Ch54 – Competitor

Most importantly, Student Rong’s work was far about the principal’s level in every respect…

Principal Stewart rubbed his old face and turned to the other side of the semi-open exhibition hall. The 18 masters were looking over at them in an unfathomable way. To be exact, there were looking at the little leopard in the spherical seat.

Principal Stewart smiled and turned around. “Hey, are you all done?”

More than a dozen masters didn’t listen, their eyes focused on the carving Student Rong previously made. Principal Stewart turned his head slightly and blinked at Student Rong, indicating that he should put the carving away. Rong Mingshi didn’t know what Principal Stewart wanted to do but he raised his thick paws and placed the carving in the seat’s space.

This movement was normal in Rong Mingshi’s daily life but in the eyes of the masters, it was simply… suffocating! The group of masters stared firmly at the little leopard’s paws. This gaze gave Rong Mingshi the illusion that his paws were placed on an operating table to dissect. He silently shook his rough tail and moved it to the front, blocking the sight of his paws.

Principal Stewart took a step forward and stared at them. “What are you looking at? Do you think your hands aren’t as good as a leopard’s paws?”

“Perhaps the beast shape might be more powerful at stimulating the energy of the energy stone.”

“Hey, how can you control it with your deer hooves?”

“In addition, how the hell does it have a relationship with the best shape? This old and confused person can’t even find the key point!”

“The little leopard’s paws were steady and half of the energy stone was cut off by him.”

“Hey, are your eyes blind? When the little leopard was carving, his perception mobilized all the power of the original stone. Although not all the energy of the cut off parts were called to the remaining carving, there was still a small number.

“In addition, this carving hides all the spillover.”

“You old things, haven’t you discovered that it is a low-grade energy stone?”

“En…”

“Indeed.”

“That’s right.”

The more than a dozen people talked about it before their eyes finally fell on Principal Stewart. Principal Stewart smiled and spoke bluntly, “How long have you been overdrawn? Do you want a stone? No!”

“Low-grade energy stones are free at the college.”

Old God Stewart replied, “I changed the system. If you want to use the energy stones then you have to buy them according to the market price.”

“…Okay, put the order in. We’ll pick up high-grade custom orders.”

Principal Stewart suddenly wondered, “High-grade custom orders? The Oran Carving Business can’t receive new high-grade orders and the existing high-grade custom order customers are withdrawing their fees. Aren’t you afraid that you won’t receive any orders?”

“…What about the black dragon?”

“Don’t even think about the marshal. He told me that he has an exclusive carver.”

A master suddenly turned around and raised his finger to a 3D image on the middle platform. “Didn’t all the high-grade energy stone orders go to him?”

The little leopard followed the master’s hand and gazed at the platform in the middle. The platform contained red, uncarved high-grade energy stone. Next to the energy stone was a 3D image of the fire fox he carved.

The little leopard silently moved his tail. Then these masters were studying his carvings just now? If his identity as the store owner was known, would these masters study him?

Principal Stewart nodded. “Yes, this store owner will soon monopolize the high-grade energy stone carvings of the entire capital. I’m afraid that it won’t take long for the high-grade energy stones of the three major stars of the empire to be accepted by him.”

Principal Stewart continued, “Many commentators on the Star Network might praise the store owner’s carvings but they say that the owner is super lazy. The orders accepted are limited and it is hard to get an order. Still, how long has the store been open? Now there is Suo Lan’s endorsement. With this momentum, sooner or later…”

Rong Mingshi heard the principal’s passionate speech and unconsciously rubbed his ears.

It seemed like he became a carving tycoon…

In addition, what was super lazy?

Saying he was lazy when he just received 10 high-grade orders… what was the reason?

.
“So,” Principal Stewart coughed. “If you want to continue to use the college’s energy stones, from today on, the master class will resume teaching mode. Every class, the college will provide a certain number of energy stones. Whether it is low, medium or high, you can choose. In return, what if you train Student Rong into a master carver more successful than that store owner? Won’t you become famous?”

These over a dozen masters spent time in the master class to pursue the highest level carving skills and to maximize the power of the energy stone. They had just witnessed the little leopard’s carving process and the amazing talent and comprehension ability of the little leopard might be more outstanding than any of the masters in their prime.

