As hours passed, Tian Lang decided to choose Yue Bing over his other selections.

It matched all his requirements. Yue Bing had small fleshy mounds, category-soft. Meaning power level not that high, but better than non-existent ones. It had a calm mind and didn’t run anywhere randomly without reasons.

But, Humans were known to be unpredictable. Nothing could be said about them with a guarantee.

Ah! How about watching for a day or more?

Don’t joke! Who had that patience? Definitely not the impatient pup, Tian Lang.

Taking advantage of the dark night, Tian Lang sneaked into Yue Bing’s room through the window.

The oblivious and sorrow-filled Yue Bing continued to write a letter. It still couldn’t believe how its teammates changed their faces so fast. Even more so, knowing their own family member instigated and encouraged them.

Tian Lang silently stood on the bed. Raising his head, he mimicked a proud position from an illustration he came by. It was something called ‘presentation’ in the human language. When everything felt right, Tian Lang barked to gain Yue Bing’s attention, startling the focused human and destroying the meaning of presentation at the same time.

“W-who?!” Yue Bing grabbed the chair in a fluster, but seeing no one, it gradually calmed down.

“That’s not right... Where did this pup come from?”

Yue Bing’s first reaction was to approach the pup, but then it stopped. It heard rumors about the dangerous Moonlight-Wolf-like-pup during its travel through the Royal Dragon Valley Road. No one could catch it; neither could they force it to a contract. Strangely, it wasn’t violent either. Some even thought the pup to have a certain level of intelligence.

But why would this pup approach a human suddenly?

Did this pup finally take an interest in blood and came to...!

Yue Bing became anxious, but it didn’t dare to panic. In situations similar to this, nine out of ten died when they screamed or panicked.

Tian Lang woofed again and pointed at the window.

“You want me to take a look through the window?” Yue Bing said in a calm voice. In reality, it also found the pup too fluffy and cute to be afraid of it.

Tian Lang nodded and jumped on the window sill. He pointed in the Star’s Domain’s direction.

“You want to go there? Ah, I mean, you want me to take you there?”

Tian Lang nodded happily. Yue Bing’s reaction pleased him so much that he praised himself thrice already. Not only did it not fish out a Contract Scroll, it even understood what he wanted to relay.

From how it looked, humans with this particular scent seem to understand him better. There were some differences, such as this human could understand simple gestures he indicated at, unlike Lady Xian, who could understand his words through intentions.

“But I can’t go there. That’s the direction of Star’s Domain. I don’t think they will allow students to enter. Besides, I have to complete my refining mission in the Blackstone Labyrinth. As a Yue Family’s descendant, I can’t get cold feet just because my teammates betrayed me. I can’t let Mother and Third Brother down! Once Third Brother joins our academy, everyone will know he is a genius!” Yue Bing fortified its resolve, throwing all caution away. It was just inches away from Tian Lang.

On the other hand, Tian Lang became troubled. He didn’t care about Yue Family and all mother-brother stuff, but Yue Bing not guiding him to the Star’s Domain sounded troublesome. It was entirely out of the scenes he imagined.

Yue Bing failing to understand him, forcing a contract scroll on him, or getting cold feet because of his majestic presence. Even running away. He thought of many exciting possibilities, but not this.

Tian Lang slumped on the window sill. His muzzle extended sideways, creating a glum appearance. His facial expression even quivered as he hit the window sill with his right paw, lightly but repeatedly.

Why? Why did the Humans have to be so unpredictable?

Yue Bing watched the pup’s defeated gesture and felt as if it had heard his frustration and sadness. The human couldn’t help but pity the innocent puppy.

Maybe this pup has been trying to get there all along. Did its master enter the Star’s Domain and...not return? That’s weird. It doesn’t have a contract seal on its forehead either.

Anyway, Yue Bing felt at least, it could encourage the pup, “Uh, I can’t take you now, but I can try after completing my refining mission.”

Tian Lang looked at Yue Bing with hope. Then he thought of something and got below the bed. Knocking on his shadow, Tian Lang called out the leopard. Through a long and annoying process of indications, he got the coins and dropped them in front of Yue Bing.

Yue Bing saw the pouch’s content and gazed dumbly at the pup.

Just how intelligent is this pup? Does it want to pay me? Yue Bing laughed both in surprise and amusement. After all, which beast paid a human to guide them? Such a thing didn’t appear even in stories.

By then, Yue Bing cast all caution away and took the pup in its arms. “I don’t need the money, and I really can’t take you before I complete my refining.”

Delaying his venture to the great Star’s Domain? Tian Lang felt depressed at that prospect. But conversely, it wasn’t such a bad deal either. Three years wouldn’t just run away. From how that big fleshy-mounded human wrote, he could, no. He had to complete all the missions on the first floor and go to the second!

Besides, since he had to complete all the missions, he could conclude the Blackstone Labyrinth chapter with Yue Bing.

