Astral Pet Store (WN)

“Senior, I’ve waited several days to meet you, but there are too many customers in your place. I had to violate your rule and presumptuously decided to come here.”

Pablo became quite respectful.

He could only regard Su Ping as the grandmaster trainer since the latter had admitted being the only trainer in the shop.

He arrived several days earlier and had been waiting since then in order to show his respect and modesty.

However, he took too long in deciding to pay Su Ping a visit, and he would probably have to wait for another month to meet him.

“Have you come to enlighten me?” Su Ping asked.

He looked at the endless queue outside of the shop.

He no longer had to worry about the lack of customers; his only concern was to seize the day and do his best to train more pets.

The faster he trained the pets, the more money he could make.

“You flatter me. There’s nothing I can enlighten you with. In fact, I’m here to ask for your guidance. I’ll be eternally in your debt if you can give me some advice when you’re free,” said Pablo respectfully, lowering his head.

Silver light flashed in his palm while he spoke, and a scroll appeared.

He handed over the scroll to Su Ping and said, “This is an ancient training technique that I acquired from a relic, but it’s incomplete. It may be useful to you.”

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. An ancient training technique?

He became somewhat interested and opened the scroll.

Ancient, unrecognizable words appeared on the scroll. But some of them were written in the language of the gods.

“Life…” he mumbled to himself. That was the only word that Su Ping knew.

“I don’t think there’s anything I can teach you. Perhaps I’ll consider communicating with you if you find the rest of this technique,” said Su Ping to Pablo after considering for a moment.

Pablo’s eyes glittered, but soon his face wore a bitter smile. He replied, “Senior, I’ve searched for the rest of the scroll for decades, but to no avail. Could you ask for something else?”

“You searched for decades and found nothing? So, you’re giving me something that’s absolutely useless?” said Su Ping, narrowing his eyes.

Pablo changed his expression and said, “I dare not. I’m afraid there’s a misunderstanding. I simply thought that you might be able to find the other pieces of the scroll with your connections. After all, I don’t think you’d be interested in anything else that I have…”

Su Ping became friendlier, after seeing his sincere expression. He said, “Fine, do a few things for me if you can’t find the rest of the technique; then I’ll consider it.”

“I’m all ears.” Pablo was rather uneasy.

“First, I have a student pet trainer. Help me take care of her and teach her training techniques. You must turn her into a master trainer like yourself as soon as possible,” said Su Ping.

Stunned, Pablo said, “Well…”

“Of course, it’s up to her whether or not she can grow up into a master trainer, but I will check whether or not you’ve taught her dutifully,” said Su Ping.

Pablo realized what was going on and said quickly, “I’ll definitely teach her and treat her like my own disciple!”

“All right, the second thing is about the Transcendence Fruit,” Su Ping said, “You’re the master trainer working for the Ryan family, right? The Pet Contest held on Rhea is organized by the Ryan family, and the prizes are also provided by them. Being the family’s master trainer, do you have any Transcendence Fruits?”

Pablo’s expression changed, not expecting that Su Ping would have already figured out his background. He said quickly, “The Transcendence Fruit Tree belongs to the Ryan family and has a limited yield. I don’t get many fruits either.”

“How many do you have?”

“Well, f-four?”

“Give them to me.”

“…”

Pablo was speechless; he felt like crying.

It was quite outrageous for the guy to demand Transcendence Fruits on their first meeting.

Those fruits were so precious that not even Star Lords would ever have enough of them. They were always rare in all the Federation.

“Well…” Pablo gritted his teeth and said, “I have accumulated these Transcendence Fruits for years. My plan is to use two of them for my pets. If you want some, I can only offer two of them!”

Su Ping gazed at him for a moment and nodded. “Fine.”

Pablo was relieved. He would truly give up networking with this fellow if he asked for more fruits.

After all, while the enlightenment of a grandmaster trainer was precious, two Transcendence Fruits were just as valuable. He could always turn to other grandmaster trainers if Su Ping asked for more.

“Senior, do you have any other demands?” Pablo asked prudently, fearing that Su Ping would ask for more things.

Su Ping replied, “That’ll be all. Give me the Transcendence Fruits first.”

