Cost-performance ratio not high. But once strength increases, they don't care anymore.
Beast Tamers always pursue the quality of their pet beasts!
Asher looked at the Cat-Worm.
Cat-Worm: *Fur standing*
"Meow!"
"Meow!"
"Meow! Meow!"
'Damn it!'
'What does this Beast Tamer's gaze mean?'
'Is he looking down on this dragon for not being strong enough?'
'Is this this dragon's fault?'
'Saying it like this dragon doesn't want to quickly evolve into a mighty and imposing form.'
Asher: "..."
Hearing and understanding what the Cat-Worm was angrily saying while hopping up and down, Asher silently looked away.
He didn't mean that.
Definitely not, the Cat-Worm was just overthinking.
However, in his heart, Asher also had a little bit of shallow expectation.
'If this folded space really has benefits for the pet beasts at home... which one is more likely?'
Asher first eliminated Little Raven.
The reason being the three-legged golden crow in the Red Soil Secret Realm probably won't appear again.
The remaining ones were Cat-Worm, Little White Snake, Little Jellyfish, and Angel.
After thinking a bit, Asher decided to eliminate Angel too.
After all, Angel already had its own exclusive evolution path.
A mere folded space?
What transformation could it bring to Angel?
Asher felt the possibility was low.
So in the end, the range was limited to Cat-Worm, Little White Snake, and Little Jellyfish.
One out of three.
All seemed possible.
Asher didn't dare to be sure.
But if he could choose... Asher really hoped it would be Cat-Worm.
"Mountains and such... it feels like there's a tiny bit of overlapping elements with the birthplace of Cat-Worm, maybe that's it?", Asher stroked his chin and muttered to himself softly.
Though still uncertain for now, he could imagine a little.
"What are you mumbling about, Professor Asher?", Freya, who had already climbed onto the back of Lightyear Dragon Rider, turned her head and saw Asher seemingly standing in place muttering something.
She quickly shouted loudly in Asher's direction.
Asher snapped out of it, "Coming now."
'No rush, I'll know once we get there.'
Asher followed and sat on the back of the Lightyear Dragon Rider.
Then Asher saw Freya tightly grabbing the protruding part on the back of the Lightyear Dragon Rider.
Asher: "?"
'What is she doing?'
Before Asher could react, the Lightyear Dragon Rider suddenly accelerated and took off.
Asher: "!"
Asher was shocked.
Asher's body almost tilted backward violently, nearly falling directly off the back of the Lightyear Dragon Rider.
Fortunately, Asher reacted in time and copied Freya's action to tightly grab the protruding part on the Lightyear Dragon Rider's back, barely stabilizing his body.
"Wahoo!"
"Take off!"
At that moment, the excited shout of Prince came from the front.
Asher finally understood what was going on: "..."
Asher revealed a dead-fish-eyed expression.
"No... wasn't he always like this?", Asher, facing the wind with difficulty, turned his head to look at Freya beside him, his painful expression showing some confusion.
Yes, confusion. This wasn't Asher's first time traveling on the Lightyear Dragon Rider. Naturally, he knew, the Lightyear Dragon Rider could condense a solid windproof shield, allowing the humans riding on its back to not feel a trace of strong wind.
But this windproof shield required the Lightyear Dragon Rider to use some mental effort to maintain, which would somewhat affect its speed.
Even so, the speed of the Lightyear Dragon Rider among all the flying pet beasts was still top-tier.
Almost no pet beasts could keep up with its speed.
However...
This windproof shield is way too shabby.
It's like it was casually tossed out.
The main feature is: as long as you don't get blown off, it's fine.
Freya's pained expression was no less than Asher's, "Yeah, he's always been like this, feels ridiculous, right?"
"Then let me tell you, there will be even more ridiculous things in the future."
Freya's tone became very dreamlike.
Asher: "..."
He could feel Freya's inner despair.
