Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 735: Hunting Mission

Su Ping had no time to worry about how he could earn the money anymore; new customers had just arrived. He greeted them in person since Tang Ruyan and Zhong Lingtong were still in the process of learning the Common Tongue. "Welcome. How may I help you?"

"Do you have any medicine that can put beasts of the thunder family to sleep?" asked the brown-haired young man, while looking around inside Su Ping's shop.

"…"

Su Ping had a weird look in his eyes; he wondered what they wanted to do to the beast.

"Is this intended to capture a beast? If so, we have powerful pets available for rent. They can help you defeat the beast and put it to sleep…" Su Ping elaborated, as every businessman should adapt to the occasion.

He didn't have any sleep medicines, but he had other ways to put them to sleep.

Actual hypnosis would be even more effective!

"Just as I thought…" The purple-haired young man said, shaking his head in disappointment as he was about to leave.

The brown-haired young man was also about to leave the shop with regret, but then he saw how confident Su Ping was. He couldn't help but ask, "Pets for rent? What level are they?"

"Depends on what you need. If the beast you intend to capture is below the Fate State, I have pets that can take care of it for you," said Su Ping.

He didn't introduce the pets' level.

After all, the Little Skeleton and the Dark Dragon Hound were both at the ninth-rank, and the two customers were apparently in the Ocean State. They would have probably left immediately if they heard that only ninth-rank pets were available.

The purple-haired young man stopped and looked at Su Ping in surprise. "They can take care of any beast below the Fate State?"

The brown-haired young man was also stunned. He quickly asked, "Are you saying that you rent Fate State pets?"

Renting and selling were different. Some pet shops sold Fate State pets but wouldn't rent them, because beasts of such rank were among the best and were extremely valuable. The loss would be huge if they were rented and killed due to inappropriate commands!

Even if they weren't killed, some customers would exploit them so much that they would be heavily wounded or traumatized when they were returned. Some diseases were hard to cure or even detect!

Only the interstellar chain shops would rent Fate State pets on that planet, and only trustworthy VIPs could apply for them; no one else could.

The two young men didn't expect that a random shop on that street would rent such advanced battle pets.

"They're not Fate State beasts, but they can take care of any beast below the Fate State," explained Su Ping.

He wasn't familiar with life on planet Rhea nor with those two customers yet. If they wanted to rent pets, he would only give them the Little Skeleton or the Dark Dragon Hound, because those two were good when it came to survival; they would be able to escape even from Fate State beasts.

The Little Skeleton in particular; it wouldn't be easily killed even when facing Star State beast attacks.

After all, they could always outrun the two customers if they couldn't outrun the enemy in case the situation got out of hand.

It was impossible for the customers to threaten or command the pets with the contract, because Su Ping always used the temporary contracts he purchased from the system for rentals. The temporary contracts wouldn't unleash the contract fire, and pets could attack the customers at any time if they issued commands that went against their will!

"They're not Fate State beasts?"

Both of them were stunned by Su Ping's explanation. All the excitement instantly left their eyes. The purple-haired young man frowned. "We want to capture a Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon, preferably one in the advanced phase of the Void State. It's the most powerful dragon found on Rhea. Are you sure your pet can take care of that?"

"As long as the target is alone," replied Su Ping with a smile.

Both of the customers were stunned, not expecting Su Ping to be that arrogant!

As soon as the target was on its own?

Does he mean that his rental pets can beat a Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon in a solo battle?

"Is that so? What pets do you have? We'd like to take a look." The purple-haired young man raised his eyebrows angrily.

The Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon was a popular beast found on Rhea; it was a source of pride for all the natives. The young man wasn't happy with Su Ping's lack of respect.

After hearing that, Su Ping summoned the Little Skeleton from the pet room.

Both of the customers were dazed by the stumbling newcomer. The purple-haired young man couldn't help but ask, "Is your pet for rent this—this lowly skeleton?"

He was infuriated, feeling that Su Ping was teasing him.

Su Ping was going to introduce the pet to them, but then became cold when he heard the question. He was fine with people doubting him, but he wouldn't allow anyone to doubt his pets, especially the Little Skeleton that had been fighting alongside him all this time.

"Don't underestimate it. It can easily take care of both of you," said Su Ping coldly.

The purple-haired young man laughed angrily and said, "Is that so? I'd like to find out what skeleton can easily take care of both of us. Not even the Purple Bone Evil King Skeleton is capable of doing that. Your pet isn't even a Purple Bone Evil King Skeleton, is it?"

"Is that so?"

Su Ping narrowed his eyes, with coldness surfacing in his eyes.

Whoosh!

The wobbling Little Skeleton received Su Ping's telepathic message. It instantly stood straight and was ready for battle. The aura it unleashed lowered the temperature in the lobby.

"Huh?"

The brown-haired young man was about to persuade his partner to stop arguing with the boss and simply leave the shop, but then he saw the skeleton getting ready for battle. He was stunned, then he narrowed his eyes, as he sensed a horrifying aura that froze his blood!

Whoosh!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Something flashed, and the astral shields that the brown-haired young man had quickly raised were completely shattered.

