[Dumbo]
[Breed: Mutated Sichuan wolfdog]
[Ability: Fire manipulation, water manipulation, gold manipulation]
[Rank: five-pinnacle]
Dumbo’s data appeared before Jiang He’s eyes.
“Gold manipulation? It gained another power?”
Jiang He was rather surprised—Dumbo had awakened its fire-type powers on its own, and gained water-type powers after eating the grass growing over that B-class water-type Sky Demon Cultist.
And now, after planting the dog, it actually awakened a third power.
Moreover, as a feral, it had risen from rank-four to rank-five pinnacle, although Jiang He expected that and it was not too outrageous in the first place.
Still, its new breed was quite interesting.
Reasonably speaking, all evolved Ferals had mutated anyway, and most mutations were actually quite normal. On the other hand, specimens like Trumbo which grew three tails was one of the more unique of mutations.
And then there was that horned boar, a rank-eight Feral under Pain Star’s control.
Was it not unusual for a boar to grow a horn?
The Nine-Headed Serpent must be one of the special mutants too.
“That being said…”
Jiang He circled Dumbo in The Thinker’s pose, musing to himself, “Dumbo did not really change at all aside from getting brighter further. How did he even mutate?”
1
Then, when Jiang He arrived behind Dumbo, the dog which had been standing on its rear legs… tightened its butt by reflex!
It crossed its legs and used its front paws to cover its buttocks.
Even Trumbo’s jet-black pupils showed confusion… why did it feel like its bro was being nervous?
At the same time, Jiang He was blue with shock and had an impulse to kick the dog.
What was the little beast thinking?
Kicking Dumbo and the butt, Jiang He scolded it, “God damn it! What do you take me for?!”
Yip!
Dumbo rolled a dozen meters away, landing and rolling on the ground, its canine eyes distant and questioning the meaning of its life.
On the other hand, Trumbo’s eyes were twinkling.
Bro Dog was so clever!
It had anticipated Master’s kick… although, how did Bro Dog know that Master would kick it?
Jiang He walked up to the dog then—Dumbo, who was lying down as if it had no regrets in life, promptly clutched its head, calling out, “Woof woof… don’t hit me, don’t hit me. Master, stop hitting me, or I’ll die!”
“…”
Jiang He did a double take, the look on his face stiffening.
Dumbo kept begging for mercy fluently in Xibei accent, and when Jiang He listened carefully, it actually had some Sichuan styles too.
“It’s a Sichuan wolfdog and grew up in Xibei, which makes sense that it has some extent of Sichuan accent… hold on, why am I thinking about such stuff? Most importantly… this little rascal could talk?”
Jiang He was rather stunned.
While he had suspected before that Dumbo was highly intelligent and might speak human language one day, he did not expect him to talk so early.
After all, only rank-seven Ferals were capable of spirit speech, and only Feral Kings, Ferals rank nine or above was capable of human speech…
But Dumbo, a rank-five pinnacle was already talking?
Composing himself, Jiang He asked, “You can talk now?”
“Woof-woof… Master, I don’t know, I was asleep for a while… and I could talk afterwards.”
Jiang He understood then.
That… might have been thanks to Mysterious Soil.
As for the sleep?
Jiang He chuckled. “You weren’t sleeping. Someone killed you with a single slash, and it took me a lot to revive you. Oh, and do you have any special powers now?”
“Special powers?”
Dumbo tilted its head in thought. “Woof-woof… Master, I’ll show you a magic trick. Look…”
It poked its head out.
And then…
Woof!
As it abruptly gaped its maw and bellowed, Dumbo’s body rapidly expanded. Crunching sounds echoed from its neck, and both sides of its neck split apart, before two more dog heads grew out.
Jiang He did a double take.
What on earth was that?
Transforming on will? And three heads too…
A name came to Jiang He’s mind then: Cerberus.
It was said to be a dog guarding the netherworld and it had three heads, each of them having gaping maws full of razor-sharp teeth. Its tail was a snake, and its fur were actually vipers coiled into themselves—because its body was ablaze with nether flames, which was why nothing left in its wake would survive.
In other words, it was absolutely terrifying.
And yet, Dumbo’s appearance was clearly different.
Right now, the three dog heads were trying their best to bare their teeth and put on their mean faces, but no matter how they tried, they looked to Jiang He rather adorably silly.
And the three dog heads had distinctly different noses too.
