Chapter 24: Click

After forming a contract with Whitefang, not only did Mu Huiyue’s Beastmaster Space level up, but she also gained another reward she was eagerly anticipating.

She finally saved up enough for a ten-pull!

Inside the Beastmaster Space, Mu Huiyue stood between her two companions—Little Skeleton on her left and Little Cloud Dog on her right. Both watched curiously as she opened the “Spirit Spring Temple” summoning screen.

Nervously rubbing her hands together, Mu Huiyue picked up Whitefang, gently stroking its head. “As per tradition, let’s have Whitefang do the honors this time.”

“Woof?”

The fluffy little dog didn’t quite understand, but since it only needed to place its paw on the screen, it obediently wagged its tail and followed Mu Huiyue’s instructions.

With a soft press of its plush paw, the waters of the temple rippled, and a dazzling light suddenly burst forth.

Gold light!

“Looks like the luckiest one in the team is still Ellen,” Mu Huiyue chuckled, patting Little Skeleton’s bony head.

“Click-clack!” Ellen puffed up its chest proudly.

As someone used to terrible luck, Mu Huiyue remained calm. After all, there was always a guaranteed reward, so it couldn’t be worse than her last ten-pull, right?

She put Whitefang down and eagerly opened the results to check the details.

The first thing that appeared was a series of white N-rank items.

As usual, there were physique fruits and elemental fruits, along with some seemingly useless junk.

[A Complete Bone]
[Attribute: None]
[Description: A perfectly intact bone. Good for training a pet’s teeth or practicing bone-related skills, though its power won’t surpass an E-rank skill.]
[Status: Reusable]

[A Broken Frisbee]
[Attribute: None]
[Description: Despite being damaged, it’s still beloved by canine creatures.]
[Status: Reusable]

Mu Huiyue fell silent for a moment, glancing at her Little Cloud Dog. The white-furred puppy wagged its tail innocently, eyes sparkling as it gazed at the Frisbee in her hand.

Looking around the space, Mu Huiyue threw the Frisbee. The Little Cloud Dog barked excitedly, darting off like an arrow.

Ellen shrugged, generously offering Whitefang the bone, preferring to use leg bones for its own bone-club skills.

Mu Huiyue continued checking the results.

A blue R-rank reward—yet another experience fruit.

Finally, she reached the golden SR-rank reward. With bated breath, she opened the glowing little chest.

[B-Rank Skill Book: Moonlight]

[Attribute: Dark]

[Description: A healing skill of the dark attribute that significantly restores and enhances a pet’s stamina when bathed in moonlight.]

[Status: Not teachable]

A dark attribute healing skill!

Mu Huiyue felt a surge of excitement. Typically, healing skills are associated with light or wood attributes, so discovering a powerful healing skill in the dark category was unexpected.

While the requirement of moonlight limits its use, the combination of healing and enhancement makes it a formidable recovery skill. Not only is it effective in battles, but it can also be applied in various scenarios, significantly boosting a pet’s endurance.

Currently, the skill book is not usable, indicating that both Ellen and Whitefang can’t learn B-rank skills yet. However, that’s not a major concern; once they evolve, they should be able to learn it.

After careful consideration, Mu Huiyue made a decision about who should learn the Moonlight skill. Once Ellen evolves into a Bone Soldier, it will likely upgrade its core talent, D-rank Undead Skill: Reorganize, to C-rank Undead Skill: Remnant. The upgraded skill will grant the pet nearly infinite reorganizational capabilities, allowing it to recover even if parts are missing—as long as the core remains intact.

The only exception would be fatal hits like those from a Devourer.

Thus, Remnant can be viewed as an alternative healing skill, overlapping with the effects of Moonlight. Mu Huiyue decided to let the brave young Whitefang, who could face attribute-restrictive skills head-on, learn Moonlight instead.

However, before that, she needed to find a way to help Whitefang evolve.

Determined, Mu Huiyue thought, just because Howl currently doesn’t have any higher-tier skills doesn’t mean Whitefang has no chance of evolving. Its physical potential clearly stands out among Little Cloud Dogs; it shouldn’t be stuck in the Warrior class just because of its talent skill.