In the next moment, a cold finger pointed at the purple-haired young man's forehead. The finger was white, devoid of flesh, with a pointy fingernail at the end.

The purple-haired young man was about to continue his mockery, then his face froze and his pupils contracted. He was terrified as he looked at the floating skeleton.

He felt as if his blood had turned into a large clot when he looked at the crimson fire in the skeleton's eye sockets. There was a sense of infinite brutality, coldness and aggression from the bouncing flames!

"B—Boss…" The nearby brown-haired young man had seen nothing but a flash; he turned pale once he noticed the skeleton was right in front of him. Then he said to Su Ping, "It's just a misunderstanding…"

Su Ping gave an indifferent order to make the Little Skeleton stop.

Whoosh!

The Little Skeleton flashed back to where Su Ping was, and the fire in its eye sockets was gone. It wobbled again, as if it would fall apart at any time.

However, its rustling bones sounded like the tolling of funeral bells to the two customers. Both of them swallowed with nervousness.

"Do you still want to rent it?"

Su Ping looked at them indifferently. "If you do, let me tell you something first. You'd better not use my pet to do any bad things. In other words, you must treasure it as if it were your own pet. You will only suffer if you ask it to attack when there's a high fatal possibility."

The customers, old and new, looked at each other in bewilderment. The minor injury on the purple-haired young man's head had already been healed, but his face was still pale and his legs were shaking.

The brown-haired young man's back was sweaty. He was slightly relieved to see that the Little Skeleton went back to normal. He said to Su Ping, "Yes, we do! However…"

Hesitating for a moment, he continued, "Boss, how much will we have to pay to rent your pet?"

Su Ping instantly looked for the Little Skeleton on the system's rental menu and saw that the rental rate was 9.2 million astral coins per hour.

Ten hours would cost 92 million astral coins.

Su Ping didn't know what to say. The price was quite unsurprising. It wasn't high, but definitely not cheap either. After all, not everybody could afford a cost of two hundred million astral coins per day.

The price to rent that pet for a few days was enough to buy a Void State battle pet.

In other shops, a Void State battle pet would only cost a billion astral coins or so, unless it was extremely rare and of an exceptional quality; if this were the case, it would be much more expensive.

"9.2 million astral coins per hour."

Su Ping reported the price to them.

Both of the customers were stunned, as it was only half of what they had expected; they thought the total would cost at least twenty million.

After all, the renting price was always higher than the selling price. Who would rent a battle pet unless they really needed it or there was an emergency?

"We'll rent it," said the brown-haired young man immediately.

The purple-haired young man didn't say anything. He looked at the Little Skeleton by Su Ping's feet with fright still lingering in his eyes.

"For how long?"

The brown-haired young man thought for a moment and confirmed with his partner. "Well, one day is probably enough."

The purple-haired young man nodded. "Our captain is ready; one day will be enough. We don't need more preparations if we got such a powerful pet to help him."

"Sure."

Su Ping simply sent a telepathic message to the Little Skeleton, telling it to run off if anything went wrong, and that its top priority was its own life instead of the customers'.

The Little Skeleton nodded, showing it had understood.

Su Ping was quite reassured about the Little Skeleton, which seemed silly but wasn't dumb at all during battle.

The temporary contract would make the pet mildly loyal to the customers who rented it, but it could only guarantee that the pet wouldn't attack them. The pet could attack them without being punished by the contract if they did anything outrageous.

"Thank you, boss." The brown-haired young man smiled and thanked Su Ping. Then, he said, "We are planet pioneers. I'm Abbott; he's Algernon. Sorry for our impudence just now."

"It's okay."

Su Ping was also slightly surprised; relevant information he had obtained earlier from the scanning popped up in his head.

Planet pioneering was a popular profession in the federation. Their job was to explore the desolate planets, develop those primitive planets and capture rare beasts. In general, they were the adventurers in the Interstellar Federation and could be seen anywhere.

"Sorry." The purple-haired young man, whose name was Algernon, also said to Su Ping.

Seeing no anger on his face, Su Ping nodded and accepted his apology.

"Take care of it," said Su Ping.

Abbott looked at the Little Skeleton and nodded. "We will."

Su Ping didn't say anything else. He finished the paperwork with them and accepted their money. Then, he gave a temporary contract to Abbott. "Infuse your astral power and stick it to the pet's head."

"It's slightly different from the rental contract lock we used in the past…" remarked Abbott curiously. "Is it a new model in the Federation?"

Su Ping didn't reply.

Abbott didn't ask further. He infused the contract with astral power as Su Ping had instructed and signed a temporary contract with the Little Skeleton.

"Well…"

Abbott was stupefied the moment the contract was signed.

His eyes widened with disbelief as he looked at the Little Skeleton.

Algernon became anxious and quickly asked, "What's wrong?"

It wasn't until three seconds later that Abbott finally came back to his senses and asked Su Ping, "B—Boss, is the pet only at the ninth rank?"

"Huh?" Algernon almost couldn't believe his ears.

Su Ping nodded. "I hope you treat it well."

