Wake up in the morning. Go to the zoo at 10 o'clock. Work for another 10 hours. Go back to the hotel room. Sleep.
That was Ning's schedule for the last 5 days. Ever since landing the job, that was what he had been doing all the week.
The part-ti job was changed to a full-ti one when the zookeepers realized how good Ning was with the beasts.
He was even given a higher-paying salary. A total of 120 Sils in a week. Quite low for soone like Ning, but again, he wasn't here for the money.
Ning was happy taking care of the Aether beasts, he had co to surprisingly realize that there weren't many other beasts out there. Especially in the wild.
Up until then, he had only learned about very few dostic beasts that were used for everything from food to clothing to other necessary products. These beasts weren't sothing Ning had learned about before like Cow, or Goats.
They were sothing completely different, and of course, the Zoo wouldn't keep sothing so common there.
The Xanders Imperial Zoo was established over 120 years ago when the previous emperor still ruled. The beasts that were brought there were children of the beasts they killed in that war. They were the spoils of war.
So of those beasts had children, other beasts were added later on. That was how the imperial zoo was able to keep itself afloat during all these tis.
After the war with the Aether beasts was over, the beasts were hard to see in the forest in the east. That was the reason so many people ca there every day to see the Aether beasts.
This was the only way for most people.
Ning walked into a room that held a snake-like Aether beast in it. This beast was one of the only beasts in the entire zoo that never responded to Ning, no matter what he had said.
It would just calmly co to him and eat what was given. Ning walked inside with chopped-up pieces of at in hand and put them on grass inside.
He waited for the beast to co and eat. He waited for a while. However, no beast ca to eat it.
The snake-like beast lived on top of the branches in the tree that was planted inside. The ceiling was a tal cage that let enough sunlight into the room.
Ning could see the beast sleeping on top of the branch and called to it. "Co on down, the food is here."
However, the beast didn't respond at all. Ning called out a few more tis before he realized sothing was wrong.
He walked up to the tree and knocked on it. Seeing no response, he used his magnification skill to look closely at the beast on top.
Sothing was different about the beast today. It took a while, but Ning realized what it was.
'It's not glowing,' he thought. The lightning-like scars which would usually pulse with a purple glow were nowhere to be seen today.
"Doesn't that an…?"
Ning looked towards the glass window at the many people that were waiting for the beast to co down and eat its food.
Ning sighed. He had to call the person in charge.
The old man from before ca upon his request and ordered soone to check up on the beast.
As Ning expected, It was dead.
"Sigh, it's not your fault. This was just an old beast," the old man said to Ning, just in case he would place the bla on himself.
Ning nodded.
"Can you go get so people to co to carry this beast for please?" the old man asked.
"Okay," Ning said and left. He could carry the beast all by himself, even just by using Aether as well. However, he didn't want to show sothing so shocking in front of so many people.
He called a few people and they arrived to take the beast. Ning lent them a hand. He wasn't sure what was to be done with a dead Aether beast. He hadn't seen one die before this. So, he was quite curious.
The old man made the people carry the beast to a separate room that was not allowed for normal visitors to co to.
He then went out for a few minutes. After he returned, there was a man with an apron that walked in.
"Let's begin," the old man said.
The man with the apron brought out a giant weapon and without any notice started chopping the snake-like beast.
Ning was a little shocked. This was not what he had been expecting. The butcher kept on chopping with no hesitation around the neck of the beast, looking for sothing.
Ning walked up to the old man and asked, "Sir, what is going on? Are we selling Aether beast at on the side or what?"
"What?" the old man looked surprised. Then, he imdiately burst out laughing as he had never before.
"Hahaha, no," the old man said. "This is just a rule placed on the zoo by Emperor Kron."
"A… rule?" Ning asked.
"Yes. The emperor really didn't like beasts I guess. Whenever one in the zoo died, it was to be butchered and its gem sent to the palace," the old man said.
"Gem?"
Just as Ning asked that the butcher reached into the freshly cut at and pulled out a spherical, black and purple, glowing rock the side of a human eye. It was rugged and nonuniform in shape, but as the man called it, it was definitely a gem.
"A monster core?" Ning softly spoke to himself. He didn't realize that Aether beasts even had cores, or as these people called it, Gem.
'I really don't know much about them, do I?' Ning thought. He planned on learning them soti in the future.
Just then, the door behind them opened and a figure walked in, fully dressed in perfectly ironed suit and pants.
Ning recognized the man and was surprised. The old man saw and recognized him too.
"Mister Ning, I didn't expect to see you here."
Ning replied, "I didn't expect to see you here either, Mister Tim."
User Comments
0 comments from readers