'It's only been tested on Snake Pets, never on anything else?'
'That's fine. In reality, Cyan Treasure isn't a Sub-dragon Pet anyway.'
'Besides its displacement error, the system also has a severe cognitive impairment.'
'It's clearly a Snake Pet, yet the system insists on calling it a pure Dragon Pet.'
'Putting the system's cognitive errors aside, Teacher Zhang's Cultivation Technique is worth a try. It can't be as dangerous as the system claims.'
"It's alright, Teacher Zhang. Cyan Treasure is already at a low point. Learning any other training method would be just as difficult," Gu Ming said.
Teacher Zhang looked into Gu Ming's eyes. His gaze was firm, without a trace of fear.
Then he looked at Cyan Treasure. The snake was flicking its tongue out, looking adorably clueless as it used its tail to scratch its chin.
It paid no mind to their conversation, seeming to have complete faith in its master's judgment.
"Since you're willing to try the New Technique, I'll send you the research paper on the Cultivation Technique in a bit. Let Cyan Treasure take a look. During the training class this afternoon, I'll find some time to explain the difficult parts of the Cultivation Technique to you. You can decide then if you still want to cultivate it," Teacher Zhang said.
After speaking, Teacher Zhang headed straight for his office, pulled up his theoretical research paper, and sent it to Gu Ming's account through the class group.
After sending it, he stared blankly at the screen for a few seconds.
This was part of an economical nurturing plan he had devised for his own young daughter, which originally involved purchasing a Snake Pet with Three-star Potential.
Unfortunately, in order to pay off his old student loans, he never had the resources to purchase a Three-star Snake Pet.
It wasn't until the start of this school year that he finally finished paying off his university debt and the loans he had taken out for Elixirs.
Besides teaching, he also held several part-time jobs, helping others raise their Pet Beasts.
The Fiery Monkey by his side, for example, was one such boarding and training client.
He hustled day in and day out for his daughter's future, hoping she wouldn't have to suffer through university on loans as he did.
Nowadays, tuition at a Beast Taming University was incredibly expensive, and the costs associated with internal competition were astronomical.
You could say that for an ordinary person to get into a Beast Taming University, matriculation was tantamount to taking on a chain of debts.
Even after graduation, they would have to work for over a decade just to pay it all back.
To save on research funds, he often visited Pet Beast Stores to observe Snake Pets, using this direct contact as a substitute for purchasing one. Occasionally, he would take on a client's Snake Pet, which also gave him the chance to collect training data.
He had been researching this Breathing Technique for over a decade and rarely spoke of it to outsiders.
Gu Ming was once the top student in his year, with a limitless future. He was afraid of ruining that future.
'Granted, the future of a Mutated Little Cyan Snake isn't all that great. It can't go very far.'
'But a Cultivation Talent comparable to a Four-star Pet Beast is still an advantage. At the very least, it could get him into a second-tier university.'
He felt a little guilty about letting Gu Ming act as a test subject.
He decided to try and persuade him again in the afternoon.
...
[You have obtained the Unnamed Snake Pet Training Breathing Technique (Fragment)]
After receiving the message, Gu Ming had the Little Cyan Snake get into his desk drawer to look at the phone.
He looked toward the teacher at the front of the class with a focused expression, pretending to listen attentively.
In reality, he was using the power of his Pet Beast Contract to perceive the Little Cyan Snake's reading perspective and view the paper simultaneously.
[Your Time Dragon is reading the fragmented Breathing Technique, deep in thought.]
[Unnamed Cultivation Technique Experience +1]
[Progress Bar: 1/200]
'Huh? Why is the progress bar so short?'
Gu Ming was used to the progress bars for the Headbutt Skills and the Devouring Secret Technique, which always started in the thousands.
'Why is the progress bar for Teacher Zhang's self-developed Cultivation Technique so much shorter?'
It was even less than the five hundred progress points for "Cyan Pine."
The Little Cyan Snake had only been looking at it for a minute and had already gained one experience point.
