“Would you like to see the adults, infants or eggs?” The friendly assistant asks, his tone is neither ridiculing them for being first-timers nor snide for being more knowledgeable than them.

“What are the differences?” Kairos who have been affected by his friendliness felt at ease to ask more questions.

“Well, the adults are much stronger and immediately ready for combat, but they are all captured recently and are very wild and unruly. You will need a lot more effort to tame them.

Besides this, the adults are all wild beasts that grew up in the savage areas near Saint Empire. Although the spiritual power of our land is rather strong, they still have less future potential compared to the infants that can be raised with spiritual herbs and strengthening pills.”

It is general knowledge that beasts which are raised by hand since young, are extremely loyal, and therefore only the wild adult beasts can be purchased in shops. Those that were brought up by someone will rather die than to be parted from their owners.

“The infant beasts are generally very endearing and will stick close to anyone who treats them well. As their attributes can be easily judged at this stage and they have typically better potential than the adults, their prices are also the most expensive.

The eggs of the beasts are much cheaper than the first two options in comparison since we cannot really determine its latent talents. For some of the eggs, we do not even know what species it is from, and we can only leave them all together in a heap at the back of our store.”

“In that case, let’s see the infants first,” they decided in unison.

The group started at the demonic beasts section. They reached the place where all the beasts are kept and looked at their fearsome and powerful appearance through the looking glass.

In this place, they saw Demon Bats, Night Wraith, Greater Moon Moth, and even a Lava Fiend.

Even among the infant demonic beasts, there are those which looked grotesque as well as some that look majestic, but most of the ones that the boys thought is impressive have been turned down by Kairos.

“Not this one either, Aisa?”

Nooooope! They won’t be able to play with Aisa!

After half an hour, they have already browsed through all the infant demonic beasts. The adult ones that have been suggested by the assistant were immediately turned down by Kairos.

Considering their limited potential, those can only become short-term bodyguards because their fully grown forms have already set their foundations down like cast-iron. Kairos and the group have no wish to purchase a pet just to cast it away in the future.

Besides that, Aisa could clearly sense the bloodlines of the adult beasts in this section from their powerful auras and told Kairos that they could not become her ‘playmates’.

In contrast, the auras from the infants are much harder to detect, and it requires the boys to go close to each one before making a better decision. Having both the demonic beast adults and infants rejected by Aisa, they are left with only one option.

“Well, let’s go see the eggs then,” Kairos said as the hope of finding a good contract beast diminishes.

As they walked across the room towards the demonic egg’s hatchery, a small demon kitten walked out barring their path. Its fur is as white as snow, and a tiny black gem rests upon its forehead.

“That’s odd… I had never seen this infant demonic beast before,” The assistant looked stumped when it appeared.

The beasts are placed securely in each room that customers can only view them from across the crystal panels. Even the adult beasts are unable to free themselves from their holds, but this small infant demonic beast came right in front of them and nonchalantly sat down and started licking its paws.

The assistant asked them to wait for a moment so that he may call on the shop manager, but as he is about to call out, a blank look replaced the emotions on his face.

It was just for a short moment before it faded away back to his usual expression, but the boys that are looking at him still caught notice of it.

“Oh, I remember it now. This is a new infant demonic beast that we have found. We just did not have the time to secure it in the room yet. Ha ha ha. I’m sorry, let me put it back now.”

Kairos let’s take him home. He is great! My new friend. YAY! HAAALLO LITTTLEEE KITTTTY!

“Excuse me, how much does this kitten cost?”

“Oh, you want this one? Certainly, I think its price is around thirty White Gold.”

“What? Thirty White Gold? What species is it?”

“I have no idea, sir. It is thirty White Gold. Just take it or leave it,” the assistant said.

His voice had none of that friendly manner like before but became indifferent instead, and if one pays extremely close attention to his eyes, they will see some tiny streaks of gold in his iris.

Without caring for Kairos to reply, the assistant picked up the soft fluffy white kitten and handed it to Tommy, then in a voice that seems to seep with power he said, “Take good care of him.”

The others immediately detected something odd and felt nervous, but none of them notices any malice in the assistant and instinctively relaxed after a while.

For some reason, none questioned that the white kitten now belongs to Tommy, even when it seemed as though the attendant chose it for them.

“Let’s look at the spirit beasts next. I’ll like to see the infant ones first as well,” Kairos said, and the assistant immediately led the way.

Looking through the infant beasts in the shop once again took them another good half an hour and just like before, they still found nothing suitable. There was Iron Revenants, Spike-maw Gators, Wind Giants, and others with considerable strength, yet in the sacred dragon’s eyes, they are still far too weak.

