On the second floor of the pet store lies the studio apartment filled with basic furniture and facilities. Spread around 600 sq. ft in area, it neither looked luxurious nor too economical, although too messy when compared to how neat the store downstairs was.
Liu Wei couldn't bother to clean it up and just sat on the couch after casually pushing away the clothes spread on it.
Taking out his smartphone, he opened the pet store's social media accounts in various apps and put the update about how their grand opening in the new city went successfully without mentioning too many details about it.
"Okay, it is done. What's next?"
Once he had taken care of updating the status, Liu Wei went into browsing mode, searching for the number of universities in the city.
"Hmm, there are around 20 universities and more than 400 affiliated private colleges in this city. The biggest of them is the University of Triton those kids go to."
Putting away his smartphone, Liu Wei rests his elbows on his knees and leans forward to go into deep thinking.
"Unlike other beasts in those dungeons, mine doesn't need their owner to have mana. So, it is easier to sell but get too much attention. I cannot make the same mistake as before and should act only after I break these shackles upon my mana capacity.
At the same time, I also need to attract enough customers. I can do that with those dinosaur species but those are reserved for the dungeons. My lifetime goal cannot be put into jeopardy by short-term goals. No matter what, my identity cannot be linked with the Dinosaurs.
That leaves with Prehistoric tokens. Should I use some of my credit savings? Let's see…"
"System, show the character information."
Name: Liu Wei
Alias: Liu Wei
Rank: Tier-3 (reached max)
Mana points: 1000 (reached max)
Attribute: Fire, Water, Wind, Lightning, and Earth.
Luck: 5
Guardian Beasts: Tyrannosaurus Rex, Megalodon
Unlocked Beasts:
Heroic – Smilodon, Direwolf, Cretoxyrhina, Sarcosuchus
Elite – Velociraptor, Thylacoleo, Dimetrodon, Troodon, Ankylosaurus, Agriotherium
Normal – Meganeura, Arthropleura, Leaellynasaura, Scansoriopterygidae, Ceratogaulus, Gomphos, Caudipteryx, Propalaeotherium, Morganucodon, Archaeopteryx
Dino tokens: 18 (Common-14, Elite-4)
Prehistoric tokens: 7 (Common-5, Elite-2)
Credits: 8765
Elite club (lv2): 21
Skills:
Active:
Creation: The host can create any selective beast from the unlocked section of the gallery. Cost: Varies. CD: Varies.
Teleportation: The host could teleport to any place within the dungeon created by him. Cost: 10% mana. CD: None.
Guardian Merge: The host merges with one of the guardians and gains all of its abilities. During this state, the host cannot use any other abilities. Cost: 1% mana per second. CD: None.
Terror Scream: The host let out a powerful scream, instilling terror in the hearts of the listeners. Range: 1 km. Cost: None. CD: 30 minutes.
Wrath of Tyranthir (inactive): The host can transform into Tyranthir, the primeval Sovereign, and cause chaos everywhere like a mindless beast for the following five minutes. In this state, the host cannot distinguish between a foe and a friend. A minimum Tier-6 is needed to activate this skill. Cost: None. CD: 30 days.
Passive:
Spirit of Tyranthir: The host has an absolute command over every prehistoric creature created by the system regardless of whether they form a spirit contract with someone or not.
Infinite Resurgence: Every time the host dies, he resurrects in one of the system's active dungeon towers. However, the rank will be reset to Tier 0 as a result.
Dungeon Lord: The host can use the authority of the dungeon creator to change the rules inside the dungeon at any given time, provided that he is also present in the dungeon.
***
Quests:
Main Quest: Create your first dungeon
Minimum Requirements: 1 Heroic grade Beast, 10 Elite grade beasts, 100 Normal grade Beasts, atleast 20000 stalks of herbs and plants, and 100kg worth of Arcanite ore.
Reward: Guardian token, Lottery wheel system, and 10000 credits
*
Side Quest (1): Sell 1000 Direwolf cubs (2/1000)
Reward: 1000 credits, 1 Prehistoric token (Heroic)
Side Quest (2): Sell your first Sarcosuchus hatchling
Reward: 1 Prehistoric token (Normal)
Side Quest (3): Sell 100 Smilodon cubs (72/100)
Reward: 1000 credits, 1 Prehistoric token (Elite)
Side Quest (4): Sell your first Cretoxyrhina pup
Reward: 1 Prehistoric token (Normal)
Side Quest (5): Promote the club to Level-3 (21/100)
Reward: Dino token (Heroic)
Side Quest (6): Collect 1000 stalks of Blue Sage grass, 1 kg Crystallized Three-eyed Spider venom, 10 liters of Moon berry Juice, 1 liter of syrup extracted from Gold ginseng roots, and 100 ml of Dragonflower Nectar.
Reward: MP Enhancement potion.
Side Quest (7): Collect Adamantite
Reward: 1000 credits for every 100 grams of pure adamantium extracted from Adamantite ore.
*
Life Quest (1): Wipe out all the demons from the planet
Reward: Unknown
Life Quest (2): Defeat the President and the upper echelons of the Divinian council and make them kneel before the grave of Apollo Moonstone.
Reward: Unknown
Life Quest (3): Reclaim the Castle of Divinia
Reward: Unknown
***
Tokens are something used to unlock random beasts in the gallery section, although with only a 50% chance of gaining something new.
