5:30 p.m.
The thirty-seventh Beast Taming High School had let out.
At 5:33 p.m., a large group of students paired up, arm in arm, walking out of the school gate.
"Are we fighting here?" a slightly thick voice rang out.
Qiao Sang had been reading for nearly an hour and finally waited for the first person to ask.
She looked up and saw a tall, burly man standing in front of her, with a soil-colored snake-type Pet Beast as thick as a fist coiling up from his waist to his neck, revealing its triangular head.
It was a Long-Tailed Snake, the evolved form of a Short-Tailed Snake.
Qiao Sang glanced at it twice and silently scribbled a few words onto a paper from her bag.
[Restricted to Basic-level Pet Beasts]
The tall guy clicked his tongue, said nothing more, and turned to leave.
With the first one came the second one, and soon another person arrived.
This time, the inquiry came from a bright-looking boy. He approached Qiao Sang, scratched his head with some embarrassment, and asked, "If I win, I don't want money. Can I get your contact information instead?"
Qiao Sang readily agreed, "Sure."
No money was even better. Her total assets amounted to 532 Alliance Currency, only enough for a few battles, and she needed to keep some money for the trip back home.
Standing beside the boy was a porcupine-haired fellow, with a look of someone enjoying a scene, clearly his friend.
"Let's battle over there." The porcupine-haired guy suggested, pointing to a poplar tree in Nanhe Park.
Where they were now was the entrance and exit of Nanhe Park, not suitable for combat with students coming and going.
Qiao Sang looked in the direction he pointed and nodded.
The three of them arrived under the poplar tree, a secluded spot with no one around for about 20 meters.
"I'll be the referee." volunteered the porcupine-haired guy.
Qiao Sang naturally had no objections.
The boy made a summoning seal, and a round-bodied, roughly 80 cm tall, brown chubby pigeon appeared on the ground below the white Star Array.
The usual chubby pigeons were about 60 cm tall; this one was clearly well-raised.
"Jiang Liu, no complaints about letting the girl attack first, huh?" asked the porcupine-haired guy.
Different matches had different rules, some decided beforehand who attacks first, while others didn't care who strikes first.
"Of course." Jiang Liu spread his hands and replied.
The porcupine-haired guy chose Qiao Sang to go first. Without being pretentious, Qiao Sang spoke directly, "Fire-Toothed Dog, use Spark."
"Tooth!"
The Fire-Toothed Dog jumped out from Qiao Sang's arms, its eyes suddenly sharp, and upon opening its mouth unleashed a flame as big as a baby's fist in an orange-red hue.
Facing this unexpected attack, Jiang Liu didn't give a command. The chubby pigeon remained calm, dodging left twice as the spark was about to hit it.
The chubby pigeon was known for its lack of speed, and this one wasn't any faster. It simply reacted well, dodging the attack with minimal movement, likely due to specialized training.
Qiao Sang analyzed while her commands didn't stop, "Rush."
The Fire-Toothed Dog exerted strength in its limbs and charged forward.
"Fly and use Howl." Jiang Liu issued his first command.
The chubby pigeon flapped its short wings and flew upward.
The Fire-Toothed Dog, untrained, wasn't attacking quickly; the pigeon had already flown up by the time it was halfway through its rush.
"Coo!"
Howl was a rather ordinary skill, unable to inflict direct damage in combat, only affecting the opponent slightly for a brief moment.
The sound was just a bit piercing to Qiao Sang, but the Fire-Toothed Dog paused, its speed slightly slowed.
"Aerial Strike." Jiang Liu issued another command immediately.
Aerial Strike was a flying-type Pet Beast's exclusive skill, similar to ground beasts' Rush; the difference being that Rush depended on a Pet Beast's limb strength, while Aerial Strike could harness air flow to produce impact far beyond a regular strike.
The chubby pigeon folded its wings back, with airflow surrounding it, hurtling straight towards the Fire-Toothed Dog with a whistling noise.
The Fire-Toothed Dog, confronted by the incoming pigeon, instinctively tried to dodge.
"Don't move!" Qiao Sang issued the command at this moment.
If hit by the Aerial Strike, it'd surely be badly hurt, but upon hearing Qiao Sang's command, the Fire-Toothed Dog controlled its body, choosing to obey.
This was unbelievable!
Porcupine-haired guy watched the unfolding scene, his eyes widening.
Both Qiao Sang's command and the Fire-Toothed Dog's response seemed unbelievable to him.
Forget the command; is the Fire-Toothed Dog actually this obedient?!
If it were the second or third Contract, it might be understandable, but this was clearly a rookie Beast Tamer's first Pet Beast.
You wouldn't find one in a thousand rookie Beast Tamers contracting a Fire Attribute Beast; the school of over 3,000 students had only two bold enough to contract a Fire Attribute Beast as their first.
Fire Attribute Beasts were notoriously unruly and bad-tempered.
How could they make a Fire Attribute Beast obediently stand still and take a hit? How was it done!
If it weren't amid combat, the porcupine-haired guy would've wanted to dash over and ask this bold girl for advice.
"Now, jump!"
Qiao Sang, calmly observing the situation, issued a command when the chubby pigeon was about to hit the Fire-Toothed Dog.
Without hesitation, the Fire-Toothed Dog leaped at the moment following Qiao Sang's command.
Jiang Liu watched the scene in front and was momentarily dumbfounded.
How did the Fire-Toothed Dog just…
…jump onto the chubby pigeon's back!
"Flame Tooth, attack its wings!" While the opponent hadn't reacted, Qiao Sang issued the next command.
With a flash of its sharp teeth, flames enveloped them as the Fire-Toothed Dog mercilessly bit down on the pigeon's right wing.
"Coo!!!"
The chubby pigeon let out an agonizing scream, and after this wail, its body crashed to the ground heavily.
"Ah-Pang!" Jiang Liu cried out.
The Fire-Toothed Dog jumped off the pigeon and turned to Qiao Sang, eyes filled with excitement.
"Finally, Spark." Qiao Sang said calmly.
The Fire-Toothed Dog quickly turned around.
Under the attack of the baby fist-sized spark, the chubby pigeon whimpered, fainting.
Silence enveloped the surroundings.
About five seconds later.
"Uh, mighty… fellow student, what's your name?" Porcupine-haired guy asked awkwardly.
"My name is Qiao Sang." Qiao Sang answered.
"Qiao Sang wins." Porcupine-haired guy announced the final result.
Jiang Liu returned the chubby pigeon to the Beast Taming Codex in silence.
"How did you time it to make the Fire-Toothed Dog jump onto the chubby pigeon's back?" Jiang Liu came over, his expression complex.
The girl in front seemed younger yet possessed such strong battle awareness.
With the speed of an Aerial Strike, timing the jump correctly wasn't easy.
If the pigeon got too close before jumping, it would be too late, requiring calculation of the pigeon's descending speed.
Also, with the Fire-Toothed Dog, any hesitation, even for half a second, would make it impossible to get on the pigeon's back.
Everything hinged on the trust and command of the Beast Tamer.
Qiao Sang responded seriously, "It's intuition."
Jiang Liu was speechless, "..."