Astral Pet Store (WN)

Once everybody was gathered, the awe-inspiring illusion of Mu Shen appeared above the palace again; he looked down at them with the palace in his arms.

"Your resolve will be tested in the second round.

"You will have the chance to experience the void battlefield in advance; whoever hunts lord-level void beasts in the sixth space will advance.

"Now, the channel is open!"

A vortex appeared above the palace after Mu Shen's announcement; it had a purple and black edge, emitting an evil aura and a murky light.

"Let's go in," said the Ascendant State expert who was responsible for the competition.

"Be careful while you're there. Don't go too far away from the base," You Long said to Su Ping telepathically.

Su Ping's eyes glittered, then he nodded.

The others were gradually moving towards the void channel at the moment.

Luo Ying and the rest of the top ten had already moved; Su Ping wasted no time entering the channel either.

Hardly had he entered when he was assailed by tremors and dizziness; however, the feeling was soon gone. He saw an island in the void when he opened his eyes again.

There were palaces, buildings and high walls on that island.

The place was surrounded by a bright energy layer.

An Ascendant expert was hovering in the sky above the island. He glanced at Su Ping and the others who had just arrived, then said indifferently, "Open the protective layer and let them in."

An opening soon appeared, and everybody got inside.

The island floated in the void quietly; there was nothing but desolate scenery in the surroundings. There wasn't a sun, but it wasn't dark; the void was like an enormous cave. The "sky" in that place had a murky blue color.

"Geniuses, listen up!"

The Ascendant State expert, who was as brawny as a bear, said coldly and sharply After everybody came in, "I don't care how rarely talented you are. You'd better drop your arrogance here!

"This is the sixth space, a place where Fate State cultivators such as yourselves shouldn't be.

"Void beasts invade this place all year long; your task this time is to hunt them down. We will help you, but remember, you have to fend for yourselves. There are invisible dangers in addition to the void beasts… Not even Star Lords could possibly survive them!

"You'd better be fully aware of the situation you're getting into!"

Everybody looked at each other in bewilderment after such a speech. Some seemed to be taking it casually, not considering it a big deal, but others were worried about the invisible dangers.

If even the Star Lords were as helpless, wouldn't the Fate State kids like them be doomed?

"It's just a part of the competition. Do we really have to risk our lives?"

"I felt that I was almost torn apart in the void. I have to try my best just to stand on my feet here; Lord Supreme said that we can't advance if we don't hunt lord-level void beasts. That's too hard."

Some geniuses kept whispering to the others. They were the best from their respective galaxies, but they had shed all condescension after having seen the other competitors.

A woman suddenly asked, "Senior, may I know how strong the lord-level void beasts are?"

Many were quick as they turned to look at the Ascendant State expert; some people didn't bother, as if they already knew the answer.

"Lord-level beasts are as strong as Star Lords!" said the Ascendant State expert, glancing at the woman, "However, void beasts don't have the power of faith; they only have physical strength. So, it is possible for you to kill them if you're talented enough!

"You're free to join your hands if it's too hard. Of course, you'll have to decide amongst your teammates who would claim the kill."

As strong as Star Lords?

A lot of people gasped after hearing that.

Was it really just a test, and not a trap meant to kill them?

The beasts didn't have the power of faith, but they were still as physically strong as Star Lords; many of them were masters of planetary systems in the Federation!

Could anyone really cross the gap of two major levels?

While everybody whispered, the Ascendant State cultivator said indifferently, "The test will last a week; you'll be enlisted in the local garrison during this period. You must listen to my orders in the event of a void beast invasion!

"As for hunting lord-level beasts, that is up to you. You may also apply to leave the main cover and search for them in the void.

"I hope you can seize this opportunity and find out how honorable the warriors who defend the border are!"

The whispers died down. Someone asked, "Senior, if we leave to hunt lord-level void beasts, we're not obligated to stay and resist the invading void beasts, right?"

The Ascendant glanced at him and replied, "You won't need to heed the summons if you have left the island before the void beasts invade. But if you're still on the island when the alarms are sounded, you must obey!

"I have to remind you that you may die at any second when you're outside of the protective cover. Some of the powerful void beasts are absolutely unpredictable. Also, like I said earlier, there are invisible dangers in addition to the void beasts.

"Your seniors would surely teach you that any accident might and can happen in deeper spaces, right?"

The person who voiced the question didn't speak again. He thought hard.

All the others had considered how they should react to the situation too.

Being top geniuses, they were good at solving problems.

Seeing that there were no further questions, the Ascendant expert asked a Star Lord general to register the whole group.

Su Ping was making plans while waiting for the registration process to be completed, when someone called out to him."Hey!"

He raised his head, and saw Su Jin'er walking over.

"Are you interested in teaming up with me?" said Su Jin'er with a smile, "You may be much stronger than me, but I have special experience when it comes to hunting void beasts; I don't think you have that."

Su Ping was stunned for a moment; he smiled and said, "It just so happens that I'm not short of such experiences."

Su Jin'er frowned and said, "That's impossible, you are merely in the Fate State; it is virtually impossible for you to tear the sixth space open on your own. Even if you could, you won't be able to stay for long. There's no way your seniors would accept the offer; taking chances won't necessarily work. How would you gain any experience in hunting void beasts?"

"I'm not lacking in such experience," Su Ping reiterated with a smile, "But I do need a tank for myself, although I don't think you qualify as a tank."

