Beast Taming: Starting From Zero - Chapter 1293

1293. Chapter 1288 Cursed Crystal (Two in One)

“Put it away for now.” Qiao Sang handed the black cylindrical crystal to Xunbao.

She planned to wait until tomorrow to ask Teacher Mikala what it was.

“Xunxun…”

Xunbao listlessly took off the ring and placed the black cylindrical crystal inside.

Seeing this, Qiao Sang asked, “Qiyufeng gave you resources. Aren’t you happy?”

“Xunxun…”

Xunbao barked with a smile uglier than tears. He was happy.

Qiao Sang laughed, “Don’t laugh. It’s too fake. I’m going to bed first. I’ll take you to get a screen replacement tomorrow.”

“Xun, Xunxun?”

Xunbao’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he couldn’t wait to confirm.

Tomorrow’s screen replacement?

“Yes,” Qiao Sang said as she got into bed.

“Xunxun…”

Xunbao cautiously called out, a thought dawning on him.

But Qiyufeng had already given him the resources…

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t get you a screen replacement just because he gave you the resources,” Qiao Sang said with a smile.

“Xunxun!”

Little Xunbao’s face lit up with excitement upon hearing this. He floated over to his Beastmaster’s side, happily nuzzling his head against her cheek.

“Alright, alright,” Qiao Sang pushed his head away, saying, “Don’t use your phone tonight. I’m going to sleep.”

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao floated over, nodded repeatedly, and considerately pulled the blanket over his Beastmaster.

Qiao Sang closed his eyes and quickly fell asleep.

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao floated over to the sofa and happily picked up his phone.

Then, remembering something, he put it down again and floated out the window.

His Beastmaster had already replaced the screen, so he should go train. He loved it most…

…

The next morning.

Qiao Sang yawned and got up.

As she woke, she saw Little Xunbao staring at her intently.

“Good morning,” Qiao Sang greeted.

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao grinned and called out.

Good morning!

Qiao Sang woke up and went to the bathroom to wash up.

Little Xunbao followed him.

Qiao Sang brushed his teeth while glancing at him.

“Xunxun~”

Seeing his beastmaster’s gaze on him, the little Xunbao quickly grinned.

Qiao Sang said helplessly, “Don’t follow me like that. I haven’t forgotten what we said last night. When the Fairy Jade arrives today, I’ll take you to replace the screen.”

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao’s eyes lit up, and he nodded, floating outside.

So understanding… Qiao Sang sighed.

Even Gangbao has evolved, but in Little Xunbao’s mind, replacing the screen still seems more important than resources…

This won’t do. The mission assessment is already underway, and I need to hurry and get stronger. I wonder what the black crystal that Qiyufeng gave me yesterday is. I hope it’s something that increases my energy…

Qiao Sang finished washing up and left the bathroom.

Half an hour later,

in the hotel restaurant,

the waiter busily set breakfast on the table.

“Qiyufeng came yesterday,” Qiao Sang said.

“I know,” Mikaela said, gracefully cutting bread.

As an S-rank Beastmaster, she’d heard the noise early on, but unlike her students, she couldn’t immediately grasp Qi Yufeng’s words. Her presence was merely a backdrop, so she remained in her room.

“It also gave me a black crystal, but I didn’t recognize it,” Qiao Sang said, looking at Little Xunbao.

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao, noticing his Beastmaster’s gaze, quickly removed the ring and retrieved the cylindrical black crystal he’d placed there the previous day, placing it on the dining table.

Mikaela glanced down, her expression slightly strained. “This is a Cursed Crystal,” she explained. “It’s usually only formed after the death of a ghost-type pet with powerful curses. If a non-ghost-type pet comes into contact with it for a long time or uses it, it will become cursed. However, if a ghost-type pet uses it, it increases the curse’s power.”

So it was called a Cursed Crystal… Qiao Sang held the crystal up to the sunlight streaming in from the window, examining it carefully.

She wasn’t frightened. Yabao possessed the sacred fire, and even if she herself was cursed, she could purify it.

Seeing Qiao Sang examining the Cursed Crystal, Mikaela’s lips twitched as he continued,

“The power of the curse within a Cursed Crystal is determined by the Ghost-type Pet that condensed it. To condense a Cursed Crystal, a Ghost-type Pet must have reached at least the Imperial rank.”

Qiao Sang felt his hand suddenly feel hot and quickly placed the black crystal on the table.

Yabao was only at the early Imperial rank and had never purified a curse of the level of an Imperial Ghost-type Pet. It would be prudent to avoid prolonged contact with it.

“Does the Cursed Crystal increase energy?” Qiao Sang asked, raising his concerns.

