Chapter 18: Pay-to-Win Player

Asher had just been thinking about giving the grass another chance. But, do you know, the grass grew back all on its own.

Seeing June appear at his door once more, Asher's face clearly showed his bewilderment.

'Seriously?'

"A wealthy young lady like you is here… again?"

"It's because I find you pleasing to the eye," June said, batting her slightly upturned peach blossom eyes with a straight face.

She raised the newly groomed Little Fire Fox, who looked fluffier and cuter than ever.

"Can you really say no to such an adorable little fox? Doesn't your heart hurt just thinking about it?"

"Yip yip, awoo~"

Little Fire Fox played along perfectly, blinking its big, watery eyes at Asher, looking as pitiful as if being rejected was the worst crime in the world.

Asher sighed.

"Miss June, are you sure you want to trust me? Even though I'm just a novice who's still figuring things out?"

Hearing the hint of willingness in his tone, June waved her hand, sounding confident.

"Eh. I just want to give it a try."

'If Little Fire Fox can evolve into Blaze Fox, that will be perfect.'

'If it cannot, well, it isn't like he can really mess it up. Right?'

If evolution didn't work out in the end, June would just consider it a nice outing for Little Fire Fox.

"Alright, let me take a look at Little Fire Fox, and tell me more about its background." Asher took the fox from her hands, pretending to listen as he covertly activated his Eyes of Insight again.

He opened the evolution paths for [Blaze Fox] and [Fox Queen] and checked the specific requirements.

The more he read, the less he felt like talking.

'Why?'

[Evolution Requirements for Blaze Fox: Reach Level 3 (Not Met)

Master 4 Fire Skills (Not Met)

Feed High-Grade Fire Attribute Food for 30 Days (Met)

Consume 7 Fire Elemental Stones (Met)

Consume Blaze Fruit (Not Met)

Once all conditions are met, it can evolve into Blaze Fox.]

[Evolution Requirements for Fox Queen: Goodwill 100 (68/100)

Reach Level 4 (Not Met)

Master 6 Fire Skills (Not Met)

Feed High-Grade Fire Attribute Food for 60 Days (Met)

Consume 15 Fire Elemental Stones (13/15)

Consume Lava Fruit (Not Met)

Once all conditions are met, it can evolve into Fox Queen.]

Asher was momentarily silent.

For the first time, he felt a real sense of class resentment.

'Really? Who feeds their pet this many high-grade materials?'

'High-grade Fire Attribute Food. Fire Elemental Stones. Sun Crystal Powder…'

'Each one is worth a fortune.'

Beast Masters don't usually spend so much on their pets unless they have a clear purpose, like meeting an evolution threshold.

But with June…

Asher was starting to feel the sting of envy.

'Why can't I have been born into wealth, just like her?'

June was still talking about her approach to raising Little Fire Fox.

"…if it wants treats, I give it treats. If it wants to watch TV, I let it."

Asher gave her a small, understanding smile. "Sounds like you're all about the happy lifestyle, right?"

June nodded without hesitation.

"Exactly. All about happiness."

Asher's mouth twitched as he replied, "If you raise it like this, its level is basically… stacked entirely from material boosts."

June blinked, then mulled it over for a few seconds. "Um… that's not entirely true, right? I often take Little Fire Fox to battles. I wouldn't say it's unbeatable, but it has a solid winning record."

"Ten wins out of twelve? And your competition… are your classmates, right?"

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

Asher rubbed his forehead.

'What's wrong? There is a lot wrong!'

Taking a deep breath, he held back his frustration, realizing the enormous difference between them.

"Do any of your classmates come from families as wealthy as yours?"

June blinked again, "No, they don't."

"There you go," Asher said, trying to explain patiently. "Little Fire Fox wins against your peers not because you've trained it well, but because its base level is high and it has excellent potential."

On top of that, June had fed it endlessly.

Thanks to her constant spoiling, Little Fire Fox had a decent power level and could easily crush the average pet.

"Have you trained it properly? Technically, with Little Fire Fox's grade and level, it should have learned at least three skills by now. But it only has two—Flame Bite and Fire Breath."

Once again, Asher's questioning left June speechless.

"Um…"

"Well, about that…"

Asher sighed.

'A true lady of privilege, through and through.'

Even Nene, back when she was just an unassuming Honeybug, had mastered three skills before she evolved.

For Little Fire Fox to only have two skills was practically unheard of.

The only explanation was that June hadn't invested much effort into training it.

"Well… I just figured it wasn't…" June tried to argue, but her voice trailed off under Asher's silent gaze.

Before long, she fell completely silent.

'Yikes—'

For some reason, the way Asher was looking at her made her feel as if she was being scolded by her parents.

And that was scary.

"What should I do now?" she asked, finally giving in.

"Train Little Fire Fox. Work on its skills and battle experience to help it learn more," Asher said with a smile so convincing that June couldn't muster a word of protest.

"Oh…" she replied softly.

'Training… is that really the solution?'

June looked at Asher with a mixture of doubt and suspicion.

She was fairly certain he was trying to pull a fast one on her.

It was like he was using her lack of training experience as an excuse to push her away.

Seeing June's accusing look, Asher felt like sighing again.

'Making money is hard. Winning people's trust is harder.'

'And dealing with someone as wealthy as this brat is the hardest of all.'

When it came to evolving Little Raven into a Radiant Peacock, his main obstacle was a lack of funds.

So, he had to grind it out.

But with June?

Everything was the opposite.

If something could be solved with money, it was no big deal.

She'd pour in cash until she got what she wanted.

Putting in personal effort, though?

Sorry, that wasn't in her playbook.

Deciding he might as well commit to helping Little Fire Fox evolve, Asher dropped the evasive act.

"I'm not just brushing you off here. For a Beast Master, training is a crucial part of raising a pet," he said seriously.

To evolve into either Fox Queen or Blaze Fox, Little Fire Fox would need to meet skill requirements.

And for Asher, who intended to borrow some of those fire skills, this training was necessary.

"So, one more thing…"

After a moment's thought, Asher added, "In my research on pet evolution, I have a new theory. I'm not certain about it, but if you're willing, I'd like to test it out."

June's eyes lit up.

If it didn't involve training, she was interested in anything.

"What's your theory? Tell me."

"The goodwill level between Beast Masters and their pets."

It can also be called the affinity level.

Little Raven's evolution into Three-Legged Golden Crow required a high affinity level.

Similarly, for Little Fire Fox to evolve into Fox Queen, affinity needed to be maxed out.

Yet, none of the documented evolution paths he'd found had included an affinity requirement.

'Is it just that no one had discovered it?'

Asher saw this as a potential research direction.

If he presented goodwill level as his discovery, he could explain all future evolution cases in terms of affinity requirements.

It would make sense and give him a perfectly logical cover.

"The goodwill level between Beast Masters and their pets?" June looked at him curiously, surprised by his suggestion.

"What kind of idea is that? Goodwill… can actually be quantified?" she asked. "And can it really affect a pet's evolution?"

Asher nodded.

And then he began to craft his story with perfect sincerity.

"I think Honeybug's evolution might have been related to affinity."

In other words, his art of god-lever yapping and sincere tone started to work wonders...

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