Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

The narrow mountain path gave way to a wide, green open space in front of Qiao Sang. As she scanned the area, her eyes immediately spotted two wild pet beasts.

On the grassy field, a Lijian Sparrow was chasing after a Saddle worm.

Normally, a Lijian Sparrow would be around 14 centimeters, but the one before her was fat and much larger, clearly overfed.

It looked about 25 centimeters, its body primarily a grape-grey-brown color with a chestnut-brown head. A black stripe ran from its head down to the tip of its tail.

Its beak, compared to its body, appeared particularly sharp and long.

Lijian Sparrows were flocking beasts. Even if there weren’t many on the mountain, there must be others of its kind nearby.

Qiao Sang had no intention of engaging in a battle with these two wild beasts.

A flying-type pet beast that wasn’t flying but instead chasing a slow-moving bug-type beast on the ground—clearly, they were familiar and playing with each other.

She didn’t want to be the villain interrupting their fun.

Seeing that she was brought by the mother and child Magnemouse, it ignored her and continued its weight-loss journey.

Halfway through this area, the mother Magnemouse stopped.

“Zi zi.”

It called out, pointing to three trees in the middle of the clearing that still bore some green fruit.

Qiao Sang was momentarily frozen by the sight before her.

The fruits were called Fullness Fruit. Eating one didn’t provide any special powers, but it could replace three meals.

If you were strapped for cash and couldn’t afford to feed your pet beast, you could buy Fullness Fruit. After one fruit, your pet wouldn’t want to eat anything else for the rest of the day.

Of course, this only worked for beasts below the advanced level. Research had shown that advanced-level beasts needed three Fullness Fruits per day, while commander-level beasts needed six.

Despite this, many Beastmasters still opted for Fullness Fruits as a cost-saving measure for their pets.

As someone who wasn’t financially strapped, Qiao Sang wasn’t interested in the fruit.

Her eyes were glued to the massive black and silver figure ahead.

Someone, please explain why there was a General-level Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent on Huangming Mountain!

Under one of the Fullness Trees, a giant snake-like pet beast, about four meters long, coiled itself.

The first three-quarters of its body was black, while the remaining quarter of its tail was a cold silver color.

As the third-stage evolution of the Short-Tailed Snake, Qiao Sang was no stranger to it.

The first stage of its evolution was into the Long-Tailed Snake, the second into the Silver-Tailed Snake.

However, the Silver-Tailed Snake had two possible third-stage evolutions: one was the Poison Mother Black Python, a purely poison-type beast, and the other was the Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent, a dual water-poison type.

The Poison Mother Black Python was the standard evolution for the Silver-Tailed Snake.

But evolving into the Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent required two conditions: It had to evolve in the ocean and have a Poison Pearl in its mouth during the process, both were essential.

There was no way such a pet should be on Huangming Mountain!

Before the Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent could wake up, Qiao Sang quickly scooped up the still-curious Yabao and stealthily backed away.

“Yap?”

Yabao looked confused.

Aren’t we supposed to go forward?

On top of Qiao Sang’s head, Little Treasure quietly sipped his milk, uninterested in the fruit.

The mother and child Magnemouse paused, confused, as they watched Qiao Sang retreat. After a moment, they followed her.

Once they were back near the playful Lijian Sparrow and Saddle worm, Qiao Sang finally felt safe.

Encountering a General-level pet beast without its Beastmaster was highly unusual on Huangming Mountain.

The Magnemouse didn’t seem alarmed at the sight of the Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent, meaning they were aware of its existence.

But there was no way the serpent was a wild pet.

Even leaving aside the Poison Pearl, the fact that it required evolving in the ocean made no sense in this area. Huangming Mountain didn’t even have a sea, nor did the entire Hanggang City.

Recalling the serpent’s appearance, Qiao Sang found it odd. While the black coloring on its face wasn’t particularly telling, its silver tail had three deep, untreated, festering wounds.

For someone with a General-level pet beast like this, how could they not afford treatment?

Even if they were temporarily short on money, anyone would go to any lengths, even take out a loan, to heal a pet of this level.

And yet, there was no Beastmaster in sight.

Something was definitely off.

These thoughts swirled in Qiao Sang’s mind.

After a moment of contemplation, she took out her phone and tried to call the inspection department.

Two seconds later, her face darkened.

No signal...

Huangming Mountain wasn’t a desolate, uninhabited place. Occasionally, people would hike up to watch the sunrise and exercise. Even Ye Jingwen had posted on social media while climbing it before.

She tried again, this time calling the police.

Two seconds later, she panicked.

Why wasn’t she able to reach the police either?!

Usually, even if there was no signal, emergency calls could still go through because they had higher priority transmission.

The signal here had been deliberately blocked, Qiao Sang realized.

The appearance of a wounded Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent without a Beastmaster and the blocked signal together created a growing sense of danger.

She decided it was time to leave.

“Zi?”

The mother Magnemouse called out curiously.

Still intrigued, Qiao Sang asked, “Have you seen the Beastmaster of that Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent before?”

“Zi.” The mother Magnemouse shook its head.

Qiao Sang had no more questions.

As she turned to leave, the Magnemouse she had saved pointed in another direction.

“Zi zi.”

“You know?” Qiao Sang paused in surprise.

“Zi.”

The Magnemouse nodded.

It had seen the Beastmaster when sneaking off for a secret rendezvous.

Despite her curiosity about the Beastmaster’s identity and why they hadn’t treated the serpent’s wounds, there were too many unknowns.

Qiao Sang decided it was best to leave.

“I’ll be going now. I don’t need the fruit. Hopefully, we’ll meet again.” Qiao Sang said to the Magnemouse.

With that, she picked up Yabao and started to retrace her steps.

But as soon as she emerged from the bushes, she found herself face-to-face with the Magnemouse again.

Qiao Sang froze, then awkwardly laughed, quickly trying to clear another path through the bushes.

Once more, she was met by the Magnemouse.

“Zi?”

“Zi?”

The two Magnemouses tilted their heads in unison.

It was like being trapped in an endless loop!

Panic washed over Qiao Sang.

“Yap!”

Yabao jumped down from her arms, alert and scanning the surroundings.

Qiao Sang forced herself to stay calm.

Any bizarre event in this world was caused by extraordinary creatures.

Whether it was illusion, mirror space, or a ghostly maze, such phenomena could all be the work of psychic or ghost-type pet beasts.

There was another high-level psychic or ghost-type pet on this mountain.

And it wasn’t a wild one.

“Where is the Beastmaster of that Silver-Tailed Sea Serpent? Take me to them.” Qiao Sang said.

“Zi.”

Sensing Qiao Sang’s seriousness, the Magnemouse’s demeanor also became more serious.

Seven minutes later.

Qiao Sang hid behind a tree, shocked as she stared at the pale, unconscious man lying on a pile of grass.

Holy crap!

This is 5 million!