Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 857: Challenge

"Huh?"

Su Ping was looking around curiously, then sensed something and looked in a certain direction, only to see a familiar face.

He stared at her purple-and-black hair for a moment and searched his memories.

The person who vied for the legacy on Longtai Mountain? Su Ping was surprised to see someone he had met on the Blue Planet.

Yuan Linglu's heart raced when she made eye contact with Su Ping. She felt panicked.

But she soon remembered she was much stronger than before. Su Ping had won the legacy back then, surpassing her in every aspect. However, things had changed!

She had awakened her constitution and was being groomed in the Hugh Mia Academy; she was no longer the same.

The legacy from Longtai Mountain that Su Ping took away from her wasn't even worth mentioning anymore.

It had been left by a mere Star State dragon.

She might have still been interested if the dragon were in the Star Lord State.

"That man has black hair too. Is he from the same planet as yours?" asked the graceful woman next to Yuan Linglu in a low voice.

Yuan Linglu nodded. "He's from my hometown."

"Is that so? The instructor who picked students in your hometown took away all the geniuses. I didn't know that someone had escaped his attention," said the woman with a smile; there was no telling what was on her mind.

Yuan Linglu sneered and said, "He's just a lucky guy!"

The woman looked at her and then realized something. She smiled in silence.

Next to Su Ping, Claesabe, Ibetaluna and the others were also observing the candidates from other academies. Claesabe stared at one group of people and said solemnly, "I heard that a rare genius has emerged in the Sword Deity Academy. He has mastered an ancient extraordinary sword technique. I wonder who he is."

"I've heard that too. He's going to be a tough rival!" another student on the Royal Rank remarked with a grim and wary mood.

Oasis Dragon King glanced across the candidates from the Sword Deity Academy and soon fixed his eyes upon a plain-looking young man who carried a wooden sword.

His eyes glittered, then he frowned.

"Dragon Emperor from the Dragon Tomb Academy is not to be underestimated, either. It's said that he opened the dragon coffin deep inside the academy and received power from ancient dragons; it's a dragon constitution in the demon class."

"A dragon constitution in the demon class? He must be another genius."

"Some say that two geniuses from the Hugh Mia Academy also came. We have a lot of tricky opponents this time!"

"What's there to be afraid of? We have Oasis Dragon King and Sister Apocalypse. It remains to be seen who will win in the end!"

Three Star Lords flew close with an intimidating aura while the candidates of the Amir Royal Academy were discussing; all the students on the field stopped talking.

The great pressure produced by the Star Lords was tremendously awe-inspiring to those who weren't Star State warriors.

Even the talented students became solemn.

The three Star Lords didn't bother to hide their aura; they stood like three suns, leaving the recent candidate arrivals in awe.

The Star Lord in the lead, who wore a cape that covered his face, looked down at everybody like a god and said indifferently, "People from the five academies, keep your students under control and have their identities verified; you can wait at the Monument Field. The first round of tests will be conducted in ten hours; their regions and credit points will be decided based on their score."

The instructors of the five academies remained calm and silent.

The Star Lord turned around and left after that; the other two Star Lords directed the instructors and students to a hill next to the square.

It was more like a statue than a hill, as it was absolutely bare from the foot to the peak. There were glittering circles on the hill and an ancient seat inside each circle.

"Have a seat. You can cultivate there. Make sure that you're prepared," said the instructor to Su Ping and the others.

The other academies' instructors similarly advised their students. Soon, the students of the Dragon Tomb Academy were the first to march to the glittering circles.

The candidates from the Sword Deity Academy followed them. After a swoosh, the plain-looking young man with a wooden sword moved as quickly as a sharp sword, instantly reaching one of the circles; he took a seat while full at ease.

There were only eight circles on the hilltop; only seven remained after he claimed one.

The students of the Dragon Tomb Academy moved first, yet someone had beaten them to it. All of them changed their expressions as they moved faster.

Two men flew out like eagles and reached the hilltop in the blink of an eye; each claimed a circle.

"Hurry up! Go for it!"

"The energy circles on the hilltop receive the divine power of the Monument Mountain. Training in them is the same as training inside the Illusionary God Monument!"

The people of the Amir Royal Academy quickly took action too. Oasis Dragon King snorted and unleashed a golden astral power, which gave him a huge boost to surpass the others like a roaring jet.

Following him was the gentle-looking woman who ranked second on the Royal Rank. Elements of wind, fire, lightning and earth surfaced on her body and propelled her.

"Is it that good?"

Su Ping was surprised after hearing what the woman called "Apocalypse" had said; he didn't expect a seat to be that useful. Having no time to be lazy or casual, he unleashed the astral power in his cells and a huge vortex suddenly appeared behind his back.

Su Ping moved forward at a fast speed, just as if he would have installed thrusters in his body. He surpassed many students and caught up to Oasis Dragon King.

"Huh?"

Oasis Dragon King showed a slight change in his expression. He accelerated again with coldness in his eyes.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Several people arrived at the hilltop at the same time; they flew to claim the remaining circles.

Su Ping successfully got one of them and sat down.

He sensed a stream of profound astral power the moment he sat down; it sprung up and flowed into his body. He didn't even have to try absorbing it!

A battle pet warrior of a lower level could have made multiple breakthroughs if given the chance to stay a full day on the seat.

On the other side—Oasis Dragon King and Apocalypse had also claimed seats. The eight circles were soon taken; some of the people who had arrived late flew to the lower seats, but others chose to stay on the hilltop with grim faces.

