A Good Meal

"We'll run two laps first to warm up," Qiao Sang said.

Fire Fang Dog adapted fairly quickly after putting on the Weighted Ring. It could walk without much trouble now, but simply walking with the extra weight would not have any particularly noticeable training effect.

"Fang."

Fire Fang Dog nodded, having no objections to Qiao Sang's arrangement.

This time, Qiao Sang chose to run alongside Fire Fang Dog.

With Qiao Sang encouraging it, Fire Fang Dog struggled through two laps before looking at her with a lifeless expression.

You call this a warm-up?

Qiao Sang panted heavily. After two laps, even her body was having trouble keeping up.

Looks like I should start exercising too...

Once Qiao Sang had caught her breath, she took out her phone and checked the recorded running times.

During the morning run, Fire Fang Dog had averaged around eighteen minutes per lap.

Now, with the Weighted Ring on, the first lap had taken twenty-nine minutes and three seconds, while the second had taken thirty-eight minutes and forty-two seconds.

Qiao Sang wrote it down in her phone's notes, planning to compare the running times later.

"The warm-up is over. Next, use Take Down on this tree ten times." Qiao Sang led Fire Fang Dog beneath the sycamore tree where she had read that morning.

"Fang~"

Upon hearing that, Fire Fang Dog plopped down on the ground and let out a weak cry.

"Don't you want to become stronger?" Qiao Sang asked.

After spending the past few days with Fire Fang Dog, she knew it had a competitive personality and strong willpower. Although it had only battled others four times, every time it had charged to the front without fearing injury.

Become stronger?

Fire Fang Dog slowly got to its feet, its gaze becoming resolute.

Hadn't it formed the contract so it could come out, become stronger, and find more opponents?

Qiao Sang was very satisfied with the change in Fire Fang Dog's eyes. She recalled the first time she had met it.

Back then, Fire Fang Dog had repeatedly Tackleed the tree trunk with its tiny body, wearing the same determined look it had now.

Thinking back on it now, it somehow felt like a long time ago.

"Maybe during this training, you'll even master the skill you wanted to practice last time," Qiao Sang said with a smile.

"Fang?"

Fire Fang Dog stared at its Beast Master with a face full of question marks.

"The skill you wanted to practice when I first saw you at the Pet Beast Base," Qiao Sang explained.

"Fang?"

Fire Fang Dog looked even more confused.

When had it ever wanted to practice a skill?

"If you weren't trying to learn a skill, why were you Tackleing the tree trunk? Don't tell me you were practicing Take Down?" Qiao Sang was confused as well.

That should not have been it. Take Down required at least five meters of running distance to build momentum, but she remembered Fire Fang Dog Tackleing the tree from less than a meter away.

Fire Fang Dog recalled its first meeting with its Beast Master.

What had it been doing back then?

It had been Tackleing the tree to make the fruit above fall down.

"Fang fang fang fang fang."

"Fang fang."

Fire Fang Dog gestured as it explained to Qiao Sang.

Qiao Sang: "..."

After a long silence, Qiao Sang ended the topic. "Let's start training."

With thoughts of Becoming Stronger in its heart, Fire Fang Dog trained with exceptional effort.

Take Down was a skill that required all four limbs to store strength before unleashing an explosive burst of impact.

But Fire Fang Dog was now wearing the Weighted Ring. Its charging speed had clearly slowed, and the resulting attack power was not enough to be called Take Down.

After exerting itself and charging six times in a row, Fire Fang Dog finally performed the first true Take Down of the day on its seventh attempt.

"Fang!"

It looked excitedly at its Beast Master, only to find that she was spacing out.

Qiao Sang was still dwelling on the truth she had just learned.

She felt that her Fire Fang Dog was a little silly. It had spent so long Tackleing that tree just for the fruit on it.

Could it be that the Pet Beast Base didn't provide enough food?

With its tiny body, how could it possibly knock the fruit down like that?

