"Careful now. It's still a monster. However ridiculous it looks, it's not something we can deal with on our own."
"Chill, I have my familiar with me..."
Boom!
Something heavy fell to the ground, followed by Goldie's angry quacking and someone's dog yelping.
"Brother Chai, you all right?"
"I'm all right. Help me up, quick. The duck tried to kick me! Thank god I moved out of the way in time."
"Li Xiao, quick, get that duck under control with your familiar."
"Not interested. You guys picked on it first. Let's just go get breakfast. Why are we even trying to pick a fight with a duck in the first place, anyway?" said a voice with a heavy Yuzhou accent.
When Gao Peng finally made his way across the flower bed, he saw the peculiar sight of a yellow duck riding on a Snow Lion Mastiff's back, giving it the thrashing of its life.
It was a Level-19 Excellent-grade Snow Lion Mastiff.
Even without triggering Goldie's passive ability, the Snow Lion Mastiff wasn't a match for the duck, simply in terms of pure physical strength.
Even a Commander-tier monster would have been beaten within an inch of its life by the Level-16 Goldie if the fight continued any longer.
Goldie was furious, extremely furious.
It had always thought of itself as a typical Adamantine Duck.
However, Goldie had grown insecure after losing its yellow feathers.
Any self-respecting duck would never allow itself to be stripped of its feathers. They were, after all, an essential part of its identity. Only ducks stuffed inside the freezer could go without their feathers.
After much fervent pleading, Goldie had finally managed to convince Ji Hanwu to have a yellow feather coat made for it.
When it put on the feather coat, Goldie felt glamorous, as if it had regained its feathers.
While it had been playing by itself, it had suddenly spotted a black, juicy-looking beetle in the grass.
As it had chased after the beetle in the flower bed, a huge foot had come out of nowhere and stomped on it.
Not at all fazed by this, Goldie had simply waited for the foot to move out of the way so that it could feast on whatever remained of its prey.
However, the group of people who had come to a halt before Goldie had suddenly pulled off its coat!
"Mine! It's mine!" Goldie quacked angrily. It had begun beating the Snow Lion Mastiff until its face was all red. Tufts of fur had fallen off it as well.
No one had believed what they were seeing. Chai Guangming had been especially shocked by this, as the Snow Lion Mastiff that was being beaten to a pulp by the yellow duck was his familiar.
"Stop, you filthy duck!" shouted Guangming.
Goldie shot him a dirty look from the corner of its eye. You're the one who took my coat. Don't worry, you'll get yours once I'm done with this.
"Quack!" Goldie sharply swung its head down and struck its beak hard on the mastiff's head, knocking it out instantly.
Goldie then menacingly waddled towards Chai Guangming, its naked body rippling with muscles.
Its webbed feet made crunching sounds on the ground with each step it took.
"All right, show some mercy, duck. I'll tell him to give you back your coat." said Li Xiao, who was wearing an oversized white t-shirt.
"Does the duck look like the merciful kind? Goldie, beat him up," said Gao Peng coldly. He had stepped out of the flower bed and was now hatefully looking at Chai Guangming, who was still holding onto Goldie's coat. Gao Peng was able to grasp what was going on through his Blood Contract with Goldie.
Only he himself was allowed to tease his familiars. The guy named Chai Guangming had absolutely no right to take Goldie's coat from it and then mock its appearance like that.
Then there was the other guy in the white t-shirt. He had done absolutely nothing to help Goldie. What right did he have to order Goldie around?
"Gao Peng?" Everyone's faces froze. They all recognized him.
Ever since what had happened last time, lots of people in the university had looked into Gao Peng's background and were now aware of who he was.
"We didn't know it was your familiar..." Li Xiao tried to explain.
"I didn't know it was all right to bully familiars that aren't yours," said Gao Peng coldly.
He noticed Li Xiao's familiar, a 10-foot-long lizard, standing behind him. Its limbs were long and slender, its eyes bright, and there was a crown of red jewels on its head.
[Monster Name]: Red Jewel Lizard King
[Monster Level]: Level 21 (Commander-tier)
[Monster Grade]: Excellent
[Monster Attribute]: Wood/Poison
[Monster Weakness]: 1. Fire 2. Gold
"I'll call us even if you let your lizard fight my duck," said Gao Peng.
"Ah?" The others looked at each other, then looked at Goldie. Could this duck really be a Commander-tier familiar?
Lord-tier monsters could be identified by a glow around them, while monsters below Lord-tier could only be recognized by their auras.
Monster trainers usually had to rely on their monsters' more acute senses to understand the strengths and weaknesses of other monsters.
"Master, I'm getting a strange vibe from the duck. However, I don't think it's a Commander-tier monster," the Red Jewel Lizard King said to Li Xiao.
Li Xiao felt more reassured by this.
However, he feared that Gao Peng would hold it against him if his duck lost to his lizard. Li Xiao wasn't so confident about taking on the challenge.
If he won the fight, he would probably incur Gao Peng's wrath. If he lost, he would have to live with the shame of having a Commander-tier monster that had lost to a duck.
After much thinking, Li Xiao came to a decision. "No, I won't fight."
He then said to the other two, "This had nothing to do with me. I tried to tell you guys not to mess with the duck. Fix your own problems. I'm going to get breakfast." Then Li Xiao walked away with his familiar.
After watching Li Xiao walk away, the other two looked at each other and apologized to Goldie as they gave it back its coat.
"Quack!" Goldie grumpily quacked at them. It then lifted its wings up, letting the humans before it know that they had its permission to put its coat back on it.
A strange thought occurred to Gao Peng. Why do I feel like I'm the bully here? Goldie's the one who was being bullied by them.