Su Ping continued to engrave Strength Enhancement runes on the rest of his fingers. At the same time, using his mental power, he checked the store and looked at the clock on the wall. It was already after eight in the morning

“The finals today…”

Su Ping smiled. Finally, the Elite League was approaching its end.

After the matches at the Longjiang Base City, the winners would continue their journey at the Sub-continent District level. But Su Pin didn't care about that. Su Lingyue would go on behalf of the Longjiang Base City and how far she was able to go would no longer matter. After all, even the prizes for the global champion were barely adequate.

As to the reward of receiving instructions from a legendary battle pet warrior, Joanna could easily do that.

It wasn't necessary to waste time and energy on that.

As for the store's reputation… Once Su Lingyue won first place at the Longjiang Base City, having upheld the promise of making her the champion-as well as any promotion made by her in the future-would be enough for the Pixie Pet Store to become well-known in the Longjiang Base City. By then, the store would be crowded every day; to gain more fame would be pointless. The Longjiang Base City was enough to keep the business going Su Ping felt full of energy just by thinking about it. He only had to ensure that Su Lingyue was well-protected for the rest of the day.

He stored the pets trained in the DemiG.o.d Burial back in the nursing pens and took out the scroll; he told Tang Ruyan to come out and prepare for business.

Tang Ruyan had become used to that life. Every time she got out from the scroll and saw that it was morning, she would already know what she needed to do without Su Ping telling her. She would head to the bathroom, get cleaned up and Su Ping would have already opened the door when she went back to the store.

That day, merely seven or eight repeated customers were outside.

Su Ping invited them to enter.

Most of the repeated customers were there to pick up their pets. Su Ping noticed that there was a drop in the number of customers and he believed that it was because of the finals being held that day. Most people would stay at home or go to the venue to watch the finals since n.o.body would want to miss out.

“Teacher!”

Someone ran into the store not long after Su Ping had opened his door. He waved at Su Ping.

It was Xu Kuang. Su Ping only glanced once, not acknowledging Xu Kuang's greeting.

The repeated customers were surprised to see Xu Kuang there, and their surprise grew as Xu Kuang shouted 'teacher' to address Su Ping. One of the customers was a student from the Phoenix Peak Academy and he did know that Su Ping wasn't just the store owner, but an advanced-level teacher at the academy. However, the other repeated customers were not privy to that information.

As far as those customers knew, he was just a gentle and kind young man who ran the store and was kind of… addicted to money.

“Isn't that… Xu Kuang?”

“One of the Top 5?”

“I've heard about him. His battle pets were trained in this store, and the store had actually claimed he was going to make it to the Top 5 for sure!”

“Is that really him?”

The customers were curious, including the student from the Phoenix Peak Academy, even though he already knew that Su Ping was a teacher at the academy. Xu Kuang had won a place in the Top 5 and even overpowered the t.i.tle-ranked judge. A guy like Xu Kuang could even surpa.s.s the other advanced teachers at the Phoenix Peak Academy.

A guy like him was calling Su Ping 'teacher?

“Teacher, I'm here.” Xu Kuang ran to the counter, excited. “I want to rent the Dark Dragon Hound again today!” Su Ping darted him a look. “Go to the back of the line.”

“Right away.”

Xu Kuang turned to the back of the line joyfully.

Since he was at the end of the line, the customers standing in front of him would turn around and look at him frequently. It was thrilling to think that a talent who had stunned the entire Longjiang Base City was standing so close to them.

Soon after, the customers picked up their pets. Since Xu Kuang was there, they held back the urge to go to the test room and they left directly after saying goodbye to Su Ping.

Su Ping didn't understand why the customers would forgo trying out the effects of the recent training. He did not mind that, though; the point of the test room was for it to be used.

“I want to rent the Dark Dragon Hound again.”

Finally, it was Xu Kuang's turn. He couldn't waste another second after he approached the counter.

Su Ping had antic.i.p.ated that Xu Kuang would visit him for this reason again. “Haven't you made it to the Top 5? Why do you want it again?”

Xu Kuang realized that Su Ping wasn't that willing to lend him the Dark Dragon Hound again. “Teacher, the matches are between the Top 5 today. If I don't use your Dark Dragon Hound, I might have to stay at the bottom!” Xu Kuang said in a hurry. “That still makes you one of the Top 5.”

