Astral Pet Store (WN)

“Man. It took me eight years to become a Silver settler. And yet, Mister Su succeeded in a single trip.”

Fan Ganglie felt a bit jealous, but that was about it. He knew well that Su Ping’s glory was still in the beginning stages. This young man would probably become one of the most famous settlers within half a year if he were to take his time hunting Astral Pets in the barrens day and night.

“You’re making me sad, captain. We two are still Iron.” Li Ying pretended a sour look.

Fan Yujing checked Su Ping’s young look and felt conflicting thoughts bloating in his mind. People around him always referred to him as a genius who progressed pretty fast. Once Su Ping made his appearance, he felt like a loser.

Su Ping, on the other hand, didn’t really care which tier he was at. He was only a temporary settler who didn’t have a minimum salary he could collect. He wasn’t going to actually work as a settler.

Compared to his promotion, he was more concerned about what kind of items he could exchange with the merit points.

Fan Ganglie acted as the leader who would distribute the points among the team, although the others only took 100,000 points for the sake of it, while leaving all the remaining points to Su Ping.

Su Ping basically killed the Magical Corpse Beast all by himself. It was just right to make such a decision.

As the team leader, of course Fan Ganglie could keep more points for personal reasons. But at this point, he no longer dared offend Su Ping or whoever was supporting Su Ping from behind the scene.

Su Ping simply accepted the income without a word and headed to the storage area. Firstly, he bought all four basic augmentation skills including the tutorials to boost them all the way to the ninth rank. So far, these cost him 150,000 points.

Then he spent 880,000 points on a defensive tool called the “Aquatic Blessing.” It was a sphere that could create an energy barrier around his body out of water elements. According to its description, the barrier worked well against eighth-rank’s physical and energy-based attacks or below. Though it had no effect against spiritual skills.

“Let me see what else I can get here. Oh, a fruit that prolongs lifespan by… only three years? It costs a million points and can only work once. Not good.”

“A ‘beauty fruit’ that gives you good looks. Forget it. I love my handsome face as it is.”

“The egg of a Beast King! By the Gods. Thirteen million points??”

He ended his “shopping” there. He did have enough points left to buy some more battle pet warrior skill books, but he probably didn’t have time to study them when he had not acquired the four basic augmentations yet.

Despite the label “basic”, these four skills were must-haves for all battle pet warriors. By straightforwardly enhancing the performance of battle pets, these skills usually worked better than most other skills that looked flashy.

Fan Yujing suddenly approached him. “Mister Su, remember that you have to pay a clearance fee of 100,000 if you want to take the ore with you.”

“Clearance fee?”

“You know, we settlers are employees of the federation, in name. The resources we gather are usually sent to the feds, unless you want to keep something for yourself by paying a price. They made this rule so settlers don’t hide valuables they find on their missions. Note that they don’t care what kind of item you’re taking. You pay the same price for anything.”

Su Ping nodded. “I understand.”

“Good. And make sure you have the ore examined at the checkpoint, so you don’t bring some kind of foreign virus into the city.”

“I see.”

Fan Yujing smiled in satisfaction. “I will surely call you again if we need more help in the future. Hope you don’t mind.”

“Of course I’d mind that.”

“Eh?”

…

They were heading back to the one-story house when the Fire-tailed Blood Fox behind them quickly dashed ahead and began hopping happily in front of a woman with a walking cane.

She gave the fox a gentle head-stroke and managed not to tear up. Then she waved her hand at the coming group. “Hello captain. And a hearty welcome to the other senior gentlemen!”

Li Ying didn’t look happy. “I’m not your senior! I’m 28!”

Fan Ganglie chuckled. “It’s all thanks to the new helper found by Fan Xiaoyu; he made finding your pet possible. Seriously, we could have all kicked the bucket back there.”

The woman looked at Su Ping and couldn’t believe how the entire team had to rely on someone so young.

Fan Yujing explained everything that happened, while the woman widened her eyes further as she listened, until Su Ping grew too embarrassed when the woman was staring at him as if watching a chimpanzee in a zoo.

“It wasn’t a big deal.” Su Ping quickly shooed off the woman’s admiring look. “I was just helping.”

“Don’t be like that, Mister Su!” Fan Ganglie exclaimed with a big smile, “We all owe you a big one. Come, let’s have a drink. No one’s leaving tonight until everyone’s knocked out!”

Of course Su Ping didn’t want to stay. He would be in big trouble if he went home while smelling of booze.

Lin Mokong, who had been quiet until then, glanced at Su Ping and spoke, “Captain, I have other things to do so I’ll leave for now. Let’s get together another time.”

Fan Ganglie just remembered that Lin Mokong had grudges against Su Ping. As the team leader, he didn’t want to see anyone get hurt.

“All right, I’ll treat you next time. Good job, man.”

“Good job indeed.” Lin Mokong turned away.

Fan Ganglie saw him leave and gave Su Ping an apologetic look. “Mister Su, Mokong is straight-tempered so… please forgive him. I think he’s good now since he didn’t say anything when we settled the result. It’ll be for the best if you both take a step back.”

Su Ping nodded, for he couldn’t care less about a man he wouldn’t meet in the future. “As long as he doesn’t cause trouble, I’ll leave him alone.”

“That’s fine.” Fan Ganglie sighed.

“I’ll leave as well. Need to get home before sunrise.”

“Already?”

“Look, I have a shop to run.”

Fan Yujing chuckled. “I—I see. Must be important.”

“Right. If you’ll excuse me.” Su Ping walked away.

“Wait, I’ll drive you back.”