Chapter 80

The Tian Yin Squad could only be relying on an aerial beast, observing from the skies to confirm his return route and then set up an ambush.

As for how they were so sure that he would return today, Zhang Che didn’t find it strange, either. It seemed they understood this area rather well, and knew that this mountain range was filled with dangers. When he discovered this, naturally he would choose to return before it got dark.

“It looks like I really need to buy an aerial beast’s card. Otherwise, if I get into this kind of situation again, I won’t be able to guarantee that I can escape safely.”

Thinking of this, Zhang Che decided to ride Hanxue all the way back to the safety zone, terminating his operation. He wanted to get himself a bird before deciding on his next course of action.

As for whether the Tian Yin Squad would chase him back to the safety zone, Zhang Che wasn’t worried at all. So what if they chased after him? Would they dare to lay their hands on him back there?

Once he returned to Qian Wei City, all he had to do was make a few turns here and there, change his face and outfit a few times, and even Detective Conan wouldn’t be able to find him.

However, he already had six subdued beasts and two pets. They took up all eight slots in his spiritual sea; could he still equip more beast cards?

Zhang Che suddenly realized a very serious problem. His face couldn’t help but change slightly.

“Hmm? Right, I seem to recall that the subdued beasts’ cards and my pets’ balls of light were situated at different areas in my spiritual sea. Perhaps…” Thinking of this, Zhang Che immediately grew excited. He quickly took out a three-star bronze-quality beast card he had obtained during this trip from his backpack and held it between his palms, triggering a spiritual resonance.

A moment later, the beast card turned into a ray of light and flew into Zhang Che’s spiritual sea, and he nearly laughed out loud.

“As expected! It seems like me taming pets doesn’t affect the number of beast cards I can use. With that, it means I can employ twice as many of them! Though, I don’t know if the amount of pets I can have will be limited by my beastmaster tier. If it doesn’t, doesn’t that mean that I can have an unlimited number of pets?” However, Zhang Che felt that this possibility was unlikely. After all, the space in his spiritual sea was limited. How could it possibly allow him to keep stuffing more pets in there?

It was extremely likely that the number of pets he could have was also limited by his beastmaster tier; it shouldn’t exceed the number of beast cards he could utilize.

Even so, Zhang Che was very content!

Think about it; an ordinary Tier Three beastmaster could only employ four subdued beasts, while he could utilize eight subdued beasts and eight pets! If the difference in strength between him and his enemies wasn’t too great, he could totally use numbers to steamroll them!

With this unexpected discovery, Zhang Che’s mood was exceptionally great. Even his slight unhappiness from being ambushed by the Tian Yin Squad vanished without a trace.

——

When he was halfway back to the fort, the sky had turned entirely dark. Zhang Che could only get Hanxue to slow down, in case this fellow slipped up and threw him off.

There was no signs of the Tian Yin Squad giving chase. Zhang Che let out a long sigh of relief. It made sense thinking about it; it was so dark during the nights in the beast world that it was nearly impossible to see your fingers if you stretched your arm out. Even if they had an aerial beast for scouting purposes, it was impossible for them to discover his tracks unless it had the rare ability of night vision.

As a precautionary measure, however, after he passed through the spatial gateway back to Mercury, Zhang Che went through several crowded areas. He altered his appearance and switched his outfit each time to make sure no one would be able to identify him even if there were any Tian Yin Squad members tailing him, before heading to a large-scale beast card shop.

After entering the shop, Zhang Che walked up to a sales lady and asked directly, “Do you have any flying-type beast cards for scouting purposes here?”

After hearing Zhang Che’s inquiry, the sales assistant spaced out for a moment and muttered to herself, answering without confidence, “Sir, please wait a moment. I need to check our inventory to be sure. After all, flying-type beast cards that can be used for scouting purposes are one of the rarer types. I’m not certain whether we still have them in stock.”

-Rare type?- Zhang Che couldn’t help but feel doubtful. Although flying-type exotic beasts were comparatively harder to hunt, it shouldn’t be to the extent of becoming rare types, should they?

The sales assistant lady seemed to see through Zhang Che’s doubt and explained with a slight smile as she operated the computer on the desk to search. “It’s like that, Sir, I think you have a misconception about scouting-type aerial beasts. Actually, not all aerial beasts can be used for scouting purposes.”

Zhang Che came to a realization. He nodded and waited patiently.

After a short while, the sales assistant lady suddenly yelped out in surprise. She turned to look at Zhang Che, saying with a smile, “Sir, your luck is really not bad. We have one last scouting aerial beast card in our inventory, but…”

Zhang Che’s lips were originally widening into a smile. However, his expression stiffened after hearing the ‘but’.

“But this beast card’s level and quality is a little low. I don’t know if you’d be satisfied with it.”

-Damn you, can’t you say it in one go?-, Zhang Che cursed inwardly. He didn’t mind it, however. As long as it was a scouting-type aerial beast card, who cared about its level and quality? It wasn’t meant to be used for battle anyway.

“It’s fine. I only need it to be capable of scouting.”

Seeing Zhang Che didn’t mind, the sales assistant lady sighed in relief and continued, “There’s no problems then, sir. This beast card is a one-star black iron-quality card, priced at fifty thousand Alliance dollars. Are you confirming your purchase?”

-Fifty thousand dollars? Is this a freaking scam?!-

However, Zhang Che also knew that this kind of beast card with a special purpose would definitely not be priced like ordinary cards. He nodded to confirm his purchase.

After transferring fifty thousand dollars from his bank account using his personal terminal, the one-star black-iron scouting-type aerial beast card was officially purchased by Zhang Che.

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[Large-Beaked Raven]

Level: One Star (Level 10)

Quality: Black Iron

Characteristics: A Scouting-type Aerial Beast. Its Scouting Range has a Radius of One Kilometer, Able to Warn Beastmaster After Discovering Information Via Spiritual Link

Weakness: Small Scouting Range, Below Average Intelligence, Unable to Differentiate Threat Levels By Itself

Potential: E Rank

Cultivating Directions: No Value In Cultivating

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The corners of Zhang Che’s mouth twitched a few times after looking at this Large-Beaked Raven’s attributes. It was truly a trash-tier fighter. If it wasn’t for the fact that it was a scouting-type aerial beast, probably no one would accept it, even if it was free.

“I’ll just make do with this for now. At the very least it is still able to discover dangers within a one kilometer radius. Even if it can’t distinguish the threat level, it’s as good as a mini-radar to warn me beforehand.”

Moreover, this fellow was a flying beast. It could fly around and patrol with the beastmaster as the center. Just work its wings a little harder, and the area it could cover was still rather considerable.

Of course, if Zhang Che wanted to track any exotic beast or his enemies’ tracks, this fellow would be totally useless. It could only be used for passive defense.

After walking out of this beast card shop, Zhang Che had no intentions of returning home. Instead, he set his sights on a neo-material weapons and equipment shop not far away.