19: Enter the secret realm

As soon as he reached the second floor, Luo Chen discovered the Secret Realm rewarded by the system.

In the southeast corner of the second floor, a light portal over two meters high stood quietly; the portal was a deep, ghostly blue.

Luo Chen walked up to the portal. The ghostly blue light shone on his face, giving him an inexplicably eerie feeling.

He had originally wanted to go straight in, but looking at himself and the Xiao Maoqiu next to him—who was still in its cub State—he sighed silently and abandoned the idea.

Entering the Secret Realm was important, but his own life was important too.

From what the system implied, a Rank 1 Secret Realm was filled entirely with Ferocious Beast Rank beasts, meaning anything from one-star Ferocious Beast to nine-star Ferocious Beast was possible.

The Light Spirit Cat he had contracted was currently only a five-star Ferocious Beast; entering rashly really wasn't safe.

Luo Chen opened his terminal and dialed a number.

"Brother, ..."

...

When Luo Yang arrived at the pet shop, he found the doors tightly shut with a 'Temporarily Closed' sign hanging outside.

He shook his head helplessly. This pet shop was run far too casually, closing at the drop of a hat; it was really easy to leave a bad impression on customers.

He sent Luo Chen a message on his terminal, and the shop door was quickly opened from the inside.

Luo Chen poked his head out, and seeing it was only Luo Yang, he quickly reached out an arm to pull him inside. Then, a 'click' sounded as the door was locked from the inside once more.

"Brother, what's going on? Why did you call me here so mysteriously?" As soon as he entered the shop, Luo Yang asked impatiently.

Luo Chen didn't explain directly but simply said to Luo Yang, "Follow me." After speaking, he led the way toward the second floor.

Luo Yang followed Luo Chen to the foot of the stairs and noticed a note posted there that hadn't been there before.

'Nurturing Sanctuary, No Visitors Allowed'

He remembered that this note wasn't here when he visited yesterday; it seemed his brother had just posted it today.

But it was just a note, so Luo Yang didn't mind. What he cared about was what was on the second floor that made his brother close the shop.

They climbed the stairs quickly. There were very few things on the second floor: just a pool and a light portal.

"A Secret Realm?"

As soon as he saw that light portal, Luo Yang cried out in surprise, clearly being all too familiar with this thing.

However, Secret Realms shouldn't open inside a city because the atmospheric membrane protecting every city possessed certain spatial laws that interfered with their formation, causing portals to open outside the city walls.

Luo Yang's expression changed slightly, and his Blazing Lion instantly appeared before him. Then, with a quick roll, he stood protectively in front of his 'silly brother'.

Luo Chen looked blankly at the figure in front of him and poked Luo Yang's back. "Brother, what are you doing?"

Luo Yang and the Blazing Lion looked warily at the light portal. Seeing that no beasts were coming out for the time being, he decided to educate his brother, who hadn't attended much school, on beast knowledge.

"That light portal leads to a Secret Realm. At any moment, beasts of unknown Rank could rush out. Let's go down first and report the situation here to the Law Enforcement Team."

He then kept his eyes on the quiet portal while preparing to shield Luo Chen as they retreated toward the stairs.

"Uh." Luo Chen now realized Luo Yang had misunderstood and had to explain. He grabbed Luo Yang's forearm from behind, stopping his retreat.

Luo Yang turned his head halfway, casting a confused look at Luo Chen.

Luo Chen rubbed his nose and said weakly, "Brother, is it possible that I summoned that Secret Realm?"

"?" The confusion on Luo Yang's face deepened. 'Brother, do you even hear what you're saying?'

Luo Chen easily analyzed Luo Yang's current mental State from his facial expression. Luo Chen's voice sounded very confident.

"You can think of it as part of my talent. I did indeed summon this Secret Realm, but it's a one-way passage. We can go in, but without my permission, the beasts inside cannot come out."

A look of daze appeared on Luo Yang's youthful face. After a while, he spoke up dully, "Just like when you treated that Fine Steel Butterfly yesterday, is it part of your talent?"

