“Huh??”
Su Ping took Xu Kuang to the test room. In the room, Su Lingyue was sitting at the center with her legs crossed. She was sweating and her skin had turned rosy, like a lobster in the pan. But underneath that sweat, there was a faint, green hue.
That was the sign that she was at the Glass Bulwark’s entry-level.
Su Ping didn’t disturb her. He showed Xu Kuang, who was in complete shock, to another side of the room. Su Ping opened up a swirl and a figure with dark fur hopped out.
As soon as the mountain-like figure landed, it let out a fierce bellow, “Woof!”
“Huh?”
Xu Kuang was puzzled.
The Dark Dragon Hound?
Su Ping asked the system about the price of the Dark Dragon Hound.
Soon, the price came into his mind.
5,000/hour!
Five thousand energy points per hour.
Su Ping nodded, When the Little Skeleton reached 10 in combat strength, the rental fee per hour was ten thousand energy points, i.e. one million coins.
Su Ping was happy that the Dark Dragon Hound’s fee was half that of the Little Skeleton’s.
“Here you go. You can have it. Half a million astral coins per hour,” Su Ping told Xu Kuang
Xu Kuang: “???”
A dog, sorry, a Dark Dragon Hound would cost half a million astral coins per hour?!!
Xu Kuang had a reasonable belief that either Su Ping had said the wrong thing or he had not heard correctly, or he had bragged so much so that Su Ping decided to rip him off!
Yes, I have money. But I’m not an idiot!
Xu Kuang eyed Su Ping with questions. There was another possibility. Was this a test for Su Ping to take him as a student?
“Sir, is this… the Dark Dragon Hound?” Xu Kuang whispered. He was asking but he was actually reminding Su Ping that this was a Dark Dragon Hound, an actual Dark Dragon Hound!
He could buy one with the money spent on borrowing it for two hours!
Granted, the Dark Dragon Hound was a pet of the demon family, but it merely had a middle-rank bloodline. A selling price of one million would be extreme!
Su Ping never expected that Xu Kuang would ask such a stupid question. He looked at Xu Kuang as if the latter were a fool. “Of course. Aren’t you a star student from the Ares Academy? Don’t you know this?”
Xu Kuang was speechless.
I am a star student but you’re trying to fool me as if I were an idiot!
“Sir…” Xu Kuang took a deep breath. He thought he’d better not mince words. “I don’t, really, honestly, actually think a Dark Dragon Hound would… have such a rate. Wouldn’t you agree?” “Well?”
Su Ping understood that Xu Kuang was thinking the Dark Dragon Hound wasn’t good enough. True, going by appearance, the Dark Dragon Hound was not worth the price.
“Hey, lazy dog, show him.” Su Ping kicked the Dark Dragon Hound which was enjoying rolling around on the ground. This silly dog was the laziest of all and would loaf on the job whenever it had a chance. The Dark Dragon Hound was startled. It crawled up and looked around, highly alerted. Hearing Su Ping’s words, the Dark Dragon Hound turned to look around, confused. There was no enemy. Why?
Xu Kuang was staring at Su Ping in confusion as well. What could a Dark Dragon Hound do?
Su Ping did not bother to explain. He just instructed the silly dog to throw out some advanced skills.
The Dark Dragon Hound was even more baffled. Still, because of the contract, it had to listen to Su Ping. The Dark Dragon Hound tilted its head and thought for a while to pick out some advanced skills that wouldn’t need or involve great effort. Earthen Protection!
Wind Shield!
Darkness Bomb!
First, two shields appeared and covered up the Dark Dragon Hound completely. Then, it opened its mouth and a mass of dark flames converged. The Dark Dragon Hound discharged that ball directly into the walls of the test
room.
was I
ere
Boom. But the wall didn’t shake and the energy was neutralized. After all, the walls were several times tougher than the seal at the competition venue. Not even a legendary battle pet warrior would be able to make the wall tremble.
While the energy was neutralized, Xu Kuang still recognized the skill.
He not only recognized the Darkness Bomb, but also the Earthen Protection and Wind Shield!
The moment this dog, no, the Dark Dragon Hound set up the Earthen Protection and the Wind Shield, Xu Kuang’s jaw had dropped.
Is this even a Dark Dragon Hound?
Xu Kuang stood aghast. If it weren’t for the fact that the Darkness Bomb was a skill of the demon family, he would have suspected that the pet was a dragon in a Dark Dragon Hound’s costume!
Su Ping darted a “meaningful” glance at the lazy dog after it tried those skills.
The two shields were both of the ninth-rank but the energy used in building them could be recycled when they weren’t attacked. The only skill that did use some of the Dark Dragon Hound’s energy was that eighth-rank Darkness Bomb.
He told the dog to demonstrate its abilities; still, look at how lazy it was. Su Ping believed that it was imperative to find a chance to educate the dog, and make it stop being such a lazy bone.
Hiss!
All of a sudden, the Dark Dragon Hound felt chills on its back and its hair stood on end.
