"Did you feel it?" Qiao Sang asked.
Yabao blinked in confusion, looking down at the water spilled all over the ground and the droplets still clinging to his paw.
After staring at it for a long moment, his eyes widened in realization.
So, the water balloon didn’t break by accident, it was a deliberate move by its Beastmaster to help it understand the energy within!
"Yap!" Yabao nodded earnestly. He understood!
Qiao Sang felt a bit guilty. She had just wanted Yabao to hold the balloon, but hadn’t expected that the extra points she’d added had made its claws much sharper.
Looks like she’d need to trim those claws soon. After all, Yabao didn’t have any claw-related skills yet.
"As long as you get it. Energy balls work the same way. As long as you don’t touch it, it’s fine. But if you do, the energy inside will explode."
Qiao Sang seized the opportunity to explain.
Yabao, full of excitement, started gathering energy within himself, eager to try.
"Not inside the room! Have you forgotten about the TV incident?" Qiao Sang shouted, frightened, and quickly stopped it.
After spending so much time together, she could tell right away from Yabao’s expression and the way his paws twitched what he was about to do.
"Yap." Yabao, feeling embarrassed, stopped what he was doing.
He really had forgotten. Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novel•fire.net
"This isn’t like the fire you generate by channeling your energy. You need to condense the fire-type energy. The key is to make sure it’s stable. The structure inside the ball has to be solid."
Qiao Sang continued. "Otherwise, the energy ball might explode before it even reaches the sky. And that kind of uncontrolled explosion won't result in a Meteor Rain."
In essence, an energy ball was simply a sphere of concentrated energy. Forming one wasn’t too difficult.
But to keep it stable and ensure it rose to a certain height in the sky required a stable internal structure, which was tricky.
"Yap!" Yabao listened carefully and nodded vigorously.
Qiao Sang was pleased. With that kind of learning attitude, she felt success was already halfway achieved.
"Before we start training, there’s one more thing to take care of." Qiao Sang said.
"Yap?" Yabao tilted his head in confusion. What else was there?
"Come here and let me trim your claws."
After dinner, Qiao Sang was getting ready to take Yabao to Liugan Creek.
Just as they stepped out the door, a Sky Pig, carrying a green bag on its back, flew in, panting heavily with its gray-white wings flapping.
It turned out that the F-grade energy recovery fluid, as well as the E-grade Flame Condensing Beads and Thought Gathering Beads, had arrived.
Watching the Sky Pig deliver the package and turn to leave, Qiao Sang couldn’t help but sigh.
Beast pets definitely had an advantage when it came to employment. Who would've thought a pig could be a delivery courier...
At Liugan Creek, Yabao, now wearing the Flame Condensing Bead, began practicing forming energy balls.
Qiao Sang found an open space and sat cross-legged on the ground.
She reached up and took down Little Treasure from her head.
The process was a bit painful, as the little ghost’s tiny claws had grabbed onto two tufts of her hair.
She put the Thought Gathering Bead on the ghost, looking at its still-closed eyes with growing concern.
Wasn't it supposed to wake up after a nap? This nap seemed to be lasting a bit too long.
It had been nearly two days.
Qiao Sang poked the little ghost’s cheek, but there was no response.
She sighed and put him back on her head.
Unseen by Qiao Sang, Little Treasure dutifully grabbed two more tufts of her hair.
Meanwhile, Yabao was still trying to form the energy ball, but each attempt ended in nothing more than flames.
Qiao Sang didn’t play on her phone. She simply sat quietly and watched.
Sometimes, watching her pet train was a joy in itself.
After failing thirteen times, Yabao finally produced something different on its fourteenth try, rather than flames, a tiny energy ball the size of a fingernail appeared.
Qiao Sang’s eyes lit up.
No matter the size, successfully forming the energy ball was the first step.
Now they just needed to stabilize the internal structure.
Once the structure was stable, the more energy it held, the larger the ball would become.
"Yap!" Yabao was overjoyed, looking at the energy ball in front of him.
In his excitement, he lifted his head and barked at his Beastmaster.
The next thing Qiao Sang knew, the energy ball flew out of Yabao’s control and came straight at her.
"Yap!!" Yabao was startled.
He quickly thought of using a skill to stop it.
But just as it opened his mouth, he realized, using a skill would only make things worse...
"Oh crap!" Qiao Sang instinctively dodged the incoming energy ball.
Thankfully, it was only the size of a fingernail. Qiao Sang leaned her head back 75 degrees, narrowly avoiding it.
Although she had dodged the energy ball, her head suffered another kind of pain.
Feeling the sharp tug on her scalp, Qiao Sang suddenly realized something was off.
When had the Little Treasure grabbed onto her hair again? And could it really sleep this steadily?
But before she could ponder it further, Yabao’s anxious barking broke her train of thought.
Yabao ran over, worried, to check on his Beastmaster.
"I’m fine." Qiao Sang reassured it.
"But if this happens again, I’m not so sure I’ll be okay."
For the rest of the training session, Yabao focused a lot more on controlling the energy ball.
Qiao Sang quietly moved to a new spot and resumed sitting cross-legged.
This time, she split her attention between Yabao and Little Treasure.
When she focused on her head, she quickly noticed something strange.
Her head seemed to vibrate every now and then.
If she hadn’t been paying special attention, she might not have felt it at all, given how slight the movement was.
Qiao Sang quickly figured it out.
Little Treasure’s stomach was growling...
If she was right, the little one was already awake...
And pretending to be asleep.
Qiao Sang scooped the little ghost off her head and pried his eyelids open.
She tickled its sides.
Oh, so it was really committed to the act.
"If you don’t wake up soon, I’ll have to take you to the hospital." Qiao Sang said.
Little Treasure didn’t move.
"I’ll only pick you up once you wake up in the hospital." She continued.
At this, the little ghost’s eyelids twitched.
A second later, he opened his eyes and rubbed them with his tiny paws, pretending to have just woken up.
The little ghost, sensing its Beastmaster’s silence, nuzzled her apologetically.
"Tell me, why were you pretending to sleep?" Qiao Sang asked.
Hearing this, Yabao paused his training and turned to look.
Yabao ran over excitedly. His little brother was finally awake!
Little Teasure grew nervous under Qiao Sang’s questioning gaze. Without hesitation, he blurted out everything in his heart.
"Xun, Xun, Xun, xun."
It turned out that Little Treasure had messed up. He was supposed to lure the enemy away, but because of his greed, he had no idea what had happened afterward.
Afraid of being disliked, he didn’t dare to wake up.
"You’re still so young, how could you have such complex thoughts? As long as you’re safe, that’s all I care about. Besides, you did great back there. If it weren’t for you distracting the Stone Helm Spirit, I wouldn’t have been able to do what I did afterward."
The little ghost’s eyes instantly welled up with tears.
"Both Yabao and I have been really worried about you these past two days." Qiao Sang continued.
"Xun~" Little Treasure sniffled.
"Are you hungry? Hurry up and drink your milk—I can hear your stomach growling." Qiao Sang said with a smile.
As if to confirm her words, the little ghost’s stomach let out a rumble at that very moment.
"Xun~" Embarrassed, Little Treasure forgot about crying and buried his face in Qiao Sang’s chest.
Seeing this, both Qiao Sang and Yabao couldn’t help but laugh.
Under the setting sun, by the creek, the scene was one of perfect harmony.