With her Little Cloud Dog breeding base and resources from the Bureau’s database, she could also gather more summoning resources. Who knows? She might pull a higher-tier skill for Howl directly from the card pool.

Not far away, Whitefang caught the Frisbee and happily ran back, wagging its tail and dropping the Frisbee into Mu Huiyue’s hand.

She patted its head, realizing that these mundane items with no hidden power couldn’t be taken out of the Beastmaster Space. Perhaps she would buy Whitefang some dog toys when they returned to the real world?

---

The next day was Sunday, and Mu Huiyue still woke up early. She made herself breakfast and pulled two bottles of frothy white milk from the fridge, watching as Little Skeleton and Little Cloud Dog eagerly drank it down.

The little white dog was still getting used to drinking from a bottle, hugging the milk container with all four paws and licking it eagerly. Before long, its chin was all wet with milk.

In contrast, Ellen was much more graceful. Sipping delicately from the bottle, it later placed the empty container back on the tray designated for recycling and even offered a tissue to wipe Whitefang’s mouth.

Whitefang watched Ellen’s moving bones with bright eyes, its tail wagging enthusiastically. It obediently suppressed the urge to lick its senior.

---

Mu Huiyue smiled at the two little ones as she cleaned up the plates, preparing to use the morning to devise a nurturing plan for Whitefang.

One of the reasons she chose to contract with Little Cloud Dog was not only due to their intriguing potential and looks but also the factor of nurturing difficulty.

In contrast, the nurturing methods for Little Skeleton were scarce in the Bureau’s database, and people’s understanding of its habits was quite limited. Most of the knowledge was based on Mu Huiyue’s personal exploration.

However, Little Cloud Dogs were different. As the representative pets of Changning City and even the entire Star Region, they were extremely popular across the Great Yan.

From aspiring Beastmasters to legendary ones, individuals from all levels contracted Little Cloud Dogs. Changning’s breeding base had developed detailed nurturing methods for various attributes, providing a wealth of reference materials for learning.

In terms of diet, before reaching the fifth rank, Little Cloud Dogs could enjoy frothy milk alongside Ellen.

Once they hit the fifth rank, Mu Huiyue planned to order specially formulated dark attribute dog food from the breeding base—essentially made from meat combined with resources of extraordinary power.

Behaviorally, most Little Cloud Dogs were very affectionate toward humans, able to follow their Beastmaster’s instructions accurately. A strong emotional bond with their Beastmaster also enhanced their physical abilities.

Whitefang, being a dark attribute Little Cloud Dog, made Mu Huiyue recall a forum post she had seen earlier, which mentioned that dark attribute extraordinary beings might exhibit certain emotional eating tendencies. The Bureau’s database had also hinted at similar findings.

While Little Cloud Dogs did not rely on emotions for eating, the dark attribute might still have some emotional preferences. To confirm this, Mu Huiyue had asked Whitefang directly.

The fluffy little puppy was still a bit naïve, but it clearly expressed its likes: it absolutely loved praise from humans—now specifically from its Beastmaster.

As long as it could be praised by Mu Huiyue, Whitefang would strive to complete all commands.

Mu Huiyue gently stroked its little head, feeling a twinge of sympathy.

No wonder Whitefang was different from its dark attribute kin. It trained so hard, ranking at the top during every assessment, all just to be acknowledged…

All it wanted was to hear the breeders praise it.

But the truth was, Whitefang had rarely heard compliments from humans. Whenever the breeders looked at its nurturing report, they wore expressions of regret.

Without an evolutionary path for its core talent skill, even the best physical qualities meant nothing.

In addition to its emotional preference for praise, Whitefang, like all Little Cloud Dogs, loved to snuggle with its Beastmaster.

Any interaction with the Beastmaster—be it training, playing, caring for them, preparing food, grooming, or simply resting together—brought joy and stability to the Little Cloud Dogs, greatly increasing their intimacy.