Stunned, Abbott mumbled, "How is it possible? A ninth-rank beast has just…"

He couldn't believe that he and his partner were so awed by a ninth-rank beast that they began to sweat like crazy!

It was beyond belief!

Algernon was so shocked that he looked at the Little Skeleton with disbelief. He had already detected its level and thought that it was merely pretending to be stronger than it actually was. He thought that the pet was pretending to be weak and then it unleashed its terrifying strength.

As it turned out, what he detected was the skeleton's real level?

Was he almost killed by a ninth-rank skeleton?

Algernon was stumped. He was a planet pioneer with abundant battle experience. His strength was definitely above average in his level. Yet, he was almost killed by a battle pet whose level was lower than his. It was almost unbelievable!

Su Ping actually frowned with worry after seeing how shocked they were.

The Little Skeleton was undoubtedly an ultra-quality divine pet.

Even though the combat ability boost was just mediocre in the system's eyes, the pet was definitely great to other people!

Would those two customers maliciously take the Little Skeleton away?

Su Ping looked at the Little Skeleton and saw the shallow red light in the Little Skeleton's eye sockets; he sensed what it was thinking and became relaxed.

He was still connected to the Little Skeleton despite the overriding temporary contract.

It meant that the Little Skeleton still knew who its real master was.

That was the difference between an Ancient Pet Contract and an Astral Pet Contract. The former was much more effective.

"Remember to return the pet on time, or you will have to pay a three-fold compensation for every hour you exceed," Su Ping warned them.

The customers finally remembered that they had barely rented the pet for one day and it was already theirs. Time was ticking!

"Boss, we'll be on our way." They quickly said their goodbyes to Su Ping.

Su Ping nodded in response.

Su Ping suddenly had a weird thought as he watched the Little Skeleton being put away by Abbott, wondering if Abbott's own pets would be bullied by the Little Skeleton.

"I can still detect it… It's truly remarkable." Su Ping could vaguely detect that the Little Skeleton was right next to Abbott. He was quite amazed.

Su Ping finally remembered the Ocean Sovereign when they left; he was still being confined to his shop. He finally had an idea about how to punish her.

He would train her and keep her in his shop as a pet for rent.

It would have been too easy for her if he simply sold her, especially if she ran into a good master.

The system's voice suddenly echoed in his head when Su Ping was thinking that:

"It's been detected that the best available beast on this planet isn't available in the host's shop. The shop must capture the best beast on this planet and turn it into a tame pet in 24 hours.

"Quest: Collect the best astral pet in the business area.

"Quest description: It's been detected that the best astral pet in the business area is the Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon. The host must capture a Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon with mid-level aptitude to keep it in the shop.

"Time limit: 24 hours.

"Reward: One Pet Aptitude Book."

Su Ping was quite astonished.

To hunt a Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon?

Wasn't it exactly what the two customers from earlier were trying to do? Mia also seemed to have paid a visit to Rhea to capture a Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon.

Wait, what about the Pet Aptitude Book? I had never seen such a prize before.

"The Pet Aptitude Book can improve the aptitudes of your pet by one level," explained the peeper inside Su Ping's head.

Su Ping's eyes almost popped up.

Aptitudes could be improved by one level?

What if the pet's aptitude was already at a high level? What level would they reach?

"The ultra level is above the high level!" said the system casually, "Above the ultra level is the Chaos Multiverse Ranking. The beasts on that rank are talented geniuses in every universe."

Su Ping's pupils contracted lightly; he was having difficulty breathing.

The Chaos Multiverse Ranking?

It wasn't hard to imagine how hard it would be to enter the ranking.

After all, it was already extremely difficult to get ultra aptitudes!

Even the Little Skeleton—a pet that was much stronger than any other pet of its level—only had a high level rating. He had trouble imagining what the ultra level was like!

As for those on the Chaos Multiverse Ranking… They were definitely brilliant beings that could lead an era!

Su Ping gradually recovered from the shock, eventually feeling bitter when he remembered the quest requirement.

Capture a wild Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon with mid-level aptitude? Wouldn't that be too hard?

It was already extremely hard for him to raise a pet's aptitudes to the mid level.

Among all of Mia's battle pets, the Nightmarish Demon of Greed she cherished had a mid-level aptitude. It was only in the middle phase of the Void State, but its combat ability was close to that of the Fate State.

The rest of her battle pets only had low-high or low-middle level aptitudes.

The ratings were already remarkable enough by Blue Planet's standards!

Mia—being a descendant of the Laiyefa family—must have asked professionals to train her battle pets, and yet their aptitudes still weren't high enough. A beast caught in the wild without ever being trained would rarely have an inborn mid-level aptitude!

"Please don't just give me a mission I can't accomplish…" Su Ping cried to the system.

The system replied casually, "I have never given you a mission you can't accomplish, unless you're not trying hard enough!"

"Is that so?"

Su Ping's eyes glittered upon hearing such a reply. Did it mean that the system had detected a wild Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon with a mid-level aptitude? If that was the case, he would find it even if he had to turn the planet upside down!

Wouldn't it be all too easy if he could find the beast with nothing but hard work?