Little Xunbao looked over.

“Yes,” Mikaela said, “but not much. Its main function is to increase the power of the curse.”

“That’s not bad either,” Qiao Sang smiled.

After absorbing so much dead spirit grass in the Sound Bird Valley, Little Xunbao’s energy had already increased significantly. With a little more, he would reach the middle stage. A pet that can condense a cursed crystal must be at least a royal pet. Even if the energy added isn’t much, it should be able to get Xiao Xunbao to the middle stage, or nearly to the middle stage.

In the latter case, just add points to it to quickly reach the middle stage. Then, by taking the royal potion, Xiao Xunbao will be able to reach the late king stage, and his combat power will increase dramatically.

Qiao Sang’s appetite was whetted when he thought of this, and he quickly devoured the food in front of him.

…

4:10 pm.

In the open-air training ground, Xiao Xunbao was training absent-mindedly while sensing the movements around him.

When would the demon spirit jade that his own beastmaster had mentioned be delivered? The delivery speed was too slow. If he were a courier, he would definitely deliver it in the morning…

Just as he was thinking, lightning struck from the sky.

Little Xunbao subconsciously dodged to the side.

“Bang!”

The lightning brushed past him and slammed into the ground.

After this period of training, Little Xunbao’s extrasensory perception seemed to have improved a lot, and he didn’t seem as afraid of lightning as before. After all, if it had been so scared before, he would have been so scared that he would have used teleportation… Qiao Sang thought calmly.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated.

Qiao Sang realized something, his eyes lit up, and he quickly took out his phone and answered it.

“Hello? Is this Ms. Qiao? You have a package from Blue Star that you need to sign for.”

“Where are you now… Okay, I’ll be right there.”

Qiao Sang hung up the phone.

“Xunxun?” Little Xunbao teleported over, his eyes lit up, and he called out, asking if the Fairy Jade had arrived?

Qingbao, who was training hard, saw Little Xunbao suddenly disappear, stopped, and showed a dissatisfied expression.

Then he heard the conversation, thought of something, and his eyes also lit up, and floated over.

You look happier than Qingbao. If someone didn’t know, they would think the Fairy Jade was for you… Qiao Sang looked at Xiao Xunbao and said with a smile, “Yes, I’ll go get the express now.”

“Xunxun~”

Seeing it was indeed the Fairy Jade, little Xunbao’s face lit up with excitement. He called out, indicating where it was and that he would go get it right away.

“In the hotel lobby,” Qiao Sang said. “I have to come along. I need to sign for it in person.”

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao’s eyes flashed blue as he disappeared with his beastmaster and Qingbao.

About half a minute later, the two beasts returned to their original location.

The difference was that Qiao Sang had a package in his hands.

“Qingqing,”

Qingbao called out.

Immediately, a sharp blade formed from wind sliced the package open.

Qiao Sang pulled out the box, entered the code, and opened it.

A piece of jade, shimmering faintly pink, suddenly appeared before his eyes.

“Qingqing,”

Qingbao’s eyes lit up, and he stretched out his claws to touch it.

“You can’t touch it now,” Qiao Sang said, quickly closing the box.

“Qingqing?”

Qingbao called out, his expression puzzled.

“You haven’t reached the General level’s energy cap yet,” Qiao Sang patiently explained. “If you touch it now, it might trigger an evolution, and then you won’t be able to evolve perfectly.”

She handed the box to Little Xunbao.

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao quickly placed the box in the ring, then looked at his beastmaster expectantly.

“Qingqing?”

Qingbao called out, asking when he’d reach the General level cap.

“Soon,” Qiao Sang smiled. “Probably in the next two days.”

In fact, if they didn’t have to travel all the way to Jia Country, she would add points to Qingbao tonight and let him evolve.

“Qingqing.”

After evolving, it would be the same level as Little Xunbao… Qingbao’s eyes curved into a happy expression, and he called out.

Meanwhile, a cheerful breeze blew around them.

“Get ready, we’re going to Jia Country,” Qiao Sang said.

She pulled out her phone and prepared to contact Teacher Mikaela.

But just then, Little Xunbao took a step back, as if hurt.

Qiao Sang looked up and saw Little Xunbao looking at her with a face full of resentment.

A sudden thought struck her, and she added, “But before we go to Jia Country, little Xunbao, come with me to replace the screen.”

“Xunbao!”

Little Xunbao exclaimed, his face suddenly lit with excitement.

…

At 6:20 pm. High

in the sky.

A dazzling figure raced through the air.

Little Xunbao sat on Yabao’s lap, happily playing with his phone, which had its screen replaced.

