Lin Zhen's Pet, Little Warm

When Lin Zhen regained consciousness, he felt weak all over, dizzy and his vision blurred, which were signs of excessive blood loss.

"Ugh, I feel so dizzy!"

Lin Zhen sat up unsteadily, checked the time, and realized that more than a whole day had passed.

Clang!

Something fell down at the cave entrance. When Lin Zhen looked, he found that the Liquid Metal that had been blocking the cave entrance had fallen down and rolled right up to him.

This is too metal! Lin Zhen turned it into a circular wall to block the cave entrance. Thanks to it, Lin Zhen was able to survive inside the cave by blocking the backflow of magma and the invasion of heat waves. But how did it fall down?

Lin Zhen was still somewhat dazed after putting away the Liquid Metal. If the magma had washed away the Liquid Metal, it wouldn't have flowed into this cave.

As the magma poured in, Lin Zhen estimated that he was now just Bone.

"Where's the puppy?" Lin Zhen looked around, but couldn't find the puppy anywhere.

"Could it have run away? It actually ran away after sucking so much of my blood?" Lin Zhen was quite frustrated. In his current state of blood loss, even an ordinary person or a weak War God would have died. Even though he was full of energy, he was extremely weak at the moment, which greatly affected his combat power. But the Star River Beast actually ran away.

"I guess it loosened the Liquid Metal when it ran away. Oh well, it was all for nothing. I hope I can recover quickly. I still need to collect the Cinnabar Stone and the Overlord Body Stone. I can't stay in this state."

Lin Zhen struggled to his feet, wanting to leave this place, otherwise if the volcano erupted again in a while, he might not be able to leave.

Just as he reached the cave entrance, the incredible heat wave struck again, and Lin Zhen wanted to activate his Mental Power shield to leave.

Just then, he suddenly saw a surge in the lava below, and the little dog swam out of it as if swimming. Then, it leaped out of the air, taking three steps at a time!

Moreover, the puppy was carrying a strange, bright red fish in its mouth. The fish was two feet long, much larger than the puppy, but it was already dead in the puppy's mouth.

The puppy ran a few steps to the cave where Lin Zhen was, and then bumped into Lin Zhen's arms.

Lin Zhen, weakened by his injuries, couldn't withstand the puppy's impact, and the two of them tumbled back into the depths of the cave.

"Ouch! What happened?"

Lin Zhen bumped into the Meteorite encasing the eggshell and felt an intense soreness all over his body.

The puppy, however, was completely unaffected, and licked Lin Zhen's face with its warm tongue, making his face all wet.

"This little guy has recognized me as his master? Or does he treat me like his mother?" Lin Zhen looked at the puppy snuggling in her arms with some disbelief.

Its condition was clearly different from before. Its golden fur had become shiny, and the mane around its neck had changed from a light red to a fiery red. Its limbs also seemed more powerful, and its eyes seemed to have a faint starlight floating between them.

When the big mouth opened, the baby teeth didn't seem to grow longer, but Lin Zhen could tell from the dead red fish that the mouth was definitely powerful.

A long tail swayed behind it, but it didn't look like a dog's tail; rather, it resembled a lion's tail.

"This is definitely not a dog, it just looks like one." Lin Zhen quickly made a decision.

The creature nestled in Lin Zhen's arms, its body still warm; swimming in the lava hadn't affected it in the slightest.

"As expected, it grew up surrounded by magma and has no fear of fire at all."

Lin Zhen carefully picked up the puppy and looked it over, growing to like it more and more with each glance.

Because he also sensed the power of lightning and light on the puppy, which was inherited from Lin Zhen!

The puppy licked Lin Zhen's face twice, then jumped down, picked up the fish that had rolled to the side, and put it in Lin Zhen's arms.

"Does this mean I should eat it?" Lin Zhen couldn't help but ask.

Unexpectedly, the puppy seemed to understand, opened its mouth and made a biting motion, then stuck out its tongue and looked at Lin Zhen.

Lin Zhen picked up the fish and felt that it was somewhat transparent, like it was made of jelly.

He took a sniff and couldn't detect any fishy smell. Since it was sent by Star River Beast, it probably wouldn't be poisonous. Lin Zhen was indeed weak, so he took a bite.

The fish melted in his mouth, and Lin Zhen immediately felt a fiery power rise from his Dantian, flowing through his limbs and bones, allowing his body, which had lost too much blood, to recover somewhat.

"It is indeed a very nourishing food, then I won't be polite."

Lin Zhen immediately started eating, and the more he ate, the more delicious it became. His lost strength gradually returned.

The puppy wasn't idle either; it picked up the crab meat that Lin Zhen had given it earlier. The piece of crab meat was quite large, bigger than its body, but it swallowed it in just a few bites.

After finishing its meal, it wagged its tail at Lin Zhen, seemingly still wanting more.

Lin Zhen immediately took out a piece of crab meat weighing over 100 pounds and threw it in front of the dog. The dog pounced on it and ate at an incredible speed.

The fish weighed about ten pounds. When Lin Zhen finished it, the little dog actually ate all the crab meat weighing over a hundred pounds.

"This guy can eat way too!"

Lin Zhen glanced at the glutton, then silently closed his eyes. He felt a surge of power within him and needed to regulate his breathing.

