36: Void Rat

Watching the person happily put away the spirit food and leave, Xu Yan tossed the shadow stone in his hand toward his own shadow. Zhu Yan, who had long been restless for the shadow stone, immediately collected it the moment it touched the ground.

He then spoke softly, "Uncle Qing, if you can, please protect him in this area. I have a feeling this won't be the last time we meet."

The answer Xu Yan received was a gentle breeze brushing past.

Not far away, sensing the flow of wind around them, the silver rat communicated with the young man through their contract: "You lucky fool, you always have someone willing to protect you wherever you go. Tsk tsk tsk, that's a Breeze Guard cast by a Commander Rank spirit beast at the very least."

Hearing his spirit beast's words, the person froze for a moment, then said with slight hesitation, "Are you talking about the vendor uncle who just exchanged spirit food with me? Is he actually a Commander Rank Beast Tamer?"

Listening to the man's words, the silver rat immediately leaped up and began scratching furiously at his head.

"Uncle my foot! Lord Rat has roamed the world for most of his life, how did I get stuck with an idiot master like you? That kid was clearly your age, alright.

We've been duo-queuing for so long, and you couldn't even recognize such an obvious voice changer sound? Who exactly is the fossil here, you or me? And Commander Rank Beast Tamer? That was clearly the spirit beast protecting the other party, alright?"

Only after thoroughly messing up the person's hair did the silver rat finally settle contentedly on top of his head.

"Tsk, the items on that kid's stall clearly carry his aura, meaning he personally made them. He's about your age, yet he's already a General Rank Breeder. It seems your generation is truly favored by destiny, with geniuses emerging one after another.

See, I told you to choose the Third Academy! Based on what that person showed just now, the Third Academy would kidnap him if they had to just to get him there.

Once you get to the Third Academy, make good friends with him under Lord Rat's guidance. Won't my supply of spirit food be secure then? Isn't that more beneficial than going to the First Academy with that arrogant ice kid?"

As he spoke, without waiting for the man's reaction, he reached out a paw and pulled several pieces of the spirit food previously traded with Xu Yan out of the man's storage device. He stuffed them into his mouth and began chewing contentedly, saying as he munched:

"Ugh, although it's not space-attribute spirit food, the general utility combined with that kid's craftsmanship and the clearly Innate Talent-attached effects makes this much better than the slop you used to feed me. I should have traded for more just now.

Lord Rat is a noble Void-Fleeing Rat, how can I eat that kind of pig slop? Once you make friends with him, I must go find that kid and order a batch of space-attribute spirit food specially made for me, just like that gluttonous spider in that kid's shadow who keeps eating and eating."

Just like that, the man and the rat walked toward the hotel.

Turning the scene back to Xu Yan, after sending off the person who traded the shadow stone with him, several more groups of customers came by and bought the remaining few bottles of potions on Xu Yan's stall. However, the spirit food side still hadn't seen much improvement.

Feeling a bit bored playing on his phone, Xu Yan decided not to wait for any potential future customers. He simply raised his hand, and all the remaining items on the stall were collected into his storage device.

Then, without any intention of browsing the surrounding stalls, he went straight to the management office, returned his token, collected his deposit, and left the trading area, heading toward the hotel.

As Xu Yan left the trading area, several figures quietly slipped out, secretly attempting to follow him.

However, a fierce gust of wind swept past, and the figures were immediately slammed back into the trading area, falling heavily onto the open ground and spitting out blood.

Seeing this situation, some people who knew the intentions of the figures either laughed or dismissed their own similar ideas, watching as the management staff demanded a large fee from the figures for ground repairs and cleaning.

Back at the hotel, Xu Yan happily checked the transfer messages on his phone, tallying his earnings for the night.

From setting up the stall to closing it, only a little over two hours had passed. Xu Yan sold a total of 220 bottles of potions—some were his results from yesterday, and some were previous stock—totaling 37.24 million.

Furthermore, excluding the two-year supply exchanged for the shadow stone, he sold a total of 28 portions of spirit food, earning 4 million. This was not even counting the remaining stock that needed to be packaged and sold to the Breeder Association.

The total earnings were over 40 million, while the material costs were only a few million, and a large portion of those materials were collected by Xu Yan in the secret realm, essentially costing him nothing.

Looking at the balance of over 50 million in his account, Xu Yan suddenly had the urge to take a screenshot and send it to his old man to show off.

A mere one million in allowance every month, adding up to only 36 million over three years. That's not even as much as I earned selling potions at the stall once. You're not so great, old fogey.

However, fearing his old man's thousand-mile pursuit and adhering to the philosophy that "even a mosquito's leg is still meat," Xu Yan ultimately abandoned the tempting plan.

In the following time, Xu Yan continued to wander throughout the secret realm. Relying on the continuously strengthening Zhu Yan, he achieved some gains, but he did not encounter any great opportunities like the Azure Wood Spirit Flame again.

One day, when Xu Yan returned to the city after another exploration of the secret realm yielded no significant gains, and he was thinking of leaving the secret realm, he heard someone call his name at the city gate.

Turning around to look in the direction of the voice, he spotted several familiar faces.

Zhou Jin, Lin Yuan, Zhang Cheng... and some classmates he didn't recognize, likely from other classes.

The one who called Xu Yan's name was his friend, Lin Yuan.

Seeing them, Xu Yan quickly walked forward and greeted the group.

Looking at Xu Yan, who was covered in dust, Zhou Jin knew that this kid must have arrived at the secret realm early.

Pulling Xu Yan aside, he used his mental power to set up a soundproofing barrier, and asked Xu Yan, "Xu Yan, when did you enter this secret realm? Have you encountered anything unusual here?"

Facing Zhou Jin's question, Xu Yan had no intention of hiding anything and answered truthfully.

"I arrived at this secret realm before the Beast Tide started. As for anything special, would participating in an assessment and receiving the qualification for early special recruitment by the Third Academy count?"