Astral Pet Store (WN)

Unsurprisingly, the defensive deployments around the main base—including several missile launchers and laser cannons—were all aimed at the Magical Corpse Beast.

The guards saw friendlies sitting on the creature and asked everyone to hold their fire. Though they still had to thoroughly check the returning group’s settler badges so they didn’t accidentally invite spies who were being controlled by hostile Astral Pets. Such tragedies occurred several times when either Beast Kings or low-rank parasites planned to infiltrate the base. As the second line of defense protecting the base city, they had to ensure security.

Once checked that everything was in order, the guards silently kept Su Ping’s name in their minds. There weren’t many settler teams who possessed such powerful Astral Pets as mounts.

“I’m sorry sir, but you have to put your partner back inside your pet space,” a guard politely spoke to Ye Chenshan, when he thought the giant creature belonged to Team Polaris. “Large-sized pets aren’t allowed to walk freely in the facility.”

Ye Chenshan cleared his throat. “Ahem, Mister Su, the man’s right, I’m afraid. You should leave your puppet outside for the moment.”

Several guards looked at Su Ping in great surprise. They thought this particular young man was a kid from some rich family who was tagging along to gain experience.

But… Not even a “rich kid” would be able to summon an eighth-rank pet without having the strength to control it.

“There’s no need.” Su Ping shook his head. “I’m turning in this thing to get some merit.”

The Magical Corpse Beast was Little Skeleton’s puppet and could not go inside his personal pet space. Since he couldn’t keep it with him in the base city, it would be better to get rid of it.

Besides, he didn’t need such a burdensome creature to help him fight when he had Little Skeleton. And it wasn’t like he planned to fight Astral Pets in the barrens often. Supposing he had to return some time in the future, he might just find a dead pet and make another puppet out of it.

The others, however, couldn’t quite accept his decision. Everybody would absolutely like such an awesome mount to show off. Why would they hand it over to the Federation?

Fan Ganglie even tried persuading Su Ping, who did not listen at all.

After ordering the puppet to place the Nether Ore on the ground, Su Ping told Little Skeleton to cancel the puppet effect. As soon as the Undead energy was taken away, the Magical Corpse Beast turned into a pile of bones.

The others couldn’t help but feel their hearts aching upon seeing Su Ping giving up such a precious tool. Yet they couldn’t do anything about it.

A transportation team in the base came and took all the bones and the Nether Ore further inside.

“Goddammit. Such a waste…” Fan Ganglie mumbled.

The others more or less knew that Su Ping was not with them. As a shopkeeper usually stayed in the base city, he didn’t have much use for the Magical Corpse Beast anyway.

While waiting for the inspection results to come out, Ye Chenshan excused himself first. “Guys, since everything’s done, I’ll report back to my team.”

“All right.” Fan Ganglie and Li Ying nodded back. “Good luck, man.”

Su Ping also showed his courtesy. “See you next time.”

“I’ll find time to talk about your compensation in a few days.” Ye Chenshan walked away.

No one objected. They knew someone like Ye Chenshan wouldn’t keep them hanging.

Before leaving, both Ye Chenshan and Luo Guxue asked to exchange contact information.

“This is where I work in the base city,” said Luo Guxue, as she handed Su Ping her business card. “If you’re interested, I hope you can come to our academy. With that kind of skill and potential, you’ll be benefiting a lot of upcoming battle pet warriors and enriching our future.”

Su Ping read the card and found the name on it to be familiar. It seemed this “academy” was where his sister was attending. Luo Guxue was a senior professor.

“I’ll think about it.”

Lu Guxue thanked everyone politely and went away after Ye Chenshan.

A moment later, the report of the prize they delivered came back. They had earned 1.6 million merit points in total.

That was a big number, according to what Su Ping learned from Fan Ganglie the other day. As he remembered, the merit points for killing a first-rank was 10, second was 50, third was 100. Then the price would climb in folds from here. A thousand, ten thousand… until it reached 500,000 for a seventh-rank kill.

As for eighth-rank pets, even the weakest one was worth at least a million. The Magical Corpse Beast was an intermediate eighth-rank, so 1.6 million was a very reasonable result.

However, Fan Ganglie didn’t look happy upon seeing the result. “Damn. They settled the payout based on an ordinary Magical Corpse Beast.”

The Magical Corpse Beast they took back was absolutely not “ordinary” when it could use Black Annihilation, a ninth-rank skill. As Fan Ganglie believed, they should be rewarded double. But they couldn’t argue anymore because the corpse couldn’t prove anything. No one suggested a second inspection. It just wouldn’t work out.

Su Ping didn’t have any problem with the result at all. The merit points could get him enough rewards already.

Also, he was registered as the killer of the beast in the end, as agreed by everyone else. The single record had boosted Su Ping from a recruit all the way to the Silver tier.

The next tier would be Gold, which required him to earn a total of five million merit points.

Above Gold were honored settlers who could hunt down ninth-rank enemies, which meant over 10 million merit points for each kill. Just like titled battle pet warriors, honored settlers were the most respected individuals on this planet.