Chapter 329

Chapter 329

Lorant was indeed drunk, completely wasted.

His consciousness was heavy, teetering on the edge of deep sleep.

However, at this moment, a familiar and crisp sound echoed in his mind.

'Ding'!

Accompanied by the crisp sound, Lorant suddenly woke up, jumping out of Lancelot's arms like a zombie springing to life.

Lancelot was startled, thinking he was about to throw a drunken fit again, and quickly reached out to catch the drunken fool pulling at his collar, to keep him from falling off the sofa in his drunken state.

Lorant lay in Lancelot's arms, his eyes sharp and focused as he scanned the talent chart in front of him. After flipping through the index, he was pleasantly surprised to see a new entry at the bottom of the C-level beast pets section.

"Holy Shield Grass": A special plant beast pet that grows more robustly when nourished by a knight's energy.

Then followed a series of breeding procedures.

Lorant was swept away by this unexpected delight. During his simulations, he had sensed he was on the right track.

But knowing is one thing, truly stepping onto that path is another.

As for the path to obtaining beast pets, Lorant felt that even if he experienced it a hundred times, he would never tire of it!

The alcohol he had just consumed took effect again, making the suddenly excited young man's head feel heavy and dizzy.

With eyes full of surprise, Lorant vaguely saw Lancelot's face. Without thinking, the excited youngster hooked his arms around the knight's neck and pulled him down.

Lancelot rarely saw such initiative from the youngster, and since he had closed the door when entering the small restroom, he felt comfortable enjoying this spontaneous kiss.

However, when he wanted to deepen the kiss further, he found that the young man on the sofa had already fallen into a deep sleep.

His long lashes rested softly, his mouth slightly ajar, his serene face resembling a sleeping prince.

Lancelot could only chuckle ruefully, shaking his head as he covered Lorant with a blanket.

He sat beside Lorant, watching the young man who still had a smile on his face even in sleep, feeling his heart sync with the boy's gentle breaths.

Gently kissing Lorant's eyelashes, Lancelot carried the boy directly back home through the teleportation circle.

......

On the first day of vacation, everyone is their parents' darling. The mother's care and the brother's indulgence made Silem feel like he was basking in sweetness.

He was over the moon, reveling in two days of pampering.

Even Lorant, who was usually strict with him, was more indulgent because he felt his younger brother hadn't had a vacation in a long time.

Silem was so ecstatic he felt like he was floating on air, thinking that coming home for the holidays was the best thing in the world!

On the tenth day of the vacation, Silem was yanked out of bed by Ruth, ear-first, from the comfortable sunlit recliner in Lorant's room.

"You haven't even advanced to a Level 2 Knight yet! Still lazing around at home all day! Not doing any work! Not helping at all! All you do is sleep! If you keep being this lazy, you'll regress!"

Silem stood dumbfounded on the grass in the cold wind, feeling the bitter north wind and the bleakness of life.

The tender mother who whispered, "You've worked hard, my son, take a few days to rest," must have been a figment of his imagination!

And if he wasn't mistaken, his brother had now progressed to waking up nearly at noon every day! Why doesn't anyone call him out on it!

I haven’t done anything bad! Why do I suddenly feel like a criminal?

Work? What work? I do want to work, but Charlie, the personal butler Joe assigned, has already done everything ahead of time. What can I do?

Exercise? I’ve been exercising regularly every day! I haven’t taken a single day off!

And I clearly applied to go to the Black Forest with Mike and the others to help those preparing to certify as Beast Tamers, but didn’t my brother reject that?

Silem thought, feeling both innocent and desperate.

Lorant, watching his bewildered brother outside, silently felt sorry for him.

The truth is, no matter how much your parents love you, they’ll find reasons to be annoyed with you after a long break.

Lorant glanced silently at the fuming Ruth beside him, wisely and quietly got up without a sound.

"Mom, I need to go downstairs, it might take a while, so don’t wait for me for dinner," Lorant said, tidying his messy hair. "I’ve already told Lance; he’ll bring me food when he comes back, so don’t worry."

Ruth looked at Lorant with a pleased expression: "Okay, I understand. Don’t overwork yourself; make sure to rest properly!"

Lorant smiled slightly, nodded obediently, and then quickly vanished from his mother’s sight.

