Beast Academy: Raising Baby Beasts with Cashback 500%

Over the next few days, Jeryon’s behavior slowly changed. The way he cared for Shani was no longer subtle.

Shani noticed it too, but she didn’t want to read too much into it, so once again, she ignored it.

In Practical Essence Combat class, Jeryon, having missed the first class, joined the second week’s session only to find that he still had to run the laps from the first week to make up for lost time.

Fortunately, Shani, who had been injured during the previous class and hadn’t finished her laps, was able to pass. Shani silently thanked Instructor Damon.

For the second week’s lesson, Damon moved on to unarmed combat techniques. The children of prominent houses had undergone training since childhood. Some families even had their own unique combat techniques.

Everything Damon instructed seemed easy for them to grasp.

Shani, who knew nothing about combat, wasn’t discouraged. Instead, she had been looking forward to this class. She wanted to test her D-Rank body.

But she pushed herself too hard, leaving her entire body sore. The soreness hadn’t even gone away two days later, on Saturday afternoon.

”I have to start going to the gym regularly from now on,” she muttered, lying down while gently massaging her own hand.

Nyx, who was learning to walk around on Shani’s bed, approached her. It reached out its paw toward Shani’s hand.

Shani found the soft furball’s action adorable. ”Does my precious baby want to help massage me?” Shani asked, scratching Nyx’s chin, feeling proud and happy.

Nyx once again smacked Shani’s hand when she touched it. It hissed, but Shani didn’t sense any fear or hostility from her baby beast.

Shani frowned. ”Are you practicing your hunting instincts?” she asked.

Nyx finally turned toward her with its black eyes glimmering. It meowed excitedly, happy that its mother had finally understood what it meant.

Shani was silent for a moment before chuckling. She lifted Nyx in front of her face and forcibly kissed the furry baby’s face while it struggled and pushed against her with its paws.

Seeing that only made Shani find it even cuter. She started pretending to bite Nyx’s paw.

The panther cub looked extremely surprised. It panicked and started pulling its paw away while meowing in a high-pitched voice.

Shani burst out laughing. She kissed Nyx again before placing it beside her.

Using all four of its little legs, Nyx ran toward the end of the soft bed, putting as much distance between itself and its mother as possible.

After finishing her teasing session with Nyx, Shani checked her smartwatch. There was a chat from Mina telling her about her new life with her adoptive parents in Lunarion.

Shani started a video call after making sure Mina wasn’t busy. The little girl looked extremely excited when she received Shani’s call.

”We live in an apartment. The building is really tall. The elevator is huge. I have my own room. Mom and Dad are also looking for a good school for me...”

Mina spoke excitedly with a bright smile. Shani smiled along with her. She was happy as long as Mina was happy and her adoptive parents treated her well.

”Oh right, I met Aster yesterday. Boss Deryan asked me to pass along some milk and fresh farm produce to him,” Mina said after finishing her story about her new life.

Deryan, who was Aster’s older brother, had entrusted the goods to her before she left Galesend.

”How is Aster doing?” Shani asked, genuine concern in her voice.

”Hmm...” Mina paused to think.

”When I met him yesterday, he kept smiling and telling me that he was doing fine and happy here, even though I never asked. It actually felt like he was hiding something. Like he was forcing himself.”

”He probably said that because he knew you would tell me about how he was doing.”

”Now that I think about it, Aster looked really tired yesterday. It seems like he’s having a hard time, but he doesn’t want to say anything,” Mina continued, surprisingly perceptive for an eight-year-old.

Hearing that made Shani even more worried. ”Do you know where his uncle’s shop is?”

Mina shook her head. ”We met in the area around my apartment.”

Shani and Aster had also met once around Shani’s apartment area. Her suspicion grew even stronger.

Seeing the troubled expression on Shani’s face, little adult Mina said,

”Next time, I’ll ask Aster to meet me again and ask him where his uncle’s shop is. I’ll find out what’s happening to him. You don’t need to worry, Shani.”

Shani felt touched. If Mina had been standing in front of her, she probably would have gently patted the little girl’s head.

”Thank you, Mina. But don’t push yourself too hard, okay?”

They continued talking about the orphanage. After almost two hours, their call ended when Mina’s adoptive parents called her for lunch.

