Astral Pet Store (WN)

Everybody had their secrets; geniuses even more so. Apart from talent and hard training, luck would play a critical role for them. Elder Yan wasn't planning to dig into those secrets; he had seen too many geniuses who had astonishing abilities and secrets of their own, while Su Ping was among the most distinguished of them.

"What a shame, what a shame..."

Bernie quickly shook his head. He too had realized that Su Ping probably had a great teacher. It was impossible for him to have reached such a level while being self-taught!

However, Su Ping's talent in pet training was undeniable. Should he choose to take the professional path, he could grow and become a divine-level trainer someday!

Even Heavenly Lords had to be courteous when they met divine-level trainers in the Federation. Celestial also showed them respect; they were welcome everywhere.

Inside the training room'”

Su Ping was delighted as he looked at his three pets after the transformation. He met them when he was weak; they had grown up together, and they would distinguish themselves in the universe together!

I will take you to higher places. Inferno Dragon, I promised you that I would make you the strongest dragon in the world. That I vowed to you... Su Ping said in his mind.

He would never forget all the things they had gone through together.

The pain didn't fade away with time; it was deeply etched in his heart.

Su Ping didn't waste any time in the training room. He summoned them back and flew away.

Hardly had he left the training room when he saw Bernie and Elder Yan in the distance. He flew over to meet them and clasped his hands. "Thank you for your materials and the training room, senior."

"It's no big deal," said Bernie with troubled feelings, "I would love to see you start a career as a trainer, if you weren't already Lord Supreme's disciple, with a clear chance to become a Celestial. I don't know how you accomplished it, but all your pets have SSS aptitude!"

Su Ping was stunned by the remark. He was about to say that he was already a trainer'”

However, he remembered that Elder Yan was with him, and he would probably nag about him focusing on his own cultivation.

He knew that there were abundant resources at his disposal because his master had high hopes for him, and wanted him to become a Heavenly Lord sooner. All of it would be a worthy investment if he could rise to the Celestial State someday. He had indeed shown potential for it!

"SSS aptitude?"

Su Ping was intrigued. He had yet to check his pets' stats after their breakthrough to the Star State.

However, he wasn't too optimistic about it. After all, the system's standards were much more rigorous.

Su Ping didn't examine them immediately. He thanked Bernie, then returned to his training room with Elder Yan; he wanted to examine his pets before he challenged new opponents.

He found an open space next to the training room, then entered the tertiary space and summoned the three pets; he intended to test their abilities there, in order to not affect the outside world.

Su Ping checked their stats first with the identification skill before examining their performance.

Little Skeleton

Property: Bloody Abyss Skeleton King Family

Rank: Early Star State

Combat ability: 999 (?)

Aptitude: high-high

Talent Abilities: Haste, Acceleration, Mana Absorption

Bloodline Skills: Bone Demon, Eternal Revenant, Descent of the Bone King, Bone Shield, Abyssal Gaze, Bloody Howling

Laws: Time, Destruction, Death, Thunder God, Annihilation, Consolidation, Freezing, Eternal Flames...

Skills: Regeneration, Undead Enslaving, Advanced Saberplay, Puppetry, Demon Whispers, Nightmare Space, Punishment of Sins, Darkness Teleportation, Realm of Death, Holy Light Punishment, Dark Dragon Breath, Hellish Summoning...

There were so many laws and skills that Su Ping was almost dazzled.

Su Ping made a rough count, finding that it had mastered more than 150 laws. Aside from the hundred laws he had imparted at the beginning, a fair part of the rest had been grasped by the Little Skeleton on its own.

Considering Su Ping's current understanding of laws, he could easily grasp more laws if he devoted himself to the elements of a certain class. However, regular laws were of little use to him, unless he grasped a hundred of them to perfection.

It would be more beneficial to spend time on the four supreme laws instead.

Besides laws, there were countless abilities too. The Little Skeleton could easily create skills on its own at the moment, but they wouldn't be as powerful. As for the truly terrifying skills, they depended on the understanding and control of paths.

Paths were the foundation of everything.

All skills boiled down to paths on the deepest level.

Ascendant State experts were expected to create paths of their own!

That was the reason why every Ascendant was unique, and why some of the exceptional geniuses remained stuck before the last step to become Ascendants.

Its combat ability is 999... which is the maximum for the Star State. According to the system, the Star State combat ability ranges from 100 to 999. A thousand is the threshold for the Star Lord State!

The Little Skeleton hasn't yet controlled the power of faith or created its own small world. No matter how much power it accumulates, its combat ability won't go beyond the 999 mark..."

Su Ping was quite satisfied with the Little Skeleton's stats in general. All of it was within his expectations.

After all, the pet skeleton had 500 points of combat ability back when it was only in the Fate State!

After having learned that many laws, plus the countless rare materials it had just eaten, it was unsurprising to see the pet rise to the Star State.

Su Ping also noticed that the Little Skeleton's race had turned from the Skeleton King Family to the Bloody Abyss Skeleton King Family. He remembered that one of the materials he fed the pet was a Star Lord blood crystal, which had probably optimized its bloodline.

