Su Lingyue was beginning to find her brother was becoming cockier in her view. Previously, this guy knew how to quit after getting pummeled. He was starting to confront her! Just because he had awakened?
âYou have no idea which rank Iâm at, huh?! Iâm an intermediate third-rank battle pet warrior, while youââ
She channeled more astral power to give Su Ping a beating and show him who was boss. But she was stopped by Li Qingru, who just returned while holding a plate of apples.
âWhat are you doing?â
Su Ping smiled. âItâs nothing. Iâm checking how good Lingyueâs hair looks.â
Checking my WHAT?? Su Lingyue had barely managed to swallow her rage down her throat, but she felt how it was dangerously returning.
Li Qingru quickly realized what was going on because this happened quite often in the family. âStop it. I just told you to be good to each other a second ago!â
âSorry, mom.â Su Ping lowered his head as he found his mother was truly angry.
Li Qingru shook her head and turned away to continue cooking.
âDonât you think this is over!â Su Lingyue shouted while taking the apples all to herself.
âUm-hmm.â
âHeh.â
âHa?â
âHumph!â
They totally understood what they were talking about.
Su Ping retreated to his room after dinner, while Su Lingyue didnât say anything else. Su Lingyue had planned to ask his brother about what he did at the vice presidentâs office earlier, but she no longer felt like it, since it would make her look bad.
As usual, Su Ping stayed on his bed to cultivate his astral power. The âChaos Star Chartâ method was such a domineering technique that he could easily pull all the astral power existing in the environment his way. He might even stop Su Lingyue from cultivating if he wanted to.
It was less than a week since he started cultivating, yet his Combat Strength had been improved by 0.2, reaching 3.7, which made him an upper third-rank already. If he kept on, heâd become a fourth-rank in the next week. Combining his Solar Bulwark, he was at the moment strong enough to fight off most fifth-rank monsters. Or sixth-rank ones, if he cast augmentation skills on himself.
âI need to get my Solar Bulwark to the second rank so that eighth-rank and ninth ones canât kill me easily. Only then Iâll be able to survive better...â
As someone who had witnessed the perilous threats in the barren areas, he couldnât let his guard down even if his life in the city looked peaceful.
A night quickly passed.
The next morning, Su Ping and Su Lingyue had breakfast while having a staring contest, before they both went on their ways without any verbal mishaps.
Su Ping saw a slim-bodied lady in a long, coffee-colored overcoat looking here and there in front of his shop. Without minding her, Su Ping locked his bike to a tree using a chain to deter thieves, and went to unlock the shop.
It was then that the seemingly apathetic woman suddenly gave him a surprised look.
Next, the woman followed him into the shop.
âSomething you need?â asked Su Ping, after he gave the woman a glimpse. He found her face to be a little familiar but couldnât remember her name. He wondered if she was a customer who saw his advertisement.
âYouâre the shopkeeper here?â Jiang Hanbing looked at Su Ping up and down and found this man too young to run a shop. Then she remembered seeing him the day before.
Su Ping nodded. âThatâs right. Do you need your pet cared for, trained, or are you looking for pet food?â
â... You were at the academy yesterday, right? Did you train that powerful Lightning Rat?â
Su Ping was glad that the flyers he printed didnât totally go to waste. âYeah, thatâll be me.â
Jiang Hanbing sighed in relief. She and Su Yanying used to be clear of each otherâs way, but ever since their classmates tended to compare them in various matters, they slowly became rivals. As Jiang Hanbing observed recently, Su Yanying had the talent, but was far from being a good trainer. Also, Su Yanying was not someone who knew how to bide her time. If she had that powerful rat all along, she would have used it way before.
Using the flyer she found from a classmate, Jiang Hanbing went to that shop to see whether the rumor was true. She was expecting to see some kind of grand, beautifully-decorated boutique managed by an experienced dealer, not this... boy who seemed two years younger than herself.
âHow long does it take to train a pet? Are you the trainer?â she asked.
âI am. I donât have a fixed duration for training a pet; it depends on how many sessions you buy. Once all sessions are complete, Iâll send word so you can pick up your pet.â
âSessions?â Jiang Hanbing had never heard of such a training methodology before. Though it wasnât strange for reclusive masters with amazing skills to have odd protocols.
âFour pets. Ten sessions each,â she offered.
Su Ping raised an eyebrow. âYou must pay independently for each session, Iâm afraid. Do you have enough money on you?â
Jiang Hanbing was ready to hear an insane price from the shop that trained the exceptional Lightning Rat. âHow much for each session?â
âTen thousand for low-rank pets. A hundred thousand for middle-rank. As for advanced... sorry, Iâm not accepting them for the time being.â
Getting the Lightning Rat in shape only unlocked such a level of service. If Su Ping wished to train advanced pets, he had to successfully train a middle-rank pet in the same way.
âThatâs... pretty cheap,â said Jiang Hanbing. Such pricing would look like a scam in ordinary pet shops, but not so much if they were talking about who trained that special rat.
Su Pingâs lips twitched. He was always frustrated about not being able to determine prices freely.
Thankfully, the Lightning Rat was a special case, because the system demanded him to boost it higher. From then on, he could simply take the customerâs pets to a cultivation plane and hang out for a bit to get the job done. He might have to die a few times while at it, but that wasnât a problem.
âI have three fourth-rank pets and a third-rank one. Can you get them all to a level equal to the Lightning Ratâs?â Jiang Hanbing was already paying because she didnât want Su Ping to suddenly change his mind.
âOf course not. The Lightning Rat was an exception. I provide ânormalâ training most of the time.â
Jiang Hanbing knew that getting four Lightning Rat-like pets in one go could only be a dream, but it still felt bad when Su Ping pointed it out.
Also, she wondered if the Lightning Rat was a unique case used for attracting customers, while the true trainer had already left the shop. Or, it could be worse, all of it being a lie. Su Yanying might have been a paid shill who helped the shop with false advertisement.
Su Ping didnât know what Jiang Hanbing was thinking but it couldnât be anything good to his business.
âNormal training still has decent effects, you know. Do you want to buy it or not?â
Really? Jiang Hanbing shook her head. If there used to be something good here, Su Yanying already took it. Damn it.
âIâll... entrust you with one pet for now.â
She didnât want to leave empty-handed. Even if this âmaster trainerâ was no longer there, this shop could still have some connection. Becoming a customer was a good choice.
As for Su Yanying being a scammer, Jiang Hanbing didnât believe that to be possible. Su Yanying would have cooperated with a bigger shop if that were the case.
âOne, huh?â Su Ping felt bad that the sale was suddenly reduced to a quarter, though he couldnât force his customer. âFine.â
PingâPong!
âEmergency mission!â the system suddenly announced in his head. âA customer has withdrawn her order due to mistrust, resulting in decreased revenue. On this special occasion, the host shall be allowed to initiate a specialized training session.â
âPrice: a hundred times the usual price of a normal training session.â
âTime limit: 30 days.â
âRequirement: customerâs pet must reach an aptitude of above average.â
âReward: one intermediate Force Pellet plus a mythical technique tutorial chosen at random.â
âPenalty for failure: host rating reduced by 10.â