Yet standing on the head of the Lightyear Dragon Rider, Prince didn't feel a single bit of Asher and Freya's emotions at that moment.
He was happily waving both hands, his feet stuck to the back of the Lightyear Dragon Rider like glued with 502 super glue, not affected at all.
Asher: "I guess that's a skill of sorts."
Looking at Prince's back, Asher couldn't help murmuring.
"But honestly, not having this skill might be better... urgh...," Freya, who had not only ridden flying pet beasts many times but even owned a Flame Dragon herself, still couldn't hold it anymore and showed a desperate expression.
Didn't throw up.
But not happy at all.
"Damn it!"
"Why is the Lightyear Dragon Rider so fast?"
"If not, I could've ridden my own Flame Dragon. The flying experience would've been way better!"
Freya, facing the wind slicing her face like knives, shouted and cursed, her voice intertwining with Prince's excited shouting. Asher even felt there was a bit of focus-enhancing effect.
Asher sat cross-legged on the Lightyear Dragon Rider's back, his eyes gradually becoming vacant.
"Hahaha!", Prince's loud laughter kept coming from the front, "Faster! Go even faster! Good buddy, I know you can do it!"
"Charge!"
"Our journey officially begins!"
The Lightyear Dragon Rider sensed the intent and thoughts from its Beast Tamer and accelerated again.
Since Asher was sitting cross-legged, no matter the wind from east, west, south, or north, he remained unmoved.
Freya, who was swearing just now, had worse luck. A gust of cold wind blew directly into her face.
"Cough... cough cough cough... cough cough," Freya coughed violently, as if trying to cough her lungs out.
"Prince you lunatic! Will you die if you go slower?", Freya finally couldn't hold back and kept cursing at Prince's back.
Prince: "A man can't be called slow!"
"You idiot! It's 'a man can't be called fast!'"
"Same difference!"
"Bullshit!"
Asher: —_—
Very fitting.
He truly felt that these Beast Tamers of the Alliance were all very suited to pair up and debut as comedy talk show duos. With a bit of training, they'd definitely go viral.
Asher didn't know how much time had passed... probably not long.
After all, the speed of the Lightyear Dragon Rider was so fast that the scenery below had turned into blurry streaks in Asher's eyes.
The Lightyear Dragon Rider began its dive, descent. When its feet finally touched the ground—
Gulu~ Gulu~
A figure rolled off the back of the Lightyear Dragon Rider.
Asher specifically looked over to confirm.
'Oh, not me. It is Freya.'
"(CENSORED DUE TO HEAVT PROFANITY)", Freya struggled hard, barely avoiding falling to the ground like a salted fish, raising a cloud of dust.
Barely maintaining her image as the Alliance's goddess.
Asher: "..."
This idol baggage was kinda heavy.
Just as he thought that, Asher locked eyes with someone below.
Asher fell into thought.
'Looks a bit familiar?'
"Asher?" The person below who looked somewhat familiar to Asher also recognized him. He looked surprised and couldn't help calling out Asher's name.
Asher's eyes still looked a bit dazed.
'Huh?'
'Who's this?'
'Why does this person know me?'
His brain was dizzy, still not fully responsive, and Asher felt he couldn't think clearly.
"You...", Asher opened his mouth, seemingly trying to call the other person's name, but the name felt stuck on the tip of his tongue and wouldn't come out.
Person below: "..."
Fists clenched.
But seeing the Lightyear Dragon Rider, and Freya who almost rolled off it, and the blank-faced Asher, and finally the big dumb brother on the dragon's head with a manic smile, Felter felt he couldn't get mad.
'Not calling out my name right away isn't Asher's fault, this is clearly the big dumb brother's fault.'
'Yes!'
'That's exactly it!'
"It's me, Felter, remember?", Felter held back his temper and said his name, trying to sound as calm as possible.
Felter didn't think he was wrong at all.
But the next second, Felter felt a surprised and shocked gaze on him.
