-----
After getting her membership card, Qiao Sang returned to the newly rented villa and immediately summoned Yabao. The next thing she did was take a bottle of fitness supplement.
Hmm... the taste wasnât great.
Qiao Sang felt as though the flesh under her skin was twitching slightly.
Thatâs when she suddenly realized a serious problem.
If she kept training like this, would her whole body end up covered in muscles?
She pictured herself with eight-pack abs and muscular limbs, and couldnât help but shudder.
She pulled out her phone and sent a message to the coach who had just helped her train:
[If I keep training like this, will I get eight-pack abs?]
There was no immediate reply.
Qiao Sang glanced at her phone and noticed that the vice principal had sent her three messages.
[I just woke up.]
[1st District? Youâre already in 1st District?]
[I should be able to arrive in about ten days.]
Ten days? That felt fast.
Qiao Sang typed back:
[Yeah, just rented a place here today.]
The vice principal replied instantly:
[I heard 1st District of Chaosu Star is the most prosperous, with many competitions suitable for psychic-type pet beasts. Your Blazing Star Canine and Ghost Ring Phantom both have psychic attributes, you should take them there. Psychic skills have many applications. You can learn a lot.]
Psychic-type skills?
Qiao Sang thought it over and figured it might be worth a look.
Even though Yabao now leaned more toward fire attributes, that made other-type skills useful as surprises, like Little Treasureâs Brick-Breaking.
Speaking of Little Treasure, his attention was always on electronic gadgets lately. A fun competitive event might help refocus his.
[Qiao Sang: Got it.]
After sending the message, Qiao Sang's gaze landed on the words
Blazing Star Canine
in the vice principalâs text
Oops⊠sheâd forgotten to mention Yabaoâs evolution.
Qiao Sang reflected for a second, then began typing:
[Qiao Sang: Vice Principal, I need to tell you something.]
[Vice Principal: What is it?]
[Qiao Sang: My Blazing Star Canine has evolved.]
[Vice Principal: ???]
Just as Qiao Sang was about to type more, several messages arrived from the other side:
[Vice Principal: Is today some kind of holiday in Chaosu Star?]
[Vice Principal: Or are you playing some game right now?]
[Vice Principal: Havenât seen you in a while, and youâve gotten more humorous.]
[Vice Principal: âŠAre you being serious right now?]
Liu Yao stared intently at his screen.
Rationally, he knew it was nearly impossible for a high-tier pet beast to evolve to the General tier within half a year, especially one with an unknown evolution path.
But it was Qiao Sang saying this.
The genius beast master who defied all logic.
He couldnât help but waver.
What if it was trueâŠ
Just as thoughts swirled in Liu Yaoâs mind, Qiao Sang sent a photo of Yabaoâs current form.
The chat went silent.
Two minutes later-
[Qiao Sang: This is what the Blazing Star Canine looks like after evolving. Iâve already registered the info at the Beastmaster Center. The new name is Fire Qilu. You should be able to find it in the Pet Beast Identifier now.]
[Qiao Sang: Vice Principal?]
[Qiao Sang: ?]
Weird, whyâs he not answering⊠Maybe the starship passed through a signal dead zoneâŠ
Qiao Sang exited the chat, about to message her coach again, when she noticed activity in her class group chat âShengshui High Class 1 (1).â
They were talking about final exams.
[He Jue Ming: Didnât do well this time, ranked 11th in the grade.]
[Zhou Zhizhi: Me too. I didnât even get full marks in Pet Beasts and Nature.]
[Chen Ya: Stop it, how do you think I feel at 29th place?]
[Gu Fei: Talented students have it easier. Like Wang Jihang, who ranked 233rd and still gets a vacation reward from his dad.]
[Wang Jihang: Talent students have it rough, okay! My dad's taking me to visit other regions to learn about their pet beasts for future matches. Itâs not just a trip.]
As they chatted, Qiao Sang chimed in:
[I also think talented students have it rough. Most of the time goes into training, and I can't keep up in class, sometimes I donât even understand the lessons.]
The group chat fell silent, as if someone had hit the mute button.
Sigh⊠Iâve really become a stranger. No one talks after I pop upâŠ
Qiao Sang thought.
