“No, Tian, you can’t harm anyone,” as a few protesting whimpers sounded, the voice continued with an even stricter tone, “No, don’t even think about it. If I ever see you harming anyone, or even trying to, you’ll starve for three days!”

In a specific room, Lady Xian strictly reprimanded Tian Lang for his misconduct of trying to harm Yue Yang. Tian Lang finally limped in resignation. After all, half an hour of scolding was genuinely overwhelming for this young, innocent, and growing mind.

Even though this human could understand him, it seemed complete understanding was still impossible. No matter how he wanted to warn about the fake Yue Yang, this human doesn’t seem to understand him! It even threatened him to starve for days! How ridiculous was that!

Naturally, Tian Lang felt indignant, but what could he do? This human was mighty and had big fleshy mounds. Any and every of his attack would fail to pierce through its skins.

Seeing the depressed and defeated Tian Lang, Lady Xian smiled in satisfaction. It took Tian Lang in its fleshy mounds and gently scratched his neck. In a gentle tone, Lady Xian pursued: “Tian, San’er has been only good to you so far. Now that he successfully contracted with a Grimoire, you should also be good to him.”

Lady Xian’s sudden gentle voice alleviated Tian Lang’s fatigue. He indeed found this human’s words logical. Since Yue Yang had been kind to him, he should also repay the favor. Such as what his dear friend taught him!

Lady Xian’s skillful use of the ‘carrot after stick’ method worked like a charm on Tian Lang’s weary mind. He even started to agree with Lady Xian.

Lady Xian smiled and threw the last bit, “You should enter a beast contract with San’er. Having a contracted beast such as you would both help and motivate San’er a lot!”

Being able to contract with the great Tian Lang, his mighty self, Yue Yang should feel delighted and motivated! Indeed... huh?

Just as the smug and somewhat relieved Tian Lang took the bait, he realized something fishy.

Contract? Isn’t that same as letting Yue Yang tame him? If this were Tian Lang from way back, then he would’ve undoubtedly fallen for this trick! But under the tutelage of the previous Yue Yang, he absorbed a variety of knowledge, causing his thought process to become more flexible; else, he would’ve been sold without his knowledge!

Tian Lang gulped and slowly raised his snout. He stared at Lady Xian with his wide but frozen ocean blue eyes.

Hu-humans, they are scary!

For the first time, the naive Tian Lang realized just how scary this soothing voice could be. Till now, he felt this voice was pleasant and filled with otherworldly warmth. Coupled with the mystical aura that gave him the feeling of dipping in a spirited forest. This human made him feel unnaturally close to it. Now... now he felt otherwise. His whole body felt the chills for some unknown reasons.

However, he didn’t react furiously. Complying with his instincts, Tian Lang remained still without any visible movement. Yet, Lady Xian smiled. It could feel the change in Tian Lang’s spirit. It smiled sweetly, thinking it didn’t let its San’er down. Securing a beast with incredible potential for  Yue Yang was worth celebrating.

Lady Xian urged Tian Lang some more to form a contract with Yue Yang, only then did it leave him alone!

Slumping on the couch, Tian Lang wept without shedding tears. Some fakes goods replaced his dear friend. Even the human with bountiful fleshy mounds and gem-like eyes looked scary. For what was its worth, Tian Lang felt the whole world turning against him!

No! He couldn’t let everything go this way!

It was then Tian Lang decided not to be fooled by Humans again! Yes, even if they had gem-like eyes!

For the next few days, Tian Lang avoided both Yue Yang and Lady Xian. He extensively searched for the trail of his lost friend. However, he met with a dead-end from the start.

Where did his friend fall? He knew Yue Yang fell into the pond, but where? Whom should he ask... wait, ask? That was out of the picture!

Dive into the water? Don’t kid around! Even though he could now drink water and the original Yue Yang taught him that this pond’s water was utterly harmless, Tian Lang still didn’t feel the urge to dive into it.

Was he afraid of the water?

RIDICULOUS!!!

Who was he? The mighty Tian Lang, the invincible foolish pup, he would never be afraid of such things. If it weren’t because he didn’t know where Yue Yang fell, he would’ve dived into the pond by then. Definitely!

And when Tian Lang thought about what to do after diving into the pond, his head hurt.

In the end, he could only change his approach. Since fake goods appeared after the disappearance of the original, there must be some relation. So he started tailing Yue Yang, while a certain creature smiled in satisfaction, taking Tian Lang’s foolish actions as a positive sign for a blooming ‘relationship.’

And after ‘spying’ for a certain amount of time, he indeed found some suspicious activities. This ‘fake good’ either spent the whole day sitting in a weird posture or sleeping away. It never performed the ‘stick with a sharp end’ movements and didn’t come to him and teach some stuff either.

However, Tian Lang found pure and thick energy slowly accumulating inside Yue Yang’s body. And now, it even accidentally destroyed a boulder with a simple punch.

Tian Lang wasn’t surprised at that strength. He could easily do such trivial and meaningless action. If someone else had done the same, Tian Lang wouldn’t be surprised either. But who was Yue Yang?

