Astral Pet Store (WN)

Soon, a name popped out.

Chaos Celestial Star:

Being an ancient fixed star born at the beginning of Chaos, the Celestial Star is extremely vast, with many ancient fire elves as the main dwellers. Among them, the Golden Crows are the leaders of the Celestial Star and they have ruled it for almost an age…

Admission fee: 9000/day.

…

Nine thousand energy points for a single day!

It was as expensive as the Archean Divinity. Indeed, the Celestial Star was a top-level cultivation site.

“Can I go there, considering my strength?” Su Ping asked the system.

He was afraid that the environment would be so harsh that he would die the instant he went in; that would be a complete waste of energy points.

“You’re quite resistant to fire and can live there for about 15 minutes,” the system replied.

Su Ping raised his eyebrows. He knew he was quite resilient when it came to fire. After all, he had explored many cultivation sites and trained himself, not only the battle pets. He wouldn’t feel pain if he were to be burnt by regular fire.

He had the notion that he was practically immune to fire, but the system had just told him that he only had some resistance to fire.

“I can only survive for 15 minutes… So, how resistant to fire do I have to be to really survive there?” Su Ping asked the system.

The system replied, “You will have to be more resistant to fire to adapt to the planet’s local environment. But all the creatures found there are truly powerful. You won’t live for long even if the environment doesn’t kill you.”

“How long do I need to do that?” Su Ping asked.

“You won’t become immune to fire in ten thousand years, if you only live your days in comfort,” the system sounded indifferent as it spoke, “But I suppose you’ll be basically immune to fire after you spend several days on the Celestial Star.”

“What do you mean by ‘you suppose’? You’re a smart system, right? Can’t you give me an accurate number?” Su Ping complained.

“I’m a smart system. So what? Who told you that a smart system knows everything? Why would I give you an accurate number anyway? Do you want a number? Give me a hundred thousand energy points and you’ll know exactly how resistant you are to fire,” the system argued.

“…”

Su Ping realized that the system had become more short-tempered as of late.

Well, the system had actually been like that from the very beginning.

“Do you want to give me the energy points?” the system challenged Su Ping.

He didn’t say anything.

“Say that again?”

…

Su Ping decided to ignore the system. He looked at the balance of energy points; there was more than enough energy points to support his exploration of the Celestial Star.

“I will go.” Su Ping made up his mind.

He had no other choice.

He would rather spend all the energy points than do nothing.

He had to increase his combat strength as soon as possible, so that he could get the Little Skeleton back. He knew that the pet was quite powerful. Even so, things could go wrong since the Little Skeleton had to stay in the Deep Caves for such a long time.

Luckily, he could sense that the Little Skeleton was still alive.

“Are you sure?” The system stopped joking around. “If you do so, you will most likely spend all the energy points you have.”

“I can always make more. Money is the most worthless thing.” Su Ping was determined.

The system didn’t add anything more. After a few seconds, the system finally said, “As you wish, then.”

A swirl opened up, leading Su Ping to the Celestial Star.

Su Ping looked at Joanna. She wasn’t an outstanding employee yet; he couldn’t take her to other cultivation sites because she wouldn’t have the advantage of being brought back to life.

“I have to go away for some time. Take care of the store while I’m away,” Su Ping said to Joanna.

“You’re not going to my world?” asked Joanna.

“No. Somewhere different.”

“…”

Joanna watched as Su Ping stepped into the swirl. She had become used to seeing him disappear like that. She was still worried because something seemed to be bothering him.

The swirl vanished and Joanna came back to her senses. She went to the pet room, found an empty nursing pen and went in to cultivate.

Su Ping was developing fast; she was also inspired to grow by seeing his progress.

…

…

Time flew.

Su Ping felt he had stopped moving. He felt he was surrounded by a scorching heat before he even opened his eyes; it was as if he would have been thrown into boiling water.

“The host has been connected to the Celestial Star…

“900 energy points are required per each revival!

“Be mindful, host. Die well,” the system reminded Su Ping. It sounded mechanical this time; that was not the way the system would usually talk to him.

Su Ping opened his eyes. A world of red leaped into his eyes, as if formed by volcanic magma. The cracked earth was also red; magma seemed to be flowing at the bottom of the cracks. Some places with thick soil were charred black, and some strange plants were found here and there.

There was a red tree with golden light on the leaves and a few golden fruits hung from its branches.

Su Ping also saw several clusters of bright red weeds on the burning ground further away.

So, this is the Celestial Star. It is burning me to death!

Su Ping looked around. His blood pressure was rising and he was sweating. He realized he could soon be scorched to death!

Su Ping remembered that the system had told him he would be able to last for fifteen minutes in such an environment.

It was clearly his maximum survival time. A human being could stay in boiling water for some time but the time itself would be extremely painful!

He was being boiled, grilled!

“Ice!”

Su Ping lifted his hand. He tried to build an ice wall to isolate the heat but nothing happened. It seemed as if water molecules didn’t even exist there.

Su Ping had used that skill successfully in the past. He had mastered the usage of some elements after repeated explorations in cultivation sites, although he wasn’t as proficient as the Dark Dragon Hound which could use legendary rank skills. He could, however, easily use some low-rank skills.

“I wonder if the dog and the dragon can survive here,” Su Ping said to himself. That could be a “perfect” training place for them. He would feel “sorry” for them if he forgot to let them out to “cool off.”

Whoosh!

Whoosh!

Two swirls opened up in the air. The Inferno Dragon roared as it stepped out. However, it retracted its feet as quickly as it could the moment it touched the ground with its feet. The roar turned into a meow; the Inferno Dragon was frightened and altered. What the hell is this place?

