Astral Pet Store

Seeing their pets wielding new skills they never imagined before, the new customers didn’t know how to properly react. If not for their pet contract still in effect, they’d even question whether their pets had been replaced.

Or, anyone would think that way if they had been told that a pet had learned a new skill within 24 hours.

Then they finally understood why all regular customers didn’t need to confirm the result of the training at all. They weren’t paid actors, but people who already tasted the sweet result of such an extraordinary service.

Similarly, Ye Hao found it difficult to believe how pets could be schooled this fast. But as soon as he remembered the rumors about the particular Lightning Rat, he no longer doubted Su Ping.

A moment later, Su Ping sent all fulfilled customers away and began accepting new orders. Ye Hao didn’t need to wait much longer for his turn.

“I want to buy the best training you can offer.”

Ye Hao didn’t care about the price of the service. To him, he could buy anything that could be bought.

Su Ping remembered the system’s alert and sighed. “Sorry, only normal training is available right now.”

“Then I’ll buy the best normal training.”

“Well shucks. There’s no ‘best normal training’. Everyone gets the same.”

Ye Hao frowned. “…Fine. I need to train my sixth-rank Typhoon.”

This was his secondary pet which had the potential to reach the seventh rank in the future. As for his main pet, the Thunder Basilisk, it was still under treatment after having been fatally wounded the day before.

Su Ping nodded and noted down Ye Hao’s name, while Ye Hao calmed his pet down and handed it over.

As Su Ping received more fund transfers, all the nursing pens and the nursing space were soon filled up again. He had no choice but to end things there and ask the remaining customers to leave, all of whom protested in annoyance, especially the regulars.

As for new customers, they went there mainly to get familiarized with the shop. Training their pets wasn’t their main goal.

Su Ping waited for all the crowd to leave and closed the door.

In the afternoon, when he finished another exploration round in the dragon king’s heritage ground and returned, he sensed a powerful presence waiting outside the shop.

He went to the door to check, only to see that it wasn’t a customer. Though he still recognized this man.

“Oh, Mister Su!” Ye Chenshan was a bit startled since the door opened when he wasn’t paying attention. He had gone there looking for Su Ping earlier, but no one had answered the door in a while. Dialing Su Ping’s number yielded no results either, so he had to wait at the door and hope that Su Ping would return soon.

He wasn’t expecting to see Su Ping come out of the shop instead.

Su Ping quickly remembered what Ye Chenshan might have brought him. “Is the Mysterious Realm open?”

“Oh, um, how are you, Mister Su?

“All is well.” Su Ping walked back inside while asking, “Did you finish exploring that space fracture yet?”

“That can’t be. You don’t map out a whole space fracture that fast. Not to mention that the one we’re talking about is a pretty big one. From what info we gathered, we have decided to define it as a high-level space fracture, which means it’s as dangerous as Class A barren areas. If we want to map the whole thing… Two or three years, I’d say. And that is on the condition that everything goes smoothly.”

Su Ping casually nodded as he didn’t know much about barren areas. “Do you know many friends who work in other barren areas?”

“Of course I do.” Ye Chenshan smiled. “We Team Polaris own a decent social network. Do you plan to join another expedition soon, Mister Su?”

“No. It’s just that, I might need your help to look after someone.”

“Really?” Ye Chenshan was glad to find a chance to repay Su Ping’s favor. “I hope this ‘someone’ plans to enter a Class B area or below. I’m afraid we can’t ensure people’s safety if we’re talking about a Class A area.”

Su Ping nodded in acknowledgment. A settler team should need extra protection when traveling inside a Class A barren area, even if it only consisted of professionals. Of course they couldn’t protect a burden. He decided to leave this matter for later since he still had no idea which barren area Su Lingyue was heading to.

“Tell me about the Mysterious Realm.”

Ye Chenshan wasn’t expecting the change of subject but decided not to ask. “Ahem. The realm will be opened at 9 am, the day after tomorrow. I’ll come and pick you up at six. We need to leave the base city and follow Barren Pathway Number 6 to reach our destination.”

“Nice, I have time to settle a few personal matters then. It’s called the ‘Longtai Mountain’ realm, right? Do you know what it’s like?”

Ye Chenshan smiled as he was well prepared for such a question. “I see you don’t check the settler’s website often. I’ve already sent you everything I know about it via email. Log into your account and take a look.”

Su Ping turned his computer on and did as told. Although, the mail contained too much for him to finish in a short time.

“You mentioned that your team got their hands on a treasure map. Did you include that in the mail too?”

“Oh, ahem. Sorry, Mister Su, it’s our top secret and is held by the team leader at the moment. We plan to disclose the information to the team once we enter the realm. This is for safety, please understand.” “Sure. So… What do I get in return if I join you?”

Ye Chenshan was taken aback by such a question. Usually, an available Mysterious Realm alone was enough reason for countless settlers to scramble there without a second thought, due to the great many treasures they could find.

Their team did prepare some reward for Su Ping, because they were asking him to assist them after all. Otherwise, Su Ping would be free to go there alone.

“Rest assured, sir. While we can’t give you the most important loot we can discover in the core area, you have the privilege to freely pick one of the remaining items we find while exploring. Our leader said so. Besides this, we’ll pay you a million merit points. Is this good enough?”

Su Ping considered. A million points sounded nice, but it was actually not the case because he could earn the same amount by killing an eighth-rank monster. Killing a Magical Corpse Beast got him 1.6 million last time. Though he had already spent most of it.

“Let me see… I’ll get one million regardless of the result of the mission. If we succeed, I shall get two million.” Su Ping decided to increase the price. Exploring the Mysterious Realm was riskier compared to common barren area expeditions, because they wouldn’t quit until they achieved their goal. It was just right to be compensated for the extra trouble. Ye Chenshan frowned. “One million is pretty good already, and you know it, Mister Su. Plus, don’t forget about the free treasure!”

“You said that I get to choose something while exploring, right? This means I might make a choice only to find a better item later. How about this: I’ll wait until we get out of the Mysterious Realm before I check among all the treasures we take with us.”

Ye Chenshan sat back and remained silent.

This meant Su Ping would take away the best treasure from the stash apart from the core piece. Ye Chenshan could no longer agree to this without talking to his teammates first. Besides, he highly doubted that the other members would be willing to give the best item to an outsider.