Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

The large training ground was silent except for the sound of water dripping, and then...

“Xun! Xun! Xun!”

The usually invisible Little Treasure appeared, rolling around on Qiao Sang’s head with laughter.

Qiao Sang’s head wasn’t big enough for him to complete a full roll, so he tumbled off, stabilizing himself mid-air.

But that wasn’t all. After steadying himself, Little Treasure pointed his tiny claw at Zheng Baolong’s dripping face and continued laughing uproariously.

“Xun! Xun! Xun!”

Everyone’s attention was drawn to this, including Zheng Baolong...

Qiao Sang’s face betrayed nothing, but inside her mind, it was a wild storm of emotions.

After a brief two-second consideration, she raised her hand, stowing Little Treasure into the Beast Tamer’s Codex, pretending as though nothing had happened.

Shi Gaofeng and the others stared in disbelief at the now-vanished Little Treasure-Seeking Ghost.

No one had known that there was a ghost-type pet present in the training grounds, let alone that it belonged to a freshman who had just added it to their Beast Tamer’s Codex.

A freshman with two pet beasts?!

The revelation was so shocking that they temporarily forgot about the still-furious Zheng Baolong.

Zheng Guoping’s temple pulsed with a throbbing vein. His face shifted from white to blue, then to black, as he glanced between Xu Yajie and Qiao Sang, before finally settling his gaze on the former.

“Xu Yajie, immediately go outside and run 20 laps!”

In this weather, running 20 laps was borderline cruel.

Xu Yajie’s face was ashen, but he dared not protest, taking Mighty Duck with him as he left the training grounds.

“Next, Wang Yao.”

Zheng Guoping resumed the training tests.

During Mighty Duck’s test, Qiao Sang hadn’t noticed anything unusual.

She had simply assumed it was a test of skill to break through rock barriers and hit ultra-micro targets.

However, the moment Flame Sparrow unleashed its flame vortex, she realized it wasn’t that simple.

Yabao, like Flame Sparrow, was a fire-type pet beast. When Yabao was still in his basic form as a Fire Fang Dog, he had undergone daily training in fire-type skill release.

The flame whirl was one of Yabao’s fire-type skills, so Qiao Sang naturally knew what it should look like.

Beyond the increased rotation and temperature of the flames...

An entry-level flame vortex would be about 20 cm wide, with an attack range of around 3 meters.

A proficient-level flame whirl wouldn’t change in width, but the attack range would extend to around 9 meters.

Although Yabao had never released a flame vortex in his advanced form as a Flame Hound, Qiao Sang had thoroughly researched all of Yabao’s skills online.

When a fire-type pet evolves from basic to intermediate, a flame whirl released at the same proficiency level would maintain the same range but widen from 20 cm to 30 cm.

Yet, the flame whirl Flame Sparrow had just released was neither at the proficient-level width of 30 cm with a 9-meter range, nor at the moderate-level range of 18 meters.

Instead, it was about 8 cm wide and shot nearly 30 meters, almost reaching the red target.

Because they were conducting a test for skill compression to extend attack range.

No wonder Mighty Duck couldn’t control its water gun and sprayed in random directions.

Its limb strength wasn’t sufficient to manage the compressed water gun, leading to a loss of control.

Just like in her past life, when firefighters used high-pressure hoses and struggled with the recoil. You needed strength to handle the water pressure’s force.

Thinking of this, Qiao Sang began to feel a bit of sympathy for Zheng Baolong.

Compressed water gun attacks... just how thick-skinned would someone have to be to withstand that?

Once Wang Yao and Shi Gaofeng finished their tests, Zheng Guoping said, “Qiao Sang, it’s your turn.”

Qiao Sang nodded and took her place directly across from the red target.

“What fire... what’s the name of your pet?” Zheng Guoping asked.

Qiao Sang hesitated for a moment before deciding to use the official name from the Beast Tamer’s Codex: “He’s the Flame Hound.”

“Yap?”

Yabao looked up in confusion at his Beast Tamer. Flame Hound? Wasn’t he a Blaze Dog?

Qiao Sang lowered her head, smiling warmly at Yabao. “I’ll show you a mirror tonight.”

“Yap!”

Yabao let out an excited bark.

Ever since evolving, he hadn’t had a proper look at himself!

Wang Yao watched their interaction with an odd expression. What’s so exciting about looking in a mirror?

Why was Yabao so happy? It didn’t act like a typical fire-type pet at all...

Shouldn’t fire-type pets be smirking with disdain and proudly ignoring their tamers at moments like this?

“What long-range attack skills does your Flame Hound have?” Zheng Guoping continued.

Because he knew so many, Qiao Sang took a moment to think before answering, “Ember, fire whirl, flame charge…”

Before she could finish, Zheng Guoping interrupted, “Let’s go with the fire whirl. Have your Flame Hound release one.”

“Okay.” Qiao Sang agreed and exchanged a look with Yabao.

“Yap.”

Yabao nodded and immediately launched a fire whirl at the rocky area.

“Proficient-level fire whirl.” Zheng Guoping noted as he wrote it down.

A proficient-level fire whirl? That was expected of an intermediate-level pet beast like the Flame Hound...

Zheng Guoping tried hard not to dwell on the fact that the person in front of him was just an incoming freshman.

Wang Yao, though unaffected by the proficient-level fire whirl, was in disbelief at what she had just witnessed.

A single look, no words spoken, and the flame whirl was released?

How did the Flame Hound know to release a fire whirl?

Wang Yao suddenly turned to stare intently at her own Flame Sparrow, hoping it could sense what she was thinking at that moment.

Flame Sparrow, feeling puzzled, stared back.

After a moment, Flame Sparrow finally understood.

“Yan Yan.”

It pointed its left wing at its Beast Tamer’s left eye.

Instinctively, Wang Yao touched her left eye.

And felt a piece of eye gunk...

Wang Yao: !!!

Meanwhile...

“Can you try having your Flame Hound keep the energy output the same but reduce the width of the fire whirl?” Zheng Guoping asked.

Qiao Sang nodded and communicated with Yabao.

“Use the same skill as before, but try to narrow the flames to about this width.” Qiao Sang gestured roughly 8 cm with her hands.

This wasn’t like the time they compressed energy to make super spicy roasted wings in that alley.

Back then, it was about energy compression; Now the training focused on maintaining energy output while compressing the skill’s width to extend its range.

The 8 cm width she suggested was based on Flame Sparrow’s.

In her mind, if Flame Sparrow could do it, then Yabao should be able to as well.

“Yap!”

Yabao focused on his internal energy, rapidly circulating it.

He remembered his Beast Tamer’s instructions about the width...

Zheng Guoping walked from the red target toward the center of the field.

It was unlikely the first attempt at skill compression would succeed.

If the Flame Hound’s proficient-level fire whirl followed the width Qiao Sang had indicated, it should reach about 15 meters.

When the Flame Hound failed, he’d be ready to set a target distance for Qiao Sang.

15 meters would be decent enough.

Zheng Guoping stopped about 15 meters from the Flame Hound.

At that moment, Yabao flawlessly released a fire whirl with the exact width Qiao Sang had indicated.

The high-speed rotating flames struck a rock 13 meters away.

Boom!

The rock exploded, sending fragments flying, one of which smacked Zheng Guoping square in the face.

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