To keep family harmony, the key is not to always hang around in front of your mom. Find more things to do, preferably making her think you’re super busy—it helps improve your relationship!

Giving his brother a smug look, Lorant slipped away, leaving Silem all alone.

Of course, Lorant wasn’t just avoiding his mother, who was in a bad mood today—he really had something to do.

The Wulu Shell was in its final stage of hatching.

When Lorant entered the breeding room, three floating octopuses were hard at work.

They were tending to the newly hatched batch of Dream Weavers.

After capturing all the Bloodsucking High Spiders, Lorant immediately made detailed plans: some were used for beast breeding, while others were directly used to breed Dream Weavers.

Finally, after such a long time, Lorant once again welcomed a batch of beast pets that would drive all mages and priests wild.

Since the last batch of Dream Weavers sold out last year, their popularity has remained high in the beast pet shop.

Almost every day, people come to the beast pet shop asking when the next batch of Dream Weavers will be available.

The mages, of course, don’t know that the beast pet shop couldn’t produce Dream Weavers due to a lack of live beasts. They just see other beasts being taken away one after another, leaving them itching with desire.

The earliest types of beast pets introduced by the shop are now breeding smoothly, with a new batch of beast pets ready every day.

Pre-orders are also being steadily fulfilled.

Everyone knows this means the breeding of these beast pets is on track. Those who pre-ordered might still have to wait a while, but they don’t have to worry about missing out on the next batch.

But Dream Weavers are a different story.

This beast pet, introduced by the shop long ago, turned the entire Magic Council upside down when it first appeared, but it was short-lived.

Its importance is undeniable. After some time, the mages and priests who took home Dream Weavers naturally became dependent on their abilities.

It’s no exaggeration to say that these people have now developed a ‘Dream Weaver dependency.’ If their Dream Weavers were taken away now, these practitioners wouldn’t know how helpless they would feel.

Even the Blue Star platform was able to establish itself quickly among practitioners thanks to this special beast pet, surviving the initial wave of challenges.

Although Blue Star's reliance on Dream Weavers has significantly decreased in later years, it is still enough to show their importance.

However, this powerful and important Dream Weaver has remained silent ever since.

Some unlucky individuals who made reservations a bit later than others have been waiting from last year to this year.

Under the eager watch of all the mages, the Blue Star platform finally released an announcement, informing those who had reserved Dream Weavers from number 879 to 3879 to prepare, as the final payment would be collected within the next month, along with the Beast Tamer training course for Dream Weavers.

This caused a stir in the entire Magic Council. Everyone knew what this meant—the Beast Tamer shop finally had Dream Weavers available for sale once more!

In fact, Lorant estimated he could obtain around five thousand Dream Weavers this time, so he decided to use three thousand slots to reduce the backlog of Dream Weaver reservations.

As for the rest, Lorant planned to set aside some for his next auction, and the rest would be released in batches, hoping to last until the next batch of Dream Weavers was born in the Beast Tamer shop.

Now, with a nest of living Bloodsucking High Spiders backing them up, the Beast Tamer shop could just about manage the normal breeding of Dream Weavers.

Although the intervals between batches would be stretched out.

After observing the floating octopuses at work for a while and feeling a bit disappointed that there were still no ghost spiders in this batch of Dream Weaver monster eggs, Lorant shifted his focus back to his target for the day.

In the center of the breeding room, the eggs resting on birch leaves had become quite plump.

They had grown from the size of ping pong balls to the shape of small chicken eggs.

Last night, Kong Yi specifically told Lorant that these Wulu Shell eggs had developed well and would likely hatch soon, so Lorant came over to greet his first batch of A-level monster pets.

These little ones were quite thoughtful and didn't make Lorant wait too long. That very night, just as the sun set, a small eggshell eagerly split open.

Lorant heard Fa Meng, who had been keeping a close eye on the monster eggs, call out and quickly got up to check the impatient egg.

He quickly spotted the egg with a small crack among the pile of monster eggs.

The eggshell wasn't shaking much, but the crack around its middle was opening and closing like a mouth.

Carefully using a piece of cut birch leaf to lift it away from the other eggs, Lorant set the small eggshell in front of him, full of anticipation.