Thus, the over a dozen people agreed and their eyes fell on the little leopard sitting obediently. In the future, this little leopard might surpass them to become a master of carving, causing their eyes to become hot for a short while. They eagerly wanted to start the task and said, “Come on Student Rong, we will start the class and strive to surpass the store owner as soon as possible.”

The little leopard silently moved his paws. This was how he was turned into his own competitor…

The masters had witnessed Rong Mingshi’s carving process and naturally saw the shortcomings. Once Principal Stewart departed, a master took him to an oversized perception electrostatic ball maze.

The little leopard unconsciously rubbed the hair around his mouth and placed his paw on the electrostatic ball maze. This was a dozen times more complicated than the previous one he used to practice with. He controlled his perception to enter the maze and it was worse than the small electrostatic ball maze. He couldn’t find the path at all…

“You don’t have enough control over your perception. No wonder why only a small amount of energy from the cut off stone parts was collected.”

“His perception is clearly formed from instincts and there isn’t enough theoretical understanding.”

“Let’s talk about theory.”

For the whole day, Rong Mingshi’s head was filled with theoretical knowledge. Forget taking time to study the beast images of the 10 high-grade custom buyers, he had more than a dozen masters constantly talking to him about knowledge as he ate. Moreover, most of the knowledge was outside of the college curriculum and many were researched by the masters themselves. It was scattered and had various systems…

Of course, the harvest was obvious. The masters’ lectures mixed with his own comprehension and experience, which was the thing Rong Mingshi was lacking the most. By the time Rong Mingshi finally got out of the master class, he felt like his head was going to explode.

At the same time, he learned that these masters used various methods to study the highest level of energy stone carving and improve the level of high-grade energy stone carving. For example, when he and the principal had just entered the room, the 19 people were trying to mix all of their perception and carve together with a knife. This was extremely dangerous and if not done well, it was easy to cause the explosion of the energy stone.

The little leopard drove the spherical seat and left the area where a suspension car couldn’t be driven. He had moved around a few college buildings when Rong Mingshi inexplicably felt there was something following him and the speed was very fast.

Rong Mingshi was surprised. He was being attacked again? He had just turned back when he saw a guard robot aiming weapons at the robots trying to surround him. The actions were simple and rough and more than a dozen robots were solved. The guard robot gave a military salute to the little leopard and instantly disappeared.

Rong Mingshi was stunned and turned to the side. He didn’t know when but Aojia was standing by his side, staring coldly at the spot where the guard robot had disappeared.

“Aojia, your man?”

The little leopard reached out his paws to Aojia.

“Yes.”

Aojia retracted his gaze and picked up the little leopard from the seat.

Meanwhile, the hidden Eagle Tan secretly wiped his seat. Since he discovered that the disguised beastman was his commanding officer, he resolutely carried out the protection task while hiding himself and not exposing himself to the commanding officer. However, the robots that attacked the little leopard today were upgraded. He was a bit slow and discovered by the boss and little leopard… his heart almost stopped!

After returning to the manor, Rong Mingshi quickly sent the carving to the buyer and added a request.

“Hello buyer, please don’t show this carving on the buyers exchange area. Thank you.”

He sent out the carving and didn’t find Aojia’s figure. However, he faintly smelt the scent of meat. The little leopard jumped off the sofa and followed the scent to the kitchen.

The marshal in the kitchen looked down at him. “Are you hungry? Wait a bit longer.”

The little leopard nodded and used Aojia’s pants to climb up to his shoulders. He sat on Aojia’s shoulder and gazed at what Aojia was doing.

“What is this? It smells delicious.”

Aojia reached out a hand to hold the little leopard’s body and explained, “It is abyss wild beef. The doctor has seen your body’s information and you can’t keep eating nutritious meals. The Abyss Buffalo can properly supplement your perception consumption.”

Having said this, he handed over a piece on a fork. “Taste it.”

It had been a long time since he ate meat. The little leopard gulped with a whimper, ground this teeth together and said, “Delicious.”