The dog head in the middle had a scarlet nose, whereas the left one had a black nose and the right a golden nose, which was sparkling rather blindingly under the sun.
“Master, don’t I look cool?”
The golden-nosed dog head spoke with its Sichuan-Xibei accent then, its dog eyes twinkling.
But before Jiang He could say a thing, the dog head with a black nose showed a look of disdain. Chuckling coolly, it then barked, “You fool. You look no different from a hammer—what’s cool about you?”
Furious, the golden-nosed dog head snorted. “Speak for yourself. Your nose is as black as a piece of dung, and you would still insult me?”
“Woof!”
“Woof-woof-woof!!”
“Woof-woof-woof-woof-woof ~~~”
The two dog heads barked away as if they could not wait to tear each other apart, with the red-nosed head caught in the middle, almost losing its mind from the two other head’s barking.
“Okay, okay, let’s calm down for the moment. We’re all the same dog sharing the same body. Why so serious?”
Still, after seeing trying for a while but still failing in its persuasion, it promptly roared in rage, “Shut the hell up! Now get back inside!”
With that, three heads become one.
Through it all, Jiang He was left gaping.
Did they almost fight?
Three dog heads, three different minds, split personality… no, split dog-nality?
Soon, Dumbo was back to its usual look and beaming, “Master, isn’t my power quite awesome?”
Jiang He came to his senses then and quietly gave a thumb-up. Leaving aside the split dog-nality, when Dumbo transformed, its body expanded and its aura rapidly strengthened up to three times.
Moreover, Jiang He suspected that the three heads with different hued noses definitely represented its three different powers.
Meow~~~
Suddenly.
A sharp purring could be heard then. Jiang He turned around to find Trumbo had put itself in a hole it had dug some time before, with only its head poking out of the ground.
Those eyes… it was clearly saying, ‘Master, hurry up—kill me and bury me. I want to become like that too.”
Jiang He chuckled. “I’m not planting anything twice. I’m burying you for real if I do.”
Trumbo shrieked in fright and climbed out of the dirt in disappointment.
1
Jiang He’s eyes twinkled then, and he turned towards another direction.
Only then did he notice that the mansion model he planted… actually sprouted!
[Dumbo]
[Breed: Mutated Sichuan wolfdog]
[Ability: Fire manipulation, water manipulation, gold manipulation]
[Rank: five-pinnacle]
Dumbo’s data appeared before Jiang He’s eyes.
“Gold manipulation? It gained another power?”
Jiang He was rather surprised—Dumbo had awakened its fire-type powers on its own, and gained water-type powers after eating the grass growing over that B-class water-type Sky Demon Cultist.
And now, after planting the dog, it actually awakened a third power.
Moreover, as a feral, it had risen from rank-four to rank-five pinnacle, although Jiang He expected that and it was not too outrageous in the first place.
Still, its new breed was quite interesting.
Reasonably speaking, all evolved Ferals had mutated anyway, and most mutations were actually quite normal. On the other hand, specimens like Trumbo which grew three tails was one of the more unique of mutations.
And then there was that horned boar, a rank-eight Feral under Pain Star’s control.
Was it not unusual for a boar to grow a horn?
The Nine-Headed Serpent must be one of the special mutants too.
“That being said…”
Jiang He circled Dumbo in The Thinker’s pose, musing to himself, “Dumbo did not really change at all aside from getting brighter further. How did he even mutate?”
1
Then, when Jiang He arrived behind Dumbo, the dog which had been standing on its rear legs… tightened its butt by reflex!
It crossed its legs and used its front paws to cover its buttocks.
Even Trumbo’s jet-black pupils showed confusion… why did it feel like its bro was being nervous?
At the same time, Jiang He was blue with shock and had an impulse to kick the dog.
What was the little beast thinking?
Kicking Dumbo and the butt, Jiang He scolded it, “God damn it! What do you take me for?!”
Yip!
Dumbo rolled a dozen meters away, landing and rolling on the ground, its canine eyes distant and questioning the meaning of its life.
On the other hand, Trumbo’s eyes were twinkling.
Bro Dog was so clever!
It had anticipated Master’s kick… although, how did Bro Dog know that Master would kick it?
Jiang He walked up to the dog then—Dumbo, who was lying down as if it had no regrets in life, promptly clutched its head, calling out, “Woof woof… don’t hit me, don’t hit me. Master, stop hitting me, or I’ll die!”
