"Did you feel that?" Qiao Sang asked.
The Fire Tooth Dog was taken aback, looking down at the puddle of water around them, and the droplets still clinging to its paws. After staring for a moment, its eyes widened in realization.
So, the water balloon popping wasn't an accident. It was their Beast Master's way of letting it feel the energy contained within!
"Yar!" it exclaimed.
The Fire Tooth Dog nodded earnestly. It felt the energy!
However, Qiao Sang felt a bit guilty. She originally just wanted to let Tooth see the water balloon but hadn’t expected it to sharpen its claws so much due to the increase in points.
Wait, it still needed a trim; after all, Tooth didn't have any skills related to its claws.
"Good that you felt it. That’s the thing with energy balls: if you don’t poke them, there’s nothing to worry about, but as soon as you touch them, the energy can explode," Qiao Sang took the opportunity to explain. "What we need to do now is to form this energy ball."
The Fire Tooth Dog listened intently, eager to try gathering energy from within itself, and was ready to test it right away.
"Wait! Not in the room! Don’t you remember that old television?" Qiao Sang shouted in alarm.
Having spent so much time with Tooth, she could tell from its little expression and its restless paws what it was about to do.
"Yar."
The Fire Tooth Dog sheepishly stopped its movements.
It really had forgotten.
"This is different from generating fire with your internal energy. You need to directly condense the fire-type energy. The key point is that it has to be solid and stable inside," Qiao Sang continued, teaching her pet.
"Otherwise, this energy ball might explode before it even reaches the sky, and that kind of uncontrolled explosion won’t just be a rain of sparks," she warned.
Simply put, the energy ball was a sphere of concentrated energy. Forming it didn’t seem too hard at first glance. But getting the energy to form without leaking out, while also lifting into the air, needed a stable internal structure, which was a challenge.
"Yar!" The Fire Tooth Dog listened carefully and nodded vigorously.
Qiao Sang felt quite pleased. Just based on its attitude towards learning alone, they were already halfway to success.
"We still have one more thing to do before training," Qiao Sang said.
"Yar?" the Fire Tooth Dog looked confused. What else was there to do?
"Come here, let’s trim your nails."
"…"
After dinner, Qiao Sang was about to take the Fire Tooth Dog to Liugan Creek. As soon as she stepped out the door, she spotted a Sky Pig struggling to breathe as it fluttered in with a green bag on its back.
It turned out that the F-grade energy recovery liquid and the E-grade fire condensing beads and focus beads she ordered had finally arrived.
Seeing the Sky Pig drop off the delivery and take off, Qiao Sang couldn’t help but marvel. It was surprising how companion beasts seemed to have an advantage in jobs; even pigs could deliver packages now…
Arriving at Liugan Creek, the Fire Tooth Dog wore the fire condensing bead and began attempting to gather the energy ball. Qiao Sang found a clear spot and sat down cross-legged.
She gathered her little Treasure Hunter from her head, but since it still clutched two tufts of hair, the process was a bit painful. She placed the focus bead on it and, looking at the Treasure Hunter with its eyes still closed, a wave of worry washed over her.
Wasn’t it supposed to wake up after a nap? Had it been sleeping too long? It had almost been two days.
Qiao Sang poked its cheek; there was no response.
She sighed and placed the small creature back on her head.
Unbeknownst to Qiao Sang, the Treasure Hunter was quite aware, clutching two more tufts of hair in its paws.
Meanwhile, the Fire Tooth Dog kept trying to gather energy, but every attempt resulted in bursts of flames.
Qiao Sang put her phone away and quietly watched. Sometimes, watching your companion beast train was its own form of enjoyment.
After the thirteenth failed attempt, the fourteenth try yielded something different. A small energy ball, about the size of a fingernail, appeared before them.
Qiao Sang’s eyes brightened.
No matter the size, successfully forming the energy ball was a vital first step. The next task was to stabilize its internal structure. As long as the inside was stable, the more energy it contained, the bigger the ball would naturally grow.
"Yar!"
The Fire Tooth Dog was excited to see the energy ball and lifted its head, barking joyfully at its Beast Master.
