Astral Pet Store

“Well, professor, there’s a pet contest going on at the academy. It’s us against someone from the Berserking Blade Academy. But today’s matches are already finished. If you want, you can go and watch tomorrow. They scheduled better matches for later. If I remembered right, Ye Hao’s game is scheduled tomorrow as well.”

So, today’s lineup is done. Then why are there so few students coming? Su Ping wondered. “Anything else I should know?” “No, professor.”

Su Ping frowned and sent the student away.

The shop received a few more customers who either came to take their pets away or to have the pets further trained. Like usual, Su Ping waited until 10:30 at night, dispatched several Dummy Trainers to take care of more pets, and went home.

There was only Su Lingyue waiting in the living room that day. Their mother was nowhere to be seen.

“Where is…”

Su Lingyue glanced at Su Ping and stopped her cultivation. “You were taking to long, so I told her to sleep first. Your dinner’s in the kitchen. Throw it in the oven and eat yourself.”

Su Ping nodded and did so.

It seemed there were a good number of varieties left for him that day. After carrying his meal to the table, Su Lingyue also joined him after fetching some water. “Do you still have that… Inferno Dragon?” Su Lingyue asked first.

“What, you want to look at it too?”

That was indeed what Su Lingyue wanted, but she no longer felt like it when Su Ping mentioned it like that.

“No, I don’t care. It’s just an Inferno Dragon. There are loads of pictures on the Internet.”

“Okay.”

Su Lingyue rolled her eyes. “Did you hear about the pet contest at the academy today?”

Su Ping mumbled something without looking up from his food.

“… I have a match tomorrow afternoon. Will you come and watch?”

“Em? Aren’t you a first-grader?”

“What’s wrong with being a first-grader? I’m the champion of my year!”

“So, is the match like, for educational purposes?”

“It’s a friendly competition between academies, knucklehead!”

“Um-hmm.”

Su Lingyue gave up and stomped her way upstairs.

“Hold up,” Su Ping called her.

“What do you want??”

“Just come here,” Su Ping beckoned. Su Lingyue frowned and decided to listen to him though she truly didn’t want to. “Whatever. If you have something to say, be quick about it.”

“*sigh* Can you be a little more friendly at least?”

Su Ping shook his head and channeled some astral power into the water barrier around his body. The barrier quickly shrank smaller until it became a translucent sphere floating in front of him.

“What’s that??” Su Lingyue went wide-eyed upon seeing the sphere.

“This is Aquatic Blessing, a tool used for protection.” Su Ping handed the sphere to his sister. “You can use it during your match. Give it back once you’re done.”

Su Ping had won this item by spending merit points he had earned during the barren expedition. This item was potent enough to deflect most attacks of the eighth-rank or below. Still, it was of little use to him when he spent most of his time at the shop.

“A barrier item?” Su Lingyue twiddled the water orb in awe. “How did you get this thing?”

“Do you have to ask? Just return it if you don’t want it.”

Neither of them felt bothered by their “unfriendly” conversation, since this was their bread-and-butter these days.

Su Lingyue smiled slightly. “Since you sincerely meant to give me a gift, I’ll accept it.”

“I’m letting you borrow it. For a day.”

“Hmph. Not like I need it.”

Of course Su Lingyue wasn’t going to give up the item too early. She had never seen something so interesting before, and she would love to have some fun playing with it. “Uhh, how do I use it?”

Su Ping gave her an impatient glance and explained how to properly use the item.

Su Lingyue followed the instructions by sending her astral power inside the item. Soon, the orb expanded into a thin film made out of water elements, which clasped against her skin like a sunscreen.

It felt chilly at first, but was soon warmed up by her body so she could no longer feel it. The barrier almost had no weight by itself and it didn’t obstruct the airflow. If she wanted, she could forget about such an extra protection guarding her body.

Su Ping made such a decision after what had happened during the day. He feared that those “rival students’ would vent out their grudges against other students of the Phoenix Peak Academy, which meant his sister was not safe.

“Good night then.” Su Ping cleaned up his plates and went to his room without saying anything else.

