19: Super "proactive" contract beast

Two days later.

Xu Le walked into Chenghui Mall.

Over the past two days, he had finally raised his Rank to 30, allowing him to contract a fourth contracted beast.

However, the number of monsters in the nearby Contaminated Zone was small and their Strength was low, so Little Dog was barely at Rank 23.

Chu Haodong personally greeted him at the entrance: "Brother, please come in."

As he spoke, he led Xu Le to a VIP box on the third floor and took out a tablet to show him the information on the pet beasts.

"Take a look first. Check off the ones you're interested in, and I'll personally accompany you to pick them out later."

Xu Le tapped on the tablet; information on over thirty pet beasts was recorded on it.

[Pet Beast] Enchanting Fox Cub (approx. 3 months and 12 days old)

[Grade] SS-Rank

[Description] Excels at charm and illusion with a wide variety of tricks. Can drain enemy mana and health points, providing long-lasting combat endurance. Weaknesses are relatively low attack power and a weak Physical Body.

[Evaluation] Requires Mental Energy ≥ 80 points to contract. If one's Strength is insufficient, it is recommended to have an elder act as a Protector and wound it until its Physical Body is near death before attempting.

[Pet Beast] Northern Marsh Demon Deer Cub (approx. 2 months and 18 days old)

[Grade] SS-Rank

[Description] Excels at Wood-element spells such as control and healing. Combat power increases by 20% when fighting in jungles. Weakness is relatively low spell damage. It is difficult to contract for those who are not kind-hearted.

[Evaluation] Can only be won over by wit, not by force!

...Xu Le continued reading. Only the Enchanting Fox piqued his interest, making him want to undergo the same trial King Zhou once faced.

Ultimately, he chose to give up.

Because the fox's mana recovery only applied to itself.

It had absolutely nothing to do with the price tag of one billion.

Reading all the way to the end, Xu Le's eyes suddenly lit up:

[Pet Beast] Peach Tree Demon (approx. 3 years old)

[Grade] F-Rank

[Description] The peaches it produces can restore a small amount of mana and health points. Weakness is weak combat power.

[Evaluation] The peaches are delicious.

"I'll choose this one!"

"Huh?" Chu Haodong was startled and hurriedly recited the detailed data.

"Brother, it can only produce 6 peaches at a time, and the cooldown is as long as 24 hours;"

"What's even more useless is that each peach only restores 20 health and 30 mana points;"

"Its combat power is practically zero."

"Please reconsider!"

By the end, he was pleading earnestly, fearing that Xu Le might act on a whim and offend a "God of Wealth" who could provide them with a heart of the commander.

"It's fine. I have a great use for this little fellow!"

'What great use could this trash have?' Chu Haodong's lips twitched, but in the end, he didn't ask.

If he hadn't wanted to make up the auspicious number of 36, he wouldn't have taken an F-Rank pet even if it were given away for free.

Seeing Chu Haodong hesitate, Xu Le once again employed a legendary technique long lost to the Jianghu: "Just tell me, are you selling it or not?"

"Selling—no, not selling! I'll give it to you for free," Chu Haodong snapped back to reality.

The price of a pet beast is tied to its Grade; SSS-Rank can cost tens of billions or more, while A-Rank drops to around a few million.

As for anything below D-Rank, sorry, but almost no one has ever heard of anyone buying them.

Even if one or two were sold, they certainly wouldn't be trash like a Peach Tree Demon that has absolutely nothing going for it.

You can't seriously be taking it home just to eat peaches!

Xu Le shook his head. "I won't take it for free. You must accept even if it's just 100 Credits."

What a joke.

Free means it's a gift, and a gift can be taken back.

What if this guy shamelessly tried to reclaim it after he had nurtured the Peach Tree Demon?

Why make things so complicated?

...At home.

Xu Le placed the Peach Tree Demon inside the Contract Array and stood at the other end.

