"Aooo~~~"
Hearing the sound coming from the boarding room, Purple Cloud rose slightly from the counter and scratched behind one ear with a hind paw.
Then Purple Cloud looked toward the lounge.
Strange. Usually, the Beast Tamers waiting outside reacted in all sorts of ways to the weird noises their Contract Beasts made. Why wasn't this customer reacting at all?
Oh, he was wearing headphones. That explained it.
Watching Zhang Yun listen to music through his headphones while snacking in the lounge, Purple Cloud looked away and gave a bored yawn.
What a letdown.
Time ticked by, and the strange sounds constantly coming from the boarding room made Purple Cloud squirm.
Strange. Why were the noises lasting so long this time?
Come to think of it, hadn't it been a while since my Beast Tamer last gave me a grooming session?
A thoughtful look crossed Purple Cloud's face.
Purple Cloud glanced at the mirror nearby and felt considerably dirtier than right after the last grooming session.
Right, I'd remind my Beast Tamer to give me Grooming later!
He couldn't get so caught up grooming other people's Contract Beasts that he forgot his own!
"Creak~"
The Grooming Room door opened.
Xu Ran emerged from the mist, followed by the Stone-Armored Dragon, whose eyes were unfocused and whose steps were unsteady.
"Your Stone-Armored Dragon's grooming is finished!" Seeing Zhang Yun wearing headphones in the lounge, Xu Ran walked over and tapped his shoulder.
"Huh? Oh, great!" Zhang Yun took off his headphones and turned to look at his Contract Beast.
The next instant, his eyes widened.
Was this his Contract Beast?!
After grooming, every stone scale on the Stone-Armored Dragon had been polished perfectly smooth. There were no gaps between them; they fitted snugly together, and their waxed surfaces reflected the light like jade.
The stone scales, which had previously jutted out because of their irregular shapes, now fitted closely together, making the Stone-Armored Dragon look a whole size slimmer.
Yet that slimmer appearance did nothing to diminish its imposing presence. Instead, it made its muscular body look even more powerful.
Zhang Yun had never seen his Stone-Armored Dragon look like this before.
Grooming services at other shops could never achieve this effect. They wouldn't even help polish its stone scales!
He stood rooted to the spot, taking a long time to come back to his senses. "How much was it again?"
"66,666 yuan." Seeing Zhang Yun pick up his phone to scan the payment code, Xu Ran hurriedly stopped him. "You've already paid."
"Oh, right..."
Only then did Zhang Yun remember that he had already paid before the grooming session.
He couldn't help it. The results had instantly made him think, This was so worth it, and he had instinctively wanted to pay again...
Clearly, he simply hadn't seen enough. Grooming services really could cost this much and still be worth the money.
Zhang Yun felt he had broadened his horizons.
But then another thought occurred to him.
Since the expensive grooming service was worth the price, what about the boarding service, which also cost far more than elsewhere?
"Could you show me your boarding facilities?" Zhang Yun suddenly asked.
"Of course." Xu Ran nodded. "Follow me."
"Meow~" (I'll watch the shop!)
Purple Cloud called out lazily, watching Xu Ran lead Zhang Yun and the Stone-Armored Dragon toward the back door before looking away.
I wondered whether that grooming session had yielded a new skill.
I'd have to ask later.
And I needed to remind my Beast Tamer about grooming me, too.
As he led Zhang Yun and the Stone-Armored Dragon through the underground passage to the boarding area, Xu Ran frowned slightly at the personal panel that only he could see.
[Host: Xu Ran Contract Power: First Tier Contract Beast: Purple Cloud [View details] System skills: [Fur Plucking (C-rank)] (6/100) [Drugging (D-rank)] (7/100) Contract Beast skills: [★★Ice Storm] (Cannot be taught) [★★Rock Spike] (Cannot be taught) Constitution Points: 0 Happiness Points: 9863 System upgrade experience: 300/1000]
Grooming the Stone-Armored Dragon alone had earned him over three thousand Happiness Points. He now had enough for a Ten-Pull Draw.
But that wasn't what Xu Ran was focusing on.
Looking at the new skill, [Rock Spike], obtained through Fur Plucking, he realized there was a problem he had never considered before.
Namely, how to deal with useless skills.
The skills obtained through grooming were random, and Xu Ran had no control over them.
Skills without an attribute, or with the same attribute as Purple Cloud, could be taught to Purple Cloud. But there were also skills he couldn't teach because their attributes differed or for other reasons.
Those skills might become useful after Xu Ran contracted a Contract Beast with the corresponding attribute, but for now, they were useless.
He couldn't refuse grooming services just because a customer's Contract Beast had the wrong attribute, nor could he pass up a chance to gain Fur Plucking experience. That meant the useless skills would inevitably keep piling up.
Like a warehouse cluttered with junk over time, this was bound to cause problems eventually.
As far as Xu Ran could see, there were probably two ways to solve this.
The first was to get a way to deal with those useless skills from the system. But whether the system had such a method was unknown, and it wouldn't answer even if he asked.
In short, he would have to leave it to fate.
The second was to rely on himself.
By choosing as many different attributes as possible for his future Contract Beasts, he could reduce the number of useless skills and make better use of Fur Plucking.
"Your boarding facility is huge." Stepping into the boarding area, Zhang Yun looked around and couldn't help expressing his amazement.
His words brought Xu Ran out of his thoughts.
The useless skill problem wasn't that urgent. I should take care of the customer in front of me first.
"We can adjust and change the environment in our boarding facility," Xu Ran explained with a smile. "If you choose to board your Contract Beast here, we'll set aside an area and modify it into the environment best suited to its needs."
As he spoke, he took out the Control Hub and, right before Zhang Yun's eyes, transformed the ground beneath their feet into an uneven expanse of rocks.
"Impressive," Zhang Yun exclaimed.
When he had visited the Beast King Foster Shop to check it out, the staff member assisting him had mentioned similar technology, claiming their shop would soon introduce it.
The Beast King Foster Shop had offered empty promises, but this shop had actually delivered.
That alone made the extra boarding fees seem much easier to accept.
"What sort of food do you feed the beasts boarded here?"
"I prepare it all myself. This is our Preparation Room, specifically for preparing the Contract Beasts' daily meals." As Xu Ran spoke, he led Zhang Yun into the Preparation Room for a tour, earning another round of admiration.
Now there was only one last question.
"Which Contract Beasts are currently boarding here?" Zhang Yun asked seriously.
He wanted to see what sort of neighbors the Stone-Armored Dragon would have.
"We're currently boarding two Contract Beasts. That Steel-Armored Rhino over there." Xu Ran pointed at the Steel-Armored Rhino sunbathing beside the Mud Pit in the distance, then at the Shadow-Hunting Lizard poking its head out of the nearby Stone Forest. "And this Shadow-Hunting Lizard."
"Hmm?" Zhang Yun raised an eyebrow at the familiar Shadow-Hunting Lizard.
Before you continue