“Don't try to fool me with something fake if you're a smart person,” said Layne indifferently. Only a few minutes had pa.s.sed since Su Ping left; he couldn't have had enough time to purchase the item in another shop.

The fruit couldn't be of a high quality since he said it wasn't available a moment earlier, while he suddenly was offering it right then. That is, if it was at all real.

Su Ping glimpsed at Layne but didn't bother answering him; he would throw the guy out if the latter rambled again. Every customer should be respected, but it was clear that the man wasn't intending to buy anything. He was asking to be beaten with all his criticisms!

“Here you are.”

Su Ping took the two Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits out of his storage s.p.a.ce.

They were a pair of round, white fruits the size of melons. There was a layer of thin frost on their surface, with seven circles of vague mist around them.

It meant that both fruits were seven thousand years old!

“Well…”

Mia noticed the plummeting temperature, then lost her cool and widened her eyes with disbelief once she took a look at the Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits that Su Ping was holding with his astral power.

Seven-thousand year old Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits?

She had never seen fruits as large in reality!

Her status had allowed her to see a lot of top pet materials, but mostly at the top auctions or in the magazines. They were almost invaluable!

Two more than auction or magazine worthy Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits were right in front of her eyes!

“They're both about seven thousand years old. Each of them is worth six million astral coins,” said Su Ping, “You can ask your pet to try them first if you're unsure about their quality.”

Mia had recovered only to be shocked again. Wide eyed and shocked, she asked, “S-Six million?”

She felt that Su Ping had misspoken. Six million? How is that possible? Each of them is worth more than ten million, and probably seventy to seventy million at auction!

Su Ping's offer was only one tenth of the market price!

“Do you find them expensive?” Su Ping frowned. He knew that the Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits were effective and quite fresh. He would have marked them at a much higher price if the system hadn't thought so little of them.

Mia: “…”

She gave Su Ping a weird look, wondering whether the guy was truly ignorant, or something was wrong with the items.

Cheap items were never of high quality; that was something everybody learned from capitalist exploitation; after all, none would willingly sell things at a loss; those who claimed they did were actually making a fortune because of some strategy.

Buyers might be wrong, but the sellers never were!

“Is there something wrong with your item?” The nearby Layne was also stunned by Su Ping's offer. He sneered and said, “Do you know what a seven-thousand year old Heaven Frost Crystal Fruit means? It's the most precious pet food in any shop. How could it be sold this easily?

“Besides, even if it was indeed sold, it wouldn't be this cheap.

“Didn't you say it wasn't in stock? And you found two of them, where did you get them? Did you synthesize them with something else?”

Mia also turned to look at Su Ping. She wasn't really fond of Layne, but he had indeed asked the same questions that she wanted to ask.

Su Ping turned cold after seeing their reactions. Regardless of being a businessman, he didn't have to beg other people to buy his stuff.

His goods were authentic and sold at a low price; he had every reason to be angry since he was being suspected.

“Point out what the problem is if you're knowledgeable!

“If you're ignorant about it, just shut up!”

Su Ping looked at Layne coldly and added, “Don't pretend you're a specialist asking away about everything you see. Everything I sell is authentic. As I said before, you can ask your pet to try them first if you doubt their quality. Show me evidence to back your claim if you notice anything wrong. Stop shouting and making random accusations!”

Layne was quite shocked.

He didn't expect that the owner of such a little shop would dare to talk to him in such a rude tone.

He had already announced his family name.

Who on that planet could avoid being awed after hearing the “Ryan” family name?

Mia was rather astonished, too, obviously not expecting Su Ping to challenge Layne like that. Su Ping was speaking in such a rough manner as if he didn't consider Layne a big deal, at all.

What is the background of this shopkeeper?

Layne was seething since his initial shock. He said with coldness beaming out of his eyes, “Excuse me? Say that again, I dare you!”

“I never repeat myself. Are you trying to cause trouble?” Su Ping gazed at him coldly.

Layne was about to throw a tantrum, but then his expression changed slightly as he glared at Su Ping. He saw death and boundless coldness in Su Ping's eyes, just like those in the eyes of veterans who had fought on desolate planets for years. No, even the veterans of his family that he had met didn't have eyes as horrifying as Su Ping's!

This person…

While Layne was still in a daze, Mia promptly interjected, “Stop fighting already. I'll just check the fruits myself.”

