Astral Pet Store (WN)

The whole city gave Su Ping a futuristic feeling.

A lot of passers-by were accompanied by cute and adorable pets.

Su Ping also saw a few shops across the street. One of them was a plain noodle restaurant, with a board written in the Common Tongue above the door. Some of the other shops were interesting, including a Battle Pet Armor Shop and a Pet Assessment Shop.

Su Ping was rather surprised, as he had never seen such pet shops before.

Could pets also wear battle equipment?

Su Ping didn’t rush to train Mia’s pets; after all, there was still plenty of time. He looked back and said to Tang Ruyan, “Eight Five, stay in the shop. I’ll ask around to find out where you can learn the Common Tongue.”

“Stop calling me Eight Five!”

Tang Ruyan burst into fury and resisted the humiliating nickname.

“You’ll soon become Eight Three if you don’t work harder. Defeated eight times in three minutes. Tsk…” Su Ping chuckled and left the infuriated Tang Ruyan behind as he made his way for the Battle Pet Armor Shop.

While he was on the way, Su Ping looked around and saw another pet shop that had an area of only five hundred square meters. “There’s another pet shop on this street, but not as large as mine. Seems like the system relocated my shop to a business street…”

However, that shop had three floors; the compound area considering all floors was rather remarkable.

There were currently a dozen men in the armor shop’s lobby that Su Ping went to. The receptionist by the door was a fair skinned woman with purple hair and pointy ears; she wasn’t as beautiful as Tang Ruyan, but was pretty in her own way.

Su Ping had learned the basics of Rhea thanks to the information he had acquired from the previous region scanning, which included the population, astral power density and local traditions.

The purple-haired receptionist was exactly one of Rhea’s locals; her hair color was natural.

Su Ping found that the shop’s interior was arranged like an enormous gallery; there were framed and laminated plates hanging on the walls, which held small and exquisite items. Some of them looked like weapons, and some were like stones.

Su Ping was surprised by what he had found; he looked around curiously.

A shopping assistant had soon noticed Su Ping. She walked over and said with a smile, “Excuse me, sir. Which type of pet equipment are you looking for? I can give you some recommendations.”

Su Ping just happened to be observing a silver scale that was embedded in one of those frames. He asked, “Is this also counted as pet equipment?”

Although stunned for a moment, the woman replied with a smile, “Yes.”

“What pet is it for? How do you use this?” asked Su Ping curiously.

The woman was once again stunned, as it truly was an amateurish question.

With a flash of confusion in her eyes, she then sized him up and noticed his foreign attire, completely different from the Rhean fashion. She then realized that he was most likely some bumpkin from an obscure and far-flung planet.

Even though the idea crossed her mind, her face never betrayed her; she continued with a casual smile. “This is a four-star, class-A equipment. It can resist Fate State attacks from the darkness and fire classes. If your opponents happen to be from any of those two kinds, you’ll probably remain undefeated if you equip this.”

Jenna spoke with vague condescension, feeling that it would be an eye-opener for that bumpkin.

Su Ping was quite astonished. It could block Fate State attacks?

Even though it could only resist the darkness and the fire classes, it was still remarkable!

“You said that this is a four-star class-A artifact. Then, is there better equipment? If there is, can it resist Star State attacks?” asked Star State curiously.

Jenna replied with a casual smile. “Of course. There are rare pieces useful against Star Lord State pets. However, you can only find such advanced equipment in Silvy’s big chain shops.”

Su Ping was definitely shocked. He didn’t know it was possible to buy Star Lord State equipment. Didn’t it mean that he could become invincible if he had enough money?

It was true that money was everything. No wonder the system was so greedy!

Su Ping continued with his questions “By the way, can the battle pet warriors use the equipment?”

Another stupid question… Such a telling question was enough to discover the person’s ignorance. Jenna wore a helpless smile and explained, “Pet equipment is different from that of humans, and has different requirements. This one, for example, is only suitable for dragons, because it has to be activated by dragon aura and blood…

“This too, the equipment is structured according to how energy circulates in dragons; not even sub dragons with thinner dragon bloodlines might be able to use them.”

Jenna didn’t go any further, as the bumpkin couldn’t possibly understand it anyway.

She felt rather discouraged as she thought about the situation. Might as well take a break rather than wasting my time here.

“I see…”

Su Ping then understood. It seemed that the recent equipment was different from the treasures found in relics, which were usable to both humans and pets. After all, pets were wild beasts and also cultivators in ancient times. Humans were the only masters in the primordial age; the other races were equal to them.

“Can I try it?” Su Ping asked the woman again.

Jenna frowned—she could see the curiosity reflected on Su Ping’s face, but she dropped her smile and said, “The price for this Silver Dragon King Armor is 3.2 billion. You have to pay a security deposit of 300 million if you want to try it.”

