4: Purchase Beast Tamer

The young man's face turned the color of pig liver, and he couldn't say a word for a long time.

It wasn't surprising that the young man thought Luo Chen was an individual buyer like himself; Luo Chen's appearance was simply too deceptive.

A youthful boy of sixteen or seventeen, just the age of a high school freshman—who would have thought he was actually a purchaser for a shop?

Ignoring the young man behind him, Luo Chen turned and walked leisurely into the hall.

The hall was very spacious, with many sofas for resting arranged in a staggered fashion. At the service desk to the right of the door sat several young women in matching uniforms.

Seeing someone enter, the women's faces initially showed joy, but their interest vanished instantly upon seeing a sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy.

Only one sweet-looking young girl stood up and politely asked Luo Chen,

"May I ask if you need any help?"

Her voice was just like her looks—very sweet.

Luo Chen glanced at the name tag pinned to her chest with the name Zhang Ya on it, thinking that must be her name.

"I'm here to purchase beasts. What is the specific process?"

Hearing Luo Chen's inquiry, Zhang Ya's expression stiffened, as if she had categorized Luo Chen with the man who had just caused trouble in the hall.

She even felt a faint sense of regret for proactively asking if he needed help. She forced a strained smile.

"This... young gentleman, I'm sorry, but we do not sell beasts to private individuals here."

Luo Chen had long been prepared for this. He pulled a business license from the backpack behind him and handed it to Zhang Ya.

"I am here to purchase beasts on behalf of a shop. This is the business license."

Zhang Ya took the business license, which was protected by special materials, in surprise and read the name on it aloud.

"Chenyang Pet Store."

"Chenyang Pet Store? Didn't the owner of that shop go missing?"

A woman with exquisite makeup nearby heard the name and spoke subconsciously.

Reminded by her, Zhang Ya also recalled the incident that had caused quite a stir throughout the city some time ago.

A new secret realm had appeared not far from the city gates on the outskirts of Qingyang City—the Han Hai Secret Realm.

Initially, the Qingyang City authorities graded this secret realm as a Seven-Star Spirit Realm, meaning they predicted the highest-level beast within would not exceed Rank Seven Spirit Beast.

Even so, it was considered a very high-level secret realm for Qingyang City, so the authorities gathered forces from all sides to form an exploration team.

Luo Yuheng and his wife, Luo Chen's parents, were in this exploration team. As expected, something went wrong with the team.

It had been over a month now, well past the scheduled return time, and no one from the team had successfully returned. Thus, the official news was that the exploration team was missing.

Perhaps in this situation, no news could be considered good news.

After a while, Zhang Ya snapped out of it. Looking at the boy before her, she guessed: could this be Master Luo Yuheng's child? He looked quite handsome, though he seemed a bit sickly.

"Young gentleman, your business license is in order. I wonder which types of beasts you would like to purchase?"

Seeing the girl instantly enter her professional State, Luo Chen coughed lightly.

"Cough, please give me a brief introduction to the types of beasts you have here at the breeding center first."

Hearing Luo Chen's words, the young girl showed no surprise and expertly pulled a catalog from under the counter.

Opening it in front of Luo Chen, she pointed to the table of contents and said:

"This directory contains all the types of beasts in our breeding center.

We have domestic pet-type beasts; for example, the Fragrant Rabbit, Eloquent Parrot, and Lucky Clover are the three most popular.

There are also some small companion-type beasts that are gentle but possess certain damaging Skills, such as the Radiant Hound, Spirit Shield Bird, and Water-Spitting Turtle.

Beasts better suited for combat would be the Shadow Cat, Serrated Tiger, Moon-Howling Wolf, and the like."

It had to be said that as the largest breeding center in Qingyang City, the Qingyuan Beast Breeding Center's selection was relatively complete.

Of course, most of what was sold here were beasts of the Vicious Beast Rank. There were likely Spirit Beasts as well, but such high-end goods were generally sold through auctions.

It was estimated that even the Qingyuan Breeding Center couldn't sell Spirit Beast Rank creatures in bulk.

