Chapter 116 Promoted At the end of the day, Su Ping dragged his fatigued body back to his shop, only to find that only an hour had passed in reality, which was to be expected. Apart from Little Skeleton, who did not change much after what they went through, the other three pets all began to show different temperaments. The Inferno Dragon grew a lot bigger than before. It was still a child of the third rank at best, but it was already developing that unique aura of a dragon. When fighting against a rock-type Astral Pet in one of the scales, it even learned Dragon Roar all by itself and scared its opponent away. The only problem was that its underdeveloped little throat couldn’t afford to use that skill too often or it would hurt itself. The Managarm also grew quite braver, much to Su Ping’s delight. After enduring the dragon’s will inside the dragon tower, it had become bold enough to face off most enemies without backing off in fear, like a real hound would do. As long as it wasn’t challenged by another dragon, it would rush head-first toward its enemy like mad, as if trying to recover what dignity it lost previously. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚 As a result, the Managarm died over a hundred times due to recklessness, but also learned two new middle-rank skills while at The Purple Python did its best during its debut battles. As it slowly reached the second rank, its spotted skin became better protected under maturing scales. Su Ping wasn’t planning on returning to the training ground too soon. He needed time to both rest up and to let the pets digest what they had just gained. Also, he had decided not to take Little Skeleton with him the next time. There were very few high-rank monsters inside the “dragon scale battle stages” that were worth Little Skeleton’s time. Letting Little Skeleton deal with monsters was a waste of time. After putting the pets inside their nursing pens, Su Ping opened the shop to wait for customers, while he could cultivate his Chaos Star Chart as he waited. He only received a few students in the entire afternoon, ones who had sneaked out of class after they heard about their new teacher owning a pet shop. As soon as they learned that Su Ping also trained that famous Lightning Rat, these students did everything to find an excuse to get permission to leave, either by pretending sickness or claiming that their parents or relatives were in the hospital. Not all of them believed the rumor about the Lightning Rat, though they still paid a visit just so they could get closer to Su Ping and get admitted into his future lessons with more ease. Every student in the academy knew that they should cherish every opportunity they had for attending such lessons. Each time an advanced teacher announced a new schedule, the seats would get booked in less than a few seconds. Reselling tickets had become a popular source of income for common students, because richer ones usually weren’t stingy with money if they could buy their way in. The coming students were glad to see Su Ping looking over the shop, knowing that their effort was not in vain. Similarly, Su Ping was also pleased that becoming an advanced teacher of the academy helped with his business. He earned a few thousand energy points from the coming students, boosting his balance to about 9,200. The Incubation Pool required a million energy points to reach level 4, so he couldn’t use the points that way. Ten thousand energy points used to be a big number when everything was cheap. Now, however, he could only use those points to open up better nursing pens or buy items from the system shop, while other level-ups needed way more points than that. An Intermediate Force Pellet cost ten thousand. To make up for what was missing, he had to wait for more lambs... erm, more customers, to visit. He found enough income by the end of the day from several more students. Without thinking twice, he purchased an Intermediate Force Pellet from the system. His current Combat Strength rating was 3.9. Only a step away from the fourth rank. There were several major obstacles during one’s cultivation that required more than time and effort to break through. The one before reaching the fourth rank was such an obstacle. If he solely relied upon his Chaos Star Chart, he estimated that he would need two more weeks to earn the remaining 0.1 rating. With the Force Pellet, however, he could reach the next rank in the blink of an eye. There were many powerful ninth-rank Astral Pets on this planet, but way fewer Beast Kings, because the last bottleneck was so much harder to tackle. Humans, too, couldn’t easily go beyond the ninth rank without meeting a timely twist of fate that miraculously boosted them. There had been many talented ones who attained the rank of a titled ninth-rank battle pet warrior at the age of 30, and stayed that way until they grew old. we As soon as the pellet went down his throat, Su Ping felt all of his bones cracking as if they were breaking apart and reforming Meanwhile, the astral vortices around his body rapidly grew larger and used their new power to nurture his cells, until he felt in control of a commanding force that could draw all astral power in a large area all for his own use. With this, he would be able to cultivate his power several times faster than before, while preventing other people in his range from effectively growing. Or, he could empty all astral power completely within 30 meters from his position. Anyone near to him would not get any astral power supplied at all. Just as he thought, this Chaos Star Chart technique was terrifyingly efficient. The Force Pellet did more than help him reach the next rank. It pushed his Combat Strength all the way to 4.5, meaning, the middle position of the fourth rank. Meanwhile, his four basic augmentation skills were also improved to the third rank, further boosting their power. Satisfied with the result, he selected several pets to be trained by Dummy Trainers, before heading home. Su Ping saw his mother and Su Lingyue in the living room watching TV like usual. He expected to see his sister asking questions such as why he became a teacher, which did not happen. Though he was glad he didn’t have to waste time explaining. “I’m back.” Li Qingru looked away from the television with a smile. “Have some rest, dear. I’ll warm up your dinner in a moment.” “It’s okay, mom. No need to hurry.” Li Qingru waited for the show to enter a commercial before going to the kitchen, leaving the children behind. Out of the corner of one eye, Su Ping saw his sister secretly peeking at him. He immediately knew that Su Lingyue was pretending that she didn’t care about his lesson. Su Lingyue forced a calm look without looking too flustered. No matter how she checked her brother, she couldn’t quite put him and that “new advanced teacher” together. But his clothes... he was still wearing the same coat. Darn it. Couldn’t this guy use something prettier? She madly yelled in her mind. Su Ping on the other hand, was not sure what was going on inside his sister’s head. Though he couldn’t care less about it. It would be a plus if this girl stopped giving him trouble from then on. As for explaining his new job, that thought never crossed his mind, because there was no point. He was getting better, and influential. That was a fact. Their mother returned with a steaming plate of a meal that smelled like Su Ping’s favorite. Su Ping glanced at Su Lingyue and knew that the almost untouched food had to be another of her many decisions, after what she saw from him during the day. It seemed Su Lingyue did not mention what happened at the academy to their mother yet. Still, this didn’t matter since he had come up with many excuses for this occasion. He’d just pretend that he picked up someone’s legacy like those lucky guys from a random story. “Nice. I appreciate it,” Su Ping said after finishing the meal, which meant different things to his mother and sister. Li Qingru smiled. “Your good sister tried giving you more. In a few days, when the winter vacation comes in, she’ll go to a barren area to train with the help of an advanced teacher. She’ll even try her hand in the elite league!” Since her children didn’t talk to each other very much at home, Li Qingru usually acted as their messenger. She seemed proud of her daughter when talking about her plans. Usually, Su Lingyue would hold her head high and point her jaw at Su Ping when their mother spoke of her great achievements. This day, however, she only blushed badly. “Mom! Don’t!” She took a quick glimpse at Su Ping again and sighed in relief when she saw no particular reactions from him. She didn’t know what she could do if her brother openly mocked her right then. Li Qingru continued, “It’s alright. I’ll just wait until you earn a good score in the league so I can tell this to our neighbors, especially Miss Li next door. I hope she stops telling me about her son being the CEO of some big company.” When the league was brought up again, Su Lingyue suddenly remembered something and stared at Su Ping.