Beast Taming: My System is Bugged

Chapter 307 - 296: A Glimpse of the Spirit God (2)

It was most likely going to fail.

The Array on the ground began to hum.

The Runes of the Array rotated slowly, pulsing rhythmically and emitting waves of energy.

Gu Ming closed his eyes, listening quietly with his Sword of Spiritual Sense. He could feel the Sword Body trembling slightly, a vibration caused by the summoning ripples of the Divine Invitation Ceremony.

The ceremony had taken effect, but the anticipated response was nonexistent.

The surrounding night was dark and silent. Apart from the breathing of the two people and their Pet Beasts, there was no other sound.

Even after the Array had been glowing for dozens of seconds, there was still no response.

A sense of disappointment washed over them both.

’It’s probably a failure,’ Lu You murmured to herself.

The light from the Array was also growing dimmer.

The materials for the Array couldn’t sustain the consumption for that long. With no response after dozens of seconds, the ceremony was declared a failure.

When ordinary people petitioned a Spirit Venerable, it didn’t take this long. A reply within ten seconds was generally considered a success. If there was no response within half a minute, it meant the purchased Spiritual Liquid had expired.

Lu You had followed Gu Ming’s advice, purifying the Spiritual Liquid midway and altering the ceremonial Array, which was equivalent to creating a whole new ritual path.

Creating a new ritual from scratch was not easy. It required a large number of failed attempts to build a model, and only through slow analysis could one possibly find the correct path.

Besides, neither of them had ever studied rituals. It was only natural for their first attempt to fail.

BUZZ—

The Array Flags on the ground had also exhausted their Spiritual energy and stopped glowing.

The courtyard plunged into darkness, with only the house behind them emitting light.

She straightened up, preparing to clean up the Array components on the ground.

But Gu Ming was the first to sense a vast, indescribable fluctuation. It made his Sword of Spiritual Sense tremble, followed by a tremor from his Pet Beast’s Dantian Foundation Establishment Tripod.

A gaze seemed to descend from the heavens.

Lu You was the last to sense it.

Before taking the Divine Invitation Potion, she had also consumed a Spiritual Power drug she’d concocted to reduce her spiritual "bluntness," all to mitigate the risks of contacting a Spirit God.

When her Sword of Spiritual Sense vibrated, her body lacked even the strength to lift her head.

She felt her entire body tense up, her breathing becoming rapid.

Her Sea of Consciousness was utterly calm, unable to stir even a single ripple, as if it had been ironed flat by that invisible gaze.

’The Spirit God has descended?’

She was horrified.

She had only intended to give it a try. After all, according to the case files, successful petitions to a Spirit God were exceedingly rare. She never expected to be so lucky.

In that instant, Lu You felt the Sea of Consciousness in her mind explode.

The Divine Invitation Potion she had just consumed vanished in the blink of an eye.

Immediately after, her tranquil Sea of Consciousness surged like floodwaters, rushing outward and crashing against its walls, forging a whole new world.

Then, her vision went black, and she collapsed.

Gu Ming rushed forward, Physics Holy Sword Crowbar in hand, and hacked at the core Array Flag, destroying the Divine Invitation Array.

The three pets also hurried over, using their respective powers to bombard the ground and destroy the Talismanic Ink.

In a flash, the pressure that had been pressing on his mind vanished without a trace.

But Gu Ming could still feel the lingering after-effects of that immense Power. Even though the gaze had withdrawn, the memory still made him shudder.

He hurried to Lu You’s side, gently pressing her wrist to check her pulse. It was beating healthily, just a little fast.

"Wake up, Lu You," Gu Ming said, nudging her gently.

She woke up immediately. Because her Sea of Consciousness was expanding so rapidly, even if she fainted, she couldn’t have stayed unconscious for long.

Gu Ming’s voice was unique; it woke her directly, forcing her to rally her spirits and sit up cross-legged on the ground.

"Use Visualization on Cyan Pine, control the ripples in your Sea of Consciousness, and let Old Deng’s Health Array smooth the fluctuations," Gu Ming instructed from the side.

A rampaging Sea of Consciousness was a very dangerous thing. At this stage, only Cyan Pine could be used to calm it.

Lu You subconsciously circulated Cyan Pine, using Visualization on the Cyan Pine Spiritual Technique that Gu Ming had written, imagining his figure appearing in her mind.

The phantom image of the pine tree faded as the importance of the human element was reinforced. In a short while, she regained her Control Power over her Sea of Consciousness and once again suppressed its violent turmoil.

