Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 472 New Regulation

Su Ping read the introduction.

Slave Contract (Low grade):

Sign a contract that gives you absolute control and you will be the sole master. The contracted party is unable to hurt the master, nor to maintain an emotional bond with the master, or to enter the master’s contract space.

Duration: one month

Scope of application: Anything below the Star Rank

Price: Ten thousand energy points

“I have never heard about anything like this.” Su Ping was surprised. The slave contract was better than the astral pet contract of the general kind. It was usual for battle pet warriors to worry about their pets hurting them when they were injured. There shall be no such concerns with the slave contract.

As for being unable to improve emotional bonds…

Generally speaking, no battle pet warrior would care about that. The battle pets were just to help the battle pet warriors fight. Who would care about emotional bonds?

One thing which is inconvenient about the slave contract was that the pet could not be put away in the contract space. That was to say, the enslaved pet would have to stay with the battle pet warrior outside at all times.

That would make it difficult for the battle pet warriors, to access certain locations in the base city. Also, it could alert enemies when battle pet warriors were out in the wild, hunting.

“What a timely help!”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. He was just thinking that the Swamp War Crocodile was a useless burden, and then he got that Slave Contract. It couldn’t have come at a better time.

Ten thousand energy points for one month’s use of a beast king.

That was a good deal. That was a beast king, one at the latter stage of the Ocean State, getting closer to the Void State. Not even a legendary battle pet warrior at the Ocean State could have defeated such a beast king!

Buy it!

Su Ping put down the order directly.

But he didn’t rush into using the Slave Contract which would only be effective for one month. Anyway, he didn’t need it for the time being when he stayed inside the store.

Besides, there was a chance that he could get better beast kings. An idea popped into his mind that excited him.

With Joanna as the inside man in the Demigod Burial, Su Ping could ask her to get a beast king at the peak of its state. In that way, he would have no more enemies below the Star Rank!

“Alert. The host cannot use the Slave Contract on beasts found in the cultivation sites,” the system jumped in. Clearly, the peeping system had once again probed into his mind.

“Why the hell not!” Su Ping could not help but bellow since his dream had been crushed.

The system’s voice was flat as it explained, “The Slave Contract is an article in the present, the actual world. The beasts from the cultivation sites are marked with the laws of the cultivation sites. This kind of poor quality Slave Contract cannot erase that kind of law. Only the Antiquity Pet Contract that the host uses can erase those laws.”

Su Ping was speechless. Previously, when he wanted to ask Joanna to catch a bunch of beasts from the Demigod Burial and sell them at the store, the system refused him and quoted the world laws. What the heck were the laws?

“Also, even if the host can use the Slave Contract in the cultivation sites, the host will not be able to bring the contacted pet back to the store.” The system went on. “The pets under the Slave Contract cannot be put away into the contract space. But I shall only be responsible for taking the host to and back from the cultivation sites. The system is not responsible for any other creatures that don’t feel as part of the store.”

Su Ping curled his lips.

Why did the system sound so proud?

Su Ping heaved a sigh and put away the Slave Contract. Anyway, the Slave Contract merely cost him ten thousand energy points. He wasn’t losing any money in that deal.

Su Ping went back to the storefront and allowed the system to estimate the price of the material he had just bought. The selling price was the same as the buying price. True… He wasn’t able to make advantage of the price differences that any middleman would use. Or, to be exact, he had never been a middleman.

What a…

“First warning!”

“What an amazing system…”

Su Ping decided not to challenge a system that couldn’t take a joke (insult.) He wasn’t interested in selling the material. After all, he couldn’t make any money from it. Why would he put himself through more trouble?

He had a pet of his own that was able to use fire skills himself.

The Inferno Dragon was both a dragon and also a member of the fire family.

Besides, since the system had denied him of all chances to make any money from that material, say he had no Inferno Dragon, he would be more than happy to feed the material to the dog!

“Come one out, fire-breathing dragon… no, Inferno Dragon.”

Su Ping said in his mind. A dark and deep swirl appeared behind him. Bathed in fire, the Inferno Dragon stepped out from the swirl.

