Back in her room, Fire-Fang Dog was watching the Hanggang tournament channel as usual.
Meanwhile, Qiao Sang was taking an online course on Pet Spirit Carvers while using a specialized spirit carving brush to sketch patterns on Little Treasure Ghost's cheek.
It wasn't that she had nothing to do during her vacation and wanted to pick up a new skill for the sake of it; she simply wanted to lend a hand regarding Fire-Fang Dog's condensation of energy balls.
After this period of training, she could more or less perceive the problems existing in Fire-Fang Dog's practice of Meteor Rain.
Meteor Rain was a high-tier skill. Even though she had allocated some points to Fire-Fang Dog, the energy currently within its body was simply insufficient to support its release.
Despite the rapid progress in the first step of condensing the energy ball, even if the internal structure of the ball became stable, she feared that the explosion formed in the sky would be a "drizzle" rather than a "meteor rain."
And a drizzle with very few drops at that.
There were three possible solutions.
First was evolution.
In truth, practicing Meteor Rain was merely an experiment and not an urgent matter; it wouldn't matter if they kept practicing until Fire-Fang Dog evolved into a Blazing Hound in over a month.
Her only concern was that even after evolving into a Blazing Hound, the energy might still be insufficient. After all, the basic requirement for a mid-level pet to learn a high-tier skill was documented in the textbooks.
Second was items.
The reason for rejecting this was simple.
No money—at least, no money for now.
Third was carving energy runes.
This was primarily a technical task. While a few materials were expensive, they were a mere pittance compared to the cost of items.
The materials and mixing ratios required for simple runes could be bought online with money, and given Qiao Sang's current financial situation, she could afford it.
Carving runes primarily tested one's technique; the brushstrokes had to be executed in one continuous motion.
Aside from the fact that the rune carving could not contain any errors, the amount of spiritual power infused into every stroke had to be identical.
Uneven spiritual power would lead to an imbalance in the rune's energy structure, resulting in failure.
Simply put, this application of spiritual power required activating the Beast Codex within the brain domain.
Normally, when a Beast Tamer summoned a pet, they used the Beast Codex without feeling much, but continuously operating the Codex to carve runes with spiritual power would certainly feel taxing.
Qiao Sang had been learning to carve energy runes for three days and had not yet encountered this particular struggle.
Pets primarily relied on their own internal energy to release skills, whereas the energy runes she was currently learning functioned to absorb external energy during skill release.
Qiao Sang had specifically purchased a month-long online course on these types of runes, using Little Treasure Ghost as her experimental subject.
It wasn't that she didn't want to experiment directly on Fire-Fang Dog, but Fire-Fang Dog hated water and was always sluggish during bath time.
Given Fire-Fang Dog's habit of avoiding water, if she tried to experiment with these runes on it, she feared it would take until the cows came home to succeed.
Little Treasure Ghost had no such issues.
On the contrary, it had been quite proactive about the rune carving over the past three days, even taking the initiative to bring out the materials every time.
"Finished. Give it a try," Qiao Sang said, putting down the brush.
"Xun~"
Little Treasure Ghost extended its short claws and opened them upward, indicating there was no rush.
It picked up a small mirror that had been prepared nearby and held it up to its face, occasionally winking and making various funny faces.
Qiao Sang watched from the side, feeling helpless.
If an uninformed bystander saw this, they would think she was drawing funny faces rather than spirit runes.
"Xun~"
Little Treasure Ghost put down the mirror and let out a happy cry, seemingly very satisfied with the masterpiece on its face.
The next second, a purple shimmer emerged from its body, but it quickly dissipated.
"Xun."
Little Treasure Ghost spread its hands and shook its head, indicating it didn't work.
Another failure.
Although Qiao Sang was mentally prepared, she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed.
*Knock knock.*
Just as she was preparing to wash the runes off Little Treasure Ghost's face, there was a knock at the door.
"Xun~"
Little Treasure Ghost proactively floated over to open the door.
"A-Sang, why are you drawing funny faces on Treasure Ghost?" Ye Ranran paused for a moment upon seeing Little Treasure Ghost at the door and asked in confusion.
"Xun~"
Hearing this, Little Treasure Ghost beamed like a flower, floated to the table, picked up the small mirror, and started looking at itself again.
Qiao Sang: "...!"
These are spirit runes!
Qiao Sang opened her mouth, wanting to explain.
But since someone had assumed this while Little Treasure Ghost wasn't even making a face, explaining it now felt a bit like inviting humiliation...
"Is this Mingfrost Coral powder?" Qiao Sang looked at the bowl in Ye Ranran's hand, choosing to ignore the previous question.
"Yes, I just brewed some and brought a bowl for you on the way." Ye Ranran entered the room and placed the bowl on the table.
Qiao Sang took a sip; it was slightly sweet.
"What's the deal with Third Uncle? Why can't he even put together a two-person team for the competition?" Qiao Sang asked.
She had wanted to ask for a while, but it wasn't appropriate to bring it up in front of Third Uncle at the dining table, fearing she would poke at a sore spot.
"What do you mean 'can't put together'? Aren't you and I people?" Ye Ranran teased.
Qiao Sang: "..."
"I'm just kidding. Regarding Third Uncle, it's mainly because the prizes the people he originally looked for wanted overlapped, and the positions for other pet tracks were also duplicated."
"This marathon relay is divided into three segments: sea, land, and air, with two pets per segment. None of the friends Third Uncle can call have a Flying-type pet to take over the air track. Your Treasure Ghost barely counts as being for the air track," Ye Ranran explained.
So it wasn't because of poor social skills or being ostracized...
"Right, find some time over the next few days to train Fire-Fang Dog. Land is the first track, and Fire-Fang Dog should be the second leg. Third Uncle mainly wants to rely on Roaring Swamp Crocodile to take first place in individual performance."
"But water is the second track. I'm worried that if your leg is too far behind, it will put psychological pressure on Roaring Swamp Crocodile. I don't know what's wrong with it lately, but it's always jumpy; its psychological resilience doesn't seem that strong," Ye Ranran continued.
The pressure was now on Fire-Fang Dog.
Qiao Sang turned to look at Fire-Fang Dog, who was intently watching the tournament channel, and felt that it shouldn't be a big problem.
"Is Little Treasure the final leg?" Qiao Sang asked.
Ye Ranran nodded. "Yes, the final leg. Don't worry; we aren't expecting to win the team competition anyway. It's fine even if your Little Treasure doesn't run at all."
Qiao Sang looked at Little Treasure Ghost, who was still holding the mirror and continuously making funny faces.
Well, if it's fine even if it doesn't run, then she was relieved...
...
Over the next few days, Fire-Fang Dog's schedule became even more packed.
Morning was for skill release training, followed by drinking half a bottle of F-grade energy recovery liquid to practice energy ball condensation.
The afternoon was a repetition of the morning's training.
However, after drinking the F-grade energy recovery liquid, it wouldn't practice energy balls to the point of exhaustion; instead, it would leave time to run a few laps around Liugan Creek.
Once evening came and it recovered on its own after drinking milk, it still had to practice energy ball condensation.
It was more desperate than when Qiao Sang was trying to get into Holy Water Middle School.
With her own pet being so "competitive," Qiao Sang was also influenced.
During a perfectly good vacation, she was actually reading books to supplement her knowledge and practicing spirit runes on Little Treasure Ghost's face.
...
July 24th.
Sunny.
The day of the Qitang Town Marathon Relay.
(End of Chapter)