“…”
Jiang He did a double take, the look on his face stiffening.
Dumbo kept begging for mercy fluently in Xibei accent, and when Jiang He listened carefully, it actually had some Sichuan styles too.
“It’s a Sichuan wolfdog and grew up in Xibei, which makes sense that it has some extent of Sichuan accent… hold on, why am I thinking about such stuff? Most importantly… this little rascal could talk?”
Jiang He was rather stunned.
While he had suspected before that Dumbo was highly intelligent and might speak human language one day, he did not expect him to talk so early.
After all, only rank-seven Ferals were capable of spirit speech, and only Feral Kings, Ferals rank nine or above was capable of human speech…
But Dumbo, a rank-five pinnacle was already talking?
Composing himself, Jiang He asked, “You can talk now?”
“Woof-woof… Master, I don’t know, I was asleep for a while… and I could talk afterwards.”
Jiang He understood then.
That… might have been thanks to Mysterious Soil.
As for the sleep?
Jiang He chuckled. “You weren’t sleeping. Someone killed you with a single slash, and it took me a lot to revive you. Oh, and do you have any special powers now?”
“Special powers?”
Dumbo tilted its head in thought. “Woof-woof… Master, I’ll show you a magic trick. Look…”
It poked its head out.
And then…
Woof!
As it abruptly gaped its maw and bellowed, Dumbo’s body rapidly expanded. Crunching sounds echoed from its neck, and both sides of its neck split apart, before two more dog heads grew out.
Jiang He did a double take.
What on earth was that?
Transforming on will? And three heads too…
A name came to Jiang He’s mind then: Cerberus.
It was said to be a dog guarding the netherworld and it had three heads, each of them having gaping maws full of razor-sharp teeth. Its tail was a snake, and its fur were actually vipers coiled into themselves—because its body was ablaze with nether flames, which was why nothing left in its wake would survive.
In other words, it was absolutely terrifying.
And yet, Dumbo’s appearance was clearly different.
Right now, the three dog heads were trying their best to bare their teeth and put on their mean faces, but no matter how they tried, they looked to Jiang He rather adorably silly.
And the three dog heads had distinctly different noses too.
The dog head in the middle had a scarlet nose, whereas the left one had a black nose and the right a golden nose, which was sparkling rather blindingly under the sun.
“Master, don’t I look cool?”
The golden-nosed dog head spoke with its Sichuan-Xibei accent then, its dog eyes twinkling.
But before Jiang He could say a thing, the dog head with a black nose showed a look of disdain. Chuckling coolly, it then barked, “You fool. You look no different from a hammer—what’s cool about you?”
Furious, the golden-nosed dog head snorted. “Speak for yourself. Your nose is as black as a piece of dung, and you would still insult me?”
“Woof!”
“Woof-woof-woof!!”
“Woof-woof-woof-woof-woof ~~~”
The two dog heads barked away as if they could not wait to tear each other apart, with the red-nosed head caught in the middle, almost losing its mind from the two other head’s barking.
“Okay, okay, let’s calm down for the moment. We’re all the same dog sharing the same body. Why so serious?”
Still, after seeing trying for a while but still failing in its persuasion, it promptly roared in rage, “Shut the hell up! Now get back inside!”
With that, three heads become one.
Through it all, Jiang He was left gaping.
Did they almost fight?
Three dog heads, three different minds, split personality… no, split dog-nality?
Soon, Dumbo was back to its usual look and beaming, “Master, isn’t my power quite awesome?”
Jiang He came to his senses then and quietly gave a thumb-up. Leaving aside the split dog-nality, when Dumbo transformed, its body expanded and its aura rapidly strengthened up to three times.
Moreover, Jiang He suspected that the three heads with different hued noses definitely represented its three different powers.
Meow~~~
Suddenly.
A sharp purring could be heard then. Jiang He turned around to find Trumbo had put itself in a hole it had dug some time before, with only its head poking out of the ground.
Those eyes… it was clearly saying, ‘Master, hurry up—kill me and bury me. I want to become like that too.”
Jiang He chuckled. “I’m not planting anything twice. I’m burying you for real if I do.”
Trumbo shrieked in fright and climbed out of the dirt in disappointment.
1
Jiang He’s eyes twinkled then, and he turned towards another direction.
Only then did he notice that the mansion model he planted… actually sprouted!
