"Indeed, the sorrows and joys of people differ; I should focus on acquiring a high-quality Exotic Beast first."
Watching Old Fish Head and the principal surround the three students with small talk and concern, Mo Qingchen quietly departed from the gymnasium.
The coming month is crucial for most Apprentice Beastmasters.
One must obtain a high-talent Exotic Beast and form a contract, cultivate a rapport with the Guardian Beast, and enhance the Beast's strength...
Currently, Mo Qingchen urgently needs to acquire a high-talent Guardian Beast and establish a contract.
Question: Where can one obtain high-quality Guardian Beasts?
Answer: Wilderness capture, official mall, South City Beast Mall, and various district black markets!
The wilderness capture goes without saying, if you're not a Beastmaster, going into the wild to capture Exotic Beasts is pure suicide.
The official mall offers a variety of quality Beast supplies, tools, Exotic Beasts, all operated by specialized shops.
Due to the official label, everything inside is guaranteed authentic and high-quality.
However, the price is slightly expensive, but for wealthy capital forces, it's no big deal.
But for the poor, it's rather unfriendly.
Mo Qingchen inherited his family assets, settled hospital treatment fees, and bought a property, almost exhausting his balance.
In the past four years, besides studying, he spent time searching for useful items in the junkyard near home, then selling them at the recycling station.
Over four years, he's accumulated only 18,000 Dragon Coins, plus leftover inheritance funds, totaling a little over 20,000 Dragon Coins available.
Is this a lot of money?
Not much, yet equal to over six months of total income for many impoverished households.
In the slums of South City, the average monthly salary for the poor is only 3,000 Dragon Coins, often needing to support a whole family.
Mo Qingchen, feeding himself without family worries, sometimes even kills a Mouse Monster for money, accumulating 20,000 Dragon Coins, is already quite good.
But this amount of money, hoping to purchase high-quality Exotic Beasts at the official mall, is simply a pipe dream.
Take White Crane City's most common beasts as an example.
Green Worm, Unihorn Insect, Little Rattata, and Mutant Mouse, they're considered the bottom tier among Exotic Beasts.
Yet in the official Exotic Beast store, even these four species, with D-level talent, have purchase prices above 10,000 Dragon Coins, not to mention higher talents, whose prices increase exponentially.
But D-level talent Exotic Beasts, after forming a contract, only have a 20% chance of passing the newcomer trial dungeon.
Mo Qingchen doesn't have enough money to buy high-talent Exotic Beasts from official channels.
Therefore, wanting high-talent Guardian Beasts, he must take an unconventional path, and fortunately, he has the ability to do so!
South City, black market.
Called a black market, it's just a label.
It's actually a miscellaneous goods street, selling a variety of things, all related to Exotic Beasts, just without guaranteed quality.
Defective products and counterfeits are common here; to avoid getting conned, one must keep their eyes open and not be misled by store clerks.
Mo Qingchen is quite familiar with this place, so he directly walked into the largest store here.
This store is opened by a local century-old family in White Crane City, their power and influence rank among the top five in White Crane City, aside from the Divine Xia Empire's official and military.
The store spans five floors, transformed from a large warehouse, which is now a significant feature.
The unexpected advent of the Beast Taming Era caught everyone off guard globally.
Frequent outbreaks of Exotic Beast disasters naturally delayed infrastructure and many other matters.
Therefore, many buildings underwent transformations to adapt to present changes.
This mall transformed from a warehouse is one such special building.
Items sold in the modified mall all relate to Exotic Beasts: equipment, tools, Exotic Beast Eggs, Exotic Beast Materials.
Only large forces can achieve this.
Cheaper than official sales, and built by a locally renowned power, it's somewhat reliable, so there's a steady flow of visitors.
Mo Qingchen wants a high-talent Exotic Beast, making this an optimal choice.
Especially for Mo Qingchen, a plug-in player, what could be faster than gambling on eggs to obtain high-talent Exotic Beasts?
Entering the first-floor area of the mall, the sight that meets the eyes is countless Exotic Beast Eggs, neatly arranged and dazzling.
At a glance, each shelf displays over a hundred Exotic Beast Eggs.
"Welcome, sir. What do you need? Each floor sells different items related to Exotic Beasts. A concierge can assist you in accurately selecting the products you need."
Seeing a customer enter, the concierge smiled and asked.
"Thank you, I am quite familiar with this place, so I won't trouble your concierge services."
Mo Qingchen politely declined.
The mall's services are quite decent, at least without any discrimination against civilians or the poor.
Unlike the small black market shops, where staff quality is highly concerning.
"Alright, sir, feel free to browse, I won't disturb you."
The concierge's smile remained unchanged, and she stood in place, watching Mo Qingchen as he went to choose his desired items.
Wang's Mall has a regulation that if customers don't require service, they should not be disturbed.
Monitoring devices like cameras are installed throughout the store, service personnel need only wait outside the area until customers finalize their choices and proceed to checkout.
Mo Qingchen certainly knows the rules of egg gambling, simply put, once bought it's your responsibility, life or death, quality and talent aren't guaranteed!
So, he requires no concierge service.
Shaking his head, Mo Qingchen began examining the colorful eggs on the shelf.
At a glance, the corner of his eye twitched slightly without restraint.
[Exotic Beast Name: Mouse Monster Egg; Status: Dead]
[Exotic Beast Name: Bronze Snake Egg; Status: Dead]
[Exotic Beast Name: Garlic Turtle Egg; Status: Dead]
…
[Exotic Beast Name: Unihorn Insect Egg; Status: Life in Peril; Talent: F (Deterioration)]
…
[Exotic Beast Name: Green Worm Egg; Status: Healthy; Talent: E (Ordinary)]
…
[Exotic Beast Name: Goblin Egg; Status: Sub-health; Talent: D (Excellent)]
…
On a shelf, over a hundred Exotic Beast Eggs are displayed, sweeping a glance reveals a series of deceased statuses.
These really are dying before they even set out, a tragic pace.
No wonder the entire commercial street is called a black market, there's a reason.
Egg gambling is indeed a super pitfall!
Even placing trash talent Exotic Beast Eggs here would be better than piling up a bunch of dead eggs.
"Damn it! On a shelf of over a hundred eggs, 32 are dead, nearly a third, no wonder this gambling egg venue barely attracts anyone. It's not that people don't want to bet on luck, but the pit is too deep."
No merchant is benevolent, especially with the Beast Taming Era coming, these unscrupulous merchants gained strength, thus intensifying exploitation of the suffering masses.
Suppressing his displeasure, Mo Qingchen started walking toward the second row of shelves.
Sweeping a glance over, every Exotic Beast Egg's information displayed before his eyes.
Most Exotic Beast Eggs are common Exotic Beasts around White Crane City, with only a few relatively rare Exotic Beasts.
And regarding the talents of these Exotic Beast Eggs, after examining two shelves, totaling two hundred eggs, the highest talent is C-level superior quality. As for the Exotic Beast species, it's the Garlic Turtle from the previous life anime "Pocket Monsters."