Baishi's Release, Spirit Dew's Pricing

Back in his room, Lin Yuan found himself filled with emotion.

The emotional ups and downs and twists of the day, combined with the brief exhaustion brought on by using the [Bonded Enlightenment Art], had left him especially tired.

Yet he was positively buzzing.

It was like the excitement he had felt in his previous life after staying up three nights straight and finally producing a good set of data.

Today's gains were more like producing ten good sets of "data."

He would not call this "sweetness after bitterness," because, honestly, his life had not been bitter. He had enjoyed his parents' love, had enough food and clothing, attended the best high school, and earned the admiration of many teachers and classmates—for a high school student, that could hardly count as hardship.

He felt that everything that had happened today was more like "filling a void." Ever since his parents passed away two years ago, he had felt as though a large piece of his body and soul was missing.

Awakening his memories of his previous life had stopped those gaps from widening and kept him from falling apart.

Today, however, he could clearly feel that those gaps, through which cold drafts blew, seemed to have been filled a little. He could not pin down the precise feeling, but this "filling" gave him a real sense of peace.

He opened his phone and discovered that Chen Xuanbai had sent him a message two hours earlier.

"Lin Yuan, how did choosing a pet beast at the Breeding Center go today? Liu Xing told me you picked one you felt a connection with."

"Spend this week building your bond. If you have any questions over the next few days, ask anytime. All of us teachers in the Kindling Class are here."

Reading those two messages warmed Lin Yuan's heart even more.

"Thank you for arranging the appointment for me, Teacher Chen. Senior Liu Xing was a huge help today, and I picked the pet beast that caught my eye most, the one I wanted most."

"I'll work hard."

After typing that reply, Lin Yuan thought of Baishi again.

Should I shut it in the glass box tonight to keep it from escaping?

Lin Yuan had always been cautious, but this time, he shook his head.

After Zilan evolved, he could clearly sense Baishi's emotions. Their bond had not suddenly become profound, but Lin Yuan knew it would not run away anymore.

Besides, Zilan's energy seemed able to ease the discomfort caused by its imbalanced bloodline. It really liked staying in the plant room.

Remembering how it had still been diligently swinging its claws earlier, while he was collecting Zilan's flower dew, only to be so "startled" by his sudden entrance that it instantly tucked its claws away and lay flat, pretending to sleep, Lin Yuan gave a faint smile.

Its restrained temperament had been shaped by its experiences, but the wildness and courage flowing through its blood were difficult to suppress once it relaxed.

Baishi was slowly letting itself loose, and that process was moving faster than Lin Yuan had expected.

At that moment, Chen Xuanbai was at home, renovating a new nest for Xiao Ying, his [Shadow Witch Cat].

As his third pet beast, he truly raised Xiao Ying like his youngest son.

Contracted pet beasts could normally rest perfectly well in the Pet Beast Space, but things were different now. There were rather a lot of "daughters-in-law" at home.

The past two nights had been rather noisy.

Even with headphones on, his rest had still been somewhat disturbed.

What he was reinforcing now was the soundproof wall.

The phone beside him lit up. He set down his work and activated the screen. It was an anonymous plea for help he had posted half an hour earlier: [Waiting online! Pretty urgent! What do I do if my pet beast has an extremely strong urge to breed?]

In fact, the thread already had over a hundred replies, but most were just people making jokes.

He shook his head helplessly.

Just then, a notification for Lin Yuan's reply appeared, and he opened their chat.

Reading Lin Yuan's answer, he nodded inwardly.

Honestly, he was quite curious about which pet beast Lin Yuan had chosen. Among the three types he had recommended, he knew all the ones at the Breeding Center with the strongest potential or the most unusual traits.

To be frank, he thought the mutant spider would suit Lin Yuan best, because he believed Lin Yuan's talent, combined with his knowledge, made him best suited to that type of pet beast.

He taught general studies. When Lin Yuan reached his second and third years of high school, he could bring him into some research papers on pet beasts, strengthen his résumé, and get him noticed early by the admissions offices of the top ten schools.