The Peach Tree Demon looked like a real tree, motionless. If one looked closely, it seemed to be trembling slightly.

[Ding! F-Rank Peach Tree Demon detected through the Contract Array. It wishes to become your contracted beast. Do you agree?]

Xu Le glanced at the trembling Peach Tree Demon, realizing for the first time that a contract could be formed without even using mana.

"I agree."

The Peach Tree Demon instantly turned into a stream of light and dove into Xu Le's Contract Space.

Checking the Peach Tree Demon's specific information:

[contracted beast] Little Peach Tree (Renamed)

[Race] Jade Pool immortal coil (SSS-Rank)

[Rank] 0

[Strength] 5

[Agility] 5

[Physique] 80

[spirit] 10

[Equipment] None

[Talent] Heaven and Earth Spiritual Root

A naturally formed Spiritual Root that breathes in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi. Health and mana recovery speed increased by 1,000,000%.

[Skills]

1. Spiritual Domain (Passive)

Within the range of the roots (Rank ! 1 meter), the health and mana recovery speed of all allies is increased by 300%.

2. Spiritual Shield (Passive)

Reduces all damage taken by 40% except for Fire-element, which is reduced by 20%.

3. Flying Leaves

Consumes 10 mana to turn a peach leaf into a sharp flying dagger, dealing 10 damage. Cooldown: None.

Note: It takes 24 hours for a consumed peach leaf to regrow.

4. Falling Flowers

Consumes 3 peach leaves and 50 mana to bloom a peach blossom that falls and deals explosive damage in a 1m x 1m area. Cooldown: None.

5. Fruit Gestation

Consumes 200 mana and 10 peach leaves to produce a Pseudo-Immortal Peach. Restores 200 health and 500 mana upon consumption. Cooldown: None.

6. True Fruit

A True Immortal Peach naturally produced by the Jade Pool immortal coil breathing in Spiritual Qi. Upon maturity, its consumption can upgrade a Professional's Grade.

Xu Le frowned.

Little Peach Tree (Renamed) had a total of six skills, but none of them seemed particularly impressive.

After using a few skills, the Little Peach Tree would become a little bald tree.

However, when he saw the last skill, he was instantly stunned.

Upgrading Grade!!!

Not just raising the Rank.

The difficulty of upgrading a Professional's Grade... he hadn't seen it once in three years of high school, nor had he even heard of it.

If such a divine fruit were to appear on the market, based on the price of pet beasts, it would start at at least hundreds of millions of Credits.

As for how many hundreds of millions it could reach, that would depend on what Grade it could upgrade to.

If it could reach SSS-Rank, even the City Lords of the Nine Cities or even higher-ranking leaders would likely be tempted.

Good stuff!

But for now, his Strength was insufficient; he had to keep it hidden.

"Time to level up!"

Having made up his mind, Xu Le set off valiantly toward the East City Contaminated Zone... Inside the Contract Space.

Seeing a new companion enter, Little Yellow Chicken held its head high, followed by Little Black Snake and Little Dog.

Before they could even get close, Little Peach Tree proactively signaled its goodwill and even pulled up its roots to approach the trio.

But that speed... the less said, the better.

Little Yellow Chicken nodded in satisfaction, having gained another lackey.

Little Black Snake was quite silly and wanted to climb the tree to play.

Little Dog looked at Little Peach Tree with a face full of smiles: Now there was a "Number Four" to lead the charge.

East City Contaminated Zone.

Xu Le walked for two hours straight without encountering a single monster.

"What rotten luck!"

"If I'd known, I would've just stuck to the West City Contaminated Zone."

He grumbled to himself, but he had no intention of turning back for now.

He knew the story of the monkey picking corn; going to the West City Contaminated Zone now would take more time than he could afford just for the travel.

As he was walking, his Mind Link scanned nine signal points clustered together.

They seemed to have noticed something as well and were rapidly approaching.