Aojia held his thick paws and placed the delicious fried beef on the plate. They returned to the table and Rong Mingshi buried his head to eat. The taste of the nutritious meals couldn’t compare to real meat!

After eating and drinking enough, Aojia held the little leopard and rubbed his stomach. The little leopard was in good spirits from eating the energy rich abyss beef. He held his stomach while studying the beast shape of the baby elephant.

At the same time, the Information Department received the carving sent by Rong Mingshi and once again exploded.

“It’s too beautiful! I’m going to cry!”

“The store owner’s improving skill is visible to the naked eye!”

“My heart is broken the moment I think of more people rushing to grab orders in the future.”

“The owner sent a message and it can’t be displayed in the buyers exchange area. Therefore, no one will know that the store owner’s skills have improved.”

“Well, the store owner picked up 10 high-grade energy stone orders. This will only attract more buyers of the high-grade energy stones!”

The deputy commander, who was already shocked by this carving, became balder when he heard these words…

Of course, there was someone who was balder than the deputy commander and that was Duke Oran. Duke Oran was bust with the institute and didn’t care about the high-grade orders that were suddenly withdrawn. The fee for the breach of contract was high and he didn’t care if one or two withdrew.

However, in just two days, all the high-grade orders of the capital’s carving store were withdrawn and this matter was big. The Oran Carving Business almost monopolized the capital’s carvings. They gathered the vast majority of masters in the capital and held the high-grade orders firmly in their hands. The over a dozen masters of the carving school might divide some of the market, but it was very small and didn’t matter at all.

Now all of the Oran master carvers were idle. Even if they had carved half of the high-grade energy stones, the orders were withdrawn by the customers. Moreover, the one who stole their carving business was a small online store just created on the Star Network!

Duke Oran looked at his men with a sullen expression. “You haven’t found out the specific information of the store owner at all?”

“Yes My Lord, this person seemed to appear out of thin air.”

“Then ruin the business of his online store!”

“My Lord, I’m afraid that will be a bit difficult. The carvings of the owner are very clever and every customer has rated him highly. His credit and reputation are excellent.”

Duke Oran’s eyes narrowed. “There is no business without any stains. Turn it over carefully!”

The man hesitated for a moment before saying, “My Lord, there actually is a little problem with this store…”

Duke Oran looked at him. “Say it.”

“For the order that the store owner just accepted, the buyer’s beast shape is a dragonfly. My Lord, please look!”

Duke Oran looked at the information and wondered, “A Zerg?”

“It’s not certain yet. My Lord, I know there are many mixed-race people in the battle zone between the empire and the Zerg’s territory. The hybrids have a certain Zerg shape but they also have the beastman’s mania. Thus, this buyer might be a mixed-race from the war zone.”

Duke Oran smiled. “This means it can’t be certain. Use whatever means necessary to expand this black spot, so that the owner can forever never appear on the Star Network.”

“Yes, My Lord.”

The subordinate withdrew and Duke Oran gazed at the store owner who stole his customers on the Star Network. The energy activation rate of these carvings was very high. It was thanks to this that the store’s carvings could be auctioned for tens of millions of star coins. This was several times the price of the high-grade energy stone ordering fee for the Oran Carving Business.

This reminded Duke Oran of his ongoing research. If the institute succeeded in integrating the beast nucleus transplant, the masters of his carving business could also carve such energy stones with a high activation rate. In this way, his carvings would be equivalent to mastering the lives of all the beastmen in the empire and the economy of the empire.

However, his experiment was currently in a bottleneck. It was hard to make progress without that cub’s beast nucleus. Duke Oran took a deep breath. No matter what, he had to obtain the beast nucleus of that little beast! Moreover, no matter how deep the store owner was hidden, the store owner was also an excellent research material.

At this time, Rong Mingshi was thoroughly studying the baby elephant from Aojia’s arms. Then he jumped onto the table and told the housekeeper to bring the energy stone he had chosen. The young leopard licked his paws and put on the tools. As Rong Mingshi was busy carving the baby elephant, his online store was blown up by a message.