“Well… That is technically true but people are having high expectations of me, thinking that I can win the champions.h.i.+p, second place or something. If I'm just No.5…” Su Ping cut him off, “You want the champions.h.i.+p?” Xu Kuang was freaked out. He knew he had said the wrong words. “No, no, sir, I know that the champion must be your sister. I will give up at once if I meet her on stage. I won't fight her. I promise!”

Su Ping didn't pay attention to Xu Kuang's promise. If it came to that, Su Ping believed he could secretly go against the rules and take control of the Dark Dragon Hound. That was not the right way but since he had promised Su Lingyue the champions.h.i.+p, he had to guarantee that she would win.

“Second place is the same as fifth place. Both are going to be forgotten,” Su Ping argued.

Xu Kuang forced a bitter smile. “It may not make much of a difference for you, but that means everything to me. Please let me have it. Please.”

Su Ping heaved a sigh. It seemed that Xu Kuang was unable to hold back the urge to show off.

“Fine, one last time. Don't rely on this, unless it's some special circ.u.mstance. Training your own battle pets is the right way to go,” Su Ping said.

Xu Kuang was overcome with unexpected joy after seeing that Su Ping had agreed. “Do not worry. After this Elite League, I promise that I will work on myself. I'll try my best so that I can reach the Top 5 without relying on external help in the future!” Xu Kuang nodded at once.

“That's your own business. You don't have to tell me,” Su Ping said indifferently. “The price to rent the Dark Dragon Hound is going up today. It's eight hundred thousand astral coins per hour. Are you sure you want to rent it?”

“Eight hundred thousand?” Xu Kuang was caught off guard. The price was half a million the day before. How could it have gone up by three hundred thousand in one day?

“Can I know the reason… of the price increase?” Xu Kuang asked carefully.

Su Ping answered, “Because I want to.” Xu Kuang was speechless. He supposed that he might have been too excited before, that is why Su Ping took advantage of it and drove up the price.

Xu Kuang heaved a sigh. Alas. Old ginger is hotter than new.

“Fine, so be it.” Xu Kuang made up his mind. At the same time, he was thinking about the job advertis.e.m.e.nt and promotion job offers that he received after he won the Top 5 the day before. Those people had paid advance deposits which in total was a larger sum than the money he had to pay Su Ping to rent the Dark Dragon Hound.

He could have afforded it even if the price went up to a million per hour and it would still be worthwhile!

Su Ping cast a look at Xu Kuang who pretended to feel sorry for the money paid. This guy is a terrible actor, Su Ping thought to himself.

Although the price had gone up to eight hundred thousand astral coins per hour, Su Ping didn't feel the least bit ashamed. After all, the Dark Dragon Hound could bring Xu Kuang immense benefits and improve his reputation even further. He would never find such benefits in other pet stores!

Xu Kuang was getting a good deal!

The system was the one setting the price and Su Ping was unable to change it. Besides, he had become used to seeing those “affordable prices.”

“Pay up,” Su Ping said and summoned the Dark Dragon Hound.

Xu Kuang paid the fee as soon as he saw the Dark Dragon Hound.

Same as the previous day, eight hours.

Su Ping took out the rental contract for Xu Kuang and charged him for that as well.

That is sixty-four thousand energy points… Su Ping felt good about the energy points. He told the Dark Dragon Hound to behave and stop making such a big scene.

The Dark Dragon Hound had almost killed the judge and the partic.i.p.ant in the previous match. Su Ping was worried that Xu Kuang would lose control again this day.

The Dark Dragon Hound was still afraid of Su Ping because of the previous Heaven's Tests. As such, the Dark Dragon Hound nodded right away. As the rental contract came into effect, the contract between the Dark Dragon Hound and Su Ping became vague. That was a feeling that didn't sit well. Indeed, Su Ping had yet to become used to renting out his own pets.

It was then that Su Lingyue arrived with a food container in her hand.

Su Lingyue was surprised to see that the store was almost empty. She looked at Xu Kuang and the Dark Dragon Hound. “That is my brother's, right?”

Xu Kuang grinned from ear to ear. “Yes, I'm using it temporarily.” Su Lingyue nodded and turned around to hand the food container to Su Ping. “Your breakfast.”

Su Ping opened it and dug in at once.

He finished breakfast quickly. Since there were no more customers, Su Ping decided to close the shop; Joanna would be spared from having to receive customers for him this day.

“Let's go.”

Su Ping told Su Lingyue to wait outside while he stored the subtly bitter Tang Ruyan in the scroll and told Joanna to remain in the nursing pen. Having done that, he went out and closed the door.