Beast Taming: I Can Add Points

’Who would want to fight you fair and square?’

’Those clones might fool others, but don’t you go fooling yourself.’

"WHOOSH!" Another vine shot up, tightly binding the Yu Bao that had flown to the rear with the Sandstorm.

Yu Bao’s eyes went wide.

Xiaoyue’s lips curled into a smirk. Tiny, faint-white specks of powder floated invisibly before its glowing green pupils.

That’s right; a perception-based Skill like Earth Force Field wasn’t Yu Bao’s alone.

—Wood Element Low Level Elite Skill, Sunflower Fragrance Powder.

Effect: Blanket a designated area with countless fine pollen grains to provide feedback on changes in temperature, humidity, and even physical forms. It could even roughly perceive air quality.

Xiaoyue had silently activated this Skill the moment it entered the ring. The poor, silly little dog was being played with, yet it had mistaken the scent for its own.

’Now I’ve got you... Time to die!’

"WHOOSH!"

A thick vine, wide enough for a person to wrap their arms around, shot toward Yu Bao.

Scared out of its wits, Yu Bao hastily enveloped itself in a Giant Fire Pillar.

The approaching vines were burned to ash, allowing Yu Bao to take the opportunity to break free. But the endless vines pursued it relentlessly, forcing Yu Bao to keep dodging.

Yan Dingyi stroked his beard, looking on with a sense of wonder.

Compared to Yu Bao’s varied tactics, Xiaoyue’s fighting style was much simpler and more brutal, merely using its one move, Deep Forest Grip, to counter a whole slew of fancy tricks.

And because it was so simple and brutal, it was difficult to counter. Was there a solution? Of course. You just had to be stronger.

"Yu Bao, we can’t drag this on! We can’t beat the current Xiaoyue in a battle of attrition!"

Su Zhi communicated with Yu Bao through the Beast Taming Space. "Let’s go for broke!"

"Woof!" came Yu Bao’s reply from the Beast Taming Space.

’Let’s do this! It’s a huge win if I succeed and no real loss if I fail!’

Sand and wind suddenly billowed behind Yu Bao. A Tier Two Sandstorm erupted without warning, catching Xiaoyue off guard for a split second.

The yellow sand obscured its vision. Coupled with the obstruction from the vines, Xiaoyue lost its sensory lock on Yu Bao.

Unlike Earth Force Field or White Mist, Sunflower Fragrance Powder was a continuous-release Skill.

The vines of Deep Forest Grip were covered in countless flowers that emitted pollen, allowing for uninterrupted surveillance of the battlefield.

And yet, Yu Bao had still escaped its surveillance. When it had unleashed the Sandstorm, Xiaoyue had received an abnormal feedback from its vines—all the nearby pollen-emitting flowers had been shattered by the flying sand.

’Yu Bao’s Sandstorm had seemed random, but it was actually a premeditated, precision strike. It had been testing my Skill this whole time!’

’Tsk, this silly little dog is so persistent.’

Xiaoyue frowned.

Suddenly, there was a noise from behind. Yu Bao appeared out of nowhere, a spinning, searing ball of fire held in its paws.

Great Yu’s Spiral Ball!

"WHOOSH!"

Xiaoyue mobilized its vines just in time, blocking the attack at the cost of charring a large number of them. Simultaneously, a massive vine lashed out at Yu Bao, causing it to explode on impact.

’So this one was a clone too!’

The vines were a devastated mess, but Xiaoyue had no time to mourn them.

It turned its head to see the real Yu Bao still in front. The ploy of using the Sandstorm to sneak around was just a red herring.

While Xiaoyue had been dealing with the clone, Yu Bao had started charging, clearing a path with a Quicksand Shield.

Flames swirled across the shield’s surface, incinerating any of Xiaoyue’s blocking vines that drew near. At the same time, Burning Sand Blades constantly coalesced around Yu Bao, shooting toward Xiaoyue one after another!

Xiaoyue had no good counter for this Output Skill for the time being and could only continuously sidestep to dodge.

And yet, despite this, Xiaoyue’s overall rhythm remained unbroken.

Burning Sand Blade was certainly powerful, but it was a single-target Skill. Against the endless vines, it was merely a drop in the bucket.

Yu Bao could only manage a brief, difficult, and localized suppression of Xiaoyue, whereas Xiaoyue could maintain a long-term, relatively easy, and total suppression of Yu Bao.

There was still some distance between them, but blocked by the vines, Yu Bao could barely advance...

’Wait, no!’

’It’s behind me!’

Sensing an abnormal fluctuation in the pollen, Xiaoyue’s eyes widened as it whipped its head around.

As if in a replay of the earlier scene, Yu Bao charged resolutely toward Xiaoyue, a ball of fire held in its paws.

But unlike the previous clone, this Yu Bao was faster and stronger, the desire for victory burning in its eyes!

At the same time, the Yu Bao at the front, tasked with drawing the vines’ attention, completed its mission and exploded under their lashing blows.

