Chapter 25: A Good Meal

"Let's run two laps to warm up," Ms. Qiao said.

After Firefang put on the weighted rings, it adapted relatively quickly. Walking was basically no longer a problem, but weighted walking wouldn't have a particularly noticeable training effect.

"Fang."

Firefang nodded, having no objections to Ms. Qiao's arrangement.

This time, Ms. Qiao chose to run with Firefang.

Encouraged by Ms. Qiao, Firefang struggled to complete the two laps, then looked at her with a face full of despair.

You call this a warm-up?

Ms. Qiao was also out of breath after the two laps. Her body wasn't used to such exertion either.

Looks like I need to exercise more in the future…

When Ms. Qiao caught her breath, she took out her phone and checked the recorded running time.

In the morning, Firefang took about 18 minutes to run one lap on average.

Now, with the weighted rings, the first lap took 29 minutes and 3 seconds, and the second lap took 38 minutes and 42 seconds.

Ms. Qiao noted this down in her phone's memo, planning to compare the running times later.

"The warm-up is over. Next, use Tackle ten times on this tree," Ms. Qiao said, leading Firefang to the sycamore tree where she read in the morning.

"Fang~"

Firefang sat down on the ground, weakly calling out.

"Don't you want to get stronger?" Ms. Qiao asked.

After spending a few days with Firefang, she knew its strong personality and good willpower. Although it had only battled four times, it always charged to the front without fear of injury.

Get stronger?

Firefang slowly got up, its eyes becoming determined.

Wasn't the reason it made the contract to become stronger and find more opponents?

Ms. Qiao was very satisfied with the change in Firefang's eyes. She remembered the first time she met Firefang.

Back then, Firefang was using its small body to repeatedly hit the tree trunk, with the same determined look in its eyes.

Thinking about it now, it felt like a long time ago.

"Maybe this training will help you learn the skill you wanted to learn last time," Ms. Qiao said with a smile.

"Fang?"

Firefang looked at its tamer with a puzzled expression.

"What skill did you want to learn?" Ms. Qiao explained.

"Fang?"

Firefang was even more confused.

When did it want to learn a skill?

"You didn't want to learn a skill, so why were you hitting the tree? Wasn't it just practicing Tackle?" Ms. Qiao was also puzzled.

That shouldn't be it. Tackle requires a run-up of at least five meters. She remembered Firefang hitting the tree from within one meter.

Firefang recalled its first meeting with its tamer.

What was it doing back then?

It was hitting the tree to make the fruit fall.

"Fang, fang, fang, fang, fang."

"Fang, fang."

Firefang gestured and explained to Ms. Qiao.

Ms. Qiao: "…"

After a long silence, Ms. Qiao ended the topic: "Let's start the training."

With the thought of getting stronger, Firefang trained with extra effort.

Tackle requires the limbs to build up power and release a sudden impact to form the skill.

However, with the weighted rings, Firefang's speed was clearly slower, and the attack power was insufficient to be called a Tackle.

After six consecutive hits, Firefang finally managed to use a proper Tackle on the seventh try.

"Fang!"

It looked excitedly at its tamer, but found her in a daze.

Ms. Qiao was still immersed in the truth she had just discovered.

She thought her Firefang was a bit silly, hitting the tree for so long just to get the fruit.

Was the food at the pet base not enough?

How could such a small body possibly knock down the fruit by hitting the tree?

It would have been better to use Tackle…

After hitting the tree for so long, not only did the fruit not fall, but its head also hurt…

Why didn't it learn to climb the tree…

"Fang!"

"Fang!"

Firefang's calls brought Ms. Qiao back to her senses.

"I'm fine," Ms. Qiao said.

"Fang."

Firefang nodded, forgetting why it had called its tamer in the first place, and continued training.

17:53.

Training ended.

Firefang lay exhausted on the ground. Ms. Qiao gently picked it up and said, "You are the best Firefang I've ever seen."

Although she hadn't seen many Firefangs, that didn't stop her from praising it.

Despite being out of energy, it still gritted its teeth and used its willpower to complete the final tenth Tackle.

After an afternoon of training, it had completed a hundred impacts.

"Fang~"

Firefang, nestled in Ms. Qiao's arms, felt unusually shy.

"I'll take you for a good meal," Ms. Qiao said with a smile.

…

Fruit Pavilion.

Firefang stared at the food on the table in amazement.

Fruit platter, fruit salad, fruit noodles, fruit ice cream, fruit cake, fruit jelly, fruit pie, fruit juice…

The table was filled with various fruit-based dishes.

"Grumble…"

Firefang's stomach growled as it stared at the food.

"Eat quickly," Ms. Qiao said softly.

Firefang didn't hesitate, immediately grabbing a piece of fruit cake with its paw and devouring it.

Ms. Qiao found the scene incredibly warm and beautiful.

But this beautiful scene came at a cost…

The cost was one-fifth of Ms. Qiao's assets plus a scolding from her mother…

…

Three days later.

"Bang!"

A flame the size of an adult's fist, accompanied by intense heat, caused a distant rock to explode, leaving a significant hole.

【Name: Firefang】

【Type: Fire】

【Level: Beginner (127/1000) +】

【Skills: Bite (Beginner 74/100) +, Tackle (Proficient 168/500) +, Fire Fang (Proficient 116/500) +, Ember (Proficient 135/500) +】

【Points: 55】

In just four days, Firefang's Fire Fang and Ember had reached the proficient level.

If others knew, it would definitely cause a stir.

Ember aside, it wasn't unheard of for a pet with exceptional talent to master a low-level skill from beginner to proficient in a short time.

But Fire Fang was different; it was a solid mid-level skill!

On average, it takes about six months to master a mid-level skill from beginner to proficient, but Firefang did it in just four days!

At that moment, Firefang was wearing the dark green triangular sunglasses that arrived the day before, focusing intently on its skill training.

With the red and green combination, Firefang's popularity soared. Many children playing in the park stopped to watch, but they didn't dare to get close due to the flames around Firefang.

After a few days of training, Firefang no longer needed Ms. Qiao's guidance to know what to do.

Under the sycamore tree.

Ms. Qiao was reading a book.

Since Firefang had mastered Ember and Fire Fang, she was no longer worried about the special admission exam for pets at Sacred Water High School.

Everyone was just starting with their pets, and it was impossible for anyone's pet to have mastered a mid-level skill like Firefang.

In the past few days, Firefang's speed had steadily improved. Yesterday, it ran one lap with the weighted rings in 22 minutes and 7 seconds, nearly 7 minutes faster than the first day.

The pet battle in five days wasn't a concern, but Ms. Qiao still lacked confidence for the middle school exam in twelve days.