The Dark Dragon Hound retracted its paws as well. The Dark Dragon Hound stood in the swirl, eyeing Su Ping with fear.

The longest distance in the world was when you were in the swirls and I was outside.

“Get out of there!” Su Ping said grumpily.

The Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound had to behave. But the Inferno Dragon was wiggling and grimacing in pain as if it were stepping on needles. Its behavior was completely unlike that of a true dragon.

The Dark Dragon Hound was doing something even weirder. It put its left forefoot and right rear foot down first and then switched to the other two, back and forth, simply hopping around without stopping.

“Use your ice skills to lower the temperature,” Su Ping said to the Dark Dragon Hound.

Using ice skills would not help the Dark Dragon Hound become more resistant to fire, but Su Ping had not made the trip just for cultivation. His priority was to find the materials for the second level of the Solar Bulwark so that he could go back and save the Little Skeleton.

The Dark Dragon Hound raised an ice shield without hesitation. However, the usually dozens of meters tall Goddess of Ice was merely three meters tall or so. The goddess image didn’t look like a pretty lady at all. It was in fact quite a sorry sight.

The goddess melted just a few seconds after it had appeared. The steam floated toward the Dark Dragon Hound and the heat made the dog bark.

“I’m surprised that you were able to use it at all. I think we’ll have to rely on ourselves,” Su Ping said. Using the skill was not going to help them in the slightest. He didn’t try anything else. As of that moment, no skill of the sort would be of any help.

He saw the red tree in the distance. A tree able to grow in that harsh environment had to be uncommon.

Whoosh!

Su Ping rode on the Dark Dragon Hound and told it to run toward the tree.

The Dark Dragon Hound had no other choice, but it chose to run in a strange way, hopping and skipping like before.

Su Ping raised his hand to pick that golden fruit.

The fruit was like a burning stone and he almost dropped it.

I wonder if the fruit contains any water. Su Ping looked at the golden fruit. He didn’t know what that thing was but he wanted to try and eat it.

He could be revived after all.

Crack!

He took a bite. He felt he had just eaten fire.

A stream of scorching liquid from the fruit passed through Su Ping’s throat. He felt he had just drunk lava; his mouth was about to melt.

He saw some golden liquid oozing out from the fruit.

It was not water.

Su Ping finished the bite while resisting the pain.

The hot pulp reached his stomach. He felt he was burning, inside out.

Su Ping didn’t have the courage to have another bite. He threw the fruit to the Dark Dragon Hound because its revivals were free and his revival would cost 900 energy points. It might not seem much but who could know how many times he was going to die there. He wanted to save whenever he could.

Howl~!

The Dark Dragon Hound cried in misery; it rolled on the ground to endure the pain.

Su Ping felt sad to look at the dog, so he chose not to look at the dog.

“What?”

Su Ping felt how the burning sensation was receding the moment he had jumped off from the Dark Dragon Hound; a refreshing energy was spreading across his body at the same time. He even realized that the temperature was dropping and the pain was being lifted.

Soon after, the Dark Dragon Hound stopped rolling around and got up. The dog looked at Su Ping with surprise. It was clear that the fruit’s effect had aroused its interest as well.

“I see that this is a good thing.” Su Ping picked the remaining four fruits. He summoned the Purple Python and the Void Bug as well.

Hiss!

That cyan-colored Void Bug skipped around and screamed in pain, soon dying on the spot.

Su Ping was not surprised. He didn’t spend much time training the cyan bug and would merely carry the bug to soak in Joanna’s spring. The pet was merely at the seventh rank, but the amount of Divine Energy it carried in its body was superior to that of ordinary Void Bugs.

The Purple Python approached Su Ping; the scales on its belly were burnt to a crisp. The poor beast wiggled on the ground.

Su Ping flew over and stuffed a golden fruit in the Purple Python’s maw.

The Purple Python was in even more pain and soon enough, its scales curled up and peeled off, dying moments after.

Su Ping brought it back to life and fed it another fruit.

This time, the Purple Python was feeling better, but the pain was still there.

Su Ping gave the last fruit to the Inferno Dragon.

The Inferno Dragon was doing better than the other battle pets to begin with, but Su Ping wanted to treat them fairly. Also, there might be some other mysterious effects of the golden fruit that he had yet to realize.

The Inferno Dragon was unable to stand up straight, but the golden fruit helped it fend off the heat a little bit.

Su Ping looked at the tree. Without any hesitation, he dug out the root of the tree and took out his scroll. He wanted to take the tree away with him.

However, the edge of the scroll darkened. Startled, he quickly put away the scroll.

Damn. I can’t believe this artifact can’t even handle the heat.

Su Ping was dumbstruck. The scroll was an interspatial artifact but the heat was enough to damage it. He believed the scroll would be entirely destroyed if he left the scroll outside for a few minutes.

He could tell how harsh the environment was.

Even the Inferno Dragon felt the environment was overwhelming.

This isn’t a common tree. I don’t want to give it up. Su Ping thought about it. Eventually, he called over the Inferno Dragon and told it to carry the tree on its back for the time being.

The Inferno Dragon moved closer and took on the carrier task.

Su Ping then went to dig out some blades of red grass nearby and threw them to the Inferno Dragon’s back as well.

He finished the harvest and looked around. Nothing else was in sight; he would have to continue his search.

“Let’s go,” Su Ping said. He placed the Void Bug back in the contract space, as it could barely last a second; staying out there would be useless for its level. He decided that the Void Bug would have to stay in the contract space to rest.