Immortality: Raising an Ant Queen to Cultivate by increasing stat points

521  Chapter 513 Picking Up a Bargain

Beast pet appraisal is similar to insect pet appraisal; they both have professional appraisers.

Qin Niu is fairly skilled at appraising insects, but when it comes to appraising beast species, he is basically a layman.

"I think these are quite good too, just buy a regular one for me,"

Xiao Qing took out two taels of silver and handed them over.

As Qin Niu's maidservant, she received a monthly salary and occasionally received extra rewards. Her little treasury should have saved over a hundred taels of silver.

For the average person, this was already a considerable fortune.

"Xiao Qing, don't rush to buy. Let's look around some more,"

Qin Niu walked up to the rock mice that were kept separately, observing each one carefully.

Especially for the Rock-Biting Rat that was priced at eight thousand taels of silver, he looked at it with extra care.

After looking over all the Rock-Biting Rats, Qin Niu said to the shop assistant, "We'll go back and think it over before coming back."

"Certainly, our esteemed guests can come back to make a purchase whenever needed. All the beast pets in our shop are fairly priced and quality assured,"

The shop assistant could only agree.

It was evident, however, that the absence of a sale from the trio left him somewhat disappointed.

Of course, Qin Niu did not care about the shop assistant's feelings.

The most expensive Rock-Biting Rat was priced at thirty-nine thousand taels and was known as the treasure of the shop. Its appraisal certificate stated that the Rock-Biting Rat had a strong Gold-Biting Rat bloodline. With proper nurturing, there was a high chance it would grow into a powerful Gold-Biting Rat in the future.

Although Qin Niu didn't know how to appraise Gold Metal species, he had a genuine Gold Devouring Ant.

This was the only ant capable of surpassing the War Demon Ant in terms of bloodline rank.

When he was observing those rock mice, Qin Niu specifically had it investigate those potential Gold-Biting Rats. Because they all had the Gold-Biting attribute, it could sense the quality of each Gold-Biting Rat. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

It would be more suitable to describe it as potential.

The more expensive the rock mice were, and the purer their bloodlines, the stronger the Gold Devouring Ant's reaction was.

Since Qin Niu discovered that he could use the Gold Devouring Ant to pick out excellent rock mice, he naturally wouldn't waste his money on an unreasonable purchase.

Walking out of the beast pet store with Xiao Qing and his wife, Wang Wanyan asked with some confusion, "My Lord, why didn't you let Xiao Qing buy an ordinary rock mouse in this shop?"

"Don't worry, we will definitely buy a rock mouse. But the rock mice in the store that have been appraised are either exorbitantly priced if high-quality, or not worth much if cheap. Since Xiao Qing wants to raise a pet, we should naturally help her buy a good one.

I prefer to spend the least amount of money to get the best merchandise."

"Just now I tried my hand at appraising those special rock mice and managed to learn a thing or two.

We'll look around at the street stalls and try to find a bargain,"

Qin Niu did not hide anything and shared his thoughts.

"Master, that's a great idea! If we really manage to buy a rock mouse worth thousands of taels of silver for very little money, that would be a huge win,"

Xiao Qing clapped her hands in excitement and agreed.

"My Lord is incredibly clever. Just by looking, you learned how to assess rock mice. It's truly admirable. Later, you should also help me pick out a fox with great potential, but for cheap, from the street stalls,"

Wang Wanyan never doubted Qin Niu's abilities.

After all, she had witnessed his skills with her own eyes.

"Ha, look at how thrifty you are! I managed to learn how to appraise rock mice by coincidence. I don't know how to appraise foxes, but if we observe carefully, I think there's still a possibility of finding a bargain."

All women are the same at heart; they love a good deal.

Wang Wanyan was naturally frugal and wanted to buy a fox to raise, but many foxes of good quality were expensive. She was reluctant to spend that much money.

Seeing that Qin Niu could appraise beast pets, she immediately thought of having him help her find a bargain.

The three continued browsing the market, and now with a clear goal, Qin Niu focused on the stalls selling cheap rock rats.

There were many stalls selling all kinds of rat beast pets.

This whole street was lined with them.

Rats have an extremely wide distribution, exceptional adaptability, and equally strong reproductive capabilities. Citizens of the Myriad Beast Gang have been dealing with all kinds of wild animals since childhood, so catching rats is like a routine meal for them.

Many people would catch rats and bring them to the market to sell, as a way to supplement their income.

Qin Niu wasn't interested in other rats, only in those that could eat metal.

Their gnawing ability was incredibly strong; almost nothing could withstand their bite.

Having such a rat as a pet, Xiao Qing would surely be able to shine in future battles against enemies.

As the three moved from stall to stall in search of outstanding rock rats, Qin Niu noticed that there were quite a few buyers with the same idea, also selectively hunting for superior rats.

These people had certain skill in appraising, some even owned beast pet shops, and specifically came to the stalls to spot any undervalued gems, which they then sold at high prices back at their shops.

They paid more attention to the breed and quality of the rock rats when choosing.

It was precisely because of so many professionals looking for bargains that Qin Niu couldn't find a single rock rat with Gold-Biting Rat bloodline after checking over thirty stalls.

It seemed that finding such a bargain wasn't going to be so easy after all.

Don't assume that the beast pet shop we saw earlier, which had over twenty Gold-Biting Rats, randomly set their prices. Those were collected from various channels by the shop's owner.

Out here at the stalls, even among ten thousand rock rats, it would be hard to find one special rock rat with Gold-Biting Rat bloodline.

The store sold them for eight thousand taels, or even tens of thousands of taels each, and the pricing wasn't arbitrary; it mainly stemmed from the rarity of the Gold-Biting Rats.

"Master, there are the rock rats you're looking for up ahead!"

The Gold Devouring Ant conveyed to Qin Niu in ant language.

Encouraged by this, Qin Niu followed the Gold Devouring Ant's direction to a stall up ahead.

There, two large iron cages were placed, each holding a mix of over a thousand rock rats.

The stall owners were a middle-aged couple, the husband strong and muscular, tall and robust, with a face that looked rather ugly and fierce. His wife was not tall—just over five feet—and only came up to her husband's chest.

But she was broad and plump, with features far from what one would call delicate.

Standing together, they did seem quite matched as a couple, sharing a certain spousal resemblance.

"Boss, how much for these rock rats?"

Qin Niu didn't rush to buy, but instead casually inquired about the price.

That's how shopping goes—if you seem too anxious, you're easy to overcharge. This is particularly true when buying such unique rock rats.

Each of these stall owners was as clever as a fox, ready to jack up the price if they sensed any clue, leading to a lot of unnecessary complications.

As Qin Niu was here to find a bargain, naturally, he wouldn't give the vendors any chance to take advantage of him.

The boss looked up at him, his mouth opened as if to speak, but no sound came out. He gestured with his hands, first holding up one finger, and then five.

It turned out he was mute.

"One tael of silver for ten, pick as you like," the wife helped explain.

The price was incredibly cheap, much lower than the pet store's.

Rock rats weren't easy to catch; they lived on cliffs and were adept at burrowing into rocks to make their nests.

The more formidable the rock rat, the harder the rock face it chose for nesting.

Some rock rats even chose granite or gneiss, extremely tough rocks, for nesting.