What Kind of Life Do You Want as a Dog?

The morning mist had yet to fully disperse from the woods outside town.

Dead branches and fallen leaves rustled beneath their feet.

A man and a dog moved through the bleak forest.

He Xi sank his consciousness into his mind, where that mysterious ball of light hovered silently.

He focused his will and touched the light. Ripples of faint radiance spread across its surface, and Bruce's information emerged—his points had accumulated to 10.

With a slight movement of his mind, 10 Parsing Points flew into the ball of light like fireflies.

The light suddenly flared, then released a message:

[Notice: Extraction Mechanism Description]

[Current Extraction Mode: Random Single-Entry Extraction]

[Next Stage Unlock: Extract Two Entries and Choose One]

[Unlock Level: Level 10]

[You spent 10 points to extract the entry—Territory Scent Mark—from the Holt region Cattle Dog]

[Territory Scent Mark]: You have mastered the technique of precisely marking territorial boundaries and important locations with urine.

Was it useful?

Bruce thought it was very useful.

But He Xi muttered to himself:

Choose one out of two? If I could choose, at least I wouldn't pull some weird entry about Bruce peeing everywhere.

Besides, relying only on Bruce and the ordinary poultry and livestock in town... it was clearly impossible to expect any powerful entries.

To get powerful entries, he had to find powerful creatures!

But this land...

Nortonholt County lay deep within the Emerald Federation—at the heart of the Golden Ear Plain.

This was a granary, peaceful but unremarkable.

The lord, Count Laurie Holt, was an old merchant who had amassed wealth through shipping and speculative trade before climbing to high status. He had almost no military achievements, yet he had successfully traded the generous annual taxes he paid into the Federation treasury for this count's territory.

However, beneath the prosperous surface of the Golden Ear Plain lay Count Holt's predicament.

Far from the port cities and bustling trade routes that had made his fortune, he was like a fish out of water. The business acumen he had once taken such pride in seemed utterly out of place here, and his profits naturally dwindled.

Worse still, the territory lacked any famous monster mountain range or ancient forest that could draw swarms of adventurers, and thus also lacked the lively tax revenue brought by those fighters who walked the edge of danger.

By granting this seemingly fertile land to the newly risen wealthy merchant, His Majesty the King had both fulfilled the deal and kept the new Count's influence far from the truly prosperous regions.

He Xi pulled his thoughts back and looked at Bruce, who had raised a hind leg and solemnly left behind his "masterpiece" beneath a thick oak tree.

"Bruce," He Xi said, doubt creeping into his voice, "are you sure this lousy forest really has the high-level magical beasts you mentioned?"

He looked around. Aside from ordinary squirrels and harmless small animals, there was only the occasional birdsong.

Bruce finished marking, turned around, and said with a hint of wounded indignation, "He Xi! Are you doubting my nose? I may not have been a 'person' for long, but I've got more than ten years of experience being a dog."

He Xi was momentarily speechless.

What a declaration of not being a dog anymore!

Still, he sincerely pointed out the reality. "Bruce, I have to remind you that you've only gained the ability to speak.

"At your core, you're still a dog. A very good dog, but... learning to eat with a knife and fork doesn't turn you into a noble."

Bruce: "?"

"...W-what? You mean I'm still not a person? I... I can just talk now?

"I thought I'd finally become a person! I'm just a little short... I was even thinking about going to the Magic Academy someday to learn something like the Fireball Spell..."

His ears and tail drooped in disappointment. A dog's beautiful dream of attending the Magic Academy had just been shattered.

Seeing how dejected he looked, He Xi found the scene absurd and somehow... wonderful.

It felt like a dog he had raised for years had suddenly started talking one day, then earnestly told him that its dream was to get into Tsinghua University.

Didn't such a dream deserve encouragement, even if it seemed a little unrealistic?

"Ahem." He Xi cleared his throat, his tone soothing. "Listen, Bruce. Being a dog is actually pretty good! Trust me, being human is much more exhausting than being a dog. You worry about this and that all day long.