The Wulu Shell monster egg wasn't large, which meant the creature inside wouldn't be very big either.

Lorant watched as the small crack opened and closed, as if the creature inside was still deciding whether to emerge.

He patiently waited for the shy little one, and finally, after half an hour, the crack was fully opened, revealing the little creature inside.

Although the Wulu Shell monster egg had gone through many processes to harden into an eggshell, it had originally transformed from a soft monster egg.

Therefore, when the Wulu Shell emerged, the eggshell behind it collapsed into a soft pile, like a layer of soft skin.

Lorant shifted his gaze to the little one that had been hesitant and shy while hatching. This monster pet, which Lorant had high hopes for, lived up to its name—it looked exactly like a small shell.

In terms of species, based on Lorant's limited knowledge of shells, it seemed more like a giant clam.

The shell had a wavy pattern on its surface, and the milky white exterior looked delicate and small.

However, since Lorant couldn't see any eyes or mouth on the little shell, he guessed that its real body must be inside the shell.

After patiently waiting on the table for a while, Lorant finally saw the little one shyly open its shell.

What appeared before Lorant was a soft, squishy little creature.

It didn't seem to have a fixed shape. The moment the shell opened, Lorant could see its small, tentacle-like soft body quickly retracting.

But when the shell fully opened and the little creature saw Lorant in front of it, it shyly curled itself into a ball, neatly spread out at the bottom of the shell, completely filling it.

Lorant was seeing such a personality for the first time in a little creature. As an A-grade monster pet, Lorant had no doubt about the intelligence of this little creature.

He carefully extended his finger towards the shell, and sure enough, he saw the entire shell of the little creature tremble uncontrollably.

It seemed to want to close its shell and shut out visitors, but hesitated whether such an action might hurt Lorant's feelings.

Lorant's unique charm with monster pets showed its effect at this moment; his extended finger wasn't rejected.

Of course, this also had to do with Lorant not forcibly touching the little creature.

He held his finger above the shell, patiently waiting for the little shell to make a decision.

The gentle gesture clearly conveyed a concept to the smart little creature: 'The choice is yours,' whether to accept him now or wait until ready to interact with him, Lorant accepted either outcome.

Perhaps because of this, when Lorant's finger began to tremble from being suspended for too long, he was pleasantly surprised to see the small blob of soft flesh inside the shell tremblingly stood up.

Then, it cautiously extended a soft, flesh-colored tentacle, lifting it to touch Lorant's finger.

The soft sensation traveled back from the fingertip, and at that moment, the ability chart in Lorant's mind officially activated.

At the same time, the little creature seemed startled by its own courage. After touching Lorant, it quickly snapped its shell shut with a 'bang' and retreated into its safe haven.

Lorant looked at the pearly white shell before him with amusement, never expecting to encounter such a personality in a little creature.

He shook his head, instructing the floating octopuses and Baby to keep a closer eye on the monster eggs that hadn't shown any signs of hatching, while he sat back in the recliner, quietly lost in thought.

"Wulu Shell": A monster pet bearing a unique number on its body, able to communicate with one another and possessing strong imitation and learning abilities.

Lorant read the amusing description of the Wulu Shell with interest, then turned his expectant gaze to the list of A-grade monster pets.

"Wulu Shell"............................................a0004.

Unbeknownst to him, there were already four types of A-grade monster pets in the monster pet shop, and Lorant couldn't help but marvel silently at this.

The ability chart slowly opened, and a small shell hopped from a distance to Lorant's front. Then it opened its protective shell, revealing a soft, mostly spherical body with two short, flesh-colored hands appearing before Lorant's eyes.

The Wulu Shell had a pair of shiny black eyes, and its round body was bouncy and cute, making it irresistibly adorable.

It somewhat resembled a web image from Lorant's memory, 'Lazy Egg,' except the Wulu Shell's body didn't contain a yolk and didn't look as 'depressed' as Lazy Egg.

Lorant couldn't help but gently touch the little creature. Perhaps because it was an A-grade monster pet, the little shell giggled happily.

This reassured Lorant somewhat, at least proving that not every Wulu Shell was as shy as the one he had just met.

If this personality, like the Candy Rabbit's temper, was a racial trait of the entire monster pet category, Lorant felt it would be quite troublesome.

