The Boss's Beginnings

Contracting nine pet beasts required one's Brain Domain to be developed to 90%. Was Teacher Pili Te placing a little too much faith in her...

There were only a handful of people in the entire interstellar world whose Brain Domains had been developed to that extent...

Qiao Sang wore a complicated expression. She gave an "OK" gesture and began playing the first instructional video.

"First, interlock your fingers. Then raise the little fingers of both hands and press them together. At the same time, communicate with your Brain Domain and connect with the two pet beasts you wish to summon. Next, hook your little, ring, and middle fingers together, while keeping your thumbs and index fingers straight and overlapping. Then press your palms together, and finally flatten them... Remember, when making the later hand gestures, you must not sever the connection between your Brain Domain and the pet beasts..."

Qiao Sang copied the movements in the video and began forming the corresponding hand seals.

Very soon, two orange-yellow star arrays of equal size lit up on the floor.

"Ya Bao..."

Ya Bao vanished from the bed and appeared lying in the star array, still fast asleep.

"Steel Slash."

Gang Bao stared fixedly at its pet tamer, its eyes seeming to say: Why did you summon me over here?

So it was this simple... Qiao Sang was delighted inside, though she merely coughed and said, "Nothing. I was just trying out the hand seals. Go back to what you were doing."

After hearing that, Gang Bao immediately prepared to return to training in the open-air grounds. But then it seemed to remember something, paused, turned around, and called out.

"Steel Slash?"

Wait, weren't we supposed to keep practicing?

"Mm." Qiao Sang nodded.

Although she had succeeded on her first attempt at practicing hand seals, she still needed to reinforce it. Besides, she still had seven more hand seal sequences to learn.

Even if she could not immediately tell whether she had mastered the hand seals for summoning four pet beasts at once, she could at least familiarize herself with the gestures first.

"Steel Slash..."

Gang Bao gave its pet tamer a resentful look and called out, indicating that it might as well stay. That way, it would not have to be summoned back again later.

That made sense... Qiao Sang said, "Then stay."

With that, she continued practicing hand seals.

Two in the morning.

"Xun Xun..."

Little Treasure floated over to its pet tamer's side. After confirming that she was truly asleep, it quietly stretched out a paw and picked up the phone on the bedside table.

Just as its paw touched the phone, Qiao Sang turned over.

Little Treasure jolted and immediately turned invisible.

"Tick-tock, tick-tock..."

The second hand of the alarm clock on the desk continued ticking rhythmically.

"Xun Xun..."

Five seconds later, after confirming that its pet tamer had not woken up, Little Treasure reappeared and let out a breath of relief.

It picked up the phone.

Then it vanished from the spot.

On a silent, deserted street, a Mechanical Type Pet Beast in uniform drifted leisurely along the roadside on patrol.

Deep in an alley it passed, several Ghost Type Pet Beasts huddled together with their heads lowered, staring at the phone screen in their midst.

The screen was playing footage of Little Treasure battling Bi Mo Hu in the Pet Tamer Star Tournament Finals.

The moment Bi Mo Hu fell and the referee blew the whistle, Little Treasure switched off the phone and puffed out its chest.

"Xun Xun..."

"Lian Lian..."

"Gui Gui..."

The Ghost Type Pet Beasts immediately looked up at Little Treasure with worshipful gazes.

"Xun Xun?"

Little Treasure basked in their admiring looks before calling out, asking whether its strength qualified it to be their boss.

"Xun Xun!"

"Lian Lian!"

"Gui Gui!"

The Ghost Type Pet Beasts nodded repeatedly.

"Xun Xun~"

Little Treasure was so pleased with itself that it almost wanted to laugh toward the sky.

Recruiting underlings was ridiculously easy!

"Gui Gui!"

At that moment, a Ghost Type Pet Beast about a meter tall, entirely dark purple except for its single large eye, cried out angrily, saying that another guy had recently been bullying them, Boss!

"Xun Xun!"

"Lian Lian!"

The other two Ghost Type Pet Beasts nodded hard.

The Ghost Type Pet Beasts looked at Little Treasure with expressions that said, "You have to stand up for us."

"Xun Xun?!"

Upon hearing this and feeling the gazes of its underlings, Little Treasure immediately put on an expression that said, "What? Someone actually dared to bully my underlings?!"

"Gui Gui!"

"Gui Gui!"

The one-eyed Ghost Type Pet Beast indignantly began explaining.

That guy was also a boss. Relying on the few underlings under him, he had been constantly causing trouble for them at night lately, demanding that they hand over Emotional Energy.

Humans were strictly controlling Emotional Energy now. They only managed to get a little each day, and sometimes they could not get any at all. How could they possibly give it away for nothing?

The other side was committing robbery!

"Xun Xun!"

"Lian Lian!"

The other two Ghost Type Pet Beasts nodded again and again.

"Xun Xun!"

Little Treasure could not tolerate this at all. It called out, telling them to take it there right now!

"Gui Gui!"