The Inferno Dragon was so tall that it was going to hit the ceiling.

The familiar scene of the store jumped into its eyes. The Inferno Dragon put away its ferocious aura, knowing that Su Ping had not summoned it for a battle.

“Here you are.”

Su Ping threw the blood-red grass blade that he spent one hundred and twenty thousand energy points on to the Inferno Dragon.

The Inferno Dragon swallowed the grass blade whole while blinking in confusion. Was this dinner? Why so little?

Nothing seemed different from the Inferno Dragon, as if it had just eaten air. Su Ping wondered if it was because the material needed would take some time to take effect. Letting the huge Inferno Dragon stand next to the store was troublesome. Su Ping told the Inferno Dragon to go to the nursing pen and digest the material.

It would be up to fate to see to what extent the Inferno Dragon’s understanding could be improved.

At the same time, Zhong Lingtong, who had been chatting with Tang Ruyan on the couch, was in a daze.

What did she just see?

Inferno Dragon?!

One of the three rarest dragons?

It took Zhong Lingtong a long while to come back to her senses. She darted an inquiring look at Su Ping.

Even if she was born in the Holy Light Base City where many rare and famous pets lived, Zhong Lingtong only had a few chances to see such a rare dragon. That was not the first time she had ever met an Inferno Dragon, but this was the first time she was that close to one!

Also, the master of the Inferno Dragon was her teacher!

An analogy would be that you had seen other people’s kids getting straight As and it could never surprise you. But when it was your kid who suddenly began to get straight As… well, well, you would be over the moon!

“Sir, sir…”

As Su Ping came over, Zhong Lingtong could no longer control her curiosity.

“Yes?”

“Is… Is that Inferno Dragon yours?”

“No.”

“No?” Zhong Lingtong could not believe that. “But, it just came out of your contract space!”

“Oh, so you saw that. So, why did you ask?”

Zhong Lingtong’s mouth was open but for a long while, she could not utter any sound.

Tang Ruyan could not help but grin inside. Finally, she could find an ally to get a sense of how despicable that guy was.

Su Ping said nothing else to the two girls. He went to the shelves to organize the pet food. Using the Incubation Pool was a huge investment. From then on, when he visited the Demigod Burial, he would have to take more pet food back with him.

Relying on pet training alone could not generate money fast enough. Thinking of the Demigod Burial, Su Ping darted a look at the pet room.

Inside a nursing pen in the pet room, Joanna suddenly opened her eyes. Somehow, she felt she had just been targeted by something.

Her blood… was freezing.

Did something go wrong with the cultivation?

Was she hallucinating? Joanna frowned as she pondered about it. Finally, that feeling disappeared and she refocused her mind on cultivation.

The customers could only get general training since Su Ping had been away from the store and Joanna was in charge; Su Ping would use the dummies in those tests. He didn’t have to oversee the general training himself.

As such, in the afternoon and at night, Su Ping did nothing other than training at the store.

At night, Su Ping went back home with Joanna, Tang Ruyan, and the newcomer who was a good eater. He thanked his mother for the fancy dinner. While having their meal, he discussed this with her mom, whether they should hire a chef so that she wouldn’t be so tired.

Li Qingru turned him down without thinking. The reason was that she had nothing else to do at home and hiring a chef would be too expensive.

Su Ping had reiterated that money wouldn’t be an issue; he gently touched upon how much money he had and yet Li Qingru insisted. She prepared to cook dinner herself and save money where possible. Su Ping had to give up.

Su Ping found a room for Zhong Lingtong that night. Afterward, he went to his bedroom, cultivated till the small hours, and went to bed.

The night went by quickly.

They had breakfast at home the next morning. Many people had arrived at the place right next to the door. Su Ping no longer had to worry about the source of customers and his business. His store would be packed daily.

He remembered what Tang Ruyan had told him the day before, about people selling spots in the line. He took a glance at the crowd and immediately noticed some who weren’t battle pet warriors.

Even standing in line had become a business.

Su Ping wondered if he had contributed to the employment rate of the base city.