After all, monster pets are children meant to interact with humans, orc, elf, and other big creatures. If they were really this shy, the training of Beast Tamers for such monster pets would be a very difficult task for the monster pet shop.

Currently, the most challenging and hardest to pass Beast Tamer training in monster pet training is first for the Lightwing Butterfly and second for the Dream Weaver.

Both of these monster pets are relatively difficult to express their emotions, requiring Beast Tamers to invest more effort in them.

Lorant, in all honesty, did not want to see another major addition to this list.

Monster pets are better off with a lively personality!

After playing with the little shell in the ability chart for a while, Lorant watched it hop away in a very comical manner before turning his attention to the introduction of the Wulu Shell.

"Wulu Shell": A shell beast pet with a unique ID on its body. They can communicate with each other simply by knowing each other's IDs and possess strong learning abilities. They have powerful vocal organs capable of mimicking various sounds.

Despite their aquatic appearance, Wulu Shells dislike water. One of their taboos is avoiding excessive immersion in water.

Lorant read the description again, feeling so delighted he could burst with joy.

Isn't this the long-awaited phone he had been hoping for!

Not only that, it's a biological version of a phone, with features that exceed his expectations!

Truly a beast pet he bred himself!

Absolutely incredible!

After basking in self-admiration for a moment, Lorant turned his attention back to the beast pet's skill descriptions.

"Skills":

1. "Telepathy": Wulu Shells can communicate telepathically with each other. As long as they know each other's unique IDs, Wulu Shells can communicate directly with another Wulu Shell at any distance, of course, this communication requires the consent of the other party.

2. "Silver Tongue": Wulu Shells boast incredibly powerful vocal organs. They can mimic almost any sound. Whatever is spoken in front of a Wulu Shell, it can replicate instantly. Additionally, if a Wulu Shell uses "Telepathy," the other Wulu Shell can also mimic synchronously.

3. "Master of Mimicry": Wulu Shells are quick learners. When using Telepathy with other Wulu Shells, they can mimic nearby forms and actions based on their mood. Moreover, if the Wulu Shell they are telepathically connected with is performing an action, the Wulu Shell also has a chance to mimic that action.

4. "Illusion to Reality": When Wulu Shells use Telepathy, they can project the other party's view through light and shadow, sharing each other's vision when both parties agree.

As an A-level beast pet, Wulu Shells have only four skills, which might seem limited, but Lorant was surprised by each one, one after another.

Each skill feels tailor-made for Lorant.

In short, these Wulu Shells are like living smartphones, capable of communication and even video calls!

The ability to communicate across any distance is what surprises Lorant the most, as it resembles the powerful communication tools developed over countless years in his previous life.

And now, this ability has been replaced by beast pets.

Logically, mages, who have created many convenient tools, shouldn't overlook such a communication device.

Yet, to this day, no one in the Mage Council has developed a magical tool akin to a mobile phone.

If mages wish to communicate, there's a spell that can facilitate this.

However, using this spell requires reaching at least level five and spending fifty thousand mage points, which is about one hundred thousand gold coins, to purchase a universal magic.

Even then, this spell comes with significant limitations.

Each use consumes a valuable 'High Sky Moth' wing, and because it is a type of energy transfer spell, its transmission distance is strictly limited. Basically, once outside the range of the Mage Council, it becomes difficult to use.

Additionally, since it relies on energy connections, this communication method isn't secure. It's possible that while two people are communicating, this energy could be intercepted by a third person who also knows the spell.

As a result, most mages who've tried this spell prefer traditional teleportation arrays to find someone or directly use the more expensive 'Glowing Crystal' that only allows one-way communication, rather than using this magic.

As for ordinary people or other practitioners, 'Glowing Crystal' is their only means of contact.

So it's common to see a practitioner taking out a large string of glowing crystals tied together from their space ring, and then pulling out a small booklet to check which glowing crystal represents which friend and who exchanged it.

Only in this way can a practitioner determine which friend is looking for them, and then have a target to teleport to for a face-to-face conversation.

In short, remote communication remains a challenging endeavor.

So Lorant is very confident about the future of the Wulu Shell.

Having lived through the information age, he knows all too well how insatiable people's demand for communication and connectivity can be.

