Beast Taming: My Beasts Grind, Die, and Respawn

Chapter 55: One Star Higher

Chapter 55: One Star Higher

Glitch stood up as a 2-Star beast and immediately attempted to destroy every dish the family owned.

He didn’t look dramatically different.

He remained the same small obsidian lizard, his scales only slightly glossier and his violet markings a little sharper.

But when he moved, he flowed.

His foot placement was clean. His balance was precise. The unconscious habit of protecting his injured leg had disappeared entirely.

Glitch took one experimental step.

Then another.

The third was much faster than it had any right to be.

Jin watched several days of digital experience operating inside a real body and felt a slow warmth of pride settle in his chest.

Glitch felt it through their bond.

Naturally, he decided the correct way to celebrate his breakthrough was to test his new speed inside a cramped apartment.

He launched himself from the blanket and aimed directly toward the shelf holding every dish the Astor family owned.

STOP.

The mental command struck through their contract before his second stride.

Glitch dug his claws into the floor and skidded to a halt inches from the shelf.

One bowl wobbled dangerously.

Then settled.

"No," Jin said.

Glitch turned and stared at him, betrayed to his core.

He had reached 2-Star.

He had suffered terribly, eaten heroically and transcended his previous limits.

And Jin was still giving him medical orders.

"Twenty-four hours of rest," Jin said. "You just completed a High-load Sync. Your body needs time to settle."

Glitch released an outraged sound.

"Rest. That’s an order."

Glitch flopped onto his side with the full theatrical weight of a creature enduring a historic injustice.

Elsa discovered the empty cupboard an hour later.

"Where," she asked in a voice of quiet doom, "is the food?"

Jin was lying down with a damp cloth covering his eyes.

"Glitch had a big day."

"Jin, that was three days of food. That was the protein. Those ration blocks were for next—"

Elsa turned toward Glitch.

Then stopped.

He looked healthy.

Better than healthy.

His scales appeared denser. His posture had changed. He sat straighter, and the injured leg moved without the slightest hesitation.

Elsa crouched and checked the limb out of habit.

The wound had almost disappeared. Only a faint scar remained, and even that continued to lighten.

She passed a basic beast-health scanner over him.

[Rank 1 Novice — 2-Star]

Elsa looked back at Jin.

"He broke through."

"Post-examination breakthrough." Jin kept the cloth over his eyes. It was easier to lie when he couldn’t see her expression. "It happens to young beasts sometimes. Extreme pressure during the examination, then proper rest, heavy feeding and the injury finally healing. Everything stacks together, and they push through a Star."

He shrugged beneath the cloth.

"I’ve been managing his recovery. This is what it was for."

It was completely plausible.

Beasts sometimes advanced after surviving extreme stress and receiving proper care afterward.

Every part of Jin’s explanation was technically true.

It simply wasn’t the complete reason.

Elsa narrowed her eyes, searching for the lie.

She couldn’t find the seam.

Arthur watched from the doorway with the quiet attention of someone who had once raised a beast of his own.

He knew the advancement was fast.

One Star during the days following an examination was at the extreme end of what proper recovery could produce.

His gaze moved over Glitch’s polished scales and clean movements before settling on Jin, who remained flattened beneath a damp cloth, visibly exhausted.

Arthur didn’t ask.

"He looks well," he said. "You did right by him, Jin."

A pause.

"Get some rest. Both of you."

Then he returned to the other room.

Jin released a slow breath.

One Star is concealable.

Rest. Heavy feeding. A healed injury. Post-examination development.

That explanation covered one Star.

Barely.

Arthur had noticed the speed even if he had chosen not to question it.

If Glitch continued advancing at the same rate, the cover story would expire long before the growth did.

Later problem, Jin decided.

His head hurt too much for it to become a current problem.

The empty cupboard, unfortunately, was a current problem.

Jin opened the household ration ledger on his phone. Three missing days didn’t look dramatic as a number. In this apartment, they meant Elena taking smaller portions after a twelve-hour shift, Arthur claiming he had eaten at the warehouse, and Elsa pretending she wasn’t hungry so nobody would argue.

The Engine’s coins couldn’t buy food in Shelter 7. The Shop still sat behind its question marks, and no responsible person built a family budget around a menu that refused to explain itself.

Jin added a new rule beneath the others in his notebook:

No High-load Sync without enough real food to pay for it.

Grinding could continue. Growth could remain stored forever. But he would not empty his family’s cupboard again merely because a glowing button made patience difficult.

For once, becoming stronger required him to solve a problem outside the game.

He was almost asleep when the Engine chimed.

Ding!

[Mossy Hollow Completion: 100%] [Current Growth Efficiency: Reduced] [Bound Beast Has Exceeded Recommended Progression Range] [Searching for Compatible Local Training Data...]

Jin lifted the cloth from one eye.

Mossy Hollow had given them everything it possessed.

That was how beginner areas worked. Eventually, players outgrew them.

The search completed.

[New Dungeon Available: Rustwater Drain] [Recommended Strength: Rank 1 Novice, 2-Star] [Primary Hazards: Corrosion, Poison, Limited Visibility] [Unrecorded Beast Signatures Detected]

A preview appeared.

Ancient industrial pipes ran along the walls, coated in orange rust and dripping polluted water. Flooded maintenance tunnels disappeared into darkness. Faint poisonous mist drifted through narrow passages illuminated by a dim green glow.

Something moved beneath the black water.

Large.

Slow.

Visible for only a second before vanishing.

No recorded attack patterns.

No identified enemies.

Exactly the kind of unexplored dungeon Auto-Battle couldn’t safely handle without Jin first mapping its threats.

The digital Glitch had already approached the entrance.

His tail flattened eagerly.

Across the room, the real Glitch lifted his head from the blanket and looked at Jin.

A bright request traveled through their bond.

Now?

"No."

Now?

"It’s an unmapped dungeon, Auto-Battle doesn’t know the enemies, and I can currently see two of everything."

Glitch maintained eye contact and asked a third time with enormous dignity.

Now?

The examination results were still nine days away.

Glitch had already gained an entire Star.

On the screen, something large moved again beneath the dark water of Rustwater Drain.

Jin closed the dungeon window.

The old violet Rift alert still waited in a corner of the map, 0.8 kilometers away and stubbornly marked UNKNOWN. Jin hadn’t forgotten it. Rustwater Drain was recommended for a 2-Star beast; the Rift refused to recommend anything at all.

That made the decision easy.

He would map the dungeon he understood before touching the tear in reality that the entire Shelter had failed to detect. Curiosity remained a resource, and he had already died once by spending it badly.

"Twenty-four hours," he told Glitch firmly. "Then we explore the sewer."

Glitch chirped.

Apparently, Tamer-academy preparation now involved professional sewer diving.

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[Author Note: If you are liking the story up until now, leave a review on the novel. Every 10 new reviews, there would be a bonus Chapter.]