Chapter 3: The Nightmare Mark

Lu Yu stepped out of the Chaos Space, and the dense peach forest, like a pink mist, came back into his view.

A gentle breeze wafted through, and the peach blossoms rustled and danced in the wind, resonating with the symphony of spring.

“Eye of Truth!”

Lu Yu silently invoked the power and, within the center of his pupils that sparkled like stars, the silver vines on the key of silver spread out, intertwining to form a stellar pattern of an eye, overlapping as if it were the double pupils of legend.

His originally handsome face gained an additional layer of mystery and eeriness.

After activating the Eye of Truth, his vision greatly improved, and the world he saw through his eyes changed!

【Fifteen-year-old peach tree, transplanted, is in good health…】

【Twenty-five-year-old peach tree, transplanted, tree trunk is insect-infested, it is advised to use insecticide…】

【Peach Blossom Ladybugs, feed on nectar and decomposing plants…】

【Strange Peach Blossom Drum Frogs, an evolutionary form of the Peach Blossom Spotted Frog, remain listless after pregnancy…】

【Peach pigs, two years old, pregnant, with a shoulder height of one and a half meters, a body length of two meters and seven, body weight… feeding during pregnancy can increase favorability, and feeding the infants a drink made from peach blossom nectar can prevent illness in their youth…】

Everything within his sight had data descriptions, from age and growth status to more sophisticated methods of breeding peach pigs…

He volunteered to raise pigs not to escape reality or to provide for a mobile food source that might be snatched away and eaten at any moment.

His true purpose was to accumulate primal capital for himself.

Having gone through the “Distorted Sun” incident, Lu Yu wasn’t sure whether the city he lived in was real, hence he remained slightly wary of everyone.

Therefore, after his recovery, he did not report the talent of the Eye of Truth to his school, but instead, he reported the talent of Beast Affinity.

This was to keep a card up his sleeve; he also feared that his eyes might attract unwanted attention.

However, concealing one’s skill didn’t mean he would let himself fall into complacency.

Especially since his parents had bought a large number of props for their tasks, leaving the family with not much money left – only 130,000 Alliance currency.

It wasn’t a small amount, but not enough to sustain his journey as a beast tamer for long.

To become stronger, he needed to find ways to make money.

After evaluating numerous projects, Lu Yu set his sights on peach pigs.

A lower-ecosystem species with blue skin and pink bristles on their back, they had a stable temperament and were less prone to distortion.

Peach pigs weren’t strong, and their feed was inexpensive, but because of their excellent taste and the way they could replenish vital energy and strengthen muscles and bones, they remained a favorite food for powerful carnivorous beasts.

And some special beast-taming evolutionary conditions required a large intake of peach pigs.

Peach pigs were a signature species of the ecological secret realm near Dayuan City in Taohua County, at the bottom of the ecological pyramid.

It wasn’t hard for an average beast tamer to capture a few, but mass plundering could easily provoke some extraordinary beings that protect their food to hunt the perpetrators down, making their market price quite high, on par with two-star level materials.

With a market established, some savvy individuals chose to cultivate by transplanting peach tree saplings from Taohua County and spending a lot of time capturing dozens of pairs of peach pigs to prepare for large-scale breeding.

However, what many didn’t expect was that, although peach pigs are pigs, the difficulty in breeding them was two and a half stars.

Peach pigs feed on the roots and nectar of peach trees, are quite intelligent, and resist artificial breeding; once they realize they are imprisoned, they become depressed. This impacts their breeding and growth, and they may even choose to commit suicide, leading to a total loss of investment.

But hiring a high-level breeding master for this purpose isn’t worth it. There’s no profit, and it might even lead to financial loss.

But by then, a lot had been invested in building peach forests and purchasing breeding pigs and piglets; giving up halfway was not an option, and it had become quite a troublesome predicament.

Lu Yu, taking advantage of the situation, posed as someone with the Beast Affinity talent and naturally took on the project with ease.

However, since he hadn’t contracted his first beast, activating the Eye of Truth required the consumption of spiritual power, so he could only turn it on intermittently. Yet, he gathered a lot of information by watching pig videos.

Peach pigs, although intelligent, accept feeding during the first month of pregnancy; proper care during this period makes it easier to generate affection, and newborn peach pigs tend to be more human-friendly, leading to better growth and reproduction rates.

With this in mind, Lu Yu collected data on peach pig breeding and, with the abilities of the Eye of Truth, wrote the “Peach Pig Postnatal Care Manual”.

He established an ecosystem with Water Hyacinth to clean up excrement and Peach Blossom Spotted Frogs to take care of pests.

Especially since the large gathering of Peach Blossom Spotted Frogs easily led to the birth of the melody-system servant-level beast, the Peach Blossom Drum Frog, and even the rare undead system leading beast, the Ghastly Face Curse Frog.

While the latter was too rare to consider, the former could be sold as a byproduct, effectively opening another revenue stream.

Under the new ecosystem, the number of young peach pigs saw a significant increase.

On Earth, this achievement would have earned him a banner proclaiming “Expert Pig Breeder”!

After another two months and doubling the number of piglets, Lu Yu could use the results to verify the data and confirm that with the manual, it was possible to train a group of people to breed peach pigs on a large scale.

The highly sought-after peach pigs could then become industrialized, assembly-line products.

He couldn’t keep all the profits to himself, and with the Eye of Truth, he wasn’t in a rush. Making money was easy for him.

His goal was to use these results as leverage in negotiation with the school authority to exchange for a leading potential (gold-tier) beast cub or at least a top-tier elite as his first beast tamer.

“But it’s too late now!” Lu Yu sighed.

Recently, the occurrences of nightmares about the sun had increased in frequency and even begun to affect his mental state, clearly abnormal.

“If the Eye of Truth is effective against everything, perhaps it can reveal my current issue!”

Thinking this, he used his phone’s camera in selfie mode, using the front-facing camera as a mirror to look at himself. The upgraded Eye of Truth indeed revealed a new negative buff entry.

【Nightmare Mark: As a mortal, you accidentally peeked into the essence of the sun, as well as many ancient beings, ‘The Beast’, and surprisingly, your soul did not collapse because you’re as insignificant as an ant and went unnoticed by Them. But the visions you saw are forbidden knowledge for mortals, memories that planted seeds in the depths of your soul, emitting the sweet scent of ancient knowledge. Powerless to defend yourself, you’ve become a special cursed flower. Mortals should not gaze upon the forbidden. The scent of the flower has attracted the attention of a Nightmare Beast, which at a great distance planted the seed of a nightmare in you as a mark. From now on, nightmares will intensify until your soul collapses, which will be Its feast.】

【Your dreams are now a deep sea, slowly drowning you.】

After reading this, Lu Yu’s face was filled with shock.

The shadows that emerged in the aberrant sunlight were the ancient beings, ‘The Beast’!

Could these ancient beings also be beast tamers?

What precisely is ‘The Beast’? Merely glancing at it has tainted his memories, turning them into curses!

Why were these entities wrapped up in deep red chains, and what were they feeding on?

Were the scenes he witnessed from this current time frame?

Various doubts swirled in Lu Yu’s mind, causing him a headache so piercing yet with no one to offer answers.

Moreover, compared to these mysterious beings whose fathomless mysteries they possess, residing far above, even more worryingly, they hadn’t noticed him—a mere ant.

But a trace of their mental contamination became the curse that plundered his mortal life.

An invisible, intangible Nightmare Beast had set its sights on him.

As the nightmares continued to deepen, it would eventually appear and devour his soul!

His life was on a countdown!

Multiple checks had revealed no trace of the nightmare, indicating it’s likely the curse from spying on the forbidden was the cause, making others useless in helping him—they would think he’s gone mad!

As for mighty beast tamers, he didn’t even have the qualifications to ask for their assistance.

Especially since he, a mere ant, had attracted the Nightmare Beast. If a powerful beast tamer intervened, could it trigger an even more terrifying curse, drawing ‘The Beast’s’ attention?

Even if not, a thorough examination might expose the “Key of Truth,” and faced with an ascension to divinity, how many could remain calm?

He didn’t dare bet on the kindness of others and wished to hold his fate in his own hands.

Therefore, Lu Yu needed to become a beast tamer first, unlocking more abilities of the Key of Truth, to seek a way out of his predicament.

Lu Yu unlocked his phone screen and opened the “Nail” app.

Ignoring a bunch of trivial notifications asking for acknowledgement and check-in, reminiscent of commanding a servant, he found a pinned contact.

The note was the “Student Council President”!

【Wolf: President, I need a favor from you!】

His ID was Wolf, silently waiting for the night to fall like a crow at dusk.

He thought he’d have to wait, but the reply came instantly.

【Student Council President: Sure!】

【Wolf: I would like to use the school’s authority to employ the Gold Medal to exchange for a beast at the official center.】