Chapter 29: You Must Be S-Rank

The Fire Fang Hound had no guard against the sudden ball, only reacting when the ball was right upon it.

Fortunately, the first-gear balls weren't fast; the Fire Fang Hound lifted its left foreleg and left hind leg, and the ball slid right past beneath its body.

The two baseball auto-pitching machines fired simultaneously, their barrels occasionally rotating to change direction.

After dodging for about a minute, the Fire Fang Hound grew increasingly adapted to the ball's trajectory, its expression turning leisurely. It began to play around, using subtle movements to dodge at the very last moment before the ball touched it.

Qiao Sang watched and was quite satisfied; this kind of dodging required a certain reaction ability and evasion skill.

However, Qiao Sang's real purpose in bringing the Fire Fang Hound here today wasn't to practice dodging. Seeing the Fire Fang Hound had no problem with first gear, she stood up and switched both baseball auto-pitching machines to second gear.

First-gear balls were roughly 3m/s; second gear was 5m/s.

The room was only a short dozen-plus meters, meaning the Fire Fang Hound had to dodge balls coming from two different directions roughly every 3 seconds.

At second-gear speed, the Fire Fang Hound was noticeably less agile; the moment it dodged one ball, another came flying straight at it.

Qiao Sang couldn't help being shocked internally—Shadow Clone was a mid-tier skill of the same level as Fire Fang.

The Fire Fang Hound didn't cry tired, so Qiao Sang didn't stop the baseball auto-pitching machines.

The Fire Fang Hound tilted its head and looked at its beast master in confusion.

"Fang?"

After so many days of training, how could it be taken down by these balls so quickly!

Qiao Sang was surprised to discover that the Fire Fang Hound, which had been getting hit by balls at first, quickly found its groove.

"Fang!"

Why stop? It hadn't had enough fun yet.

Two minutes later, Qiao Sang switched the baseball auto-pitching machines to third-gear mode.

Tomorrow was June 10th, the special enrollment exam at Sacred Water Middle School. Qiao Sang wanted the Fire Fang Hound to rest well today, so she planned to stop the test at an appropriate point.

Qiao Sang looked at it every night before bed.

Qiao Sang hesitated over whether to call a stop directly.

At 10m/s, the Fire Fang Hound somehow didn't let a single ball touch it.

Besides a skill, what else could explain this unnatural phenomenon!

She immediately sent her consciousness into the Beast Codex.

Qiao Sang made a judgment and prepared to turn off the baseball auto-pitching machines.

If this kept up, its condition tomorrow certainly wouldn't be at its best either.

The Fire Fang Hound called out bashfully, a little embarrassed.

In about a minute's time, the Fire Fang Hound was hit by balls a total of 5 times.

Her original plan was to simply test speed today, not let the body get too exhausted.

From being hit by every single ball at the start, to being hit once out of 3 balls later, to finally being hit by only 1 out of 10 balls.

Many novice beast masters who didn't know how to train the desired ultimate move would send their pets to training institutions that could teach skills.

But the Fire Fang Hound right now wasn't testing speed at all—it was training.

【Name: Fire Fang Hound】

【Skills: Bite (Entry 74/100)+, Tackle (Proficient 198/500)+, Fire Fang (Proficient 188/500)+, Ember (Proficient 232/500)+, Shadow Clone (Entry 2/100)+】

【Points: 55】

Under such a dense firing speed, the Fire Fang Hound inevitably got hit by balls a few times.

Qiao Sang walked over to the Fire Fang Hound, crouched down, and unfastened the weight ring on its right foreleg, smiling: "We're not here to play this time. I came to see how your training's been going these past few days, and what your speed limit is."

Qiao Sang sighed in admiration: "Fire Fang Hound, if talent could be displayed and ranked, you'd definitely be a solid S-rank."

The Fire Fang Hound was caught off guard; in fourth-gear mode, the very first ball hit it, and immediately the second and third struck its body as well.

Although Qiao Sang had a rough idea of the Fire Fang Hound's progress in her heart, seeing it with her own eyes still brought a surge of heartfelt欣慰.