The Skeleton King Family it formerly belonged to was powerful in the Star State, but it wasn't worth mentioning when dealing with the Star Lord level. Many creatures in that realm were much stronger.

It was of note that the Skeleton King Family's bloodline potential was limited to the Star State, unless exceptional geniuses emerged in the race and broke through the barriers and became Star Lords.

Even after the bloodline transformation, the Little Skeleton still belonged to its prior family, but its bloodline potential had been improved, making cultivation easier.

Su Ping wasn't too interested in that, as he had never given much importance to bloodlines or levels; combat ability was what truly mattered. Even if the Little Skeleton was forever stuck in the Star State, he would still try to make it as strong as a Star Lord!

Su Ping then checked the Inferno Dragon and the Dark Dragon Hound.

The Inferno Dragon's race had turned into the Purple Polar Divine Prison Dragon, which also carried a Star Lord bloodline.

Its combat ability, same as the Little Skeleton's, became 999.

However, Su Ping believed that the Little Skeleton was the stronger of the two. After all, he had placed more emphasis in the Little Skeleton's training, and it had grasped many abilities on its own. It was definitely stronger than the Inferno Dragon.

This also went to show that the number 999 wasn't an absolute indicator.

As for the Dark Dragon Hound, its race had turned into the Heaven Expansion Dragon Dog.

The pet already carried the Heaven Expansion Dragon's bloodline to begin with, and the newly assimilated materials made the bloodline change further. It now had Ascendant potential!

This meant that, as long as it continued training and growing, it had a high probability of reaching the Ascendant State!

Of course, failure was also possible.

Bloodline potential was merely that, potential; it was only an indicator that a member of the race had once reached that level of cultivation.

Celestial experts had emerged among human beings, and that is why humanity's potential was the Celestial State. However, very few human beings could actually reach that level.

The Dark Dragon Hound's combat ability was also 999, the maximum number for the Star State.

Su Ping didn't know what to make of it, so he decided to test their actual combat abilities.

Explosions soon resounded in the tertiary space as Su Ping fought fiercely against the three pets. They had sparred in cultivation sites many times; they were no longer strangers to it.

Su Ping then became familiar with their fighting power and their new skills.

Once he returned from the deeper space, Su Ping told Elder Yan that he wanted to continue with the challenges.

Elder Yan wasn't surprised, since the former's pets had just advanced.

He was quite eager to find out Su Ping's new ranking after this recent progress, which would give a massive boost to the young man's overall strength.

The two of them went back to the city with virtual arenas soon after.

Hardly had they arrived when Su Ping saw someone familiar.

"Huh? You're here too?"

Diaz was surprised to see Su Ping, but then his eyes were soon filled with delight. He raised his eyebrows and said, "I heard a continuous row of thunder just now. Did your pets advance? Why bother? You're already a Star State warrior. Can't you just switch them for Star Lord pets?"

Su Ping simply rolled his eyes and ignored him after hearing that suggestion.

Diaz was angered after being snubbed by Su Ping. He said, "I admit that it was awesome for you to use Fate State pets in the competition; you could have won the championship even without them. However, that doesn't mean you'll remain a champion forever!"

Elder Yan stood quietly by the side. He had heard a thing or two about the conflicts between them, which were insignificant in his eyes. He even thought it was a good thing, as competitiveness could be a huge catalyst for cultivation.

"In other words, you have new Star Lord pets?" asked Su Ping, raising his eyebrows.

Diaz snorted and said, "Yes. Master just gave me two. Both are dominators in the Star Lord State. I've practiced with them and we do make a great team. Truth be told, I'm already challenging the Divine Lord Rank. I'm able to endure Clowe's attacks for two minutes at the moment!"

There was pride in his eyes as he spoke; that was the source of his delight when he saw his fellow disciple.

He might be the champion, but so what?

Too many young geniuses would lose their brilliance as they grow.

He was left behind for a moment, but he would catch up sooner or later. After all, he had one of the nine greatest constitutions of the universe. For him, the sky was the limit!

"Oh?"

Su Ping could not help but laugh.

"Why? You don't believe me?" Diaz was triggered by Su Ping's smile.

Su Ping chuckled. "Of course I do. I simply didn't know you were that weak."

"Weak?"

Diaz jumped, like a cat whose tail had been stepped upon. He shouted, "You think I'm weak? Have you even challenged the Divine Lord Rank? Don't you know that all the rankers are genius Star Lords?"

Su Ping had originally planned to ignore him. Still, seeing how aggressive he was acting, he replied with a casual tone, "I remember the guy you mentioned. He could only withstand my attacks for two minutes."

"Huh?"

Diaz was stunned. He widened his eyes and asked, "What did you say?"

"Enough. I need to continue my challenges. Goodbye." Su Ping waved his hand and flew away with Elder Yan in tow.

Lost for words, Elder Yan looked at Diaz sympathetically.

He had also been shaken when he learned that Su Ping had defeated Clowe. It wasn't unusual to see Diaz was similarly surprised. The guy was truly unlucky, having made a debut in the same competition.

Diaz was more gifted than most of Shen Huang's disciples.. Unfortunately, Su Ping's talent was among the best.