Lost for words, Su Jin'er rolled her eyes and said telepathically, "Are you kidding? Fine. I can work as a tank for you. It just so happens that I left something that can lure void beasts. I have specifically prepared it for this test. You don't have anything like that, do you? We only need to lure void beasts to a place of our choosing so we can hunt them."

Su Ping raised his eyebrows; he truly didn't have anything like that.

"How alluring is that thing? What if a swarm of void beasts are lured by this? How could it be precise?"

"It'll be good enough if it entices any void beast. We can always run back to the baseIf a swarm of void beasts tries to subdue us," said Su Jin'er angrily, "Don't look down on it; this item is rare. It would be dangerous if we didn't use it when looking for void beasts in their world. You could run into a group of horrifying, dominator-level void beasts at any given moment."

After thinking for a moment, Su Ping nodded and said, "Fine. Let's work together then."

Su Jin'er was secretly relieved; she put on a smile and said, "You will soon know how useful I am."

Su Ping smiled, although he didn't say anything.

"Brother Su."

Another person approached him right then; he was none other than the young man who had golden wheels in his eyes. He was the one Su Ping had enslaved earlier on.

Su Ping withdrew the sword aura that had been placed next to the man's heart after the round ended. After all, the man also had a powerful background; it would have been outrageous if he continued threatening the man.

"Are you interested in cooperating?" said the young man with golden wheels in his eyes, as if he would have completely forgotten the earlier humiliation.

Slightly surprised after hearing the proposal, Su Ping asked, "You want to follow me again?"

The young man felt awkward after remembering the earlier suppression. He replied, "We already know each other, right? It's better for us to cooperate than to work with people we don't know. You are certainly stronger than me, but an extra hand is always helpful when you're in danger.

"The first lord-level void beast will be yours if we hunt as a group; I won't blame you if you don't want to help me kill a second one."

He spoke rather sincerely.

After hesitating for a moment, Su Ping asked, "Are you sure?"

"Of course," said the young man with a smile, "The lord-level void beasts are so terrifying that Lord Supreme is using them to test us; it would also mean that not many will be able to hunt them down. I can hardly accomplish the task on my own, so might as well try to cooperate with you."

"Okay. But don't blame me if the hunting gets too dangerous and I decide to head back the moment I kill mine," said Su Ping.

"Of course I won't," said the young man with golden wheels in his eyes, smiling.

Su Ping glanced at him; he knew that the guy was doing that on purpose. It was hard for him to decline such sincerity.

"Let's go together then." Su Ping looked at Su Jin'er and told her about the young man who had golden wheels in his eyes.

Su Jin'er said with a slight frown, "That's fine. However, the second beast we hunt will be mine, and the third will be his."

She knew she had to fight for privileges. Accidents might still happen if she was the last one to get the beast.

"Sure."

Su Ping nodded.

Once they finished their discussion, a few others spoke to Su Ping telepathically, wanting to join his team; alas, Su Ping simply turned them down.

After all, every new member would require a beast. A team of five would mean that he had to hunt lord-level void beasts five times. He would rather go hunting on his own in such a case.

All the participants were soon registered. Information was relayed through the watch that was given by the military, such as the location of their assigned residence in that place.

Su Ping asked the Star Lord who was responsible for the registration about the opening and closing of the cover.

The Star Lord was quite courteous when speaking to geniuses like Su Ping. There were about thirty contestants with the chance to rise to the Ascendant State. Although the information about Su Ping's second place in the competition had yet to spread out, the well-informed organizations had already learned about him.

That Star Lord knew of Su Ping's performance too, so he answered his every question.

"It takes five seconds for the cover to be opened on a small scale, and three minutes on a large scale.

"It takes the same amount of time for it to close."

Su Ping noted it down, in case that he didn't have enough time to get back during an emergency.

Then, everybody dispersed.

Many had chosen to team up; Luo Ying, the one who had won first place, had joined hands with a handful of geniuses.

Next to Dragon Shepard, the one in fourth place, the sixth, the seventh and the ninth had been gathered; all of them were among the top ten.

Their team was the strongest one at the moment.

Some whose rankings were lower had formed a team of more than twenty people. They were hoping to hunt down a void-level beast too, but the distribution would be a problem.

Su Ping ignored them and led Su Jin'er and the young man with golden wheels in his eyes to the military department on the island.

Su Ping went there to ask for intelligence on the void beasts.

There were different kinds; Su Ping read carefully and attained a rough idea about them.

He then asked for the defense log of the base.

The log was considered confidential, but the man gave it to Su Ping anyway; he actually thought highly of Su Ping for having actually asked to see it. After all, it was possible to infer patterns of their attacks based on the log, which was why it was very important.

Su Ping furrowed his eyebrows after reading the entries of the previous three years.

Battles seem to be quite frequent.

The battles were more difficult than he thought. A tide of void beasts would burst out once every three days on average, but most of them would only have small numbers; a massive beast tide would happen twice a year.

Only the massive beast tides had to be resisted by the protective cover.

The smaller beast tides could be eliminated by deploying legions.

"Where are the soldiers here from?" asked Su Ping curiously after reading the log.

The general who was responsible for the defense was a Star Lord. He shook his head and said, "They're from military departments of various places in the Federation. You would be appointed to join the military department where there are special divisions to deal with void beasts if you chose to be enlisted. All rookies are trained there first, before they are mobilized."

"I didn't know that there were casualties all the time here." Su Ping sighed.

The general said with a smile, "You'll get used to it. Maybe someone else will take my place later on; this is just the norm at the border. Casualties are unavoidable, unless the Ascendant State lords join us."