Astral Pet Store (WN)

Chapter 115Dragon Tower

Su Ping intentionally stayed quiet to see what would happen next. As he expected, the dragon soul continued regardless of his choice.

“Since that is your choice, be ready to face my trial!”

The voice tried to sound imposing, but it wasn’t doing a very good job.

He felt the space around him shake as if there was an earthquake coming. The ground in front of him was ripped open by the tip of a bone pillar, which rose higher until it stood tall like a giant tower.

Su Ping checked and found a total of nine sections, or levels, on the “bone tower.” At the same time, the dragon soul spoke directly to his mind again, telling him what the tower was used for.

Apparently, he had to climb this “dragon tower” to finish his trial. By reaching the final level, he would be deemed qualified to challenge the final mission, before acquiring the heritage. In the final mission, he had to purify all 109 dragon scales left by the dragon and restore its soul. Upon its death, this ancient dragon had sealed the fragments of its soul inside those scales. As time did its wonders, each scale had turned into a small piece of land tainted by filth and monsters. To purify a scale, Su Ping had to eliminate all the monsters living inside them.

Su Ping got the gist of his “mission” and found his job to be too complicated to his liking. Working through nine levels of the tower looked fine. But cleansing monsters from 109 dragon scales? That sounded too tedious.

Those “small” lands were not exactly small by human standards. They had all kinds of terrains, monsters and even Beast Kings roaming around. Anyone who could do a good job there had to be at least a legendary battle pet warrior.

According to the system, the dragon king used to be something more ancient and mightier than Beast Kings. It was right and proper that it wouldn’t let weaklings find its heritage easily.

Su Ping was a little frustrated about the mission’s difficulty, but he didn’t feel too bad about it, since the challenge meant little to him. The place was an illusion. The only thing he might take from it was the experience gained from fighting monsters. No matter what kind of actual prize was promised, he wouldn’t be able to take it home.

In other words, finishing the final goal or not didn’t matter. The mission’s actual process was more important.

“Fine. Bring it on.”

He psyched himself up and walked ahead with his pets. He went in through a small entrance at the bottom of the tower.

Little Skeleton was the only pet that seemed unaffected by the dragon soul’s might. The Managarm seemed to be the one in the worst condition, as it had been frozen and trembling due to fear. The Inferno Dragon wasn’t doing much better, even if it was a dragon-type pet, because dragons would strictly follow their social classes at all times. A dragon of a higher status was free to lord over other members of its clan on any occasion.

As for the Purple Python, it only stayed close to Su Ping’s feet to find some comfort through their pet contract.

The mental pressure grew worse as they stepped inside the tower, as if there were more dragons hidden in the dark welcoming their prey. Anyone with a weak mind would have turned tail already.

Su Ping took a deep breath and moved ahead without minding the dangerous aura. He was used to being suppressed by all kinds of deadly wills when exploring the Chaotic Realm of the Undead. This fallen dragon king was puny, compared to those nasty kings and lords of the underworld.

Further ahead, Su Ping saw the image of a large golden dragon roaring at him while displaying its unparalleled preeminence.

The Inferno Dragon whelp, which usually stayed proud in front of other pets, had hidden its head under one of its wings. It probably would have escaped into a rabbit hole if there was one nearby.

The Managarm was not moving; it had collapsed on the floor, unconscious.

The Purple Python had huddled into a coil while keeping its head concealed in the center, as if it could hide from plain sight this way.

As for Little Skeleton… like always, it wasn’t showing any particular reaction.

Su Ping saw his terrified pets and shook his head in disappointment. That golden dragon was clearly another illusion incapable of doing any actual harm. Maybe it could scare off its opponents by using a portion of the dragon king’s aura, but that was about it.

Guess I can’t expect more from something born and raised under protection. Heck. That Lightning Rat could do way better than this.

Su Ping turned back and kicked the Managarm in the rear to wake it up.

It worked at first. But as soon as the Managarm saw the ferocious dragon image, it went out cold again, tongue out.

Su Ping frowned and kicked it again. He kept doing it until the dog could do better.

His improvised training began to show its worth after the Managarm fainted and woke up for several times. Still, the creature would only stare at the floor like a scolded puppy no matter what.

Su Ping applied the “Killing Intent” effect on the Managarm, causing it to suddenly yell at the dragon image with a pair of glowing red eyes. But as soon as the effect ended, it tucked its tail between its legs as if asking for forgiveness. A yellow puddle was spread from under its butt, adding a different kind of flavor to the air. This coward… Su Ping silently complained.

To escape from the odor, Su Ping decided to move forward. He saw a small dot of light in the ceiling not far from his position. It seemed to be a hole for him to get to the next level.

After tossing the pets through that hole, he also jumped through and reached the second floor.

Unsurprisingly, the dragon’s will was intensified by several times compared to the first floor. Apart from an invisible pressure, Su Ping also heard rustling noises coming from the darkness.

He wondered if this was all the dragon tower challenge had to offer. That fake dragon was basically useless. At this rate, he could clear the second floor in no time.

Without minding the noise that suggested a sleeping dragon was close, he quickly found the next “hole” and jumped to the third floor, while only taking Little Skeleton with him. He would leave the other pets at level 2 to keep sharpening their courage. As soon as he emerged from the hole, he saw another golden dragon coming his way, claws raised. This one was only about ten meters in length from tip to tail, which meant it was only a child. It sure looked dangerous, though.

He thought it was another illusion meant to spook him, but the unusual energy signature tickling his skin told him otherwise.

Little Skeleton drew its blade and began wrestling with the small dragon. Huh… That’s a clone made out of energy? Su Ping raised an eyebrow as he recognized the nature of the attacking dragon. Unlike what he presumed, the dragon tower was beginning to send real enemies his way.

Little Skeleton made quick work of the small dragon and soon returned to his side.

A kid as strong as common seventh-rank pets. I guess this is pretty normal for dragons? Su Ping decided to be more careful from then on as he kept going.

About two hours later, Su Ping left the dragon tower with his pets in tow.

Little Skeleton barely made it through the last floor. Su Ping didn’t believe he was lucky. It was likely that the tower designed all the challenges according to what he had. If Little Skeleton was one rank higher, the enemy at the last floor would probably be a Beast King.

As he estimated, anyone of an aptitude of above average could clear the tower challenge with enough effort. There was no way that a proud dragon king was willing to give its heritage to an “above average human.” Whoever set the challenges up probably wasn’t expecting better humans to show up in the first place.

He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of human beings could reach higher levels of aptitude.

Without wasting any time, he ordered the pets to stay close so they could look for the dragon scales.

It wasn’t hard to find those things because they were just randomly placed behind the tower. Each one looked as large as a small town with a unique theme, such as a gloomy graveyard or an erupting volcano. By looking from afar, Su Ping could more or less imagine what kind of monsters lived in them.

The scales were placed pretty close to each other, but with clear boundaries that set them apart. Su Ping realized that he could see this place as a nice training ground for different pets, since he could easily find a scale of the proper element for every type of pet.