This aspect was quite different from Ellen. Mu Huiyue thought to herself; the Little Skeleton tribe craved human validation, but Ellen wasn’t particularly clingy. Aside from training and helping her with tasks, Ellen preferred to quietly stay in her shadow.

Like now, as Mu Huiyue glanced down at her shadow on the floor, its color deepening and the edges blurring slightly. Having just finished breakfast, Ellen helped clean the plates and had now settled back into her shadow.

“Woof!” Whitefang trotted over, tilting its head curiously at what its Beastmaster was doing on the tablet.

The little dog didn’t quite understand what Mu Huiyue was up to, but it simply wanted to be close to her.

Unable to resist the urge, Mu Huiyue reached out and scooped up Whitefang. While pondering the nurturing plan, she began to groom its soft fur.

The Little Cloud Dog boasted a coat of pure white, thick and fluffy like clouds in a clear sky. It felt incredibly soft to the touch, a delight to caress.

With a wolf-like elongated snout and erect, triangular ears, it had a thick, soft ruff around its neck, resembling a cozy scarf.

Most distinctive was its tail, which was about half the length of its body. The tip could spread out like a feather fan, creating an effect that made it seem as if clouds were drifting around it—hence the name Little Cloud Dog.

Whitefang felt too good to touch, and Mu Huiyue found herself gradually distracted, her attention shifting entirely to grooming the little pup.

Once groomed, Whitefang looked even fluffier and softer, like a happy little cotton ball. Mu Huiyue placed it on the table, pulling up its four paws to reveal its snowy white belly.

She couldn’t help but feel a bit like a mischievous human, but with such a fluffy bundle nearby, it was simply irresistible!

This could also be seen as a way for Beastmasters to strengthen their bond with their pets, right?

…Maybe.

Mu Huiyue buried her face in Whitefang’s fluffy belly, letting out a blissful sigh.

“Like falling into a cloud—this phrase was born to capture this moment’s feeling!”

“Woof?”

Suddenly embraced by her Beastmaster, Whitefang froze in surprise, obediently stretching out its four paws to reveal its belly, letting out an innocent whimper.

“Whitefang’s fur is simply amazing!” Mu Huiyue turned her face, rubbing against the extraordinarily soft belly fur, feeling as if she might melt into a puddle.

“Woof! Woof!” The fluffy little dog yelped happily; being praised by its Beastmaster was the best feeling ever.

Watching this scene, Ellen poked his head out a little, bubbling away in the shadows.

While being patted on the head by Mu Huiyue was wonderful, he too wanted to experience having his whole face buried in her embrace.

But…

Ellen glanced at his well-formed, healthy ribcage.

Recently, due to his training with Bone Fluid, his bones had become increasingly hard. If Mu Huiyue did bury her face in there, his ribs might poke through her face!

For the sake of Mu Huiyue’s safety, Ellen reluctantly gave up on that fantasy.

However, he would never concede defeat to his thick, fluffy fur!

Once he evolved into a Bone Soldier and grew into an adult size, he would have broad shoulders for Mu Huiyue to lean on!

Then he would undoubtedly become the most dashing and handsome skeleton, utterly captivating her!

…

After spending quite a while lovingly grooming Whitefang, Mu Huiyue returned to planning the nurturing program for the Little Cloud Dog.

In addition to dietary habits, the breeding base had recorded many teaching methods for skills that Little Cloud Dogs could learn.

Due to the instability of their cloud-flow traits during the Little Cloud Dog stage, they could learn many skills of both the same and different attributes, aside from the unchangeable core talent.

When she drew the Moonlight skill book earlier, Mu Huiyue realized this potential.

She didn’t need to wait for a tenfold draw to obtain the skill book; Little Cloud Dogs could learn more skills with help from the outside world. She already had a better option than the breeding base in mind—the dojo where the Crimson Flame Fighting Wolf, Pari, was located.

The dojo had familiar trainers, numerous apprentices with contracted Little Cloud Dogs, and evolution-type trainers like Pari who could impart valuable experience. It was a much more suitable place for Whitefang to train than the training grounds in the Beastmaster space.

Besides, she hadn’t visited Pari in quite a while.