Chapter 39: The Last Day

The twilight glow, a pale orange light filtering through the glass, spilled onto the floor and bathed the young girl and the Fire-Fang Dog.

Everything was so quiet and beautiful...

"I'm telling you, you were too careless. Now look, we're both being punished with standing." Qiao Sang stood against the wall with her hands raised in a gesture of surrender.

The Fire-Fang Dog stood by the wall in the same posture.

"Ya, ya-ya."

Her Beast Tamer was too fickle; she had clearly just said as long as it was okay, everything would be fine.

"Both of you, quiet!" After her mother's scolding, she turned around, her face full of heartache as she began to pick up the porcelain shards from the floor.

"Mom, let me help you," Qiao Sang attempted to show her well-behaved side.

Her mother said coldly, "Stay standing. Don't move."

Qiao Sang sighed inwardly. In this situation, how was she supposed to bring up the fact that she hadn't been at school for the past few days?

It seemed today was not the day to reveal the truth...

The headteacher probably wouldn't take this chance to call, right...

Her mother carefully picked up the shards from the bottom of the vase. Seeing that the part with the signature had broken into three pieces, her eyes began to redden.

Qiao Sang couldn't bear to see her like this. "Mom, it's just a signature. Next time I run into Wang Dian'ao, I'll help you get a new one."

She remembered that her mother's favorite Beast Tamer was named Wang Dian'ao. A while ago, while watching TV with the Fire-Fang Dog, she had seen news about his romance with a female Beast Tamer named Luo Tang.

However, her mother didn't seem affected by it; she ate and drank as usual. When watching TV and Wang Dian'ao appeared to release his ace pet, the Armor-Tread Spiky Bear, she still got just as excited.

Qiao Sang guessed her mother was a "career fan."

Her mother glared at her with reddened eyes and roared, "What Wang Dian'ao! This was a Spiky Bear signature! It's already out of print! It's gone forever! It has already evolved into an Armor-Tread Spiky Bear!"

Qiao Sang: "..."

She decided it was better to just shut up and stand quietly.

...

Qiao Sang felt her mother was a strong woman. Even after losing the out-of-print Spiky Bear signature, she still called her and the Fire-Fang Dog to dinner.

Even if she didn't have much of a pleasant expression...

In the evening, while Qiao Sang did her exercises, the Fire-Fang Dog was training downstairs in the residential complex, accompanied by the Fat-Home Pigeon.

This was the Fire-Fang Dog's own request.

After several days of training, the Fire-Fang Dog had clearly felt its progress and did not want to stop just yet.

Qiao Sang was naturally happy to see the Fire-Fang Dog being so driven, but since it wasn't suitable to read books downstairs at night, she let the Fat-Home Pigeon accompany it.

With the Fat-Home Pigeon acting as a "guardian," she felt at ease.

Before leaving, Qiao Sang even had the Fire-Fang Dog wear 15kg weighted rings; the 10kg rings no longer had much effect on it and weren't providing sufficient training results.

These days repeated one after another, and in the blink of an eye, it was June 15th.

Two days before the High School Entrance Examination, it was the last day of school at Wencheng Junior High.

Class 3-7.

The classmates were all using the remaining time to bond.

After all, the next time they met would be the day the results were announced. Once they left Wencheng Junior High, except for those who made it into the same high school, even classmates who were close now would likely not see each other often.

"Qiao Sang, have you decided which school you want to go to?" Fang Sisi asked.

"Shengshui High School," Qiao Sang answered truthfully.

"Hahaha, you're so funny," Fang Sisi laughed, slapping the desk.

Qiao Sang: "..."

"Why don't we all try for Haomu Beast Taming High School? That way we can look out for each other," a female student sitting in the front row of Fang Sisi turned around and said.

Haomu Beast Taming High School was a private school. Entrance exam scores weren't important there; as long as you had the money, you could get in.

"How much is the tuition per semester?" Fang Sisi asked, interested.

If everyone could go to the same high school, she would certainly want to go too, but she only knew that Haomu was expensive; she didn't know the exact amount.

"500,000," the girl in the front row said, holding up her hand.

Fang Sisi looked at her hand and immediately turned her head away. "Qiao Sang, where were we?"

"You said I was funny," Qiao Sang replied.

The girl in the front row: "..."

Just as Fang Sisi was about to continue the conversation, a boy's exclamation suddenly came from the other side of the classroom: "What? Your dad actually air-freighted a Laous for you!"

This shout drew envious gazes from the entire class, including Qiao Sang.

Laous, a Psychic-type pet. If that were all, it wouldn't be so enviable.

Laous was not a native pet of the Dragon Kingdom.

Every region has its own local exclusive pets. Pets like the Fire-Fang Dog, Little Fat-Home Pigeon, and Desert-Tail Fox were exclusive to the Yuhua Region, where Qiao Sang lived.

Pets from other regions did exist in Yuhua, but there weren't many species. Some Beast Tamers would travel to different regions to contract pets every time their Beast Taming Codex awakened, but most stayed within the borders of China.

For a Psychic-type pet to be air-freighted directly from another country, Qiao Sang estimated that this student might be the only one among this year's candidates in the entire Hanggang City.

"My dad insisted on sending it to me. I told him I didn't want it, but he sent it anyway. There's nothing I can do," the speaker was Qin Shou.

Truly a beast, he could actually say such things.

Qiao Sang's fists clenched, but she had to admit that having capital was a great advantage. With money, one could contract rare and powerful pets and have a continuous supply of resources.

Without money, one had to contract suitable pets within a limited scope, and the subsequent breeding resources would be insufficient.

Thus, in current society, powerful Beast Tamers generally had deep backgrounds, while grassroots Beast Tamers found it difficult to rise.

Fortunately, she had a "cheat"!

"Haven't the Brain Domain Awakenings even started yet? If you fail to awaken then, wouldn't it be incredibly embarrassing?" Guo Lin, sitting in the back, said with a hint of jealousy.

"Do you think that's possible?" Fang Sisi turned around and asked back.

Impossible.

If the second-ranked student in the whole school couldn't awaken, there was no way the second-to-last student in this class could.

Guo Lin chose not to answer.

The last class of the day was taught by the headteacher.

Looking at him, Qiao Sang felt a vague sense of reluctance to part.

The headteacher was a great guy. He hadn't called her mother to mention her leave of absence all these days. Where else could she find such a good teacher?

The headteacher spoke with passion about the sentiment of parting: "Students, the day after tomorrow, June 17th, is the day of our entrance exams, and June 20th is the day of our Brain Domain Awakening."

"You will experience the first turning point of your lives. You are about to end three years of junior high life and move on to higher institutions to continue your studies."

"Three years of dedicated ambition, three years of diligent study, and three years of tempering have shaped who you are today. I believe at this moment, every student's heart..."

"Is filled with determination," Qiao Sang whispered, completing his sentence.

"Is filled with determination."

Fang Sisi asked in surprise, "How did you know what the teacher was going to say next?"

Qiao Sang paused and replied, "I guessed."

The things the teacher said were the standard tropes teachers used during farewells; they could all be found online. Qiao Sang decided to save him some face.

"I believe that in a few days, everyone will use brilliant results to draw a perfect period at the end of their junior high lives."

"Finally, I wish you all to ride the wind and waves! Sail toward your ideal high schools! Fulfill your dreams this June!"

Thunderous applause erupted from the class, and Qiao Sang clapped wildly as well.

At this moment, Qiao Sang didn't care about tropes or anything else.

The atmosphere was real, and her excitement was real.

(End of Chapter)