The crowd got excited upon noticing Su Ping’s presence. At the same time, they were a little bit intimidated by him as well. Some of the bolder customers finally worked up the courage and greeted him. “Morning, Mr. Su!” “Mr. Su!”

Su Ping saw many familiar faces. He couldn’t remember all their names, but he nodded to the ones whose faces he recognized.

He opened the door. He said something before he welcomed the customers to the store, “I heard that there is someone in the line who’s planning to sell seating spots to others for money; those people are not coming for their pets to be trained. There are even cases where the spots are sold while waiting in line, although at a whopping selling price. The actual customers would have to pay a lot more money just to have their pets trained here…

“As such, I’m making an announcement. People who are here in line are not allowed to transfer their spots. If you’re otherwise occupied and need to leave, sure. But you cannot hire someone to stand in line for you. Once I discovered another case of selling or transferring spots, both the ones who sell or buy the spots will be on the store’s blacklist!”

The crowd quieted down a little bit. Many people began to look at each other, surprised, nervous, or feeling guilty. All the customers were aware that Su Ping was basically a titled battle pet warrior, someone who stood high above the masses. Whether he would monitor the crowd was one thing. But the fact that he had said those words was enough to deter the violators!

“Now, people who are in line for someone else or to sell the spots, leave. I’ll forgive your past misdeeds,” Su Ping said to the crowd calmly. He went back inside without giving another look at the crowd after he finished his sentence.

Some people were struggling. As more and more stepped out of the line, the ones hesitating finally left as well.

As for those people who were only there to sell spots for money went away; the customers at the back of the line moved forward. They had thought that they wouldn’t be able to get this day. Still, with so many people leaving, their spots in the line moved up ahead by a large margin.

Su Ping got ready inside the store. He told Tang Ruyan and Zhong Lingtong to receive the customers together.

Zhong Lingtong was surprised to know that she had to do this. Am I not the student?

And yet, she couldn’t disobey her teacher. Having no other choice, she went to the door with Tang Ruyan.

Soon, the customers came in. Same as before, Su Ping wrote down their information. For people who had arrived to pick up their pets, he would ask Joanna to fetch them. For the ones who went there to train their pets, he would take the money and ask Joanna to take the pets to the back.

Some of the repeated customers would gladly say goodbye to Su Ping and leave right after they got their pets; they would not test their pets there.

The new customers, to be safe, would test the result while in the store. The results, of course, would amaze them. The training was much better than they had anticipated.

“Mr. Su.”

Suddenly, Su Ping heard a voice that was so warm that it could even melt ice.

Su Ping looked at her. She seemed familiar.

“I am Xu Yingxue, Xu Kuang’s big sister,” the girl said with a blushed face.

That was the second time she had met Su Ping in person. She could barely stop her heart from racing. She had heard about what Su Ping did at the Elite League and with the ones who went to his store. She didn’t know the details but seeing what he had done during the Elite League was enough to fill her with awe.

He was at a stage she had been unable to reach!

She remembered that she had argued with Su Ping and questioned his store in general the first time she was there. At that thought, Xu Yingxue could not help but get a little scared, worrying that Su Ping would want to get back at her.

Things were different at the moment. The store was not what she had thought. She would be unable to shoulder the consequences if Su Ping wanted to retaliate.

“Oh, hi.”

Su Ping remembered her. “Are you here for pet training?”

Xu Yingxue was relieved to find that Su Ping didn’t seem to bear a grudge. She nodded at once. “Yes. I’ve come several times but you were away. I would want to try the professional training, but the young lady over there told me that she couldn’t do it when you weren’t present at the store.” “Well, she’s right. I’m back now. You want professional training, right? What’s the rank of your pet?”

“The seventh-rank.”

Xu Yingxue had other words to say but hesitated. Finally, she summoned the courage and said, “Other than pet training, I’m here because my brother asked me to send a message to you. He has left the Longjiang Base City to further his study at the Valiant Academy. He wanted to come and say goodbye to you in person but you weren’t here. He told me to be sure to come and tell you that he wouldn’t be able to visit your store for some time.”