"It seems that we don't have a shot."

Claesabe looked at the hilltop. The Amir Royal Academy had claimed three spots, while the other five seemed to be controlled by bad a**es. She hesitated for a moment, but then abandoned the competition and turned to lower circles.

There's indeed a lot of geniuses. Ibetaluna's lips twitched. She noticed that all of those who had claimed the seats on the hilltop were faster than her; they surely were the top representatives of their respective academies, and she was quite frustrated about it.

Any one of them was an admired genius in the outside world, but they were just common in that place!

Right when other students were giving looks to the places on the hill, a tall and handsome young man slowly descended to where Apocalypse was, next to Su Ping. He said with a condescending tone, "Humph, this spot is mine. Move away!"

Apocalypse dropped her gentleness and said coldly, "Get lost!"

The handsome young man remained impassive. "Come and fight me since you're too stubborn to yield. If you lose, crawl away; if you win, I'll give the spot to you."

Geniuses didn't need too many words; Apocalypse spoke with her actions.

She stepped out of her circle and looked at the stranger indifferently.

Colorful elements surfaced on her body. She only had an elemental constitution, but it was a rarely-seen multi-elemental type!

Some of the geniuses were born with a two-element constitution, but she could harness four kinds of elements!

Even though they were just the fundamental elements in the universe, such a quadruple constitution could defeat most demon constitutions.

Apocalypse's multi-elemental constitution shocked many people.

It was true that no one present was easy to deal with; they were all beyond the scope of common sense.

"Well, well!"

The handsome young man, however, wasn't surprised; elements then surfaced on his body. The sacred light and the cold darkness started interweaving on his back… He turned out to also have an elemental constitution, which was the combination of light and darkness!

"He's Holy King, one of the two top geniuses from Hugh Mia!"

"I've heard so much about this guy. Are they going to fight?"

"It's true that no genius will give in in front of another."

The students who had claimed the seats down below were looking up at the hilltop. All of them became excited when they saw the tension rising.

They knew they were too weak to compete with those at the top, but it would also be great if they could watch them fight; that would be like a free tutorial.

Somewhere at the middle of the mountain, Yuan Linglu and the graceful woman were sitting next to each other; the woman saw what was happening on the hilltop and said with a smile, "Is she Apocalypse who ranks second on the Amir Royal Academy? She wants to compete with Holy King? She's doomed."

Yuan Linglu, however, was in a trance.

She almost exclaimed when she saw how fast Su Ping was when she was flying to reach the seats earlier!

It was completely beyond her expectation!

Didn't that guy come here by pulling connections?

How could he have such explosive power?

Yuan Linglu came back to herself and looked at the woman next to her when the battle was about to take place on the hilltop. "Sister Selita, are you going to challenge him?"

"Your compatriot?"

"Yes."

Selita couldn't help but glance at her, knowing that she was right; those two people had grudges, even though they were from the same planet.

Selita shook her head and said, "I won't be able to keep the seat even if I defeat him. Look, the Dragon Tomb Academy and the Sword Deity Academy are waiting. I don't know about the Holy Oriole Academy, but it doesn't seem weak either."

Yuan Linglu looked around and then became relaxed.

It would have been proper to feel close to someone from her hometown, but it just so happened to be Su Ping, the person who had snatched her legacy on Longtai Mountain. She felt quite upset when she saw Su Ping's speed and how he claimed a seat on the hilltop.

She was somehow agitated.

All the Star Lords and instructors from the several academies flew over while the girls were speaking. Once they saw the situation between Holy King and Apocalypse, one of the Star Lords said, "Duels and challenges aren't forbidden here, but you must not act randomly or damage this place. Fight here if you must."

He waved his hand and brought an island closer.

The island was bare, seemingly protected by a special shield.

"The space here is rather special; you can hardly tear it apart. This island is an area specially designed for you. Go there if you feel the urge to fight," said the Star Lord.

An instructor from the Hugh Mia Academy chuckled. "Holy King, don't be hard on a girl."

The instructor that came with Su Ping said, "That's a nice nickname. Will he cry after getting beat up by a girl?"

The two instructors were obviously at loggerheads.

Neither of them stopped the students; they had traveled to that mysterious realm to train their students for the Universe Geniuses' Contest. How could they cave in?

Besides, everybody was watching. It was about the honor of their academies, they couldn't give in!

"Let's go."

The Holy King flashed a casual and chivalrous smile.

Apocalypse flew into the island first.

Holy King followed her closely; the battle began immediately after both arrived.

Holy King was surrounded by black and white light; his skin was half pure and half dark after activating his constitution. He also merged with a rare Star State dragon.

The dragon alone could have suppressed many mid-phase Star State warriors.

Apocalypse activated her constitution too. She could easily control the elements in the environment thanks to her quadruple elemental body. Adding her attained laws and her pets, she was able to unleash a horrifying strength. Soon, dazzling blasts were swept out on the island.

Both of them were in the Fate State, yet their battle was even more intense than some in the Star State level!

Their battle would have pierced into the deeper spaces if it were the outside world, but it was impossible to flash there, and they had to fight head-on with other secret techniques!

"They're truly monsters!"

"Their fame is well deserved. Both are qualified to sit on the hilltop."

"I admit I can't defeat them."

On the hill—many people were watching the battle with solemn faces. They soon realized the strength gap between them.