Pablo’s lips twitched. Even though Su Ping didn’t ask for anything else, he was afraid that the latter would go back on his word after taking the Transcendence Fruits.

After taking a long time pondering, Pablo gritted his teeth and took out two Transcendence Fruits from his storage device. “Senior, here they are.”

They were two sealed, delicate boxes; there was no telling what was inside.

However, the seals protecting the boxes were black gold and seemed quite luxurious.

Su Ping’s eyes glittered. He accepted the boxes and tore the seals apart.

Hardly had the energy on the seals dispersed when Su Ping detected an intense fragrance wafting over; he felt so comfortable when he breathed it in that even his head felt a lot clearer.

The world in front of his eyes had also become brighter.

He could even think much more quickly than before.

They truly are Transcendence Fruits!

Su Ping peeped at what was inside one of the boxes and then closed it in 0.1 seconds. Still, the dispersing air made the environment much more fragrant.

He had searched for the Transcendence Fruits on the Internet. The boxes indeed contained the genuine fruits.

Su Ping didn’t check the second box, quickly putting it away.

The spreading fragrance, however, surprised those who were waiting in line; everyone who smelled the fragrance felt comfortable and their thought processes were much quicker.

Pablo and Su Ping had been communicating telepathically, so nobody knew that the boxes in Su Ping’s hands contained Transcendence Fruits, Rhea’s ultimate treasures.

Seeing that Su Ping had accepted the gifts, Pablo asked carefully, “Senior, about your teaching…”

Su Ping smiled and said, “Help me look after my student first. There’s no need to be too hasty about us communicating. I won’t go back on my word.”

Pablo was greatly relieved to hear that; he believed that a grandmaster trainer would never seek to demean himself by going back on his promises.

He felt reassured as he pondered over this.

It was also understandable that Su Ping wouldn’t immediately teach him about his grandmaster experience and knowledge, either. After all, it was unrealistic to be taught everything by such a character in exchange for a mere pair of Transcendence Fruits.

“Senior, call me if you need anything. I live in Woffett City for now and am available anytime,” said Pablo courteously.

Su Ping nodded and asked, “Does the Ryan family not blame you for coming to see me?”

Pablo quickly replied, “Senior, the Ryan family and I are just partners; we’re independent from each other. I won’t get myself involved with the conflict between you and the Ryan family.”

Su Ping realized what was going on and chuckled. “I was just asking. There’s no conflict between me and the Ryans. They have already apologized to me.”

Remembering what Su Ping did, Pablo could only wear a smile in his heart.

The Ryan family did give in when Garland was imprisoned.

“Yes, you’re right.”

“All right, I’ll call you when my student is back. I’ll be heading back to work.”

“Senior, I see that you have a lot of customers. I may be able to help if you’re too busy to train all the customers’ pets,” Pablo quickly added, hoping to train pets along with Su Ping and witness his expertise.

It would also be a great opportunity for them to bond.

Su Ping asked, “Can you raise a pet to attain a Class A aptitude in one day?”

“Well… I don’t think so.”

Su Ping shook his head and said, “Forget it then. I can’t ruin the reputation of my shop.”

“But I can still help as your assistant.”

“There’s nothing you can do to help.” Su Ping shook his head.

Pablo was at a loss for words and eventually had to give up.

He couldn’t help? He was more than qualified as an assistant.

He believed that the guy simply didn’t want him to watch him work.

Pablo didn’t insist on the matter. He said some final words to Su Ping, then turned around and left.

The nearby scholarly middle-aged man was deeply awed. He had seen how his teacher had stood respectfully and humbly with his back bent, exactly like he did when in his mentor’s presence.

It was true that there were always greater experts out there.

Why was my teacher so respectful to the guy? Is he a grandmaster trainer?

The scholarly middle-aged man bowed and also said goodbye to Su Ping before he left with Pablo.

Su Ping had accepted the scroll remains of the training technique right before they left; he intended to ask Joanna about it. He could ask around in other cultivation sites if she couldn’t recognize the words.

…

Su Ping closed the shop as soon as he entered, then summoned the Little Skeleton and the Dark Dragon Hound.

