Starting With Contract Pets
chapter-127

Chapter 127: Sudden Coldness

“How is it? Are you shocked?” asked Hou Lan with a smile upon seeing the boy’s dull expression.

He had also been shocked the first time he came here.

“This is the altar of the Eternally Miraculous Beauty? What are we doing here?” asked Su Bai curiously.

He was completely shocked by this Nine-tailed Magic Fox and its characteristics. He was even afraid that this fellow would suddenly come back to life.

If the Nine-tailed Magic Fox completed its transformation at the peak of its fantasy attribute, then they might have to account for it here.

“This isn’t an ordinary altar; it’s where the Eternally Miraculous Beauty’s real body once descended. According to Elder Tong’s calculations, this Eternally Miraculous Beauty fulfilled the wish of this Nine-tailed Magic Fox.

“What we have to do is use the miraculous dream power radiating here to infect our spiritual plants or pet eggs. Then we’ll see if any special pets or spiritual plants are born.

“Of course, the most fundamental purpose here is to consume the dream power while taking care not to resurrect this Nine-tailed Magic Fox,” said Hou Lan.

“Still, there’s no need to worry; it’s impossible to resurrect this Nine-tailed Magic Fox. Over the years, its dream power has been getting weaker and weaker. The Nine-tailed Magic Fox is only left with its bony body; I believe that Elder Tong will be able to retrieve its crystal nucleus soon.”

Luo Xia also explained on the side.

“Yes, the old man is really generous to let us juniors be in contact with such power.”

“Haha! Let’s start.” The old man chuckled slightly.

With that, everyone went into separate laboratories, opened their backpacks, and took out the things they had prepared to infect with the dream power.

Whatever was being researched here could be directly taken away, and the old man would not detain anything, too.

Su Bai was about to go help Hou Lan prepare when the elderly appraiser stopped him. “The Thousand-face Fox in your arms is a fantasy pet, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is indeed.” He turned around and nodded.

“I think it wants to get closer to the Nine-tailed Magic Fox and understand the laws on its body. You can let it get closer to the Nine-tailed Magic Fox; I believe that it’ll be of great help.”

The elderly appraiser smiled.

“Thank you, Elder Tong.”

Su Bai was surprised. He caressed his baby fox and placed it down not far from the Nine-tailed Magic Fox, telling it not to get too close.

“Hing!”

Ah Bai, don’t worry.

The Mewling Fox nodded and squatted on the spot, exuding a faint dreamy spiritual power to perceive the dream essense spilling in the air.

Meanwhile, Su Bai walked over to help out Hou Lan.

The latter took out a lot of fantasy materials from his backpack and handed some to him. “Let’s go; follow me to infect these with the dream power.”

“Are all these fantasy materials?” he asked.

“Yes, I used to bring other materials before, but the effect wasn’t too great. Only fantasy materials can be infected with more of the miraculous dream power.”

Hou Lan explained and raised a spiritual plant in his hand, placing it among the dreamy light particles emanating from the Nine-tailed Magic Fox’s head. All of a sudden, some light particles attached themselves to the spiritual plant.

After a while, this phenomenon disappeared. He took back the spiritual plant and looked at the youth. “This is how the infection works. I’ll have to trouble you with infecting the other materials while I perform some stuff.”

“Okay.”

Su Bai nodded.

While doing as requested, he asked again, “How long have you known Elder Tong?”

“Hmm… I heard of his name when I was a child but only formally met him a few years ago when I accepted his invitation,” replied Hou Lan.

“Then has he not left this place all these years?”

He inquired further.

The other shook his head. “No, he’s lived in seclusion for at least ten years. As far as I know, he has lived here and never left.

“To be honest with you, I want a place that is quiet, beautiful, and undisturbed like this as well. I feel that I can stay in such a place for decades. ”

“I won’t be able to do that. I still prefer the bustling city, though it’s fine to stay in a quiet place from time to time.”

Su Bai shook his head and said, “Brother Hou, you seem very familiar with everything here. Do you come here every year?”

“No, it’s only my third time here. It depends on whether Elder Tong invites me over or not. If he doesn’t, then I won’t be able to come.

