Astral Pet Store (WN)
chapter-45

Chapter 45: Fear

“Lightning Rat!”

Su Yanying jumped in fright, having seen the Lightning Rat being smashed away by the disrupted ground. No matter how strong the power of understanding the Lightning Rat had, it was a low-rank pet, nonetheless. Su Yanying supposed this strike could badly maul the Lightning Rat!

The raised dust blurred her view of the Lightning Rat. Su Yanying called out the Fanged Tiger and told it to get in there to help the Lightning Rat.

“Lele, ask your pet to stop now!”

Su Yanying wanted to put an end to the fight immediately. All of a sudden, she realized that Lan Lele was surrounded by the dirt wall. It was likely that Lan Lele could not hear her.

This was bad!

In the meanwhile, the Fanged Tiger had dashed into the venue. Its huge body dispersed the dust, revealing the Lightning Rat.

The Lightning Rat was on the ground, safe and sound, which astonished Su Yanying.

She had just seen the Lightning Rat being smashed away. How could it stay unharmed?

Boom!

Boom!

Abruptly, the ground began to shake again. One after another, three more walls were added outside the original three dirt walls, adding more protection for Lan Lele.

Su Yanying was stunned still.

What?

What did this mean?

Had the Earth Buddha given up on the attack?

But, if the Earth Buddha had curled up behind all those walls of defense, there wasn’t much she could do.

After all, the Earth Buddha was at the fifth rank and was a pet of the rock family with defense as a strong suit. The strongest pet she had was the Fanged Tiger who was at the intermediate position of the fourth rank. There was nothing the Fanged Tiger could do to the Earth Buddha.

A moment later, the dirt walls loosened a bit and a hole appeared. Lan Lele walked out from behind the walls, craning her neck to peer and make sure it was not dangerous outside. “What is going on?” She asked Su Yanying in confusion.

“Are you asking me?” Su Yanying was baffled.

“Just now, Zangzang sensed an intense danger so it locked me in there. I was so puzzled. What can be dangerous at the training grounds in our academy? As I see it, nothing seems to be out of place.” Lan Lele was perplexed.

“It sensed danger?” Su Yanying was filled with questions.

Everything was fine just then. What danger could there be?

Besides, her pets did not pick up any clues on danger and they didn’t give her such feedback.

“Did Zangzang get it wrong?” Lan Lele turned around. In the shades behind the dirt walls, she could see through the hole that the Earth Buddha was hiding in there. It was shivering and its four eyes were all demonstrating fear.

“That’s curious…” Lan Lele tilted her head, completely at a loss.

Su Yanying noticed how scared the Earth Buddha was. She was no less stunned. Pets were not sophisticated beings and that fear was not fake. That was to say, there was something that happened moments before that made the Earth Buddha sense danger and grow terrified because of it.

However, she had been there the whole time. She never saw anything off.

“Wait a minute. Isn’t it…” Su Yanying remembered that toward the end of the battle, the Earth Buddha escaped as soon as the sneak attack on the Lightning Rat took place.

The Lightning Rat was unharmed, so the Earth Buddha must have missed its target. In principle, the Earth Buddha should have struck while the iron was hot.

Unless, there was something else that made the Earth Buddha give up.

Something that the Earth Buddha was terrified of.

Could it be that this thing… was the Lightning Rat?

A glint of shock flashed past Su Yanying’s eyes.

Was it even possible?

The Lightning Rat was a low-rank pet. While it had picked up advanced pet skills, its potential was limited within that low-rank bracket; it couldn’t have shattered that shackle.

As a pet with an advanced bloodline, the Earth Buddha was proud. How could it be scared of a low-rank Lightning Rat?

“Lele, have your Earth Buddha come here,” Su Yanying said suddenly. To prove her theory would be easy. A simple test would do.

Lan Lele didn’t understand her friend’s intention, but she told the Earth Buddha to do so nonetheless.

The master’s will could not be disobeyed. Although the Earth Buddha was conveying its resistance to Lan Lele, it did step over.

