5:30 PM.
Beast Taming High School dismissed classes at thirty past five.
At 5:33 PM, large groups of students walked out of the school gates in twos and threes.
"Are we comparing here?" a somewhat thick voice asked.
After nearly an hour of reading, Qiao Sang finally encountered the first person to inquire.
She lifted her head and saw a burly tall guy standing in front of her, with a snake-shaped pet beast coiling up from his waist to his neck, finally revealing its triangular head.
It was a Longtail Snake, the evolved form of the Shorttail Snake.
Qiao Sang glanced at it and silently added a few words on a piece of paper from her bag.
[Only for novice pet beasts]
The tall guy clicked his tongue and, without saying much more, turned and left.
Where there is a first, there is a second; soon another person came up.
This time it was a sunny-looking boy who came up to Qiao Sang and scratched his head, a little embarrassed, saying, "If I win, I don't need the money. Can I exchange it for your contact information instead?"
Qiao Sang agreed cheerfully, "Sure."
Not taking money was even better; her entire fortune amounted to only 532 Alliance Currency, just enough for her to lose a few rounds and leave some for the fare back home.
There was a spiky-haired guy standing next to the boy, with an expression like he was there to watch the excitement, obviously his friend.
"Let's go over there to fight." The spiky-haired guy suggested, pointing to a poplar tree in Nanhe Park.
The spot they were currently at was the entrance and exit of Nanhe Park, with people coming and going at school closing time, not exactly a suitable place for a battle.
Qiao Sang followed the direction he pointed and nodded her head.
The three of them arrived under the poplar tree. This spot was secluded with no one visible within a 20-meter radius.
"I'll be the referee," the spiky-haired guy volunteered.
Qiao Sang naturally had no objections.
The boy made a summoning seal, and beneath the white Star Array, a round-bodied, brown pigeon about 80 centimeters in height appeared on the ground.
A normal pigeon's height is about 60 centimeters, so the one before them was clearly well nurtured.
"Jiang Liu, you don't mind letting the girl attack first, right?" the spiky-haired guy asked.
Different competitions have different rules. Some decide beforehand who gets to launch the first attack, and some don't care who goes first.
"Of course not," Jiang Liu spread his hands and replied.
As the referee, the spiky-haired guy chose Qiao Sang to go first. She wasn't fussy and directly commanded, "Fire-Toothed Dog, use Spark."
"Tooth!"
The Fire-Toothed Dog sprung from Qiao Sang's arms, its eyes instantly becoming sharp, and it spewed a fist-sized flame of reddish-orange color as soon as it opened its mouth.
Facing this sudden attack, Jiang Liu didn't issue a command. The pigeon maintained its composure, and as the spark was about to hit, it hopped twice to the left and dodged it.
The pigeon was known for its slow speed. This one wasn't particularly fast either, but it had a good reaction time and managed to dodge the attack with minimal movement, which probably resulted from targeted training.
Qiao Sang analyzed the situation but didn't stop giving orders, "Charge."
The Fire-Toothed Dog dashed forward, all limbs tensing.
"Take flight and use Howl," Jiang Liu issued his first command.
The chubby pigeon flapped its short wings and took to the air.
The Fire-Toothed Dog, untrained, wasn't fast in its attack. It was only halfway through its charge when the pigeon had already ascended.
"Coo!"
Howl was a fairly common skill that couldn't directly inflict damage in battle but could barely affect the opponent for a moment.
While the sound was just a bit irritating to Qiao Sang, it caused the Fire-Toothed Dog to falter slightly, its speed diminishing a bit.
"Sky Strike," Jiang Liu promptly ordered.
Sky Strike was a skill exclusive to Flight Type beasts, similar to the ground beasts' Charge. The difference is that Charge relies solely on the beast's physical power, while Sky Strike can also utilize the flow of air to produce an impact force far stronger than a normal charge.
The chubby pigeon retracted its wings, and the airflow around it formed a whistling noise as it shot straight towards the Fire-Toothed Dog.
The Fire-Toothed Dog instinctively wanted to dodge the oncoming chubby pigeon.
"Don't move!" Qiao Sang issued an order at that moment.
Being hit by the jump attack would definitely cause significant injury, but upon hearing Qiao Sang's command, the Fire-Toothed Dog forcefully controlled its body and chose to obey Qiao Sang's words.
That's outrageous!
The spiky-haired onlooker stared at the scene unfolding before him, his eyes widening in disbelief.
Both Qiao Sang's command and the Fire-Toothed Dog's response seemed outrageous to him.
Could the Fire-Toothed Dog be this obedient?! If it were the second or third pet beast, that would be one thing, but this was clearly a rookie Beast Tamer's first pet beast.
Out of a thousand rookie Beast Tamers, not one could be found who had contracted with a Fire Attribute Beast, and among the over 3000 students at their school, only two dared to contract a Fire Attribute Beast as their first beast.
Fire Attribute Beasts are known for their volatile temper and indiscipline.
How on earth did he make a Fire Attribute Beast obey and stand still to take a beating!
If it weren't for the fact that they were in the middle of a battle, the spiky-haired guy would have wanted to run over and earnestly ask this fierce lady for some tips.
"Now, jump!"
Qiao Sang calmly monitored the situation and issued the command just when the chubby pigeon was about to collide with the Fire-Toothed Dog.
The Fire-Toothed Dog did not hesitate, and the next second after Qiao Sang's instruction, it leaped up.
Jiang Liu was stunned by the scene before him.
How did the Fire-Toothed Dog just...
How did it just jump onto the chubby pigeon's back!
"Flame Tooth, attack its wing!" Seizing the moment of the opponent's lack of reaction, Qiao Sang gave the next command.
The moment the Fire-Toothed Dog bared its fangs, flames immediately swept up, and it bit mercilessly into the right wing of the chubby pigeon.
"Pigeooon!!!"
The chubby pigeon let out an immensely pained scream, and after that anguished cry, its body heavily fell to the ground.
"Ah Pang!" Jiang Liu exclaimed in shock.
The Fire-Toothed Dog jumped down from the chubby pigeon's back, turning its head to look at Qiao Sang with excitement in its eyes.
"Finally, Spark." Qiao Sang said calmly.
The Fire-Toothed Dog quickly turned back around.
Under the attack of the baby fist-sized Spark, the chubby pigeon whimpered and then fainted.
There was silence all around.
About five seconds passed.
"Fierce... classmate, what's your name?" the spiky-haired guy asked awkwardly.
"My name is Qiao Sang." Qiao Sang replied.
"Qiao Sang wins." the spiky-haired guy announced the final result.
Jiang Liu silently recalled the chubby pigeon back into the Beast Taming Codex.
"How did you determine the timing for the Fire-Toothed Dog to jump onto the back of the chubby pigeon?" Jiang Liu approached, his expression complex.
The girl before him looked even younger than him, yet her combat awareness was so strong.
With the speed of the jump attack, the timing wasn't that easy to calculate.
If the chubby pigeon had almost reached the Fire-Toothed Dog and it jumped, it would definitely have been too late; this required calculating the speed at which the chubby pigeon was diving.
And as for the Fire-Toothed Dog, any half-second hesitation would surely prevent it from getting on the chubby pigeon's back.
All of this was built on trust and command between the beast and the Beast Tamer.
Qiao Sang earnestly replied, "It was intuition."
Jiang Liu: "..."