While Lin Zhen was meditating in the cave, the puppy lay down beside her legs, occasionally rolling over to expose its belly, seemingly treating Lin Zhen as its mother or owner.

During the process of adjusting his breathing, Lin Zhen became increasingly horrified.

It wasn't the power of the red fish that replenished his lost blood, but rather that he discovered a large amount of molten lava had appeared in the core of his Dantian, within the Dark Star!

The Dark Star was originally composed of Dark Energy, Dark Matter, light, electricity, and cold air, and never had the power of fire. However, now it has a large amount of Flame Power, which is hidden in the Star Core in a form similar to magma, just like a large amount of magma contained inside a planet.

"Did you get this from the puppy?"

After thinking about it carefully, Lin Zhen concluded that it was caused by the power within the puppy that fed him with his own blood.

The puppy now occasionally displays electric and light power when it opens and closes its eyes, and its body is not unbearably hot. This is caused by absorbing Lin Zhen's energy. Lin Zhen has Dark Star inside him, which also absorbed the puppy's power in the process, forming flame lava.

This Dark Star is gradually taking on the appearance of a real planet.

Flames reside deep within the planet, followed by the main body formed from Dark Matter. The chill is forced back to both ends, and the power of electricity and light flows everywhere. As it slowly rotates, it truly has a bit of the feel of a planet.

Lin Zhen was secretly delighted. This time, he had truly Blessing in Disguise, as the power of fire was extremely important to him.

Lin Zhen had always harbored a desire to forge Star Artifact; otherwise, he wouldn't have studied Star Artifact knowledge for so long in his previous life. However, that required the power of fire as a foundation, and he never expected to possess it so easily.

After regulating his breathing for a while and absorbing all the blood and energy of the red fish, Lin Zhen felt that his condition had returned to normal, and was even better than before.

"You really are a lucky charm."

Lin Zhen picked up the golden-haired, red-maned poodle at her feet and pinched its nose. "What's your name?"

The puppy's nostrils were quite large, but very cute. When Lin Zhen pinched them, the puppy squirmed uncomfortably, and two Mars shot out from its nostrils, carrying a faint sulfurous smell. There was even a tiny crackling of Electric Light in one of the sparks.

"Your name is Xiao Hong?"

The puppy seemed to know that Lin Zhen was naming it, and it snorted a little Mars from its nostrils, probably because it was unhappy.

"Your name is Xiao Jin?"

The smell of sulfur was a bit stronger, and the puppy even whimpered twice. Lin Zhen could even see a hint of disdain in its eyes.

"Your body is so warm, let's call you Little Warm)."

The puppy tilted its head and paused for a moment, then stuck out its tongue and licked Lin Zhen's palm.

"Okay, it's settled then. Little Warm, come with me and leave this place."

Lin Zhen was preoccupied with matters outside. The Arena Tournament had started only a week after she arrived, and now more than a day had passed. She still needed to retrieve two stones and couldn't afford to delay any longer.

Lin Zhen walked ahead, and Little Warm followed behind Lin Zhen like a little lion.

Just as they arrived at the cave entrance, lava surged up from below, threatening to flood the cave.

Lin Zhen hurriedly took out the Liquid Metal, preparing to transform it into a wall to block the magma again. Unexpectedly, Little Warm jumped out and opened her big mouth, sucking in all the magma that had just rushed into the cave entrance. She even sucked down a large section of the magma that was surging up from inside the volcano!

The lava entered Little Warm's mouth and seemed to shrink rapidly, turning into a small red Lava Ball that disappeared into its belly.

"Innate Devour! This is the Star River Beast's Innate Devour! Without Star Power to counter it, there's absolutely no way to resist this attack. It instantly kills anyone below the Stellar Realm —truly a monstrous ability!"

Feeling awe at the power of the Star River Beast, Lin Zhen seized the opportunity to Teleport a hundred meters away, flapped his Lightning Wings, and rushed out of the Volcano Crater in two seconds.

He thought Little Warm wouldn't come out for a while, but when he turned around, he found that Little Warm was following behind him, stepping on empty air. When she saw him, she trembled and Mars flew all over her.

"You... you can actually keep up with my speed?" Lin Zhen looked at the creature that resembled both a lion and a dog, her eyes filled with disbelief.

"Roar!"

Little Warm Nuan barked proudly twice, sounding a bit like a lion or tiger, yet also with a childlike quality.

This was the first time Lin Zhen had heard Little Warm call out, and he really didn't know what kind of creature this Star River Beast was.

The volcanic lava behind him then erupted, and Lin Zhen immediately flapped his Lightning Wings again, flying towards Crane Cry Lake.

As they approached Crane Cry Lake, Little Warm, who had been leisurely behind them, suddenly roared. The mane on her neck bristled, Mars flew from her nostrils, and bursts of Light-Electric power erupted from time to time. Her aura of the Stellar Realm surged forth once again.

Chapter 3 is updated today. This chapter is an extra chapter for readers who voted for monthly tickets. There will be a second chapter with extra monthly ticket votes later.

Another minor character appears in this chapter: Lin Zhen's pet Star River Beast, Little Warm, played by the book's Hall Master (Warm Little Abode).