"Mom, why did you smack the back of my head?!"
Ye Xiangting gritted her teeth. "So what if you awakened successfully? If you did, then you did—why were you sighing the moment you came out?!"
"The lady who did my checkup said my brain domain fluctuations were a bit large and told me to rest well," Qiao Sang said with an innocent expression. "But there are only 20 days left until the Entrance Exam. Isn't that delaying my studies?"
Ye Xiangting: "..."
"Mom, what are you doing?!"
"What are you doing?!"
"Mom!!"
Weren't you supposed to be a strong woman?!
The spot they had been standing at was now empty, leaving only Qiao Li Guo, which had come out with Qiao Sang, standing there in the wind, utterly confused.
"Qiao-li!"
No chasing or loud noise inside the Beast-Taming Center!
...
...
Once they got home, Qiao Sang locked herself in her room and turned on the computer.
Originally, according to her mother's plan, they were supposed to go to the Hanggang Pet Beast Base that very afternoon to choose a pet beast.
But Qiao Sang refused.
As Beast Tamers were the mainstream of this world, choosing what kind of pet beast to contract was naturally crucial—because it was very likely that a person could only contract one pet beast in their lifetime.
The ranks of Beast Tamers, from lowest to highest, went from F-rank all the way to SSS-rank.
An F-rank Beast Tamer was the simplest: as long as you awakened your Beast-Taming Codex at fifteen and contracted one pet beast, you could go to the Beast-Taming Center for certification.
But to advance to an E-rank Beast Tamer, your brain domain had to be developed to at least 10%, allowing the Beast-Taming Codex to contract a second pet beast.
After that, you had to cultivate two pet beasts that had completed one stage of evolution, becoming Intermediate pet beasts.
Then, under the supervision of a Beast Taming Alliance notary, you had to participate in a 1v1 battle.
Only after winning could your information be updated to E-rank Beast Tamer.
Some people, eager to cultivate Intermediate pet beasts as soon as possible, chose Insect-type extraordinary creatures with short evolution cycles as their contracted beasts.
But insect-type pet beasts that had only undergone one evolution were ultimately too weak. Aside from Beast Tamers with exceptionally strong combat command abilities, most people simply couldn't win with them.
The original body's knowledge base was pitifully lacking. The extraordinary creatures she remembered were all just… good-looking ones.
But what was the use of being good-looking?
Could they win fights?
If she couldn't win battles, how was she supposed to become a higher-ranked Beast Tamer?
Naturally, when choosing a pet beast, she had to pick one with high potential and strong combat power.
If she went to the Hanggang Pet Beast Base that very afternoon, she wouldn't even recognize all the beasts' names, attributes, or what their first and second evolutions looked like.
How was she supposed to choose then?
Qiao Sang felt this wasn't something to rush. She needed to do her homework first.
She opened a forum and logged into her account: "GeniusYetYetYetDumb."
This ID perfectly proved that every underachiever carried a dream of turning their life around.
Qiao Sang didn't post a new thread.
The world's Beast-Taming system was already extremely mature, with tens of thousands of newly awakened Beast Tamers every year.
Just scrolling casually brought up countless posts.
She browsed the forum, her eyes skimming over threads filled entirely with pet beast-related content.
[I got poisoned by a Little Multi-Scorpion!]
[Am I the only one who thinks the new form of Cotton-Segment Bug is ugly?]
[B-rank Beast Tamer teaches you online how to get into Nansheng Beast-Taming University]
[Newbie Beast Tamer here—can my first pet beast be Little Horned Dragon?]
Her gaze stopped on the last post.
Absolutely inhumane.
Your first pet beast, and you're already thinking about contracting a Dragon-type—and you even post online to ask if it's okay?
Everyone knew how powerful Dragon-type pet beasts were.
Aside from a handful of extremely rare species, just in terms of attributes alone, Dragon-types were the most expensive of all pet beasts.
Anyone without a money-printing mine at home couldn't afford them.
Even if someone grit their teeth and bought one, they often couldn't raise it properly. Dragon-types had long evolution cycles—you could feed and pamper one for years and still fail to get even a first evolution into an Intermediate pet beast.
If Qiao Sang were answering, it would definitely be:
Not okay.
Absolutely not!
But if a Dragon-type pet beast were actually placed right in front of her, waiting for her to contract it…
Well, then it might not be that absolute after all.
She scrolled down, no longer paying attention to that heart-wrenching post.
[Strongly recommend Sand Burrowing Mouse for newbie Beast Tamers!]
The comments were full of differing opinions.
"OP probably hasn't let the Sand Burrowing Mouse sleep at night. Friendly reminder—it grinds its teeth!"
"Why didn't the guy upstairs mention what it grinds its teeth on?"
"My White Sand Fox refuses to accept this!"
"Deepwater Tortoise requests to enter the battlefield."
...
By now, suitable pet beasts for newbie Beast Tamers had long been summarized by others.
Little Fat Jiu, White Sand Fox, Short-Tailed Snake, Sand Burrowing Mouse, Deepwater Tortoise.
These five pet beasts were moderately priced, affordable for most families, and had gentle temperaments.
If cultivated properly, reaching third-stage evolution and becoming General-rank pet beasts was absolutely achievable.
Most of the pet beasts newbie Beast Tamers asked about in posts belonged to these five.
The first pet beast Qiao Sang's mother had contracted was Little Fat Jiu.
Fat Jia Jiu was its evolved form.
As a Flying-type pet beast, its chubby body meant it flew slower than most others of the same type.
The only reason it became a top choice for beginners was that it could evolve into Zhuangtong Flying Owl, a General-rank pet beast.
White Sand Fox had strong attack power but weak defense—once hit, it couldn't last long.
Sand Burrowing Mouse was born with the skill to dig tunnels and preferred evasion, rarely engaging in frontal combat.
Deepwater Tortoise, though it couldn't swim like a normal turtle, had excellent defensive capabilities.
White Sand Fox, Sand Burrowing Mouse, and Deepwater Tortoise were all Earth-type pet beasts, so they were often compared to one another.
Among them, White Sand Fox completely crushed the other two in terms of appearance, making it the top choice for female newbie Beast Tamers.
Short-Tailed Snake belonged to the Poison-type. Its fangs were venomous, and the needle-like spike on its tail was a dangerous offensive weapon, giving it impressive combat power even in the early stages.
However, if a Beast Tamer wasn't careful, they'd end up making a trip to the hospital.
Without strong physical conditioning, hardly any newbie Beast Tamer dared to contract it.