In seven years as a store owner, forget about encountering one, he had never even heard of a level-90 beast.
The strongest monster in Huaxi City was an Emperor Tier beast, a Level-63 monster named the Glacial Dragon. The strongest monster in the entire country of Northern Yan was the Emperor Qilin, a level-79 monster owned by the number one monster Tamer and the pride of Northern Yan, Ren Tianyu.
What was Quasi-God Tier? It was in the realm of mythical beasts.
How could the spirit of such a beast be imprisoned in a place like this?
And moreover, the System was offering him a chance to claim it and then even let him sell its eggs to the public? That will change his damn fortune.
"System," he murmured without any hesitation in his voice as he stepped forward, standing away three feet from the chained spirit, enough to pick it and still be out of its range. "I choose this spirit."
Ding!
[Initiating Soul Chain Binding…]
Suddenly, golden chains exploded out of Lin Fang's chest.
They danced like lightning bolts, whipping through the air and slamming into the shackled spirit cat, wrapping it tighter. The beast let out a bloodcurdling shriek as it was pulled toward Lin Fang.
"Argh…"
As it forcefully entered Lin Fang's body, he screamed too. "The hell. You didn't warn me this… You damn system…"
It felt like someone cracked his skull open. His head throbbed violently, his vision almost turned blurry, and for a moment, his breath even stopped.
His knees hit the ground with a thud. Fortunately, it only lasted a few seconds before his mind returned to peace. The effects disappeared soon after, as a notification chime filled his head and a new holographic window erupted out of thin air.
Ding!
[Emergency Quest Complete]
[New Monster Acquired: Nemesis]
[You added a new type of monster to the system. Mythical grade has been detected. Additional Bonus Reward: 100,000 Coins Earned]
[Nemesis Summoning Token is added to Inventory]
[Nemesis Egg has been added to the Summoner's Shop]
His hands dug into the soft soil. Sweat trickled down his neck. However, going past the pain he went through for a few seconds, he started smiling.
"I did it," he whispered hoarsely. "I actually did it. Haha…" Lin Fang couldn't help but curse aloud, eyes wide with disbelief as the System's notifications kept blinking across his vision.
His eyes couldn't help but read a particular notification again and again in order to confirm that he didn't mistake a zero. "1… 2… 3… 4…5… Yup, five zeroes… 100,000 coins… Haha, I'm right…"
He almost dropped to the ground again. His hands trembled in excitement. "How much was it? That's… ten million credits? That's more than my former house… my debts… my entire life savings, all combined."
"I'm not dreaming, right?" he muttered, pinching his own cheek. "Ssss…. Ha… I'm not dreaming."
A moment later;
Opening Summoner's shop, he scrolled down to check the egg details.
Nemesis Egg
Grade: Legendary
Potential: Max Lv. 80 (Saint Tier)
Price: 100,000 Coins
"Legendary?" Lin Fang blinked in surprise. "Didn't I capture a mythical tire beast? Why is this one a legendary grade egg and its potential a Saint Tier instead of Quasi-God Tier? But then again, level 80 is the same as being the strongest monster in this country. I shouldn't complain about it. It's like complaining about paying taxes after winning a lottery. However, there is just one problem…"
His eyes lowered further to the last line, the price.
"100,000 coins to purchase one egg," he muttered. "That's a thousand times more expensive than the Luminous Panda."
His excitement died, and a bit of frustration replaced it for a moment. "Who would even buy it?"
If he had to sell this egg for even a marginal profit, he had to keep the price of 11 million credits.
Who buys this egg from an unreliable and unknown seller like Lin Fang?
And anyone with the power to afford this egg would also have the power to take it by force.
"I'd be painting a damn target on my back," he grumbled, his mood turned sour from happiness. "Forget that. Even if there's some saint out there willing to pay ten million credits honestly, I should have 100,000 coins first before even buying one from the Summoner's shop myself. That's impossible in the current situation. Let's think about it in the future."
