A pagoda for a home, Lin Yuan's hopes

[Pagoda LV1]: The pet beast makes its body a pagoda and its pagoda a home. Those it recognizes as family receive a series of minor boosts in its vicinity, including growth speed, recovery speed, and learning speed.

The pagoda is nurtured by emotion. The richer the pet beast's emotions and the more closely they align with its true self, the more likely it is to form a [Treasure Fruit]. Its quality depends on the gestation period and the intensity of those emotions.

Lin Yuan studied the description of this "bond trait" on the panel.

To some extent, he now understood what distinguished the traits granted by the [Bonded Enlightenment Art]—the influence of the pet beast's personality.

At any given form, different pet beast species generally had a fixed set of traits. In rare cases, unusual bloodlines or mutated attributes could produce new ones.

But overall, they still fell within a certain range—the Chenlong Kingdom had official books describing these traits, which were also covered in the upper years' general knowledge classes.

So even when Lin Yuan had seen some "different" traits before, he had not been surprised. He had known those traits existed.

But "bond traits" were far too unique, far too rooted in the individual. Lin Yuan had every reason to believe that each individual would develop a different bond trait, perhaps even one that had never appeared before.

Not to mention that it could grow.

No wonder it had been highlighted in a special color under [Traits].

The scene brought an image to Lin Yuan's mind. His mother had once stood right here in the Plant Room and said to Zilan, him, and his father, "Wherever you are, that's home."

"Pagoda" seemed to carry on that very spirit, a manifestation of the unique character his mother had nurtured in Zilan.

Lin Yuan could not help gently stroking Zilan's petals. "Zilan, wherever you are, that's home."

At his words, Zilan's emotions crystallized.

In that instant, the phantom pagoda behind her seemed to grow more solid.

The joy of Zilan's evolution still lingered around them.

But there was still work to be done.

Having watched over Lin Yuan for more than an hour, Linghuan had yet to finish its tasks. It hurried out of the Plant Room to get back to work.

Zilan had only just evolved. She needed to adjust to the changes in her energy and body, as well as learn to put her new traits to proper use.

She had always known how important she was to this family and to Yuanming Pet Food Shop.

She had never forgotten the financial strain her two failed evolutions had placed on this family. Her young master must have spent a great deal on this evolution.

Fortunately, her abilities had improved too. She would put her strength to work, help her young master earn that money back as quickly as possible, and continue protecting this home with her abilities.

Baishi, meanwhile, was no longer quite so listless. It remained beside Zilan, but images began flitting through its little head.

It also began turning a few things Lin Yuan had said that day over and over in its mind.

"Do you want to become a lion? I'll help you."

"Zilan, I'm still here."

"Zilan, wherever you are, that's home."

It was half a year old, yet still looked like a tiny kitten. This time, it seemed to have finally been brought somewhere warm. Was it really all right to keep giving up on itself as it always had?

A burning warmth rose inside it, and it could not help swiping its paws and beginning to train.

Its body was still a little frail, but for some reason, it felt especially strong this time.

Lin Yuan was busy in his room as well.

Successfully evolving Zilan had only been the first step in his plan.

There were still plenty of official procedures to complete.

What she had previously produced was ordinary high-grade [Purple Dew]. Now, it was transcendent high-grade [Spirit Dew], with much better effects. Naturally, it could command a better price.

However, any graded product intended for sale through the Chenlong Kingdom's official shop channels had to be certified.

They would arrange for professional appraisers to analyze and assess the product, then provide a valuation.

A merchant's final selling price could only fluctuate within ten percent above or below that valuation. This was a rule of the Pet Beast Alliance, and one of its means of maintaining market balance.

Moreover, the Pet Beast Alliance retested samples and reassessed their value every month to guard against declining quality.

This was the fastest channel available to Lin Yuan at present, and he hardly had to worry about unfair treatment.

Previously, their shop had listed [Purple Dew] at 1,500 Alliance Coins for thirty drops, roughly Zilan's weekly output.

Most months, the [Purple Dew] sold out entirely, ensuring Yuanming Pet Food Shop a steady monthly income of 6,000 Alliance Coins.

With sales of [Purple Star Vine] and other ordinary pet food added in, Yuanming Pet Food Shop generally brought in between eight and ten thousand a month.

After deducting daily expenses, the cost of nurturing Zilan and Linghuan, Qin Bailing's wages, his school expenses, and the cost of training his mental strength, Lin Yuan could still save around two thousand a month.

That was how he had saved forty thousand Alliance Coins over the past two years.

But transcendent high-grade flower dew was another matter entirely.