At this time, underneath Kairos’ robes, Aisa’s eyes went wide with surprise, and she started nipping at Kairos.

Kairos…Kairos~!! Let’s go see the adult spirit beasts. Aisa sense something really fun!

Kairos repeated her request to the assistant. His sudden interest in the adult spirit beasts did not faze the young man, and in fact, the latter seemed to be expecting it.

His friends, however, were all surprised since they had discussed not to get the ones with less future potential. But when they stepped into this section of the store, a tiny strand of life energy escaped from the stalls, and instantly all of them perked up.

“What dense life energy!”

Even without guidance the boys chased after the trace and found that among the great and small spirit beasts, a snow stoat slept comfortably on a fearsome gator. All the other beasts in the same stall kept their distance from it, sticking to the walls of the square room. At one glance, people may think that it was the fearsome reptile that caused such apprehension, but in truth, it is currently nothing more than a bed for the fluffy white creature on its head.

“What kind of ermine is that?” Kairos points at it.

“That ermine? I have no idea about it either. It just came today, together with your demonic kitten. Although it is an adult, it seems as though it is still growing. We had spotted it in the North Mountains for many years before we caught it. Never did identify its ancestry but it is no doubt a naturally swift beast.”

“How much for it?”

“It is also thirty White Gold. It’s a good price because even after it reached adulthood, its foundation is still unfixed. We consider it an exception to still have potential to grow after maturing. In fact, we have no way to determine its limits.”

The explanation of the assistant is rather cryptic, and Kairos reverted to Aisa for information instead. The small dragon told Kairos secretly that this is a million years old baby stoat.

This creature, even after living for a million years, it is still in its infant stage. The pet shop must have thought that it is an adult after tracking it down for so many years.

“We’ll take it too then.”

The assistant went into the stall and walked towards the tiny ermine. His hand held an incense box that is giving out pink smoke, and any beasts that smell it turns lethargic.

When the assistant came back out, he is already carrying the snow stoat in his arms. Just like before he walked to one of them to hand the new pet over. Take care of this one. It can devour even the dragons,” he spoke directly to Jones with that same indifferent look as before.

Aisa shivered upon hearing those words. Somehow, she instinctively believed what the pet shop assistant said. Kairos placed his hand on the part of his robe where Aisa is hiding, and she calmed down immediately.

The ermine, however, suddenly looked up then jumped off Jones’ arms, running towards another part of the shop.

“It’s headed towards the spirit beast eggs’ hatchery, let’s catch it!”

The group ran after it, fearing that if they are too slow, the incredibly quick snow stoat will disappear from their sight. After all, this is the fastest thirty White Gold they have ever seen, but just as they thought it is going to escape them, it stopped outside of the hatchery and clawed at the door.

“It wants to go in?”

“Let’s take a look at the spirit beast eggs then,” Kairos said, scooping up the tiny ermine and replacing it into Jones’ hands.

The boy’s eyes widen with happiness because of how cute it looked.

“So fluffy! So white…! Ohh… the fur is unbelievably soft and silky… And, those bright round eyes!”

When it escaped his arms previously, Jones had become even more worried than when he had fought the Orc Knight. Such a cute and lovely little thing, he hasn’t even hugged it properly, and it bolted.

When they went through the door to the hatchery, they were immediately floored by the beauty and number of glittering crystal eggs sitting on the shelves. Unlike the Orc crystal eggs that are mostly purple in colour, the eggs in this hatchery come in all sorts of hues.

The snow stoat struggled out of Jones’ arms once again and bounced against a nearby shelf, landed back on the boy’s shoulders.

After doing so, it sat proudly on his shoulder, seemingly satisfied at what it had done.

*Whoa*

Jones cried out as he thought that the ermine had run away again but Kairos raised a finger and immediately everyone hushed.

In the sudden silence of the room, a soft rolling sound could be heard, and they started looking around. The snow stoat had definitely dislodged something.

As their heads turn left and right, a rainbow coloured crystal dropped right into Jim’s hands.

“Oh, what’s this? A rainbow coloured egg, this must be my incredibly majestic and powerful fated beast!” Jim cried out with excitement and looked at the assistant for confirmation. Surely a rainbow egg couldn’t be bad!

“Oh, that? Just a rainbow parakeet. Only worth thirty Blue Silvers.”

“Okay, we’ll take it. Keep it safe Jim,” Kairos replied for him at once.

After hearing that this egg is a parakeet and merely worth thirty Blue Silvers, Jim wanted to place it back. But before he could even twist, his captain already bought it for him.

The two contract beasts for his friends are both thirty White Gold, but his is only thirty Blue Silvers?

A strange expression that is neither crying nor laughing etched on Jim’s face.