Chapter 82: Intimacy

Chapter 82: Chapter 82: Intimacy

"This is just so awesome!"

After releasing the first Soul Qi pet of his life from his pet space, Li Heng gazed at the Ice Luan, which stood about three meters tall. The longer he looked, the more satisfied he became.

Its looks were definitely top-notch—a real head-turner and a feast for the eyes.

As for its strength, he had just "experienced" that firsthand. While it couldn’t defeat him, its three core stats were all at 25, and its Spirit stat was an even higher 27.

Li Heng reckoned that not even the Blood Wolf King could defeat his Ice Luan—in a one-on-one fight, of course.

Though a chill constantly radiated from the Ice Luan, Li Heng didn’t feel cold at all. To him, the temperature felt completely normal.

As Li Heng sized up the Ice Luan, it tilted its head, its eyes fixed on him and darting about as if deep in thought.

Only after finishing his inspection of the first pet he’d ever owned did Li Heng slowly come down from his high, at which point he noticed a "key detail."

Intimacy: 59.

Max Intimacy: 255?!

’Are you seriously pulling a Pokémon on me? Max intimacy is even 255!’

Li Heng felt his head spin. In a certain Pokémon game back on Earth, the maximum intimacy value for the creatures was exactly 255.

’Did this system just rip that off directly?’

As for the Intimacy stat, Li Heng wanted to see if he could increase it using Soul Qi Points. But when he saw the cost, he couldn’t help but curse out loud again.

’Are pets this hard to raise?’

A single point of Intimacy costs 1,000 Soul Qi Points?

To raise a pet from 0 Intimacy to the maximum value would require 255,000 Soul Qi Points!

A single run through Wolf King Mountain—without even going to the summit—wouldn’t yield 1,000 Soul Qi Points even if he fought for his life.

That meant he’d have to grind Wolf King Mountain around 300 times just to max out the Intimacy of a pet starting from zero.

runs of the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon?!

’So much for my sanity and my hairline!’

Li Heng didn’t even have the energy to complain anymore. ’The Intimacy stat can wait. I’ll have opportunities to max it out eventually.’

In principle, Soul Qi pets would never betray their masters, but Intimacy could affect how well they responded to commands and other such things.

’I can worry about the rest later. From now on, I have a Soul Qi pet. That’s enough!’

After selectively ignoring the 255 max Intimacy and the 1,000 Soul Qi Points needed per level, Li Heng found his mood greatly improved once more.

Moreover, now that he had a Soul Qi pet, Li Heng finally understood what the "feedback" between Lin Tao and his Blood Wolf cub had meant.

"Hungry~"

"Moon... dangerous~"

The Ice Luan didn’t make a sound, but Li Heng could faintly perceive its "thoughts." The process of receiving this feedback wasn’t exactly smooth, however.

It took Li Heng several minutes to roughly sort out the meaning behind the Ice Luan’s thoughts.

Hunger was easy enough to understand.

He could just feed it something in a little while.

’But the moon... dangerous?’

’Could it be related to the Desolate Moon?’

At this thought, Li Heng couldn’t help but look up at the moons in the sky. There were still several of them, one after another.

Except now, their color was gradually shifting from its original yellow to a reddish hue.

’The moons can change color? This Secret Realm sure is interesting!’

He had no idea what danger this foretold, nor did he understand the significance of the moons changing color. It was the kind of thing he’d never figure out by guessing, so dwelling on it would be a pointless struggle.

So, Li Heng decided to focus on handling the tasks at hand. Whatever happened later, he would just deal with it as it came.

For now, at least, Li Heng wasn’t too worried about anything else happening. As long as a Tier 3 Soul Beast didn’t show up in front of him, he had no reason to be afraid.

However, just to be safe, Li Heng upgraded all the medicinal herbs inside his Space Stone to Tier 2, which was the "Rare" grade.

’I wonder what Ice Luans normally eat. Should I try feeding it some Soul Beast Meat first?’