Combining his preparations before coming, Luo Chen said to Zhang Ya, who was waiting quietly, "Can you take me to see the Fragrant Rabbit, Radiant Hound, and Lightning Rat?"

The Lightning Rat was naturally on Luo Chen's shortlist as a combat-oriented beast. This way, he had all three types. In a sense, it was quite a comprehensive selection.

Seeing that Luo Chen had stated his targets, Zhang Ya put away the catalog.

"Please follow me." She made a guiding gesture and led Luo Chen toward the interior of the hall.

They passed through an archway and then walked down a long corridor where a faint white gas was being sprayed.

"This is a virus-disinfecting gas. Because the beasts inside are still young and fragile, we can't let toxic substances from the outside interfere with them."

Luo Chen nodded to show his understanding.

Finally, fifteen minutes later, Luo Chen arrived at the Fragrant Rabbit farm under Zhang Ya's lead.

The farm where the Fragrant Rabbits lived was half open-air and half indoor.

The open-air side was entirely covered in green grass. Based on the shape of the blades, Luo Chen identified it as Qingyang Grass, one of the Fragrant Rabbit's favorite staple foods.

Amidst the ten-centimeter-tall Qingyang Grass, Fragrant Rabbits of about the same height hopped around from time to time.

Zhang Ya stood outside the farm's railing and said to Luo Chen,

"Young gentleman, you may choose now. Once you select one, we can catch it on the spot. However, once they leave the pen, there are no returns or exchanges."

Luo Chen was well aware of the breeding farm's rules and raised no objections.

He used his Eye of Truth to look at each Fragrant Rabbit within his sight. His goal was naturally to select Fragrant Rabbits that were gentle and healthy.

Those with 'Vicious' personalities were eliminated, and those with poor Aptitude were also rejected. After a round of picking and choosing, Luo Chen finally selected three from among the Fragrant Rabbits.

This was his first time opening a shop and doing business, so he couldn't stock too much at once. Moreover, he personally preferred a 'quality over quantity' approach, so he intended to train these Fragrant Rabbits well before selling them.

Using almost the same selection process, Luo Chen went to the other farms and picked out two Radiant Hounds and one Lightning Rat to complete his purchase.

To be honest, compared to other shops, Luo Chen's purchase was indeed a bit stingy, but Zhang Ya showed no sign of anything unusual and conscientiously accompanied Luo Chen through the entire selection process.

"Three Fragrant Rabbits are thirty thousand spirit coins, two Radiant Hounds are forty thousand spirit coins, and one Lightning Rat is fifty thousand spirit coins, totaling one hundred and twenty thousand spirit coins.

Young gentleman, do you also need food and supplies for these beasts?"

Luo Chen nodded; food for these little guys was naturally necessary. "Prepare a thirty-day supply for each beast."

Hearing Luo Chen's answer, Zhang Ya, successful in her upselling, showed some joy. "Alright, that brings the total to one hundred and thirty-five thousand four hundred spirit coins. I'll round it down for you to one hundred and thirty-five thousand spirit coins."

Feeling a bit of a sting, Luo Chen handed over a bank card. This was the living allowance Luo Yuheng and his wife had left for him and Luo Yang before entering the secret realm, which contained a total of five hundred thousand.

A quarter of it was gone just like that. Luo Chen silently comforted himself that this was a necessary expense before making money, which made him feel much better.

"Young gentleman, will you be taking these beasts with you yourself? Or would you like our breeding center to deliver them to your door? As long as it's within Qingyang City, this service is free."

Hearing it was free, Luo Chen nodded hurriedly. "Please deliver them to my door."

After speaking, Luo Chen stiffened his face and made another request. "Um, that is, could you... could you give me a ride back too?"

Caught off guard, a flash of astonishment appeared on Zhang Ya's face, but she quickly restrained it. "That... of course is no problem."

It was just one more person in the vehicle; it wasn't an unreasonable request. It was just that she had never encountered such a request before, which was why she hadn't managed to hide her reaction just now.