Felter: "..."
No need to turn his head, he already knew where that look came from.
Where else? Of course from their old man.
Prince and Felter's father—Hank.
A badass who dared to go gold-digging alone in his youth.
After all, gold-digging was high-risk, high-reward.
To retire safely, one needed strength, intelligence, emotional intelligence, and smooth social skills.
Most important of all: knowing when to quit.
Quitting at the right time so you don't get stuck for life.
Otherwise, you might die one day without knowing how.
Old Hank felt he was very wise in life.
Once he earned enough, he quit.
Married his long-time childhood sweetheart, lived happily ever after.
Later, had two excellent children who awakened Beast Tamer talent and became very strong.
To outsiders, Old Hank was the ultimate life winner.
Only Old Hank didn't think so.
He had no personal regrets, wife, kids, warm bed. All satisfied.
But these two kids... Old Hank felt they were born to torment him. One by one.
Didn't inherit his emotional intelligence, fine.
But each had this stubborn streak. One harder-headed than the next.
Old Hank, already an old man, still had to be troubled by these two.
He'd reflected many times: 'Why did I have such little monsters? And two of them?'
'Oh, second one was unplanned(mistake).'
'If anything, wanted a soft little daughter.'
'But life is unpredictable. Who knew...', Thinking of this, Old Hank sighed.
Then stared even harder at Felter.
Others might not see it, but Old Hank knew his sons inside and out.
One more stubborn than the other.
One more emotionally clueless than the other.
The eldest fell for a girl and couldn't win her.
Old Hank wasn't surprised.
That's just the kind of eternal-single fate his son deserved.
The younger one? Even more stubborn. Always away from home. If not for this folded space event, he wouldn't have come back during vacation.
Old Hank didn't know what to say anymore.
Now, facing someone who clearly forgot the younger son's name, the son didn't get mad. Even repeated his name patiently.
Old Hank: 'Something fishy! There's something fishy here!'
Old Hank looked Asher up and down.
At the same time, he felt a little regret.
'Sigh, obviously a young man.'
'The possibility of "girl disguised as boy" also ruled out.'
'Seems the younger son's eternal-single fate can't be escaped either.'
Asher: "..."
Don't know why, but Asher shivered instinctively, then finally snapped out of that dizzy, airsick-like state.
With Lightyear Dragon Rider's help, Asher jumped down from its back.
"Felter... Brother Sterling is your brother?", Asher looked at him, they had met once before.
'Truly just once,' Felter then turned to look at Prince not far away, still standing on the dragon's head, seemingly bonding with the Lightyear Dragon Rider.
Asher showed a face of sudden realization.
The Sterling surname wasn't common.
Asher hadn't connected them before because he really wasn't familiar with Felter.
Meeting again, Asher realized, the slight familiarity when he saw Prince earlier wasn't without reason.
"Hmm," Felter tried to nod gracefully, but looking at Asher, who suddenly showed up with his big brother, he couldn't hold back his curiosity.
In a few quick steps, he came to Asher's side, blinked, and whispered, "Why are you here?"
"You... never mind, you probably know Brother Sterling came to find Mr. Clyde, right?", Asher looked at Felter, then at Prince not far off. That title still felt a bit awkward to him.
The words circled in his mouth twice, and in the end, Asher still chose a form of address he was more used to.
Felter silently typed out a question mark.
'Brother Sterling?'
'Mr. Clyde?'
'Isn't it? Are these two being addressed by Asher in a way that messes up the generational hierarchy?'
'And why does Asher call my brother "brother"?'
It's not that Felter is jealous.
Felter looked at Asher, and couldn't help but think, 'If calculated like this, do I also have some sort of relationship with Asher?
If only I can have an older brother or a younger brother like Asher…'
Felter gave Asher a deep look.
Then glanced at Old Hank not far away.
Asher: "?"
Old Hank: "..."
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y