Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-727

Chapter 727: Nurturing

Mia immediately gave the second Heaven Frost Crystal Fruit she just acquired to her Frost Blood Star Dragon.

The dragon had just digested the first one and was about to ask Su Ping for the one he kept hidden; it was delighted to take it from Mia. It hopped as it swallowed the fruit and tenderly nuzzled against her hand.

Mia smiled when she saw how happy it was.

The pet had been very proud and was rarely as obedient in front of strangers; it was obvious that those treats were truly appealing.

The Frost Blood Star Dragon moaned happily again. This time, to everybody's surprise, it underwent physical changes—a short dark red horn grew between the white horns. It was tiny, but quite eye-catching!

Mia's and Layne's eyes twitched when they saw that, before Mia exclaimed in excitement, "This—This is a Star Fire horn!"

Su Ping also raised his brows in surprise.

Apart from the dominant dragon bloodline, half of the Frost Blood Star Dragons' blood was beast blood. As a result, most adults of their kind only had the Frost Dragon horns.

Only a minority of them were able to activate their beast blood and grow a Star Fire horn!

Only the Frost Blood Star Dragons with Star Fire horns were considered to have the complete form, which would give them hope to reach the Star State!

Even though such dragons carried a Star State bloodline, most of them could never develop a Star Fire horn in their entire lives due to poor nurturing, never reaching their full potential.

"The Star Fire horn has been activated!"

Mia was thrilled to see the Frost Blood Star Dragon become even more powerful than before. Those with and those without Star Fire horns were completely different!

Layne was also shocked, but he soon came back to his senses and looked at Su Ping, only to discover that he was still acting casual, not considering such development as a big deal. His eyes became solemn.

The woman he was courting was being impressed by another man, which made him feel quite uncomfortable.

"The P value has increased by 1.5 again. They were more than effective; I think it may go through a breakthrough if it takes another one!" Mia read the data on the device excitedly and completely lost her cool.

Her dragon had improved dramatically right when she was about to participate in a battle. Her purchase was truly helpful!

She looked at Su Ping with unusual brilliance in her silver, pretty eyes. "Boss, my battle pet… Thank you very much! We haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Mia. Mia Laiyefa!"

She revealed her family name.

It was a name that had much more clout than the "Ryan" surname that Layne had announced!

"Laiyefa" could inspire awe on that planet as well as those in the vicinity, all thanks to the master of the family behind the name: a Star Lord that reigned over a large territory!

Su Ping was new to the planet and didn't know what the name represented. He merely thought that the woman was sincerely intending to make friends with him. If that was the case, it would be easy for him to fool… well, sell things to her.

Su Ping introduced himself, "My name is Su Ping. My family name is Su, and my given name is Ping."

Mia was slightly surprised to see how casual Su Ping's was. She didn't know whether Su Ping was only pretending to be cool, or if he was really that confident.

In any case, she found the young boss rather perplexing.

He had to be a genius to have reached such a level at such a young age. He was also quite generous, someone who didn't seem to be from an ordinary family.

However, she didn't ask further. She had obviously been properly raised, and wouldn't pry on matters of a stranger she had just met.

"In fact, the services offered by my shop are even better than the pet food," said Su Ping. Since he had finally proven his trustworthiness, it was time to complete his quest.

He preferred to encourage her to train her pet rather than to sell pet food to her.

Training pets would be more profitable!

As for the pet food… Although he had made a fortune from the last trip, it was just a small amount of money.

On the other hand, when it came to training… The cost to train a Void State battle pet once could cost a hundred million astral coins, and the professional training would be even more expensive!

"Is that so?" Mia was rather tempted by what Su Ping had just said. Her Frost Blood Star Dragon's newly-developed Star Fire Horn attested to the food's authenticity, and that Su Ping's shop was not an illegal place as they had speculated at first.

"What services do you offer?" asked Mia curiously.

Su Ping smiled and said, "Pet training, pet selling, etc. However, my shop has just sold a batch of fairly-good Void State pets. No pets are available for now, but I can recommend pet training and nursing services to you."

"You call pet nursing a service?"

