The beast stared at him, even though Ning wasn't turning towards it at all. He was huddled to the side of the building and was only looking at the beast through his omnidirectional vision.
'What the hell? Does it somehow know that I'm looking at it?' he wondered. He tried not to move, but the beast was staring at him with a furious look on its face. Its breathing was rough, causing everyone in the street to start to get scared.
"Bong? Bong, look this way," the man next to the beast shouted at the lion-dog beast.
He wore expensive-looking clothes, so it was obviously the lord, but he didn't seem capable of controlling the beast at all.
'Damn man, if you can't control the beast, then why did you bring it out?' Ning thought. He was surprised how young the lord was too. From what he could tell, the man was barely 20 years old.
Even if having an improved body slowed his aging, he could be no more than 30 years old. He couldn't imagine how someone like that was handed a beast that was in a higher realm than the Essence Manifestation realm.
Ning reached for his sword and held it. Pulling it out might make the beast more aggressive, so he stayed his hand for now.
The young lord continued to try and calm his beast, but the lion-dog wasn't listening to him at all. It continued glaring at Ning for a moment and then started walking toward him.
Ning didn't know what to do, but he could hear the fear in the way the people around him breathed. He had to do something for sure.
The lion-dog jumped at him suddenly.
Ning saw it coming and pulled out his sword, ready to strike.
However, at the last second, his sword stopped right on top of the beast as he noticed something strange.
The beast stopped right next to him and didn't attack him at all. Instead, it sniffed him and started wagging its tail.
It barked, letting Ning know that it was really a dog. But he couldn't understand why it was barking at all.
Ning quickly put the sword back in his sheath. "What's… going on?" he asked as he looked around for some answer. However, no one could tell exactly what was happening.
"I… think it likes you," Sophie whispered in his ears.
Ning gave an annoyed look before turning back toward the beast. 'Of course, I can tell that it likes me,' he thought. 'But why?'
"Bong! Bong, come back. Bong listen to me," the young lord said. He tried to pull the collar on the beast's neck, but the beast wouldn't budge at all.
It hopped around Ning, sniffing him out.
By now, the people had already moved away, leaving him alone with the beast moving around him.
"You! What did you do to my little Bong?!" the young lord shouted.
"I don't know," Ning shouted back. "Can you pull it back, please? I have somewhere to go."
"You! You must have done something," the young lord said. "Guards! Guards! Capture this man immediately."
"What?" Ning looked at the young man in disbelief. "Why the hell am I being captured?"
"You came here to make trouble, I know it. You must have been here because you know I was going to bring Bong around. You bastard, you were about to hit my Bong with your sword, weren't you?" the young man said to him. "Guards! I called for you."
"Yes lord!" a few guards came by and grabbed Ning on either side before pulling him away.
However, before they could take him anywhere far away, the dog leaped to follow him, pulling the lord who was holding onto his leash.
The young lord fell to the floor, while the guards moved away in fear.
Ning was now alone on the road, with the beast moving around him while sniffing him. 'Just what are you sniffing? What do I smell like?' he asked himself.
He sniffed himself too, trying to understand the dog's behavior. However, there wasn't anything that stood out to him.
His body didn't stink, but it didn't smell amazing either. He hadn't put on any sort of perfume either. He did smell somewhat of the sleeping bag he was given yesterday, but that definitely wasn't it.
Aside from that… there was just one more smell he could think of.
"Maybe…" he thought.
He quickly grabbed his sword and pulled it out.
"YOU BASTARD!" the young lord shouted when he saw the sword come out. The other guards also moved close with their own weapons.
"I'm not attacking," Ning said quickly and raised his other hand. He then slowly moved the sword, and as he thought, the dog followed the sword as well.
As he expected, the dog seemed to like the Sword's scent.
However, it wasn't just any scent either. Rather, it was the scent that was ingrained into the sword after months of cutting open that precious fruit.
It was the scent of the fruit that had made the dog come after him.
Ning laid the sword on the ground and let the beast sniff at it as much as it wanted. He himself had the scent on him too, but it was nowhere near as strong as the scent on the sword.
"What's that sword?" the young lord questioned. "I order you to answer me."
"What do you mean what?" Ning asked. "It's my sword I carry around."
The young lord was angry, but he realized that he was causing a ruckus. "Whatever, my little Bong likes the sword, so it is mine now. I will pay you for it later. Now leave."
Ning's eyes narrowed. "I won't sell my sword," he said.
"You don't get a say in it," the young lord said. "Guards, pick that sword up, we're leaving."
Ning crossed his arms and waited. The idiot was going to learn soon enough.
The guards came and tried, but no matter what they couldn't pick the sword up at all. The young man himself tried, but there was nothing he could do either.
"What now?" Ning asked.
