Astral Pet Store (WN)

For strength, quantitative change leads to qualitative change. But learning a new skill needs an enabling chance; one can try for an entire life without ever learning a single skill…

Su Ping calmed himself down.

The more anxious he was, the worse it would be for him.

He needed to stay calm in order to think straight.

First, he went through the skills he had mastered.

He had learned the elementary rules of thunder and flames; as for the other elements, he didn’t even reach the elementary level yet.

Those were more like skills for trainers but he could use them in battles as well.

He had learned the Sin Cutter from Dust and he had gotten the Fist of Exorcist from the system!

He had other combat skills such as the Sword of Blood and Demon Possession which he had taught to Tang Ruyan.

He had skills to assist his battle pets, like the augmentation skills and killing intent that could inspire the battle pets.

He had another special thing, the Force Field.

…

Su Ping heard Diqiong’s voice in his mind while going through the list, “We’re here. You’ll stay here for half a day. No one will come to disturb you.”

Su Ping opened his eyes. He saw the surface of a leaf, of which he could not see all the edges. By the closest end of the leaf was a luxurious nest made by golden threads. Some Golden Crows lingered about like guards.

Diqiong flew toward the nest; the nest’s scorching heat made Su Ping feel he was going to be burnt.

The golden cube isolated much of the heat and that was why he was able to get there.

“Your highness.”

A Golden Crow flew over. “You’re back.”

“Yes. This is my guest. It will rest for a bit here,” Diqiong said.

The Golden Crow darted a look of surprise at Su Ping. Diqiong’s guests couldn’t have been any of the common creatures and yet the Golden Crow failed to find anything special about Su Ping.

But the Golden Crow didn’t ask anything. It bowed and excused itself.

Diqiong threw Su Ping into the nest and said to him, “Stay and do not wander around. No one will disturb you here but I cannot guarantee your safety if you get out. Those who don’t know you will eat you up like a bug.”

Su Ping was not in the mood to argue with Diqiong. This nest was vast and he didn’t know what the golden threads were; golden flames were burning on the golden threads. Diqiong went to another corner of the nest and bathed in the flames. Diqiong didn’t feel bothered by the heat. If anything, it was a pleasing sensation.

Su Ping felt he was getting a headache.

The heat was insufferable. He felt he had been placed on a grill.

“Inferno Dragon!”

Su Ping summoned the Inferno Dragon and sat on one of its shoulders so that the pet could help him fend off some heat.

He could hardly concentrate while he endured that excruciating pain.

The Inferno Dragon’s feet were aflame as soon as it placed its feet in the nest. Upon hearing Su Ping’s order, Inferno Dragon unleashed dark flames to fight back the golden flames.

Diqiong noticed this in the distance. It seemed to be scornful.

“I think your battle pet looks quite nutritious,” Diqiong commented.

Su Ping: “…”

Su Ping was not in the mood to converse with the bird. He had to focus on himself. He didn’t have time to waste.

The Inferno Dragon was helping to resist the heat but the temperature in the nest was still high. Su Ping felt he was in a sauna room where the temperature was reaching the limit. His eyebrows were knitted together. He was sweating through his shirt; he realized that concentrating was a difficult thing for him.

But he could not afford to complain.

Su Ping had to toughen his willpower so that he could calm down for real.

“What?”

Diqiong noticed that Su Ping was gradually relaxing and in the meantime, there seemed to be a faint figure behind him, something like a spinning Force Field.

“That guy…”

Diqiong no longer belittled Su Ping.

Diqiong was able to tell that this creature which called itself a human being was not used to the high temperature, and yet he was able to focus his mind despite all distractions. It was rare and intimidating for one to have those nerves of steel.

Diqiong simply watched quietly.

…

I’m using the Chaos Star Chart methodology; if I progress far enough, I’ll be able to reach the legendary rank. But I am not even close…

Su Ping focused on his body. He could see the vast world inside him. Each cell was glistening like a star and the light came from the astral powers within those cells.

There was a tiny vortex spinning in each cell.

Once he managed to form a large star vortex would he enter the Star Vortex State; he would be reaching the legendary rank by then. His astral powers would be more profound than the average warriors at the Ocean State.

I only have ten days. I don’t have enough time to make a breakthrough in rank…

Su Ping eventually gave up on that idea. He had too little time and he didn’t think he could improve his rank that fast.

He came back to his senses. He was sitting on a vast and open land with many virtual images of himself surrounding him while viewing with his mind’s eye.

Every image of Su Ping was using a separate skill.

That is, including Sin Cutter, Fist of Exorcist and the others.

Su Ping gazed at the image using the Sin Cutter. The virtual him was moving faster and faster.

Improving the Sin Cutter is too difficult. I have no idea how to do that…

To master the Fist of Exorcist’s third move is also hard!

Su Ping frowned.

To improve each skill would be difficult. Of course, his combat strength would increase if he made progress!

And yet, he was not as confident that he could improve any skill within ten days.

He was getting restless.

Strength augmentation, killing intent, Sin Cutter, Force Field…

Those skills flashed past in Su Ping’s mind. His thoughts were increasing and becoming chaotic; his eyes were moving fast and his mind was working at a fast speed.

All the skills revealed their entire working mechanisms before Su Ping’s view.

