Chapter 3: 3. Chapter 3 Moving House

Chapter 3: Moving House

“Mom, why did you smack the back of my head?”

Ye Xiangting gritted her teeth. “A successful awakening is a success! Why on earth are you sighing as soon as you come out?”

“The lady who checked me said my brainwave fluctuations were high and I should rest well, but the high school entrance exam is only 20 days away. Isn’t this delaying my studies?” Qiao Sang looked innocent.

Ye Xiangting: “...”

“Mom, what are you doing!”

“What are you doing!”

“Mom!”

So much for being a strong woman!

The spot where she had been standing was now empty, leaving only the Clever Fruit that had come out with Qiao Sang, looking disheveled in the wind.

“Clever!”

Running and making noise are prohibited in the Beast Taming Center!

……

……

As soon as she got home, Qiao Sang locked herself in her room and turned on the computer.

Originally, her mother’s intention was to go to the Hangzhou Pet Beast Base that afternoon to pick out a pet beast, but Qiao Sang had refused.

As beast tamers are the mainstream of this world, choosing the right pet beast is naturally very important, as it is highly likely that a person can only contract one pet beast in their entire life.

The ranks of beast tamers go from F up to SSS.

F-rank is the simplest; once you turn 15 and awaken your Beast Taming Tome, you can contract a pet beast and go to the Beast Taming Center for certification.

But to reach E-rank, one must first develop their brain region to 10%, allowing the Beast Taming Tome to contract a second pet beast.

Then, one must raise two pet beasts that have undergone one stage of evolution—also known as intermediate pet beasts.

Finally, they must undergo a 1-on-1 battle judged by a notary from the Beast Taming Alliance.

Only after winning can their status be updated to E-rank beast tamer.

Some people, in order to raise an intermediate pet beast sooner, choose insect-type extraordinary creatures with shorter evolutionary cycles as their contract targets.

But insect-type pet beasts that have only evolved once are, after all, too weak. Aside from beast tamers with superior combat command skills, others simply cannot win matches with them.

As for the original owner, her knowledge base as a poor student was truly insufficient; the only extraordinary creatures she remembered were the ones that just looked good.

What’s the use of looking good? Can you win a fight?

If she can’t win, how can she become a higher-ranked beast tamer?

When choosing a pet beast, one must naturally choose those with high potential and strong combat power.

If she had gone to the Hangzhou Pet Beast Base that afternoon, she wouldn’t even recognize the names, attributes, or the first and second evolutionary forms of those beasts. How could she choose?

Qiao Sang felt that this matter couldn’t be rushed; she had to do her homework first.

She opened the forum and logged into her account, “Genius Again and Again and Again Wood.”

This ID fully proved that every poor student has a dream of making a comeback.

Qiao Sang didn’t choose to post a new thread. The beast-taming culture in this world was already very mature, and thousands of newly awakened beast tamers appeared every year.

A casual browse would reveal all sorts of posts from them.

Qiao Sang browsed the forum, and every post she scanned was related to pet beasts.

【I’ve been poisoned by a Little Scorpion!】

【Am I the only one who thinks the new form of the Cotton-Joint Worm is ugly?】

【B-rank beast tamer teaching you online how to get into Nansheng Beast Taming University.】

【Newbie beast tamer here, is it okay to contract a Little Horned Dragon as my first pet beast?】

Her gaze lingered on the last post.

No humanity.

Thinking about contracting a dragon-type as a first pet beast, and even posting to ask others if it’s okay?

The power of dragon-type pet beasts is known to everyone.

Excluding a few extremely rare pet beasts, in terms of attributes alone, dragon-type pet beasts are definitely the most expensive of all.

Unless your family owns a mine, you absolutely cannot afford one.

Even if someone gritted their teeth and bought one, they wouldn’t be able to raise it. Dragon-type pet beasts have long evolutionary cycles; you could feed it the best food and drink for years and it might still not evolve once to become an intermediate pet beast.

