Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-34

Little Skeleton

Property: pet of the demon family

Rank: the intermediate position of the first rank

Combat strength: 2.8

Aptitude: low

Abilities Mastered: Severed Limb Reassemble

The information shown on the interface was still simple and the only basic skill it had was the one mastered by all skeletons.

Such being the case.

The Little Skeleton had advanced by leaps and bounds compared with before.

The progress could be considered huge with the combat strength improved from the weak 1.1 to a higher 2.8.

A combat strength of 1.1 was that of average human beings; having a combat strength of 2.8, the pet could hunt and kill tigers or similar beasts!

The significance of such a difference was self-evident.

Furthermore, the Little Skeleton had indeed progressed, given that it had not cultivated much but had moved from the lower position to the intermediate position of the first rank just because of being in the Chaotic Realm of the Undead where the undead resided.

“The aptitude was elevated from poor to low. It can display combat strength of nearly the third rank while the Little Skeleton is, in fact, at the intermediate position of the first rank. That is impressive. Yet, given the strict standards of the system, the Little Skeleton is still regarded as inferior.”

Su Ping forced a smile. He felt frustrated when he remembered the requirement for finishing the main quest, which was to raise the Little Skeleton’s aptitude to an above average rate.

 3On the other hand, while they had died many times since they had been teleported to the Chaotic Realm of the Undead, up until then, they had only been there for two or three hours.

The Little Skeleton had come a long way within such a short time. This was outstanding.

“Woo!”

All of a sudden, the Lightning Rat came back from the distance, passing through some signs of warning and nervousness.

Su Ping concentrated his mind. He took a closer look and saw a huge, crawling skeleton coming from the piles of bones behind the Lightning Rat.

The skeleton was nearly five meters long, resembling a mixture between a beast and a twisted human being. The skeleton was made up of bones of varied animals. It was traveling on all fours as it chased after the Lightning Rat.

Su Ping was not taken aback by this monster. He focused his mind and cast the “killing intent” skill at once. “Move!”

 2The Lightning Rat that had run back began to show its teeth and its eyes reddened. It halted on the spot and then electricity was generated all around its body. The Lightning Rat turned around and charged toward that huge skeleton.

Su Ping turned his sight to the Little Skeleton who was still standing there, at a loss. Yet, different from the past dull look, seemingly reveling in comfort. The grey mist surrounding the Little Skeleton was mixed with some blood-red aura that was flowing across its bones which were becoming tougher than before, after the combined effect of the grey energy and the blood-red aura.

It appeared that the Little Skeleton was consuming this blood-red bead. Su Ping decided not to let the Little Skeleton participate; the Lightning Rat would fight alone this time.

The abilities of this massive, crawling skeleton were evidently far superior to the human-shaped skeletons from before. It was obvious that the Lightning Rat could not react fast enough. Luckily, the Lightning Rat had mastered one of the 10 special skills, “Thunder Flash,” which enabled it to teleport close to its enemies. With Su Ping’s unlimited chances of revival, the Lightning Rat could reduce its enemy’s powers bit by bit, just like a war of attrition.

Bang!

After more than a hundred revivals, the Lightning Rat suddenly discharged a bolt of lightning. Even with meters apart, the flash of lightning landed on the crawling skeleton.

 3Su Ping was surprised. He had never seen the Lightning Rat use this skill before.

Su Ping cast an identification spell and saw that the Lightning Rat had mastered another skill, named “Flying Thunder Arrow.”

 1“Intermediate-rank skill of the thunder family, usually mastered by flying pets of the thunder family. I didn’t know that the little guy could be pushed out of its limits to unleash this skill…” Su Ping smiled. While this was an intermediate-level skill, the upside was that the skill could be used for remote attacks. So, by all counts, it was good.

Therefore, this little Lightning Rat must have been desperate after using the “Thunder Flash” for many times to get close to its enemy and then inflict harm at the cost of its own life, to have come up with this remote attack idea.

 2With the mastery of “Flying Thunder Arrow,” the combat strength of the Lightning Rat had been elevated to 4.3. The Lightning Rat could defeat many battle pets of the fourth rank at this time.

