Beast Taming: Starting From Zero

Chapter 29: You Must Be S-Rank

Fire fang Dog wasn’t prepared for the sudden onslaught of balls; it only reacted when they were close.

Luckily, the balls in the first gear weren't too fast. Fire fang Dog lifted its left foreleg and hind leg, allowing the ball to slip smoothly beneath it.

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

After dodging for about a minute, Fire fang Dog became more accustomed to the ball’s trajectory, its expression becoming more relaxed.

It even started to playfully dodge at the last second, using subtle movements.

Qiao Sang observed this with satisfaction. Such dodging required a certain level of reflexes and evasion skills.

However, Qiao Sang’s intention today wasn’t just to practice dodging techniques.

Seeing that Fire fang Dog had no trouble with the first gear, she stood up and adjusted the two baseball pitching machines to the second gear.

The speed of the balls in the first gear was about 3 m/s, while in the second gear, it increased to 5 m/s.

Given the short distance of just a few meters in the room, Fire fang Dog had to dodge two balls from different directions every three seconds.

At this speed, Fire fang Dog seemed less agile. Just after dodging one ball, another would be fired right at it. With the increased firing rate, it inevitably got hit a few times.

Baseballs come in both hard and soft varieties. The ones used for indoor training like this were softballs, made of hollow rubber, so getting hit by them didn’t hurt.

In about a minute, Fire fang Dog was hit five times. At this point, Qiao Sang pressed the red button on the side, stopping the pitching machines.

“Yip?” Fire fang Dog tilted its head in confusion, looking at its trainer. Why stop? It wasn’t done playing yet.

Qiao Sang squatted down beside Firefang Dog, unfastened the weight ring from its right foreleg, and smiled.

“We’re not here to play today. I want to see how much you’ve improved over the past few days and what your speed limit is.”

“Yip!”

Hearing this, Fire fang Dog used its hind legs to push itself up, then patted its chest with its newly freed right foreleg. It was ready to show off its skills to its trainer!

Seeing Fire fang Dog so full of determination, Qiao Sang couldn’t help but pat its head.

“Go for it.”

Fire fang Dog felt a surge of enthusiasm. It ran to Qiao Sang’s backpack, pulled out seven pairs of sunglasses, hesitated for a moment, and chose a pair of triangular, dark green ones to wear.

“Yip!”

Fire fang Dog returned to its spot, nodding seriously at Qiao Sang.

Seeing this, Qiao Sang knew Fire fang Dog was about to get serious.

“Good luck.” She encouraged it again, then started the pitching machines at the second gear.

With the weight ring removed, Firefang Dog’s speed was on a whole new level. The balls fired in the second gear couldn’t touch it at all; it dodged them effortlessly.

After two minutes, Qiao Sang increased the pitching machines to the third gear. In the third gear, the speed of the balls doubled to 10 m/s. Even at this speed, Fire fang Dog didn’t let a single ball hit it.

Although Qiao Sang had a sense of how much Fire fang Dog had improved, seeing it firsthand filled her with pride. After another two minutes, Qiao Sang increased the speed to the fourth gear.

The speed jumped from 10 m/s to 20 m/s. Caught off guard, Fire fang Dog was hit by the first ball in the fourth gear, then the second and third balls struck as well.

It seemed Fire fang Dog’s reflexes were maxed out at speeds around ten meters per second.

Qiao Sang considered shutting off the pitching machines.

“Yip!” Fire fang Dog cried out urgently.

Don’t stop! I can still go on!

Qiao Sang was taken aback. She hadn’t expected Fire fang Dog to notice her actions amidst the barrage of balls.

Since it wanted to continue, she didn’t stop it. If she did, Fire fang Dog would probably lose its appetite or sulk later.

Fire fang Dog refocused on the balls. It had only been caught off guard by the sudden speed increase.

After all the training it had done, how could it let these balls defeat it so easily?

To Qiao Sang’s amazement, Fire fang Dog, who had been getting hit by every ball, quickly found its rhythm.

From getting hit every few balls, it progressed to dodging all but one out of three, then only one out of ten.

The progress was astonishing!

Qiao Sang couldn’t help but marvel at Fire fang Dog’s effort and potential. Thirty minutes later, Fire fang Dog had improved to the point where it was only hit once for every forty-five balls.

Since Fire fang Dog hadn’t shown any signs of fatigue, Qiao Sang didn’t stop the pitching machines.

Initially, she had just wanted to test its speed without pushing it too hard, to ensure it wouldn’t be too sore tomorrow.

Tomorrow, June 10th, was the special admission test for Shengshui High School, and she wanted Fire fang Dog to be in top form.

But now, it was clearly more than just testing its speed—it was training hard.

At this rate, it wouldn’t be in the best shape for tomorrow’s exam.

Qiao Sang hesitated, wondering if she should call it off. Just then, another Fire fang Dog identical to the first appeared out of thin air on its left side!

Qiao Sang stood frozen in place. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating.

This kind of unnatural occurrence could only mean one thing—a new skill!

She immediately checked the Beast Tamer’s Codex

Name: Fire fang Dog

Attribute: Fire

Level: Basic (133/1000)+

Skills: Bite (Beginner 74/100)+, Charge (Intermediate 198/500)+, Fire Fang (Intermediate 188/500)+, Ember (Intermediate 232/500)+, Shadow Clone (Beginner 2/100)+

Points: 55

In just a few days of training, all its skills had improved, except for Bite. Qiao Sang had checked the data every night before bed, and now, to her astonishment, there was a new skill listed—Shadow Clone.

Qiao Sang was in awe. Shadow Clone was a mid-level skill, just like Fire Fang. It had only been about ten days since Firefang Dog learned Ember, and now it had already grasped another skill—and a mid-level one at that!

Normally, learning a skill took a long time and required specific guidance and training.

Many novice Beast Tamers would send their beasts to training centers to learn desired moves.

These training centers were incredibly popular in today’s society, often thriving by teaching just one skill—especially mid-level and above.

Qiao Sang pressed the stop button, her eyes glowing with admiration as she looked at Fire fang Dog.

“Yip?” Fire fang Dog glanced around in confusion as the balls stopped, then turned to look at its trainer. Why did it stop?

Qiao Sang praised it, “Fire fang Dog, if talent could be ranked, you’d definitely be an S-rank.”

“Yip~” Fire fang Dog yipped shyly, a bit embarrassed.

Why the sudden praise? It felt so unexpected.

The next moment, Fire fang Dog realized something and glanced to its left.

“Yip!!!”

Firefang Dog let out a startled cry, rushing to Qiao Sang’s side faster than it had dodged the balls, and leaped into her arms.

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