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Chapter 23: See Which One You Like
Chapter 23: See Which One You Like
About 6 kilometers away from Qingcheng Jiayuan is Chagui Park.
Under the lush plane trees, a slender figure sat cross-legged in the shade, reading a book.
The Fire fang Dog had lost track of how many laps it had run around this park.
Whenever it got tired and returned to its Beastmaster, it would see its master looking at it with trust-filled eyes, cheering it on.
This always made the Fire fang Dog feel powerful enough to keep going.
By the time it realized what was happening, it found itself running again...
Qiao Sang closed her book and shook her head as she watched the Fire fang Dog slowly crawling along not far away.
The Fire fang Dog was really struggling, after only ten laps, it was already exhausted.
Morning runs wouldn't improve the Fire fang Dog's speed; at most, they'd help build its stamina, which also allowed Qiao Sang to roughly gauge its physical limits.
When the Fire fang Dog finally managed to run back to Qiao Sang, the morning jog was officially over.Qiao Sang handed the Fire fang Dog a bottle of Qiyuan Milk that she had bought earlier.
Qiyuan Milk was a beverage for pet beasts, considered one of the better brands on the market.
It provided a slight boost to a pet beast’s stamina and was something Qiao Sang had picked up from a roadside breakfast shop that catered specifically to pet beasts.
Products related to pet beasts were always overpriced, but Qiyuan Milk had maintained the same price for decades—just 98 Union Coins per bottle.
The Fire fang Dog weakly reached out its paw, took the bottle, and gulped it down in a few swigs until it was empty.
"Yap."
The Fire fang Dog looked at Qiao Sang with a pleading gaze.
Qiao Sang hesitated, she had only bought one bottle...
Unable to resist the Fire fang Dog’s eyes, Qiao Sang handed over the tofu pudding she had bought for herself for just 3 Union Coins.
The Fire fang Dog stared silently at the nearly empty tofu pudding for a moment.
"Yap!"
Its eyes were full of reproach.
"Alright, alright, I’ll buy you more later." Qiao Sang comforted.
No matter what, the pet beast must not be deprived. If she couldn't even satisfy her pet beast's hunger, how could she expect it to train well?
Besides, now that she had 50,000 Union Coins, buying some Qiyuan Milk was no big deal.
She’d buy more!
Fifteen minutes later.
Qiao Sang found herself lost in thought, holding a large bag of Qiyuan Milk.
This 50,000 Union Coins should last her a while...right?
After the Fire fang Dog downed three bottles, seven bottles remained in the bag.
With four bottles of Qiyuan Milk in its belly, the Fire fang Dog finally perked up, though its limbs were still weak, and it trembled even when walking.
Seeing this, Qiao Sang decided not to make it start skill training immediately.
“I’ll take you to buy something nice.” Qiao Sang said with a smile.
“Yap.”
The Fire fang Dog’s eyes lit up, clearly interested in this nice thing.
---
Vlie Square.
The largest shopping center in Tangxin District, Vlie Square is a premium commercial complex that combines leisure, shopping, dining, and entertainment.
As soon as Qiao Sang arrived, she was stopped by a handsome young man with a blue wolf-tail hairstyle.
"Hey there, miss, interested in learning how to make your pet beast more attractive? Come visit our Dreamy Beast Styling Studio. We have a professional team of pet beast stylists, and our chief stylist even designed the look for Rohan’s Purple Demon Vine."
"No, thank you. I'm not interested." Qiao Sang declined.
“Miss, don’t be so quick to say no. Take a look at my Qingyue Butterfly.” The young man stepped aside as he spoke.
Behind him, a Qingyue Butterfly with blue-violet wings veined with green appeared in front of Qiao Sang.
The butterfly gracefully twirled in the air, its scattered scales refracting dazzling light in the sunlight.
It was quite beautiful...
Qiao Sang was momentarily entranced by the sight of the Qingyue Butterfly.
The young man with the wolf-tail hairstyle, satisfied to see the girl captivated by his pet beast, pressed on, "How about it? The blue-violet looks great, right? Our stylists adjusted it according to the Qingyue Butterfly’s preferences. Your Fire fang Dog has a nice color, but it lacks personality. Why not come to Dreamy Beast Styling Studio and design a custom look?"
“Yap!”
The Fire fang Dog barked discontentedly at the young man.
How dare this guy say it lacked personality!
As the Beastmaster society developed, numerous professions emerged, most of which served pet beasts. Pet beast stylist was one such profession.
There were millions of pet beasts in the world, with all kinds of varieties, but those of the same species often looked quite similar, differing mainly in height, weight, and build.
As information technology advanced, color-variant pet beasts became known to the public.
Without information dissemination, one might go a lifetime without seeing a color-variant pet beast in real life.
Scarcity leads to value.
Although a color-variant pet beast wasn’t as valuable as a Dragon-type beast, its selling price could rival that of a Fairy-type pet beast.
If it belonged to a rare species, the price could skyrocket a hundredfold or more.
This led to the rise of the pet beast stylist profession.
No color-variant pet beast? No problem—just dye it!
Although it sounded good, almost no professional competitive Beastmasters would choose to dye their pet beasts.
The reason was simple.
The dye would fade...
A pet beast would likely get a bit injured during a match, shedding some fur or skin, which would ruin the entire look.
That said, some famous Beastmasters still couldn’t resist the allure of color variants.
Recently, contestant Lin Ruochu used a golden Frost Centipede in the nationally televised Super League for high school students.
Unfortunately, her first opponent was a Water-type Impact Bubble Turtle.
Normally, an Ice-type would have a significant advantage over a Water-type.
But after a barrage of high-pressure water cannons, most of the gold had washed off the Frost Centipede, leaving it looking extremely bedraggled.
This directly affected Lin Ruochu’s mindset and performance, leading to her loss in the match.
Qiao Sang might have been momentarily dazzled by the Qingyue Butterfly, but she wasn’t about to let her Fire fang Dog get a dye job.
The Fire fang Dog's flaming red fur was beautiful just as it was!
This guy had no taste.
“No, thanks.” Qiao Sang declined again.
Seeing her firm attitude, the young man didn’t waste any more time and instead approached a passing young woman.
“Hey there, miss, interested in learning how to make your pet beast more attractive? Come visit our Dreamy Beast Styling Studio…”
---
Qiao Sang took the Fire fang Dog to a pet beast accessory shop on the third floor.
Following the signs, they arrived at the section with the items she wanted to buy.
“Here, Fire fang Dog, see which one you like.” Qiao Sang smiled at the Firefang Dog.
The Firefang Dog curiously examined the items in front of it.
There were beaded strings and bracelets in different styles and colors.
“Yap.”
The Fire fang Dog pointed to a string of blue beads with its paw.
Qiao Sang picked up the beads, and her hand involuntarily dropped about 50 centimeters under their weight.
“A bracelet might be better; this isn’t good for your neck.” Qiao Sang said, glancing at the Fire fang Dog’s neck.
Fire fang Dog: ???