“This is also considered a kind of qualification. Most people don’t have the chance to receive an invitation from him. He likes more talented young people, so I think he’ll definitely invite you next year. Maybe then I can come along and bask in your glory.”

Hou Lan laughed.

“You’re too kind. My knowledge is nowhere comparable to yours.” He shook his head.

They chatted for a while before Su Bai went to chat with others and connect with them more.

“Have you relied on the dream power to nurture a particularly strong pet egg before?” He asked the tomboyish girl.

“Yes, I almost cultivated a god pet before.” Luo Xia said proudly and took out her phone to show him the pictures.

“I brought my fantasy Sound Bird egg here today; I think it can also be bred into a superb egg.”

“I see. It’s amazing.”

Su Bai nodded and excused himself.

While helping Hou Lan, he pondered over one thing.

Everyone said that the Nine-tailed Magic Fox’s dream power was steadily decreasing, but based on the information he had glimpsed, it was about to be fulfilled, instead.

Perhaps they had been helping the Nine-tailed Magic Fox gather its dream power from beginning to end without knowing it.

Su Bai now had reason to suspect that this entire space was actually a reality illusion created by the Nine-tailed Magic Fox before its death. Since its wish had successfully been granted by the Eternally Miraculous Beauty, its fantasy could be transformed into real life.

These people had accidentally strayed into its fantasy which was a tool used by the Nine-tailed Magic Fox to gather fantasy power fast.

More importantly, Elder Tong’s behavior was too abnormal. Not only had he been staying here for more than a decade, he would also call people over and generously give away treasures every year.

If he needed fantasy materials to consume the power of the Nine-tailed Magic Fox, why did he not just head out and gather them by himself? As a senior egg appraiser, was it not easy for him to obtain those materials?

Was there a need for him to work so hard? Why would he let a group of juniors come here to consume the dream power with low-level materials?

This only showed one issue; the elderly appraiser could not leave this place.

The reason why he could not leave was perhaps due to him being under the Nine-tailed Magic Fox’s control. He might break free of its control if he went far away or he might lose his life. His current self was only a real fantasy and could not be maintained if he was too far from the fox’s sphere of influence.

Moreover, this place was not well fortified, so the Nine-tailed Magic Fox did not dare to let powerful Pet Tamers in.

If they were too powerful, they might destroy its resurrection plan and ruin its real fantasy.

Su Bai had the golden fingers and the Dragon Soul skills, so he might be the only person it was unable to control in this fantasy.

Through these inferences, he was eighty percent convinced.

After all, the data he had seen could not be faked, and there was no existence that could deceive it, either.

However, even if he guessed correctly, there was nothing he could do about it. He was just a weakling with a few warlords and could not possibly make any big storms.

Even if it was a dead emperor pet, it could still easily kill him.

In fact, he did not plan to do anything. He just wanted to spend these two days quietly and leave safely.

After checking the situation back at home, he might tell his master about this and find someone to clean up the scene.

He might ignore the whole thing as well. After all, the Nine-tailed Magic Fox did not seem to have harmed anyone, so it was not necessary to deal with it.

Time passed slowly as everyone busied themselves with their own experiments. Only he seemed to be sitting on pins and needles. Every time they experimented, he was one step closer to danger.

However, he could not find any excuse to interrupt them.

“Wow, I succeeded! Look at this fantasy egg; its origin has improved!”

Luo Xia said excitedly while holding the fist-size egg.

Looking over, Su Bai saw the egg glowing with fluorescence like a dream, and its origin had indeed strengthened.

“Congratulations.”

The others raised their heads to congratulate her before continuing their work silently. They all wanted to obtain something good, too.

At this moment, a silver light radiated from the body of the Nine-tailed Magic Fox. Dream power gathered in the air and flew toward it, causing a special wave to erupt from its body.

After the rays of light disappeared, the Mewling Fox revealed its figure. It was still white and almost the size of a big orange, but it had three fluffy tails behind it now.

It had evolved from a Little White Fox to a Magic Fox.

“Did it just self-evolve? This talent is amazing!” someone exclaimed.

“Wow, your pet’s quality is too good. Forget that you have the extinct Thousand-face Fox pet, it’s even of such an excellent breed. I can’t believe it self-evolved to a mid-level servant. It’s too terrifying!