Suddenly, everyone started tagging her like crazy.
[Wang Jihang: @Qiao Sang (link)]
[Chen Ya: @Qiao Sang (link) (image)]
[Zhou Zhizhi: @Qiao Sang, is what the news says true?]
[Jin Feifan: @Qiao Sang, is that photo in your Moments real? Youâre trending now.]
[Lu You: @Qiao Sang, be human!]
[Wang Jihang: Be human +1]
[He Jue Ming: Be human +2]
Photo? Trending?
Qiao Sang was confused. She clicked on one of the links, it was news about her getting into the Imperial Beast University.
The article said Ms. Ye threw a seven-day banquet to celebrate her daughter being accepted into the top school on Blue Star, the Imperial Beast University, and invited everyone to eat for free.
It even had a photo of Ms. Ye grinning into the camera.
The article ended with: [Truth of Ms. Yeâs statements yet to be verified.]
Mom
⊠Qiao Sang stared at the photo, her mouth twitching.
She glanced at her classmates spamming âbe humanâ and felt wronged.
She wasnât lying, sometimes she really didnât understand the lessons!
She sighed and closed the group chat, deciding not to stir up any more envy.
Just then, her coach replied:
[My training method will only make your muscles and bones stronger from the inside. You're not doing strength training, you wonât grow exaggerated muscles.]
Qiao Sang was relieved. She put down her phone, filled the bathtub, poured in a toughness-enhancing potion, and got in.
---
Over the next week, Qiao Sang trained at the club every day.
After enduring a week of beatings, her defense had skyrockete, she could now take punches up to 110kg without serious injury.
The healing-type pet beasts at the club werenât even needed. Lubao cast Healing Light every day and left her completely unscathed.
As Elma put it: âDidnât expect you to have such natural talent for impact resistance (getting beaten up).â
Qiao Sang found the phrasing odd, but accepted it, it was why she was here: To train her defense.
She also got approved to purchase a lightweight miniaturization bracelet, though it was on preorder and would ship in about half a month.
That day, after training, she summoned Yabao at home.
âYapâŠâ
Yabao walked straight to the oversized custom mirror and stared at his majestic reflection with little enthusiasm.
Qiao Sang wasnât surprised.
Yabao had been fine when she left to register at the Beastmaster Center, but over time he had grown moody.
Now, he could only find comfort in his new badass form.
Qiao Sang drank another fitness supplement and sat on the couch.
She pulled out her phone to search for the entertainment-based competitions the vice principal had mentioned.
Given Yabaoâs current form, walking in public could accidentally hurt someone but in a specialized Beast master arena, that wouldnât be a problem.
Qiao Sang opened the app
1st District Tournament Talk
and started browsing.
[Fighting-type Pet Beast Strength Challenge]
[D-rank Beastmaster Group Battle]
[Water-type Pet Beast Treasure Hunt]
[B-rank Beastmaster Championship]
[C-rank Beastmaster Beauty Contest]
[Beastmaster Translation Contest]
[D-rank Beastmaster Card Drawing Contest]
None of these seemed like the psychic-type competitions the vice principal mentionedâŠ
Qiao Sang sighed.
This app only listed events happening in 1st District over the next week. If it wasnât listed, it probably didnât exist.
Suddenly, her eyes stopped on one event.
[Ghost-type Pet Beast Negative Energy Collection Contest]
Thereâs actually an event like this?
Qiao Sangâs eyes lit up as she clicked in to read.
The contest was in three days. Pet levels were unlimited. Each Beast master would get an emotional energy collection bottle, and there were three hours to collect.
Top three didnât have to return the bottle and would also get an emotion energy detector.
Qiao Sang had heard of those, they measured whether someoneâs emotions were positive (green light) or negative (red light).
Mainly used by ghost-type pets who werenât good at sensing emotions.
Qiao Sang didnât care much about the prize but the contest itself intrigued her.
After all, Little Treasure had once absorbed emotional energy and jumped to the late stage of the advanced level.
She confirmed the event details and paid the 1,000 Alliance coin registration fee.
âXun xun~â
Little Treasure floated over and pointed at the computer, wanting to play.