After about an hour, the crawling skeleton finally fell to the ground after the dark, foul aura was depleted. There was no more energy for the skeleton to repair its lost limbs. The Lightning Rat took it apart.

The Little Skeleton ran over as soon as the crawling skeleton fell and began to look through the pile of bones. Yet, this time, the Little Skeleton did not choose any bones to replace its own. Instead, the Little Skeleton chose a sharp-edged bone and brought it back.

The Little Skeleton was holding the sharp bone blade like its official saber. While surprised, Su Ping also found it interesting.

 8“I wonder what this item can do to the Little Skeleton. It must need a long time to consume it entirely.” Su Ping took a curious look at the blood-red bead inside the Little Skeleton’s skull. The blood aura in the blood-red bead was being absorbed by the Little Skeleton and the bead was becoming smaller.

Su Ping did not rest. He told the Lightning Rat to go and look for other prey to lure them over.

Reluctantly, the Lightning Rat did as told. Not long afterward, it ran back in panic. It had lured back two odd-looking skeletons in one go. One of the skeletons looked like a monster and the other was human shaped, but both were clumsy skeletons; both had a large size and a height of about five meters. They were holding huge bones in their hands as shields.

Those skeletons had developed a certain level of intelligence. Part of that came from the remaining consciousness of the living beings that the skeletons once were. Therefore, the two knew how to equip themselves.

Su Ping instructed both the Little Skeleton and the Lightning Rat to engage at once.

The Little Skeleton waved its little bone blade and rushed to the more agile skeleton.

When they saw the Little Skeleton, something attracted the huge skeletons’ attention. They simultaneously gave up on attacking the Lightning Rat; they turned around and rushed toward the Little Skeleton directly.

The Little Skeleton waved its small bone blade and jumped up to slash at the crawling skeleton. However, the former was unable to sever the bones of the latter. The Little Skeleton was smashed away by a piece of bone that was thrown at it. The Little Skeleton appeared to be much stronger than before, because it did not fall apart this time.

Su Ping cast an identification spell. The crawling skeleton’s combat strength was 5.2, way stronger than the Little Skeleton and the Lightning Rat.

That crawling skeleton threw itself at the Little Skeleton rapidly and bit the latter. The former moved its jaws and swung its head as if it were going to eat up the Little Skeleton.

But the giant skeleton that came after smashed its shield on the crawling skeleton. The Little Skeleton was freed from that big mouth. Then, the giant skeleton threw that almost shattered Little Skeleton into its mouth. Dark and foul aura was surging in that giant skeleton. It was aiming to cannibalize the Little Skeleton!

Crack.

The Little Skeleton fell to pieces. That blood-red bead fell out from its skull as well, and the bead was then inside the skull of that giant skeleton.

At the same time, Su Ping received the prompt message for revival.

He was surprised to know that the blood-red bead would fall out after the death of the Little Skeleton. Was it because the bead had not been completely absorbed yet?

There was no time for him to think. Su Ping brought the Little Skeleton back to life at once and asked it to cooperate with the Lightning Rat to attack the giant.

Apart from the Little Skeleton and the Lightning Rat, the crawling skeleton that was hit by the shield had pounced at the giant skeleton at the same time. They were fighting for the blood-red bead.

“Use Thunder Flash to sneak into its skull and bring the bead out!” Su Ping passed along his intention to the Lightning Rat.

Having received the instructions, the Lightning Rat leaped from place to place until it was inside the large skull of that giant skeleton. The Lightning Rat gripped the bead with its teeth. With a flash of lightning, the Lightning Rat left the skeleton and then went back to Su Ping after a couple of more leaps.

Su Ping took over the blood-red bead and threw it into his storage space.

While this bead was beneficial to the Little Skeleton, given its current status, it would need a great deal of time to completely absorb the energy. In the event of a sudden death and the appearance of another powerful being fancying this item, they might lose the bead forever.

“We have to go back and wait for some free time for the Little Skeleton to consume it slowly. I can also let the system check what it is,” Su Ping thought to himself. He looked up. Without the blood-red bead, the fight between the two skeletons had stopped. They were concentrating on the Lightning Rat and the Little Skeleton again. Both of the skeletons dashed over ferociously.

“Charge!”

Su Ping commanded the Little Skeleton and the Lightning Rat to go at the same time.