Chapter 249

Chapter 249

In Lorant's planned future plans for the beast pet shop, he envisioned having a warehouse that contained all known live beasts.

From level one to level fifteen, each type of live beast would have at least one representative.

Just the thought of owning a private warehouse with millions of beasts made Lorant practically burst with excitement.

However, that was still just a dream for now, and there was still a long way to go before it could become a reality.

After daydreaming and returning to his lab, Lorant was surprised to hear Baby, after quickly checking the entire floor, say that Jacqueline was not in the Beast Tower.

And it seemed she had gone somewhere unknown. There were signs that the experimental table hadn’t been touched for a long time, with a thick layer of dust on the open page of the book on top.

For a research addict, this was an incredible occurrence.

Few things could make a research enthusiast willingly pause their experiment. According to Lorant's understanding of such people, they’d feel antsy and restless if they missed even a day of experimenting.

They absolutely had to do some experimentation to relieve the symptoms.

However, Lorant wasn’t too concerned. With Jacqueline's strength, there were very few things in this world that could threaten the life of this sorceress.

To truly threaten her, Lorant guessed it would probably take something like a legendary beast storming the Lopulo Mountains.

Rather than worrying about Jacqueline's safety, it was more practical to worry about whether he might cut his finger during his own experiments.

Lorant calmed down and immediately focused on preparing for today’s experiment.

In theory, breeding the Floating Giant Duck required only three steps.

By breeding four types of beasts to obtain two secondary beasts respectively, and then allowing the secondary beasts to breed again, he could obtain the beast pet eggs.

Lorant looked at the breeding method on the ability chart and nodded with great satisfaction.

The breeding method for the Floating Giant Duck was straightforward and conventional.

Without any complicated techniques, the breeding process became much simpler.

The simplicity of the process even made Lorant feel a little uncomfortable.

Best of all, the first two steps could be completed simultaneously, allowing both secondary beasts to grow without wasting any time.

It was quite reassuring.

In a good mood, Lorant directed Baby to grab the live beasts he had previously retrieved from below the Beast Tower and placed them in cages on the side of the lab.

Though Lorant expected the new pet to be large, the beasts involved in its breeding were surprisingly small.

The largest was a red-haired iron-fist baboon, standing about as tall as Lorant.

After skillfully anesthetizing the red-haired iron-fist baboon, which had become extremely agitated upon entering the lab, Baby grabbed a metal-type beast from the side and stuffed it into the cage with the baboon.

Soon, pink smoke rolled, and the two beasts, which had never met before and looked completely unrelated, began to perform an eye-burning scene in front of Lorant.

The well-traveled Lorant calmly examined the metal beast's not-so-metallic part and then nonchalantly shifted his gaze to the other two beasts.

These two beasts were relatively more interesting.

One of them was a black swan-shaped beast half the height of a person.

At least for now, it looks like a black swan-shaped beast.

This is a highly deceptive Level 5 beast. At first glance, it appears to be an elegant black swan, easily appealing to Lorant, who has a weakness for beautiful creatures.

However, upon closer inspection, one would realize that what Lorant initially mistook for the beast’s head—a slender, elegant neck with a red crown—was not the head at all.

That was actually the tail of the beast.

The head and mouth were located on the backside of the black swan.

The part he thought was the body was actually the massive head of the beast...

At this moment, Lorant looked somewhat disillusioned as he watched the "black swan" in front of him. Its body had split in half, and it tried to bite his fingers with its gaping mouth.

Lorant: “……”

It was so ugly it hurt to look at.

He ruthlessly directed Little Qing and Little Black to use silk to tightly bind the beast's mouth so that it would at least look like a black swan.

On the other side, he grabbed another beast from its cage.

This beast looked like a small rhinoceros. Its entire body was a mass of muscles, appearing very stout, like a solid lump of muscle.

Compared to the other grotesque beasts Lorant had encountered, this one didn’t stand out as particularly unusual.