âNope.â Qiao Sang rejected flatly.
âThree hundred rounds of Shadow Control a day. You havenât finished yours yet.â
âXun xunâŠâ
He raised both paws, looking pitiful.
But he had just done Brick-Break for ages, he was so tired.
Qiao Sang glanced at his paws: âIf youâre tired, Iâll have Lubao heal you.â
Little Treasure: âŠ
âXun xunâŠâ
He sighed and slumped off to finish training.
Seeing this, Qiao Sang sighed too and said:
âIn three days, thereâs a negative emotion energy contest. If you place in the top three, Iâll give you a day off.â
âXun xun!â
Perking up instantly, Little Treasure turned back with a hopeful
Really
? look.
âOf course.â Qiao Sang smiled.
The vice principal should arrive the day of the competition, theyâd need to talk about Yabao then. She wouldnât have time for club training that day anyway.
âXun xun~â
Little Treasure was thrilled and zipped off to train with renewed motivation.
---
Three days passed in a flash.
Other peopleâs mornings start with an alarm clock. Qiao Sangâs morning starts with Little Treasure pinching her nose until she wakes up from suffocation.
Qiao Sang opened her eyes speechlessly.
âXun xun!â
Little Treasure cheerfully floated around in a circle, indicating he was ready and they could head to the competition.
âThe competition is at one in the afternoon. Itâs still early.â Qiao Sang said, pulling the blanket over her head.
âXun xun~â
Little Treasure tried to tug at the blanket and continue waking up his beastmaster.
Itâs fine that the competition hasnât started yet, they could head out early to scout the area and see where the negative emotional energy is stronger.
If you put this much enthusiasm into regular training, your Shadow Control wouldâve reached its ultimate level long agoâŠ
Qiao Sang grumbled internally, speaking from under the blanket:
âLet me sleep a bit more.â
âXun xunâŠâ
Little Treasure looked at Qiao Sang hiding under the covers and shook his head with a sigh-like motion.
His beastmaster was just too lazy.
---
At noon, around twelve o'clock, Qiao Sang had finished lunch and rode on top of Gangbao, following the GPS to a place called Augustwood Competition Institute.
After confirming her information with the staff, Qiao Sang stepped inside.
The moment she entered, she was a little stunned.
The interior was lavish, with pet beast sculptures all around and a massive crystal chandelier on the ceiling reflecting their brilliance.
Directly ahead, a towering virtual screen stood out prominently.
Most striking of all, this hall, which looked like it could accommodate thousands, was already filled with spectators!
Qiao Sang glanced around the hall in confusion.
What the heck? From the look of this, were they really going to collect negative emotional energy in front of a live audience?
Just then, an impatient voice came from behind:
âMove aside, donât block the way.â
Qiao Sang turned around and saw a man wearing a white shirt and black slacks, with blonde hair, white starting to show at the temples. He had forehead wrinkles, nasolabial folds, and crowâs feet.
Although his tone wasnât pleasant, Qiao Sang stepped to the side out of respect for the elderly.
The middle-aged man was about to walk forward when he suddenly paused, as if he saw something, and let out a soft âHmm?â
Qiao Sang followed his gaze, and her heart tensed.
Because he was staring exactly where Little Treasure was.
And right now, Little Treasure was in stealth mode.
He couldnât possibly see Little Treasure⊠could he? No way, itâs definitely impossible, Little Treasure was clearly invisible right nowâŠ
Just as Qiao Sangâs thoughts were in chaos, the man looked at her with his somewhat clouded eyes and asked:
âIs that your pet beast?â
What the hell! He really can see Little Treasure?!
Qiao Sang was shocked.
She silently stepped back, putting some distance between them, and pretended to be puzzled:
âWhat are you talking about?â
âIâm asking if that gray pet beast with golden rings on its body is yours?â The man asked, his tone much friendlier now.
Qiao Sang responded with a question:
âYou can see it?â
Upon hearing that, the man chuckled:
âYour elders didnât tell you? For beast masters with ghost-type pets, once they reach a certain level of spiritual feedback, they can start seeing things normal people canât.â
âFor example, ghost-type pet beasts that are in stealth.â