"Xun Xun!"

"Lian Lian!"

The pet beasts revealed excited expressions and immediately floated ahead to lead the way.

On the silent, deserted street.

Several Ghost Type Pet Beasts surrounded Little Treasure as they marched energetically in a certain direction.

Seven-oh-five in the morning.

Qiao Sang woke naturally. As usual, she picked up the phone beside her to check the time, then glanced toward the desk and discovered that Little Treasure was not playing on the computer.

It actually didn't play on the computer today... Qiao Sang muttered inwardly. She got up, washed up quickly, and headed to the Living Room.

The first thing she saw was Little Treasure guzzling Energy Recovery Fluid while voraciously devouring the prepared Energy Meals.

"What did you do last night? Why are you so hungry?" Qiao Sang asked as she pulled out a chair and sat down.

"Xun Xun..."

Little Treasure raised its head and called out.

Its mouth was stuffed full of Energy Meals, making its words somewhat unclear.

But Qiao Sang still understood what it meant.

"Is recruiting underlings that exhausting?" Qiao Sang asked casually.

"Xun Xun..."

Little Treasure swallowed the Energy Meals and sighed.

It was more tiring than expected.

"So, did you recruit any underlings?" Qiao Sang asked again.

"Xun Xun~"

At that, Little Treasure instantly perked up. It called out proudly, saying that of course it had.

It had already recruited underlings? Qiao Sang froze.

Then she thought of something. Her consciousness entered the Pet Beast Codex, and she quickly flipped to Little Treasure's page, lowering her gaze.

Fifth Trait: Oppressive Aura

Level: C (120/1000), Status (Available)

Description: Creates an Oppressive Aura for opponents, making them feel the Overlord Aura.

Holy crap, it had really recruited underlings... Qiao Sang was instantly overjoyed.

Data did not lie. When Little Treasure had gone out over the past two days, its Oppressive Aura had barely changed. She had checked as usual before bed yesterday, and there had been no change then either.

But now, the data had suddenly risen to 120.

It might not have looked like much, but it was clearly progress. That meant this training direction was viable!

Qiao Sang's consciousness returned to reality. Looking at Little Treasure, she wore an extremely satisfied expression.

She had thought that without her around, Little Treasure might go out alone, get distracted by new things, and forget its actual task. She had not expected it to truly practice Oppressive Aura seriously.

It seemed Little Treasure was far more disciplined than she had imagined.

If it remained this disciplined for a while longer, buying it a phone would not be out of the question.

Forty minutes later.

With Little Treasure's Space Movement, Qiao Sang arrived at the classroom.

The moment she appeared, a loud bang rang out and ribbons fluttered everywhere.

"Congratulations on winning the championship!"

The entire class spoke in unison.

Qiao Sang froze, warmth filling her heart.

Just as she was about to say something, the students beside her impatiently started talking first.

"We all watched yesterday's match. It was absolutely incredible!"

"Yeah! Yan Qilu actually knows Lava Purgatory! You hid that way too well!"

"How did you even train it? I remember that's a Super-Level Skill!"

"And Ghost Ring King was so cool!"

"Now that you've won the championship, have you decided which pet beast you'll send to the Energy Pool?"

"The Energy Pool?" Qiao Sang looked at the student who had said that.

"You didn't know?" The student noticed the confusion in Qiao Sang's eyes and looked surprised.

"What is the Energy Pool?" Qiao Sang asked.

"It's a place where pet beasts can increase their energy absorption by soaking in it," a student beside her answered. "There's only one Energy Pool in the First District, and I heard there are very few slots available each year. Pet beasts can supposedly raise their energy there without side effects, but pet beasts above King Rank are forbidden from entering, because they would directly absorb all the energy in the pool."

"That's right," another student chimed in. "Wasn't there a ring among the prizes you received yesterday? Besides representing honor, that ring lets you make one trip to the Energy Pool."

Qiao Sang was not from Superstar Planet, so most of the students were not surprised that she did not know what the ring represented or what the Energy Pool was.

Although they longed for the Energy Pool, it was not something they absolutely had to visit.

After all, the Energy Pool's greatest use was simply allowing the energy within a pet beast's body to jump directly from the early stage to the late stage, shortening the time needed to absorb energy.

Of course, that was the best-case scenario.

Not every pet beast that soaked in it could reach the late stage of energy accumulation. Most could only reach the limit of what they could currently absorb and withstand.

But Perfect Evolution was what mattered most for pet beasts.

If they wanted Perfect Evolution, sometimes the process of growth itself was important too.

The ring, the Energy Pool... Qiao Sang looked astonished.

She had no idea!

No one had told her at all!

Yesterday, she had carefully examined that ring engraved with pet beast patterns. Seeing her name carved on the inside, she had assumed it was simply an honorary prize!

"Where is the Energy Pool?" Qiao Sang pondered for a moment before asking.

"I don't know that," the female student beside her said with a shake of her head. "But an official will definitely contact you. Or you can contact them directly and ask."