As Yue Bing scratched Tian Lang’s fluffy furs, it came to contact with his nameplate. 

“You! You’re Tian Lang! How did you come here?!” Yue Bing was surprised, then totally speechless. It heard about the adorable and intelligent pup from Lady Xian, Yue Bing’s mother, and the little devil, Yue Bing’s little sister.

For some reason, Yue Bing’s third brother, Yue Yang, who loved the pup, became each other’s arch-enemies. Coincidently, it was right after Yue Yang successfully contracted a Grimoire. Nobody knew the reason for their sudden break-up. But Tian Lang ran away not long after.

Yue Yang only gave some vague explanation and didn’t bother to search for the pup. It even looked happy and relieved. For this pup alone, Yue Yang had become cautious with its every move. Lady Xian was saddened and spent a tremendous amount of effort to get the pup back, but all action returned in vain.

Tian Lang only shot a cursory glance to Yue Bing.

Yet another human who took their sweet time to realize the mighty pup’s greatness.

...

The next morning Yue Bing hesitated before deciding against sending the letter. It realized the letter could potentially become another cause of worry to its mother.

“Yes, I can do it!” Yue Bing fortified its resolve and left the room.

Naturally, the pup joined Yue Bing with its Refining.

...

The Blackstone Labyrinth’s starting point only had roads leading north and south. As one progressed, there would be more and more forks until they were uncountable. Even experienced humans would very easily get lost.

Of course, no matter how many forks there were, they would all converge at the end of the labyrinth.

That was under the Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Oak Tree.

However, ‘Heart of Oak’ increased plant-type beasts ability and was less popular among the humans who looked down on plant-type beasts. The restrictions in Blackstone Labyrinth were similar to Pomen Rainforest. The [Summoner] couldn’t do anything personally; additionally, flying was also prohibited.

Tian Lang first cleared a great distance quickly, both shocking and frightening Yue Bing in the process. It requested him not to interfere as Refining Mission was meant to train both the [Summoner] and the [Summoned].

Not that Tian Lang minded. Before he reached the Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Oak Tree, everything before meant nothing to him. Since he could hardly feel anything from Yue Bing’s small fleshy mounds and also hinder its fight, Tian Lang made himself comfortable above Yue Bing’s head and enjoyed the ever-so-slow battles.

When humans were restricted from using their strength, the difficulty of the trail rose several times. Especially the beasts of the Blackstone Labyrinth, which mostly consisted of Fire and Ice category beasts that suppressed Yue Bing’s Treant Warriors.

But with great control, Yue Bing managed to win battles after battles. However, it still had the same limit as other summoners. It had to rest after every few fights and summon the treants again.

Then came some humans with Warrior’s Challenge cards to challenge Yue Bing 3vs1. Initially, it was fine. Yue Bing handled two teams, but Tian Lang noticed it getting exhausted after every fight.

Tian Lang snapped. It was already unreasonable for him to bear with this slow clearing rate. Now some humans had to slow them further down. The rest went without saying.

Tian Lang killed and broke a few limbs of the beasts. He grimly glared at the humans when a sudden thought lit up his eyes.

Right, they can’t fight because of the restrictions!

How did this restriction work? Where did it come from? The mighty and curious pup had to understand them! And nothing could beat fresh and alive warriors as guinea pigs. Only, the pup had yet to come up with an idea for his first and grand experimentation.

Ai, how about beating them up?

They would retaliate then, and he could experience how the restrictions worked!

As expected, whether experimentation or battle, the pup couldn’t graduate from his urge to beat everyone up.

But Tian Lang day-dreamed a bit much. When their beasts got beaten and killed, the warriors already shat their pants and ran while leaving a trail of piss. This wasn’t what they were paid for. The information had zero resemblance to the fact.

By the time Tian Lang came up with his excellent experimentation plan, they had already crossed a great distance. How could Tian Lang let them go? He spread his quadruped legs, exerted strength on the ground, and... floated?

Nothing so fancy.

“Tian, you! You can’t do that! They mean no harm. They were only paid to harass me and wear my mental strength down so I fail my refining. But they don’t know they are helping me strengthen. If you kill their beasts or disable them, they might starve without any job.” Yue Bing chided as it lifted Tian Lang by his stomach.

Tian Lang scoffed as his legs cycled in mid-air.

For Crystals’ sake! They want you to fail! FAIL! Just kill them and loot everything!

He really couldn’t stand this human. They wanted to harm it, but it thought about their well-being conversely.

However, Tian Lang wasn’t fond of irritating Yue Bing either. He had decided to act as much amicable as possible, which Yue Bing liked. After all, if this human decided against taking him to the Star’s Domain, wouldn’t he suffer a great loss? He already weathered two days of slow clearing pace. He didn’t want to go back to square one, where he had to search for a human again.

And Yue Bing continued the Refining Mission. Tian Lang only helped Yue Bing when challengers arrived, but as expected, he only injured their beasts. Such as tearing their tail, breaking their limbs, and in the case of Elemental Beasts, he had no other way but to kill them by breaking or eating their cores.

