Zhou Ran hurriedly opened the box and saw a red deed and a set of keys.
He quickly ran to the door of the neighboring shop, opened it, and walked inside.
Zhou Ran looked around and was very satisfied. This shop was much larger than his own.
"Quick, system, upgrade it directly." Zhou Ran said, then rushed over and closed the door.
"Shop upgrade in progress..."
"Layout being constructed..."
"Breeding stations upgraded to 5, incubation pools optimized, shelves expanded, forge room established..."
"... "
"Upgrade complete," the system prompted.
The shop's walls instantly disappeared, directly connecting to his own shop. The original cultivation platforms and incubation pools expanded significantly, the shelves expanded from three rows to five rows, and a new room, the forging room, appeared.
"666, this renovation speed is impressive," Zhou Ran was very excited.
He hurried into the forging room.
The forging room occupied a large portion of the space, containing three massive machines: a mineral refiner, a mineral synthesizer, and an armor forging machine.
"Wow, this is amazing. How do you use these?" Zhou Ran asked.
"The mineral refiner can automatically refine various minerals, costing 10 points per use."
"The Ore Synthesizer can also synthesize unwanted crystals into the ones you want, costing 20 points per use."
"The Battle Armor Forge only requires you to select the corresponding battle armor, insert the crystals, and it will forge it automatically, costing 100 points per use. Note that there is a roughly 30% chance of failure when forging battle armor, so please prepare yourself mentally." The system explained.
"Damn it, not only do I need points, but there's also a chance of failure? What a rip-off!"
Although it seems like there's a 70% chance of success, as a non-elite player, a 30% failure rate is already very high.
"Is there a guaranteed method for success?" Zhou Ran asked.
Yes, as the host's shop levels up, a battle armor lubricant will be added to the store, increasing the success rate by 30%. It costs 100 points." The system explained.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ran immediately summoned the store in his mind. Sure enough, the Supreme Beast Contract had been replaced with the battle armor lubricant, while the rest remained unchanged. However, a "Refresh" option had appeared in the top-right corner.
Refreshing once costs 10 points, the second time doubles the cost, the third time doubles again... .
After refreshing, the shop will reset the types of items and purchase counts.
Zhou Ran immediately understood—this was just like the pay-to-win shop in most games...
One lubricant for 100 points, plus the battle armor forging machine for 100 points—not counting the points for refining materials, Zhou Ran felt overwhelmed, realizing that his 2,000-plus points were just a drop in the bucket.
"Wait, wait. You mentioned earlier that 1,000 points could upgrade three basic cultivation stations to intermediate level. Does that mean five points now also equal 1,000?" Zhou Ran asked.
"No change, still 1,000 points," the system replied.
Zhou Ran exhaled deeply, relieved that no extra points were required...
"Then upgrade all of them to intermediate level," he instructed.
"Upgrading to intermediate cultivation platforms…"
"Upgrade successful."
Soon, all five blue cultivation platforms in the cultivation room turned yellow, and the concentration of starlight increased significantly.
"Intermediate cultivation platforms can be used for beasts of ranks five to seven, at 10 points per day," the system added.
Zhou Ran nodded contentedly. At least he wouldn't have to worry about it until rank seven.
"Alright, you took my 100 points yesterday, so shouldn't you help me refine the magic crystals now?" Zhou Ran took out a spatial warehouse and said.
"But it's too big. If I take it out, it'll destroy my shop..." Zhou Ran suddenly froze.
"Just open the box. This shop has a barrier that will automatically protect it," the system said.
Zhou Ran immediately understood. It was like the Liu Ying Huan Yue Dog last time—the volume would shrink directly. It must be said that this function of the system was quite useful.
He immediately opened the spacetime warehouse, and a mountain-sized magic stone instantly appeared in the shop. A flash of golden light, and it instantly shrank to the size of a table.
Then, strands of black energy were continuously extracted from the magic stone, condensing in the air into pieces of magic spirit crystals.
Soon, the massive magic stone mine vanished, transforming into small magic spirit crystals, each roughly the size of a fist, with a total of ten pieces.
Looking at the scattered magic spirit crystals, Zhou Ran picked them up one by one and walked to the armor forging machine.
The armor forging machine had three buttons corresponding to different parts: head, body, and limbs.
These corresponded to different parts of the beast armor. The head armor typically enhanced the beast's mental power, reducing damage from mental or soul-based skills. The body armor boosted the beast's defense, while the limb armor increased the beast's strength, speed, and other attributes.
Moreover, battle armor is usually sold as a set, and wearing a complete set grants additional attribute bonuses, such as the ability to fly, burrow through the ground, or even immunity to control effects...
Historical records from Xuan Zhong City mention a legendary beast tamer from a century ago who possessed a set of armor immune to all abnormal states, making him incredibly powerful.
Zhou Ran was startled by this thought—it resembled the system's "Absolute Defense" feature, though this armor could only resist control effects, not all damage. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of entity the system truly was...
However, Zhou Ran quickly dismissed this thought. This wasn't something he should be thinking about now. Improving his own strength was the most important thing at the moment.
So Zhou Ran skillfully summoned the Battle Armor Forging Device in his mind, and sure enough, a brand-new list appeared before his eyes.
This list contained the design blueprints for every set of battle armor, spanning a full three pages.
Zhou Ran carefully examined each set, noticing that the battle armor on the first page were all entry-level designs, with basic attribute bonuses when assembled. It wasn't until the second page that the battle armor began to feature powerful attribute bonuses, but the required materials were extremely rare—some of which Zhou Ran had never even heard of...
"Forget it, these later ones are currently impossible to make. I'll use some Magic Spirit Crystals to craft an entry-level set of armor for the big dog first."
"This set provides attack power bonuses, this grants flight ability, and this enhances speed..."
Zhou Ran carefully examined the attributes of the demon-type battle armor and found them all to be utterly useless. Attack power? As a ninth-tier异兽, would I lack attack power?
As for the subsequent flight ability, burrowing ability, and speed boost, they were all irrelevant.
"Wait! This one's good! 3 seconds of mental immunity!" Zhou Ran suddenly spotted a battle armor on the edge.