It was just that, the Earth Buddha was incredibly slow.

“Lightning Rat, go to it,” Su Yanying said in her mind.

Receiving the order from its master, the Lightning Rat crawled up and stood on all fours slowly. Even though this was a rat, it could walk forward with the same graceful, light, and soundless demeanor seen in cats.

Su Yanying and Lan Lele were good students, but their visions were limited. Neither could discern the hidden power and cruelty in the Lightning Rat’s every move. That bearing and posture both indicated that the Lightning Rat could launch an alarming strike at any second just like an assassin concealed in the dark!

The Earth Buddha that was making its way to Lan Lele became even more fearful as it saw the Lightning Rat step over slowly. The Earth Buddha had practically stopped. Around its feet, the ground was shaking. Dirt and sand were crawling up from its feet to every corner of its body. The Earth Buddha was strengthening its defenses for protection.

Su Yanying’s eyes sparkled. She asked the Lightning Rat to come back and then told the Fanged Tiger move closer to the Earth Buddha who didn’t show any particular reaction. Instead, the Earth Buddha breathed in relief as the Lightning Rat moved away, as if a great burden had been lifted. The shell of dirt that covered up the Earth Buddha broke up into flowing sand and fell to the ground.

“I was right.”

Su Yanying was taken aback by what she saw.

It was the Lightning Rat.

The Earth Buddha was afraid of the Lightning Rat!!

That was the Earth Buddha, a famous pet of the rock family, a star amongst pets.

However, the Earth Buddha was scared of a Lightning Rat that could be seen anywhere…

“There must be something I don’t know. So, the Lightning Rat knows other skills, other than the ‘Multiple Thunder Shadow Image’. It has other powerful abilities!”

As Su Yanying made such assumptions, excitement rose in her eyes. Just this one “Multiple Thunder Shadow Image” was enough to thrill her. There were other possible skills!

That store owner did not mention this. Was he also unaware?

The training was such a good bargain!

“That store is more than trustworthy. But I don’t think the business is good given how unpopular it is. It must be that few people know about the store yet. I must go there more often before the store becomes popular. Maybe I can get a membership card or something…” Su Yanying had already begun to let her mind go wild.

“Yingying?” Lan Lele was surprised to see Su Yanying smirking to herself. Was it Su Yanying who scared the Earth Buddha?

Su Yanying came back to her senses. She didn’t have time to explain. “Help me with the other pets’ practice as well.”

“Eh, sure.” Lan Lele didn’t think too much about it.

She didn’t read into the fact that the Earth Buddha was scared. Her attention was not on the pets, to begin with. If she were willing to devote more efforts to raise her pets, given the wealth of her family, she could easily become a student to be showcased in the academy’s newspaper.

Afterward.

Su Yanying sent out her Fanged Tiger, the Fallen Phoenix, and the Ugly Stone Beast one after another. She noticed that the three pets she had left in boarding had made progress as well.

While their progress was not as noticeable when compared with Lightning Rat, their combat strengths had been improved by half at least. The Fanged Tiger was below the fifth rank and could never compete with the Earth Buddha. However, not only could the Fanged Tiger fight the Earth Buddha for a bit, the former was not at a disadvantage!

As Su Yanying’s usual training partner, Lan Lele could sense the change as well. She was surprised to see that in merely three days, Su Yanying’s three pets had experienced such a drastic rise in their abilities, as if they were on drugs!

Could this be a result of the boarding service in that pet store?

Lan Lele’s eyes blinked. As the daughter of a businessman, she was born with an acute business sense. She could tell that that store could bring forth huge commercial opportunities!

Soon, the training ended. Su Yanying looked at the time. Her turn was almost up. She didn’t go on to prevent her pets from spending more energy. They weren’t pushed to their limits in those training fights.

“Let’s go.”

Su Yanying was in a good mood. She didn’t think that she could take the crown in this year’s tournament. But, after the result of those drills and having felt the transformation of her pets, she believed she had a chance to reach for the championship!