She was afraid that Layne would get involved in a fight because of her. She was then surprised when she looked at Su Ping; the plain-looking shopkeeper had suddenly released an intimidating vibe.

She was also detecting energy waves in Su Ping's body at the moment, which indicated that he was the same level as she was.

Su Ping also looked as young as her.

Considering his manners, is he a junior of a major family who was gaining social experience here?

She thought for a moment and then said to Su Ping, “My pet is a Frost Blood Star Dragon. It's rather… huge. Do you have an open s.p.a.ce where I can summon it?”

“You can summon it here. There's a resizing mechanism in this shop,” said Su Ping.

The system could help reduce pet sizes; even Star State behemoths would shrink and become little cuties while being in the shop.

“A resizing mechanism?” Mia was even more astonished. That mechanism could only be implemented by those in the Star State. It wasn't hard, but only the big shops could afford hiring a Star State expert to do that.

“Yes. You can summon it here,” said Su Ping.

Mia stopped thinking when she received permission and called her battle pet over.

A s.p.a.ce vortex appeared; a hideous dragon head that was covered in frost craned out. The dragon head was compressed, and the pointy horns it had were also shortened, making it look quite cute in the end.

The Frost Blood Star Dragon—which was a hundred meters long—appeared in the shop with a length of only five meters, but its aura was as cold and brutal as the original. However, the brutality in its eyes was replaced by eagerness the moment it saw the fruits being held by Su Ping.

Hungry! Hungry!

I want to eat them! I want to eat them!

Drool was overflowing in the dragon's mouth. It would have pounced to get the fruits if Mia would have given permission.

Mia was also slightly surprised by her pet's reaction; it had never been as excited when she fed it fruits of the same variety before.

Was that the difference between the hundred year old ones and the seven-thousand year old ones?

Mia instantly sent a message to her pet, asking it to taste and savor the fruits, not just gobble them down!

Being honest, she wasn't quite convinced that Su Ping could offer two perfectly aged fruits that easily.

The Frost Blood Star Dragon was quite confused by her instructions, but it did realize that it had the permission to eat them!

It quickly nodded in response. Any edible food was acceptable for the pet. Why bother with the taste? Human beings are truly troublesome, especially the females…

Mia was obviously unaware that her pet had just complained about her. She gave it permission to move since it had behaved so obediently.

Whoos.h.!.+

Just like a starving cat, the Frost Blood Star Dragon pounced at the Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits in Su Ping's hands.

Su Ping hid the second fruit the moment the pet was about to bite one of them.

He offered one of them for the pet to check the quality. Its master had to pay the bill first if it wanted the second fruit.

The dragon was exasperated once it saw one of the fruits disappear, but its fury was immediately thawed by the fruit in its mouth.

Delicious! So freaking delicious!

The Frost Blood Star Dragon was beyond delighted. It narrowed its eyes and enjoyed the moment as if it were lounging at a hot spring.

The Heaven Frost Crystal Fruit soon entered its stomach after quickly chewing it.

Dense frost anima flowed out of the fruit's pulp; the scorching energy at the core neutralized the extreme cold. The strange and balanced energy quickly circulated all over its body.

The Frost Blood Star Dragon moaned comfortably, as if it were being ma.s.saged by countless little hands.

The energy exuded by its body became stronger and stronger every time it moaned; the scales on its surface seemed to be covered in frost.

The frost was soon melted by a scorching power that soon turned into steam. The Frost Blood Star Dragon looked different from before after the vapor was gone.

Its silver scales were smoother and brighter; the dark red threads at the tip of its white, pointy horns were thicker than before.

It wasn't a pure ice cla.s.s dragon; it had some boiling beast blood inside its body. It was for that very reason that the owner had to adhere to harsh feeding requirements. Still, its combat ability deserved its fastidiousness: it was one of the best dragons in Silvy.

Mia was quite astonished by the Frost Blood Star Dragon's change.

A crystal bead on her watch suddenly began to glitter, transforming into a small device in her hand that looked like a square phone.

She then opened the device and pressed a dark red b.u.t.ton. Soon after, the Frost Blood Star Dragon appeared on her device.

Her eyes were wide with disbelief after she saw the new data registered by the device!

Only a moment had pa.s.sed, and her dragon's P value—which represented the amount of energy in the Frost Blood Star Dragon's body—had soared by 1.8! It meant that her pet's energy density was one third higher than before!

