Qiao Mei saw the disappointment and gloom in his eyes, and her heart ached.

When we first met, his eyes were full of confidence and composure, completely unlike now, where even the confidence of being chosen has vanished...

The girl lowered her eyes, feeling a pang of heartache. She stepped forward again, approaching him with an absolutely aggressive posture, forcing him to take a step back. Under his surprised expression, she said to him, "I came for this, but I also came to ask you for the power of my familiar."

“So…” Qiao Mei pushed the familiar stone in her hand forward a little more, almost touching Ao Cang’s dragon claw. The piety in her red eyes made Ao Cang’s heart tremble. “Dragon God, would you choose me?”

Ao Cang met her gaze, feeling the healing golden power of wishes still emanating from Qiao Mei, and recalling the powerful interstellar monsters of this era, he finally stretched out his dragon claw and touched the familiar stone in her hand.

“Very well, if this is what you wish for, then I will allow you to become my follower.”

He is also the only believer he has had in the past century.

Qiao Mei smiled and nodded. Her red eyes reflected the deep blue light that slowly filled the Familiar Stone. As her waist-length curly hair was shaken by the Familiar's power, her heart seemed to be filled at that moment.

How wonderful, she has finally seen her god again.

As the sensation of electricity coursing through her hands entered Qiao Mei's body, a wave of light, a mixture of black and dark blue, rippled out from the very center of the Five Sacred Beasts statue, drawing the attention of everyone outside the hall.

"What kind of sacred beast companion is that? I've never seen one before?"

"Wait, look closely! That wave of light contains black! Isn't that the mark of a Forsaken Beast? Someone actually chose a Forsaken Beast?!"

"Really? Are the people who chose the Holy Forsaken Beasts courting death?"

As the onlookers outside the Sacred Beast Hall discussed the matter, Qiao Mei, the protagonist of the topic, froze after her awakening, staring at the thing wrapped around her neck, too afraid to move.

The original book didn't mention what form Ao Cang would take after forming a bond with a human, but she guessed it would be a miniature black dragon, not this... black snake-like thing!!

The dragon horns and wings that were wrapped around her neck were gone, and only the missing or incomplete scales on its body could still tell that it was the same giant dragon as before.

Fortunately, his body wasn't cold, but warm. When the dragon scales touched her neck, she could even feel his heartbeat.

Qiao Mei breathed a sigh of relief, her chest filled with an indescribable joy once again.

After all, her god was not only bound to her, but had also had such close contact with her...

The girl remained stunned for about three minutes before the machines in the arena detected the energy fluctuations within the awakening domain and issued a report.

[Awakener No. 47, Qiao Mei, has successfully received a response from the Forsaken Beast Dragon God and awakened her Thunder Familiar. Please take your Forsaken Beast clone to the registration office as soon as possible after leaving the Awakening Domain.]

The mechanical voice that rang in her ears brought Qiao Mei back to her senses, her eyes sparkling with two pink hearts.

She quickly composed herself, stepped out of the Sacred Abandoned Beast Domain and headed straight for the registration office, completely ignoring the words "Sacred Abandoned Beast Avatar" mentioned in the announcement, and thus failing to notice that the spot where Ao Cang's enormous dragon body had been lying was now empty.

......

"Congratulations on your successful awakening. Next, we need to take photos of you and your familiar beast, and you also need to fill in the name you gave your familiar beast."

Qiao Mei wrote down the two characters "Ao Cang" with her pen, which made Ao Cang pause for a moment.

As far as he knew, familiars were given names they liked by their owners, just like pets. Why was she...?

While the Dragon God was puzzled, Qiao Mei was also guided by the staff to take photos with her familiar beasts.

She tidied her appearance several times, looking as solemn as if she were taking wedding photos. Then, when the camera was pointed at her and Ao Cang, she quietly moved her head closer to Ao Cang's dragon head, her selfish intentions clearly visible in her red eyes.

Ao Cang sensed her intention and, after hesitating for a moment, brought the dragon head closer.

He thought, after all, she is his only believer. What if he upsets her and she doesn't want him anymore?

Qiao Mei was unaware of his thoughts. When she noticed Ao Cang approaching, she was first taken aback, then, with her bright red eyes, she pressed her face against his.

And so, the photo turned out like this—a red-eyed girl with long curly hair pressed her face against the head of the little black dragon on the right, smiling radiantly, while the little black dragon looked a little shy and looked away.

After all the procedures were completed, when Qiao Mei came out of the Sacred Beast Hall, the sun, which had been hidden by clouds, was now fully visible. The sunlight was just right, warming people, as if celebrating her and Ao Cang's new life.

"Xiao Mei, over here."

Xu Hui found Qiao Mei, grabbed her arm to shield her from the strange stares coming from all directions, then looked at the little black dragon wrapped around her neck with a complicated expression and led her to a less crowded place.

She took a deep breath and asked Qiao Mei, quite puzzled:

"Why did you choose it? Didn't Mom tell you that if it didn't agree to help you get rid of the death energy, you should come out first, and Mom would figure out a solution with you? Why did you just tie yourself to it and waste your last awakening opportunity? Luckily, I still have some connections; maybe I can try to find another familiar..."

Qiao Mei covered Ao Cang's dragon head with her right hand, not wanting him to hear these words, and interrupted Xu Hui by firmly shaking her head: "No need, I think he's fine, and I won't let him die."

"You!!" Xu Hui's temples throbbed with anger as she looked at Qiao Mei's stubbornness, which was no different from before when she mindlessly chased after Xu Heyu.

But she quickly composed herself, forced herself to calm down, and began to advise Qiao Mei:

"This is not like your previous pursuit of Xu Heyu. In the history of interstellar space, there has never been a precedent of a Sacred Forsaken Beast successfully transforming into a Sacred Beast. If it dies, you will at least suffer brain death, or worse, die with it. Have you thought about what your mother will do after something happens to you?"

Ao Cang also clearly heard these words. He suddenly stopped absorbing Qiao Mei's power of will, and the dragon body that was tightly wrapped around her neck loosened a lot.

It's as if they were already prepared to be abandoned.

But the next moment, his dragon body was pulled tighter and pressed against the girl's neck again in a tightly wrapped position.

He felt a vibration of his vocal cords strike his dragon body, and then strike his heart.

“If there’s no precedent, then I’ll break it. I won’t let you face that situation, Mother. There’s no need to say more. I won’t change my mind.”

As Qiao Mei spoke, she looked at Ao Cang's dragon body, which was missing many of its scales, with heartache:

Instead of dwelling on this, let me take him to the family member testing station to check his condition so that I can help him treat his injuries later.