Chapter 31: The Marrow-eating Evil Snail

“This is for you, there are many methods of teaching Beast Taming, and the simplest is through food temptation and video memory techniques.”

Kuang Shiyi took out a bunch of keys from the drawer and tossed them to Tong Xuhua.

“Take the juniors to the second-floor audiovisual room, teach them the energy circulation structure.”

Tong Xuhua took the keys, turned back, and gestured to the three of them, “Let’s go.”

They arrived at a spacious multimedia classroom on the second floor of the teaching building.

The walls, painted on all sides, had been patched up many times, with uneven patches of white like repeatedly sewn-on patches, and at the front was a huge projection screen.

Tong Xuhua took out three black cloth bags from a small drawer in a cabinet and handed them to the three, “You can watch these on your computer or TV when you get back.” He walked over to operate the CD player.

Chen Xing opened the cloth bag and took out a stack of blueprints folded several times over. He unfolded it to find a 2*2m nine-grid chart.

At the top were the words “Seventh Set Of Energy Circulation Structure Diagrams”, and in the middle was a CD.

The energy circulation structure diagram resembled a closed-loop figure like an elevated bridge where one had to visualize and make the energy within the body “flow” according to the patterns of the three-dimensional diagram. This nine-grid chart detailed the steps of the energy circulation structure.

The body needs regular exercise to become stronger, and the mind too must be kept active to become sharper; the energy within the body is the same.

But for Beast Taming, this process is rather dull, akin to asking a primary school student to learn advanced mathematics. Over time, some beast tamers who are naturally averse to studying start to feel sleepy at the mention of practicing the energy circulation structure, and within three minutes of practice, their eyelids would droop, and they would sleep more soundly than usual, more effectively than any sleeping pill or lullaby.

Chen Xing could rather understand this feeling.

That’s because Taotie had a bit of a “slacker” potential, not fond of learning this energy circulation structure. He had already been teaching it for almost a week with little success.

Every time he asked if it had learned, it would wag its tail and say it had.

Then when he asked which step it had reached, it would say the first step.

Actually, Taotie was quite smart, as could be seen from its daily interactions and conversations with Chen Xing, indicating its intelligence was not low, but it was simply unwilling to put in the effort to study.

Meanwhile, having set up the video, Tong Xuhua drew the curtains, and the room’s light darkened, with only the front wall’s projection showing a 3D animation. The video was of the energy circulation structure’s motion model, and to accommodate the beast tamers’ vision, the model’s colors were more vivid than usual, appearing garishly colorful, so glaring to the human eye that one could hardly help turning their head away after a while.

“You can summon your beasts now, the video is more illustrative, and if you want to train them to learn, it’s best to use rewards to guide them. Depending on the species of the beast, the speed of learning can vary.”

As he spoke, Tong Xuhua asked for updates, “How far have your beasts progressed?”

Wang Bing summoned his armored rhino, “We’ve got to the fourth step; though Maru doesn’t learn fast, he works hard.”

The rounded armored rhino was like a bowling ball, squinting its small eyes and nudging its owner with its head.

Zhou Hao summoned his Salty Bay Crocodile, “My beast has only reached the third step, alas, I’ve done all I can, studying at least three to four hours every day after returning home.”

The three turned their eyes toward Chen Xing and in unison asked, “Which step has your beast reached?”

Chen Xing,

He suddenly understood why some parents disliked attending parent-teacher conferences.

He then summoned Taotie and said confidently and steadily, “Almost to the second step.”

The three were taken aback for a moment, looking at his confident expression; they had thought his beast had finished learning!

At his feet, Taotie looked back at its master, seemingly sensing the emotions hidden by him.

It snorted lightly through its nostrils with a “hmm”.

Then it turned its head and watched the video being played on the projector intently.

On the way home, Taotie was in high spirits, seeking credit from its master for being hard-working.

“Well done, it learned the second step.”

Chen Xing, too, was quite pleased. Today Taotie had suddenly applied itself diligently, as if it had an epiphany, and in just one afternoon, it had advanced to the second step of the energy circulation structure diagram.

Given this rate of progress, the second step today, the third step tomorrow, and the fourth step the day after. Becoming bigger and stronger is just around the corner!