“3.2 billion?” Su Ping was startled. Not even the best Fate State battle pets in his shop could be sold for such a high price!

It wasn’t any different from robbing!

Su Ping remembered his personal account. Part of the Blue Planet’s taxes and revenue belonged to him since he had just established a bond with the Blue Planet, officially becoming its lord.

He instantly took out the green Lord Badge and sent his thoughts into it. He then found his personal account by following the general directions.

The Lord Badge was like a multifunction super phone; it was quite practical.

Su Ping then found that his personal account had been opened in the Bank of Universe, which was the main bank in the Federation, which had branches on every planet. His identity had also been registered, since the account was opened with the Lord Badge, and his account had more permissions than regular accounts did.

Tsk, tsk. I don’t have to worry that the bank will go bankrupt after I withdraw my money now, Su Ping thought.

He instantly went to see the account balance.

He saw a serious amount of zeros and quickly counted them, only to find that he had 128.9 billion!

He was quite surprised, as he had never seen such a massive amount of money. However, as he thought that he could share half of the revenues of the Blue Planet, he realized that a hundred billion was too small a number.

He instantly asked the reason.

Soon, he learned that the money was from the recent trade taxes on the Blue Planet. Survivors were busy rebuilding the Subcontinent District because of the recent catastrophe on the Blue Planet, and the economy was still on the decline. The hundred billion of income was due to the frequent transactions of assets that were for the reconstruction efforts.

The nearby Jenna was stunned to see Su Ping’s Lord Badge, which still looked like a green crystal. Her eyes opened a bit further because of the shock; she looked Su Ping up and down with fear.

This young man is a lord?

Even though he was a lord of the lowest tier possible, he was still the master of an entire planet!

To become a lord, the minimal requirement was to reach the Star State, unless it was a special situation!

However—even after considering the special situations—only Fate State warriors could become lords, and their job was only temporary!

“The security deposit is 300 million, right?” Su Ping had stopped tinkering with the Lord Badge and was about to pay the security deposit; he wanted to find out what the battle equipment was like.

Jenna came back to her senses. She was rather frightened, not expecting that she would anger a lord. She said with a pale looking face, “Well, I didn’t know you were the lord of a planet. Your identity waives any requirement for security deposits…”

In fact, no security deposit was needed, even if Su Ping weren’t a lord. She had simply made up the requirement on the fly because she didn’t think he could afford it and didn’t want him to waste her time.

Su Ping was stunned for a moment. He instantly realized what had happened, so he said, “Then let’s try it.”

Jenna felt equally guilty and ashamed after noticing how Su Ping didn’t burst into an outrage; she said respectfully. “This way, please. I’ll have someone fetch it immediately. We have professional test rooms.”

She bowed and led the way as she made the introductions.

She signaled another direction while Su Ping tagged along, then she asked someone to fetch the Silver Dragon King Armor.

The test room was extremely spacious. It was behind the shop, and it looked like a small open-air stadium. However, Su Ping could feel a sturdy barrier which had been placed somewhere in the room. He didn’t think that any Star State creature could break it through!

Another pair of men were doing some testing. They then summoned their battle pets.

One of them is an Ocean State Bat-Dragon. It was a subdragon with a body length of only eight meters, but a wingspan of almost fifteen meters. It’s covered in a set of well-fitted armor that protects its vitals without affecting its movement.

The pet was also wearing a silver pointy helmet that covered its head.

That was a great eye-opener for Su Ping; he didn’t know that the pets could use that.

If he bought some of the good battle pet equipment, wouldn’t his Inferno Dragon and Dark Dragon Hound be significantly strengthened again?

“Hello, my lord. This is the Silver Dragon King Armor you picked.”

Jenna then took over the silver scale from her colleague. The scale was no longer laminated, and was sent out as vague energy waves. It was also covered in a silver light sheen, which was the overflowing energy it contained.

“My surname is Su. Just call me Mr. Su,” said Su Ping, who didn’t want to expose his identity as a lord; that way he could avoid unnecessary trouble.

“Okay, Mr. Su.” Jenna nodded respectfully with a completely different attitude. Even a tier-5 lord had much more wealth than a common employee such as her can imagine.

Su Ping accepted the silver scale, weighed it in his hands, and asked, “How should I use it?”

There was no contempt in Jenna’s eyes anymore. She completely showed her professionalism and said gently with a smile, “Mr. Su, the equipment has already been activated. All you need to do is summon your dragon pet and ask it to unleash dragon aura.”

Su Ping instantly summoned the Inferno Dragon as instructed.

The majestic, brutal aura of a dragon was spread out, making Jenna and the other members of the staff become pale.