In its excitement, the energy ball lost control and hurtled toward Qiao Sang.
"Yar!!"
The Fire Tooth Dog jumped in surprise and immediately wanted to use a skill to save the day. But as soon as it opened its mouth, it realized it shouldn’t use any skills since even if its master wasn’t harmed, it might still end up getting hurt...
"Whoa!"
Qiao Sang exclaimed as she saw the energy ball coming toward her and instinctively tilted her head back at a 75-degree angle to dodge it. Though she avoided the energy ball, her head suffered from another kind of damage.
Feeling pain on her scalp, Qiao Sang suddenly realized something was off.
When did the Treasure Hunter grab more of her hair again? And how could it maintain such stability while sleeping?
But soon, the Fire Tooth Dog’s barks interrupted her thoughts.
"Yar!"
"Yar Yar!"
The Fire Tooth Dog rushed over, worry etched on its face, looking at its Beast Master.
"I’m fine," Qiao Sang reassured.
"Yar."
The Fire Tooth Dog visibly relaxed.
"It’s just that if you try again and something goes wrong, I might not be fine."
Fire Tooth Dog: "…"
In the following training, the Fire Tooth Dog focused much more on controlling the energy ball.
Qiao Sang stealthily changed her position and continued to sit cross-legged. This time she split her attention between the Fire Tooth Dog and the Treasure Hunter.
When she paid attention to the top of her head, she quickly noticed something odd.
Her head would occasionally vibrate.
If she hadn’t deliberately focused on it, the vibration was subtle enough that she might not have felt it.
Soon, she made a judgment.
The Treasure Hunter’s tummy was growling…
The little fellow must have woken up after all...
It was just pretending to be asleep.
Qiao Sang scooped the Treasure Hunter down and pried its eyelids apart.
No reaction.
She tickled its underarms.
Still no response.
Ah, quite the good actor.
"Little Treasure, if you don’t wake up soon, I’ll have to take you to the hospital," Qiao Sang said.
The Treasure Hunter remained motionless.
"I'll bring you back the moment you wake up there," she added.
Hearing this, the Treasure Hunter finally flickered its eyelids.
"Xun~"
In the next moment, it opened its eyes, rubbed them with its paws, looking just like it had woken up from a long sleep.
Qiao Sang: "…"
Seeing her Beast Master silent, the Treasure Hunter happily nudged its head against her.
"Speak, why were you pretending to be asleep?" Qiao Sang asked.
Hearing the commotion, the Fire Tooth Dog halted its training and turned to look.
"Yar!"
The Fire Tooth Dog dashed over excitedly.
Finally, its little brother was awake!
"Xun~"
The Treasure Hunter looked at its Beast Master with a nervous expression, and without hesitation, poured out all it had kept inside its little heart.
"Xun!"
"Xun Xun, Xun, Xun."
"Xun Xun."
It turned out the Treasure Hunter thought it had messed up. It was supposed to lead the enemy away, but its greed for food made it lose track of everything that followed. Afraid of being hated, it didn’t dare to wake up.
Qiao Sang sighed, "You’re still so young, why overthink? For me, as long as you are fine, it’s enough. Besides, you did well initially; if you hadn’t lured the Stone Helmet Spirit away, I wouldn’t have been able to handle what came next."
The Treasure Hunter’s eyes instantly glistened with tears.
"The past two days, both Tooth and I were worried sick about you," Qiao Sang continued.
"Yar!"
The Fire Tooth Dog nodded in agreement.
"Xun~"
The Treasure Hunter sounded choked with emotion.
"Are you hungry? Hurry up and drink some milk; I could hear your tummy growling," Qiao Sang laughed.
Just as if confirming her words, the Treasure Hunter’s stomach let out a timely growl.
"Xun~"
Blushing, the Treasure Hunter buried its head in Qiao Sang's embrace, forgetting to cry.
Both Qiao Sang and the Fire Tooth Dog couldn’t help but chuckle.
Under the setting sun, by the creek, it was a wonderfully harmonious scene.
(End of Chapter)