210 Pet Rune

"At first, I tried to convince it to work together, so we have a much higher survival rate and, obviously, I failed. Then since I can't convince it, I only had to make it submit to me—which answers your question whether I have the ability to control it."

After the cloaked woman's speech, Emman took a step forward wanting to argue that she doesn't look strong but as if noticing his intention, the woman's arm glided towards the right indicating that her mutated dog was strong.

Emman stepped back and kept his mouth shut. Then as if feeling familiar with the cloaked woman, he asked her a simple question. "Have we met before?"

It was a simple question and totally innocent, but for the four girls nearby—it was an already outdated saying when trying to flirt with someone.

The cloaked woman felt weirded out and looked to his friends. Her eyes then glinted when she saw Anna holding a bow. After pondering for a few seconds, she answered, "I think so? Weren't you guys also defending against the horde of carriers last time? I think I saw her from a distance."

"Me?" Anna pointed a finger at herself a bit surprised.

"Yes, you. You're the only one who had excellent marksmanship among those people, so it's hard to get it wrong."

"Oh, thank you. I'm just lucky that I joined the archery club prior to this. If it weren't for that I would still be nothing."

"What? No, you're not. You'd still be a beauty. Besides, even if you didn't learn archery, you would still live like a princess since your brother is the town leader, right? It must be good playing around everyday—doing nothing, worrying about nothing. Haa... what a life that is."

Anna frowned upon hearing what the cloaked woman said. Erin and Emman felt worried whether the woman was good or not and stood in front of Anna.

Noticing the weird expressions of the group in front of her, the cloaked woman pursed her lips then chuckled. "Oopsie. I didn't mean to sound weird but I guess things came out weird for you guys. It's already common knowledge that you are Jun's little sister. He even shouted that himself, right?"

"You don't have to worry, I have no intention of hurting you guys—especially when it's your brother who gave me food when in desperate times. It's even a wonder why he doesn't recognize me! Maybe it's my appearance at that time... Well, now that safety's out of the way, let's continue with the trade, shall we? I'm just here for the cat and nothing else."

Emman turned around and looked at Anna then stated his views. "I think she's trouble. Should we really give the cat to her?"

"I think so too..." Erin turned around and added.

For the first time, she agreed with what Emman was saying.

"We have no choice. Her dogs three-meter tall and I don't know what skill Takaw used but its probably on cooldown. We don't even know whether he can use it again since we don't know if he can activate it or it just happens on its own. Even then, we have no assurance that we would win if we combined everyone's strength. Look at the fur, look at its muscles—we can't fight that mutated dog with just us."

The two immediately understood the situation that they were in. They even understood why the other person chatted nonstop even though she didn't have to. Chills went up to their spine when the thought that if it weren't for Anna being here, the girl would have probably done what she wanted with them.

Even though the other person was speaking casually with them, she was just being polite to Anna or something.

Emman and Erin faced forward while stepping to the side. Anna took a step forward and said, "What will you use the cat for when you already have the dog?"

"Isn't that obvious? For protection! I'm quite frail you know because of that sh*tty stat distribution. Well, I don't regret it, just disappointed that there's not much power essence around. Even if some stupid agent group sold some it would be gone in a second. I wish we had an online auction house, so things could be bought even when people are away. Should I do it? But it's troublesome... I'm sorry for talking too much, it becomes a habit to talk to myself, so I don't think about the past. You don't want the money, right? Okay then, thank you~ bye~"

The cloaked woman snapped her fingers and her pet dog bit the nape of the cat. The mutated cat didn't even struggle since it knew that it couldn't do anything. In the first place, it was able to escape due to the urban advantage it got earlier in the day. Now that there were no houses and buildings to jump around, it was obvious that it wouldn't be able to escape.

The cloaked woman started walking forward and even tapped Emman's shoulder as she passed by. She winked playfully then sent him a seductive smile before saying, "Catch you later~" with a flirty wave of her hand.

Emman shivered in fright. He tried to recall where he felt that playfully seductive temperament but couldn't remember it.

Next to Anna, Erin could only stare at the receding back of the woman. Deep inside, she was promising herself that she would become stronger.

The cloaked woman took one of the parked bicycles and rode on it as if it was hers in the first place. Her pet dog started jogging while

While the two continued thinking about the cloaked woman, Anna was staring at Jennie who stood frozen in place and her dog bowing in front of her.