The magnificent figure in the Force Field was also giving Su Ping some inspiration. He felt there was something invisible which he couldn’t fully grasp.

Maybe I can’t make my swordplay progress further by following the same methods I used when I learned the Sin Cutter, but I can use my own method to make it progress by half a step!

Why can’t swords be as aggressive as fists?

There’s not enough power in my swordplay…

If I can combine some spatial techniques in my swordplay, wielding one sword will be like wielding ten thousand of them. That would be fast and violent enough!

…

Time flew. Three days passed.

Wait a minute. The sword merging into the void can have some surprising effects, but the strength is not enough yet…

I have to make my swordplay become more destructive at the trial…

…

On the sixth day.

One cut will be enough!

No, the sword is as overbearing as a punch but it’s not sharp enough…

I need something else…

…

On the ninth day.

Sword of the Undead… Sword of Silence…

What is the point of using a sword if the sword cannot bring death?

Little Skeleton…

…

On the tenth day.

“Wake up!” Diqiong shouted; Su Ping slowly opened his eyes. The moment his eyelids opened, two rays of dark light glistened in his eyes and then immediately vanished.

Diqiong felt its heart had skipped a beat, as if something had just cut it.

Merely half a day passed, and this human seems to be different.

He was like a sharp unsheathed sword.

Su Ping gradually came back to his senses. He lowered his head; there was nothing in his hand and yet he felt he was holding a sword.

He had been studying swordplay in his mind in the past ten days.

He had some difficulties in making a decision at first, but then he eventually followed his heart and began to seek breakthroughs in sword moves.

He no longer had other distractions after having made his choice.

He integrated everything else he had learned in his swordplay. Some of the testing had little effect and some tests didn’t get him what he wanted.

But ten days had already passed; Su Ping felt he needed more time.

He had never been so concentrated on anything else before.

“Buddy, I will get you back…” Su Ping murmured, as he thought of the Little Skeleton.

Since he missed his pet skeleton during that period, that void had inspired him somehow.

He integrated his inspirations into the swordplay.

He was no longer using the Sin Cutter; he had improved it.

Whoosh!

The dark Force Field appeared and then vanished.

Su Ping looked at the faint figure and offered a thank-you in his heart.

That magnificent figure had also enlightened him.

He stood up and asked Diqiong, “Is it time?”

Diqiong was still eyeing Su Ping strangely. “Yes. Come with me.”

“Good.”

Su Ping nodded.

He looked at the Inferno Dragon. To his surprise, he noticed some golden grains on the Inferno Dragons’ scales, especially on its legs; it seemed to be more powerful than before.

Su Ping had forgotten that the Inferno Dragon had been trying to protect him against the heat during those ten days.

The Inferno Dragon survived the ten days.

I don’t think I have… died once, either.

Su Ping looked at himself. He noticed that the scorching heat had become mild to him. He felt he was standing in a desert, no longer on a grill. He was able to deal with the heat himself.

Have I become more resistant to fire? Su Ping asked the system at once.

He remembered that the system had mentioned that he was quite resistant to fire, that he could survive for 15 minutes there. It had also said that I could live on the Celestial Star if I could be more resistant to fire.

He had been sitting here for ten days. He did survive.

The heat would no longer kill him!

“Yes,” the system answered, “You ate half of that Yang Fruit which helped you. Plus, your body was adjusting by itself when you fell into a trance during cultivation. If your mind doesn’t disturb your body, your body can become used to the heat. You’re at the top-grade of fire resistance at the moment!”

“Yang Fruit?”

That was the first time that Su Ping had heard the name of the fruit. He asked, “Does that fruit have any other effect?”

“Of course. Didn’t you notice that your understanding about the rules of fire has improved?” the system asked.

Su Ping did notice it after the system pointed it out. He had solely been focusing on swordplay during the past ten days, attempting to integrate the rules of thunder and the rules of fire into the swordplay and he did notice that he had gotten better in the rules of fire!

He felt that all he needed was a single chance and he would be able to improve to the middle-level in the rules of thunder and rules of fire!

“So, my battle pets are also quite lucky.” Su Ping remembered that the Inferno Dragon and the other battle pets had also eaten the Yang Fruit; they must have learned some skills from the fire family. It was just that they hadn’t realized that, since they had not encountered any battle, which would have eventually forced the new skills out of them.

“The usual Void State skills of the fire family can no longer hurt you. The fire skills of those at the Fate State can hurt you, but the damage will be minimal. Only Star Rank fire skills can inflict substantial harm on you!” The system pointed out calmly.

Su Ping’s eyes glowed.

Fire skills of the Fate State would only hurt him mildly?

That was to say, he could be an invincible opponent to the beasts of the fire family!

“Yes,” the system answered.

“…”

The system is snooping around again!

Su Ping filed his teeth.

He ignored the system and looked at the tree that the Inferno Dragon was still carrying on its back. He had not been able to place the tree inside his spatial scroll but he could at the moment.

He took out the scroll. The images on the scroll were disappearing and the edges were burnt.

Buzzing!

Su Ping waved his finger and a tiny ray of black light came out to expel the heat around him.

“Come here!”

Su Ping pulled the tree into the scroll and stored the scroll as fast as he could.