Chapter 100: Beast pocket.

The morning of the next day at Beast Valley was a noisy, bustling but organized mess. Outside her window, Zyra could hear the loud growling of beasts, men shouting orders, and the clicking of weapons. The teams were preparing to head out. But inside her room, it was quiet. Zyra sat on the edge of her bed, carefully drawing a messy map of their destination on a piece of crumpled paper.

[Host that looks nothing like the map on the screen,] Beauty commented in a dissatisfied tone.

Zyra raised it to her eye level and clicked her tongue, "It looks good to me, what matters is the landmarks are clear." She had taken out the necessary details and mapped out a straight path that would guarantee a short trip and quick return.

She placed it on the bed right beside a checklist of items she thought they’d need. She checked off one item after another, marking them off.

"I think this is it," she muttered, checking off the last item with a satisfied nod.

She picked up her bag, slung it over her shoulder, and stood up. Her knife went into her pocket, and she pulled out her mismatched gloves.

Suddenly, a crisp, cheerful chime echoed in her mind.

[Host, how do you plan on carrying the beasts on this trip? Do you plan to reveal to everyone that you possess a Beast Dominion?]

Zyra froze. Her expression hardened. The Beast Dominion was a private, mystical world where she could house countless beasts. If the wrong person found out she had such a spatial treasure that could hold living things, she would become the target of every powerful person in the world. She had enough people coming after her and she didn’t need that list to be expanded.

"No," Zyra said firmly in her mind. "I don’t plan on revealing that space. Not ever."

[In that case, your lovely system has the perfect solution!] Beauty chirped.

She felt her heart go into overdrive. The system was always plotting when it voluntarily offered things to solve her problems. With a soft flash of light, a small, unremarkable backpack materialized and dropped onto the bed.

Zyra walked over, picking it up by one of its straps. She blinked, looking from the tiny bag back to the empty air. "Beauty, are you pulling my leg? All my beasts cannot fit in here. It’s the size of a loaf of bread."

[Hmph, do not insult system technology!] Beauty sniffed, sounding deeply offended. [This is a Beast Pocket. It uses advanced space-folding laws. The inside is massive. For now, this one can fit up to twenty beasts. You have to keep buying new ones as you accumulate more beasts.]

Curious, Zyra unzipped the bag and peered inside. To her eyes, it just looked like a dark, endless void. To prove its words, Beauty initiated a transfer. In the next second, the beasts were transferred from the pavilion to her room by teleportation. One by one, her beasts flew toward the bed and plunged straight into the tiny backpack, vanishing without a trace. The bag didn’t even bloat, it remained perfectly light and compact.

Zyra’s eyes went wide. "Wow... you never cease to amaze me, Beauty."

Beauty appeared on the screen, proudly placing a glittering crown on her own head. [Of course! However,... it is not free. This is a premium product, host.]

Zyra’s smile instantly vanished. Her jaw dropped. "Wait, what? I thought the Beast Pocket was free, just like the Beast Link Bands you gave me before!"

[Dream on, host. This is an off the books kind of mission. This costs 800,000 low grade energy stones each. In resonance points, we are talking 800 points.]

"Eight hundred points?!" Zyra shrieked internally. Her mouth fell open. "That is the equivalent of thirty high-grade energy stones! That is quite expensive. Let’s bargain"

Right at that moment, the door pushed open and Hunter walked in. He took one look at Zyra’s frozen, outraged face and her staring into blank space, and he immediately caught on. She was arguing with her Beauty again.

Hunter jutted his chin forward, raising an eyebrow as if to ask, "What’s up?"

Zyra sighed heavily and held up the small backpack. "Beauty just sold me this. It’s a Beast Pocket. It can hold beasts securely as we travel."

Hunter’s eyes gleamed with interest. As a seasoned hunter, he instantly recognized its value. There were places Tyrant couldn’t go, and he always worried when he left the tiger behind. If this was real, it was life saver. "That is a very useful item. How much?"

"Thirty high-grade stones," Zyra groaned, clutching her chest as if she were bleeding money.

Instead of being shocked, Hunter actually nodded in approval. "That’s a fair price for such treasure. In fact,..." He looked at her seriously. "We should get three more. There are four of us on the team, and everyone will need to carry beasts eventually. As long as they can survive inside that small bag, then it is worth it."

Zyra stared at him like he had lost his mind. "Three more? That’s more than 80 high-grade stones! Hunter, where on earth are you getting the stones to spend like a wealthy young master?"

Hunter didn’t blink. He gave a smooth, practiced cough. "Achilles paid me back-wages. All the money I accumulated from the underground pit fights before he left. I forgot I had it."

He was totally lying, but he kept a perfectly straight face. He reached into his leather travel pouch, rummaged around, and pulled out a handful of stones. He counted out exactly 150 high grade energy stones of different colors and dropped them into Zyra’s palm.

The moment they touched her fingers; the stones vanished into thin air.

[Ding! Payment received.]

Three more identical black backpacks popped into existence on the bed.

Hunter grabbed them quickly, slinging two over his shoulder. He gave her a sharp nod, signaling that it was time to go.

Zyra hurriedly snatched her own bag and followed him out the door, her mind spinning with numbers. As they walked down the hallway toward the elevator, she leaned in close, whispering eagerly, "Hey, Hunter... exactly how much did Achilles pay you? What’s your total net worth right now?"

Hunter glanced down at her, a faint, amused smile tugging at his lips. "Why do you ask? Are you already thinking about your alimony?"

"Think about it!" Zyra’s eyes turned into literal currency symbols. "If we take your money, buy premium items from Beauty, and then resell them to the rich people in the outside cities at a high price, we’ll be filthy rich!" She looked up at him, nodding strongly. "Are you thinking what I’m thinking? Let’s become business partners. You provide the capital, I provide the Beauty given goods."