Earlier, Jennie tried circulating her energy on the dog's head wound. After the Public Market Campaign, the new Chief of Police wanted to recruit her, so they gave her as much privilege as possible.

She learned of several techniques that were extremely beneficial but weren't known to the public. One of those was energy circulation. She knew that it could boost the health cycle but didn't know the exact effect. She wasn't adept with energy circulation but was able to grasp the basics of it. At most, she could create a small ball of energy the size of a nut.

Even though that was the case, she tried her best to circulate her energy so she could at least ease the pain it was feeling.

Jennie's hand was placed above the injured head as she focused herself to produce that ball of energy. As she started to perspire, the ball of energy finally formed and sank into the body of the mutated dog.

At first, there was a bit of resistance then it disappeared completely as if the dog let the energy coming from her enter inside its body.

This was also the time when the cloaked woman left and Anna happened to get the first-row seat on what was about to transpire.

'Please don't die. I'll take better care of you from now on. I'm sorry for not visiting you first earlier. It's just... It's...'

A tear fell from Jennie's eyes as she remembered the empty house she called home.

'You're my only family now.' she said while trying to wipe her falling tears. The whole time, she had her eyes closed, so she could focus on the transfer of energy.

Unbeknownst to her, the mutated dog was staring at her as if it understood everything she was thinking. Its eyes slowly closed filled with longing.

The next second, a small orb of light flew out from the mutated dog's head and breezed towards Jennie's forehead like a meteor falling to earth.

After entering Jennie's forehead, it flew somewhere inside her brain. It orbited a white mystic rune before the orb of light transformed into a black pawprint rune.

Jennie opened her eyes after feeling a slight shock that followed when the pawprint rune formed. She clearly saw the rune but it was from the point of view of the white mystic rune while having no knowledge of the said rune.

'What just happened?' Jennie thought to herself while checking her body.

"Bark!"

"Auu. (Hello.)"

'Wait a second... did you just say hi to me?' Jennie quickly turned her head while speaking to her dog in confusion. She stared doubtfully and became shocked when the dog barked and nodded its head.

Jennie's eyes widen.

"Auu! (I can understand you!)"

"Bark!"

'You want a name? Wait, what are you?' Jennie lowered her head and searched... 'Oh, a boy. Then, Jun... Junnie?'

The mutated dog was staring at her in hesitation as if it didn't like the sound of the name, so she added an explanation.

'Don't you think it sounds like my name? Don't you like it?'

Jennie puffed her cheeks trying to appear cute and it succeeded. The mutated dog, Junnie, excitedly wagged its tail after obtaining its new name.

Jennie became elated that Junnie liked his name. She hugged his head and caressed his cheeks softly.

—

The cloaked woman wanted to enjoy the breeze of air when going downhill until she noticed that there was no brake attached to the bicycle. She tried slowing down by using her feet but the high heels she wore immediately got destroyed after its tip scraped the rough road.

With no other choice, she decided to go straight towards a tree and jumped forward while carrying the bike with her frail arms that contained immeasurable strength.

Her pointless high heels landed squarely on the tree with her body slanting sidewards. She jumped off and landed safely on the ground before putting the bicycle down. The bicycle handle got bent inwards due to the force exerted on holding it.

Her mutated pet dog zoomed past her with its tongue flying on the side of its mouth.

She looked behind them before gazing at her dog in frustration.

"Where's the cat?! Did you let go again? Oh gosh, please! If there's a way to understand each other, tell me! I would do anything just so we can talk!"

She stomped forward in a huff and took her black seductive half-face mask. The fair-skinned beautiful girl who always try to hook up with weird boys at night presented herself.

When her pet dog slowed down and turned back, the frustration in her face disappeared and turned into a charming smile.

She used one of her abilities, Haggle, and made a deal with the mutated dog.

"Can we please track that cat again? You can have every kill we have for today. Please?"

The mutated dog tilted its head as if thinking before barking out loud. It then started running uphill while wagging its tail. It sniffed continuously trying to locate the cat's scent trail.

The woman sighed then grabbed the bike's handle and forcefully returned it to its original shape. She rode on and started pedaling uphill as she followed behind her pet dog.