Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

"Let's run a couple of laps to warm up." Qiao Sang said.

After putting on the weighted ring, Fire Fang Dog adapted fairly quickly. It walked without much trouble, but just walking with a weight wouldn’t provide any noticeable training effect.

"Yap " Fire Fang Dog nodded, agreeing to Qiao Sang's plan without any objection.

This time, Qiao Sang decided to run with Fire Fang Dog.

Encouraged by Qiao Sang, Fire Fang Dog managed to complete two difficult laps, then looked at her with a face that said, "You call this a warm-up?"

Qiao Sang was panting heavily. After two laps, even she felt like she was pushing her limits.

It seems I need to work on my endurance too...

Once she caught her breath, Qiao Sang checked the time on her phone.

During their morning run, Fire Fang Dog had taken an average of about 18 minutes per lap.

Now, with the weighted ring, the first lap took 29 minutes and 3 seconds, and the second lap took 38 minutes and 42 seconds.

Qiao Sang noted the times in her phone’s memo, intending to compare them later.

"Warm-up's over. Now, hit that tree with ten Headbutts." Qiao Sang instructed, leading Fire Fang Dog to the sycamore tree where she had been reading earlier.

"Yap~" Fire Fang Dog sat down, exhausted, and let out a weak whine.

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

After spending these past few days with Fire Fang Dog, Qiao Sang knew it had a strong personality and impressive willpower.

Despite only having fought four battles, it always charged forward without fear of injury.

Stronger? Fire Fang Dog slowly got up, its eyes showing renewed determination.

It had made the contract in the first place to get stronger and find more opponents.

Qiao Sang was pleased to see the change in Fire Fang Dog’s expression. She remembered the first time she met it.

Back then, Fire Fang Dog used its small body to relentlessly crash into the tree trunk, wearing the same determined look.

Now that she thought about it, it felt like ages ago.

"Maybe this time, you'll finally master the skill you were trying to learn back then." Qiao Sang said with a smile.

"Yap?" Fire Fang Dog looked at its trainer, confused.

"The skill you were trying to master when I first met you at the pet base." Qiao Sang explained.

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"Yap?" Fire Fang Dog was even more puzzled.

What skill was I trying to learn?

"Why else would you have been crashing into that tree trunk? Were you just practicing Headbutt?" Qiao Sang was confused too.

That couldn't be it. To execute a proper Headbutt, it needed at least a five-meter running start.

She distinctly remembered that Fire Fang Dog had been crashing into the tree from within a meter away.

Fire Fang Dog thought back to its first meeting with Qiao Sang.

What was I doing back then? Oh, right, I was trying to knock down some fruit from the tree.

"Yap Yap Yap Yap Yap."

"Yap Yap."

Fire Fang Dog explained to Qiao Sang, using its paws to gesture.

Qiao Sang was silent for a moment before she ended the topic with, "Let's start the training."

Thinking of getting stronger, Fire Fang Dog trained with renewed energy.

Headbutt required the strength of all four limbs to burst forth in a powerful impact.

But with the weighted ring on, Fire Fang Dog’s speed was noticeably slower, and the resulting force wasn't strong enough to qualify as a true Headbutt.

After exerting itself for six hits, Fire Fang Dog finally executed its first real Headbutt on the seventh attempt.

"Yap!"

It excitedly looked at Qiao Sang, only to find her lost in thought.

Qiao Sang was still dwelling on the earlier revelation.

She thought her Fire Fang Dog was a bit silly—crashing into a tree repeatedly just to knock down some fruit. Was the food at the pet base not filling enough?

With its small body, how could it possibly knock the fruit down by ramming the tree? Wouldn't it be more effective to just use Headbutt?

And after all that, the fruit didn't fall, and it just ended up with a sore head...

Why didn't it just climb the tree...?

"Yap!"

"Yap!"

Fire Fang Dog's bark snapped Qiao Sang back to reality.

"I'm fine." Qiao Sang reassured.

"Yap."

Fire Fang Dog nodded, forgetting why it had called out in the first place, and resumed its training.

At 5:53 PM, training was over.

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

Although she hadn’t seen many Fire Fang Dogs, that didn’t stop her from praising it.

Even though it had no strength left, Fire Fang Dog gritted its teeth and completed the tenth and final Headbutt through sheer willpower.

A hundred impacts in one afternoon—it had done it.

"Yap~" Fire Fang Dog blushed slightly, snuggling into Qiao Sang's arms.

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

---

At the Fruit Pavilion.

Fire Fang Dog stared in disbelief at the food on the table.

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

A whole table filled with dishes made from various fruits.

"Grrr..." Fire Fang Dog's stomach growled as it gazed at the spread.

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

Without hesitation, Fire Fang Dog grabbed a piece of fruit cake with its paws and devoured it hungrily.

To Qiao Sang, the scene was heart warmingly beautiful.

But that beauty didn’t come without a price…

The price was one-fifth of her assets and a scolding from her mother…

---

Three days later.

Boom!

A fist-sized flame exploded against a distant rock, leaving a noticeable crater.

Name: Fire Fang Dog

Attribute: Fire

Level: Beginner (127/1000)+

Skills: Bite (Beginner 74/100)+, Charge (Intermediate 138/500), Headbutt (Intermediate 168/500)+, Fire Fang (Intermediate 116/500)+, Ember (Intermediate 135/500)+

Points: 55

In just four days, Fire Fang Dog had brought both its Fire Fang and Ember skills to an intermediate level.

If anyone else knew, it would surely cause a huge commotion.

Ember alone wasn’t shocking—there were rare beasts with extraordinary talent that could master low-tier skills in a short time.

But Fire Fang was different; it was a genuine mid-tier skill!

Normally, it would take at least six months to progress from novice to proficient in a mid-tier skill, but Fire Fang Dog did it in just four days!

At this moment, Fire Fang Dog, wearing the dark green triangular sunglasses that had arrived the day before, was focused on its training.

With its red-and-green combination, Fire Fang Dog was attracting plenty of attention.

Many children playing in the park stopped to watch but didn’t dare approach because of the flames surrounding it.

After getting into the training rhythm these past few days, Fire Fang Dog no longer needed Qiao Sang’s guidance. It knew exactly what to do.

Under the sycamore tree, Qiao Sang sat reading a book.

Now that Fire Fang Dog had mastered both Ember and Fire Fang, she wasn’t worried at all about the upcoming Shengshui Academy's special entrance exam.

Everyone would be newly contracted beast trainers; no one could possibly have a pet beast like Fire Fang Dog, with a mid-tier skill already at a proficient level.

Over these few days, Fire Fang Dog’s speed had steadily improved too.

Yesterday, it had completed a lap with the weighted ring in just 22 minutes and 7 seconds, nearly seven minutes faster than on the first day.

The pet beast battle in five days was nothing to worry about, but Qiao Sang still wasn’t completely confident about the entrance exams in twelve days.