In the end, he sighed.
"Forget about it," he decided. "At least for now. We have other things to sell anyway. Also, I don't think my heart would handle ten million credits of transactions anyway. Why all these stupid imaginations and waste my time…"
He closed the Summoner Shop and looked down at his inventory. He spotted the Nemesis Summoning Token, shining like black gold.
He grinned, rubbing the back of his neck. "It all started because of her," he whispered.
If he hadn't left the house with her… if she hadn't brought him here… none of this would have happened.
"Just… associating with her," he whispered again, "is changing my whole damn life."
He clenched his fists and gave a small, breathless laugh. "Ten million credits. A mythical beast. A second chance at everything…"
He'd never believed in fate, but…
"Zhi Yan," he murmured, eyes glowing. "Maybe you really are my lucky star."
After a while, he sat cross-legged in the cave before the inventory screen. The black egg with golden swirl, Nemesis's summoning token, rested silently in the inventory. It pulsed softly, almost as if it had a will of its own. It felt vastly differently from either Po or Lei Fei's summoning token.
"Mythical Grade, Quasi God Tier Potential"
He exhaled deeply.
"I want to hatch you," he muttered. "So badly."
His fingers hovered just above the Hatch option. His thumb twitched.
But then, he pulled back, fighting his urges.
"Not now," he said to himself, more firmly this time. "You have to wait a bit. If I hatch it now, high chance that Li Changfeng fellow might sense it. I don't know whether he is a monster tamer or a hunter, but the fact that he guards a place like this itself tells of his capability. There's no need to be in a hurry. But, there is still more than ten minutes left. What should I do at this time? Hmm?"
However, the temptation to hatch has filled his head. To distract himself, Lin Fang turned to what he always did when he had money.
Shopping, of course.
He opened the Summoner's Shop and glanced at his balance.
[Coins: 100,088]
"Okay, time to splurge."
*Ding!
[50 Luminous Panda Eggs were purchased. 5,000 coins were deducted.]
[50 Blazing Panda Eggs were purchased. 5,000 coins were deducted.]
[50 Terran Panda Eggs were purchased. 5,000 coins were deducted.]
[50 Electral Panda Eggs were purchased. 5,000 coins were deducted.]
[50 Shadow Panda Eggs were purchased. 5,000 coins were deducted.]
[50 Hydro Panda Eggs were purchased. 5,000 coins were deducted.]
[Blood Coagulation Pill has been purchased. 3000 coins were deducted.]
Just in case, he thought.
Next were the Growth Pills.
He tapped on the bulk-buy once again.
*Ding!
[30 Growth Pills were purchased. 15,000 coins were deducted.]
"With 30 of these, I can maximize Po's level. Or maybe, just turn both Po and Lei Fei into Lord Tiers."
[Coins Remaining: 52,088]
"And just like that, I spent over 48,000 coins, which is like 4.8 million credits…" Taking a breath, "But, I'm still not done yet."
As he murmured, Lin Fang indeed wasn't done yet with the shopping.
Closing the Summoner's shop, he went on clicking the Lottery Wheel.
He cracked his knuckles, his eyes narrowing on the beast shards. "Alright… let's get that lion too."
He tapped the X11 Draw.
Then again.
And again.
Over the following couple of minutes, Lin Fang burned through 3,000 coins, drawing x11 tickets, six times in a row, until he achieved his goal.
Each time, a cascade of rewards filled the screen.
The results:
112x Winged Lion Shards 837 Coins
A wide grin spread across his face as he assimilated the shards at once.
Ding!
[White Winged Lion Egg (summon token) has been added to Inventory.]
[New Item unlocked: Jade Spirit Tonic]
He tapped the White Winged Lion's summoning token.
Its stats glowed in bold text:
White Winged Lion
Element: Fire, Wind
Grade: Epic
Potential: Lv. 40 (Lord Tier)
"I just don't understand one thing," he mused, "Why is it that others have beasts with lower grade and high potential, but the system has high grade monsters to give him, which have lower potential?"
