Chapter 16: Is It Intuition?

17:30 in the afternoon.

After school at No. 37 Beast-Taming High School.

At 17:33, a large crowd of students walked out the school gate in pairs and trios, arms around each other.

"Shall we battle here?" A slightly deep, resonant voice rang out.

After nearly an hour of reading, Qiao Sang finally got the first person to ask.

She looked up and saw a tall, burly man standing in front of her. A snake-type pet beast, as thick as a fist and earth-yellow in color, coiled from his waist all the way up to his neck before revealing its triangular head.

It was a Long-Tailed Snake, the evolved form of the Short-Tailed Snake.

Qiao Sang glanced at it twice, took a pen from her schoolbag, and silently added a few words to the paper.

【Beginner Pet Beasts Only】

The tall man clicked his tongue, said nothing more, turned around and left.

Where there was a first, there was a second. Soon another person came.

This time, the one asking was a sunny-looking boy. He came up to Qiao Sang, scratched his head, and said a little shyly, "If I win and don't take the money, can I have your contact info instead?"

Qiao Sang agreed readily, "Sure."

No money was even better. Her entire savings added up to only 532 Alliance Coins, just enough to lose a few matches, and she still had to keep some for the fare home.

Beside the boy stood another with a spiky hedgehog-like haircut, his face wearing an obvious melon-eating-onlooker expression — clearly his friend.

"Let's battle over there." The hedgehog-hair boy pointed at a poplar tree in Nanhe Park and suggested.

They were currently at the entrance of Nanhe Park, where students coming and going after school made it unsuitable for a battle.

Qiao Sang followed the direction he pointed and nodded.

The three of them came to the poplar tree. The spot was secluded, with no one in sight within about 20 meters.

"I'll be the referee." The hedgehog-hair boy volunteered.

Qiao Sang naturally had no objection.

The boy formed a summoning seal. Beneath a white star array, a plump little dove, about 80 centimeters tall with a round build and brown all over, appeared on the ground.

An ordinary plump dove is around 60 centimeters tall. The one before them had clearly been raised very well.

"Jiang Liu, no objections to letting the girl attack first?" the hedgehog-hair boy asked.

Different matches had different rules. Some decided who would attack first beforehand; others didn't care who struck first.

"Of course." Jiang Liu spread his hands and answered.

As referee, the hedgehog-hair boy chose Qiao Sang to go first. Qiao Sang didn't stand on ceremony and said directly, "Fire Fang Dog, use Spark."

"Fang!"

Fire Fang Dog leapt out of Qiao Sang's arms. Its gaze instantly sharpened, and it opened its mouth to release a reddish-orange flame the size of a baby's fist.

Facing this sudden attack, Jiang Liu gave no command. The plump dove's expression remained unchanged, and just as the Spark was about to land on it, it hopped twice to the left and dodged.

The plump dove was公认 slow. The one before them wasn't fast either, but its reaction ability was decent — dodging the attack with minimal movement. It must have undergone targeted training.

Qiao Sang analyzed as she went, but her commands didn't stop. "Tackle."

Fire Fang Dog pushed off with all four limbs and charged forward.

"Fly up and use Screech." Jiang Liu issued his first command.

The plump dove flapped its pair of short wings and took to the air.

Fire Fang Dog had never been trained, so its attack speed wasn't fast. The plump dove was already airborne by the time its tackle had covered half the distance.

"Dove!"

Screech was a fairly common skill. It couldn't directly deal damage in battle, only barely affect the opponent for a moment.

To Qiao Sang, the sound was only a little piercing, but Fire Fang Dog's movements stalled, its speed slowing slightly.

"Aerial Strike." Jiang Liu commanded immediately after.

Aerial Strike was an exclusive skill for flying-type pet beasts, similar to a ground pet beast's Tackle. The difference was that Tackle relied only on the beast's own four limbs and physique, while Aerial Strike could also harness the flow of air to generate an impact force far beyond a normal tackle.

The plump dove drew its wings back, and airflow gathered around it with a whistling sound as it charged straight at Fire Fang Dog.

Fire Fang Dog saw the plump dove coming at it and instinctively wanted to dodge.

"Don't move!" Qiao Sang commanded at that moment.

Getting hit by Aerial Strike would definitely cause no small amount of injury, but Fire Fang Dog heard Qiao Sang's command and forcibly controlled its body, choosing to obey her.

That was absurd!

The hedgehog-hair boy stared at the scene on the field, his eyes widening involuntarily.

Both Qiao Sang's command and Fire Fang Dog's reaction struck him as absurd.

Setting aside the command for now — was a Fire Fang Dog really this obedient?!

If it were a second or third contracted beast, that would be one thing, but this was clearly a new beast tamer's first pet beast.

You couldn't find one new beast tamer out of a thousand who contracted a fire-type pet beast. Their school of over 3,000 students had only produced two bold ones who dared to contract a fire-type as their first beast.

Fire-type pet beasts had violent, unruly temperaments.

How on earth did she make a fire-type pet beast obediently stand still and take a beating?!

If they weren't still in the middle of a battle, the hedgehog-hair boy would have run over to ask this fierce lady for guidance.

"Now! Jump!"

Qiao Sang watched the situation calmly and issued her command just as the plump dove was about to hit Fire Fang Dog.

Fire Fang Dog didn't hesitate. The very next second after Qiao Sang's command, it leaped up.

Jiang Liu stared at the scene before him, instantly dumbfounded.

How did this Fire Fang Dog just…

How did it jump right onto the plump dove's back!

"Fire Fang, attack its wings!" Taking advantage of the opponent's lack of reaction, Qiao Sang issued her next command.

Fire Fang Dog bared its fangs and flames immediately swept forward, mercilessly biting down on Little Fat Dove's right wing.

"Dove!!!"

Little Fat Dove let out an agonized wail, and after that scream, its body crashed heavily to the ground.

"A-Fat!" Jiang Liu cried out.

Fire Fang Dog leapt off Fat Dove's body and turned to look at Qiao Sang, its eyes shining with excitement.

"Finally, Spark." Qiao Sang said calmly.

Fire Fang Dog quickly turned its head back.

Under the attack of a spark the size of a baby's fist, Little Fat Dove whimpered once and fainted.

Silence fell all around.

About five seconds passed.

"Female fierce… classmate, what's your name?" the Hedgehog-head asked awkwardly.

"I'm Qiao Sang." Qiao Sang answered.

"Qiao Sang wins." Hedgehog-head announced the final result.

Jiang Liu silently recalled Little Fat Dove back into the Beast Codex.

"How did you judge the timing to have Fire Fang Dog jump onto Little Fat Dove's back?" Jiang Liu walked over, his expression complicated.

The girl before him looked even younger than him, yet her battle awareness was this strong.

Under the speed of Empty Strike, the timing of the jump wasn't easy to calculate.

If Fire Fang Dog had jumped only when Little Fat Dove was right in front of it, it definitely wouldn't have made it in time — one had to calculate the speed of Little Fat Dove's charge.

And Fire Fang Dog itself — as long as it hesitated for even half a second, it absolutely wouldn't have been able to get onto Little Fat Dove's back.

All of this was built on trust and command between it and the beast master.

Qiao Sang said seriously: "It was intuition."

Jiang Liu: "..."