"Besides, who says dogs can't learn magic? Dragons, treants, and demons aren't they all masters in the field of magic?"

Bruce was still a long way from those legendary creatures... but everyone needed dreams!

Bruce was a naturally open-minded dog.

His disappointment lasted only a few seconds before a cheerful thought washed his worries away. "So... I still have a chance to learn Flame Burst?!"

"Uh... theoretically, that possibility exists," He Xi said cautiously.

Bruce immediately perked up, his tail once again whirring like a little fan. He lowered his nose and threw himself back into the great search.

His motivation to move forward was clearly much stronger than before.

After they walked some distance, the dense trees gradually squeezed in around them, narrowing their view.

Bruce suddenly stopped, turned his head, and spoke with a trace of seriousness in his voice:

"Buddy, I just thought of a crucial question?"

He Xi: "?"

Bruce said, "If we really run into something powerful later... who's going to fight it? Me... me?"

He raised a front paw in a very humanlike manner and pointed at his own head.

Bruce's question was like a bucket of cold water, instantly waking He Xi up.

He had been so focused on finding powerful magical beasts to extract entries from that he had forgotten to consider whether they might swat him to death in one blow.

But he quickly found his answer.

He remembered Wang Jiaming once saying: life was a gamble. If you didn't dare to wager everything to fight for first place, how was that any different from surrendering at the start?

Having finally come to another world, he naturally did not want it to end here.

But if he were to crawl on in fear like a maggot, only to be devoured by that curse in the end anyway, then he might as well take a gamble!

Of course, Wang Jiaming was his roommate, the kind of Teamfight Tactics player who loved gambling on high rolls.

"Don't worry, Bruce." He Xi's voice steadied, carrying a strange confidence Bruce could not understand. "I have a way to deal with it.

"You just need to remember this: if I decide the situation is bad, you need to turn around and run immediately. Otherwise, I might not be able to look after you."

"Oh... okay!"

Bruce never doubted He Xi's words.

If He Xi said he had a way, then he definitely had a way!

As a loyal dog, he would never doubt his master's promise!

The forest air became wetter and deeper.

Bruce slowed down. He no longer sniffed around here and there. Instead, he pressed his nose firmly against a faint trail of scent on the ground and led He Xi deeper into the woods.

Suddenly, Bruce stopped!

His body tensed in an instant, muscles trembling faintly beneath his brown-and-white fur. A suppressed whimper escaped his throat, and his tail clamped tightly beneath him.

He Xi abruptly stopped as well, his breath catching—

The light ahead was blocked by a massive shadow.

It was no longer an ordinary tree!

It was a "living" brown hill!

Its immense body seemed like an extension of the earth itself. Every strand of dark brown fur stood stiff as thick steel needles, while a dense, unscattered yellowish glow flowed across its surface.

A pair of enormous claws covered in thick calluses hung at its sides. Even in their naturally relaxed position, no one could doubt that they could easily plow deep trenches into the ground beneath them.

Those amber giant eyes, steeped in ancient years, gazed down at him calmly.

The pressure battered He Xi's nerves.

This was the first time since crossing into this world that he had faced a true supernatural creature.

He Xi had wanted to find a powerful creature, but he had not expected one this powerful.

Merely standing in the shadow cast by that colossal figure made his legs go weak beyond his control.

So this was a supernatural creature?

...Extract its entry?

The thought that had been burning so fiercely moments ago now made him hesitate.

At that moment, a brown-and-white figure shot past his legs like a cannonball. It surged two steps ahead and firmly planted itself between him and the giant bear!

Bruce's four limbs tensed like stone, every hair on his body standing on end. Though he trembled all over like a leaf, a low, hoarse roar still burst from deep within his throat!

He Xi's heart jolted. He forced himself to steady his mind and focused his will—

[Species: Earth Bear]

[Parsing Points: 0]

[Entry Extraction: Requires 520 Parsing Points]

[Notice: The target creature requires too many points]

[Possible Method One: Help the target grow or break through to gain a large number of points]

[Possible Method Two: Kill the target for a low chance to directly obtain one extraction opportunity]