In the end, the system doesn't have any personality and doesn't offer him any guidance, and neither could he ask anyone, as he was probably the only one in the world with such a system. With no response from the system, his questions remain unanswered, and he could only mutter. "Okay, let's go back… There is one last thing to check around before that, though."
He scrolled back to the Summoner's Shop, eyes falling on the newest addition:
[Jade Spirit Tonic]
Cost: 1,000 Coins
Effect: Cures any internal injury, toxin, or lingering ailment in monsters under Level 50. Partial effectiveness for those above Level 50.
"Oh, this is surprising." He stared at the 3d illustration of a subtle, polished green vial shimmering on the screen. Its details are not as flashy as the growth pills. Not as drastic as the Blood Coagulation Pill. But it appeared far more… practical.
Lin Fang narrowed his eyes. "This is like a healing potion, but it can remove any effect that is hurting the pet. Hmm… for such an effect, 1000 coins should be an apt price, but expensive for normal ailments like cold and fever that go on their… own… hmm… fever… when I think about fever… I remember…"
And immediately, an image flickered in his mind, the white cat on the receptionist's desk that was suffering from Moonpaw fever. For the world, it can be considered a terminal illness, but he clearly remembered the system mentioning it as an internal ailment.
His brows furrowed. "This means this vial can cure that cat."
His fingers hovered over the Purchase button as such a thought came to his head.
But then, a moment after, hesitation crept into his mind.
"One thousand coins," he whispered. "That's a hundred thousand credits…"
Not only was that enough to live decently in a rental apartment in the suburbs for a decade, but it could also hatch dozens of panda eggs, feed Po growth potions for weeks, or even spin the lottery.
If he had to outright compare how big a hundred thousand credits were to him, he was basically renting a shared room apartment for 400 credits a month.
And who was Li Xue?
Just a stranger.
A charming one, yes.
But he wasn't stupid.
He wasn't a rich brat to just splurge such money on girls just because they were beautiful.
In the end, he backed away from the Buy button. "Sorry, Miss Li. Maybe when I'm filthy rich." He muttered under his breath.
He exhaled slowly, closing the shop.
Meanwhile, outside the Spirit Valley, Zhi Yan stood at the grassy hill's edge, her arms crossed tight over her chest. Her lips pressed into a thin line as her eyes bore into the cave opening.
It had been nearly fifteen minutes since Lin Fang disappeared into that dark cave-like borrow where an evil spirit is imprisoned. And he had yet to emerge.
Every tick of the watch made her heart beat just a little faster.
Her fingers curled. "How much time is left?" she asked.
Li Chengfeng stood silently beside her, arms behind his back. "Only a few minutes more," he said.
Zhi Yan nodded, her eyes fixated on the cave.
She was determined to rush inside once the hour had passed, but Lin Fang didn't return. But four minutes later, without even Li Changfeng mentioning the time limit, a faint tremble of wind blew past her ear.
A soft light glowed near the mouth of the cave, Lin Fang's body flickered, and in a blink, he reappeared beside Zhi Yan and Li Chengfeng.
His feet touched the ground lightly. His expression? One of slight confusion, like a man awoken mid-dream.
"Huh…?"
Zhi Yan stepped toward him instantly, eyes widening in quiet panic before relaxing in relief. "You're… alright?"
Lin Fang nodded slowly, his eyes filled with a bit of confusion. "Yeah… of course. What could happen to me?" As he looked around, he mumbled in realization. "So, this is what it means by a 1-hour time limit. It's not that I have to come out before the time limit, but I will be forcefully kicked out of the valley."
Meanwhile, Li Chengfeng's eyes glowed for a moment, and his face immediately froze in shock. His lips quivered as he pointed his finger at Lin Fang. "You… You… managed to bend the will of the spirit king?"
"Eh?" "Huh?"
Both Lin Fang and Zhi Yan snapped their heads toward him in surprise.