After gathering both pairs of beasts, Lorant anesthetized them all and began leisurely preparing the potions.

By now, Lorant had become quite proficient in brewing potions.

Sometimes he thought that even without the ability chart, if he couldn’t breed beasts, he might still excel in alchemy.

After all, being an alchemist didn’t require high spiritual power, and the overall process was more akin to scientific experiments as Lorant understood them.

Except, of course, for some strange reactions that science couldn't explain.

But as long as one was familiar with the various changes and could sharply perceive the mysterious reactions between different materials, one could become a competent alchemist.

In his spare time, Lorant had even tried to mix some basic cold potions like a true alchemist.

The results were quite satisfactory, reaching at least the level of a mid-tier alchemist, which pleased him greatly.

He was happy to have mastered a skill that could support his family, and he felt that even if the ability chart suddenly disappeared, he could still easily live a life as a wealthy person thanks to his current assets.

It was a shame, he mused, that he had such skills but no real chance to put them to use.

This time, the beast breeding didn’t require any special attention. Everything from the potions to be fed to the beasts to their reactions was perfectly normal.

Especially after dealing with so many complex breeding methods, this straightforward process felt refreshing, giving Lorant a bit of a nostalgic feeling.

Lorant completed all the breeding in just one day and prepared a lot of related potions for future use when new live beasts arrived. The ease of the work left him feeling somewhat empty.

He hadn’t had such an easy time breeding beasts in a long while and found it hard to believe.

However, breeding beasts wasn’t just about watching them convulse; there was much more to the process.

The beast pet store had now officially gotten on track, and the breeding of all beast pets required a systematic plan.

After finishing the breeding work, Lorant found a comfortable corner in the rest area of the Beast Tower, poured himself a cup of hot fragrant tea, lit a scented candle, and opened the large notebook he carried in his personal space.

Here, he needed to carefully plan how to standardize the breeding process for these beast pets.

How many groups of first-round breeding should be conducted each day, how many groups of second-round breeding, how many days the process should continue, and how many related live beasts would be needed to ensure smooth breeding—these were the questions he needed to answer. He aimed to create a perfect closed loop, eventually making the breeding as reliable as that of the Windbreaking Horse and Glassy Ice Flame Dog, with a fixed output every day and no interruptions in the breeding chain.

These two species were exactly what Lorant hoped his other beast pets would eventually achieve. For him, the first priority was to stabilize the birth frequency of the beast pets completely, and then gradually increase their numbers.

So far, the beast pet store had been acquiring live beast pets non-stop. No matter how many came in, there was always room for more.

Given the current situation, even if the number of beast pets increased a hundredfold, the market wouldn’t come close to saturation.

Although beast pets had become well-known among practitioners, 90 percent of them had yet to see these magical creatures up close.

Most practitioners had not seen beast pets in person, only observing from afar those owned by members of large organizations or the lucky few in Mauplan.

The road to the widespread adoption of beast pets was long and arduous.

Lorant worked late into the night, and it wasn’t until Lancelot showed up at the Beast Tower, claiming he was worried the beast pets might go hungry, that Lorant finally calculated the appropriate rate for today’s breeding of this particular beast pet.

Lancelot took the opportunity to help Lorant tidy up the breeding cages from today and brought them back to the beast pet store.

The next morning, Taya was already waiting at the entrance to the beast storage. Seeing Lorant approach while yawning, she hurried forward, pleasantly surprised.

"Boss, regarding the Beast Tamer training plan for the Lightwing Butterflies, I've drafted a copy here. Let me know if anything needs to be added," Taya said, holding a thick stack of papers filled with relevant content.

Lorant paused for a few seconds before remembering that he had assigned this task to Taya.

Previously, the Beast Tamer assessments and many other details had been handled by Taya and Mike, both of whom were quite familiar with the specifics.

Lorant quickly adjusted, pretending he hadn’t forgotten about the task, and took the documents from Taya with a smile.

