Before going in to sell the giant lizard, Li Pu must first pick these mushrooms.
Originally, selling the remaining Nightglow Spiders to other students would certainly net him more Crystal Coins.
But considering the time constraints, he has to quickly sell them to the school.
All along the way, he had been observing the freshness of the mushrooms on the mushroom-eating lizard's back.
Part of their vitality has already withered away with the death of the mushroom-eating lizard.
If he delays any longer, he won't be able to gather the necessary materials.
"You stay here and watch, I'll go in first."
Thinking this, Li Pu instructed the scarecrow to keep watch.
[Grass!]
The scarecrow nodded, then leaned against the mushroom-eating lizard and sat down.
As for Li Pu, he carried the box of Nightglow Spiders through the gate.
Building 3, that's the name hanging outside the building.
Most of the experiment buildings in the school belong to the Life Department.
The main focus of the Life Department is the application of summoned beasts in various aspects of life.
Such as constructing buildings, geological exploration, weather forecasting, even the food industry, etc.
Research in related techniques also falls under the Life Department.
This includes processing and breeding materials, manufacturing inscribed items, and summoner weapons.
The Gatekeeper uncle introduced this place as the school's designated spot for purchasing magical beasts, the trading station.
Due to the nocturnal nature of some magical beasts, faculty and students sometimes need to act at night.
Considering this, the trading station operates 24/7, providing services at any time.
However, during this pre-semester period, not to mention midnight, hardly anyone visits even during the day.
The first floor of Building 3 serves as the facade of the trading station.
In the brightly lit hall, only one duty girl was wearily watching the front desk.
It was just today that she was particularly responsible; otherwise, someone else might have gone to sneak a nap.
"Ha...! Hmm?"
Just as the duty girl yawned, she suddenly noticed someone entering.
It was a boy who looked incredibly handsome and was carrying a box.
He walked with a limp, as if he were injured.
"Fellow student..."
The duty girl looked at him, her expression inquisitive.
In fact, she had seen this situation many times before.
Students coming to the trading station usually came to handle their spoils, so having various injuries wasn't surprising.
"Hello, I'd like to sell these."
Li Pu placed the box on the front desk.
"Alright, please show your student ID card."
The duty girl opened a computer program, giving a habitual professional smile.
The student ID card has many uses within the school, including registration at the trading station.
"Err, I think our student ID cards haven't been issued yet."
But this request made Li Pu a bit embarrassed.
He had heard about that; it seemed they were distributed on the first day of school.
"No student ID card??"
The response left the duty girl momentarily stunned.
She originally thought this was a diligent senior student coming to earn money before school started.
It turned out... he was a freshman?
(Wait a minute, something's not right.)
In the next second, she realized.
It's not easy for freshmen to leave campus, especially before school starts.
Could it be that this boy caught a magical beast on campus?
Keep in mind that Xidu University, situated in such a rural location, couldn't be completely watertight.
Sometimes, magical beasts that are nimble and adept at concealment still slip in.
Like those mouse-like or cockroach-like ones...
"Ugh..."
Thinking of this, the duty girl instinctively took a few steps back.
She absolutely detests cockroaches and mice.
"?"
Li Pu was a bit puzzled by this, but he opened the box anyway.
"Huh?"
Upon seeing the Nightglow Spiders in jars, the duty girl was taken aback.
They weren't the mice or cockroach-like magical beasts she had imagined, but rather the hard-to-trace Nightglow Spiders from the southern forest?
And they were alive?
There were about 30 bottles of them!
She could hardly believe it and looked at both the Nightglow Spiders and Li Pu.
"Wait a moment."
Fortunately, she quickly remembered her duties and hurriedly ran inside.
Her job was just to receive guests; someone else handled the purchasing details.
"Hmm?"
Not long after, Li Pu saw a bald old man in a researcher's lab coat walk out.
The key was that he recognized this teacher as the one who had given him the novice talisman at the Wind Listening Hall that day.
This bald teacher was now looking sleepy, clearly just awakened.
Due to his seniority and age, this teacher, surnamed Tu, was addressed as Tu Lao.
As the head of the trading station, he normally didn't have to be on duty.
However, given the staff shortage recently, combined with the lack of likely activity, he made an obligatory overnight visit.
Little did he expect to be called up shortly after falling asleep today.
At this moment, Tu Lao hadn't recognized Li Pu yet and just went straight to the box filled with Nightglow Spiders.
"My goodness, did you poke a hole in a spider den?"
Seeing so many Nightglow Spiders, his brows slightly furrowed.
"Tu Lao..."
Following behind, the duty girl approached and whispered.
What?
He's a freshman?
Looking up at Li Pu, Tu Lao finally remembered.
"It's you?"
As the last freshman to successfully summon, Li Pu had left a slight impression on him.
"Hello, teacher."
Also surprised to see him, Li Pu nodded in greeting.
"So many Nightglow Spiders, where did you get them from?"
Tu Lao's question was actually the same as that of the duty girl.
For a freshman, not to mention having so many, just tracking down a Nightglow Spider is not easy.
"Picked them up."
Li Pu didn't lie.
While he and the scarecrow were dragging the mushroom-eating lizard back to school, they hadn't noticed when these Nightglow Spiders hitched a ride.
"Picked them up?"
Tu Lao was initially taken aback by this answer, then thought for a moment, realizing this seemed like the most reasonable explanation.
Unless he had incredible luck, where else could a freshman find this many Nightglow Spiders?
"Alright, I heard you're selling them, right? The school's buying price is 80 Crystal Coins each."
Suspecting the other might not know the rules, he added: "No negotiation."
"No problem."
Upon hearing this number, Li Pu was truly delighted.
The first classmate who proposed buying them hadn't lied to him after all; the school's offer indeed was 80 each.
Which means his classmates' offers exceeded the school's buying price; they were quite generous.
80 each means this entire box could sell for over 2000.
For Li Pu, this perfectly met his needs.
He could learn a new skill.
...
...