'At this rate, it might be fully learned in half a day.'
'That shouldn't be right.'
Gu Ming decided to observe a little longer.
Half a class period later, the Little Cyan Snake's learning progress had reached 20, rising steadily at a rate of one point per minute.
This was so much easier to learn than the "Cyan Pine" Cultivation Technique.
He understood the principle that the higher the learning difficulty and the longer the learning time, the more powerful the Cultivation Technique.
'Could it be because it's a fragment? Is it learning so fast because the Cultivation Technique itself is incomplete?'
After the two morning classes were over.
[Progress Bar: 100/200]
With the learning halfway done, Gu Ming now understood the core essence of this training Breathing Technique.
A Snake Pet would draw in Spiritual Qi through breathing, causing the muscles where the Spiritual Qi flowed to ripple and contract. It used the entire body to refine Mana, no longer limited to refining it inside the Dantian.
This was what made it different from mainstream training methods. It was a comprehensive Cultivation Technique that integrated Spiritual Qi absorption, Mana Refinement, and muscle training.
The core training process was using the rhythm of the body's breathing to mobilize the muscles for Refining Mana.
Every bit of Mana refined was the result of the body completing a training cycle.
Gu Ming knew that when the Little Cyan Snake refined Mana, it always used the mainstream method of sleep Refinement.
This involved absorbing Spiritual Qi before sleeping until its Dantian was full, then coiling up like a mosquito coil to lock its meridians and reduce Spiritual Qi leakage, using the digestive power of the Snake Swallowing Elephant Technique to slowly refine it into Mana.
This step was a slow, grinding process. It was also when the body was most relaxed; all its muscles were at rest, with only the muscles around the Dantian being active.
Teacher Zhang's Cultivation Technique, however, was a full-body Refinement, which required an extremely high Cultivation Talent to operate.
After understanding the technique, Gu Ming personally instructed the Little Cyan Snake on its key principles when class was dismissed.
Hearing this, Cyan Treasure had a moment of sudden enlightenment, and its understanding instantly became much clearer.
By the third class period, when it looked at the research paper again, many of the obscure and difficult passages had become understandable.
[Your Time Dragon has received guidance and is full of inspiration. Unnamed Cultivation Technique Experience +1]
[Experience +1]
[Experience +1]
Throughout the class period, experience points popped up continuously.
By the time class ended, Gu Ming found that the progress bar was already full.
He was surprised. He hadn't expected that his own guidance could boost his Pet Beast's learning efficiency.
'It seems that from now on, when my Pet Beast learns a Cultivation Technique, I'll have to study it seriously too to help it save time.'
[Your Time Dragon has learned the Unnamed Training Breathing Technique. However, it quickly discovers that the technique is severely incomplete. A single breathing cycle is not enough to train the entire body.]
[After all, this technique has never been tested on a Grass and Wood Flood Dragon. It is perfectly normal that it cannot be executed properly.]
[Seeing the Time Dragon's predicament, where it nearly breathed its last...]
[Do you choose to return to the mainstream, or continue your research?]
Cyan Treasure, trying the New Technique for the first time, combined training with breathing and quickly found itself struggling to breathe, its muscles trembling.
Training both simultaneously was incredibly draining, and its energy reserves rapidly hit bottom.
The Little Cyan Snake once again fell into a state of muscular fatigue. Gu Ming took a dried fish snack from his pocket and gave it to the snake to replenish its energy.
"Stop for now. Don't practice it for the moment," he said.
As for the system's claim of a near-death experience, that was a gross exaggeration.
Cyan Treasure was perfectly fine, just exhausted.
A moment ago, while Cyan Treasure was training, Gu Ming had recorded the cultivation process with his phone.
Seeing that Cyan Treasure was not in any real danger, he forwarded the video to Teacher Zhang.
"Teacher Zhang, could you see if Cyan Treasure is practicing this correctly? It seems to be using up its strength very quickly."