Astral Pet Store

“You… for real?” Xu Yingxue doubted. “A titled battle pet warrior told you where he lives? Just like that?”

“Come on, sis. Didn’t I tell you already? Somebody’s gonna find the hidden potential in me sooner or later! This man’s a real coach, and he answered my question without a second thought. What does that mean? He knows I’m good! Who knows, maybe he’ll take me in as his personal student for real!”

“I… see.” Xu Yingxue slowly nodded.

After listening to her brother, she believed that this mysterious teacher wasn’t being generous. Maybe he never meant to hide anything

“Calm down.” Xu Yingxue frowned at Xu Kuang. “Just make sure you behave in front of your teacher tomorrow. And if you get to study under him in the long run… well, congratulations.”

Xu Kuang smirked. “Of course, sis, I know what’s important. I mean, you should congratulate him for finding a student as brilliant as me!”

Xu Yingxue rolled her eyes but decided not to point out Xu Kuang’s problematic speech. “… I’ll go with you tomorrow, so you don’t accidentally say something you’re not supposed to. Besides, the outskirts aren’t exactly safe.” “No! If anyone tries something funny, I can just beat them down. Heck, I’m one of the—”

“Here, an apple to keep your mouth full.” “Hey!”

Inside the Pixie Pet Store.

> Over

After dismissing Xu Kuang’s chat, Su Ping kept skimming through the student list to look for candidates with good ambitions. Answering a few of Xu Kuang questions over the Internet just earned him 500,000. If he could, he would consider this as a new way of teaching, which would save him a lot of time compared to doing home visits.

More importantly, he wouldn’t neglect his usual business this way.

Unfortunately, not many students could accept such a method for obvious reasons. Su Ping had to search for really desperate ones to take the bait… erm, to hire his services.

With this in mind, an eye-catching message that read “URGENT! IMMEDIATE RESPONSE!” quickly came into view. “Tsk. Business coming up.” He briefly checked the job description and made sure he was up for it, before contacting the student.

Inside an apartment room, a woman sat cross-legged on a soft cushion, while swirls of astral power surrounded her body. It was her usual training routine.

Beep! Her PC suddenly sent her an alert.

She slowly opened her eyes, dispelled the astral power, and checked the screen.

[“Longjiang Cool Dude” has sent you a message.]

Wait, what??

It was strange, but she could tell the message came from the online tutoring site, so she decided to check it out since she was indeed looking for a private teacher. [Longjiang Cool Dude: Hello. Do you need a lesson?]

“Oh, nice, someone found my message. Wait…”

She saw the speaker’s name inside a golden frame, implying that it was a titled battle pet warrior.

“For real??”

She immediately straightened her body on her seat with a surprised look.

Didn’t they say that the website only uses titled warriors to lure people in? They never teach!

Delighted, she clicked on the teacher’s name to check the profile.

Tutor records: none.

Time of registration: a few days ago.

Reviewed? No.

There was even an “!” beside this man’s name telling her to be cautious.

Xie Yuexuan found her passion was quickly turning cold. It did seem like a typical scammer to her, though she was smart enough not to assume this yet; there was still a very slim chance that she was truly talking to a newly registered titled warrior.

It didn’t hurt to try. This website dished out serious punishments to scammers anyway. [Greetings, sir. Are you available?] Xie Yuexuan typed her first message.

(I do online courses only. No on-the-spot appointments. Of course, such courses are cheaper.)

Wait, what? Xie Yuexuan halted in the middle of her next message. We’re not going to meet? What kind of private teacher is that??

[…How much for an online course then?] She had decided to drop the courteous tone.

(How about… 800,000?]

Heh. Xie Yuexuan spat. This guy’s an ambitious fraud, eh? He wants that kind of money just by typing a few words on the keyboard!

She did have a problem with her training right then, so she decided to proceed and see what would happen.

[Alright, I’ve been stuck at the sixth rank for a long time. Do you perhaps know how to help me to get to the next rank?]

She moved her cursor over the “report” button just so she could hand this “cheater” to justice the moment she saw a dishonest answer that asked her to pay pronto. A real titled warrior should be able to assist her without a problem.

Su Ping was indeed stumped by such a question, since he himself was only at the fourth rank. He had no idea what the “bottleneck” that separated those two ranks felt like.

M

(Well, these kinds of queries weren’t included in your original request, right? Didn’t you need a teacher to help you with your pets?]

Xie Yuexuan’s expression turned cold. She knew how this tutoring site worked; anyone could be registered as a titled battle pet warrior at the beginning, though they had to go through an official review process to get approved. Otherwise, a false registration would only result in their teaching license being permanently revoked.

Apparently, she was looking right at such a case. Xie Yuexuan made up her mind to embarrass Su Ping further before hitting the report button.

(Pets, eh? Alright. Let me ask this: how can a seventh-rank Corpse Dancer defeat a fire-type Limbo Lion?]

She hit enter, sat back on her seat and waited for Su Ping to come up with a lie.

Heh. They are both rare Astral Pets. It would also be rare for ordinary teachers to have seen them, let alone knowing how they fight. What can a liar do?

Su Ping’s message came. (Hmm… A Corpse Dancer can’t win against a Limbo Lion? But how? Is the lion at a higher rank?]

[Of course they’re at the same rank.] Xie Yuexuan wasn’t making things up; that question was an important task a teacher assigned her.

She had spent several years exploring barren areas, after which she went to a college again to go for a higher degree, with the hopes of becoming a leader or a manager of settler teams, not an expendable foot soldier. To achieve this goal, getting a good score in college was crucial. She had to deliver all her homework and projects as best as she could.

(How about their skill sets?] asked Su Ping.

(Well, the standard composition you can find from the Federation’s book. The standard one.)

Su Ping held his chin and pondered. The illustrated books published by the Federation came in different types aimed for pets of different levels. To most people, using a standard book was enough because it contained everything they should know about an average pet.

On a side note, pets that were qualified to be quoted by a standard illustrated book were “inferior pets” according to the system.

Weird. An average Corpse Dancer should have enough skills to take down a Limbo Lion with ease. Do I really have to answer such a stupid question? Su Ping thought. He still did, since it was his job after all.