated Dimension Plane are of extremely high research value.”

”What kind of research value?” Senior Brother Du’s words instantly piqued Li Qian’s curiosity.

”Do you remember what was different about the Mutated Three-tailed Cat you faced last time compared to a regular Three-tailed Cat?” Senior Brother Du asked.

Li Qian thought for a moment before answering, ”It looked like it had started to grow a fourth tail!”

That was the biggest difference Li Qian had noticed.

Senior Brother Du immediately nodded in agreement. ”Exactly, the fourth tail! Rumor has it that the Nine-tailed Cat is a Legendary Level Pet Beast!”