All four demon cultivators trainees were still alive after the fight against the Transforming Spider. However, they were ordered by Jin to return to the Luxury Recovery Instance for additional medical checks and recuperate after the battle. The Panda Nurses took great care of them by providing them with chi potions and Lynn’s food.
Additionally, with a bit of Milk’s healing magic, the recovery procedure became fast enough that the exorcist trainees barely felt any pain after a while. Still, the fatigue they incurred from the long fight caused them to feel slightly heavy headed. Jin decided to allow them to rest in the ward and asked the System to use a bit of Temporal Manipulation to get them all fit as a fiddle in no time.
Meanwhile, Claire and Grandma Yuan were offered to have a meal at the Restaurant Instance. “This instance is managed by Lynn. All the food you will enjoy is made by her and her trained staff of penguin chefs.” Jin explained as he led them to the high class Japanese theme room at the front of the train car.
“That little girl is here?” Grandma Yuan’s mood seemed to improve until she heard Jin say that Lynn had gone off for some training.
“Never mind then, don’t bother her. It’s a pity, though. I was looking forward to getting another taste of her Hoji Tea again.” Grandma Yuan sighed.
“Your orders will be served shortly. For now, please enjoy the time with each other.” The penguin server bowed after taking their order, and the three began to discuss the results of the Demon Exorcist Promotion Examination.
“I’m sorry that I interfered in the whole exam, especially when I was the one to ask to treat it as a promotional examination for them.” Jin apologised to Claire and Grandma Yuan.
“I already figured you could pull this sort of stunt out after you warned us that you had an untested dungeon.” Grandma Yuan saw no reason to reveal to Claire that she had just been in another world. She herself still felt that it was a bit unreal, but the existence of the System itself was everything but ordinary. The old woman drank her hot tea surprisingly realising that it was not too bad. (as compared to the tea which Claire used to serve her.)
“I understand that, but we still have to consider your involvement in the overall grading. And since you basically interfered with their exams at all relevant points, the marks they have obtained were not desirable at all.” Claire presented him the marks on each of the demon exorcist trainees. There were sections on teamwork, strength, weakness, how many demons killed and etcetera.
“What? There is even a whole section on compassion?! ” Jin looked at the marking criteria score and felt it was ludicrous for the examination to be filled with odd standards.
“In our modern age, Demon Exorcists have to work on their people skills too. Especially since there are times we have to deal with family members or relatives whose loved ones were possessed by a demon. Though we have ‘Exorcist’ in our name, the most risk free way, to deal with someone who has been possessed is to kill them in order to protect not only us but their family too.” Claire answered, and Jin was reminded of Ryuli.
“If her story was true, she must have been suffering without any parents.” Jin thought to himself before he asked the pertinent question. “Sooo…all of them failed?” Jin asked, and Claire shook her head. She took out a Snake Emblem for him to see, before handing it over to Grandma Yuan.
“Su Zhen had been the most composed of them all. She huddled them together at times of need and managed to correctly assess the situation. Her plans, while inevitably ineffective due to having underestimated the demon’s capabilities, had resulted in the rest working together as team,” Claire summed it and Grandma Yuan agreed with the situation.
“Rong was a somewhat close second for covering the teammates at the risk of his own life… but he’s still too rash and impulsive. Lian has been placed third. She has achieved high marks for her effectiveness in combat.” Claire continued evaluating her results, which made Jin laughed.
“So that means Lein’s the last? I thought he was also quite decent in his combat.”
“He was, but I had to deduct his marks. It’s just as you said, there’s no need for a Hero in the Demon Exorcist’s organisation. He and Rong have both been trying to play Hero when the Transforming Spider Demon appeared. However, Rong’s Demon Cultivation allowed him to have good defensive capabilities, whereas Lein focuses more on evasion and attack. We want Demon Exorcists to work as a team, not solo. Even Monster Slayers are encouraged to work as a team.” Claire replied just as the food appeared, the aroma of the ramen and curry rice immediately made all three of them salivate.
“Please enjoy your food.” The penguin server replenished their cups with hot tea and bowed before walking away. As it was Chinese manners for the oldest at the table to eat first, Grandma Yuan took the first bite before they dug into their food.
“This…this is …” Grandma Yuan eyes were wide open as she hasn’t tasted anything so tasty for the past few years. The ramen was firm, and the soup was not as salty as she thought it would be.
“I have purposely asked the penguins to give you a milder soup base. We had a number of elderlies who had given us their feedback about the taste before.” Jin said, noticing her surprise.
“That is good to hear. It is delicious. Please pass my regards to the Head Chef.” Grandma Yuan said as she enjoyed her meal. Meanwhile, Claire’s action no longer seemed that professional nor ladylike. The young woman had no idea that the restaurant would serve such amazing dishes. The tonkatsu curry rice was pure bliss as with the fluffiness of the rice, the crispy texture of the pork cutlet as well as its meaty content.
“I am glad you enjoy it. I will pass your praise to Lynn when she returns.” Jin said before he too continued to slurp his noodles loudly.
After the quiet and yet noisy meal, it was time to go over the next portion of the business. After all, Jin’s reason to visit Grandma Yuan had not been to become a Demon Exorcist, but to receive the zoo animals.
