Celestial Beast Taming

Chapter 291: Chapter 178: Foundation Level: Endless Wood

As Zhong Yi took the Signal Cicada, Flower Venerable activated her Soul Base.

An unremarkable object that looked like a tall tree stump appeared in Flower Venerable’s hand.

”Xiaoyi, this is a Guardian Beast I obtained from the Prayer Source Battlefield. It’s called Endless Wood.”

”You helped Suxin heal her broken Heart Vein, so this is the reward I prepared for you.”

”This Endless Wood doesn’t match the Guardian Beast Types I’m compatible with. Your Order Beast is of the Healing Element, so this Endless Wood most likely won’t be a good match for you either.”

”Even though this Endless Wood is already Bronze Quality, forming a Contract with it will consume more Soul Power than usual.”

”But once you find a Creator to analyze its abilities for you, you’ll see that this Endless Wood is absolutely worth raising.”

”When that time comes, you can find someone trustworthy to form a Contract with Endless Wood, a Foundation Level Functional Guardian Beast.”

Zhong Yi was rather surprised. He hadn’t expected this thing that looked like a dead tree stump to actually be a Guardian Beast.

Guardian Beasts from other worlds like this one were completely foreign to Zhong Yi.

However, Zhong Yi didn’t need to do as Flower Venerable suggested and have someone else form a Contract with Endless Wood.

Zhong Yi could form a Contract with Endless Wood himself using his Soul Taming Seed.

Zhong Yi used All Things Exploration to inspect the Guardian Beast called Endless Wood.

’What’s so special about this Guardian Beast to warrant such high praise from Flower Venerable?’

[Guardian Beast Name]: Endless Wood

[Guardian Beast Species]: Wood Ancestor Species/Illusion Wood Species

[Guardian Beast Level]: Mortal Beast Tier (7/10)

[Guardian Beast Type]: Demon Spirit Element

[Guardian Beast Quality]: Bronze Quality

Skills:

[Fantasy Combination]: Piece together fantastical scenes based on imagination. The strength and stability of the scene are related to the number of Endless Wood units used. The number of Endless Wood units increases with its Level and Quality.

Exclusive Traits:

[Endless Mark]: Place a unique mark on a designated target. When the mark is actively triggered, as long as the target is in the same world, it will be pulled directly into a scene constructed by this Guardian Beast.

After a quick look, Zhong Yi understood why Flower Venerable had given Endless Wood such high praise.

If it were up to him, Zhong Yi’s appraisal of this Endless Wood would have been even higher.

’It’s a good thing Flower Venerable couldn’t form a Contract with Endless Wood. Otherwise, she never would have given it to me as a reward.’

In Zhong Yi’s mind, this Endless Wood was, for any faction, an asset on the same level as the Fertile Creation Ant Queen.

However, compared to the Longevity Empress Bee, it was still a tier below.

Based on its Basic Skill, Fantasy Combination, as Endless Wood’s Tier and Quality increased, it could proliferate vast amounts of wood. The Contractor could then use their imagination to assemble this wood into all sorts of scenes.

For example, a tree hollow, a house, or even a castle.

The scenes assembled from Endless Wood depended on the Guardian Beast Master’s imagination.

As a game designer, Zhong Yi’s imagination was already quite powerful.

Coupled with the fact that he had consumed a great deal of film, television, and literature in his previous life, imagination was the one thing he didn’t lack.

The moment he saw Endless Wood’s Basic Skill, Fantasy Combination, Zhong Yi immediately thought of the Infinite City he had seen in an anime from his past life.

As Endless Wood’s Tier and Quality increased, constructing the Infinite City with vast amounts of wood would become possible.

Moreover, the Exclusive Trait it gained upon reaching Bronze Quality, Endless Mark, would make this vision even more achievable.

Endless Wood could place a mark on a designated target.

When Endless Wood actively triggered the mark, it could pull the target directly into the scene it had constructed.

After forming a Contract with Endless Wood, Zhong Yi could command it to place an Endless Mark on every member of his faction.

When members were out on missions, activating the mark could reduce their travel time back.

In the future, if a member bearing an Endless Mark was ever controlled, captured, or trapped in a perilous location, activating the mark could pull that member directly into the scene built by Endless Wood, helping them escape.

