Later that evening, at a hotel in Hangzhou City, Southern Wu;
Steam clung to the bathroom mirror as Shang Wei stepped out in a fresh bathrobe, toweling his damp hair. His room was quiet, save for the faint hum of city noise beyond the glass.
On the bed, a luminous Direwolf puppy dozed, curled up like a ball of fluff.
As Shang Wei passed by, the Direwolf stirred, opened its eyes, and clumsily climbed down the blanket. It stood on its hind legs and lifted its front limbs.
Shang Wei couldn't help but chuckle at its adorableness. "For a King Tier potential monster, you are quite a clingy one, aren't you?"
Scooping it up with practiced ease, he walked over to the desk and flipped open his laptop. With the pup Direwolf curled in his lap, he navigated to NovaMart, opening his bookmarks.
There were a few seller names, but only one with no verification badge. It's Fang Fang Pets. He clicked on it.
The pup Direwolf curled itself on its lap, continuing its nap. Meanwhile, he was focused on the screen. "Let's see how many Direwolfs you put up for sale, Mister."
In fact, Shang Wei was the sole buyer of Lin Fang's items, monopolizing the purchases.
During the past week, he was the one who bought the Direwolf eggs for 15k credits and sold them at a much higher price. Even when they were put at 25k credits, he still purchased all four of them and sold them for double the price to his acquaintances, a couple of them at Peking City and the other two in Hangzhou City, while on his business trip. And now, he is ready to purchase again.
But to his surprise, there was only one Luminous Direwolf, Blazing Direwolf, Terran Direwolf, and Electra Direwolf being put for sale, just as before.
However, they weren't the only ones.
Apart from those four, there are two more types of Direwolf eggs in the list. Hydro Direwolves and Shadow Direwolves.
"Uhh… Seriously? Six types of Direwolf Eggs? What kind of experimental breeding center did this owner have? Moreover, the prices are once again raised, this time directly to 40,000 credits. Ugh… I guess he might have caught up to my actions. But I won't make much money out of these. Hmm… what to do…"
As he clicked on the items one after another, the details were displayed on the computer screen.
"Hmm… all of them have the same potential, just their elements are different. Well, I made like 300,000 in profits just by reselling them so far, but if I buy them at 40k each, I can only gain like 5k on one, it doesn't seem that viable for reselling anymore… Hmm… wait a second…"
A sudden thought came to his head, and his eyes lit up. "Before, I only thought of reselling them, separately to different clients, but there are six types of Direwolfs here. I can market it as a Direwolf Tamer, selling all to one client, for a higher price, like a package. Before that, I need to somehow find a way to contact this seller. He definitely has a breeding facility or atleast knows someone with one."
Later that noon, Huaxi City;
Ding!
[Black has reached Level 16]
[Black has reached Level 20.]
[Black learned a new skill.]
[Black has reached Level 23]
.
.
.
[Black has reached Level 30.]
[Black learned a new skill]
*Ding!
[Growth Pills will no longer be effective. The current creature has reached the maximum limit for artificial growth through external supplements.]
Notification after notification popped up in succession as Lin Fang sat cross-legged on the bed, using the growth pills one after another on Black, which clung onto his body like a Koala. Its size hadn't changed a bit. But its level continued to rise.
Lin Fang muttered, prying himself out of the bear hug. "Okay… that's eight pills. I still have many to use, but based on this growth rate, it is safe to say that I would need 7-10 growth pills for a beast to reach Commander Tier. 10 pills mean 5000 coins, equivalent to 500,000 credits. Well, it's not bad. I can actually sell these to the rich for 2-3 million credits, but there are two problems."
"First, we aren't sure if it works on other monsters or just the system-created monsters."
"Secondly, while there are supplements in the market that increase the rate of a monster's level and growth, they don't have such a great effect as a Growth Pill. Most of the tamers use beast cores, special fruits, or high-level monsters' meat from the wilderness to level up their monsters. The Growth Pill would reduce that risk to nothing. The problem is the same as why I can't put a Nemesis Egg on the market. I'm not strong enough to protect myself. Anyways…"
He glanced over at the few remaining growth pills in his inventory. "Guess I'll save these for the others… oh wait…"
As something clicked in his head, he muttered further, "I forgot to check out another feature."
He opened up the system's Character Interface and scrolled down.
His eyes landed on the glowing new tab: Nursery Pen.
As he tapped it, it expanded, revealing ten slots. There was no description of what it does. So, in order to experiment a bit, he cautiously clicked one of the slots.
At once, the illustrations of his four monster companions appeared. He selected Tempest.
*Ding!
[Tempest is detected to be in Epic grade. Daily Cost for Nurturing: 50 coins. Effects: (1-5 levels increase per day.)]
Lin Fang rubbed his chin. "So it's like daycare, but for leveling? Hmm… let me calculate it first. If I keep ten days in the Nursery Pen, I can level up Tempest to atleast Commander Tier, and I would only pay 500 coins in the end." When he realized the difference, he couldn't help but groan in complaint. "Ugh… this is a lot better than Growth Pill."
*Ding!
[Select the number of days you wish to place Tempest in the Nursery Pen]
"Hmm… 8 days left till the examination. So… let's pick 7."
[Tempest is placed in the Nursery Pen]
[350 coins are deducted]
Next was Cloud.
*Ding!
[Cloud is placed in the Nursery Pen.]
[350 coins are deducted]
Lin Fang turned back to the system interface once again. His eyes were momentarily on the remaining money he was left with.
[40,388 Coins]
Just as he wondered what he should do with the remaining coins, the familiar chime from the system rang in his head.
Ding!
[Order Received: 1x Luminous Direwolf Egg, 1x Terran Direwolf Egg, 1x Hydro Direwolf Egg, 1x Electral Direwolf Egg, 1x Blazing Direwolf Egg, 1x Shadow Direwolf Egg.]
[Total Transaction: 240,000 Credits]
Lin Fang blinked. "What?"
He rubbed his eyes. No mistake. The numbers stood proudly at the top of the transaction list.
"Who the hell is this guy?" he muttered. "Throwing money like that even after increasing the price…"
Lin Fang couldn't help but narrow his eyes. "Is it the same person from last time?"
Confirming the ID of the buyer, Lin Fang reached into his inventory and scrolled past all the clutter—materials, leftover food, and furniture—until he spotted a half-forgotten item. A little box filled with old business cards, back when he used to run his old store.
He fished one out.
The name is printed in clean gold font: Origin Pet World. A tagline below read, "Trusted Egg Broker. Exotic Creatures. Guaranteed Potential."
And his old phone number, still active, was printed near the bottom.
"If it's truly him," Lin Fang muttered with a glint in his eye, "then let's bait him properly. Maybe I can strike a deal…"
Without wasting time, he summoned the packaging interface, pulled out a finely polished wooden box from his inventory, and gently placed the Direwolf eggs inside, carefully cushioned with soft impact-resistant padding.
Just before sealing it, he slipped the business card inside the crate, letting it rest atop the eggs like a calling card from a mysterious merchant.
With a grin, he sealed the package, then opened the website on his laptop, then went to his seller account and orders section, tapped the Ready to Send to Fulfillment Center button. Tomorrow morning, the guys will pick it up from his residence just as they always did so far.
"Let's see if you bite, mystery buyer."