Lin Yuan had looked into it. The two most valuable kinds currently on the market included one called [Azure Dew], a specialty of the transcendent high-grade plant pet beast [Azure Water Star Lotus].

The other was called [Butterfly Fragrance], a specialty of another transcendent high-grade plant, the [Butterfly Feather Tulip].

But their effects differed from those of Zilan's [Spirit Dew]. In the transcendent high-grade market, [Spirit Dew] could carve out a niche of its own.

Both sold for ten thousand Alliance Coins per ten drops.

Yes, a higher price for fewer drops.

Zilan now had eight flowers in bloom. The flower dew she had casually flicked over to him, Linghuan, and Baishi earlier had totaled twelve drops.

That meant her current output was certainly much higher than before her evolution.

Even before evolving her, Lin Yuan had known that, if it succeeded, he could recoup everything he had invested in a short time.

That was also why he had bought Baishi that very day despite having little in savings.

His next goal was to save two hundred thousand Alliance Coins as quickly as possible and buy all the "medicine" Linghuan and Baishi needed.

In a sense, [Spirit Dew] was an upgraded form of [Purple Dew].

And [Purple Dew] could only be produced by a rare one percent of [Purple Ghost Orchids], or by their transcendent mid-grade evolved form, the [Purple Dew Orchid].

So Lin Yuan also needed to put some thought into the information he submitted for this product.

After all, before Zilan evolved, the pet beast species [Purple Spirit Treasure Orchid] had never existed in this world.

By now, Lin Yuan had finished filling out the application on the official website.

He had made minor adjustments or added notes in two places.

For the product name, he had written [Spirit Dew] (high-grade transcendent) (mutated [Purple Dew] product), with its quality listed as transcendent high-grade.

The producing pet beast was listed as [Purple Dew Orchid] (attribute and trait mutations).

Unusual attributes and traits were not uncommon in this world, and such cases were frequently reported.

Once he submitted the application and it passed review, a [Courier Bird] would come to collect the sample within roughly two hours.

Based on Lin Yuan's past experience, he would receive a response within one working day.

On the fastest occasion, he had received an official reply just two hours after sending out the sample.

Having the quality of [Spirit Dew] officially certified and receiving an approved price was only the first step.

Once a pet food shop's sales reached five hundred thousand Alliance Coins, and it carried at least one transcendent high-grade pet beast product, three transcendent mid-grade products, or five transcendent low-grade products, it could receive official certification as a [Two-star Pet Food Shop].

With that certification, Yuanming Pet Food Shop would gain more privileges and channels through which to purchase a wider variety of special products.

Everything was only just beginning...

Lin Yuan went to the Plant Room, gently collected two drops of [Spirit Dew] from the flowerpot beside Zilan, and put them in a water bottle.

He got a rough idea of Zilan's current condition. She could now condense around 20 drops of [Spirit Dew] a day. However, having just evolved today, the boost from [Spirit Energy Burst] had allowed her to condense a full 54 drops. Even after subtracting the 12 she had given them earlier and these 2 drops for testing, they still had 40 drops in stock.

Lin Yuan was very pleased.

In less than an hour.

The [Courier Bird] arrived.

Like the one he had seen yesterday, it still dragged along an exhausted body, yet its eyes brimmed with drive.

Every [Courier Bird] in the Pet Beast Alliance had a primary area it was responsible for.

That made it and Lin Yuan familiar "strangers."

As usual, he waited at the door with a cup of water and the sample to be shipped.

Today, something seemed a little different.

[Courier Birds] were extremely dedicated pet beasts. They had only one mission: pick up goods and deliver them. They would not waste time doing unnecessary things along the way.

Yet today, after drinking the water, this [Courier Bird] stood before Lin Yuan in a daze for a full five seconds.

For pet beasts like [Courier Birds], their thinking was simple: if one [Courier Bird] wasted five seconds, sixty would waste five whole minutes. Put that time to good use, and they could get halfway through another delivery.

So this extra five seconds of "wasted" time was something Lin Yuan had never seen before.

He looked at its panel.

[Status]: Something seems different about this good-looking person today. What exactly is different?

Lin Yuan had sensed this reaction several times today.

What was the root cause? Was it because he had learned the [Bonded Enlightenment Art], or because he had received the [Gift of All Spirits] today?

The Courier Bird tucked the sample into its [Treasure Pouch] and hurriedly flew away.

Even it found its behavior a little strange.

Moonlight fell upon the departing [Courier Bird], tracing a faint arc. Lin Yuan's gaze followed it into the distance, and the hopes in his heart mingled with that romantic moonlight.

How much would the Alliance price Zilan's [Spirit Dew] at?

Was Yuanming Pet Food Shop finally about to turn things around...?