"An ashflower is this expensive? Come on, sir, consider making it cheaper?"
"I'm an official beast appraiser after all. How about I give you a discount the next time you come to the association for a beast appraisal? And this six sun grass too, can it be cheaper?"
After an entire afternoon of running back and forth haggling with vendors, Lin Jin finally gathered almost all of the materials he needed for the six sun beast soul pill. Just the medicinal ingredients alone required twelve different variants with each one of them costing a hefty sum. Something Lin Jin never expected was how these materials would drain his wallet dry.
A few hundred bucks disappeared just like that. Well, almost. After groping around in his pocket, he found a few coins left.
A beast's evolution was like a black hole, sucking everything in with no out. This was only promoting a level one to level two and it's already so painfully expensive. If they were to continue evolving, god knows how much more money it would cost. Hence, rating the process as a black hole was hardly an exaggeration.
Lin Jin took a deep breath and reassured himself, 'Once Xiao Huo evolves, my strength would increase and I could earn the money back. If push comes to shove, I'll just put on a disguise again to scam some more money."
While the medicinal ingredients were ready, to refine the six sun beast soul pill, there was one crucial item left.
That was the 'beast soul'.
A beast soul pill without a beast soul would greatly reduce the effects of the pill. However, this item was not sold at any pharmacies. The Beast Appraisal Association had them but it would cost a huge amount of money and effort to obtain it.
Even if he were to hunt for this item, the beast souls he would get were mostly 'level one defects'. For it to be consumable, the beast soul had to be nurtured into a 'level one prime' at least.
Besides that, Xiao Huo was of a fire attribute so he needed to find a beast soul with the fire attribute as well. Other attributes were unacceptable for now.
There was no time to hunt for wild beasts, especially when it's dangerous. So after much contemplation, Lin Jin's only logical option was to seek help from the association. As he began counting his fingers, Lin Jin realized that the only person he was acquainted with was Zhao Ying.
Official beast appraisers were scarce in Maple City's Beast Appraisal Association, but apprentices were scattered everywhere, there being at least eighty of them.
At that moment, Zhao Ying was chatting with one of her best friends who happened to be an apprentice beast appraiser herself.
"Yingying, stop joking. Who doesn't know that Lin Jin got lucky during his finals to become a certified beast appraiser?" A young female apprentice with the same wave pattern on her sleeve leaned against a wooden pole as she stretched. Her slender arms reached up, revealing a tender and supple figure, tempting the male apprentices to steal glances at her.
Zhao Ying became anxious. "Xiao Yun, I'm not joking. I used to think the same, but after really getting to know Appraiser Lin, I found out he's truly competent. Those rumors were just empty lies. Maple City is small and within the association, there are only three official beast appraisers including Chief Wang. If apprentices like us want to advance further, we have to rely on an official beast appraiser. It'll take forever until it's our turn to learn under Chief Wang or Appraiser Gao, so I've decided to follow Appraiser Lin and study under him."
"You're crazy!" Lu Xiaoyun gasped in disbelief.
"I'm not. My pet beast evolved thanks to Appraiser Lin's extraordinary techniques. Remember, when I brought you along with me to seek guidance from Appraiser Gao, he ascertained that it was impossible for my pet beast to evolve within the year. Just this point is enough to prove that Appraiser Lin is much more capable than Appraiser Gao." After Zhao Ying said that, Lu Xiaoyun was instantly irked.
Appraiser Gao was her idol!
"Yingying, maybe Appraiser Gao had helped your pet beast regulate its energy flow after examining it, that's why it gained the possibility of evolving. Lin Jin just coincidentally picked up this advantage and claimed the credit!" Lu Xiaoyun held her head high and explained. No matter what, to her, Appraiser Gao was the best and Lin Jin was only parasitic trash.
Zhao Ying got irritated as well. As she opened her mouth to argue, she caught sight of someone and her eyes brightened up. She got up and rushed over.
"Appraiser Lin!"