Of course, the Shadow Leopard joined in the fun. It thinned down the beasts, but as Yue Bing noticed the difficulty getting more manageable, it got over-suspicious, which in turn slowed down their progress even more. Tian Lang had no choice but to stop interfering. He wasn’t completely bored either.

A unique sort of signal kept him occupied.

As Tian Lang spent a long time above Yue Bing’s head, he noticed every time Yue Bing summoned the Grimoire, a signal transmission occurred in its brain. From all sides, the signal went to the center through a complex movement, and when the signal reached the center, the Grimoire manifested in the real world.

It took Tian Lang a good deal of time to memorize the signal transmission. What did he plan to do with this?

Well, Tian Lang had a hunch. He hardly remembered anything before he tasted blood from that big wolf. But that intense yearning for that glowing treasure still felt vivid to his mind.

And after watching so many Grimoires, Tian Lang labeled that purple treasure to be a Grimoire. But he could not summon it no matter the times he tried. Now, he seemed to understand why! The humans weren’t just calling out their Grimoire!

They were sending a signal to summon the Grimoire!

Finally! Finally, the pup would get to see his purple treasure and [Guardian Beast], plus his overpowered [Inherent Skill], maybe skills? Hm, hm, should he contract the Shadow Leopard? It already took great advantage of him. Not to mention he even shared his high-level Demon Crystal with it.

Yup, it’s decided.

Tian Lang praised his great self and concentrated on sending the signal.

However, he realized. The paths in his brain weren't that flexible. Anyway, he just had to force his way in. Like anything could occur from such tiny signals.

The next thing the pup knew, it was staring at the sky. Everything looked so blurry and twinkly that Tian Lang shut his eyes tight.

Whas-chis? Dhogut-evetin-gin-kay?

Even his thoughts went disarray. Alas, the pup had yet to admit his shortcoming compared to humans and their differences. He thought he made a mistake and carefully observed Yue Bing’s next summoning.

Convinced that he would do better, Tian Lang tried again. The result was nothing short of another repeat.

On the other hand, Yue Bing got worried. It couldn’t be that Tian Lang contracted some sort of disease and fainted periodically. Just the thought alone frightened Yue Bing.

Yue Bing hesitantly looked at the giant tree just around the corner and fished out a scroll. “Tian, wait. I will take you to a doctor in the Mercenary Guild right away!”

Yue Bing was about to activate it when Tian Lang bit the scroll and ran away. Like hell, he would return when they finally reached the Ten-Thousand-Year Ancient Oak Tree.

Why does this human jump to its own conclusion so fast? How fearsome!

Again, Tian Lang had to stop yet another experiment. But that blurry vision and dizziness wasn’t anything to laugh at. After some nagging, Yue Bing decided to put the matter on hold. Its refining mission almost came to an end. Even the human would feel down if it had to return now.

Finally, they reached the crystal pillar in front of the Ancient Oak Tree that glowed faintly white.

Tree roots twisted around its base. It was interlinked with the ten-thousand-year-old ancient oak tree. Warriors and Summoners would need to follow the missions carved on the crystal pillar to earn the ‘Heart of Oak’ reward.

Yue Bing appreciated the Ancient Oak Tree. Aside from being large enough that hundreds of Tian Lang would be unable to link their bodies around it, it was full of a kind of mysterious life energy. Inside the treetop, a spiritual glow was faintly stored.

Tian Lang directly took a look at the missions. Level 1 mission needed one to differentiate a hundred plant seeds behind the forest. Level 2 mission was to collect a hundred types of mushrooms from the mushroom forest.

Level 3 mission was to harvest a hundred red apples from the apple garden where Fanged Spiders and Spotted Tree Snakes resided. The Level 4 mission was to kill ten Pond Crocodiles in the Black Pond. Each Pond Crocodile was at least a Level 3 beast.

Tian Lang skipped those easy missions and looked at the last mission. Kill a single Hydra from the Demon’s Blood Pond. The reward was a thousand-year ‘Heart of Oak.’

It was unknown how many Hydras there were, but each of them was terrifying monsters that were Level 7 Bronze and above. With Yue Bing’s strength, Tian Lang wouldn’t get to fight against Hydras, so he had to separate for a short time.

When Yue Bing decided to complete the fourth mission, Tian Lang skipped to the Ancient Oak Tree before preparing for a grand nap. He even faked a loud yawn as he laid comfortably on the thick branch.

Yue Bing looked at the pup, both perplexed and dumbfounded. It called Tian Lang multiple times before finally deciding to quit. Since the pup wanted it to take inside the Star’s Domain, he shouldn’t run away.

Tian Lang lifted one eye-lid as he saw Yue Bing moving to complete the Level 4 Mission for ‘Heart of Oak.’

His muzzle spread side-to-side as he laughed sinisterly.

Hydra, be prepared.