“Jia Country is vast. If we search normally, we won’t find the Hidden Ghost Grass within a month.” Mikaela asked, “What are your ideas?”

Qiao Sang pondered for a moment, then said, “I’m going to post a quest to find the Hidden Ghost Grass first, and then hire some ghost-type pets to help with the search.”

“That’s a good idea, but you’ll have to screen the ghost-type pets you find,” Mikaela said.

“Why?” Qiao Sang asked.

Hidden Ghost Grass is only visible to ghost-type pets and beastmasters with clairvoyance, so why would we need to screen them? As long as the ghost-type pets can see it, wouldn’t it be fine?

“Because it’s said that the Hidden Ghost Grass has a fatal attraction for ghost-type pets,” Mikaela said slowly. “If they don’t have absolute self-control, they might just consume it themselves after finding it.”

Qiao Sang couldn’t help but glance at Xiao Xunbao.

In her opinion, Xiao Xunbao’s self-control was a bit lacking.

Xiao Xunbao noticed his beastmaster’s gaze, looked up, and grinned.

… Qiao Sang retracted her gaze and said seriously, “I’ll carefully select it.”

Then a thought struck her, and she asked, “Can Jiubugu help me find it?”

Jiubugu was standing nearby, looking up at the moon, his whole body radiating loneliness, seemingly oblivious to the question.

Mikaela glanced at Jiubugu and sighed,

“Of course, I can, but don’t hold your hopes too high…”

“Wait a minute,”

the Dragon King added before she finished, indicating that, indeed, this guy was currently obsessed with getting rid of his Smiling Night Spirit nine out of ten minutes, and couldn’t possibly focus on helping you find it.

When the Laughing-Eyed Night Spirit was mentioned, Jiubugu glanced over, but quickly looked away, returning to the moon.

Mikaela nodded in agreement.

How could it be? It still needed to contact the Tenth Seat, and then contact the Time Pan Te… Qiao Sang feigned a sigh and said, “If I don’t complete this mission assessment, I might have to stay on Yantian Star for another year, waiting until next year for the assessment.”

His implication was that if he failed to complete his mission, he would be away from Yantian Star longer, and it would take longer to see the Tenth Seat.

“Jiujiu,”

Jiubugu understood the meaning, turned around, and called out earnestly, offering to help with the search.

The Dragon King didn’t immediately understand and looked surprised.

His brain was really quick… Mikaela was stunned for a moment, then looked at Qiao Sang, secretly impressed.

She was confident in her own strength and wisdom, but she didn’t think she had a natural talent for communicating with her pets.

“Thank you,” Qiao Sang thanked him.

“Jiujiu,” Jiubugu replied, continuing to gaze at the moon.

“How far has Qingyun Nana’s energy gotten?” Mikaela changed the subject.

She remembered the Fairy Jade.

“It’s almost at its limit,” Qiao Sang said.

“We can test it when we get to Jia Country,” Mikaela said.

“How long will it take to get to Jia Country?” Qiao Sang asked.

Mikaela took out her phone and checked it. “About half an hour.”

In fact, both Peng Jiamei and Xiao Xunbao could travel directly to Jia Country, but since their hotel was closed until 7 pm, they didn’t come directly.

Searching for a plant in a country isn’t an aimless search; at least you have to get a good feel for the terrain first. So Qiao Sang wasn’t in a rush.

After checking into the hotel, he’d head out to gather information on the Hidden Ghost Grass and find some Ghost-type pets. But when Teacher Mikala suggested testing Qingbao’s energy, there was no need to refuse. He might as well have Qingbao evolve while she was checking in. Otherwise, seeing that Qingbao’s energy was nearing the upper limit for a General-level pet, Teacher Mikala would surely have her testing for the next few days, which would be a waste of time searching for the Hidden Ghost Grass. Qiao Sang suddenly thought and asked,

“After absorbing the Cursed Crystal, will little Xunbao fall into a long sleep due to digestion?”

Hearing this, little Xunbao looked over.

“No,” Mikala said.

“Xunxun~”

Little Xunbao’s eyes lit up. He immediately removed the ring, pulled out the Cursed Crystal from it, stuffed it into his mouth, and with a “crunch,” he bit it into pieces.

Qiao Sang saw this and didn’t try to stop him.

If consuming the Curse Crystal would cause a prolonged sleep, she would have waited until the mission assessment was complete before asking Little Xunbao to take it.

“However, after absorbing the Curse Crystal, there will be a period of time when the curse power within the body cannot be controlled, and it will want to curse the people and pets around you,” Mikaela continued. (End of this chapter)