Astral Pet Store (WN)

Su Lingyue showed an uncertain look when reuniting with her pet, which looked completely different from how she remembered. Just like the other customers, she would have believed that Su Ping snatched it away and gave her another pet if not for the pet contract still in place.

The Phantom Flame Beast had remained lethargic in the shop since morning. As soon as it saw Su Lingyue coming, it shook free from Su Ping’s hand and bounced into Su Lingyue’s arms, leaving two streams of tears behind.

“Miaaa!”

Su Lingyue gently stroked its head. She almost asked “what have you done to my pet,” but managed to change that phrase into something more proper.

“Why does it look so… odd?”

Su Ping maintained a poker face. “Your pet gained three new skills. Flooding Illusion, Fire Chain and Fire Tornado. Find somewhere vacant and test them out later so you can get familiarized with the new moves in time. That thing is now good enough to fend off a moderate sixth-rank enemy, as long as it stays at top condition. If you can’t tell the rank of a monster, you should just run away.”

Su Lingyue’s mouth slowly dropped open while listening

“But those are—”.

As she remembered from books, both Flooding Illusion and Fire Tornado were only available to high-rank pets. More importantly, Fire Tornado was a pretty famous skill with unlimited potential. With enough training and effort, a pet could improve it all the way to the ninth rank. By that point, Fire Tornado would have a new name, which was Fire Storm. It was a ruinous, large-scale move that could wreak havoc as chaotically as a real storm.

Su Lingyue checked Su Ping’s plain look and couldn’t believe her pet could have gained so much experience in a day. But something told her that her brother was not lying.

More importantly, her Phantom Flame Beast used to be at the fourth rank. It could fight something two ranks higher? Was that even possible?

Su Ping made quick work of his delivered dinner and returned the empty boxes to Su Lingyue. “Go home if you don’t have anything else to say. Sleep well tonight. You’ll need a lot of strength.”

“What-but-was that—was everything true??”

“Do you think I would tell such a dangerous joke just before you left for the battlefield?”

Su Lingyue frowned.

He was right. This wasn’t a good time for humor. Giving her false information about her pet on such an occasion was pretty much equal to murder. She didn’t believe his brother would do such a thing.

But this meant the improvement of her pet was as true as it could be. Such efficient training was unheard of. This Phantom Flame Beast was probably good enough to defeat a senior champion in the academy at this moment.

“Hey, um, brother?”

“Yeah?” “I mean—it’s nothing. Anyway, thanks.”

“There’s no need. You paid.”

II

11

Su Lingyue had already done her research, talking to her classmates and learning that a training session would grant a pet a new skill most of the time, or two skills when the pet was extremely lucky. It was obvious that her brother had put a lot of extra effort in honing her pet.

And she felt grateful from the bottom of her heart.

That hateful image of her brother suddenly became a lot more adorable in her eyes.

Without another word, she picked up the meal boxes and turned away.

“Wait, I have a message for mom,” Su Ping said and stopped her, “I need to go on a field trip tomorrow, so don’t worry about getting me fed. I’ll find places to eat myself. There’s no need to wait for me to come back. The business is on the rise, so I’ll probably spend a few more days there.”

“Huh? You’re also going somewhere?”

“Yeah.” Su Ping took out some cash and handed it over. “Give this to her and tell her that we have a stable income now.”

That was 100,000 Federation Coins. Su Ping meant to show his mother the prosperity of the business without raising too much suspicion. Su Lingyue, however, wasn’t easily convinced when she had already witnessed how many customers the shop could get in a day. She knew her brother was lying, though she had no reason to point that out.

Then she thought about the same amount of money she had just spent and suddenly felt a heartache. But the sadness went away as soon as she saw the new look of her Phantom Flame Beast. The money was completely worth it. Three powerful skills? She was willing to pay ten times the price if she did have that kind of money.

“All right.” She accepted the bills while wondering if those were her bills she had paid the day prior.

As a matter of fact, they weren’t. To Su Ping, all the money he earned from customers was converted to energy points, so he couldn’t “withdraw” it and use it elsewhere. He had to earn extra money by other means if he wished to help his family, such as teaching students in private.

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Su Lingyue left the shop wanting to find a stadium to try out the new pet skills immediately. Though she successfully suppressed that urge because she had to deliver the money.

Meanwhile, Su Ping entered the heritage ground again to keep going.

By the end of his session, he found a secured spot in the heritage ground to catch some sleep. When he woke up and returned to the shop, It was only a little past 5 in the morning

Someone knocked on the door.

Using his astral perception, Su Ping sensed Ye Chenshan outside.

“Five minutes!”

“Sure, no need to hurry,” Ye Chenshan called back.

Su Ping emptied his inventory and stuffed several boxes of emergency food and water inside; he bought those from a store the day before. Even though he was aware that a professional settler team should have enough provisions in stock, he still did so just in case.

He also took the middle-rank beast-catching rings he had saved up to this point. It was a rare occasion. He wanted to catch several useful pets and sell them later if he had the chance.

As for his “pet team,” he decided to bring all four pets with him, which included Little Skeleton, the Dark Dragon Hound, the Inferno Dragon and the Purple Python. Their pet contracts did allow remote summoning, but he feared that this wouldn’t work if the Mysterious Realm was too far away from his shop.

With everything done, he opened the door and saw Ye Chenshan smiling at him.

“Had a good night’s sleep, Mister Su?”

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

“Sure, sure.” Ye Chenshan gladly showed Su Ping to their car, which looked bigger and more expensive than the SUV used by Fan Yujing last time. The vehicle even had a fortified outer frame that could deflect rifle bullets or attacks wielded by fourth-rank monsters or below.

Inside the car, there was a big crate of monster repellent and top-class tear gas canisters. From all that setup, one could tell that this car was probably no cheaper than a fully-equipped attack helicopter.

Thanks to the special plate of the car, they didn’t have to obey any traffic rules while traveling

“By the way, Mister Su, our leader and the others are already getting ready at the base.”

By this, Ye Chenshan meant to say that he showed up alone for a good reason.

Su Ping nodded casually without looking away from the window.

This specialized expressway built in the suburbs was meant to conveniently take people directly to the barren areas. And it looked a lot busier that day, compared to usual days. Apart from black SUVs loved by most setters, people could also occasionally see armed buses that had different names painted on their sides.

Ares Academy.

Berserking Blade Academy.

Phoenix Peak Academy.

Those were exclusive vehicles funded by their respective schools. Apart from the seven most recognized schools in Longjiang, there were also several smaller establishments with abundant resources who managed to dispatch several of their students to barren area expeditions.

Other than these, groups of settlers who usually stayed away from public sight had also answered the call for treasure.

Inside his ride, Su Ping curiously checked the different cars moving past his view.