I Have a Golden Crow

The sun was setting in the west, outside the North City Suburbs.

Du Yu, wrapped in his Beard Tree Coat, gripping his Demon Soldier Silver Fire, and carrying a tactical backpack, stepped off the bus.

He didn’t pay for his bus ticket.

Even though he wasn’t wearing his Library Ring at the moment, wherever he went, as long as he scanned his ID, the staff could see Du Yu’s ”prestigious” identity.

It was only when he went to buy a ticket that Du Yu realized he could ride the Demon Spirit Realm’s express buses for free.

Does this mean I can tour Ancient Pine Tower City for free by bus?

After all, there are tons of bus lines, covering every spot in the city—if you transfer a few times, you can get pretty much anywhere you want...

Kinda feels like having a free senior citizen card?

Du Yu pulled a strange face as he walked toward the Demon Spirit Bookstore.

The Demon Spirit Realm in the North Suburb is still pretty much a Newbie Realm—serving Demon Tamer Journeymen and below, though the official suggestion is that Demon Tamer Prentices should be accompanied by a team.

”Ding ding ding~”

Du Yu pushed open the bookstore door. The décor was almost identical to the South Suburb branch. A young lady popped her head out from behind the counter, looking at Du Yu.

”Hi there.” The young lady’s smile was sweet as she stood up. ”Want to take a break here, or are you here for a quest?”

Du Yu glanced at her name tag on her chest—Tang Dun.

Tang Dun? (Sugar Lump?)

Tsk~ She really is sweet.

Du Yu tugged up the brim of his hood and nodded back. ”I’m here to check out the quests.”

Tang Dun looked up at him, her eyes widening slightly as she gazed at Du Yu’s face—or more accurately, at his eyes. She seemed a bit dazed.

”Hey.” Du Yu waved his hand in front of her face.

”Ah!” Tang Dun blushed a little, hurriedly lowering her head and fussily fiddling with stuff on the table. ”All the quests are on the blackboard, you can take a look yourself.”

Du Yu blinked. He couldn’t help but think: Damn, I really am handsome!

With these eyes of mine, who could see me and not get a little lightheaded?

Since this Demon Spirit Realm is higher leveled, the quest board in this bookstore has as many as eight quests. And on the blackboard, Du Yu spotted a new quest type—Bodyguard.

Looks like there are solo Demon Tamer Prentices waiting here, hoping to team up and train with a Demon Tamer Journeyman.

These quests all give a lot of points—basically 10 points minimum—but the time requirements are long, generally at least five days.

Du Yu wasn’t all that interested—but then, his eyes landed on a combat quest.

”A Moonlit Bear in Demon Spirit Realm Zone 6 has been corrupted by Cold Qi and become savage and violent. Estimated strength: Peak of Earth Level.

Defeat the Moonlit Bear and obtain the Demon Crystal contaminated by Cold Qi. Submit it to the Demon Spirit Bookstore.

Quest Level: Glory Gold, Deadline: 20 days. Reward: 20 Points.”

Holy crap?

Corrupted by Cold Qi, savage and violent?

This quest feels familiar!

Du Yu quickly turned to look at the Store Town’s special bounty quest mounted up above the store entrance.

”There’s a Dust Spirit Deer herd in the Demon Spirit Realm, numbering 12 to 15. The herd’s strength is rated as Heavenly Level.

Quest Target: Obtain one flawless Dust Spirit Bead.

Quest Grade: Xuan Platinum. Reward: Demon Spirit Bookstore—Ancient Pine Tower North Suburb Branch Ring.”

Du Yu grinned. Weren’t we supposed to fetch a Twin Flower and pick a Twin Fruit?

He had just been thinking of using the same trick again—luring the Moonlit Bear to the base of Twin Trees...

”That quest’s really hard.” Sugar Lump noticed Du Yu staring at the special bounty, lost in thought, and quietly spoke up.

”Yeah, a Store Town Quest has gotta be tough.” Du Yu nodded in agreement, though his mind was confused: ”Is every member of that Dust Spirit Deer herd actually a Celestial-level Monster Beast?”

Sugar Lump: ”That’s a Composite Strength rating. The leader and some of them are Celestial-level, but they’ve got Earth Level and Mortal Level members too, of course.”

Du Yu asked, ”If there are Celestial-level creatures, how are they even allowed in this realm? Shouldn’t Peak of Earth Level be the highest level monster beast here?”

The young lady glanced up at the blackboard and explained, ”The Dust Spirit Deer are special. They never attack anyone—person or demon beast.

They don’t even fight, just run if they see anyone. Since they only eat low-level Demonic Plants and are totally non-threatening, the military never cleared them out and just let them settle here.”

Du Yu nodded and took out his Student Card. ”Get me a ’Love of Fire’ first.”

His ring covered free express bus rides, but if he wanted free boarding and free meals, he’d need to head back to the South Suburb Newbie Realm.

If nothing unexpected happened, he’d be back to crashing outdoors for now.

Even so, Du Yu ordered a ’Love of Fire’ anyway. He could tough it out himself, but Xiaoyan had just leveled up and Little You Ying was about to evolve. Gotta treat the pets right!

”Okay... Wow!” Sugar Lump’s eyes went wide as she checked the computer’s student info. She completely forgot about the ’Love of Fire’ order and went straight for the little ring icon.

