Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 75: Exhibition Match

Su Ping picked a video with the highest view count and clicked it open. The owner of the video had a seat at the back of the crowd, though the position still offered a clear view of the arena.

Su Yanying’s opponent was a handsome-looking young man with a refined posture who summoned a silver-scaled Thunder Basilisk, a ninth-rank Astral Pet that usually possessed an amazing aptitude. This thing was known as one of the most ferocious pets of the thunder family and could be born with powerful abilities.

The final match was between two thunder-type Astral Pets who had a giant level gap setting them apart. Most of the people watching were cheering for the Lightning Rat because they all hoped to see another miracle where the underdog triumphed over the strong.

Su Ping couldn’t see the number of horns the Thunder Basilisk had due to the poor video quality, but judging from its size, the creature should be a hatchling still at the six or seventh rank. An adult Thunder Basilisk was big enough to occupy the entire arena, making a proper match impossible.

At the start of the match, Su Yanying applied a stealth effect to the Lightning Rat on top of the four augmentations so the rat was harder to detect.

Upon receiving her order, the rat dashed at its enemy while creating four shadows as good as the real body.

Many among the audience had seen such a move before, though this wouldn’t prevent them from exclaiming in awe again.

Su Ping disabled all the floating comments that filled up the screen so he could look at the video better.

Not bad. She knows how to make good use of the rat’s skills now. Su Ping silently approved Su Yanying’s commands.

On the other hand, the young man on the other side of the arena also applied augmentations to his pet using astral runes, although what he used appeared to be of the fifth rank. He was surely an exceptional genius, since the academy didn’t help their students to reach such a level.

As the Lightning Rat approached, the Thunder Basilisk coated itself in lightning bolts—this was a typical defense move used by thunder-types.

Meanwhile, the Lightning Rat used the same move which was obviously more powerful and deadlier.

The two pets clashed in the middle of the stage and the energy surge caused the video to go all blurry. When the static settled, Su Ping saw the Lightning Rat using Thunder Slash, which only hit the Thunder Basilisk’s lingering illusion, after which the basilisk bit back at the rat’s body using its lightning-enhanced fangs.

“Weird…” Su Ping frowned. “The rat could have used Thunder Roar beforehand to tell where the basilisk really is. But it didn’t.”

This hatchling Thunder Basilisk clearly didn’t have a complete set of skills yet. But it still used the chance and left several wounds on the Lightning Rat by using simple tail whips.

“Thunder Flash, Thunder Slash, Thunder Shadow Image, Thunder Outerwear, All-round Thunder Prison… It’s only using these five skills.”

In the video, the Lightning Rat was slowly losing. It had many chances to unleash more helpful moves such as Thunder Rush to get away from certain attacks, but chose not to for some reason.

Something was off.

As far as Su Ping knew, the Lightning Rat had grasped at least a dozen different skills. It could pick an easy combination and defeat the inexperienced Thunder Basilisk in no time. He had noticed that the Thunder Basilisk was younger than he expected. Maybe an upper sixth-rank, at best.

A moment later, the basilisk slammed the rat out of the stage with another tail-swipe, announcing the end of the fight.

It lost? Just like that?

It was likely that Su Yanying only knew those five skills and would keep telling her rat to use them. As her loyal partner, the Lightning Rat couldn’t do otherwise.

Talking about a terrible teammate… Su Ping sighed. The poor little guy could perform better if she just stood there without making a sound.

However, the viewers didn’t have the same concern as they kept talking about how awesome the display was. As a matter of fact, four of the five skills shown by the rat were high-rank skills, while the remaining one was a secret art only available to a selected few thunder-type pets and Beast Kings.

Still, Su Ping couldn’t quite accept the result.

Where the heck was his Undead Calling? Soul Eater? And Life Drain? What about Death Deceit? That skill alone was enough to turn the tables!

He didn’t really care about the trophy because he wasn’t the one participating. It was just that, looking at such a match felt like putting a god’s gift to waste. He gave Su Yanying a god-tier pet, while she made a huge disappointment out of it.

Soon, Su Yanying came visiting.

“Hey, mister!” Su Yanying walked to the counter with a joyful look. “Now I can thank you personally. You helped me reach the finals after all.”

Su Ping’s lips twitched. He decided not to complain about the match as this would change nothing.

“*Sigh* Here, let’s get the video done.”

“No offense but, do you really need the video to make your shop known? I thought you just wanted to keep a low profile in this small place even though you have what it takes to make big money.”

Su Ping grimaced. Low-profile my butt! I need freaking money!

“Oh, right, are you free these days, Mister Su? Since the official matches have ended, our school is going to hold an exhibition match tomorrow. There will be huge crowds and firework shows! I want to thank you more properly, so… Would you team up with me for a match?”

“An exhibition match? I’m not from your academy.”

“It’s fine! The exhibition match is all about being pretty. We’ll be open to visitors on this occasion. My friends and their families will also go there to join in the fun!”