Qiao Mei was stunned: "Just because of this?"
Ao Cang nodded, glanced at where he was now, and at the IV drip still inserted in the dragon's tail, struggling to shake it off.
"This must cost quite a bit of money, but I'm mostly fine now."
"Don't move!" Qiao Mei pressed down on his dragon tail, looking at Ao Cang with a slightly annoyed expression, her voice heavy with nasal congestion, "I am indeed very short of money right now, and making money is indeed very hard, but compared to that, you are the most important person to me, do you understand?"
If she had known from the beginning that he was putting himself through this to save her money, she would never have chosen to come here with Shang Duojin and use such an expensive machine, causing him so much commotion.
Seeing that she was angry, Ao Cang, who had originally planned to move his dragon tail again, obediently let her press it down. He mumbled an "Mm" and apologized to her again.
"I'm the one who should apologize."
Qiao Mei lay face down and nuzzled Ao Cang's head with the tip of her nose, her red eyes filled with frustration.
"If I were more capable or richer, something like this wouldn't have happened today."
But now that it has already happened, there's no point in the two of them shifting the blame back and forth.
Most importantly, we need to know how to handle a similar situation if it happens again.
Qiao Mei sorted out her thoughts and expressed them.
“I have never treated you as a mere familiar. To me, you and my mother are equally important. So if this happens again, I hope you won’t do it like you did today. We can earn money again, but if we lose our lives, we will have nothing left.”
She had gone through so much trouble and waited so long to get to him; she would never let him risk his life for such a ridiculous reason.
"Besides," Qiao Mei sighed, "Shang Duojin wouldn't actually charge me. We're friends now, and he's a huge fan of yours, so there's no need for us to..."
Ao Cang interrupted her, "I know, but you don't really want to owe anyone anything, which is why I did this, to make you feel less indebted."
Having long resided in the position of a deity, the Dragon God had observed the world and listened to countless people's hearts. He was quite adept at discerning people's true nature, and Qiao Mei could guess some of this. Therefore, after listening to what he said, she was only stunned for a moment before quickly understanding the reason.
Looking at the little black dragon with a serious expression in front of her, her anger, which had been simmering inside, had completely dissipated.
Both people were considering things from the other's perspective, so it's not a matter of who did right and who did wrong.
Once Qiao Mei understood this, she stopped dwelling on the matter and instead asked him how she could help him improve his defenses, and whether it was related to the number of scales he had.
Although she didn't know much about dragons, she did know something about snakes, and that the scales on their bodies were mainly for defense.
Ao Cang didn't hide it from her and admitted it.
"But at your current rate of making money, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to raise the defense rating before the Federal Academy entrance exam."
Qiao Mei continued to stroke Ao Cang's dragon back: "You don't need to worry about this. A C rating is more than enough. You forgot, if we want to pass the exam, we only need to survive at least two rounds of fighting with second-year students from the Federal Academy. Even if your defense is poor, your speed and attack are not bad."
"Not to mention, today is only the first day. We still have about half a month left for special training to see how to use speed and attack to make up for the weakness in defense."
Anyway, it's not like I'm going to participate in any competition where I absolutely have to win first place; I just need to barely pass.
After the conversation was over, by the time Shang Duojin returned, Qiao Mei and Ao Cang had both calmed down.
Although Shang Duojin didn't know what had happened, he was naturally happy for him to see that the Dragon God he admired had recovered well.
Before sending the comprehensive rating report he had generated for Qiao Mei and seeing them off, he also gave them a lot of expensive recovery fluid free of charge.
This time, Qiao Mei didn't mention giving him money. She only said that after she went to the Federal Academy, she would find a way to repay his kindness in another form.
Shang Duojin waved his hand dismissively: "Whatever, whatever. You should take Lord Ao Cang back to rest as soon as possible. After all, you'll need it to practice your familiar's superpowers tomorrow. If you don't let it recover quickly, it won't be good to start practicing."
Generally speaking, no-star sacred beast apprentices will only begin training their familiars' superpowers after conducting a comprehensive rating assessment.
Based on Qiao Mei's understanding of the original book's plot, as well as some books related to Awakened that she read after transmigrating into the book, in interstellar space, the proportion of superpowers of familiars is far greater than that of mechs and familiar beasts.
For mechs and their familiars, the familiars' superpowers are the source of their function and operation, much like the fuel that a spaceship needs to consume.
In the entrance exam, the scores for the familiar's superpowers account for 70% of the total score, and the remaining 30% is based on the familiar's abilities.
So Qiao Mei took Shang Duojin's advice and, after returning to the Seventh Palace with Ao Cang, before it was even dark, she carried him to bed and let him lie on her body to absorb the golden power of her wishes to heal his body.
As for herself, she was making the most of every minute to memorize the basic knowledge related to familiars and their superpowers.
In the evening, after answering a few high-value mech bounty questions, I started browsing popular Familiar Beast and Superpower Training videos on X site, planning to use them the next day.
Ao Cang nestled against Qiao Mei's chest, inhaling the faint rose scent emanating from her, while recovering from his injuries and secretly watching her with his dragon eyes half-open.
Even though my body was still in pain and discomfort, looking at her gave me a strange sense of healing.
The Dragon God couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped thinking about it and pressed his dragon head even closer to Qiao Mei's neck, stopping only when his hot breath hit her skin.
Qiao Mei noticed Ao Cang's unusual behavior. She glanced at him with her red eyes, then continued to gently stroke his dragon back as if stroking a cat's nape, and continued looking at the quantum brain bracelet.
A warm atmosphere filled the space between the two. Xu Hui, who had come in to deliver fruit, slowed her pace and swallowed back the words she had intended to say to Qiao Mei. Only after leaving Qiao Mei's room did she use her smart bracelet to send out what she wanted to say.
Qiao Mei saw the message from Xu Hui on her personal terminal and guessed before even opening it that she wanted to ask about Ao Cang's rating.
After considering the generous training resources the royal family could provide to Awakened Ones, Qiao Mei fluttered her eyelashes and didn't tell Xu Hui the truth. Instead, she lied and said that Ao Cang's overall rating was C.
Hsu Hui: [If you're C, tomorrow's supernatural training might be a bit tough. Do you need Mom to come with you? It's Saturday tomorrow, so Mom has the day off.]
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