See Which One You Like

About six kilometers from Qingcheng Jiayuan was Cha Gui Park.

Beneath a lush sycamore tree, a slender figure sat cross-legged in the shade, reading a book.

Fire Fang Dog had already lost track of how many laps it had run around the park.

Whenever it grew tired and returned to its Pet Tamer, it would see her looking at it with complete trust as she cheered it on, making it feel like it was amazing and could keep going.

By the time it came to its senses, it was already running again...

Qiao Sang closed her book and shook her head as she watched Fire Fang Dog inching forward at turtle speed in the distance.

Fire Fang Dog really wasn't cutting it. It had only run ten laps and was already spent.

Morning runs couldn't train Fire Fang Dog's speed. At most, they could improve its stamina and give Qiao Sang a rough idea of its physical limits.

By the time Fire Fang Dog forced itself to run back to Qiao Sang again, the morning run was finally over.

Qiao Sang handed Fire Fang Dog the Qi Yuan Milk she had bought earlier.

Qi Yuan Milk was a drink made for pet beasts. It was considered a fairly reputable brand on the market and could somewhat replenish a pet beast's stamina. Qiao Sang had bought it from a breakfast shop by the roadside that specialized in making food for pet beasts.

Anything involving pet beasts was always overpriced, but Qi Yuan Milk had remained the same price for decades since it first went on sale. One bottle cost only 98 Alliance Coins.

Fire Fang Dog weakly stretched out a paw to take the milk and gulped it down. After only a few swallows, the bottle was empty.

"Yap."

Fire Fang Dog looked at Qiao Sang with longing in its eyes.

Qiao Sang froze. She had only bought one bottle...

Unable to withstand Fire Fang Dog's gaze, Qiao Sang handed over the douhua she had bought for herself along the way for 3 Alliance Coins.

Fire Fang Dog stared silently at the single remaining mouthful of douhua for a while.

"Yap!"

Fire Fang Dog's wet eyes were filled with accusation.

"Okay, okay. I'll buy you more in a bit," Qiao Sang soothed it.

No matter how hard things got, she couldn't let her pet beast suffer. If she couldn't even satisfy her own pet beast's appetite, how could she expect it to train properly?

She had 50,000 Alliance Coins now, didn't she? Wasn't it just Qi Yuan Milk?

Buy it!

Fifteen minutes later.

Qiao Sang stood there carrying a large bag of Qi Yuan Milk, lost in thought.

These 50,000 Alliance Coins should last me for a while, right...

After Fire Fang Dog finished three bottles, there were still seven bottles of Qi Yuan Milk left in the bag.

After downing four bottles of Qi Yuan Milk, Fire Fang Dog finally perked up. Its limbs were still sore and weak, though, and it even trembled as it walked.

Seeing this, Qiao Sang did not immediately make it begin skill-casting training.

"I'll take you to buy something nice," Qiao Sang said with a smile.

"Yap."

Fire Fang Dog's eyes lit up, clearly very interested in this nice thing.

Wei Lie Plaza.

The largest shopping center in Tang Xin District, a high-end commercial complex that combined leisure, shopping, dining, and entertainment.

The moment Qiao Sang arrived, she was stopped by a handsome young man with blue wolf-tail hair.

"Miss, are you interested in learning how to make your pet beast more charming? Come to Meng Li Pet Styling Studio. We have a professional team of pet beast stylists, and our chief stylist even designed a look for Luo Gang's Purple Demon Vine."

"Thank you, but I'm not interested," Qiao Sang refused.

"Miss, don't be so quick to refuse. Take a look at my Azure Joy Butterfly." As he spoke, the young man with wolf-tail hair stepped to the side.

An Azure Joy Butterfly appeared behind him, its entire body blue-purple and its wings patterned with azure veins.

The Azure Joy Butterfly gracefully spun in the air, and the Scaled Powder it scattered refracted dazzling light beneath the sun.

It really was pretty...

Qiao Sang was briefly dazzled by the Azure Joy Butterfly before her.

Satisfied to see the girl captivated by his pet beast's charm, the young man with wolf-tail hair pressed his advantage. "How about it? Blue-purple looks good, doesn't it? Our stylist adjusted it according to the Azure Joy Butterfly's preferences. Your Fire Fang Dog has a nice color, but it's just too lacking in personality. Why not come to Meng Li Pet Styling Studio and get a custom look designed for it?"

"Yap!"

Fire Fang Dog barked at the young man with wolf-tail hair in dissatisfaction.

This guy actually said it lacked personality!

As the Pet Tamer Association developed, quite a few professions had emerged, most of which served pet beasts. Pet beast stylists were one such profession.

There were millions upon millions of pet beasts in the world, of every kind imaginable. Yet pet beasts of the same species all looked more or less alike, with only differences in height, weight, and build.

It was only with the development of information that Variant Pet Beasts came into the public eye.

If not for the spread of information, a person might go their entire life without seeing a Variant Pet Beast in reality.

Rarity made things valuable.

Although a Variant Pet Beast was still not as valuable as a Dragon-type Pet Beast, its sale price was already enough to rival that of a Fairy-type pet beast.

If it belonged to a rare species, its price might exceed that by more than a hundredfold.

That was how the profession of pet beast stylist came about.

It didn't matter if you didn't have a Variant Pet Beast. You could dye it into one.

It sounded great, but almost no professional Pet Tamer who competed would choose to dye their pet beast.

The reason was simple.

The color would fade...

A pet beast would inevitably get hurt in a match. Losing a layer of fur or shedding a little skin would ruin the entire styling job.

Even so, some famous Pet Tamers still couldn't resist the temptation of variant colors.

Not long ago, competitor Lin Ruochu had used a golden Silver Frost Centipede in the College Super League, which was broadcast nationwide. Her opponent in the very first round had been a Water Type Impact Bubble Turtle.

Ice Type naturally held a huge advantage over Water Type.

Yet under a barrage of high-pressure Water Gun attacks, most of the gold coloring on the Silver Frost Centipede washed away. It looked utterly miserable, directly affecting Lin Ruochu's mindset and performance and causing her to lose the entire match.

Qiao Sang had indeed been dazzled by the Azure Joy Butterfly, but not enough to make Fire Fang Dog dye its fur and get styled.

Fire Fang Dog's fiery red coat looked so good as it was!

That guy really had no eye for beauty.

"No," Qiao Sang refused again.

Seeing that her attitude was firm, the young man with wolf-tail hair did not waste any more time and turned to stop another young woman passing by.

"Miss, are you interested in learning how to make your pet beast more charming? Come to Meng Li Pet Styling Studio..."

Qiao Sang brought Fire Fang Dog to a pet beast item retail store on the third floor.

Following the signs, she arrived in front of the item she wanted to buy.

"Come on, Fire Fang Dog. See which one you like," Qiao Sang said with a smile.

Fire Fang Dog curiously looked at the items before it.

There were beads strung on cords, as well as bracelets in different styles and colors.

"Yap."

Fire Fang Dog pointed with its paw at the blue beads strung on a cord.

Qiao Sang picked up the beads and weighed them in her hand. Her hand uncontrollably sank fifty centimeters.

"Let's get a bracelet instead. This one isn't good for your cervical spine," Qiao Sang said, looking at Fire Fang Dog's neck.

Fire Fang Dog: "???"