The Bat-Dragon that was testing the equipment almost fell from the sky. It looked at the Inferno Dragon with terror in its eyes.

Su Ping didn’t expect it to be so influential. He quickly asked the Inferno Dragon to contain its aura.

The Bat-Dragon’s master also looked at the Inferno Dragon from a distance. He slightly changed his expression, not daring to say a peep.

“Mr.—Mr. Lord, just stick the Silver Dragon King Armor to your pet and ask it to release dragon aura.” Jenna’s face was pale; she stuttered because of the Inferno Dragon’s natural and ferocious aura. She had seen many powerful battle pets in the past, but none as intimidating as that one.

Once he heard the indications, Su Ping threw the power-imbued silver scale to the Inferno Dragon’s abdomen and gave it a command.

The dragon instantly unleashed dragon aura. The next moment, the silver scale seemed to have been revived as it made contact with its abdomen, producing a glaring glow. The scale softened and turned into liquid, which was then spread over the dragon’s body.

By the time the light faded, the dragon had a set of silver armor on, or rather, a layer of silver scales!

The silver scales covered the Inferno Dragon’s own scales, which were red, dark and golden, spreading all the way to its neck. Only the wings and limbs remained exposed.

Su Ping was rather astonished, as the battle pet equipment was like a second skin!

That armor, paired with the dragon’s own scales, would allow the pet to resist even when going against Fate State beasts.

“Any discomfort?” Su Ping instantly asked the Inferno Dragon.

The Inferno Dragon said in a low voice, “Not at all.”

Su Ping realized what it meant. It seemed that the equipment was quite comfy.

…

Su Ping didn’t linger for long after figuring out what the battle pet equipment was for. He simply asked the assistant to help him remove the equipment and then left.

As for purchasing…

Su Ping intended to buy something, but not the Silver Dragon King Armor.

After all, that shop was just one he had randomly chosen; it was obviously not the best shop on Rhea. He preferred the idea of acquiring the best battle equipment possible, preferably some with Star State deterrence capabilities.

However, Su Ping didn’t think that the equipment of that level would be sold easily; it was probably only available in famous auctions, or more prosperous areas.

He was really looking forward to it. The accumulated astral coins that couldn’t be converted had been useless to him thus far, all because he couldn’t buy any good stuff even if he had money. Legendary items were seldom for sale; most of them were only bartered among legendary warriors; it was hard for the regular forces to get them.

Even if they did get the items, they would only offer the items to the Legends to merely impress them.

In the Federation, however, beings could become stronger if they invested enough money!

Su Ping had suddenly felt like it wasn’t a bad thing to be the Lord of the Blue Planet. Otherwise, it would have been exhausting for him to make as much money.

I wonder what’s happening on the Blue Planet. I should ask someone when I have time, Su Ping thought.

It was then that he decided to visit the Pet Assessment Shop.

There were several customers inside the shop. Su Ping entered and asked one of the receptionists. As it turned out, that shop could perform comprehensive tests on pets and then gauge their combat ability based on test results.

The combat ability index was used to indicate the strength of a battle pet. It wasn’t always accurate, nor correct, but it was an important reference.

Su Ping was quite curious, so he decided to try with the Dark Dragon Hound, only to find that the result was quite similar to the information on the system, with an error of only 1.8!

“It can quantify the pet’s performance…” Su Ping was astonished by the Federation’s advanced technologies; no wonder it had colonized the entire universe.

“The device that Mia used wasn’t able to show combat ability. It could only detect other data. This scanning device can show combat ability, but it’s too large. The system’s Pet Identification is much more convenient…” Su Ping thought and was awed by the power of the system again.

“Humph!” snorted the system in Su Ping’s head.

“…”

Su Ping chose to ignore the peeper and wandered the streets. He then went to the other shop. After all, the difference between a pet shop in the Federation and his own was worth investigating.

The pet shop was a thriving business. Su Ping went to look around and found that it offered similar services as his own did, although it wasn’t as good as his shop in terms of facilities.

First of all, there were a lot of battle pets available in the shop. If any customer wanted to buy one, they had to make an advance payment and an appointment, all intended so that the shop could eventually ship pets from its base.

As for the training, their instructions would store the pets in space devices, transfer them to the training base, and ask the customers to fetch them when the training was completed.

There’s a lot of pet food available. They must be part of the mainstream, popular pet foods on the planet, or even the entire Federation. But they’re not very old, nor are they of a high quality. I should restock the shelves correspondingly…

Su Ping examined the myriad of pet foods in the shop. After having traveled across many dimensions, he was able to easily tell that the pet foods were mediocre. They could fill their stomachs, but they could hardly improve their combat abilities.