"No problem," he said, maintaining his smile as he walked toward the glass room behind the beast storage. "Thank you for your hard work. I'll come find you if there are any issues after I've reviewed these."

Taya nodded. "Alright, boss. I'll head back then. The newly born Glassy Ice Flame Dogs might wake up soon, and I need to take them to their territories with Kong Liu and the others."

After finishing, the staff hurriedly left. There were plenty of tasks at the store that only Taya and Mike could handle.

Even though Lorant suggested hiring more help or having the part-time students assist more, the siblings preferred handling everything themselves, feeling it was the only way to ensure quality.

As the weather got colder, the small pavilion in the yard saw fewer visitors.

In its place, a newly built glass sunroom for the Lightwing Butterflies had become the new favorite spot.

Although this was supposed to be a place exclusively for the Lightwing Butterflies' activities, Lorant had also prepared comfortable sofas and set up a small tea room here.

On sunny afternoons, enjoying a relaxing afternoon tea here was a perfect way to unwind.

With the various spells cast by Jacqueline, the glass sunroom now had excellent insulation, keeping the place warm like spring even when the outside weather was cold.

Lancelot was sitting in the glass sunroom, but he was not in the mood to admire the beautiful Lightwing Butterflies. Instead, he was frowning at a large pile of materials.

Lorant was a man of his word. After saying that Lancelot would help with the beast pet store, he really did dump a large pile of documents that needed handling onto Lancelot.

The complex data overwhelmed Lancelot, who had little experience with this kind of work.

He is a pampered count young master and practitioner, and his upbringing meant that he spent most of his time training from a young age.

When it came to managing subordinates, noble lords typically only needed to oversee a few head butlers and the managers of their major estates.

As for the rest, there was no need to worry too much. A noble who did everything himself? That’s unheard of!

However, none of these tasks were particularly difficult, and within a few days, Lancelot quickly adapted.

He was a very smart person; he just hadn’t bothered to pay attention to these matters before.

Much like the other nobles in this world, whose pride bordered on obsession, even if they were destitute, they wouldn’t think of going into business.

Because it would ‘tarnish’ their bloodline.

Going back a thousand years, the nobility once looked down on practitioners. However, as practitioners rose in power, batches of arrogant nobles who looked down on everyone were slaughtered by practitioners, and from then on, the status of practitioners became transcendent.

That’s just how the world works—might is right, and only the strongest have a say.

So, when old butler Peter came to the beast pet store to report on the affairs of the estate and saw his young master burying his head in paperwork, he was deeply shocked.

He had never seen his young master like this before, his surprise so great that his jaw nearly dropped.

Lancelot, on the other hand, didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with his current situation. If Lorant asked him to help with the beast pet store, the knight certainly wouldn’t object.

Lorant walked straight over and comfortably sat in the soft chair opposite Lancelot.

"How is it? Have you finished going through all the bills and orders from last quarter?" Lorant asked in a seemingly considerate tone.

Lancelot looked somewhat exhausted, his eyes even showing a hint of dark circles—unbelievable for a high-level practitioner who could fight on the frontlines for three days and nights without much fatigue.

He looked rather drained, clearly tormented by all the paperwork.

"Yes, I’ve finished. I’ve already cross-checked the points with Emma," Lancelot said, rubbing his temples. He hadn’t expected that tasks that looked so easy when Lorant handled them would tire him out so much. Mental fatigue was the hardest to recover from.

The more involved he got with the beast pet store’s operations, the more he admired Lorant. He really couldn’t imagine how Lorant managed to handle these complicated tasks while also conducting research and breeding for the beast pets.

He was like a superman.

Seeing this, Lancelot realized that Lorant’s constant attempts to push his work onto Emma and Nia weren’t because he was slacking off. He was probably just too busy to handle everything.

"However, I still haven’t finished going through the Beast Tamer training list and the various authorizations for publicly available Beast Tamers," Lancelot said painfully, looking at the large stack of papers on the table. "Does the beast pet store always have this much paperwork?"

