Chapter 163 — The Spirit-Space Dragon
The Beast-Taming Craftsman Page 2 of 3
"Excuse me, may I have these four resources?"
Shi Qi addressed the Gem Cat, which was busy eating its fourth fruit. He had marked three resources: the Illusion Dream Fruit, the Cave-Heaven Tree roots, and the Dragon Pearl, and in addition, a Tier 7 wood-attribute energy crystal of no low grade.
That last resource was to recharge Ginseng Baby.
Without it, supporting this overlord Gem Cat would be difficult indeed.
"Hmm..." The Gem Cat glanced over.
At the sight of the Illusion Dream Fruit, the Cave-Heaven Tree roots, and the Tier 7 wood-attribute energy crystal, it nodded indifferently.
But when its eyes fell on the Dragon Pearl, it fell into brief thought, its movements stiffening.
For it was very fond of this blue pearl, dreamlike in its beauty.
What was more, it had never figured out which dragon race this blue pearl belonged to, and its curiosity remained unsatisfied...
"Forget it. Curiosity starves the cat; spirit fruits are better."
Fond of it as it was, on reflection the spirit fruits were better after all.
"Take it, take it, take it all." It waved a paw.
But Shi Shuo had just walked off with resources worth five hundred million—that was going too far, meow.
It had to find some way to squeeze that value back out of him; it could not afford to take a loss.
"Thank you."
Shi Yan's face lit up with delight. This time he had not intended to take more than his due either, and knew to quit while he was ahead.
He planned to come back next time, when the Ginseng Baby was ready to evolve.
Evolving from a low-tier Monarch race would surely demand even more materials.
But by then, the Gem Cat probably would not refuse.
After all, once the Ginseng Baby evolved, the spirit fruits it produced would taste even better...
"I'll have a clone fetch your goods. Remember to deliver new spirit fruits on the first of next month—oh, right, what are these fruits called?" the Gem Cat asked.
The first of next month—wasn't that the day after tomorrow? Shi Shuo was stunned.
Good thing he had had the foresight to grab an extra energy crystal; otherwise the Ginseng Baby would have died!
"It doesn't have a name yet. Let me think... how about we call it the Gem Fruit?" Shi Li said.
A supreme skill of sweetness plus nutrients: the Gem Fruit.
Meaning that each one was as precious as a gemstone, able to bring enormous wealth to a beastmaster. Perfect—he really was a genius at naming things.
Shi Jin was already considering whether, later on, he might use Gem Fruits to bribe that little female dragon in the snow mountains.
As a giant dragon who had lived for over two thousand years, her collection ought to be considerable too, surely.
This cat had lived only a hundred years and was already this rich; that giant dragon, as a founding hero who had helped Emperor Shi conquer the realm, could not possibly have less wealth, no matter how you looked at it.
"Gem Fruit." The Gem Cat's ears perked at the name and it promptly decided Shi Jin was a sensible fellow, ordering its clones to hurry and fetch the resources.
Meanwhile, the clones scattered throughout the resource vaults could only feel that the main body was being utterly unreasonable.
You eat the stuff, but we do the work—we'll remember this grudge...
"Meow—"
...
...
Half an hour later.
The student dormitory.
Shi Jin returned here, thrilled.
Dreamfruit, cave-heaven tree roots, dragon pearl... the day of the bug's evolution was today!
Any ordinary beastmaster would never dare to be this reckless.
With a beast-taming space only at Tier 3, he had already contracted two Commander-level pets and was about to support an evolving body still in its cocoon stage—just wait to be drained dry.
But Shi Jin, whose constitution surpassed that of a master-level beastmaster and who had contracted supplement pets mastering two max-level supplement skills, was feeling thoroughly puffed up.
"Does this count as half a beast-taming space enhancement talent?"
After returning, Shi Jin smugly entered the ruin space.
At this moment.
Inside the ruin space.
Eleven was practicing flight. Thanks to its Thunder Palm and its special hardened nature as a foundation, it had not evolved long ago, yet it had already become very proficient at electromagnetic levitation on its own.
The Ginseng Baby, meanwhile, had entered its shrunken state, roots planted, absorbing light energy as it struggled to recover its energy.
Those few fruits from Shi Yan had wrung it dry.
As for the bug...
A classic masterpiece: the bug was asleep.
No telling whether it was training or just daydreaming.
Yesterday the bug had daydreamed all day long, dreaming that it had evolved—what a pity it was fake.
In the bug's own words, this was accumulating evolution experience in advance within its dreams, so that when the real evolution came, things would go much more smoothly.
"Where's the bug?"
"I've bought the evolution materials and brought them back."
Shi Jin had left ten Gem Fruits and three boxes of bug silk for the Gem Cat, and brought back a pile of evolution materials.
"Chirp..." As if hearing Shi Ying's inner thoughts, the little bug snapped awake from its slumber and teleported straight to Shi Jin's side.
Its eyes were fixed on Shi Jin, brimming with anticipation.
Evolution materials?
Where, where, where?
"Eep."
Out in the distant sky, Eleven, having spotted Shi Jin's return, came flying over on electromagnetic levitation, eager to watch the show.
As for the Sprout Baby, currently the team's number two, it wanted to inspect the little bug's situation—just in case the bug evolved and surpassed it, which would be a bitter pill to swallow.
"Chirp!!! (Evolve! Evolve! Evolve!)"
By the time Eleven and the Sprout Baby arrived, they found the little bug shouting excitedly.
However...
"We've got the materials, but you can't evolve just yet," said Shi Jin.
Bug: ???
The Sprout Baby was delighted—poor little bug.
"First you need to eat the nutrient fruits the Sprout Baby makes, the ones that boost racial potential and evolution aptitude. Once they stop having any effect, we'll proceed with the evolution—that way the results will be even better."
"In the meantime, I'll also be spending points to bring your Spatial Shackles skill up to perfect mastery. When the time comes, breaking through the cocoon with two perfect high-tier skills at once—Spatial Shackles and Phantom Reality—will be a bit more reliable."
"Sprout Baby, I'm counting on you."
Sprout Baby: ???
"Chirp." The little bug was delighted—fine, fine, it wasn't in that much of a hurry.
Sprout Baby: ???
"Eee!!!" The Sprout Baby looked utterly miserable—it truly did not have a single drop of energy left.
Shi Jin chuckled and produced a Tier 7 wood-attribute energy crystal. "No problem. I picked this up as well. Even if you grow and break through to Monarch level, you won't be able to drain all the energy inside it easily."
"With this, not only will you be able to recover energy at high speed whenever you need, your growth rate will be much faster too."
Shi Jin had no choice. Without trading for this, relying solely on free natural energy recovery, the Sprout Baby really might not be able to supply all four at once—himself, Eleven, the little bug, and the Gem Cat...
He had to pay to win!
"Eee—"
At the sight of the Tier 7 wood-attribute energy crystal, the Sprout Baby froze. Sensing the vast wood-attribute life force within, it swallowed hard and nodded.
Should have said so earlier.
Apart from the Fruit of Life, this was the most enticing resource it had ever laid eyes on.
With this, nutrients and sweet aroma would flow in endless supply.
Next, Shi Jin brought out the Dreamfruit, the roots of the Cave-Heaven Tree, and the Dragon Pearl, and explained their effects to the Green Silk Bug.
Spirit, space, dragon... together they satisfied every one of the little bug's heartfelt desires.