Four-eared Hound

After a few hours of searching for cards, the haul was just so-so.

I picked up over a dozen broken spirit cards that could potentially be repaired. They were all 1-Ring civilian spirit cards. I wouldn't know how many I could actually fix until I got back and worked on them one by one.

"Boss." Levin had been waiting outside the warehouse.

"Let's go, we're heading back."

"Aren't we buying a puppy?"

"Of course, we are."

At a street stall near the small inn, there was a stall specializing in selling dogs. Among the various puppies, the most eye-catching was undoubtedly the Four-eared Hound pups.

Their four ears were so cute.

But this was just a disguise for the pups. Once they matured, the ferocity of a Four-eared Hound was unmatched by any other spirit hound—at least, among 0-Ring spirit hounds.

"Boss, how much for one of your Four-eared Hound pups?"

"70 silver dragons." The boss said, picking up a pup. "Purebred Four-ears, both parents are old hunters, they've killed 1-Ring Spirit Beasts, definitely top-tier bloodline!"

"Boss, you're not being honest." Duke shook his head in disdain. "I come here often, and other stalls sell them for 30 silver dragons. You're doubling the price and then some!"

"Young man, don't be fooled. Those are mutts!"

"Purebred."

"Impossible, impossible. There are no Four-ears for less than 50 silver dragons. Those selling for fifty or sixty silver dragons have poor conformation. I've been selling dogs here for years, would I lie to you? If my Four-ears had poor bloodlines, I wouldn't be selling them for 70 silver dragons." After speaking, the boss didn't seem to care if Duke bought or not and went to greet other customers.

Duke picked up a Four-eared pup. The little dog bared its teeth, looking fierce.

"Levin, what do you think of this Four-ear?"

"I don't know. I've never raised a spirit hound, but it's fierce and brave. It should suit the temperament of a hunting dog." Levin had raised hunting dogs with his grandfather, but they were ordinary hunting dogs, and he knew nothing about spirit hounds.

"Let's go, we'll check out the other stalls."

Comparing prices, Duke went to another stall. The Four-eared Hound pups inside were priced at 50 silver dragons, which was the general market price. However, looking at these pups, Duke clearly felt they lacked the liveliness of the 70 silver dragon ones. After visiting several dog stalls, he had the same impression.

"It seems the 70 silver dragon Four-eared pups are indeed special. Levin, let's go back. If we're buying, we're buying the best." Duke made up his mind. This was going to be a future companion for guarding the house, so he couldn't be careless.

He returned to the first stall.

Duke inspected all six Four-eared Hound pups at the stall one by one. All six were male, each spirited and fierce, with a look that could "kill." Their conformation truly outshone the entire street.

"Boss, I'll take all six of these Four-ears. Give me a reasonable price."

"All of them? Young man, you know quality. Let me calculate... six times seven is forty-two, 4 gold dragons and 20 silver dragons. How about this, I'll take a huge loss, 4 gold dragons and they're yours!"

"Oh, right boss, why are all your Four-ears male?"

"Females are too expensive, especially females with good bloodlines. Their price is several times higher. The dog owners keep them to breed themselves. We rarely buy them when we go to buy dogs."

"Alright."

Four gold dragons were transferred from the Spirit Dragon Card.

The boss packed the six Four-eared Hound pups into a bag along with their cages and handed them to Duke.

That night, in the small inn, Levin barely slept. He got out of bed from time to time to check on the Four-eared Hound pups and would cover his mouth to chuckle. He really liked these little dogs.

When they took the Black Beetle Car home, he held the bag and cage tightly, afraid of losing them or having them stolen.

Fortunately, there were Great Knights accompanying the Black Beetle Car. Intruding mercenaries wouldn't dare cause trouble, so the two of them successfully brought the six Four-eared Hound pups back to their rented apartment without incident.

"Levin, your task is to take good care of them."

"Okay!"

Duke went to Little Duke Farm alone to check on the renovation progress of the new house, then returned to the rented apartment.

Closing the door, he summoned Little Dou, who had been hiding on the roof, and they cultivated the Universal Blood Refining Method together for a while to strengthen their fighting spirit before getting to work on card repair.

Today, he didn't start repairing cards immediately. Instead, he planned to modify the sealing machine.

He had previously sold the Continuous Sealing Paste Technology to Old Sam, who then resold it to someone else. However, it would likely take a considerable amount of time for the technology to go from patent application to market.

There were no Continuous Sealing Paste Systems available on the market yet.

To save money, Duke decided to build one himself. He could stay at home and avoid the chaotic public security outside.

"Xiao Yi, give me some ideas."

"Understood, Master. I have already compiled a modification plan for the Continuous Sealing Paste System for you."

With Nine-Ring Xiao Yi's existence, Duke only needed a thought, and Xiao Yi could provide a complete set of ideas, saving him a lot of mental effort and time.

During this period, Duke had rented many books from the Spirit Society library. Spirit cards, potions, puppets, spirit tools, alchemy... He rented every book related to Spiritual Arcana that he could find and scanned them into Xiao Yi's database with his own eyes.

He opened the sealing machine and skillfully removed the outer casing, taking out the sealing box inside.

Xiao Yi gave him an omniscient brain.

Cultivating fighting spirit also made his hands steadier, more flexible, and stronger, greatly alleviating the awkwardness of "my mind understands, but my hands can't keep up."

After three hours of work, he successfully connected the sealing reservoir and the sealing box with a conduit. He then made a hole in the sealing machine and passed the conduit through it. Thus, a rudimentary continuous sealing paste system was completed.

"Let's turn it on and test it."

After booting up, Duke took out two scrapped spirit cards that couldn't be repaired and tried to use the sealing machine to apply a coating to them.

With a kaka sound, a fine layer of coating sprayed from the nozzle.

There was no difference compared to using a disposable sealing box.

"Done!"

Duke laughed heartily. A can of coating in the storage tank was enough for him to use for a year, meaning he wouldn't need to buy sealing boxes for a whole year.

Although he only refurbished cards and didn't use much coating, it would still save him tens of silver dragons in expenses annually.

Most importantly, this manual technique gave him a great sense of accomplishment.

"To do a good job, one must first sharpen one's tools." After modifying the continuous sealing paste system, Duke finally began to devote himself wholeheartedly to the repair of scrapped spirit cards.

It was for making money, and also for cultivation.

Each time he repaired complex and ever-changing spell models, with their twisting and winding rings, it brought him more insights.

At the same time, the twisting energy lines in his Spirit Sea were also constantly changing.

Extending, bending, and angling.

The energy lines even showed faint signs of splitting as they continuously changed, representing a deeper understanding of the Arcane Trajectory.

Xiao Yi's progress sheet also monitored the cultivation progress at all times: "Process One: Field Meditation, idle consumption 38% power. Current Spirit Sea level, 0-Ring Three-star Spiritual Apprentice (Twisting and Winding), estimated advancement progress 34.2%, time budget 154 days."

After an unknown amount of time passed.

Duke stretched: "Hoo, repaired another spirit card. Hmm, about 15 silver dragons earned!"