If Qiao Sang had to answer, it would naturally be no.

Absolutely not!

But if there really were a dragon-type pet beast in front of Qiao Sang waiting for her to contract it...

That actually wouldn’t be so absolute...

Qiao Sang looked further down, no longer paying attention to the post that made her feel stifled.

【Newbie beast tamer highly recommends the Sand-Burrowing Mouse!】

The comment section was filled with different voices.

“The OP probably hasn’t let the Sand-Burrowing Mouse sleep at night. Friendly reminder: it grinds its teeth!”

“Why didn’t the person above also remind the OP what it uses to grind its teeth?”

“My White Sand Fox refuses to accept this.”

“Deep-Water Turtle requests to join the battle.”

……

As the beast-taming civilization has developed, the pet beasts suitable for newbie beast tamers have long been summarized.

Little Fat Dove, White Sand Fox, Short-Tailed Snake, Sand-Burrowing Mouse, and Deep-Water Turtle.

These five types of pet beasts are moderately priced, affordable for most families, and have gentle temperaments.

If raised properly, there is absolutely no problem with them evolving three times to become General-rank pet beasts.

Most of the pet beasts that newbie beast tamers asked about in the posts Qiao Sang saw were these five.

The first pet beast her mother contracted was a Little Fat Dove; the Fat House Dove is its evolved form.

As a flying-type pet beast, because of its fat body, it is generally slower than other flying-type pet beasts.

The only reason it became the first choice for newbie beast tamers is that it can evolve into a Mighty Flying Owl and become a General-rank pet beast.

The White Sand Fox has strong attack power but weak defense; it can’t last long once hit.

The Sand-Burrowing Mouse is born with the ability to dig holes and prefers to avoid conflict; it generally doesn’t like head-on fights.

Although the Deep-Water Turtle doesn’t swim like a normal turtle, its defense is still strong.

The White Sand Fox, Sand-Burrowing Mouse, and Deep-Water Turtle all belong to the earth-type, so these three are often compared.

However, the White Sand Fox’s appearance crushes the other two, making it the first choice for female newbie beast tamers.

The Short-Tailed Snake belongs to the poison-type; its teeth are venomous, and the needle on its tail is also a dangerous weapon, allowing it to have decent combat power early on.

It’s just that if a beast tamer contracting it isn’t careful, they’ll end up in the hospital.

Without strong physical fitness, no newbie beast tamer would dare to contract it.

Qiao Sang looked for a long time but couldn’t decide. Each of these five pet beasts had its own shortcomings, but their affordable price and safe evolutionary paths were undeniable advantages.

In the end, it was a matter of money.

Qiao Sang got up and walked out of the room.

Her mother was sitting on the sofa watching TV.

Qiao Sang said, “Mom, do we have 1 million? I want to buy a Bubble Bell.”

“Get lost.”

“You got it!”

Qiao Sang returned to her room and continued looking at the forum.

【Is it safe for a D-rank beast tamer to go to the Qipang Forest?】

【Got a Green-Claw Meow on my second beast gamble, come absorb my luck, everyone!】

……

In fact, besides buying pet beasts at the Pet Beast Base, there are many other ways to obtain them, such as the black market, beast gambling, or the wild.

Pet beasts obtained from the black market have unknown origins; as long as you have the money, they can find a way to get you any kind of pet beast.

Beast gambling depends on luck; one careless move and you could go bankrupt, losing everything down to your underwear.

Going into the wild to find a pet beast to contract is something only those at least at the D-rank beast tamer level would do.

After all, the possibility of encountering danger in the wild is extremely high, and extraordinary creatures are wild and hard to tame; even if you contract one, it’s not easy to raise it to be obedient.

None of these three paths were things she could do right now.

Qiao Sang sighed. Although she had many ideas, her choices were truly limited.

……

……

8:26 PM.

Qiao Sang closed the computer and was a bit surprised by the time.

Her mother hadn’t called her for dinner at this hour; she couldn’t really be angry, could she?