Petitioning a Spirit God for a blessing was an extremely risky endeavor to begin with.

Anyone with a bit of sense would think twice.

It was only after completing the ceremony that Gu Ming and Lu You realized, in hindsight, that they had been far too reckless.

Perhaps they had been influenced by that bottle of Spiritual Liquid, causing them to momentarily lose their reason.

Fortunately, the ceremony was ultimately a success.

Lu You let out a long breath and checked the quality of her Sea of Consciousness. When she discovered that it had improved instead of declined, a look of joy appeared on her face.

She opened her sparkling eyes, and before she could announce the good news, she heard Gu Ming ask, "How are you? Should we go to the infirmary to get you checked out?"

The infirmary at a private university was hardly free.

Even just getting a requisition form for a basic check-up started at ten thousand yuan.

Studying at Wenquxing University was an extraordinary way to burn through money.

Lu You shook her head obediently. She wasn’t about to waste money. Besides, she felt refreshed and clear-headed, her Sea of Consciousness more ethereal than ever before.

Words were unnecessary. She whispered that she was fine, then headed straight for the testing room inside to touch the giant Crystal Ball.

The Stars on it lit up one by one. Two Stars were shining brightly, and the light was still growing toward a third.

Just as the third star was about to be completed, the growth stopped abruptly.

Lu You felt a bottleneck. She had already stepped halfway through the threshold of a Three-star Beastmaster, possessing the Spiritual Power of a Pseudo-Three-star Beast Master.

Previously, her Spiritual Power level was only one and a half Stars.

Now it had nearly reached three Stars. This was the astonishing result of petitioning the Spirit God.

Seeing her Sea of Consciousness had improved so much, Gu Ming also stepped forward to touch the Crystal Ball and test his own Spiritual Power strength.

Two Stars lit up inside the Crystal Ball, followed by the third Star, which began to glow faintly.

But its brightness was less than half, equivalent to a Spiritual Power level of 2.2 Stars.

The difference was obvious when the two were compared.

Gu Ming’s method was arduous training combined with Cultivation Technique practice.

He had never actively taken any Elixirs meant to increase Spiritual Power.

However, the nutritional meals prepared by his family and the trace elements included in the training plan customized by his teacher could also increase his Spiritual Power.

Strictly speaking, eighty to ninety percent of his Spiritual Power growth came from his high Skill Level in his Cultivation Technique, with only ten to twenty percent related to his diet.

In contrast, Lu You, a pure Ascetic Monk, had achieved exponential growth right after completing the ceremony. It was simply outrageous.

’Is this the power of the Divine Invitation Ceremony?’

This made Gu Ming’s heart race, and he couldn’t help but wonder if he should try it once himself.

But the ceremony just now had made it clear that the risks were not to be underestimated.

His current Spiritual Power was sufficient for now, so there was no need to rush into taking Lu You’s shortcut.

He planned to wait until he found a third Pet Beast cub he liked before considering whether to follow Lu You’s example and perform the ceremony.

If he succeeded, there would be two cases of Low-star Beastmasters successfully petitioning a Spirit God.

He might even be able to use these two case studies to write a thesis on Spirit God invitation ceremonies for Low-star Beastmasters and rack up some Credit Points.

As far as he knew, most pharmaceutical companies currently developed drugs centered around the retainers of Spirit Venerables.

By performing a Spirit God ceremony as a Low-star Beastmaster, he would essentially be opening a new commercial path for pharmaceutical companies—developing drugs that reduce Spiritual bluntness.

Gu Ming reviewed the events in his mind. The key to Lu You’s success was that drug for reducing spiritual bluntness.

Otherwise, her Spiritual Power wouldn’t have been able to withstand even a momentary gaze from the Spirit God.

Gu Ming practiced Cyan Pine with Lu You for a while. Seeing that she was fine, he went back to his room to rest.

Gu Ming had things to do at night, too. He had to work a part-time job during the day, so he could only make up for it with Dream Realm Cultivation Time at night. This was the crucial cheat-like ability that allowed him to be the king of part-time workers.

Before leaving, he also instructed Mouse Treasure to pay close attention to its master’s physical and mental condition.

Petitioning a god was fraught with risks. She seemed fine now, but who knew if something might happen later?

Mouse Treasure nodded and patted its chubby belly, assuring Gu Ming that it would watch over its master.

Afterwards, the two of them went back to their rooms to sleep.

Lying in bed, Gu Ming did not rush to fall asleep.

At that moment, he was checking the system’s bullet comments.

The system sometimes had a delay. Occasionally, it would only update the plot after he had finished everything he was doing.