As Su Ping focused his gaze, the only lit illustration within the Myriad Spirits Codex slowly enlarged and appeared clearly before him.
[Codex: Forest Wolf]
[A special wolf species adept at wielding Wood-attribute power, possessing extremely strong vitality. An ordinary adult Forest Wolf is Elite-tier. Commonly used skills include: Sunlight Absorption, Vine Bind, Self-Healing, Accelerated Growth, etc.]
[Current Codex Level: 1 (300/500)]
Known Evolution Charts, Special Cultivation:
[None discovered at present]
Preferences and Habits:
[Enjoys basking in sunlight, likes playing in forests, operates in packs. Combat strength is higher during daytime or within wooded environments.]
Record Log:
[Discovered and made contact with a poison-attribute mutated Forest Wolf. Intimacy requirement met. Codex experience +300!]
[This Forest Wolf is a special mutant. For each subsequent day of interaction, Codex experience +5! Each day of interaction carries a certain probability of discovering the cause of the bloodline mutation. Alternatively, a large amount of Codex experience may be consumed to analyze the mutation's cause.]
[Codex experience is gained daily based on the number of interactions with this species, the individual's level, and whether intimacy thresholds are met, thereby completing the Codex and increasing its level.]
Looking at how thoroughly the Codex analyzed the Forest Wolf, Su Ping blinked again.
So the Codex can actually level up as well.
And every level-up came with rewards?
Thinking of the Eye of Truth he had just obtained, Su Ping's eyes lit up.
The Codex records were very clear:
as long as he interacted with Codex-listed creatures—the greater the number and the higher the quality—the more Codex experience he would gain.
The question was whether interaction with non-contracted Pet Beasts would count.
Moreover, the Forest Wolf Codex had only unlocked after he formed a soul contract with Xiao Qing.
Did that mean that among the countless Pet Beast Codex entries, he would have to contract each one personally to light them up?
That was obviously impossible.
After all, the number of contracted Pet Beasts a Beast Tamer could have was limited.
Each major realm breakthrough only granted one additional contract slot.
In other words, with Su Ping's current state, he could only contract a second Pet Beast after reaching the Elite tier himself.
However, upon rereading the Codex carefully—especially the line at the very bottom of the records—Su Ping's gaze locked onto a key term.
Intimacy.
That was it.
During the month and a half since graduating in Linzhou City, he had interacted with quite a few Pet Beasts.
Yet none of them had lit up the Codex.
The reason had to be this so-called intimacy requirement.
Which meant that as long as he spent enough time accompanying Pet Beasts—even if they were not his contracted ones—once intimacy was sufficient, they could still be recorded and contribute to Codex leveling.
At that moment, Su Ping finally realized that the Pet Beast breeding base his unreliable father had left him might actually have real value and purpose!?
Instantly, all thoughts of going out adventuring were flung far away.
Adventuring?
How could that compare to the joy of farming and cultivation?
Recalling everything he knew over the years about Forest Wolves and the Heart of Wood breeding base, Su Ping felt a surge of motivation.
Holding Xiao Qing, he returned to the living quarters. After rummaging through Su An'yong's room for quite a while, he finally found what he had been looking for.
A yellowed, ancient book.
In this era, such old books were extremely rare. According to his father, this was the Su family's heirloom—and the key reason the Heart of Wood breeding base had survived to this day.
In the past, his father had put on airs and refused to let him see it, insisting he wait until he turned eighteen and awakened his talent as a quasi–Beast Tamer.
Now it had been tossed at the bottom of a cabinet, clearly not treated with much care.
The title was long:
"Forest Wolf Breeding and Training Manual, and the Potion Formula for 'Heart of Wood.'"
The origin of their family's Pet Beast breeding base lay precisely within this book.
According to his father, it was also his grandfather's life's work.
Potions were concoctions made from various resources following specific formulas. The vast majority were intended for Pet Beasts.
"Heart of Wood" was obviously one such potion.
Potion effects varied widely—some accelerated growth, some increased realm levels, some restored stamina or energy, some enabled evolution, and others allowed Pet Beasts to learn specific skills.
Among these, potions that enabled evolution were unquestionably the most precious.
Next in value were potions that allowed Pet Beasts to learn skills.
And the Heart of Wood potion formula recorded in this ancient book belonged precisely to that category.
Heart of Wood was a skill.
Although it was not the kind of "super-tier" skill whose destructive power rivaled forbidden spells from games in Su Ping's previous life, it was still exceptionally powerful.
On Blue Star, Pet Beast skills were generally divided into normal skills and super-tier skills.
Though Heart of Wood was classified as a normal skill, it was exceedingly rare. In certain situations, it could even be more useful than some offensive super-tier skills.
Its effect was actually quite simple:
All wood-attribute skills of the Pet Beast received a passive boost. When injured or when energy was depleted, the Pet Beast could actively draw nutrients from surrounding trees and plants to rapidly recover.
This ability, when paired with a Forest Wolf's skillset, was practically a divine tool in forest or grassland combat.
Across all of Blue Star, very few wood-element Pet Beasts were naturally born with the Heart of Wood skill.
If not for the fact that this Heart of Wood potion only offered a chance of awakening the skill—and a very low one at that, with only a handful of successes over several decades—and that it could only be used on Forest Wolves…
Then just this single potion formula alone—setting aside its monetary value—would have been enough to contend for first place in the annual Breeders' Association Research Competition and make its creator famous nationwide.
Still, since it was a family heirloom, and since Su Ping had already resolved to properly run the family breeding base, mastering it was only natural.
He skipped over the Forest Wolf husbandry knowledge he was already thoroughly familiar with and focused carefully on the Heart of Wood formula.
Ingredients:
Three hollow willow branches, one Wood Spirit Grass, three drops of Hundred-Herb Extract, one Liquid-Siphon Bee stinger.
Method:
The hollow willow branches must be fire-heated and hand-pounded for thirty minutes until crushed, then mixed with 100 ml of water and one drop of Hundred-Herb Extract.
Pound by hand for another thirty minutes until paste-like, then add one more drop of Hundred-Herb Extract and the Wood Spirit Grass.
Continue pounding for thirty minutes until slurry-like, then add the Liquid-Siphon Bee stinger. Finally, pound into a thick liquid and allow it to cool for at least six hours until it solidifies into a jelly. The potion is then complete.
Effect:
After consumption by a Forest Wolf, there is approximately a one-percent chance to learn the rare skill: Heart of Wood, with a chance to increase the Pet Beast's rank.
Forest Wolves with higher innate talent have a higher success rate.
After reading the formula from start to finish, Su Ping let out a sigh.
No wonder.
No wonder such a precious and rare skill potion formula could be safely kept by his family without drawing attention—or interest.
Only usable by Forest Wolves was one thing, but this success rate was absurdly low.
Anyone with the time and resources to research and attempt this would be better off just contracting a Pet Beast with Commander- or Monarch-tier racial potential.
Still, it was better than nothing.
Shaking his head, Su Ping was just about to stand up when he suddenly froze.
Because at that very moment, the Myriad Spirits Codex in his mind flipped pages on its own once again, and the Forest Wolf Codex entry appeared before his eyes.
A stream of Codex feedback followed, resonating directly in his consciousness:
[Discovered special cultivation method for Codex "Forest Wolf": Potion "Heart of Wood."]
[Detected that the "Heart of Wood" potion formula is incomplete. Consume 285 Forest Wolf Codex experience points to perfect the "Heart of Wood" potion formula?]
Su Ping unconsciously opened his mouth, disbelief and wild joy surging into his eyes.