Right now, Endless Wood was only at the Seventh Level of the Mortal Beast Tier and Bronze Quality. As its Tier and Quality continued to increase, it would gain new Skills and Exclusive Traits.

Endless Wood would very likely develop even more functions.

Seeing Zhong Yi’s gaze fixed on the Endless Wood in her palm, Flower Venerable thought to herself.

’Does Zhong Yi think the Endless Wood’s appearance is too plain? Can he not see its value?’

’I’m giving this Endless Wood to him as a reward; I have to make sure he understands its worth.’

’Otherwise, forget him owing me a favor—he might even think I’m being dismissive.’

Flower Venerable placed the Endless Wood in Zhong Yi’s hand and began to explain.

”Xiaoyi, don’t be fooled by how ordinary the Endless Wood looks now. It’s a Demon Spirit Element Guardian Beast. After you form a Contract and raise it, it’s very likely to undergo a special transformation.”

”Demon Spirit Guardian Beasts generally look completely different before their Contract compared to after they’ve been raised.”

After explaining the functions of Endless Wood to Zhong Yi, Flower Venerable left the Star Frost Tower and returned to the Celestial Destiny Society.

Not long after Flower Venerable left, Bai Chen arrived at the Star Frost Tower.

Upon seeing Zhong Yi, Bai Chen enthusiastically invited him to play a game of Demon Chess.

Zhong Yi had never played Demon Chess before, but he picked it up extremely quickly.

For Zhong Yi, Demon Chess—the game taking the Guardian Beast World by storm—was surprisingly addictive.

By the time Zhong Yi left the Star Frost Tower, the sky had already darkened.

After Zhong Yi returned to his residence and had dinner, he heard from Tao En that Zhao Kai’s two Dragon Species Guardian Beasts had successfully advanced to the Mythical Tier that afternoon.

Furthermore, upon their advancement, both reached Platinum Quality.

Zhong Yi raised an eyebrow at the news. ’No wonder I didn’t see Zhao Kai at dinner.’

So, Zhao Kai’s two Guardian Beasts had finally advanced to the Mythical Tier as he’d hoped.

Zhao Kai was currently in the activity room, watching over his Shield Crystal Armor Dragon and Thorny Horned Dragon after their advancement in Tier and Quality.

Both of Zhao Kai’s Guardian Beasts had previously suffered extremely severe damage to their Origin, and the Shield Crystal Armor Dragon had even been on the verge of death.

Zhong Yi had saved both of them, so he was happy to see their strength increase.

Even with Tao En under his command, giving him an Eternal Tier combatant, Zhong Yi only had four Mythical Tier fighters. That was counting the newly advanced Zhao Kai and Shi Mi, who had been devoured by the Fertile Creation Ant Queen.

”Young Master, Zhao Kai’s talent is quite good. I’m preparing to take him as my disciple.”

”With my guidance, Zhao Kai could advance to become a Five-finger Creator in less than two years.”

”As for Wu Qing, he has the skill to concoct Elemental Activation Potions, which shows he certainly has a high aptitude.”

”But his innate talent isn’t on par with Zhao Kai’s. I’m afraid he has no chance of advancing within the next ten years.”

”I won’t take Wu Qing as my disciple, but if he seeks my advice in the future, I will still guide him seriously.”

Tao En had once been betrayed by a disciple he had painstakingly nurtured.

Although Tao En was strict with his disciples, he treated them no worse than his own son.

In fact, on certain matters, Tao En might have been even stricter and harsher with his son.

After being betrayed by his disciple, Tao En was heartbroken. At the time, he thought he would never take on another disciple.

More than a decade later, Tao En had finally come to terms with his disciple’s betrayal.

After meeting Zhao Kai, Tao En felt a desire to nurture his talent.

Since both he and Zhao Kai served under Zhong Yi, Tao En didn’t have to fear being betrayed again, even if he took Zhao Kai as his disciple.

That afternoon, while helping Zhao Kai’s two Guardian Beasts advance to the Mythical Tier, Tao En had a serious conversation with him.

Zhao Kai’s talent as a Creator was excellent, and there was no issue with him focusing on improving his abilities in that field.

The only issue was that Zhao Kai was so focused on improving his Creator abilities that he was neglecting the growth of his personal strength.