With enough Wulu Shells, Lorant can quickly spread this monster pet across the entire continent. Everyone will be amazed by this monster pet, and everyone will willingly pay for it.

In the future, no one will be able to live without the Wulu Shell!

Closing the ability chart, Lorant couldn't hide his smile.

He picked up the shy little shell, held it up to examine the series of numbers he couldn't understand at the bottom due to the patterns, and then placed it back next to its monster egg shell.

No matter how shy it is, it still needs to eat its eggshell properly!

Little Qing and Little Black obviously thought the same, ignoring Lorant beside them, carefully opening a gap, quickly extending their little hands to pull the soft eggshell into their shell and happily started eating.

Lorant knew that the line at the bottom of the little shell, which looked like some strange pattern, should be the serial number on the Wulu Shell, essentially their 'phone number'.

Although he couldn't understand it, Lorant felt somewhat reassured, as theoretically, each person's phone number could only be recognized by the Wulu Shell.

This way, personal privacy would be relatively well protected, and in the short term, there would be no risk of phone numbers being leaked to others.

After a while, the Wulu Shell eggs in front of Lorant were all cracked open by the little ones inside.

Lorant and the floating octopuses carefully walked around the large birch leaves, helping some of the weaker little ones to remove the cracked soft eggshell skin.

It wasn't until late at night that all the Wulu Shells finally hatched.

Lorant looked at the Wulu Shells in front of him with surprise.

Since the shell of the first shy little one was a pearly pure white, and the shell of the little one in the ability chart was also pure white, Lorant had once thought that all Wulu Shells had pure white shells, despite their different shapes.

Fortunately, these little ones eventually displayed quite a diverse appearance.

The shapes of the shells varied: some were clam-shaped, some were smooth and flat moon shells, and some were round orange scallops.

Of course, there were also irregular, oyster-shaped shells.

Lorant even spotted a few little ones with conch-shaped shells, which surprised him quite a bit.

Moreover, these shells not only had different shapes but also a rich variety of colors. The colors typically found on shells, such as orange, white, and black, were all present, along with colors not normally seen on shells, like blue and green, combined with various patterns, making them dazzlingly diverse.

Looking at the pile of colorful shells in front of him, Lorant felt naturally quite pleased.

This wasn't the first time Lorant had experimented with patterns on this type of monster pet.

His series of maneuvers on the Windbreaking Horse had proven to be quite successful.

To this day, many self-proclaimed high-status 'upper-class people' are still willing to spend a fortune to score points on the Blue Star platform or use gold coins to buy points, just to secure the pre-order qualification for the 'special Windbreaking Horse'.

Yes, 'pre-order qualification'. The monster pet shop has shifted from initially requiring a wait for ordinary Windbreaking Horses but allowing immediate purchase of expensive special Windbreaking Horses, to now requiring a wait for both types.

It can be said that for customers, the situation has not only not improved but has worsened.

But Lorant couldn't care less.

In fact, he is quite delighted with this outcome.

Isn't the special Windbreaking Horse, with its 'noble', 'rare', 'one in a million' uniqueness, worth waiting a little longer for?

Not having the noble lords go through a lottery to purchase was already Lorant's last bit of kindness.

And now, looking at the colorful and varied Wulu Shells before him, Lorant's mind was flooded with a hundred bad ideas... marketing strategies.

What about "Noble Lords' Premium Numbers"! What about "Custom Models"!

The advertisements he was forced to see in his previous life immediately started playing in Lorant's mind.

The shopkeeper couldn't help but curl his lips into a smile.

It was time to let the world feel the beauty of marketing techniques once again!

That night, as Lorant slept, his dreams were filled with a Dream Weaver, like a flower girl, vigorously throwing money at him...

Early the next morning, Lorant eagerly grabbed Lancelot and rushed into the rest area in the beast storage.

Last night, before leaving the beast storage, Lorant had instructed the floating octopuses to bring the little ones to his rest area once they woke up.

Normally, after breeding and hatching, beast pets wouldn't linger in the beast storage for long.

After all, the current beast pet store, whether it's the outdoor beast pet activity space or the indoor beast pet activity room, has been quite well-equipped, so there's no need to worry about not having space to accommodate these new little ones like in the beginning.

