Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Is This Junior Really a Proper Dog??

"Of course, it’s not mandatory. If you’re really busy..."

"No! We’re totally free!"

Su Zhi patted Lu Dongjie’s shoulder, his tone righteous.

"Senior, I get it. If we don’t spar, it’ll be hard for you to report back."

"And for Yu Bao and me, actively sparring is also very necessary. Training behind closed doors isn’t the way to go."

"Senior! It’s a win-win! Why wouldn’t we?"

"Junior..." Lu Dongjie’s eyes welled up with tears.

’Fighting against someone of a higher tier is basically a complete stomp. What kind of experience could I possibly gain from that?’

’This ’win-win’ talk is most likely something Junior Su Zhi made up just to save me from embarrassment.’

’I was the one who disturbed him with an interview, yet he’s still thinking about my situation!’

’What a heartwarming junior!’

"Your senior won’t forget this favor!"

Lu Dongjie blew his nose hard, then summoned his Pet Beast with a pale white Beast Taming Light Array—

[Pet Beast: Roubao (Yu Dian Dog)]

[Attribute: Earth Element]

[Race: Intermediate Extraordinary]

[Real-time Energy Value: 1709]

This Yu Dian Dog had light yellow fur and was a size larger than Yu Bao, but it was still a young kid itself.

The big dog and the little Dog met, wagging their tails at each other amicably.

"Alright, we can start!"

Lu Dongjie gave the short, pink-haired president an "OK" sign.

Then he turned to Su Zhi and said, "Don’t worry, Junior. Just let your Pet Beast go all out! I’ll have Roubao hold back a bit!"

"Thanks, Senior!"

"Sss-ha, sss-ha~"

Filming from a distance, Zhang Xueying let out a sigh of relief. She was already thinking about how to write the news article.

As the President of New Media, the most essential skill was being able to spin a whole story out of just a few pictures.

A spar between an upperclassman and an underclassman... the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

You had to find the ’angle’!

’Their Pet Beasts are both Yu Dian Dogs?’

’Perfect. I’ll write about the differences between two Pet Beasts of the same race. The eager first-year junior seeks guidance from his senior, and the senior’s Pet Beast opens the junior’s eyes...’

Then, watching the sand and dust whip up on the field, Zhang Xueying was dumbfounded.

Lu Dongjie: "...?"

Roubao: "(꒪ᗜ꒪?)"

As a big second-year Dog, he was intimately familiar with the early-stage Skills of a Yu Dian Dog.

According to his predictions, this little Dog would use Rock-Breaking Teeth to bite him.

And all he had to do was use his superior agility to dodge a bit, then symbolically trip the junior’s Pet Beast to end the match.

But what this junior used seemed to be... a Sandstorm??

’We’re both Yu Dian Dogs, so how come I don’t recognize your Skills?’

"BOOM!"

Faced with the wide-range AoE, Roubao couldn’t dodge in time and was slammed by the overwhelming Sandstorm.

Lu Dongjie, on the side, quickly hit the deck, barely avoiding getting caught in the attack.

Although a Beast Tamer’s Constitution was strong enough to not get taken out by the aftershock, getting his school uniform torn would be a pain.

"PFFT!"

Roubao wasn’t seriously injured, but it did get a mouthful of sand.

Seeing Yu Bao hopping up and down excitedly, the big Dog got fired up too.

’Alright, let me exchange a few moves with the little junior!’

"Yu Bao! The opponent activated Thick Earth Blessing! Be careful and keep your distance!"

"Woof!" (Got it!)

Su Zhi communicated with Yu Bao through the Beast Taming Space.

Unlike typical Earth Element Pet Beasts, Yu Dian Dogs were smaller but still maintained decent defensive capabilities.

Thick Earth Blessing was the Core Skill of the Yu Dian Dog. It used the Earth Element to drastically strengthen the body, which was equivalent to temporarily applying Overlord Body.

Yu Bao was still young, so tanking Roubao’s charge head-on was clearly not a wise move. Its only option was to use its agility to stay mobile.

In truth, even in terms of agility, Yu Bao couldn’t compare to Roubao.

’But the senior will definitely go easy on us. Otherwise, how could we even fight...?’