Shani also went to the cafeteria for lunch with Jeryon, Kiran, and Noella.

This time, Jeryon didn’t just bring milk. He also brought a tech-cold compress specifically for Shani.

At first, Shani didn’t want to accept it because she felt like she already owed him too much. But seeing Jeryon’s hopeful gaze, she couldn’t bring herself to refuse. Besides, her body really was sore.

’I’ll return it after my body recovers,’ Shani thought.

Kiran and Noella exchanged knowing glances.

After lunch, Shani returned to her room to continue researching her business. Her brows furrowed when she realized that the cost of making Red Worm Jelly was higher than she had expected.

Shani wasn’t stingy, but she was worried that if the production cost was high, the selling price would have to be much higher too.

Red Worm Jelly belonged to the baby beast snack category. Shani discovered that snacks in general were cheaper than the estimated selling price of Red Worm Jelly.

She had actually wanted to make Red Worm Jelly cheaper. She wanted the snack to be affordable for beastmen from ordinary families.

”Then I need to find a way to lower the ingredient costs, but using lower-quality ingredients is a big no...”

”What if I cultivate the bloodworms myself? Bloodworms are the main ingredient. If I can cut costs there, the selling price might be lower.”

After thinking about it for quite a while, Shani decided to buy a book about Bloodworm cultivation from the system.

”The methods in the books from the system should be more efficient than what they teach in class,” she said after several experiences had proven it to her.

Shani bought a book titled Worm Cultivation Vol. I from the system. She didn’t waste any time and immediately started reading the cultivation methods for bloodworms.

”There’s a method like this?” she murmured when she discovered a new technique.

The new method could trigger bloodworms to produce more eggs than usual. It also increased the chances of the eggs hatching safely.

Shani spent quite a long time at her study desk, taking notes and drawing diagrams before finally ordering the equipment and materials she needed. She also ordered a small camera to record the effects of the new method in detail.

Since her orders wouldn’t arrive until tomorrow, Shani continued researching.

...

Inside a dorm room, a silver-haired girl threw her drink onto the floor.

She clicked her tongue and glared coldly at another girl. ”I don’t want this. I already told you to order the one I like!”

”This is your favorite drink, Miss Vivi—” The timid girl standing beside the bed tried to explain.

But she was interrupted when a pillow was thrown at her by the silver-haired girl.

”Do you dare talk back to me?! Hey, Nora, just because you’re studying at this academy, do you think you’re better now? Remember, you’re only a servant. You’re only a maid who’s allowed to come here to serve me!”

Hearing Vivienne’s arrogant tone, Nora lowered her head so her hateful gaze wouldn’t be seen.

”I’m sorry, Miss Vivianne,” Nora said humbly.

”Now order it again— No, go buy it yourself,” Vivienne ordered.

She stood up from her comfortable single sofa. ”I’m going back to resonate. Bring it to my class later. Buy two. One for my partner.”

Without waiting for Nora’s response, Vivienne left the room.

Nora stomped her feet several times to vent her anger. After that, she left the room with her innocent expression back in place.

Today was Sunday, which meant resonance had been going on for fourteen days. Students who considered themselves elite, like Vivienne, were starting to panic because their eggs still hadn’t hatched.

She poured all that panic and anxiety into anger toward Nora. And Nora had no other choice.

Nora immediately left to buy the drink. She only returned around two in the afternoon.

”I managed to hatch my egg!” Vivienne announced excitedly, though her tone was still arrogant.

Nora froze. The envy that had already turned into hatred in her heart grew even stronger.

”Let’s go back to the mansion. I want to sleep in my room, even if it’s only for a few hours,” Vivienne ordered, ignoring the drink Nora had bought for her.

”I’m going to the seventh floor first to feed my bloodworms,” Nora said, remembering that her bloodworms were probably hungry by now.

At the word bloodworm, Vivienne looked disgusted. ”Hurry up and go. I’m going to the first floor.”

Nora immediately headed to the seventh floor. But just as she arrived in front of the Concoction classroom, she received a call from Vivienne.

”Come here quickly! Bring me my sunglasses!” Vivienne’s demanding voice came from the other end.

Standing beside the classroom door, Nora saw someone walking out of the room, but the person didn’t seem to notice her.

’Another annoying silver-haired girl!’

...