Upon reaching home and before he could open the door, he heard a familiar voice from inside.

As he opened the door, he saw his sister sitting in the living room.

Chen Lingya laughed playfully, “What, haven’t seen me in a few days and you can’t recognize me anymore?”

Chen Xing snorted, then immediately turned his attention to the Jade Snail sneakily nibbling at the sofa cover on the couch.

“Is this your second Beast Taming creature?”

Chen Xing walked over and crouched down in front of it; the Jade Snail stopped its gnawing, watching Chen Xing warily as he approached.

Chen Lingya humphed softly, “Impressive, right? I’ve already started raising my second Beast Taming creature.”

“Not bad, but you’ll need to work harder, or else in a while you might be overtaken by me—” Chen Xing abruptly pulled back his hand as the Jade Snail in front of him opened its mouth full of sharp teeth.

Bang~

A hand reached out from the side and tapped on its head.

“Don’t be fierce with him.”

After being tapped, the Jade Snail calmed down and continued staring with a pair of intelligent eyes as it chewed on the sofa cover.

“What Species of Beast Taming creature is this?” Chen Xing curiously sized up the Jade Snail, something he had not seen introduced in his textbooks.

“Spinal Cord Devouring Good Snail.” Chen Lingya took a bone from a bag on the table and placed it in front of the Jade Snail.

The completely white Jade Snail seemed to smell something delicious; it cocked its head and slowly examined the cow leg bone in front of it.

Then it opened its large mouth and slowly extended a straw-like appendage from its mouth into the leg bone.

The tough leg bone was vulnerable like paper before this needle-like appendage; from up close, Chen Xing could see the transparent bone marrow being sucked up the straw and into the snail’s mouth.

This sight gave Chen Xing the shivers; if this thing crawled onto his head, wouldn’t it be like sucking coconut juice?

“It’s of the Illusion and Water dual elements; it’s actually quite timid by nature, just a bit protective of its master,” Chen Lingya explained.

This was her new Beast Taming creature and would become a member of their big family from now on.

Chen Xing crouched down and observed its data.

[Species]Spinal Cord Devouring Evil Snail (Platinum Mutation)

[State]Healthy (Full)

[Attribute]Illusion, Poison

[Energy Level]2.9

[Energy Level Limit]44

[Skills]None Mastered

“What’s its name?” Chen Xing asked, turning around.

“Xiao Snail,” Chen Lingya blinked her eyes.

“I meant its Species.”

“It’s called Spinal Cord Devouring Good Snail. Our school just happened to have the Monster Manual from Nightmare Swamp, and it has a close relative called Spinal Cord Devouring Evil Snail, which looks very similar to it but is completely different in color—Spinal Cord Devouring Evil Snails are black,” Lingya explained, feeling somewhat regretful. “Spinal Cord Devouring Evil Snails are of the Illusion and Poison dual elements and are stronger in combat than Spinal Cord Devouring Good Snails. It would have been great if it were a Spinal Cord Devouring Evil Snail.”

Seeing her brother’s strange look, Chen Lingya thought for a moment and felt she might have inadvertently hurt her brother, “I didn’t mean that Water Element creatures are weak, I just think the Poison and Illusion elements are more complementary.”

“Heh, a woman who’s stepped in dog shit luck,” Chen Xing stood up.

Chen Lingya felt puzzled, then suddenly had an epiphany and raised her eyebrow, “So you’re jealous that I have a second Beast Taming creature.”

Originally, Chen Xing didn’t want to explain more, but considering that feeding a Beast Taming creature with an A attribute long-term food of a B attribute could be detrimental to its growth and development over time.

So he kindly reminded, “I’ve seen these two types of Beast Taming creatures on the internet before, and I think it looks more like the Spinal Cord Devouring Evil Snail. You might want to check on that.”

Chen Lingya was skeptical, “You’ve seen it? But the colors are different.”

“The color could be different due to a mutation, even tigers can be albinos,” Chen Xing didn’t go into detail, only suggesting that Chen Lingya check for herself, mainly because the previous statement was made up, and he wasn’t sure how to explain if questioned further.

So Chen Xing gave Chen Lingya a knowing look that said everyone who understands, understands, and no matter how much I explain, those who don’t, won’t get it.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep