Thunder Weather, Success (Two in One)

Hearing the commotion, Teacher Mikala instinctively looked up. When she saw the flash of lightning streak through the night sky, her pupils contracted and her face filled with shock.

Th-Thunder Weather?!

As an S-rank Pet Tamer and an honorary teacher at the Imperial Pet Taming Academy, being well-informed was a basic requirement. Let alone High-Level Skills—so long as a pet beast had the aptitude, she even had a certain chance of personally teaching it a Super-Level Skill.

Yet the scene before her still struck her deeply.

The High-Level Skill Thunder Weather... the Thunder Dragon had learned it just like that?

Because of those few provocative words from her?

The lightning in the night sky flashed only briefly, and the sky soon returned to calm.

Yet Teacher Mikala continued looking upward, her expression caught between shock and bewilderment.

"Xia Xia?"

Shalala was startled. She had only just fallen asleep before waking again. She looked left and right, then finally looked up.

Qiao Sang had been watching the activity above all along.

The lightning that appeared in the night sky was unlike the lightning power Tingbao had used earlier. From too great a distance, it would have been difficult to observe. But this lightning was dazzling and conspicuous, and coupled with the deafening rumble, she immediately realized it was Thunder Weather.

Thunder Weather...

Hm? Thunder Weather?!

Qiao Sang froze. The first thought that flashed through her mind was:

Holy crap, Tingbao had already learned Thunder Weather?

Then came her second thought: Calm down. It's been less than five minutes. Learning Thunder Weather that quickly is too ridiculous. Maybe there just happened to be a rare bolt of lightning in the sky.

Qiao Sang restrained her suddenly racing heartbeat. To be safe, she sent her consciousness into the Pet Beast Codex and quickly flipped to Tingbao's page.

Soon, she saw new data in the skill column:

Thunder Weather (Beginner 1/100)+

Qiao Sang stared at that line of data, no longer able to stop her heartbeat from quickening.

Five minutes. In less than five minutes, Tingbao had really learned Thunder Weather...

Th-This was a genius!

"Xia Xia!"

Just as she was getting excited, she heard Shalala cry out from outside, and her consciousness returned to reality.

Qiao Sang looked up in the direction Shalala was pointing.

Teacher Mikala was rapidly flying downward, with an enraged Tingbao chasing after her.

The electric arcs around Tingbao flickered on and off as though it were about to short-circuit, and it seemed like even using an Electric-type skill would be difficult. Yet its expression was filled with killing intent.

"Qiao Sang, hurry up and tell it this was all your idea!" Teacher Mikala shouted.

"Tingbao, calm down! Teacher Mikala only said those things to provoke you!" Qiao Sang immediately said.

"Ting Ting!"

Tingbao could not take it in at all and continued furiously chasing after Teacher Mikala.

Teacher Mikala landed first.

Just then, a song that seemed capable of purifying the soul suddenly rang out:

"Icey~ Icey~ Icey Icey~ Icey~"

Invisible sound waves rippled outward.

Tingbao's furious movements halted. It stopped in midair, and its expression gradually became peaceful.

Seeing this, Teacher Mikala let out a slight breath of relief.

Once the song faded, Qiao Sang looked at Luobao, who had appeared, and said, "You're not asleep yet?"

After receiving multiple bouts of feedback and with her brain domain at the level of an A-rank Pet Tamer, Healing Sound Wave no longer had any effect on her.

"Icey."

Luobao calmly cried out, indicating that it had been awakened by the noise. The commotion had been loud, so it had come out to take a look.

"It was the commotion from Tingbao learning Thunder Weather," Qiao Sang shared the good news.

"Icey?"

Luobao froze for a moment, then cried out with an astonished expression.

So fast?

It remembered that Tingbao had only been out training for a short while.

Tingbao hovered in the air with a peaceful expression. Listening to their conversation, it looked somewhat confused.

It had already learned Thunder Weather?

"That's right." Qiao Sang sighed. "I didn't expect Tingbao to learn this skill so quickly either."

As she spoke, she seemed to think of something. Her eyes lit up as she looked at Teacher Mikala beside her, her tone sincere and full of admiration.

"It's all thanks to Teacher Mikala. If it weren't for you, Tingbao couldn't possibly have learned Thunder Weather in such a short time."

At first, she had thought Teacher Mikala's provocation had been too harsh. But she never could have imagined that just a few short sentences would provoke Tingbao into learning Thunder Weather.

This was the training ability of an honorary teacher at the Imperial Pet Taming Academy!

Luobao, Shalala, and Tingbao all looked over at the same time.

Almost on reflex, electric arcs started to emerge over Tingbao's body. However, an inexplicable force quickly soothed the emotions in its heart.

"Ting Ting."

The short-circuit-like arcs around Tingbao vanished. With a peaceful expression, it cried out.

Thank you for helping me.

Teacher Mikala could not understand it, but judging from what Qiao Sang had said and the Thunder Dragon's expression, she guessed that it was thanking her.

She could not stop her eyelid from twitching. After hesitating to speak, she suppressed what she had originally wanted to say beneath Shalala's "you're amazing" gaze and said calmly, "This is what I should be doing."

After a pause, she added, "The Thunder Dragon's emotional response was also quite good."

After saying that, she could not help adding one more sentence.

"The effect of this training method is far better than I imagined."

Far better was an understatement. The results were simply astonishing. It could absolutely be used as a teaching case in class.

In just a few minutes, through the power of words, an Intermediate Pet Beast had learned a High-Level Skill. If word got out, it would probably shock the leading figures of the education world.

"The main thing is that you provoked it hard enough, Teacher." Qiao Sang sighed.

She could not bear to hear those few sentences Teacher Mikala had said in the air earlier a second time.

Teacher Mikala seemed to recall something, and her eyelid twitched. She seriously instructed, "The Thunder Dragon is currently under the effects of Healing Sound Wave, so it can still maintain a good mindset. Once the effects of Healing Sound Wave wear off, you must explain properly that I only said those things tonight to provoke it into generating more lightning power."

After speaking, she added uneasily, "Don't forget to tell it that this was your idea."

Naturally, she was not afraid of the Thunder Dragon. But if it insisted on trying to strike her with lightning like it had just done, it would be quite troublesome. Forget training certain skills—simply getting along would probably be a problem.

"Ting Ting."

Tingbao, standing to the side with a peaceful expression, cried out to indicate that it understood everything.

You can understand now, but once you wake up later, that might not be the case... Recalling the sight of Tingbao chasing Teacher Mikala with a face full of killing intent, Qiao Sang solemnly said, "I'll definitely explain it to it properly. Don't worry, Teacher."

Hearing this, Teacher Mikala was reassured. She said, "Then I'll go sleep first. You all should go to bed early too," before turning and returning to her room.

After closing the door and getting into bed, though, she tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

A moment later, Teacher Mikala got up, went to the desk, opened her laptop, clicked on a word processor, and typed a line:

"An In-Depth Exploration of Whether Verbal Provocation Can Help Pet Beasts Learn Skills Faster"

Qiao Sang carried Shalala, Luobao, and Tingbao back to the room.

Under the effects of Healing Sound Wave, Tingbao's mindset remained peaceful the entire time.

Before long, it fell into a deep sleep just like Shalala.

Qiao Sang was too excited to fall asleep.

Tingbao had actually learned Thunder Weather in just a few minutes. Even thinking about it now felt unbelievable.

She had not expected provocation training to work so well. Teacher Mikala's provocation had been far more effective on Tingbao than she had imagined.

It had been the same when training the extended coverage of Electric Net earlier, and it was even more so when training Thunder Weather just now.

What Intermediate Pet Beast could learn a High-Level Skill in just a few minutes? She had only ever seen one: Tingbao.

If Tingbao needed to train any Electric-type skills in the future, getting Teacher Mikala involved would definitely be the right choice.

All sorts of thoughts surfaced in Qiao Sang's mind. Then she seemed to recall something and sent her consciousness into the Pet Beast Codex, quickly flipping to Tingbao's page.

Thunder Weather was a High-Level Skill, while Tingbao was still only an Intermediate Pet Beast. Its proficiency in the skill was also low. Even with a one hundred percent success rate under the Golden Finger, the Thunder Weather it cast would only produce a single bolt of lightning. Just like earlier, it would flash once and be gone.

If it was not careful, Tingbao might miss the chance to devour it. Moreover, using Thunder Weather would directly drain all the energy in its body.

When that happened, not only would it be unable to quickly accumulate points, her own points would be deducted as well.

As Qiao Sang thought, she added points and directly raised Tingbao's Thunder Weather proficiency from Beginner to Mastery.

Against a group of Intermediate Pet Beasts, Mastery-level Thunder Weather was already enough for devouring. If the proficiency were any higher, the energy required would also increase. With the energy Tingbao currently had in its body, it would probably have difficulty casting it.

After adding the points, Qiao Sang returned to reality. Fully satisfied, she closed her eyes and drifted into dreamland.

"Xun Xun~"

In the early morning, Qiao Sang woke to a cry.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Little Treasure's huge face.

Qiao Sang was already used to it. Looking sleepy, she asked, "What time is it?"

"Xun Xun~"

Little Treasure floated to the side and cried out.

Seven ten. Still early... Qiao Sang turned over, preparing to go back to sleep.

Then she thought of something. She opened her eyes, glanced at Tingbao still sleeping on the floor, sat up, put on her shoes, and went into the bathroom to wash up.

There were only eight days left until the competition ended. Although Tingbao had spent all day competing outside yesterday, it had not accumulated as many points as it could under Thunder Weather. Now that it had learned Thunder Weather, they had to hurry out and find contestants to compete against today.

"Xun Xun?"

Little Treasure floated into the bathroom after her and cried out questioningly.

Old Sixth learned Thunder Weather last night?

It had actually heard the commotion outside last night, but the game on its phone had been at a critical moment, so it had not gone over.

"That's right," Qiao Sang said while brushing her teeth.

"Xun Xun..."

Little Treasure cried out thoughtfully.

As expected of its little brother, its skill-learning speed was just as fast as its own...

No, it was a little faster than you. It learned it in just a few minutes... Qiao Sang said, "Go wake Tingbao up. We'll head out early to find opponents for matches."

"Xun Xun~"

Little Treasure nodded and floated out of the bathroom.

After rinsing her mouth, Qiao Sang began washing her face.

"Xun Xun!"

Suddenly, Little Treasure floated in with an anxious expression and cried out.

Old Sixth won't wake up!

Qiao Sang: "???"

"What happened?" Qiao Sang did not even bother wiping the water still on her face. She quickly walked into the room.

Tingbao was still lying on the floor with its eyes closed, looking as though it were sleeping peacefully.

"Ya Bao..."

Ya Bao had just opened its eyes and yawned.

"Xun Xun!"

Little Treasure anxiously cried out.

It had licked Old Sixth twice, but it still hadn't woken up!

After hearing that, Qiao Sang's first reaction was: Could it be that Tingbao went to sleep too late last night and couldn't get up this morning?

Then a second thought appeared:

Impossible. Even if it had only slept for an hour, Little Treasure's Tongue Lick would force it awake.

"Ya Bao?"

As she was thinking, Ya Bao, now fully awake, cried out.

Wasn't this situation the same as last time? Could Tingbao be about to shed its skin again?

Qiao Sang and Little Treasure both froze.

"Xun Xun~"

Little Treasure was the first to react. It let out a breath of relief and cried out.

So it was shedding its skin. It had thought something was wrong. It had scared itself to death.

Qiao Sang abruptly turned and hurried out of the room, calling, "Teacher! Come quickly and see whether Tingbao is about to shed its skin again!"

At Qiao Sang's call, Teacher Mikala quickly came to the room.

She first said, "Calm down. The Thunder Dragon shed its skin not long ago. Its second shedding will not come so quickly. This inability to wake up is probably because it used too much energy last night, went to bed too late, and is too tired."

Then she began examining it.

Very quickly, Teacher Mikala's expression stopped being calm.

Oh my god, it really was shedding its skin!

"Teacher, what exactly is going on?" Qiao Sang asked when she saw something was wrong with Teacher Mikala's expression.

"Molting..." Mikala murmured.

Qiao Sang could not help but breathe a sigh of relief at that, but then sighed inwardly again.

She was relieved because, thankfully, it was only molting and not some other problem.

She sighed because there was not much time left before the competition ended. With the delay caused by this molt, claiming first place in points would likely become much more difficult.

Mikala was, after all, an S-rank Pet Tamer, and she had spent some time with Qiao Sang. Her ability to handle pressure was beyond that of ordinary people. She quickly processed the matter, composed her expression, and said:

"Thunder Dragon's second molt should also take about a day. Once it finishes molting, it will still need time to adjust."

In other words, going out to battle immediately after molting might not go as smoothly as before.

"I know." Qiao Sang sighed. "But you know as well as I do, I can't stop it from competing."

Recently, Tingbao had put in far too much effort to become first in points. If she told it to rest, adjust properly, and only then go out to find opponents, it would never agree—and she could not bring herself to say it.

Hearing this, Mikala said nothing more. "I'll contact Jacqueline first."

With that, she walked out of the room.

Qiao Sang glanced at Tingbao, then returned to the bathroom and continued getting ready.

Time slowly passed. The next day, Tingbao gradually woke up and instinctively began moving its body to molt.

Qiao Sang, who had been keeping watch at its side, brightened.

Once Tingbao had finished molting, she said lightly, "Congratulations on completing your second molt."

Tingbao did not look delighted. It was as though it had only truly awakened now. It looked around, then crackling Yellow Electric Arcs appeared across its body. Furious, it shot out of the room like a bolt of lightning.

"Ting Ting!!!"