-Heavy news! According to previous sources, the dragonfly that the store owner just traded successfully with is a Zerg spy! The store owner also accepted the custom order of this Zerg spy while knowing it was a spy! The reason why the Zerg bought a custom order is to figure out the beastman’s mania to try and develop drugs to break the energy stone carving as a way to treat mania. The store owner accepted in order to make money, regardless of whether it is a traitor to the empire. There are pictures with the truth!

All the previous buyers had published an image of the carving. Yet this buyer didn’t provide any images after the order was placed and didn’t even thank the owner in the buyer’s exchange area. Under this message, the image of a huge female Zerg was attached and the appearance was almost identical to the dragonfly.

After this news broke, more messages poured in.

-I was skeptical when the order was made. I wondered how there could be a dragonfly? It was actually a Zerg!

-If the store owner’s carving skills are thoroughly studied by the Zerg, will we still have a way to live?

-The store owner is a traitor! He feels no shame for the sake of money. He isn’t as good as an ordinary apprentice carver on the roadside!

-Don’t say that. Maybe the store owner doesn’t know this is a Zerg.

-Is the upstairs person funny? Can beastmen be bugs?

-In fact, there are mixed people…

-Calling for the buyers who have taken the store owner’s high-grade orders! Quickly return it and don’t send money to a traitor!

This caused the elites of the Information Department to blow up even more.

“Who is making these rumours? This one-sided cursing of the store owner, someone is absolutely deliberately blackening the store owner!”

“The dragonfly is something I grabbed. Isn’t that the captain of Scouting Team Seven?”

“I have already restricted the flow to the store and I will report to the deputy commander!”

At this time, the fox was still worrying about how to communicate with the store owner and had many other official duties. Once the busy deputy commander heard the report from the three elites, he almost threw the image board he held in his hand.

“Say that again!”

“Deputy Commander, someone is calling the captain of our Scouting Team Seven a Zerg spy.”

“The store owner is being scolded as a traitor because of this carving!”

“It is too lacking in morality.’

The deputy commander ground his teeth together and rolled up his sleeves. He was about to order the elites of the Information Department to handle this matter and suppress everything.

Unexpectedly, their commanding officer suddenly sent an order.

The fox looked at the ‘Military Supplier Credentials’ issued by the commanding officer and blinked. He ordered this voucher to be published on the buyer’s exchange area since it would be more effective than the elites suppressing the black comments.

On the buyers exchange area of Craftsman Time’s House, the ‘Military Supplier Credentials’ issued by Marshal Black Dragon Aojia appeared on top, covering the original 3D advertisement of the peacock.

There was no need to crack the store owner’s backstage area to do this. The elites of the Information Department could do it with a small program. For a time, all the beasts in the store were frozen. There was no need for an explanation. This certificate was enough to prove everything.

-Among the first-line fighters resisting the Zerg, there are actually many mixed-race people and they have a Zerg form.

-Then the store owner clearly carved this energy stone for a soldier! Yet some people vilified the store owner as doing things for the Zerg!

-I am distressed for the store owner. It is because this is a hindrance to the interests of some people. These people are really despicable!

Hello for all readers of NOLMBW,

I am currently obsessed with paint by numbers kits at the moment. If you don’t know what that is, it is basically a painting where you just have to colour in the numbers according to the number written and you basically have a completed painting. It is great for those like me who can’t paint.

I saw this image of snow leopards and couldn’t resist. I’ve only just started it and I’ve having great fun doing it.

Thus, I have decided to do a giveaway for those who have decided to support by donating to my patreon. Apart from getting access to NOLMBW chapters a bit earlier than publicly released, all patron supporters who reply to the post about the giveaway that I made on Patreon will go in the drawing to win the painting. Once I have completed the painting of the snow leopards, I will randomly pick one Patreon user who has replied to the Patreon post and will send it to them for free. In addition, all ko-fi users who have previously bought me a coffee can join the draw list as long as you send an email with proof that you’ve bought me one.

For normal readers who can’t afford to donate, I’m sorry. Depending on how this giveaway turns out, I might do more in the future and they’ll probably be open to all readers.

Please note, if you reply to the Patreon post, it means you must be willing to give me private details such as your name and address if you get selected.