After the business investigation was over, Su Ping left and returned to his own shop.

He had gathered a lot of intelligence on his trip, not just the matters about the other shops, but also the intelligence about his relocation.

All the sellers in those shops thought that his shop had been there for years, but it had never sold well; it had yet to leave a deep impression on them.

Obviously… It was achieved with the magnificent power of the system again.

Jumping from the Blue Planet, appearing on a business street on Rhea, all of it while onlookers saw that as a normal occurrence; nobody reacted when it came to his neighborhood… Su Ping was terrified of the ability. If the system intended to kill anyone, it could probably wipe out or even tamper with the memories of everyone who knew the victim!

The power was beyond Su Ping’s comprehension!

The system chuckled and spoke proudly, “I’m glad you realize how strong I am.”

Su Ping: “…”

Back at the shop—

Su Ping told Tang Ruyan and Zhong Lingtong what he had found about the language learning companies. There was a Common Tongue Crash Course nearby, but it was quite expensive.

Su Ping took them to a Bank of the Universe’s subsidiary nearby and applied for a bank card for each of them.

Then, he found another use for the Lord Badge, which could endorse that they were the natives of the planet associated with the Lord Badge. As a result, the time needed to show their ID badges and confirm their identities were saved, and they got two cards rather quickly.

They were the natives of the Blue Planet, but the Blue Planet was too underdeveloped and their information was never uploaded to the federal database; they were unregistered residents.

Once everyone had an account, Su Ping transferred five hundred million to each of them, so they could make use of it as they saw fit.

Then, he took them to the language school and paid the tuition fees, which were slightly more than a hundred thousand astral coins. The amount represented an ordinary person’s yearly wages in a year or even longer; still, it was almost nothing in Su Ping’s eyes.

Su Ping left them in the school after paying the tuition fees, not before asking them to return when they became fluent in the Common Tongue.

Then, Su Ping returned to his shop, ready to train Mia’s pets.

…

At the same time…

In a lofty skyscraper that looked like glass with spiral patterns, one could see the view of half the city while standing at its top, which was close to a thousand meters high.

It was also a landmark of Woffett, one of the seven most prosperous cities in the Kamp Continent of Rhea.

There was a luxurious mall on the lower floors of the skyscraper; conversely, there was a famous hotel at the top. It was a famous hotel that only entertained those who were both rich and powerful.

In one of the suites, Mia—who had changed into casual clothes—threw herself into the soft cushion. Her petite body had almost sunk in its entirety, making her feel as if she were lying on a cloud.

Phone in hand, she was talking to another person while using her astral power to send bits of fruit salad to her mouth.

She was smiling adorably at the moment, not nearly as cold as she had acted in front of Layne.

“How has it been on Rhea? Did you buy the Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon you wanted?” There was a lazy and casual female voice on the other side of the phone who also sounded rather young.

Mia smiled and said, “Sis, I just came here. I haven’t looked for it yet.”

“You’d better hurry then. The sophomore’s monthly exam will be held in two weeks. A lot of people from our family will be watching the exam. You must try harder,” said the lazy voice, who remembered something else and added, “Is the Ryan family entertaining you during your stay on Rhea? If you can’t find the Vast Sky Thunderous Dragon on your own, just speak to the master of the Ryan family in my name and ask him to give you one.”

Mia stuck out her tongue and said, “I secretly came here without sending word to the Ryan family. I didn’t even bring the guards that mom arranged for me. I prefer relying on myself whenever I can. You also know that I shouldn’t get too involved with other families, or deal with things related to how my marriage would be arranged…”

She looked frustrated as she talked, but then she perked up and said, “By the way, I ran into a wonderful pet shop when I was looking for pet food today. Let me tell you, the shop looked plain. Its decorations weren’t bad, but not too surprising. However, the boss of the shop sold me two seven-thousand year old Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits! Seven-thousand-year ones!”

She sounded quite excited when she talked about Su Ping’s shop.

The other speaker, however, was silent for a moment, not continuing until the other was done. “Don’t think too much about the future yet. You have a chance to change your fate now that you’ve been admitted by the Amir Royal Academy. I’ll send a recommendation so you can enter the Conduct Committee in your junior year. Then, you’ll have enough friends to support you so you can make your own decisions!”

Stunned for a moment, Mia became solemn as she said with glittering eyes, “In any case, I’ll try to graduate as scheduled!”

She gave a bitter smile and then pouted her lips. “But it’s too hard for me to enter the Conduct Committee; it’s full of geniuses like you…”

“That’s fine. I’ll put in a good word and help you. Don’t underestimate yourself,” the lazy voice said with more calmness. Then she changed the subject, “Enough about that. Did you just say that a pet shop sold you seven-thousand year old Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits?”