Moreover, since Wulu Shells themselves are not large-sized beast pets, finding a place to rest is quite easy if needed.

But Lorant still wanted to thoroughly study the abilities of the Wulu Shells, and since their indoor activity space wasn't fully set up yet, he temporarily kept them all in the beast storage.

When Lorant and Lancelot arrived at the storage, they saw the little ones running all over the place.

Due to their shape, Wulu Shells are clearly not adept at running or moving, but that doesn't stop them from having the heart of an athlete.

Even if their hopping back and forth is quite awkward and strenuous, these little ones never tire of it.

And as A-level beast pets, although the ability chart doesn't emphasize their defensive capabilities, their sturdy shells suggest they are far from fragile.

On the contrary, whether it's falling hard from a table to the ground or two small shells colliding, it doesn't leave much of a mark on these little ones.

However, they are quite enthusiastic about this activity, and for a while, the thudding sounds in the rest area were incessant.

Lorant walked over and watched with interest as two small shells took a couple of steps back, then leaped forward to collide with each other. Both Wulu Shells were knocked back half a step, and after stabilizing themselves, they came back for another strong collision.

Lorant initially thought the two little ones were just playing around, but after countless collisions where they seemed to spare no effort, Lorant, through the empathy with beast pets he gained from the ghost spider, keenly sensed that these two little ones seemed genuinely angry with each other.

This startled Lorant, who quickly called Lancelot and the floating octopuses to help separate them.

After much effort, the large group of Wulu Shells in the rest area finally settled down.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Lorant realized the trouble with these little things. From the results of communicating with the Wulu Shells, it seemed that almost all Wulu Shells were quite dissatisfied with having to stay with so many of their kind.

These little ones are clearly individualists, not even interested in small gatherings like the light-winged butterflies.

If possible, the best living environment for these little ones would be to have a separate space of their own, far away from their kind.

They are quite contradictory beings; on one hand, they don't want to gather with their kind, but on the other hand, they have the ability to communicate with them.

Lorant helplessly called Kong Yi and others to figure out how to properly settle these lords.

There's no stock of individual small compartments in the beast pet store now, and with the numerous Wulu Shells, the number of small separate compartments required is significant.

So Lorant sent Fa Meng out and had the lazy little fat dragon follow the floating octopuses to work. Meanwhile, he and Lancelot each picked out a Wulu Shell to check out their abilities.

Perhaps because it caught his eye, Lorant ultimately chose the shy little one that had been the first to crawl out of its shell.

This Wulu Shell seemed to recognize Lorant's appearance and scent. When Lorant found it in the corner, the pearly white little shell was in a scuffle with another shell.

Its fierce demeanor made it hard to believe it had been so shy and timid just the day before.

Lorant gave the shell a little tap on the head, and the pearly white shell slowly opened its protective shell, revealing its soft inner self.

The jelly-like little one blinked its round, black eyes and looked at Lorant seriously, seeming to recognize him but too shy to come closer.

Lorant tried his earlier move again, reaching out to the little one once more.

This time, the little one didn't hold back. It gathered its courage and reached out its tiny hand, curling its soft tentacles around Lorant's finger.

Lorant smiled and gently stroked the little one's head with his finger, noticing a faint blush on its face.

"How about coming with me, little one?" Lorant said softly, coaxing the little shell that had just hatched a day ago. "I'll set up a soft bed for you when we get back, and you'll get tasty food every day!"

The naive little shell, still unaware of the world's harshness, thought for a moment and then eagerly nodded.

"Yes! I'll come with you!"

Meanwhile, Lancelot, after looking around, chose a little one with a rare sea-blue shell.

Lorant couldn't tell if it was because the shell's color matched his eyes or because this little one seemed to rule its peers.

Anyway, watching the little one chase and bump into three other shells, Lorant couldn't help but twitch.

After moving the two chosen Wulu Shells to a nearby controlled rest area, the lazy bosses cleared space for the floating octopuses and Fa Meng to do their work.

They then started figuring out how to use these new beast companions' abilities.

For this entirely new type of beast companion, this unprecedented "phone," Lorant was filled with intense curiosity. Like a teenager who had been deprived of the internet for a long time, he looked at the little shell in his hand with eager anticipation.