It felt that standing behind, Su Ping was emitting a horrifying aura and looking down. Su Ping’s eyes were like two huge lamps that were going to swallow it… This devil was thinking about something intimidating again!
Woo!
The Dark Dragon Hound cried out. Its desire for survival kicked in. The Dark Dragon Hound jumped further to the inside of the room.
Roar!!
Its pitch-dark hair stood up on end and flames surged out all around. At this moment, the Dark Dragon Hound was gaining momentum and the flames were burning violently, as if rising from the depths of hell.
The Dark Dragon Hound had revealed its true self!
Killing intent, violence, ferocity, and bloodthirst!
Roar!!
The Dark Dragon Hound raised its head and let out a roar that should have been heard coming from a dragon. That roar startled Su Lingyue, who stared at the Dark Dragon Hound, stupefied.
Ice, flames, and lightning! Three ninth-rank skills of various sorts were unleashed at the same time. They tore up the air around the Dark Dragon Hound, creating a crack of doom.
The air was burning up in the room. Then, all the energy was channeled toward the walls.
With a bang, a puff of smoke rose from the walls. And yet, there weren’t any cracks on the walls, nor trembling. It felt as if someone were exerting great strength in a punch, only to miss the target.
The truth, of course, was not like that. It was just that the energy had been neutralized.
Xu Kuang was struck dumb with astonishment. His mouth was opening so wide that four or five eggs could fit in at once. He stared at the Dark Dragon Hound in a daze, afraid to believe what he had just witnessed.
After a while, he finally came back to his senses and turned to Su Ping. Only till then did he understand why the Dark Dragon Hound’s rental fee was so high!
With a combat strength like that, it would be worthwhile to pay much more, let alone merely half a million per hour!
At this very moment, he extremely admired Su Ping. He had seen Su Ping summoning this Dark Dragon Hound, which meant that the Dark Dragon Hound was Su Ping’s battle pet!
Since Su Ping was willing to rent out the Dark Dragon Hound when it was so powerful, it went without saying that this was merely his secondary pet.
Xu Kuang could not imagine what Su Ping’s major pet would be like.
“Your student is truly sorry!” Xu Kuang bowed to his waist and regretted ever questioning Su Ping, fearing that he would leave a bad impression.
He had worked so hard to forge a closer relationship between him and Su Ping. If that relationship were to be auto-sabotaged like this, he would wish he could drop dead!
Su Ping was surprised by Xu Kuang’s grand gesture. Su Ping was not offended by Xu Kuang’s question earlier. It was natural that people would want to ask questions when they had doubts. He would have done the same thing
“I told you that you’re not my student. Also, do you want the Dark Dragon Hound or not? Do you have enough money with you?” Su Ping asked.
Having noticed that Su Ping was not upset with him, Xu Kuang nervously looked up and asked, “Teacher, have you forgiven me?” Su Ping felt he would never understand Xu Kuang. “You didn’t offend me. What would I be forgiving you for?”
Xu Kuang breathed in relief. He scratched his head and smiled fatuously. “You are a great man. I was just thinking that no pet of yours could be average. I asked a silly question.”
Su Ping called back the Dark Dragon Hound which was about to do another round of demonstration, lest Su Lingyue would be disturbed. At the same time, Su Ping waved to Su Lingyue, indicating that she could go on cultivating
“I may only have enough money to rent it for two or three months.”
The Dark Dragon Hound had run back, joyfully, and was not rubbing against Su Ping’s leg. Out of instinct, Xu Kuang stepped backward. For a moment, he was unable to forget the violent and raging killing intent that was coming off from the Dark Dragon Hound. That was a killing intent that he had only felt in dragons before.
“That may not be enough.” Su Ping thought about it. Xu Kuang had to get to the venue early in the morning to be prepared and might have to wait for several hours before it was his turn.
“Don’t worry. I will call my sister right now. My sister and my dad were stunned by my performance at the Elite League. They will give me some money.”
Immediately, Xu Kuang dialed the number.
The call was put through soon.
Xu Kuang told his sister about borrowing money, well-behaved like a lamb. Now and then, he would say something like “Uh-huh”. Not long afterward, he ended the call and turned around to Su Ping with a bright smile. “Teacher, problem solved. My sister is lending me twenty million. She also said that if I could make it to the Top 5, she would give me another twenty million as a reward!”
“Oh, fine.”
Su Ping was glad that the problem had been solved.
“Then, I can take your Dark Dragon Hound now?”
Xu Kuang was still careful, afraid Su Ping would turn him down. The Dark Dragon Hound had demonstrated an intimidating force and would be of great help to him in the games the next day. He would be more likely to make it to the Top 5 even if he had to challenge Liu Qingfeng. Su Ping nodded.
He wasn’t used to renting his own battle pet which was like his family and friend. He would certainly be worried and uncomfortable.
Still, as of this moment, that was the only option.
He had to make sure that Xu Kuang would reach the Top 5 since he had made such a promise and he was glad that Xu Kuang was economically well-off, so that they could work together to reach that goal.