It would've been better off using Take Down on the tree...

See? It Tackleed it for so long without getting the fruit down, and now its head hurt too...

Why didn't it know how to climb trees...?

"Fang!"

"Fang!"

Fire Fang Dog's cries snapped Qiao Sang back to her senses.

"I'm fine," Qiao Sang said.

"Fang."

Fire Fang Dog nodded, having already forgotten why it had called out to its Beast Master in the first place, and resumed training.

5:53 p.m.

Training ended.

Fire Fang Dog lay exhausted on the ground. Qiao Sang stepped forward and gently picked it up, sighing. "You're the best Fire Fang Dog I've ever seen."

Although she had not seen many Fire Fang Dogs, that did not stop her from praising it.

It had clearly run out of strength, yet it still gritted its teeth and relied on sheer perseverance to complete the final tenth Take Down.

After an entire afternoon of charging, it had managed over a hundred impacts.

"Fang~"

Nestled in Qiao Sang's arms, Fire Fang Dog grew shy for once.

"I'll take you out for a good meal," Qiao Sang said with a smile.

Fruit Pavilion.

Fire Fang Dog stared wide-eyed at the food on the table.

Fruit platter, fruit salad, fruit noodles, fruit ice cream, fruit cake, fruit jelly, fruit pie, fruit juice...

The entire table was covered with all kinds of fruit-based dishes.

"Grrr..."

As Fire Fang Dog stared, its stomach began to growl.

"Go ahead and eat," Qiao Sang said gently.

Fire Fang Dog did not hesitate any longer. It immediately grabbed a piece of fruit cake with its paw and wolfed it down.

Qiao Sang found the scene exceptionally warm and lovely.

Of course, such a lovely scene did not come without a price...

The price was one-fifth of Qiao Sang's assets, plus a harsh scolding from her mother...

Three days later.

Bang!

A fist-sized ball of flame, accompanied by scorching heat, blasted apart a distant rock and left behind a sizable crater.

Name: Fire Fang Dog

Attribute: Fire

Level: Beginner (127/1000)+

Skills: Bite (Beginner 74/100)+, Take Down (Mastery 168/500)+, Fire Fang (Mastery 116/500)+, Spark (Mastery 135/500)+

Points: 55

In only four days, Fire Fang Dog's Fire Fang and Spark had reached the Mastery level.

If anyone else learned of this, it would definitely cause a huge uproar.

Spark was one thing. After all, it was not unheard of for an exceptionally gifted pet beast to train a Low-Level Skill from Beginner to Mastery in a short period of time.

But Fire Fang was different. It was a genuine Mid-Level Skill!

Normally, it took an average of half a year for a Mid-Level Skill to go from Beginner to Mastery, yet Fire Fang Dog had done it in just four days!

At that moment, Fire Fang Dog was wearing the dark green triangular sunglasses that had arrived the day before yesterday, concentrating fully on skill-release training.

With its red-and-green color scheme, Fire Fang Dog's head-turning rate kept climbing. Many children playing in the park stopped to watch, though none dared approach because of the flames surrounding it.

After several days of this training routine, Fire Fang Dog no longer needed Qiao Sang's guidance to know what to do.

Beneath the sycamore tree.

Qiao Sang sat reading a book.

Ever since Fire Fang Dog's Spark and Fire Fang had reached Mastery, she had not been worried in the slightest about the pet beast battles in Saint Water High School's Special Enrollment Exam.

Everyone had only just contracted their pet beasts. There was no way anyone else's pet beast could be like Fire Fang Dog and train a Mid-Level Skill to Mastery.

Fire Fang Dog's speed had also been steadily improving these past few days. Yesterday, it had run one lap with the Weighted Ring in just twenty-two minutes and seven seconds, nearly seven minutes faster than on the first day.

She did not need to worry about the pet beast battle five days from now, but Qiao Sang still did not have absolute confidence about the High School Entrance Exam twelve days later.