“I’ve prepared the land and the dungeon instance for the Cultivation Zoo. Roughly 200 acres overall.” Jin presented them a blueprint with the help of the System, telling them how he had managed to separate the dungeon instance into various ‘planes’ so that every site would still be accessible next to each other and yet big enough for the zoo animals to run wild. “I can also make more land available since they are all within a dungeon instance.”
“Having a large land is good, but what about the caretakers?” Claire asked, and Jin explained to her that he planned to use NPCs or even monsters like the penguin servers to manage the entire Cultivation Zoo.
“But your monsters and…servants do not have any knowledge about the animals right?” Grandma Yuan asked which caused Jin to pause a bit.
“… I could ask Kraft, but I kinda doubt he would be an animal expert, even with his foxes.” Jin admitted, and Grandma Yuan sighed.
“I have some acquaintances who would be willing to become part of the new Cultivation Zoo. You can sort it out together with Claire, or you can let her handle it entirely. However, you will need to pay them wages. They are not like your penguins who work for free.” Grandma Yuan emphasised.
“Hahaha…as if the System pays me a decent wage for the amount of work I am doing…” Jin complained loudly before a safe magically dropped on the sky on his head. “Ow!”
“Your wages in advance.” the System said in his head as the suitcase opened…and the other two onlookers saw a stack of bills in it.
“See?” Jin said as he waved that wad of cash in front of Grandma Yuan. “I barely have enough to pay myself….what makes you think that I can pay for other people?” Suddenly a message appeared in the form of an email to Claire. The sender was apparently from Dungeons and Pandas, and she assumed it was the System that was trying to communicate with her.
She opened the email and saw the balance of accounts for Dungeons and Pandas and nearly choked on her saliva. “You are kidding me! You EARN that much??!” Claire couldn’t believe it and had to show it to Grandma Yuan, which even surprised her too.
“What? From the last I saw, it was not that much at all. It was just enough to get by.” Jin borrowed Claire’s phone to take a look and realised why they were that shocked. The System had taken into account the tradings Another Jin had made previously, but that cash had been budgeted for their Dungeon World Base, as well as for subsequent dungeons. It might look like he had craploads of extra cash on hand, they were all tied for future expansions, and there was set aside as emergency cash.
“Then I guess, you can at least afford a professional Zoo team that is worthy of their talents? Yes?” Grandma Yuan asked, and Jin regretted not having Xiong Da at his side right now.
“If it’s within a fairly reasonable amount, I’ll see what I can do. Else, no promises. They will work on a provisional contract of three months first, and I’m not obliged to answer any questions that could jeopardise the identity of the System.” Jin stated his demands in a subtle way reminding Grandma Yuan that having Claire know about the System was a dangerous move.
“Do not worry. You can always just use the dungeon instance as an excuse.” Grandma Yuan suggested as she listed the number of animals she was able to release to Jin.
“Two of each? Are you serious?! Won’t Shenzhen Zoo be severely crippled by the loss of so many animals? I am no Noah’s ark, you know?” Jin saw the extensive list of animals and momentarily doubted Grandma Yuan.
“Heh, guess you haven’t done your homework. Before you, the esteemed Demon Exorcist Chief Instructor in Shenzhen Yuan is one of the most generous donors in terms of money and animals for the Shenzhen Cultivation Zoo. Therefore, any demands she makes, they will have to follow or risk losing her support.” Claire happily declared in front of Grandma Yuan, and Jin was in awe with her reputation.
“Guess being the top instructor had its perks.”
“You think all these benefits come without having to earn them?” Grandma Yuan verbally challenged him, and Jin quickly backed down.
“If that is the case, I will prepare the habitats according to the animals. But I have a request.” Jin swallowed his saliva before asking. “Can I have at least Xin the Panda with to be in my zoo?”
“Oh, that unusually haughty Panda? Heh. We will be more than happy to get rid of that for you to handle.” Grandma Yuan said as if the animals were tokens on a board game. But Claire reassured Jin that her words might be rude once in a while.
“Thanks and one last question. Is it really okay? Won’t it be competition for Shenzhen Zoo if I open mine?” Jin asked so innocently that it made Grandma Yuan laugh loudly.
“You think you are that capable? Wait till you make Shenzhen Zoo panic for the lack of people than we can see how to handle it. Besides, I am not giving you the zoo animals for free. You have to pay for each and every of them as part of a rental to Shenzhen Zoo. It might be a more of a burden than charity.” Grandma Yuan proclaimed as she stood up and decided to make a move.
“No worries about that, I can bear such costs. Besides, I shall remind you of the competition when the time comes!” Jin declared as he knew that Ke Loong was going to get back to him about the production of the portals any day now. That alone would drastically change how this dungeon shop operates as well as the competition the shop might face.
He recalled that there was some correspondence that Ke Loong wanted to Jin to take a look at their revised Portal device whenever he had the time. Their next time would be an excellent opportunity to let his partner spread the word about his cultivation zoo.
“Ah! I totally forgot about the kids!” Jin suddenly remembered and sent a message to Claire with regards to them. In contrary, Claire told him he could do whatever he wanted with the demon exorcist trainees and only informed that Grandma Yuan would return tomorrow to confer Su Zhen’s promotion.
“Argh, looks like I’ll really have to oversee them for the near future. … Well, I will find a use for them.” Jin considered if it would be wise to show them some parts of the System or let them work on some specific dungeon instances while waiting for information about the opening of a JODE branch in his store. However, one thing was for sure.
Now, Jin was a step closer to bigger profits. (And responsibilities.)