Lorant felt a brief twinge of guilt at this.

He thought of all the paperwork that Emma and Nia had brought to the beast pet store, which he had dodged using every trick in the book.

"Of course!" the shop owner said confidently.

His confident tone didn’t quite match someone who had just unloaded several months’ worth of work on another person.

Lancelot’s beautiful eyes stared directly at Lorant, noticing his wandering gaze, and sighed helplessly.

Forget it, this work was indeed too annoying. Since Lorant didn’t like it, he would just do more of it himself in the future.

Initially, Lancelot had stayed out of the beast pet store’s affairs to avoid raising suspicions. He was concerned that if he became too involved, the perceptive Lorant might suspect him of having ulterior motives.

In Lorant’s presence, the usually carefree knight found himself becoming unusually cautious.

Given how confident Lolant seemed now, it was obvious he trusted Lancelot completely. The way he wanted to hand over all the work and insider details of the pet store to Lancelot couldn't be faked.

"Alright, is there anything else you need me to do, Boss?" Lancelot nodded resignedly and stirred the cup of hot cocoa on the table with his hand.

This was one of the most popular new beverages recently launched at the Candy Rabbit House. The cocoa plant had already been included in the diet of some regions before.

This cocoa fruit, unlike the cocoa fruit Lolant was familiar with, was a huge fruit the size of a basketball, but apart from its appearance, the taste was nearly identical.

However, unsweetened cocoa was quite bitter, so most people found it hard to accept.

After learning about this fruit, Lolant tried adding enough sugar to it.

Soon after, this new warm beverage quickly became a hit across the human empire, becoming another flagship product of the Candy Rabbit House after their series of summer cold drinks.

In the chilly days that had already begun, who could say no to a warm cup of hot cocoa?

In any case, Lancelot couldn't resist it. After the first try, the knight fell in love with the taste, and hot cocoa quickly replaced fragrant tea in his heart.

He stirred the hot cocoa in his hand and began to prepare to diligently study the next document.

However, when Lancelot reached out, he touched a stack of papers that Lolant had suddenly pushed over.

"Nothing else is urgent, just take a look at this teaching process first." Lolant handed Lancelot the materials that Taya had organized, feeling perfectly at ease, while naturally taking a sugar cube brought over by a Lightwing Butterfly with glowing wings and dropping it into his cup of bitter cocoa.

Lolant stirred the sugar cube, took a small sip, and found it still terribly bitter, causing his delicate face to wrinkle.

Baby immediately and thoughtfully used silk to dangle a whole jar of sugar cubes over from the middle of the glass table, placing it next to Lolant for his convenience.

Lolant played with the sugar cubes with one hand and tossed them into his cup one by one.

He even had the leisure to stack them up so they poked out of the cocoa like little towers.

Only when his cocoa tasted like hot chocolate did Lolant stop his actions.

Lolant paused, still holding the sugar cube, and casually fed it to Baby.

The Ghost Spider happily took the sweet cube and nestled in a corner, licking it seriously.

Seeing Baby's serious demeanor, Lolant couldn't help but think that chocolate might be a promising new business opportunity.

The Candy Rabbit House should try to solidify the hot cocoa into popular chocolate.

All he'd need to do was create a holiday like Valentine's Day, and people would flock to try this new treat.

Lancelot quickly finished reading the plan in his hand.

Building on the lesson plans for the Windbreaking Horse and Glassy Ice Flame Dog, Taya had created the plan for the Lightwing Butterfly with great proficiency, producing a complete plan in just a few days.

However...

"Who made this?" Lancelot furrowed his brow and looked at the few pages in his hand with some dissatisfaction. "While it looks similar to the previous plans, the Lightwing Butterfly is a completely different creature from those two beasts, and their physical characteristics alone mean they can't be treated the same."

"There are still many revisions needed," Lancelot sighed silently.