Clear skies stretched endlessly overhead. Under the blazing noon sun, beams of light pierced through the leaves, scattering mottled shadows across the ground.
The Forest Wolves were either chasing each other playfully or lazily sprawled beneath the trees, basking in the sunlight without overheating.
The only exceptions were Xiao Qing and Little Dot.
The two little fellows were genuinely fighting and practicing skills within the forest, sunlight filtering down around them. After all, improving skill proficiency was one of the most important paths to strength.
As for Old Sha, he stood guard nearby, watching over the two youngsters to prevent any accidents.
The entire Woodheart Beast Breeding Base felt light, relaxed, and full of life.
Except for one person.
The only human in the entire base.
Su Ping was neither relaxed nor carefree—he was speechless.
Under the scorching sun, he held a pair of specially made tongs. Sweat beaded at his temples from the heat. Even so, he wore a mask, squatting beside a pile of… something, with a bamboo basket strapped to his back.
An indescribable stench wafted up from in front of him.
It wasn't as overpowering as when he brewed potions, but it was more than enough to make most people recoil.
He clamped a clump of wood-chip-like wolf droppings with the tongs and tossed it into the basket.
Letting out a sigh through the mask, Su Ping paused.
Not because of the smell—he'd already gotten used to that over the past few days.
And the results were excellent.
Although he had no idea why Forest Wolves bonded faster with someone who smelled like wolf droppings, repeated experiments over the past few days had proven that this was, in fact, true.
He was also extremely grateful that his family's breeding base raised Forest Wolves, a pack-based species.
Wolves had wolf kings, and a wolf king's authority over the pack was unquestionable.
With Old Sha—the wolf king—treating him like family, and with Old Sha's influence enforcing order, the other Forest Wolves naturally followed suit.
Coupled with the detailed notes on Forest Wolf habits left by the Su family…
Over the past few days, aside from the few Elite-ranked Forest Wolves, every other wolf had reached the required intimacy level with him and had been recorded in the Forest Wolf Codex.
While these ordinary Forest Wolves didn't provide much Codex EXP individually, the cumulative gains from daily companionship still pushed his total close to four hundred.
At this rate, in a few more days—or once he finished raising intimacy with the Elite Forest Wolves—he'd be able to upgrade the Forest Wolf Codex to Level 2.
The reason he sighed wasn't the work.
It was his money.
Li Shu had been right.
Who even read local news pushes anymore?
The effectiveness of local media advertising was terrible.
After several days, only a handful of people had called to inquire. And the moment they heard that this was an obscure breeding base run by someone without even a Junior Breeder Certificate, the conversations ended immediately.
Su Ping realized he'd been too hasty.
The advertisement was basically meaningless.
If he weren't still clinging to a sliver of hope, he might've just gone ahead and used that last bottle of potion himself.
Still, it wasn't as if he'd gained nothing over these days.
The most obvious improvement was his realm.
A beast tamer's cultivation progressed mainly through three methods:
feedback from contracted beasts, special resources, and—most commonly—meditation.
Aside from innate talent, meditation was the biggest test of a beast tamer's foundation.
And in that regard, Su Ping had confidence.
Back in Sixth High School, his meditation progress had always been the best—whether due to his reincarnated soul or the hidden effects of the Myriad Spirit Codex, he wasn't sure.
What he did know was that contracting a soul beast greatly accelerated meditation efficiency.
And sure enough—
In just a few days, Su Ping had advanced from Ordinary Rank 4 to Ordinary Rank 5.
Xiao Qing had improved as well. Though it hadn't ranked up again, its overall strength had clearly risen.
Shaking his head, Su Ping dumped the collected wolf droppings back into the forest.
Forest Wolf droppings promoted plant growth—a low-value but practical special resource. That was one of the reasons the vegetation in their forest was so lush.
If I ever get rich, he mused bitterly, should I raise some plant-type beasts too?
After all, the conditions here were perfect.
Unfortunately, the thought died as quickly as it arose.
Same old problem.
No money.
Possessing god-tier techniques with no one to recognize their value, the unappreciated Beast Tamer Su finished shoveling and headed back toward the manor, no longer in the mood to play with the "silly dogs."
But just as he arrived, he heard a rapid, continuous sound from the entrance.
Ding-ling, ding-ling—
Someone was holding down the doorbell.
Was it Manager Guan again?
Or one of his former classmates—aside from Li Shu—who suddenly decided to reach out?
Too lazy to speculate, Su Ping walked over.
"Coming, coming—stop ringing already!"
He opened the door.
And froze.
Standing there was a woman in her early twenties, slightly older than him. She wore sunglasses, but even so, he could see her pale skin—and the barely restrained anger on her face.
She was also pinching her nose.
"You are…?"
Before Su Ping could finish his question, the woman exploded:
"What kind of business are you people running?! I've been ringing this doorbell for nearly an hour! I must be insane to have actually come all the way to this godforsaken place—"
Faced with the pent-up fury of someone who'd stood under the blazing sun for an hour, Su Ping hurriedly interrupted:
"Uh—are you here to cultivate a pet beast skill?"
"Obviously! Why else would I come to this backwater corner?!"
She ripped off her sunglasses, revealing a face so striking that even Su Ping was momentarily stunned.
What a beautiful lady.
What a pity, he thought.
Such a beautiful woman… but she seemed a bit slow upstairs.
"I'm sorry," Su Ping said quickly. "I was taking care of the beasts just now. You waited a long time? No one answered the doorbell?"
"What do you think?! Are you saying I made it up?!"
Su Ping waved his hands frantically.
He could understand the frustration of waiting so long without a response, but…
He hesitated, unsure how to phrase it.
The woman, however, stared suspiciously at this guy who reeked of wolf droppings.
"What?"
Su Ping pressed his lips together before finally saying:
"If you were in a hurry, you could've called the phone number on the sign or the advertisement."
The woman opened her mouth, then looked up at the number on the signboard—
—and fell into an awkward silence.
At that moment, Su Ping became fairly certain.
This was probably his first customer.
And possibly—
His only one.
Because this customer's brain…
…didn't seem to work very well.