Putting aside any thoughts about the meaning behind the Desolate Moon’s changes, Li Heng walked over to the ten Soul Beasts he had killed earlier. He used his Empty Cicada Longsword to carve them up and fed the resulting Soul Beast Meat to the Ice Luan.

The Ice Luan didn’t hesitate. With a dip and a peck of its beak, it slowly swallowed the Soul Beast Meat.

Watching his Soul Qi pet eat so happily, Li Heng wondered if he was being influenced by it, as he suddenly felt hungry too. He then led the Ice Luan toward their resting spot.

For various reasons, the campfire at the resting spot had long since gone out. Li Heng relit it with a flint and began a new round of grilling.

’The tremors in the ground seem much weaker than before, and has the rampage of the Secret Realm Creatures ended?’

The Ice Luan stood guard in front of the resting spot, acting as a sentry, while Li Heng focused on grilling the Soul Beast Meat.

He also noticed that ever since he had defeated the Ice Luan and received it as a Soul Qi pet, the cacophony of Soul Beast roars across the island had gradually subsided. Now, he only heard one or two from time to time, and the tremors under his feet were not as intense as they had been initially.

This was undoubtedly good news; at least the island was slowly stabilizing.

CHIRP~

"Hm? You want some of this?"

Just as Li Heng was noting the island’s gradual stabilization, the piece of Soul Beast Meat he was grilling was nearly done. But right as he was about to take a bite, he heard the Ice Luan’s soft cry and turned his head to look at it.

He saw the Ice Luan tilting its head, its bird-like eyes staring hopefully at the grilled meat in Li Heng’s hand. Its expression clearly conveyed two words.

"Want some!"

Right on cue, Li Heng received the corresponding feedback, sensing that the Ice Luan did indeed want to eat the grilled meat he was holding.

Li Heng just smiled and shook his head. He tore off a small piece for himself and gave the rest of the grilled meat to the Ice Luan.

[Ding! Ice Luan Intimacy +1.]

After the Ice Luan ate the grilled meat he’d given it, Li Heng suddenly heard the system notification. He froze for a moment, then muttered to himself, "So... feeding it increases Intimacy?"

The Intimacy score went from 59 to 60. Though it was just a one-point increase, the discovery made Li Heng genuinely happy.

’After all, if feeding it can increase Intimacy, that must mean other actions can increase it too.’

’As long as there are other methods besides just pumping Soul Qi Points into it, my hairline is safe.’

The thought of grinding the Wolf King Mountain Dungeon 300 times was something he didn’t even want to entertain!

Seeing that feeding it could increase Intimacy, and noticing the Ice Luan still looked like it wanted more, Li Heng grabbed another piece of Soul Beast Meat and started a new round of grilling, putting much more on the fire this time.

Li Heng was cheerfully grilling the meat, completely unaware that a pair of large, round eyes was currently staring daggers at him—and at the Ice Luan by his side!

「Half an hour earlier.」

After confirming that there was no sign of the Ice Luan and discovering that the island’s Secret Realm Creatures had stopped their rampage and the tremors had ceased, Bao Yaoyao had the thought to go back and check on Li Heng.

’If the Ice Luan is still there and I can’t find Li Heng, or if he’s down for the count, I’ll turn and run without looking back,’ she had decided.

After all, she was no match for the Ice Luan. Going back would just be serving herself up on a platter.

’But, if the Ice Luan has flown off and Li Heng is seriously injured but still alive, then I have to try and save him.’

Honestly, Li Heng was one of the most formidable Soul Apprentices Bao Yaoyao had ever met; in terms of Swordsmanship, she would even say he was the best.

And his grilled meat was delicious.

For all these reasons, it seemed she had to go back and check on Li Heng.

And so, after a long internal struggle, Bao Yaoyao steeled herself, gritted her teeth, and decided to go back and take a look.

She prayed continuously, ’Please let the Ice Luan have flown away, and please let Li Heng still be alive.’

However, when Bao Yaoyao finally arrived back at the scene, she was utterly stunned by what she saw.

’Not only is Li Heng fine, he’s... playing with the Ice Luan?!’