As Su Ping watched, the only illuminated image in the Myriad Spirits Codex slowly enlarged and appeared before his eyes.
[Record: Forest Wolf] [A special wolf species adept at using the wood attribute, with exceptionally strong vitality. Adult Forest Wolves are generally Elite Tier. Their specialties include Sunlight Absorption, Tree Vine Strangulation, Self-Healing, Accelerated Growth, and other skills.] [Current Record level: 1 (300/500)] Known evolution paths, special cultivation methods: [None discovered yet] Preferences and habits: [Enjoys basking in sunlight and playing in forests. Acts in packs. Stronger in combat during the day or in forests.] Activity log: [Discovered and made contact with a Forest Wolf possessing a poison attribute bloodline mutation. Affinity requirement met. Record experience +300!] [This Forest Wolf is a special mutant. Each subsequent day spent together grants Record experience +5! Each day together offers a chance to discover the cause of its bloodline mutation. Alternatively, a large amount of this Record's experience can be spent to analyze the cause.] [Gain Record experience daily based on the number and levels of creatures of this species you spend time with, and by strengthening creatures whose affinity meets the requirement. Complete the Record and raise its level.]
Looking at the Record, which analyzed Forest Wolves in considerable depth, Su Ping blinked again.
So this Record could level up, too.
And every level-up came with a reward? Remembering the True Eye he had just received, Su Ping's eyes lit up.
The Record's description made it quite clear.
Simply spending time with the creatures in a Record would earn experience, and the greater their numbers and the higher their quality, the more experience he would gain.
He just did not know whether spending time with beasts he had not contracted would count.
Besides, the Forest Wolf Record had only unlocked after he established a soul contract with Xiao Qing.
Did that mean I had to contract every single species to light up all those pet beast Records in the Myriad Spirits Codex?
That was clearly impossible.
After all, Beast Tamers had a limited number of slots for Contracted Pet Beasts.
Each time a Beast Tamer broke through a major rank, they gained only one pet beast slot.
In other words, Su Ping could only contract his second pet beast after he himself reached Elite Tier.
But he carefully read through the Record once more.
His gaze settled on the wording in the log at the bottom in particular.
Affinity!
That was right. In the more than two weeks since graduating in Linzhou City, he had come into contact with quite a few pet beasts.
Not a single one had lit up a Record. The reason had to be this so-called affinity!
In other words, as long as he regularly spent time with these pet beasts, even those he had not contracted could light up their Records and contribute toward leveling them once their affinity was high enough.
Only then did he finally realize that the Pet Beast Breeding Base his unreliable father had left him actually seemed to have some value and purpose!
Su Ping instantly tossed his plans to go exploring out the window.
Exploring? How could exploring be as much fun as farming?
Recalling everything he had learned over the years about Forest Wolves and the Woodheart Pet Beast Breeding Base, Su Ping grew excited.
Carrying Xiao Qing back to the living quarters, he rummaged through Su Anyong's room for ages before finally finding what he wanted.
It was an old book with yellowed pages.
Books like this were clearly uncommon in this era, but according to his father, it was a Su Family heirloom, and the most important reason the Woodheart Breeding Base had survived to this day.
Previously, his father had always made a great show of refusing to let him read it, insisting that he wait until he turned eighteen, awakened his talent, and became a prospective Beast Tamer.
Now it was simply lying at the bottom of a cabinet, clearly not being stored with much care.
The title was rather long:
"Forest Wolf Breeding and Training Manual and the Formula for the Magic Potion 'Woodheart'"
This was where his family's Pet Beast Breeding Base had originated.
According to his father, it was also the culmination of his grandfather's lifelong research.
Magic potions were concoctions made by combining various resources according to formulas. The vast majority were intended for pet beasts.
"Woodheart" was clearly no exception.
Magic potions had many effects. Some accelerated pet beasts' growth, some raised their rank, some restored strength and energy, some made them evolve, and others taught them a particular skill.
Among these types of magic potions, those that could make pet beasts evolve were undoubtedly the most precious. That went without saying.
Next came magic potions that taught pet beasts skills.
The formula for the "Woodheart" potion in this old book belonged to that category.
Woodheart was a skill. Although it was not a "Super Tier" skill with power comparable to forbidden spells in games from his previous life,
it was still quite impressive.
On Blue Star, pet beast skills were generally divided into ordinary skills and Super-Rank Skills.
Although Woodheart was an ordinary skill, it was an extremely rare ability. Sometimes, it was even more useful than certain offensive Super-Rank Skills!
Its effect was actually quite simple. It passively enhanced all of a pet beast's wood attribute skills. When injured or depleted of energy, the beast could actively draw nutrients from Forest Wood, flowers, and grasses to achieve Rapid Recovery.
Combined with a Forest Wolf's skills, this ability was an unbeatable asset in battles fought in the Jungle or grasslands!
Across all of Blue Star, very few wood element pet beasts naturally possessed the Woodheart skill.
If his family's "Woodheart" potion formula did not merely offer a chance of successfully awakening the skill-a very low chance at that, with only a handful of successful awakenings over the decades-and if the potion were not restricted to Forest Wolves,
then this formula alone, never mind how much money it would be worth,
might even win first place in the Breeder Association's annual breeder research competition, making it famous nationwide!
Still, it was his family's heirloom. Since Su Ping had decided to properly run the family's Pet Beast Breeding Base, he naturally needed to master it.
Skipping straight past the Forest Wolf breeding information he already knew by heart, Su Ping carefully studied the Woodheart formula.
"Ingredients: three sections of hollow willow branch, one wood spirit grass plant, three drops of Hundred-Grass Juice, and one Sap-Draining Bee tail stinger."
"Preparation: heat the hollow willow branches over a flame and pound them by hand for 30 minutes. Once crushed into small pieces, add 100 ml of water and one drop of Hundred-Grass Juice.
Pound by hand for another 30 minutes until powdery, then add one drop of Hundred-Grass Juice and one wood spirit grass plant.
Continue pounding by hand for 30 minutes until pulpy, then add one Sap-Draining Bee tail stinger. Finally, pound into a thick liquid and cool for at least six hours until it sets into a jelly. Only then is preparation complete."
"Effect: after consuming it, a Forest Wolf has approximately a one-percent chance of learning the rare skill Woodheart, as well as a chance of increasing its rank."
"The greater the Forest Wolf's talent, the higher the chance of success."
After reading the Woodheart formula from beginning to end, Su Ping sighed.
Damn it. No wonder our family could hang on to such a precious, rare skill potion formula without anyone even knowing about it-or caring.
Being limited to Forest Wolves was one thing, but wasn't this success rate absurdly low?
Anyone interested would be better off contracting a pet beast with Commander Rank or Monarch Rank racial potential than spending their time researching and testing this, wouldn't they?
Still, it was better than nothing.
Shaking his head, Su Ping was about to stand when he suddenly froze again.
At that moment, the Myriad Spirits Codex in his mind turned its pages on its own once more, and the Forest Wolf Record appeared before his eyes.
Then a notification from the Record appeared in Su Ping's mind:
[Discovered a special cultivation method for the "Forest Wolf" Record: the "Woodheart" magic potion.] [The "Woodheart" magic potion formula has been identified as incomplete. Spend 285 Forest Wolf Record experience points to complete the "Woodheart" magic potion formula?]
Su Ping's mouth fell open involuntarily, and wild, disbelieving joy shone in his eyes.
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