Mia flashed an intriguing smile. She wasn't surprised to hear that Void State pets had been previously sold; after all, her origins were lofty and thus she had seen many things. Besides, some of the big shops on that planet even sold Fate State pets. It wasn't really surprising.

The pet training service was the basic service of a pet shop, and pet nursing was the basic of all basics. She was rather surprised that Su Ping would recommend it to her.

She thought that he would offer services such as pet beautification or tending.

Those services couldn't help much with fighting capabilities, but they could increase the pets' intimacy and loyalty to their masters. There were also many people who had deeply bonded with their pets and were glad to have their pets enjoy life when they weren't fighting.

"Sort of." Su Ping nodded. There were plenty of nursing pens in his shop anyway, and the advanced nursing pens would cost a hundred thousand astral coins per hour, which equated to 2.4 million astral coins in a day.

If he took care of a few more pets… he would earn ten million astral coins every day!

"If you're interested in the pet nursing service, the price is a hundred thousand astral coins per hour, with the minimum being an hour. Injured pets would recover after staying in the nursing pens," Su Ping said, "Also, your pet will cultivate and grow faster in the nursing environment."

"A hundred thousand astral coins per hour?" Mia was quite surprised, thinking that the precious fruits were overly cheap and the nursing service too costly.

Not even some of the big shops would charge this much!

A hundred thousand astral coins for a day was already enough!

Nursing only meant basic tending and feeding. Why would it be so expensive?

Mia slightly shook her head and declined the offer, "My pet has to train with me soon; maybe some other time." It wasn't an excuse, although she was indeed considering making up for Su Ping's loss in the Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits sale. She had to participate in a contest, and her pet had to train with her; there was no time for nursing.

Su Ping didn't insist on the matter; short-time nursing might be effective, but it was hardly noticeable. After all, the odds of the advanced nursing pen granting a talent were only 1%!

A pet would hardly perceive a talent if it only stayed inside the pen for an hour, unless it was unbelievably lucky.

"Then, would you like to train your pet?" asked Su Ping. "The pet training in my shop is quite effective. Your pet will grasp at least one new skill, or slightly increase its combat ability after each training session."

A stunned Mia gave a weird look at Su Ping and asked, "Are you serious?"

One training session would be enough to attain a new skill? That was something that only a three-star trainer or above could achieve!

Hers was a Void State pet. Although a four-star trainer could take care of it, the effect wouldn't be as good, unless it was trained for a long time…

"Of course I am," replied Su Ping.

"How long will the training take?" asked Mia immediately.

"One day." Su Ping looked at her and added, "If you're in a hurry, half a day is probably enough."

Mia looked at him with shock written all over her face, mouth wide.

One day? Or half a day, if I am in a hurry?

Do you think training equals showering? No trainer can do that in such a short amount of time!

She would at first thought that Su Ping was messing with her—or trying to swindle her out of some money—if he hadn't just sold her genuine Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits.

"The normal training is faster," explained Su Ping.

The shop had been upgraded, and he could already train king-level pets. However, he had yet to unlock the king-level's professional training because he hadn't trained any high-quality king-level pets yet.

Once it was unlocked… He could charge ten billion astral coins for each professional training session of king-level beasts!

That would be a hundred million energy points when converted, enough for him to upgrade the Chaos Spirit Pool!

Mia's lips twitched. She found it impossible to remain calm in front of Su Ping, who thought of such a rapid and effective way of training as normal…

Then, what would the abnormal way be?

Could it double the pet's combat ability?

"I suggest that you try and see if it's effective. As I promised before, I'll offer a refund if it's ineffective and you're not satisfied, " said Su Ping solemnly.

Given the quest's reward, he had to be as persuasive as possible.

Mia was dazed for a moment after hearing what Su Ping had told her; she was feeling just like moments before.

Is Su Ping really serious?

After staring at Su Ping for a long time, she thought for a moment and said, "Okay, I can give it a shot, but I can only try with my other battle pet. It has just grown up and I want to see its performance in a real battle. I may have to use the virtual combat devices in your place."

"No problem." Su Ping nodded quickly.

He didn't mind which pet he was going to train; money was what truly mattered.