Luo Chen nodded and looked at Luo Yang with a firm gaze. "Exactly. Moreover, this Secret Realm is filled entirely with Ferocious Beast Rank beasts. I called you here because I wanted you to go in and take a look with me."

It took quite a while for Luo Yang to digest the news Luo Chen told him, though his face still held a look of half-belief and half-doubt.

The two of them walked up to the light portal. The nine-star Ferocious Beast Blazing Lion stood in front, followed by Luo Yang, and finally Luo Chen with the Light Spirit Cat perched on his shoulder.

The two people and two beasts entered the portal in sequence.

When Luo Chen entered the light portal, he didn't feel anything special; it seemed no different from passing through any other ordinary door.

The difference was that after entering the portal, the change in temperature on their skin made them truly feel that they had arrived in another space.

There was light in this space, but it wasn't bright; it was about as bright as the moment the sun sets and twilight begins.

However, the flickering flames on the Blazing Lion made Luo Chen and the others much brighter than their surroundings.

Looking around, the two people and two beasts appeared to be standing in an open prairie. The surroundings were all wilderness, and Luo Chen could feel the green grass brushing against his pant legs.

This space wasn't very large; it was the kind where you could see the end at a glance. It was estimated to be about ten thousand square meters in size and about fifty meters high.

As for why Luo Chen made such an estimate, it was because he could see the atmospheric membrane representing the boundary of the Secret Realm within his field of vision. At the edge of the membrane were distorted spatial ripples that emitted unreal, multicolored light, making them easy to spot.

"System, this is the Rank 1 Secret Realm? It doesn't look like there are any beasts here."

The system's haughty voice rang in Luo Chen's mind. "The host is requested to actively explore and discover for himself."

Luo Chen curled his lip, really not seeing what there was to explore in such a small space.

He crouched down helplessly and used the Eye of Truth to look at the ubiquitous green grass, hoping to find something.

[Name: ever-green grass]

Use: A favorite food of Twin-Headed Antelopes; long-term consumption can promote evolution.]

Although it wasn't a beast, it was at least a spiritual grass related to beasts. The disappointment in Luo Chen's heart dissipated slightly.

The Blazing Lion circled around Luo Yang and Luo Chen. Although the flames on its body were illusory, the high temperature it emitted still caused the ever-green grass in the area to wither.

Luo Chen first observed the surrounding environment warily. After seeing the size of this Secret Realm, he quietly breathed a sigh of relief; surely any beasts in a realm this size wouldn't be very strong.

"Brother, does this grass have any use?" Seeing Luo Chen observe the grass for a long time, Luo Yang couldn't help but ask.

Luo Chen nodded. "It's a type of green grass that Twin-Headed Antelopes like to eat. It's somewhat useful. Let's walk around and see if there are any beasts in this small Secret Realm."

With that, Luo Chen stood up, picked a random direction, and walked forward.

Luo Yang naturally had no objections, but he and the Blazing Lion flanked Luo Chen and Xiao Maoqiu like two great guardians, protecting them in the middle.

After walking about another hundred meters, Luo Chen finally discovered a plant different from the ever-green grass. Moreover, he felt that the energy level within it was more than double that of the ever-green grass.

The good news: there were indeed beasts in the Secret Realm.

The bad news: it was a plant-type beast.

Among current low-Rank Beast Masters, there was a ranking for popular beast types.

The first tier was naturally flying beasts; the second tier was land-running beasts; the third tier was plant-type beasts; and the fourth tier—the one least recommended for novice Beast Masters to contract—was naturally beasts that could only live in water.

After a moment, Luo Chen composed himself and turned to carefully observe the plant-type beast in front of him.

In appearance, it grew half a meter tall, much higher than the ever-green grass beside it. It was ghostly blue all over and had no stem; only three flat leaves jutted out from the ground.

Looking at the shape of this plant, Luo Chen somehow thought of a plant from his previous life called 'Gladiolus'. The leaves were very similar, but the color was worlds apart.

Selecting this ghostly blue, poisonous-looking plant as the target for his Eye of Truth, Luo Chen carefully observed its detailed information.