“No, you must let me breed with it; I can’t bear it anymore.”

Luo Xia’s eyes widened. With her professional judgment, she understood how outstanding this Thousand-face Fox was.

Although its potential might be a bit worse than the cub from yesterday, it was still a superb pet.

“Yes! Aren’t you a genius secretly raised by some gymnasium?”

The others could not help but exclaim. It was not easy to make a pet self-evolve.

“No, no. I’m just lucky to have these two pets.”

Su Bai shook his head quickly and hugged his baby fox.

He had not expected it to evolve, either. He took a closer and saw its dream eyes and unique, soft fur.

It had not just evolved into a Magic Fox but also understood the profound meaning of fantasy. This was definitely a joyous occasion to him.

“Boy, can you lend me your pet for a while? I realize that it eliminated the dream power very quickly and even absorbed a lot of it after breaking through.

“I promise that nothing will happen to it, and it’ll further understand the profound meaning of fantasy by staying here. It might even understand the law of fantasy. What do you say?”

Elder Tong suddenly spoke.

“No need. I should raise my pet myself. Thank you for the kind intentions.”

He quickly shook his head and rejected the offer.

“Think about it carefully. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It’s impossible for ordinary fantasy pets to have this kind of opportunity. It’s very cost-effective to store it here for a short time.”

Hou Lan could not help but advise when the boy refused.

“Yes, this is a rare opportunity. Give it a careful consideration. It seems like your pet really wants to stay here.”

The others could not help but advise as well, wondering why he wanted to give up such a good opportunity.

“I’ll let it stay two more days at most, but I’ll accompany it and observe the situation.” Su Bai glanced at the Mewling Fox.

This promise was of course a last resort, and in fact his heart had already sunk into the pits of his stomach.

He originally thought it was a good thing that his pet had evolved, but his heart turned cold upon seeing its specific data.

Normally, it would only have one tail, but it had grown three tails at once. The Nine-tailed Magic Fox must have done something to his pet to make it evolve with three tails.

The Thousand-face Fox and the Nine-tailed Magic Fox were not of the same race, so the latter must have its purpose for doing so. It was probably targeting the former.

After all, his pet’s innate origin was full, and because of its years inside the egg, it had an innate understanding of the profundity of thousand faces. The Nine-tailed Magic Fox could not easily find another pet like this, could it?

The saturation of the origin itself was an incredible thing, and only Su Bai could do it easily with the light balls.

Regardless, he did not think that this turn of events was a good thing.

The dream power that a pet like the Mewling Fox could create far exceeded what the other pet eggs and materials could.

As for its consciousness, he did not know if it had been infected.

“It seems that you don’t trust me very much. It just so happens that it’s almost night. Everyone, go out first; I want to have a talk with Su Bai.”

Elder Tong smiled.

“Su Bai, Think about it carefully.” Hou Lan patted his arm and turned to leave. Everyone here seemed to trust the old man very much.

Watching these people leave one after another, his heart sank even deeper. What should he do if the Nine-tailed Magic Fox suddenly caused him trouble?

More importantly, it might not necessarily be the Nine-tailed Magic Fox that had risen in revolt but rather the old man in front of him.

He had previously guessed that Elder Tong was either being controlled or was dead.

However, what if he was not being controlled and had plotted from beginning to end to resurrect this Nine-tailed Magic Fox to possess its real dream power?

This would be the most terrifying situation. It showed that he had the means to deal with the Nine-tailed Magic Fox and was not affected by its fantasy. If so, he must have been plotting to possess this Nine-tailed Magic Fox for many years.

As for why he could not leave, there might be other reasons and restrictions.

Perhaps the reason why the Nine-tailed Magic Fox’s real dream power had evolved to such a degree was due to this old man’s efforts over the past decade?

If this was so, then with this old man’s patience, Su Bai felt that he and his Mewling Fox were both in danger.

Now that the dream power in this real fantasy territory was about to be saturated, he guessed that this elderly appraiser was willing to do anything to speed up the process.

It was not impossible for the old man to kill him and forcibly snatch the Mewling Fox.

Compared to the human mind, monsters were much safer and peaceful.