After staring for a while, she bent down and pulled a plastic jar from the cabinet: ”Dust Spirit Beads aren’t solid—they’re the ghostly Demon Breath all around the Dust Spirit Deer, condensed into little gas pearls they spit out. You’ve gotta collect them in a jar.”

Du Yu: ”...”

Wait, what?

Did the big-store bounty quest just get way less hard, out of nowhere?

Sugar Lump went on, ”Dust Spirit Beads aren’t a Demon Skill, they’re a resource. For Wind Demon Tamers, they’re even a mega-boost!

If you want a Dust Spirit Bead, you either have to catch a Celestial-level Dust Spirit Deer and force it to spit one out—or befriend them, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll give you one.”

Du Yu was at a loss. It’s not like he hasn’t met a Dust Spirit Deer before. Those things are fast—riding a motorcycle might not even catch one, so who’s actually gonna bag one?

Besides, only Celestial-level Dust Spirit Deer can spit out beads. He’s no match for Celestial Level creatures either...

But Sugar Lump could see he was having a hard time and still slid the plastic jar over to him, whispering, ”Just give it a shot. Even if you fail, nothing to lose—Dust Spirit Deer don’t hurt anyone.”

Du Yu considered it, then picked up the jar. ”Thanks.”

The gap is real, man, the gap!

This Sugar Lump is way better than Chen Xuri from the South Suburb...

Fifteen minutes later, Du Yu, juggling a bag of food and a map of the Demon Spirit Realm, strode briskly toward the realm’s entrance.

”Nether Leaf Bead, Zone 3.” Du Yu muttered, checking his map, then darted right at the door for Zone 3.

He’d walked for a while. The sun dropped behind the hills, and Du Yu found himself deep in the quiet forest. He picked a big tree and summoned his Demon Pets.

”Whew~”

”Ying!” Xiaoyan twined around Du Yu’s neck, perching neatly on his shoulder and nuzzling affectionately at his cheek.

Little You Ying was about to zoom up and down for fun, but the moment it spotted Xiaoyan, its whole flame-ball froze on the spot.

Sister Xiaoyan leveled up?

She got bigger, prettier, and now she’s got two big tails...

”Come on, time for cake.” Du Yu took out the ’Love of Fire’ from his bag and plopped down under the tree, holding up a slice.

”Ying~” Xiaoyan immediately stretched out, wrapped its little tongue, and scarfed down the little red fruit on the cake.

”Come on, Ghost Firefly! What are you dawdling for? Good food!” Du Yu swiped the other two red fruits off the cake and handed one to Little You Ying.

”Mmm.” You Ying opened its tiny mouth, gobbling up both the fruit and Du Yu’s fingers in one go.

Du Yu had to give a light tug to get his fingers back, then shoved the last red fruit into his own mouth, mumbling, ”Eat up, eat up, Ghost Firefly—stop staring at Xiaoyan, you’re about to level up too.”

Little You Ying floated in front of the cake, its big eyes glancing at the layer cake, then at Du Yu.

Its glowing green outer flames started to haze and shimmer...

Little Fen Yang was still nibbling on the red fruit that Du Yu ate, but as soon as it saw this, it soared out in a hurry. ”No, you can’t evolve yet~”

”Wait! Don’t evolve, not yet!” Du Yu jumped a little. Wow, this kid is seriously competitive, huh?

Ghost Firefly Fire Type was just a moment away from leveling up, just needed the chance. Now, seeing Xiaoyan’s transformation, it was getting impatient?

”Hmm?” You Ying didn’t really know why it shouldn’t level up, but it listened to both Fen Yang and its master, Du Yu. The emerald green outer fire gradually faded down.

”Nice!” Du Yu was thrilled. He picked up a slice of cake and held it out to Little You Ying. ”Tomorrow morning, we’ll level up in the Nether Leaf Small Pearl Cluster. That’s the Ancient Ghost Firefly evolution line!”

Little You Ying stared at Du Yu in confusion. It didn’t really know what he was talking about, but it sounded so cool...

Du Yu took another bite of cake, then turned to the floating Little Fen Yang: ”Oh right, what does its special form look like?”

The Ghost Firefly Fire Type has two evolution lines. In the second phase, it can evolve into either a Glowing Firetorch or a Ghost Firefly Candlestick.

And both forms are pretty easy to get.

Glowing Firetorch is main Fire element and sub Wind.

Ghost Firefly Candlestick is main Wind and sub Fire.

If you want a certain main attribute, just feed your Ghost Firefly Fire Type Demon Pet Food or Demon Plant Fruit with the right property. Most likely you’ll get the form you want.

As for Du Yu’s Little You Ying, since it’s always been eating fire-type Demon Plant Fruit, odds are it’ll evolve into a Glowing Firetorch.

Little Fen Yang: ”You’ll see when the time comes—it’ll be gorgeous! Don’t worry, I’ll help it. Gimme another piece of cake~”

”Oh, sure.” Du Yu quickly grabbed another slice and took a bite.

”Mmm~” Little Fen Yang licked its lips in delight, leaned to one side, and melted back into Du Yu’s body.

One man, two pets, made quick work of the ’Love of Fire.’ Du Yu grabbed his flashlight and, with a bit of light left in the sky, hurried toward Zone 3...

Ancient Ghost Firefly, just the sound of it is satisfying!