The merchant's residence is located in the best golden area of the Imperial Star. From a distance, it looks less like a residence and more like a huge manor with the highest level of luxury.
When Qiao Mei followed Shang Duojin off the aircraft, she noticed that he had changed out of his blue and white "hospital gown" and into a relatively normal suit. His hands, which had been wrapped in white bandages, were now covered in white gloves, and the lightning that had previously covered his entire body in black had turned back to cyan.
In response, Shang Duojin explained that he couldn't let his family know that he was the Thunder Dragon Messenger, so he would usually disguise himself after returning home and beg Qiao Mei to keep it a secret.
"As payment, I'll waive the cost of the machine used to assess Lord Ao Cang later, how about that?"
Looking at Shang Duojin's foolish, landlord-son-like appearance, Qiao Mei suddenly understood why Qiao Yingying kept him by her side even though she didn't like him.
So rich and so easily fooled, she is indeed a perfect human ATM and tool.
But unlike Qiao Yingying, she didn't have the habit of being swayed by others' gifts, and indicated that she would pay the original price.
Shang Duojin stroked his chin: "Okay, but I don't know if you can afford it."
Qiao Mei frowned: "How many interstellar coins? At most, it wouldn't be more than a thousand, right?"
The trial fee for the three machines at the training center is only 300 Star Coins, while the price here at Shangduojin is at most one or two times higher.
"Thousands? That's impossible. The minimum is in the tens of thousands. If you want to pay for everything, the initial estimate is a little over thirty thousand."
Qiao Mei: "...Well, how about we just consider it payment and not accept it?"
She retracted her earlier promise; for now, she would be just as shameless as Qiao Yingying.
"Of course, I said I wouldn't charge you. Let's go, I'm really looking forward to seeing Lord Ao Cang's rating results~"
Looking at Qiao Mei's wilted appearance, Ao Cang's dragon eyes flickered, and he made up his mind.
Qiao Mei didn't realize that as soon as she followed Shang Duojingang into the store, she was experiencing a plot she had only ever seen in modern, idiotic TV dramas.
There appeared to be at least thirty or forty bodyguards in black suits and sunglasses, standing in a line on both sides of the road with their hands behind their backs and their feet turned outwards. They shouted loudly to Shang Duojin, "Welcome home, young master!!"
The voices were deep and resonant; the scene was so grand that one might mistake it for soldiers from an army lining up to welcome their leader on an inspection tour.
Shang Duojin was unsurprised. He nodded and then led Qiao Mei onto the flying vehicle, heading towards his own detached villa.
His residence was no less impressive than Qiao Mei's Royal Seventh Palace. Antiques and paintings were displayed everywhere in the villa, hanging outside like free cabbages, clearly demonstrating his wealth.
However, Qiao Mei quickly adjusted her mood after her initial surprise and followed Shang Duojin into the third floor where the training equipment was kept.
"We've arrived. What should we test first? Speed?"
Qiao Mei looked at the machines in front of her, which were not only several times larger than those in the training center but also significantly more refined in their manufacturing. She nodded and asked, "Hmm, are they operated the same as those in the training center?"
Shang Duojin nodded: "Yes, the number of beams fired will be about the same, but the firing speed can be adjusted, and the beams that are not dodged by the familiars will not leave hard-to-erase red cross marks. It can intelligently recognize them, which is much better than those cheap ones in the training center."
Knowing that the central machine for training cost at least a million interstellar coins, Qiao Mei thought: "..."
Sorry to bother you.
Next, when Qiao Mei turned on the machine and asked Ao Cang to test its speed, Shang Duojin introduced the functions and usage of the attack machine and the defense machine in turn.
"If you attack the machine, it will automatically generate the same type and the one that counters your familiar's inherent abilities after automatically recognizing them. It can then fight against the virtual familiar that it can counter and Lord Ao Cang. It's much better than the trash machine in the training center that can only generate the one that counters the virtual familiar."
"And this defense machine isn't like the one in the training center, which violently accumulates extremely destructive energy to attack familiars and test their resilience. Instead, it allows you to choose the amount of destructive energy you need to use, which can greatly reduce the chances of familiars getting injured."
After listening to Shang Duojin's disparaging remarks and roughly memorizing the rules, Qiao Mei looked back at Ao Cang, who was still dodging the beam of light. Seeing the score record of over seventy points displayed on the machine, her heart jumped.
She initially estimated that Ao Cang could get an A rating. Of course, it would be even better if he could get a higher rating, but she felt that it might not be possible given his current physical condition.
While pondering, Ao Cang successfully dodged the eightieth beam of light, and was now close to the ninetieth.
But Qiao Mei noticed that his dragon body was already slowing down and was afraid that he would hurt himself by pushing himself too hard, so she reminded him, "Cang Cang, just do your best, there's no need to push yourself too hard."
Ao Cang received her prompting and changed his mind about pushing his limits. Just as Qiao Mei had predicted, he stopped just as he dodged the ninetieth beam of light, panting as the remaining ten beams struck his dragon body.
[Speed rating being generated... Congratulations! Your familiar, Little Black Dragon, has received an A rating. Would you like to change or replace the C-level speed rating? (Friendly reminder: Each rating can be saved; whether or not to change it is entirely up to the Awakener.)]
In other words, if Qiao Mei wanted Ao Cang to hide his talents, that was also possible.
"My God!! Thunder, did you see that? Lord Ao Cang got an A! That's an A! As far as I know, there are fewer than ten people in our batch of Starless Holy Beast Disciples who got an A rating!!"
The new batch of Starless Sacred Beast disciples numbered at least ten thousand, which was enough to demonstrate Ao Cang's strength.
Qiao Mei didn't understand this, mainly because most of the original book's plot focused on the love story between Qiao Yingying and Xu Heyu, and there weren't many plots related to beast taming and mecha superpowers. The author didn't write about them, so she didn't understand what they meant.
After hearing what Shang Duojin said, she realized just how amazing he was.
But after thinking about it, she wasn't too surprised that this happened to Ao Cang. After selecting "No" on the button to update the rating, she took Ao Cang to test the attack rating.
At the time, the self-service testing center gave Ao Cang an attack value of 80 points. It is unknown how many attack machines with such a mysterious rating standard would be affected.
However, to be on the safe side, Qiao Mei still plans to wait until Ao Cang's rating reaches C after the start, then pause once, and then continue.
I just don't quite know what kind of familiar beasts could subdue him, and what kind of familiar beasts he could subdue, since he's a little black dragon that's not listed in the familiar beast introduction manual.
While pondering, the attack machine officially began operating, simulating a mimicking familiar beast.
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