Chapter 49

Chapter 49: No real hobbies, I just like watching pretty streamers

At the Beast Taming Plaza, the gates opened early today. After unlocking the doors, Old Master Sun could still hear yesterday’s cheers buzzing in his ears. He looked over the empty square and sighed at the sharp contrast: “Sigh, who knows when it will be lively again.”

He pocketed the key ring, dragged out a redwood lounge chair from the duty room, lay down with a gentle sway, and basked in the sun.

His old buddies had been talking about getting together, but he and Old Li were busy with work, so it kept getting delayed. When Qian Qi planned her competition at the plaza, he invited those old fellows to watch.

It was worth it. Yesterday she shocked those old guys. A D grade Defense Fruit was useless to A grade powerhouses like them, but her behavior, like a little social menace, made them click their tongues in amazement. With at least three thousand students at the plaza, that young girl not only dared to challenge a D grade Beast Taming that even experienced Awakeners avoid, she also commanded the entire match and auction without a hitch. That kind of courage and steady mind is rare among the young.

Back in the early years after Dungeons appeared and Monsters ran wild, the world was in danger. Many brave, sharp young people gave speeches and took the lead, rousing countless ordinary youths and young Awakeners. They formed many youth suicide squads and finished mission after impossible mission for their seniors. They faced Magibeasts without fear, hacked out a bloody path, and ended their lives at a beautiful age.

In Qian Qi, Old Master Sun saw their shadows. But she was much sneakier than they were. When that girl blinked, no one knew what strange thing she would do next.

He fanned himself and was about to nap when he heard the slap-slap of flip-flops from far away. Tilting his head, he saw the girl in a white tank top trotting over with several bags of oranges. When she noticed him looking, she raised both hands and waved: “Gramps, I came to see you!”

Old Master Sun narrowed his eyes. She had bought the oranges honestly by the bag, full and heavy, and her thin arms lifted them with ease. [Hoh. The kid is strong.]

“Up early, Gramps,” Qian Qi said as she set the bags in the duty room, then peeked back out to ask: “Where are your friends? Not coming today?”

She guessed they were dorm managers or security from other departments. There were so many students watching the match yesterday that even she, a young person, felt exhausted. These grandpas had still come to help Old Master Sun with such hard work. [He must be well liked.]

Old Master Sun burst out laughing at her innocent face: “Their arms and legs are not what they used to be. If they walk too much, they get tired. I will bring the fruit to them later.”

“Got it,” Qian Qi said. She opened her Light-Brain, pulled up yesterday’s ledger, and added: “We made a lot. Your ten percent is 145,307.”

After transferring the money to him, she probed: “Old Master Sun, you are close with Old Master Li who runs the Magibeast storage room, right? Do you know if the storage is short on staff?”

She showed off her arm strength and said: “I want a part time job. Feeding them, scooping poop, that kind of thing.”

“Oh?” Old Master Sun chuckled. [What new trick is she thinking of now?] “I remember they really are short on people.” He lifted a bag of oranges from the duty room and said: “I happen to be taking these to Old Li. Want to come along?”

Qian Qi lit up: “That is perfect.”

[Starting with Old Master Sun to get inside the Beast Taming Department was the right choice.]

The Magibeast storage room was one of the wonders of the Awakener University. A pure white cylinder a hundred meters tall, it looked grand and imposing. The wall surfaces were smooth and seamless. No roars could be heard from within. There was only one door for Humans. Every employee of the storage needed to pass an iris scan to go in or out.

“Do not be fooled by how grand it looks. The Magibeasts inside are all E grade and D grade, plus a few C grade,” Old Master Sun said as he scanned his face and led Qian Qi in. “The living B grade and A grade Magibeasts are kept elsewhere under heavy guard by high level Awakeners. As for S grade Magibeasts…”

He paused, then smiled as he finished: “A few appeared before. It took the loss of hundreds of thousands of A grade Awakeners and several thousand S grade Awakeners to finally kill them.”

The losses among lower level Awakeners were beyond counting. That is why so few high level Awakeners remain now. The group most likely to produce the next generation of top experts had already sacrificed themselves for Humans. As for those Awakener clans who enjoy the highest power now… better not bring them up.

Inside the door, Old Master Sun stopped by a white wall near the entrance and patted a raised intercom node: “Old Li, look who I brought.”

Sipping tea in the duty room, Old Master Li glanced at the monitor, sprang up, opened a door flush with the wall, and grinned: “Hey now, if it isn’t Little Qian. What brings you to my storage room?”

He eyed the oranges in Old Master Sun’s hand and said: “Come on, no need for gifts.” Then he snatched the bag.

Old Master Sun went silent: […] [If you have the guts, do not take them. I wanted a few.]

“Come in, come in,” Old Master Li said as he pulled two small stools from behind the desk and handed them to Qian Qi and Old Master Sun. “So, are you planning to run another match?”

He had watched yesterday’s match from the duty room and loved it. Honestly, it was much more interesting than those streamers who enter already cleared Dungeons to kill E grade Magibeasts.

Old Master Li did not have many hobbies. When work was slow, he liked to watch pretty streamers hunt Magibeasts in live streams and videos, and he would tip them a bit. Yesterday, even though Qian Qi got beaten badly by a D grade Magibeast, the whole thing was so fun that he laughed nonstop. After going home, every time he remembered Qian Qi sticking out her middle finger and cursing while riding a bicycle, he could not help laughing until he wheezed. Even his butler said it had been a long time since the old master laughed that happily.