Su Lingyue wanted to ask him about his sudden generosity, but she didn’t do it in the end.

The next morning, Su Lingyue and Su Ping had their meals in complete silence and went their separate ways, like always.

Some of the waiting customers seemed to be in a big hurry that day. After thanking Su Ping for improving their pets so greatly, they immediately left for the academy without looking back.

Tang Lang, who was waiting at the tail of the line, saw all the students leaving and asked with a strange look, “Mister Su, why are these people all calling you a professor? You teach them classes?”

“Yeah. Are you going to leave your Wing Beast for training again?”

Tang Lang nodded with a surprised look. “Wait, you are a professor? But… you’re no older than me, right?” “What do you mean by that? You look too old anyway. I’m only 18, at the prime of my bright life.”

Tang Lang checked Su Ping’s face carefully and noticed that he indeed had much room for growth. In a good way. Wait, did he just call me old?? Being 21 isn’t old!

“Come on, pay up.” Su Ping waved a hand impatiently. “That’ll be 100,000, again.”

Tang Lang made the transfer while his face twitched in awkwardness. At least he would admit that hiring Su Ping’s services was completely worth it. After all the training, his Wing Beast had gotten almost as strong as his best pet.

Previously, he thought about sharing the shop’s address with his friends, but later decided not to, after seeing how crowded this place could get each day.

If he could, he would have already booked the entire shop for his own use.

For the moment, Tang Lang decided to wait until his pets received enough training, before reporting his new “discovery” to his seniors and teachers. By then, he’d be way ahead of them.

Su Ping took the Wing Beast to the pet room, summoned a Dummy Trainer to take care of it, and entered the dragon king heritage ground again, since not many people would go there during this hour of the day.

Even without using any Force Pellets, the battles and explorations he went through recently still boosted his astral power potential at an amazing speed. Right this moment, he was almost at the upper fourth rank.

When it was past lunchtime, he remembered Su Lingyue’s match and Dong Mingsong’s message, so he made up his mind to check out the academy unwillingly. On his way, he headed to a grocery store to buy something he might use later.

The damaged floor in front of the academy had already been fixed. Though this was nothing special since the academy was rich enough to hire their own repairmen.

He took out his phone and called the vice principal. “Hello? Mister Dong. I’m at the gate of the academy right now. Where do I find those guys you mentioned?”

Dong Mingsong’s end sounded rather noisy at the moment, so the old man was speaking in a loud voice. He sounded displeased about something, too. “We’re at Stadium One. Come quickly, the finals are about to begin!”

The finals?

Didn’t Su Lingyue tell me that her match would be at around this hour? If the finals are starting, did she finish already?

Confused, Su Ping rode faster. Thankfully, he knew his way around the academy pretty well by then. Stadium One was the biggest facility in the entire academy, which was large enough to house 100,000 people.

Unlike what he had imagined, he didn’t hear any cheering or yelling noises coming from the building. Instead, it was quiet, except for occasional clashing sounds that suggested someone was fighting.

He entered the building and saw almost all the seats taken. And yet, the grim atmosphere in the stadium didn’t properly reflect the number of spectators.

He looked further ahead and saw a familiar Black Pit Dragon currently displaying its dominance on the central stage, while it kept its opponent-Ye Hao’s Thunder Basiliskpinned under a claw.

Apparently, the final match of the contest had almost reached a conclusion. An unfavorable one.

Su Ping wasn’t too concerned about Ye Hao’s defeat since that Black Pit Dragon was clearly deadlier than the Thunder Basilisk in many aspects.

“Hey,” he asked a random onlooker closest to him. “Is Su Lingyue’s match over?”

The addressed man responded in an unpleasant tone without looking at him, “It’s done! Everyone’s freaking done! Damn it!”

“What’s the result?”

“What do you mean ‘result?? Why the fu*k do we have to compete with these psychos? This is nuts!”

Su Ping frowned and checked where Su Lingyue’s class was seated, but without finding her.

She should be fine with the Aquatic Blessing protecting her. Right?

To be safe, he still headed there to ask about his sister.