She prepared to go to the living room to check. Just as she stood up, feeling uneasy, she grabbed a copy of *History of Beast Taming II* from the bookshelf.

She opened the door, and the living room was dark, with no lights on.

Her mother wasn’t there.

Qiao Sang pondered for a moment, and after confirming her mother wasn’t in the bedroom either, she turned on the living room lights, tossed the *History of Beast Taming II* onto the sofa, and took a box of matcha ice cream from the fridge.

She had just turned on the TV and sat down cross-legged.

“Click.”

The door opened.

Qiao Sang turned her head, and their eyes met.

“...”

There was a brief silence in the air.

“Come eat.” Her mother raised an eyebrow and placed the food she had bought on the dining table.

So she had gone out to buy food...

“Coming.” Qiao Sang looked at the matcha ice cream she had only taken one bite of, and adhering to the principle of not wasting, she took another bite.

“Mom, why did you go out to buy food today?” Qiao Sang walked to the dining table.

“I had things to do out, didn’t have time to cook, so I bought it on the way back,” her mother said.

Qiao Sang asked, “What things?”

Her mother was silent for a moment. “Sang Sang, let’s move house.”

Qiao Sang was stunned. She even stopped eating, confused. “Why move house?”

As the provincial capital of Zhehai Province, housing prices in Hangzhou were ridiculously expensive.

This house was bought for her by her father’s family as a wedding home back when prices weren’t this high.

Although the Qingcheng Garden where they lived wasn’t in the most expensive area of Hangzhou, it had a good location, with schools and subways nearby, so it was worth at least 50,000 per square meter.

Her mother took a bite of food, swallowed, looked at Qiao Sang, and after a moment, said, “I just went out and asked an agent. Our house is 133 square meters. The current market price is about 53,000 per square meter, so it can sell for over 7 million Alliance coins.”

“I’ve considered it. We can buy a smaller house, pay a down payment first, and the extra money can be used to buy you a Bubble Bell, with plenty left over.”

“Besides, your mom can still earn money. Other than moving to a smaller place, nothing else will change.”

Qiao Sang was dumbfounded.

In just a few hours, her mother had silently made such a huge decision.

“Mom...” she murmured, wanting to say something.

Her mother interrupted her directly. “Although your grades aren’t good, you awakened autonomously; your talent is there.”

“Even though our family isn’t particularly wealthy, I can still get you whatever pet beast you want.”

“As long as you promise me not to be like you are with your studies—fishing for three days and drying nets for two—and raise it properly.”

Originally, Ye Xiangting hadn’t had such thoughts, but her daughter had asked for a psychic-type pet beast.

Her daughter wasn’t great at studying, but being able to awaken autonomously meant she truly had talent in beast taming.

Their family had never had a child who awakened autonomously before.

Since that was the case, buying a pet beast that was expensive but had good potential—and one that she liked—wasn’t a big deal.

This was something she, as a mother, should do anyway.

Qiao Sang couldn’t describe how she felt. She only knew she wanted to eat that unfinished matcha ice cream to soothe the heat in her heart.

She looked into her mother’s eyes and smiled. “Mom, you said it yourself, I awakened autonomously. My talent is here; I can raise any pet beast.”

“I was just talking; I don’t really want to contract a Bubble Bell. Please, don’t sell the house.”

Her mother got up to pour a glass of water. After a long while, “I know you want a Bubble Bell, you are autono...”

Qiao Sang didn’t let her finish. She said earnestly, “I researched all afternoon and evening, and I think the Fire-Tooth Dog is great. I want that one.”

The Bubble Bell’s attribute is psychic-type, which is naturally very good.

There are also dragon-type, fairy-type, and ghost-type pet beasts that are all very good.

But Qiao Sang just felt they were rare and powerful; she didn’t necessarily have to own one.

Just like some people like to brag, wanting a divine beast at the start.

Owning a pet beast of her own within her own capabilities.

That was what she really wanted.