Roubao chased after Yu Bao at a leisurely pace, no longer bothered by the Sandstorm.

It was true that this move was a powerful Output Skill, but it was a Military Skill after all. It was less effective against a single target, and it was only Tier One.

Other than the possibility of getting a mouthful, there were no other problems—

"WHAP—"

Roubao: "?"

With a dumbfounded look on its doggy face, Roubao didn’t have time to react and was tripped by a piece of ground that suddenly jutted up.

Is this...

Earth Force Field?

’Is this junior’s dog for real??’

"Woof woof!" (Yay!)

Like a Level 10 newbie who had successfully chipped off a health bar from a Level 100 final boss, Yu Bao happily wagged its tail...

·

The outcome, of course, was never in doubt. After all, the gap in their Energy Values was just too large to overcome.

Although Yu Bao had used unexpected Skills twice, Roubao’s Attributes and Skill Proficiency were far superior.

In the end, Yu Bao was caught on the spot, its fated neck clamped in the jaws of Senior Roubao.

Even so, Yu Bao’s spectacular performance during the spar was captured by the camera.

Roubao also understood how exhibition matches worked. It pretended to be trying its best, manually creating several highlight moments for Yu Bao.

After the match, Su Zhi and Lu Dongjie shook hands.

"Thanks for the match, Senior!"

"You’re really something else, Junior!"

Lu Dongjie nodded repeatedly, a look of surprise still on his face. "This is only your fourth week since the contract, right? Your skill level is insane! You’ll probably surpass my current self by the first half of your second year!"

’No, you’re being too conservative. I’m a man with a cheat system, after all...’ Su Zhi just smiled humbly. "I’ll just take it one step at a time."

[Assignable Attribute Points... 0.05]

’That’s right, one step at a time.’

’Didn’t my... our Yu Bao work hard to farm these 0.05 Points?’

It was a bit less than what he got from the sand wolf, though. Su Zhi had assumed that stronger opponents with higher Energy Values would give more Points. It seemed the Points were proportional to the intensity of the battle instead.

Still, 0.05 was a lot. Roubao was an upperclassman’s Pet Beast, after all. Even though it went easy, it was still stronger than any first-year’s. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Su Zhi distributed the Points according to a ratio of 0.02 to Perception, 0.02 to Intelligence, and 0.01 to Agility.

His Real-time Energy Value jumped to 360!

Lu Dongjie was excited and wanted to have a deeper discussion with Su Zhi, but Zhang Xueying tugged on his sleeve.

Zhang Xueying gestured with her eyes toward the entrance of the athletic field.

Lu Dongjie followed her gaze, and Su Zhi looked over curiously as well.

A girl with white hair and blue eyes seemed to have been waiting for a while. She held a lunch box in one hand and her phone in the other, leaning casually against a lamppost.

A gentle breeze swept by, her bright white hair flowing like a cloud.

Lu Dongjie slapped his right hand against his left. He got it instantly.

"I won’t bother you anymore, Junior! Let’s talk again when we have the chance!"

Su Zhi opened his mouth to say something but stopped, trying to get them to stay. "It’s not..."

’Ah, they’re gone.’

"Is Brother Shu about to get famous? Getting interviewed by both the President and Vice President of New Media."

Shao Ya smiled and sat down at the boundary between sunlight and shadow.

"It was just a normal interview. I’m not getting famous."

Su Zhi scooted over and asked curiously, "Aren’t you going back to your dorm? Why come to the field in the middle of the day?"

Shao Ya placed the lunch box next to him and gave him a mischievous wink.

"What are you supposed to say now?"

"Dad."

"Bullshit! You’re supposed to say ’thank you’!"

·

「New Media Office.」

The President and Vice President, baked into dried salted fish by the sun, were sprawled out on their office chairs, unable to get up.

Zhang Xueying was fast asleep.

Lu Dongjie logged onto the official website as usual to check the updated Pet Beast Ranking and write the new weekly commentary for it.

As everyone knows, the Vice President’s job is to do the President’s work...

"Huh? Wait a second."

Lu Dongjie, who had just lain down, shot up again with a ’CHUA,’ his eyes wide.

"Su Zhi... Su Zhi from Class 1410... Did I just interview the new god of the first years at noon?!"