Wake up in the morning. Go to the zoo at 10 o'clock. Work for another 10 hours. Go back to the hotel room. Sleep.
That was Ning's schedule for the last 5 days. Ever since landing the job, that was what he had been doing all the week.
The part-time job was changed to a full-time one when the zookeepers realized how good Ning was with the beasts.
He was even given a higher-paying salary. A total of 120 Sils in a week. Quite low for someone like Ning, but again, he wasn't here for the money.
Ning was happy taking care of the Aether beasts, he had come to surprisingly realize that there weren't many other beasts out there. Especially in the wild.
Up until then, he had only learned about very few domestic beasts that were used for everything from food to clothing to other necessary products. These beasts weren't something Ning had learned about before like Cow, or Goats.
They were something completely different, and of course, the Zoo wouldn't keep something so common there.
The Xanders Imperial Zoo was established over 120 years ago when the previous emperor still ruled. The beasts that were brought there were children of the beasts they killed in that war. They were the spoils of war.
Some of those beasts had children, other beasts were added later on. That was how the imperial zoo was able to keep itself afloat during all these times.
After the war with the Aether beasts was over, the beasts were hard to see in the forest in the east. That was the reason so many people came there every day to see the Aether beasts.
This was the only way for most people.
Ning walked into a room that held a snake-like Aether beast in it. This beast was one of the only beasts in the entire zoo that never responded to Ning, no matter what he had said.
It would just calmly come to him and eat what was given. Ning walked inside with chopped-up pieces of meat in hand and put them on grass inside.
He waited for the beast to come and eat. He waited for a while. However, no beast came to eat it.
The snake-like beast lived on top of the branches in the tree that was planted inside. The ceiling was a metal cage that let enough sunlight into the room.
Ning could see the beast sleeping on top of the branch and called to it. "Come on down, the food is here."
However, the beast didn't respond at all. Ning called out a few more times before he realized something was wrong.
He walked up to the tree and knocked on it. Seeing no response, he used his magnification skill to look closely at the beast on top.
Something was different about the beast today. It took a while, but Ning realized what it was.
'It's not glowing,' he thought. The lightning-like scars which would usually pulse with a purple glow were nowhere to be seen today.
"Doesn't that mean…?"
Ning looked towards the glass window at the many people that were waiting for the beast to come down and eat its food.
Ning sighed. He had to call the person in charge.
The old man from before came upon his request and ordered someone to check up on the beast.
As Ning expected, It was dead.
"Sigh, it's not your fault. This was just an old beast," the old man said to Ning, just in case he would place the blame on himself.
Ning nodded.
"Can you go get some people to come to carry this beast for me please?" the old man asked.
"Okay," Ning said and left. He could carry the beast all by himself, even just by using Aether as well. However, he didn't want to show something so shocking in front of so many people.
He called a few people and they arrived to take the beast. Ning lent them a hand. He wasn't sure what was to be done with a dead Aether beast. He hadn't seen one die before this. So, he was quite curious.
The old man made the people carry the beast to a separate room that was not allowed for normal visitors to come to.
He then went out for a few minutes. After he returned, there was a man with an apron that walked in.
"Let's begin," the old man said.
The man with the apron brought out a giant weapon and without any notice started chopping the snake-like beast.
Ning was a little shocked. This was not what he had been expecting. The butcher kept on chopping with no hesitation around the neck of the beast, looking for something.
Ning walked up to the old man and asked, "Sir, what is going on? Are we selling Aether beast meat on the side or what?"
"What?" the old man looked surprised. Then, he immediately burst out laughing as he had never before.
"Hahaha, no," the old man said. "This is just a rule placed on the zoo by Emperor Kron."
"A… rule?" Ning asked.
"Yes. The emperor really didn't like beasts I guess. Whenever one in the zoo died, it was to be butchered and its gem sent to the palace," the old man said.
"Gem?"
Just as Ning asked that the butcher reached into the freshly cut meat and pulled out a spherical, black and purple, glowing rock the side of a human eye. It was rugged and nonuniform in shape, but as the man called it, it was definitely a gem.
"A monster core?" Ning softly spoke to himself. He didn't realize that Aether beasts even had cores, or as these people called it, Gem.
'I really don't know much about them, do I?' Ning thought. He planned on learning them sometime in the future.
Just then, the door behind them opened and a figure walked in, fully dressed in perfectly ironed suit and pants.
Ning recognized the man and was surprised. The old man saw and recognized him too.
"Mister Ning, I didn't expect to see you here."
Ning replied, "I didn't expect to see you here either, Mister Tim."
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