Having a pet beast with a mutated attribute would make it easier to find an angle for a paper.

Still, even if it was not that spider, the other two options were good too—that exceptionally elegant [Still Spirit Cat] of Transcendent High-Grade quality.

Or that [Illusion Dream Butterfly], which also had good quality and a rather unusual personality, and had kept circling his glasses when he visited the Breeding Center a week earlier.

In six days, he would find out what Lin Yuan had chosen.

He trusted Lin Yuan's instincts.

He replied, "Good. I'm looking forward to it. See you at our project session in six days."

At ten that night, in the Pet Beast Product Research Department of the Lin Hua City Pet Beast Research Center.

The suburban night was quiet.

Two-Star Senior Researcher Chen Ming had something of a headache.

His usual work primarily involved researching pet beast products, so naturally, he was also responsible for the Pet Beast Alliance's testing of graded products.

They had testing standards for their samples.

First, sampling quantities were strictly controlled. They could not use more than one percent of a sample's volume or contaminate it. This preserved the sample's original value and prevented losses for the merchant.

Otherwise, they had to pay for the product at its assessed price.

Of course, when they encountered a novel product, they also had the authority to decide whether to retain a sample outright for more in-depth research.

The Pet Beast Alliance's criteria for awarding the rank of Two-Star Senior Researcher were extremely strict. Researchers had to have experience testing Transcendent High-Grade products on multiple occasions.

Chen Ming was always diligent, meticulous, and conscientious in his work. His error rate was zero, and the prices he assigned had never drawn a single complaint.

Today, however, the product before him, called [Spirit Dew], had stumped him.

He had already used up half of the first sample, yet still could not fully establish its value.

He needed to determine the effects of this [Spirit Dew] precisely before he could reach a conclusion.

By now, he had written several points on his report:

One: rapidly restored mental energy and physical stamina, and also accelerated growth in plant-type organisms. Its effects surpassed ordinary Transcendent High-Grade products, placing it at the very peak of this grade.

Two: possessed powerful healing and pain-relieving properties. As above, its effects ranked at the peak of Transcendent High-Grade.

Three: produced an effect resembling a cleansing mechanism. Its precise effects remained unknown, but current findings suggested it could remove impurities accumulated within the body over many years, with effects on both humans and pet beasts.

One product, three effects.

Based on the first two points alone, he could already price this [Spirit Dew] at sixteen to eighteen thousand Alliance Coins per ten drops, or 0.5 milliliters.

That estimate came from his experience testing top-quality Transcendent products.

With the third point added, he could no longer settle on a price...

Absolute accuracy and a completely clear conscience were what a researcher needed when pricing a product.

After thinking it over, he decided to call his mentor, an old professor who was a Four-Star Researcher.

Half an hour later.

Inside the old professor's laboratory.

"Good. When a task exceeds your capabilities, seek help from someone with more experience. Even after all these years, you haven't forgotten what I taught you." The old professor's hair had already turned gray, and he looked at Chen Ming kindly.

"Leave the remaining half of the sample to me. I'll test it again against your report. Watch from the side and learn. Just don't make too much noise."

The old professor moved slowly, but the hand holding the sample was exceptionally steady.

Compared with Chen Ming, as a Four-Star Researcher, he not only had several more decades of experience, but naturally had far more tools in his arsenal.

He had never seen this Transcendent High-Grade [Spirit Dew] before either.

Thus, his expression also revealed a desire to explore something new, along with a sense of wonder.

He did not care where the product came from. His attention was solely on the product itself.

Remarkably, within a Transcendent-quality product, he detected traces of Commander-quality products, and even a shadow of Monarch-quality products...

Ten minutes later, he reached his final verdict. Along the way, he had used various instruments and even two different research-oriented [Beast-Taming Arts] before finally nodding.

On Chen Ming's original report, he supplemented and revised the third point.

Three: could slowly eliminate lingering ailments left in pet beasts by evolution, as well as physical damage caused by conflicts between mutated traits or attributes and their own constitutions.

Then, in the pricing field, he wrote a number.

Thirty thousand Alliance Coins per ten drops.