There were only two Transcendence Fruits. After glancing at his pets, Su Ping eventually chose the Dark Dragon Hound and the Little Skeleton.

The Little Skeleton was his primary pet; he had prioritized feeding the Little Skeleton with all his rare resources to ensure that it continued being the strongest.

The Inferno Dragon was good at offense, and the Dark Dragon Hound was good at defense.

Since the Little Skeleton was taking care of the offense—also considering that he was also good at offense—Su Ping could entrust the defense duties to the Dark Dragon Hound.

“I’ll give you fruits when I get more of them,” he said to the Inferno Dragon, the white-scaled Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon, and the Purple Python.

The Inferno Dragon uttered a deep roar, showing that it didn’t care.

The white-scaled dragon reacted rather calmly, as if never having any hope of getting a fruit.

While the Purple Python was greedy, it readily accepted Su Ping’s explanation in the end.

Soon, the two boxes were opened, and two fruits were revealed, surrounded by a white spiritual energy.

The fruits looked like hazy crystals; the energy covering their surfaces made them look quite mysterious.

Su Ping tossed the fruits to the Little Skeleton and the Dark Dragon Hound; they quickly swallowed and digested them.

The fragrance emanated by the fruits made Su Ping and his pets drool and their minds processed faster. They seemed to have grasped a lot of insights, but it was hard for them to describe their feelings.

The Little Skeleton was the first to change; its shoulders suddenly cracked, and two short bone spikes protruded from them.

The spikes were quite aggressive, making it look even more intimidating.

On the other side, the Dark Dragon Hound’s eyes had also changed. Energy surged in its body, revealing all kinds of pure elemental energy.

The energy streams were interweaving as if in the process of evolving; the air of laws was spreading out.

In particular, the air of Boom, God of Lightning and Annihilation were becoming increasingly denser.

The law of solidity that the Dark Dragon Hound had perceived also became more evident.

Su Ping looked at the Little Skeleton and found that it was even stronger than before; the changes in its body had been triggered by the advancement of its skills.

Su Ping displayed its stats panel.

The Little Skeleton had already made significant progress through all the fighting and training in the Void Debris. Aside from “Death,” a law of the undead it had perceived, it also mastered four laws, which allowed it to easily finish off early Star State void beasts. Even the ones at the Star State’s mid phase would have a hard time killing it.

Its bloodline skill had also changed from Bone King’s Descent to Bone Demon’s Descent!

The difference was just one word, but Su Ping could tell how extraordinary the skill was from how the Little Skeleton’s looked.

A Transcendence Fruit is almost as effective as a professional training session!

Su Ping was definitely astonished.

The fruit would only improve the power of understanding, but then the recipient’s skills could advance to higher levels!

Bone Demon’s Descent was no longer a skeleton king’s skill; it was almost like a mutated version.

As for the Dark Dragon Hound, Su Ping could easily tell that it had attained a deeper understanding of laws. There were also elements of the wind class which were emitting the aura of laws.

Given more time, it could probably come across an epiphany and grasp new laws!

If it were able to grasp five laws, the pet hound would then become as strong as any mid-phase Star State being!

No wonder so many people are eager to enter the Pet Contest; Transcendence Fruits are truly fascinating. The Ryans have a tree that yields such fruits. Should I loot it?

Su Ping’s eyes glowed; he was truly tempted.

He gave upon further thought, as he had no reason to attack them.

They had already paid a price for the precious offense; he would only have a reason to counterattack if they went to him looking for trouble again.

I’ll win the Pet Contest and claim the main prize first. I can then negotiate with the Ryan family and exchange the prize for some Transcendence Fruits…

Su Ping’s eyes flashed.

…

Su Ping devoted himself to training again after the Dark Dragon Hound and the Little Skeleton had thoroughly digested the Transcendence Fruits.

Apart from doing some of the training himself, Su Ping asked his clone to train other batches of pets that would only require a normal training.

Time flew.

Another day arrived.

Su Ping returned from the cultivation sites. He opened for business in the morning and closed the shop in the afternoon. He then went to the registration office for Woffett’s Pet Contest with the Little Skeleton and the white-scaled dragon.