Chapter 4: Observation
Chapter 4: Observation
After leaving the Bright Sun Nurture Base, Li Qian did not head home but went straight to the Pet Beast Marketplace.
This marketplace could be found in almost every city, with the main difference being the scale of its operations.
Pet beast eggs, young beasts, materials, and potions... Everything related to pet beasts could be traded here.
The Pet Beast Marketplace and the Beastmaster Association, jointly developed by the Federation Government, had a near-monopoly on over ninety percent of the online and offline pet beast resource transactions in each city.
Riding his bicycle, Li Qian soon arrived at the Lingwater City Pet Beast Marketplace.
Without wasting time at other stores or stalls, he headed straight for the Pet Beast Trading Shop, making a beeline for the largest establishment in the marketplace, known as "NamePet Home."
NamePet Home was quite well-known in the marketplace, occupying a large area with a ten-story office building, five floors of which belonged to them.
For the convenience of customers, NamePet Home categorized pet beasts by their attributes.
"Water attribute pet beasts are on the second floor," Li Qian followed the instructions and went to the second floor.
Glancing around, he saw numerous pools of various sizes.
The pools were enclosed with special glass, making them durable and providing a clear view for customers.
Lingwater City was a relatively small-scale city, so even in the Pet Beast Marketplace, the number and variety of pet beasts on display were limited.
There were hardly any truly renowned pet beasts.
The genuinely rare and precious pet beasts were mostly concentrated in the online Pet Beast Mall.
The prices there were quite eye-watering.
Furthermore, some pet beasts with immense potential or extremely rare resources couldn't be purchased with Federation Credits alone.
Federal Contribution Points were required.
According to Li Qian's knowledge, the easiest way to obtain Federal Contribution Points was to accept tasks at the Beastmaster Center in each city.
Completing tasks would earn him these contribution points.
Scanning the area, Li Qian couldn't help but twitch his lips.
He wasn't sure if it was because the value of the carp was low, but in the water attribute pet beast area on this floor, there was only one small pool containing carps among the dozen or so pools.
And there were only a dozen or so carps in that pool.
Li Qian didn't waste any time and went straight to the carp pool. Using his True Sight Eye, he began to observe them.
[Name: Carp]
[Attribute: Water]
[Level: Ordinary Second Rank]
[Potential: Third Rank Ordinary]
[Skill: Fish Leap (Proficient)]
...
[Name: Carp]
[Attribute: Water]
[Level: Third Rank Ordinary]
[Potential: Third Rank Ordinary]
[Skill: Fish Leap (Perfect)]
...
He examined each carp in the pool, but nothing unexpected happened.
It seemed that in the wild, carps with the Beyond Limit Fish Leap skill were virtually non-existent, just as Gao Yaxin had said.
Finding one would be as rare as winning the lottery.
Li Qian didn't lose heart. He didn't leave NamePet Home immediately but patiently observed the carps after not finding any with the Beyond Limit Fish Leap skill.
To solve the puzzle of these carps' potential, spending time with them was essential.
After spending about an hour observing all the carps in the pool, Li Qian left NamePet Home.
The NamePet Home salesperson didn't shoo him away or show any signs of disdain.
Students of Li Qian's grade were mostly from Beastmaster High School, and if they weren't satisfied with the ordinary pet beasts assigned to them upon graduation, they might visit the Beastmaster Marketplace to choose better ones.
So, the staff's attitude was generally friendly.
After leaving NamePet Home, Li Qian visited other pet beast shops.
His sole focus was on carps.
He observed each pool and each carp individually.
At noon, he had a quick bite of bread and continued his search.
Around 4 p.m., Li Qian prepared to leave the Pet Beast Marketplace, having observed at least the carps on the eighth floor and above.
Unfortunately, none of them brought him any joy.
Not a single one displayed the Beyond Limit Fish Leap skill.
However, Li Qian didn't lose hope.
Even though he didn't find any carp with the Beyond Limit Fish Leap skill, observing so many carps in person had given him a better understanding of this pet beast. In that regard, it wasn't a fruitless trip.
By the time he returned home from the Pet Beast Marketplace, the sky was already turning dusky.
Li Qian checked his phone notifications and saw an unread email, which was probably the helpful information Gao Yaxin had mentioned.
He went straight to his room, opened his laptop, and downloaded the files she had sent.
After a quick glance, he found that besides the evolution materials for carps, there were also some foundational books that would indeed be of great help to him.
He silently acknowledged this favor in his heart.
Although this might be a trivial matter to Gao Yaxin, and whether she was investing in him ahead of time, the fact remained that she had genuinely helped him.
Li Qian didn't immediately dive into the foundational books.
While these books were undoubtedly useful, they wouldn't solve his immediate problem.
Thus, he first focused on the evolution materials for carps.
He began reading with utmost concentration.
Together with the videos, the materials amounted to about three gigabytes, which he couldn't finish in a short time, but Li Qian wasn't in a hurry.
This had been a longstanding issue in the nurturing realm, and even with his special advantage, he couldn't conquer it overnight.
He was prepared for a long battle.
Time flew, and it was only when his mother, Han Yuying, knocked on the door to call him for dinner that he snapped out of his immersive reading state.
He checked the time; it was already 6:30 pm.
Walking to the dining area, he saw that the meal was ready. He served himself a bowl of rice and sat down. Just as he took his first bite, his father, Li Chengyang, spoke up, "Now that you've awakened, do you have any thoughts about choosing a pet beast?"
"Yes, for a Beastmaster, the choice of the first pet beast directly affects their future achievements." His mother, Han Yuying, chimed in, "Your father and I, due to our mediocre talent, didn't awaken our Beastmaster Space until after high school graduation, losing the opportunity to study at a Beastmaster University. The pet beasts we contracted were ordinary ones bought from the marketplace, and even today, we're just Intermediate Beastmasters. This is probably as far as we'll ever go. But son, you're different. Your talent far surpasses that of your father and me."
"That's why we want you to be very careful in choosing your first pet beast."
Li Chengyang nodded in agreement and continued, "Over the years, your mother and I have saved up some money. If the pet beast assigned by the school is not satisfactory, we can buy you a better one."
Li Qian's nose twitched at these words.
Parents always consider the long-term interests of their children.
Obviously, they were thinking about his future and didn't want him to start at a disadvantage.
There was a reason for their concern.
Generally, the pet beasts assigned to graduates of Beastmaster High Schools by the Beastmaster Association and the Federation Government are not too bad.
"Dad, Mom, there's no need to rush," Li Qian smiled. "There's still some time before we graduate and receive our assigned pet beasts."
"Moreover, the pet beasts uniformly assigned by our Beastmaster High School are usually not too bad." He gave both Li Chengyang and Han Yuying a reassuring look. "Teacher Zhu from our nurturing class also said that there are no useless pet beasts, only useless beastmasters."
"Theoretically, every pet beast has infinite potential."
Whether Teacher Zhu had said this or not, it was enough to ease their worries for now.
Finally, there was the matter of his special advantage.
With this advantage, Li Qian was full of confidence in his future.
He had another idea, which he kept to himself and didn't voice.
If the research tasks progressed smoothly, his first pet beast could be the carp, Ah Fu.
Ah Fu was the carp he kept in the fish tank.
(End of Chapter)
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