Xiaoyue mobilized all of its vines to meet the charge, while Yu Bao poured all its Energy into the ball of fire.

The two rapidly closed the distance, only to pull their attacks at the last second before impact.

[Assignable Attribute Points... 0.18]

Both Yu Bao and Xiaoyue had been going all out. If that final blow had landed, injury would have been inevitable.

The two Beast Tamers stepped forward from their command positions simultaneously. The Pet Beast Battle was over.

Yan Dingyi, who had served as their referee, smiled faintly. "It’s a draw."

But Su Zhi shook his head. "No, we lost."

Shao Ya tilted her head, her azure eyes particularly bright.

Yan Dingyi also looked at Su Zhi curiously.

"Yu Bao is a Dual-Attribute Pet Beast. And while it’s become proficient at controlling its Fire Attribute Energy, that side is still relatively weak. Xiaoyue’s control over Wood Energy is far more effortless.

"With that last attack, Yu Bao had played all its trump cards. If the blow had landed, it would have severely wounded Xiaoyue, but that’s it. It wouldn’t have been enough to take Xiaoyue out of the fight.

"If Xiaoyue had counterattacked after that, all Yu Bao could do was take a beating."

*Pant, pant.* Yu Bao nodded, as if reliving the experience.

’Big Bro Xiaoyue’s vines are super strong. They can tie me up, whip me, and even put me in all sorts of positions.’

"..." Xiaoyue shot Yu Bao a stony-faced glare.

’What in the world goes through that silly little dog’s head all day?’

’When we get back, I’m definitely going to tie him up and whip him, then put him in all sorts of posi—wait, no, I would never do something like that!!’

"I see. I wouldn’t have noticed if you hadn’t pointed it out."

Yan Dingyi laughed. "Then we’ll go by your judgment. This friendly spar goes to Xiaoya and Xiaoyue."

"Wuhu~!" Shao Ya bent down and gave Xiaoyue a high-paw.

If it had been Yu Bao trying to high-paw, Xiaoyue would have found it childish, but coming from Shao Ya, it wasn’t.

Then, Shao Ya gave Su Zhi a thumbs-up. "Su Baby and Yu Bao were super amazing too!"

Su Zhi wasn’t modest in the slightest. "I think we’re pretty amazing too."

Yu Bao thought that Su Zhi was truly shameless. As expected of his master.

"Speaking of which, is this Flash Gold Sparrow your third Pet?"

Now that the spar was over, Yan Dingyi finally noticed Shan Bao perched on Su Zhi’s shoulder. Shan Bao had been in the Beast Taming Space the whole time.

"Chirp!"

Shan Bao had been busy dozing, but it quickly bowed in greeting when it heard itself being mentioned.

’H-Hello, big shot!’

"Not bad. Quite cute."

A soft, almost girlish smile appeared on Elder Yan’s face.

"Its Real-time Energy Value is decent, too. Seems its starting point isn’t low. Your luck is pretty good!"

Yan Dingyi nodded, his eyes glinting with interest. "Xiaosu, what do you think of this?"

As soon as he spoke, an orange Beast Taming Light Array lit up at his feet.

Shao Ya’s mouth fell slightly agape.

Su Zhi’s eyes went wide. "You’ve... reached Tier Seven in your Beast Taming Space?!"

"Haha, just had a lucky breakthrough recently," Yan Dingyi said with a humble smile.

"That’s quite the humblebrag... A Tier Seven Beast Taming Space is enough to qualify for Vice Alliance Leader, isn’t it?"

Su Zhi recalled that Selena’s Beast Taming Light Array was the purple of Tier Six, a whole tier lower than Elder Yan.

"Not necessarily. My Beast Taming Space may be a higher tier than some, but my Pet Beast’s Combat Power is Insufficient, so I could never reach that position."

Su Zhi nodded thoughtfully.

’If I remember correctly, Captain Sai’s Main Pet, Xue Mei, has a Real-time Energy Value of sixteen thousand, a standard Quasi-Four-star Pet Beast. In comparison, Yan Dingyi’s Main Pet, Mechanical Boss, only has twelve thousand—a huge gap.’

’Still, twelve thousand isn’t low... And he has the nerve to say his "Pet Beast’s Combat Power is Insufficient"...’

’This crafty old man is up to no good.’

Su Zhi seemed to guess what was coming. "So... you want to use me as a whetstone for your new Pet?"

"Haha, you could say that!"

Yan Dingyi chuckled, stroking his beard. "If it were against Yu Bao, there’d be no suspense. But since you’ve also just contracted a new Pet of similar strength, we can make a match of it.

"You say I’m using you as a whetstone, but look at it another way. Aren’t you also using me as a whetstone?"

"You’re a real expert at looking at things from another perspective..." Su Zhi said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry as he looked at Shan Bao. "Want to give it a try, Shan Bao?"

"Chirp chirp?" Shan Bao’s eyes instantly lit up.

’M-Me? I can fight too?’

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