Astral Pet Store Novel - Chapter 25

Chapter 25: Initiating Training Quest COMMENT
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations

“This person must be in dire need of money, right?” 1
Lan Lele was pissed off.
Even at the flagship stores—under master trainer’s names that provided all-round care and could be counted among the best locally—pet boarding charges would never go as high as this.
But.
“What the hell is wrong with this shabby store?
“Look at the environment. It’s clean but the storefront is narrow, small and worn-out. Its location is completely out of the way. The monthly rent might not even go beyond 3000. How could this store compare with the famous flagship stores?”
Lan Lele believed that this owner had decided either to not do business, or to make one deal happen and then close down for years. He was trying to milk money from them!
“Wishful thinking!” 1
“Yingying, let’s go. This owner is a dirty profiteer. A master able to train this Lightning Rat is surely someone who would never have anything to do with him!” Lan Lele glared at Su Ping, her mouth virtually foaming. She didn’t hesitate to urge Su Yanying to leave.
But Su Yanying did otherwise. She asked Su Ping, puzzled, “Sir, the service was not this expensive the last time I came here.”
“The care system has been ungraded. Naturally, the price has to go up,” Su Ping said, calmly. 1
“The care system has been upgraded?” Su Yanying stood stunned for a moment. Then, a glow came to her eyes as she said, gladly, “The pet boarding treatment is better than before? Doesn’t this mean that the pet can learn more advanced pet skills?”
“Of course not,” Su Ping said without thinking.
“What?” Su Yanying’s face was covered in question marks.
“I just trained that little guy for some time while I was at it. Its change was a complete surprise.” Su Ping kept a straight face. “Now, of course, I no longer have such luxury of free time. If you want to leave your pets for boarding, then that is it. No training is included.”
Su Yanying understood. “Sir, you finally admitted it. It is you that helped train my Lightning Rat!” she said, giggling.
“I did admit it before,” Su Ping pointed it out.
“This is not the same.” Su Yanying gloated. Staying was the right decision. She hurried to the next question, “Well, sir, what benefits can come with the current pet boarding?” 1
She believed that there had to be some reasons to account for the high price.
Su Ping remained neither hostile nor friendly. “Only an improvement on the pet’s constitution and power of understanding. If the pet itself is quite qualified, then there is a low chance of evolution but nothing else. If you want the pets to learn pet skills from this foster care, you will only be disappointed.” 1
He was telling the truth. After all, the benefits that came with the nursing pens alone would be worthy enough for the price charged. If he had to throw in the training, he would be losing money as it was. 3
Su Yanying said oh. She was let down but not so upset.
After all, she managed to confirm that her Lightning Rat had received training in this very store. This fact alone was enough to make her happy. At least, she had found the origin of the change in her pet, saving her from that muddle-headed situation.
“Only an improvement in its power of understanding and constitution?” Lan Lele gazed at Su Ping skeptically.
While Su Ping had admitted that the Lightning Rat’s change was related to this store, she still found it hard to believe. Once Su Ping revealed the benefits of the pet boarding service, her skepticism was increasing even more.
Those words were practically used in all the pet stores’ advertisements! 3
At the end of the day, there was something.
Power of understanding and constitution could not be measured or tested, unless the scope of improvement was large. Otherwise, who could tell if the pet’s constitution and power of understanding had been enhanced or not?
“Sir, can I ask you to train my pets for me again?” Su Yanying looked at Su Ping with anticipation. As for the pet boarding, she wasn’t that interested after Su Ping had made the introduction.
Usually, people would only leave their pets at a boarding service when they had too many pets to take care of. At the moment, she was free and she could feed them herself; she could also train their battle skills.
“Train them?”
Su Ping was about to refuse when he heard the system’s voice.
“Detecting customers in need of pet training. [Pet Training] service has become available in advance.” 1
“The host can accept orders according to the price set for pet training services.”
Following the prompt message was a price list, like a menu, with the charge related to different levels of training services.
For pets from the first to the third rank, the training fee was 10,000 coins.
For pets from the fourth to the sixth rank, the training fee was 100,000 coins.
For pets from the seventh to the ninth rank, the training fee was a million coins.
For beast kings… the training fee was 10 million! 6
The items for pets from the fourth rank and above were greyed out, meaning that Su Ping could not accept such orders. He could only train low-rank pets from the first to the third rank for the moment.
“The condition for unlocking the next training tier is to train a low-rank pet with an aptitude rated as above average.”
Su Ping didn’t know what to say when he saw the unlocking requirement. This was harder than making a million coins. That being said, this unlocking requirement fell within the scope of his main quest. That was to say, when he finished the main quest, he could unlock the second-class training service while he was at it! 1
“Sir?”
Su Yanying called him when she noticed his mind was elsewhere.
Su Ping came back to his senses and nodded to her. “Training, right? Currently, the store only accepts low rank pets from the first to the third rank and the training fee is 10,000 for one session.”
“Ten thousand?”
Su Yanjing did the math. The price was a bit high but it seemed much normal than the nursing pen rate. After all, the training service in itself was the highest charging service of them all. There was no upper limit established!
As to whether the money would be well spent, she would have to see the effect after the training.
With the precedent of the Lightning Rat, Su Yanying had faith in this store. Even an inferior pet like the Lightning Rat, if a second Lightning Rat could not be trained, it would be more than worthwhile!
“Then I will have the Lightning Rat trained again.” Su Yanjing made a decision after some consideration.
Lan Lele was surprised by this. “Yingying, you want to train that little guy again? It is excellent as it is. I don’t think it can progress any further with more training. Besides, the second round of matches will start in a few days. This little guy is your ace card now. You will be screwed if the training goes wrong.”
Su Yanying shook her head. “I don’t plan on sending out the Lightning Rat for the second round of matches. It has already outdone itself. For the second round, the players are decided by lucky draws. My opponent will make the best of these days to find ways to target my Lightning Rat. To send it out there again won’t be of much use. Besides, my other pets will have recovered by then. They are more than enough to get me past the second round!”
“But…” For a time, Lan Lele was at a loss for words. She just felt uneasy.
Su Ping cast a glance to Lan Lele and then asked the girl in front of him, “Have you decided?”
Su Yanying nodded and said resolutely, “The Lightning Rat!”
“Sure. Pay the charge first.” Su Ping nodded.
The system suddenly jumped out with the prompt message. “The host has triggered a side quest: receive a pet training order. Collect or not?”
Su Ping was taken aback. This quest was a surprise. Immediately, he collected it in his mind.
“Successful!”
“Quest introduction: compete the first pet training order perfectly and get a good review from the customer.” 1
“Quest requirement: any service provided by the store must be the best of the best! The host must train the pet and double the original combat strength data!”
“Training time limit: the customer has no such requirement.”
“Completed quest reward: three elementary ‘Force Pellets’.”
Su Ping was speechless once he read the requirements.
To double the pet’s combat strength?
The Lightning Rat’s combat strength was rated 3.6 already. To double it, the combat strength would have to be 7.2, right?
That would be a pet that could compare to a seventh ranker!
Seventh rank pets were advanced pets and they were few and far between. The ones that could control advanced pets were advanced battle pet warriors who were considered outstanding among pioneering rangers.
Presently, was he supposed to train a low-rank Lightning Rat to that degree? 3
…