What did a third increase in energy density mean?

It meant that the speed and power of its skills, as well as its senses and reaction speed, had been significantly improved!

The food she usually gave her dragon could hardly maintain its energy balance. Some of the expensive food she would occasionally purchase could only increase the P value between 0.1 and 0.3 at most. And yet, that fruit had almost produced a two-point improvement!

Apart from the P value, the other indicators had also been more or less improved.

Most importantly, the pet's body status had been qualified as “Terrific”!

That was the highest rating for a pet's body status, followed by “Spirited”, “Excellent”, “Fine”, “Sick”, “Wounded” and “Hopeless.”

Mia had always taken good care of her battle pets and kept them in an Excellent status all the time. They were occasionally Spirited right after eating, or when they were antic.i.p.ating it.

The status of most pets—since their owners didn't take good care of them—lingered in the “Fine” status.

Layne finally recovered from his stunned status. He was rather gloomy after having been too frightened to talk because of Su Ping's fierce eyes earlier. What made him feel better was that Mia had been completely distracted by her battle pet and didn't seem to have noticed his embarra.s.sment.

Seeing the surprise on Mia's face, he quickly asked her, then looked at Su Ping coldly, “How is it?”

“I-It's real…”

Mia was woken up by Layne but was still astounded. The examination report couldn't be wrong, which meant that the Heaven Frost Crystal Fruit that Su Ping had just given to her dragon was not a fake one. It was the real thing!

She had heard that a thousand year old fruit was already capable of producing astonis.h.i.+ng improvements!

The ten-thousand year old kind were much more effective; they might even aid one's pets comprehend new skills or evolve!

“I already said… What?” Hardly had Layne opened his mouth when he realized what Mia told him. “It's real?”

How is that possible?

The fruits that the store owner found in a matter of minutes were really seven-thousand year old Heaven Frost Crystal Fruits?

Mia had already calmed down. She then remembered the second fruit which had been put away by Su Ping. She quickly asked, “Boss, can you sell the other fruit to me?”

Su Ping relaxed after seeing that she had confirmed the fruit's quality; he no longer had to persuade her into buying. He said, “Okay.”

“About the price…”

“As I already said before, six million apiece,” said Su Ping casually.

Mia didn't know what to say. She thought that he had previously offered a lower price so they wouldn't leave; it was rather unbelievable that he didn't raise the price at the moment.

After a moment of hesitation, Mia reminded him, “The Heaven Frost Crystal Fruit… is worth tens of millions…”

Her ident.i.ty and her pride discouraged her from taking advantage of others.

She was almost amused by herself when she said that.

She would have never imagined that she would haggle with a merchant someday, and not to ask him to lower the price but to charge more… I must be crazy!

“Tens of millions…”

Su Ping's lips twitched when he heard that. He knew that it was definitely a loss if he sold the fruits at six million apiece, but the loss turned out to be even greater than he thought.

Other shopkeepers made money happily every day, but there he was, suffering consecutive losses.

System, would you please stop being so unreasonable? These fruits are very precious!

“When I said it's six million, it's six million. This shop will never adjust the pricing,” Su Ping said to Mia after complaining silently.

Mia was rendered speechless by Su Ping's determination. Those who weren't in the know might even get to think that she had been driving a crazy bargain!

Come on, I'm asking you to raise the price!

I'm going to feel uncomfortable if I buy them at such a cheap price!

“Why don't I pay ten million for each of them?” ventured Mia.

“I said the price is fixed!” Su Ping didn't look happy; not because she offered more money, but because he was reminded of the pain in his heart because of her persistence.

He wasn't interested in regular money. He wanted transactions that could be converted into energy points!

Mia was at a loss for words, seeing how Su Ping seemed about to blow his top; she had never seen a weirdo like him before. Having no other choice, she could only transfer twelve million to Su Ping's account.

Layne knew that there was nothing he could do even though he was fuming with anger. There was nothing he could criticize about Su Ping's goods.

He wasn't a trainer, so he didn't have the necessary knowledge to dig deeper.

The offer to pay the bill was again declined by Mia; his mood took another dive.

Su Ping took out the second Heaven Frost Crystal Fruit and gave it to Mia after the money was transferred.

Su Ping made quick calculations related to the quest. Twelve million coins mean 120,000 energy points after the conversion. I have to make her spend 9,880,000 energy points more…