A Lasting Legacy of Evolution, New Arrivals at the Pet Food Shop
At that, a spark lit up Chen Xuanbai's weary face. "Much better!"
"After hearing your advice that day, I went home and took another look at the cases I'd only skimmed before, about pet beasts awakening the [Demon] attribute."
"Then I followed a healing specialist's advice, bought [Demon-Control Fruit] and [Demon Shadow Dew], made them into a potion, and gave it to Xiao Ying on schedule."
"After taking it, Xiao Ying's mood settled down, and it stopped darting around in the middle of the night."
He paused, then added, "The house is still pretty chaotic, though. I bought too many female cats a while back..."
"I'm also planning to move to a bigger place in the next couple of days. Everything's piled up at once, and I'm swamped."
"But those are personal matters. I won't let them affect my work. Since I promised you we'd enter the pet beast Research Competition this semester, I'll prepare some possible topics over the next few days."
Lin Yuan looked at Chen Xuanbai's dark circles and waved a hand at once. "Teacher, there's no rush."
By then, he had more or less reached a conclusion: Xiao Ying's transformation to pink seemed to be going smoothly. Not only that, the color in its head was slowly fading too.
And it seemed Chen Xuanbai intended to take responsibility for those eighteen female cats—or rather, help Xiao Ying take responsibility for them.
The corners of Lin Yuan's mouth lifted. When an overly responsible Beast Tamer contracted a playboy pet beast, he supposed the result was a few extra "burdens" in life.
Seeing Lin Yuan's sudden smile, Chen Xuanbai felt a wave of embarrassment.
He was a teacher, after all. Ever since he had summoned Xiao Ying into the classroom, how had he kept letting a sixteen-year-old student hear about his pet beast's disgraceful antics?
He cleared his throat. "Ahem. How can there be no rush?"
"You've just received a boost to your comprehension. From now on, you need to make use of every second."
"I certainly can't be the one holding you back. I'll have ten possible topics ready for you by the day after tomorrow at the latest!"
Lin Yuan was baffled.
Why had Chen Xuanbai suddenly gotten so anxious?
He hadn't said anything, had he?
"Then thanks for the effort, Teacher." Lin Yuan stopped trying to dissuade him.
On the way home.
Lin Yuan was still taking in everything that had happened that day.
The first day of school had unfolded nothing like he had imagined, yet it had brought him a surprising number of welcome surprises.
Especially that [Enlightenment] Blessing...
A forty-percent boost to comprehension did more than sharpen his mind. It would also improve the rate at which his mental power grew and make learning all kinds of [Beast-Taming Arts] and [Nourishment Arts] more efficient.
Zilan's [Pagoda] trait gave Lin Yuan a slight boost in that regard as well.
Together with his two talents, Lin Yuan knew his progress over the next few months would far outstrip that of his classmates.
His thoughts drifted back to the [Puquan Enlightenment Turtle].
The markings on the turtle's heavy shell were mottled, as though they recorded every trace left by the school since its founding.
The rise of an entire school was so closely tied to a single pet beast.
He also thought of the Overlord whale pet beast Liu Xing had told him about, the one belonging to Liu Xing's Lineage.
He suddenly understood the importance of passing down a pet beast's legacy.
The [Puquan Enlightenment Turtle] was the only one of its kind in all of Chenlong Kingdom. Its life would end one day. When that happened, could Puquan High School remain among the best without it?
Liu Xing's Lineage, meanwhile, was doing everything it could to find another descendant capable of carrying on the legacy of that Overlord-level whale. It was easy to imagine how important that was to a Lineage of Beast Breeders.
The higher a pet beast's quality and level, the more likely it was to give a Lineage or institution the chance to rise.
But keeping that prosperity and glory came down to six words: a stable legacy of evolution.
Lin Yuan knew he could see pet beasts' hidden Evolution Paths, but he had no way to ensure he could reproduce a path in a second pet beast.
He could help Zilan evolve into a [Purple Spirit Treasure Orchid], for example.
But she might also become the only [Purple Spirit Treasure Orchid] in history.
Did that matter?
Not to Lin Yuan right now. All he wanted was for his own pet beasts to live well.
Still, he knew that at some point in the future, he would face challenges and choices.
He shook his head. He was thinking too far ahead.
Perhaps the sudden forty-percent boost to his comprehension had also improved his ability to make connections and follow ideas further.
Better to focus on the present...
Back at Yuanming Pet Food Shop.
Lin Yuan found that Qin Bailing and Linghuan had prepared a surprise for him.
After he signed the contract with Huang Tao the day before yesterday, arrangements to supply the five products had quickly fallen into place.
He had told Qin Bailing about it yesterday, saying the goods would probably arrive at the shop within a day or two.
Now the layout of Yuanming Pet Food Shop had changed slightly.
All five new products were on display, right in the middle of the shop.
Ordinary Low-Grade [Falling Star Vine], Ordinary Mid-Grade [Golden Arrival Liquid], [Kapok Cake], and [Spiritheart Dew], and Ordinary High-Grade [Spirit-Nourishing Fruit].
[Falling Star Vine] was a product of the Ordinary Mid-Grade plant pet beast [Falling Star Vine].
Points of starlight seemed to be set into its deep green surface, lending it an air of vitality.
It was a higher-grade alternative to [Purple Star Vine], with a considerably higher price.
A [Falling Star Vine] pet beast needed to be raised somewhere humid, with a constant temperature above thirty degrees, to grow healthy [Falling Star Vine]. Otherwise, Lin Yuan would have preferred to buy a plant outright and raise it at home.
Unfortunately, he didn't have the conditions for it yet.
The three Ordinary Mid-Grade products were all made by the Yellow Crane Tower Shop, which processed different raw ingredients into finished goods.
They were effective for raising Metal-, Wood-, and Water-attribute pet beasts respectively, and those three attributes were the most common among pet beasts in Lin Hua City.
As for [Spirit-Nourishing Fruit], it was the same fruit Chen Xuanbai had given Lin Yuan before the awakening ceremony.
It was popular among students facing heavy academic pressure. An Ordinary High-Grade plant pet beast, the [Spiritfruit Tree], bore fruit four times a year and needed to grow deep in the mountains, at an altitude above five hundred meters.
Securing a supply was no easy feat.
Despite its name, the Yellow Crane Tower Shop privately leased many orchards and plant nurseries, giving it a reliable supply chain.
For Yuanming Pet Food Shop, that was still a distant future.
"Grandpa Qin, Linghuan, thanks for the effort!" Lin Yuan said with a smile. "I'll update our Online Shop with the new products tonight."
"What effort? I only moved a table into the middle. Linghuan put everything on it without me lifting a finger. I don't know why Linghuan's gotten so much stronger lately." Qin Bailing smiled. "Do you think Linghuan leveled up?"
Lin Yuan nodded. "Linghuan's level has gone up quite a bit recently."
"Haha, no wonder Linghuan's appetite seems bigger too. You brought me far too much food the other day, and Linghuan ended up helping me eat most of it."
Qin Bailing looked pleased. "The person handling things for us at the Yellow Crane Tower Shop said they'll deliver fresh goods every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from now on. The delivery person is a Beast Tamer, too."
"A good person, at that. Even to an ordinary old man like me, they were unfailingly respectful."
"There is one small problem, though. The shop seems a little cramped." He looked around.
"There's no room to display some of our old Ordinary products. Linghuan and I moved them into the basement storeroom for now."
"If our longtime Customers come in and can't buy those things, do you think they'll be disappointed?"
"Should we make the shop a little bigger?"