Astral Pet Store

The entire waiting area fell deathly quiet as people silently gawked at the most miraculous sight they had ever seen in their whole lives.

Someone reached the ninth level, the end of the dragon tower!

The owners of the “best record” known by most people were the young masters of several famous families across the continent such as Tang Ruyan, who stopped at the sixth level. Nobody knew what the final level looked like, though they were pretty sure that it had to be insanely harder compared to the sixth.

The common folks on the ground were not the only ones stunned. In the sky, the veteran pet warriors including Venerable the Blade were also dumbstruck.

In fact, they knew better than others that beating the top floor of the tower was an impossible task. If the challenger was a titled warrior like them, it would mean that the final enemy waiting at the end was a Beast King or even something above—the king of Beast Kings.

Defeating the king of Beast Kings? It was a feat unheard of in all of human history.

Unlike common humans and Astral Pets who were categorized from the first rank till the ninth, the “king of kings” no longer needed such redundant labels because it was undeniably deadlier than the strongest Beast Kings. Even the best human warriors like Venerable the Blade could only escape while praying for forgiveness, should they actually run into a king of kings.

Furthermore, the titled warriors watching over the tower happened to know a fact which was usually kept as a secret, preventing it from becoming common knowledge. This tower was not only a training ground for testing people’s various capabilities, but also a trial site for selecting qualified winners, who would receive a powerful legacy passed down in this Mysterious Realm.

“We need to find out who’s in there! Now!”

“It can’t be another titled warrior like us. Even the best titled warrior in this country cannot slay a Beast King without help. Not to mention that this ancient dragon soul is not your average Beast King.”

“Then it must be a youngster! What should we do, Venerable? Should we tell Lord Gen about this?”

“His daughter cleared the eighth level last time, right? And he asked us not to tell anyone. But here we are, somebody openly reached the final level when everyone’s looking! Don’t tell me he’s going to acquire the legacy as well. How do we explain this to Lord Gen then??”

“Confound it! Which family sent this one?”

The true purpose of the event wasn’t to generously hand out free items to treasure hunters, but to lure free workers to explore the unknown sectors, which was mandatory if they wanted to go for the final trial, after which the true legacy held in this Mysterious Realm would be revealed.

This was why all these titled warriors who knew the secret plan felt worried when they saw that someone had already reached the final level of the tower when the sectors had not been fully cleared out. The knowledge of the final legacy was mostly a rumor. They weren’t sure if beating the tower challenge right then would impede their plan or not.

Venerable the Blade gazed at the shining tower for a bit longer, before he took out a device from his pocket.

“Lord Gen?”

“Ah, is something the matter, Venerable, my friend?” The gentle voice of an old man came from the speaker.

“… There’s a man who just entered the final floor of the dragon tower, sir. Do you wish to come and take a look?”

There was a brief silence.

The old man’s voice turned harsh. “Guard the entrance. I’ll be there soon.”

“Of course, sir.”

Beep.

The other titled warriors flinched a bit upon sensing the killing intent carried by the merciless voice.

Then they all wondered what would happen to this unlucky challenger at this rate. Death, probably, because the legacy they were looking for had been strictly reserved by a powerful legendary battle pet warrior. No one in this country could live through the rage of a legendary warrior. Not even the masters of big families.

There were only two legendary warriors in the entire subcontinent, while Lord Gen was one of them. With that kind of strength, Lord Gen didn’t need to do much to hold a dominating spot over people from all walks of life. And he absolutely would not allow a random nobody to take what was rightfully his.

“Sigh… A young man who reached the final floor. I must say this is new to me.”

“This is downright scary, I say! If I remembered correctly, Lord Gen’s daughter was born to be a high-rank battle pet warrior, wasn’t she? With Lord Gen’s careful teaching, she has all the perfect resources she can hope for. Even so, she was stopped at the eighth floor. Who wold have thought that someone would outdo her?” “A monster. It must be…”

“Heh. Monster or not, he’s not going to live another day since he pissed off Lord Gen.”

“Which clan did he come from? And didn’t they tell him not to go so far? This is stupid…”

They more or less felt bad, knowing that such a promising young man, who was very likely to become another legendary warrior, would be slain early in his life.

Venerable the Blade didn’t join the discussion as he was once again gazing at the tower, lost in thought.

Unlike the previous floors which were mostly empty, the final floor of the tower was an ancient battlefield where piles of broken bodies and bones of monsters were all over the place.

As usual, Su Ping stayed behind the hard scales of the Purple Python, while ordering his other three pets to confront the lingering soul of an elder dragon, who seemed to be at the upper ninth-rank.

The fight was rather difficult; this ancient soul knew many strange yet effective battle techniques. Though everything was still within Su Ping’s evaluation since he had challenged it many times before.

“Hound, lock it up with Dark Chain!” “Little Skeleton, use Skeleton King’s Roar!”

“Inferno Dragon, dig a hole under it!”

Following his previous experiences, Su Ping successfully maintained the upper hand. He had battled and died to the dragon soul so many times that he could predict its next move by looking at its movements, before he told his pets to react accordingly.

It took him less than ten minutes to finish the fight.

Since the “last boss” of the tower was not any different from the one he had met in the virtual heritage ground, he was then 100% sure that this Mysterious Realm was entirely identical to the dragon king’s heritage ground.

“Heh. Thanks, system. I wouldn’t have gone this far without you.”

He thought the battle had ended when the dragon soul was dissipating. But instead of vanishing completely, it suddenly began to glow brighter.

Under his surprised gaze, the soul changed form and became a slim-bodied, five-clawed golden dragon.

While he was still trying to identify what was going on in the blinding light, the new enemy charged at him.