The person approaching her was Lin Jin.
He had been searching high and low for Zhao Ying and after much inquiry, it led him to this place. A quiet garden behind the association with a breathtaking view. There was a tiny bridge that lodged over a small stream into a wooden pavilion. This was the ideal break spot for many people in this area.
When Lu Xiaoyun spotted Lin Jin, an idea suddenly came to mind. A cunning gleam caught her eye and she trotted over as well.
"Zhao Ying, I've been looking everywhere for you. Let me ask you something." Lin Jin asked Zhao Ying if she had any methods to obtain a beast soul for him to perform pellet refinement.
"Beast soul? I don't have it, but…"
Noticing Zhao Ying's hesitation to speak, Lin Jin quickly added, "Zhao Ying, this is a grave matter so just speak your mind. There's no need to hold back."
Zhao Ying said, "I have a good friend whose brother is a famous friar in the city. If she helps, we can definitely get the beast soul, but…"
"But what?" Lin Jin asked anxiously.
"But I definitely wouldn't help a parasite like you!" A crisp voice commented over and Lu Xiaoyun came over with a proud expression.
"Xiaoyun, watch your mouth!" Zhao Ying was panicking. But Lu Xiaoyun tugged her aside and said, "Yingying, don't be fooled by this guy. People like him don't have any abilities and he's best at spouting lies. I don't care who he cheats, but you're my friend, so I won't let him fool you."
Then, she turned to Lin Jin. "Yingying says you've easily helped her pet beast evolve. Then take a look at my pet beast as well. See if you could help it evolve."
Immediately, a red fox leaped out from behind her. This fox had a full crimson body and kept nimble movements. You could tell that the beast was an unmistakably rare species.
"I'm busy. I have more important things to do!"
Lin Jin couldn't be bothered with her.
Although the girl was stunning, even more so compared to Zhao Ying, Lin Jin was an official beast appraiser. She publicly disrespected him, so how could he treat her nicely?
'You want me to appraise your beast just because, do I look that shameless to you?'
"What do you mean busy? You're just afraid. As I said, he's just leeching off the fame of his title but you wouldn't believe it Yingying. Here, I easily made him show his true colors!" Lu Xiaoyun wore a provocative smirk while Zhao Ying stomped her feet in agitation, but Lin Jin always managed to keep his cool.
"I have no time for an amateur lass like you!"
What a joke! Lin Jin had lived two lives, so how could he be riled up by a young girl? In terms of shamelessness, no, mentality, how could she compare to him?
Zhao Ying tugged Lu Xiaoyun back. "Xiaoyun, stop fooling around. If you keep this up, I'm ignoring you."
This only made Lu Xiaoyun even more annoyed, so she simply shouted at Lin Jin, "Just now I heard that you needed a beast soul. Would you dare to gamble with me? If you can make my pet beast evolve, I'll present you with whatever beast soul you need."
Zhao Ying wanted to coax her, but once Lu Xiaoyun's temper rose, her stubbornness was worse than a mule. She would bother Lin Jin through endless time.
"But if you can't do it, you have to stop getting involved with my Yingying. Otherwise, don't blame me for announcing your parasitic and cheating ways to the world."
Lin Jin looked at Lu Xiaoyun. So she was the friend that Zhao Ying mentioned who could obtain the beast soul.
The beast's soul was too important. If he could obtain it, great. But to help a pet beast evolve wasn't easy either. Previously, Zhao Ying's pet beast could evolve because it had accumulated enough prerequisites, Lin Jin only needed to channel in a little bit of energy to help get the flow going.
So under normal circumstances, pet beasts without any required conditions met couldn't evolve.
However, Lin Jin was no ordinary man. He had the Museum of Deadly Beasts. In other people's point of view, Xiao Huo didn't meet any prerequisites for evolution, but on the stone tablet of the museum, there was more than one way for Xiao Huo to achieve evolution.
So in short, Lin Jin was intrigued.