What if Liu Wei gets the beast that he already has? Then, he will be compensated with credits, which can be used to unlock the beasts or purchase other things in the store.
As for the grading, the beasts are generally graded into five types, according to public knowledge.
First is normal, these are the least desirable beast companions as they only have a maximum potential of reaching Tier 2.
The second is Elite. The majority of the selling beasts fall under this category, and they have a maximum potential of reaching Tier 4.
The third is Heroic. Naturally, these are rare and expensive. Direwolves and Smilodons are the best examples. They have a maximum potential of reaching Tier 6.
Fourth is Epic. These beasts are very rare and one wouldn't usually see them readily available in pet stores. They are extremely prideful in nature and very difficult to tame. Only top-tier experts possess such beasts as their companions. They have a maximum potential of reaching Tier-9, but, most of the pet-quality ones have Tier-8 potential.
Fifth is legendary. These beasts are only nine in number and are considered next to impossible to tame. With their maximum potential to reach as high as Tier 10, it is considered suicide to even attempt to capture them. These were also called immortal beasts for they were just reborn when they died. Out of the nine existing creatures, so far, only one was tamed. The one who managed to tame the Tier-10 legendary Griffin became the President of the Divinian Council, the most powerful organization in the world.
The guardian beasts that Liu Wei possessed fall into the epic-grade category.
Their maximum potential will be Tier-9 as a guardian but the pet-quality ones will have an 8-tier max when they are unlocked in the gallery.
Taking a look at his stats, Liu Wei fell into deep thinking. "Hmm, still need 1300 more if I want to unlock the weakest heroic-grade dinosaur. It means I should atleast make 145k worth of transactions. Or I can use the tokens and hope for a copy.
Hmm…
Nah, let's just wait until the promotion of the club. I need to collect other materials anyway. To attract the adventurers, I need medicinal herbs in abundance. Not to mention, I also need to buy materials to improve my potential.
But for now, I need to think about my immediate actions. Direwolf cubs have 7 days of cooldown and Smilodon cubs cannot be created for the next five days. Sarcosuchus is too slow on land while Cretoxyrhina is a shLiu Wei-type creature. Who would buy them? Neither of them will be popular even in this city. Maybe, they will sell in port cities, but not here.
Should I opt for selling Elite grade and normal grade ones? Or try my luck at the auction house? Wait a second. Why should I bother choosing when I can do both?"
"System, Open Inventory"
The inventory opened with eighteen of its twenty slots filled with miscellaneous stuff, some belonged to the system, while some were Liu Wei's personal things.
He proceeded to click on the token that looked like a Copper coin with a question mark on it and the number 2 at the top left corner of that specific slot, indicating the number of such tokens.
As the number 2 changed to number 1, the familiar-looking spinning one-column slot made its appearance on a separate holographic screen like a new window tab in an internet browser.
Half a minute later, it stopped spinning on an image and Liu Wei received the notification.
*Ding! Estemmenosuchus has been unlocked in the gallery.
"Estemmenosuchus? Ugh… another beast with a name difficult to pronounce. Let's just call it Estem."
"System, Open Gallery"
The Gallery is a place where all the beasts are recorded within the system's data and the list is quite endless. Liu Wei cannot even count the number and just estimated it to be in millions.
Whatever, he currently has nothing to do with it and just clicked on the claimed tab on the right. The ones unlocked were shifted to this tab in order to avoid confusion.
He went on to click on the image that looked a bit similar to Rhino.
Estemmenosuchus
Habitat: Land
Type: Defensive
Potential: 4-Tier
Max speed: 8-14 km/hr
Lifespan: 26 years
Maturity: 9 years
**Create**
"26 years, huh? That's quite a lifespan but the maturity age is also quite high. Active adventurers won't prefer it. I would have to target high school kids or people who just prefer a pet at home. Anyways, let's continue."
Hoping for another Prehistoric beast of Elite grade, Liu Wei clicked on the remaining token. However, this time, it didn't give him what he wanted.
*Ding! You received a copy of Thylacoleo. 500 credits have been added to the account.
"Okay, nothing to feel about. I still have three I can sell (including Thylacoleo and Agriotherium). Too bad that I cannot sell Dimetrodon for it looks like a dinosaur even though it isn't."
Liu Wei went back to the gallery and proceeded with his creation. He has two types of creation.
One is creating the beasts from the Gallery. This will let him either create the newborn cubs or the Eggs with respective cooldown periods. He can sell them at any price he wants. However, 90% of the income automatically should be deposited back into the system, which then converts into credits at the rate of 100 dollars to 1 credit.
The second is creating the beasts through his active skill. This will let him create from newborn creatures to mature ones. Unfortunately, he cannot sell these as they will be bound to his soul. He can merely rent them to the customers.
Opting for the first type of creation, Liu Wei went on to choose the latest acquired beast.
*Ding! Do you wish to choose single or multiple?
"Multiple" Liu Wei spoke in his head.
*Ding! Choose a number not more than ten.
"5"
*Ding! Choose an attribute.
"Earth"
*Ding! The cooldown period is 90 hours. Proceed?
"Yes"
A couple of seconds later, another inventory slot was filled as he received a notification.
*Ding! 5 Estemmenosuchus cubs were sent to the inventory.