Fourth gear.

The Fire Fang Hound returned to its original spot and nodded solemnly at Qiao Sang.

"Fang!" the Fire Fang Hound urged.

【Attribute: Fire】

Don't stop! It could still go!

After all, if it trained like usual, it would definitely be sore tomorrow, and that wouldn't put it in the best mental state.

Qiao Sang couldn't help sighing—her Fire Fang Hound was not only hardworking, its potential was extraordinary too.

Seeing this, Qiao Sang knew the Fire Fang Hound was about to bring out its real skill.

Hearing this, the Fire Fang Hound pushed itself up with its hind legs, then patted its chest with the just-freed right foreleg.

"Keep it up," Qiao Sang encouraged again. After speaking, she went to the baseball auto-pitching machines and switched them to second-gear mode.

It was going to show its beast master a real performance!

Seeing the Fire Fang Hound's fighting spirit, Qiao Sang couldn't resist rubbing its head and saying: "Keep it up."

Progress at godlike speed!

At this moment, a skill that hadn't been there last night was赫然 displayed on the data—Shadow Clone.

At this point, Qiao Sang pressed the red button beside her, and the baseball auto-pitching machines stopped.

Over these past few days of training, aside from Bite, the values in other areas had all improved to varying degrees.

The ball speed in third-gear mode directly doubled, reaching 10m/s.

The speed went from 10m/s to 20m/s.

This kind of training institution was extremely popular in today's society; often, a training institution only needed to teach a single skill to keep itself standing forever after.

Two minutes later, Qiao Sang turned the baseball auto-pitching machines up another gear.

Of course, the prerequisite is that intermediate skills and above count.

Why did it stop?

It looks like Fire Tooth Dog's nerve reaction speed limit should be around ten-something meters per second.

The moment Fire Tooth Dog took off the weight rings, it flipped from being a salted fish on the spot — its speed was on a completely different level from before. Balls fired at second-gear speed posed no threat to it whatsoever, and it dodged them with ease.

Just then, another identical Fire Tooth Dog appeared out of thin air on Fire Tooth Dog's left side!

Qiao Sang froze on the spot, raised a hand to rub her eyes, and confirmed it wasn't her own hallucination.

Qiao Sang was stunned. She hadn't expected Fire Tooth Dog to still notice her movements over here under the balls' continuous attack.

"Fang?" Fire Tooth Dog looked at the balls gone, and turned its head in confusion toward its own beast master.

【Level: Beginner (133/1000)+】

It had only been a mere ten or so days since Fire Tooth Dog last comprehended Spark, and now it had comprehended another skill — an intermediate skill at that!

Normally, learning a skill is a relatively long process that requires corresponding guidance and training.

"Fang!"

Thirty minutes later, Fire Tooth Dog had already trained to the point where it took an average of 45 balls hit before getting struck once.

Qiao Sang pressed the stop button and looked at Fire Tooth Dog with burning eyes.

Fire Tooth Dog felt nothing but hot blood surging through it. It ran to the backpack Qiao Sang carried with her, rummaged out the seven pairs of sunglasses inside, hesitated for a moment, then picked out a dark-green triangular pair and put them on.

Since Fire Tooth Dog chose to continue, Qiao Sang naturally didn't stop it. Given Fire Tooth Dog's temperament, if she didn't let it try again now, it probably wouldn't even enjoy its food and would end up throwing a fit with her.

"Fang~"

Fire Tooth Dog's heavy focus returned to the balls. It had just been caught off guard because the balls' speed had suddenly gotten so much faster — that was all!

Baseballs come in hard and soft varieties. The kind used for this dedicated indoor training is the soft type, made of rubber and hollow, so getting hit by one doesn't actually hurt.

Why was she praising it like that? So sudden and weird.

The next moment, Fire Tooth Dog realized something and turned its head to the left.

"Fang!!!"

Fire Tooth Dog let out a terrified cry and, running even faster than when it had dodged the balls, dashed to Qiao Sang and threw itself into her arms.

(End of chapter)