He was the most useless person of the Yue Clan and his useless friend, only knowledgeable in different aspects. The main reason everyone looked down upon Yue Yang was undeniably because he was weak and failed to form a contract with his Grimoire. He couldn’t even lift a corner of such boulders, let alone destroying one! However, this Yue Yang was the opposite!

As a sudden realization struck him, Tian Lang immediately sprinted towards a random direction.

If this human, who was supposed to be the weakest existence, could become so powerful in such a short time, who knows what kind of strength he would have after a longer period.

Then, what stopped the fake Yue Yang to tame or force a contract on him?

Even now, Tian Lang failed to understand why he disliked being tamed or contracted. He heard many adventure stories from the original Yue Yang, and in all honesty, they sounded exciting for both the Summoner and the contracted beast!

However, he instinctively avoided the notion of being tamed, even hating it. Such action was as incomprehensible as him being born into a dilated, dying space.

When Tian Lang almost crossed the Yue Villa, he abruptly stopped. He remembered some stuff his friend regarded as important and precious. Although they were kept hidden, it felt dangerous to be there. Especially since he knew the location, he could not let them fall into the hands of this ‘fake good’!

He instantly changed his destination to Yue Yang’s place. Unexpectedly, after destroying the boulder Yue Yang, the ‘fake good’ returned to its room. It even furiously checked its surroundings, as a thin layer of sweat covered its body.

Seeing no one in the surroundings, it finally heaved a sigh of relief only to jump up from a threatening growl.

Grrr!

Tian Lang twisted his face and made a fierce expression. However, due to his small stature, he looked slightly cute. Only his growl sounded somewhat threatening.

Seeing it was Tian Lang, Yue Yang patted its chest. Giving Tian Lang a dismissive glance, it muttered under its breath, “This dog is here again. Dogs that barks don't bite, but this one doesn’t even bark. Tch, tch.”

At first, Yue Yang was apprehensive of this fierce pup. He even discovered its identity, which none was able to. But after some time, Yue Yang realized that in the end, it was just a pup. No one could understand this beast here! What was there to be afraid of? This pup looked fierce but dared not bite anyone!

Giving Tian Lang a thumb down, Yue Yang laid on the bed and continued its napping session.

When Tian Lang heard Yue Yang’s disdain, he almost pounced on him. Almost.

If it weren’t because Lady Xian’s warning still rang in his mind, he would’ve already taken a piece of this human’s body.

With hidden anger, Tian Lang stood below the table. Only after a careful scrutinizing did he find the unassuming hole. Which he had no hopes to open thanks to his stumpy paws.

However, Tian Lang extended one of his claws. Putting it in the hole, he yanked it, only to tear apart the whole disguise.

Indeed, just knowing didn’t mean even a foolish could become a king. Tian Lang, the reckless pup was the living proof of such a statement.

Without minding the small details, Tian Lang expectantly looked forward to the hidden stash. The original Yue Yang might’ve been friendly, but it still didn’t let Tian Lang glance at the treasures.

And when the view of the ‘treasures’ fell into Tian Lang’s eyes, his jaws slackened. The so-called treasures only contained a small pouch, some old clothes, two worn down books, and a black crystal-like stone with a string attached.

A-are these really Yue Yang’s treasure?

To the pup, who had his priority (?) straight knew that anything different from crystal had limited value. Anything other than crystal-like black stone left little to no impression on him. Still, since Yue Yang, the knowledgeable human, treated them as treasures, there must be something on them.

First, the pouch only had some gold, silver, and copper circle shaped items. Daily trading between humans required them. They were standard items, not treasures. After all, they didn’t contain any form of energy.

He readily skipped Yue Yang’s old clothes. He then opened the ‘books’ that had slightly twisted fonts than the normals he was used to. Those hardly hindered him from reading them. But the contents left him fuzzy.

He could understand the words, but the meaning behind them seemed so useless, also so complicated at the same time that he couldn’t understand them. The more he tried to understand, the more irritated he got.

Pushing them to the side, Tian Lang brought his attention to the black crystal. His snout sniffed the black crystal thoroughly. The greedy pup found the familiar scent of a beast crystal and bit it hard.

By then, Tian Lang had long forgotten his reason for being here. He wasn’t supposed to plunder but save them from a plunderer. But lo and behold, the savior became the plunderer.

Unexpectedly, Tian Lang, the greedy pup, failed to bite it through. It came as a surprise to him. Till now, there was nothing that could stand between his teeth, nothing... err... if you ignored the fleshy mounds of the Humans... something that mysteriously remained impenetrable.

Shaking the extra thoughts, Tian Lang became curious about the black crystal. It looked no different from beast crystals, and the smallest one he had seen yet. So he decided to ‘save’ this crystal from the hands of the fake good.

When Tian Lang was about to leave, the gears in his head turned a bit differently. A vicious glint flashed past his eyes.

Right, he was going to leave this damn place. No one’s going to threaten him, the foolish Alpha pup, no one!

Slowly but swiftly, Tian Lang jumped on Yue Yang’s bed.

Lifting one of his hind legs, Tian Lang relieved himself.

As Tian Lang strutted in happy steps, he suddenly heard the fake Yue Yang’s voice, “Huh, it’s raining? Shit, my roof has a hole!”