An Unusual Miniature Ferocious Beast

With his talent unchanged, the higher his realm, the longer it took to advance by a minor level.

By Yi Chen's estimate, each minor breakthrough took roughly one-tenth longer than the previous one.

The actual results were also more or less in line with his estimate.

After one day of cultivation, combined with the intermittent time he had spent cultivating before, a total of around seven days, he successfully broke through to the Spirit Release Realm Second Level.

After nearly another eight days, he broke through to the Spirit Release Realm Third Level.

At the end of winter, Flame Mountain was still blanketed in ice and snow, an endless expanse of white.

The entire world seemed to have turned white.

Every day, aside from cultivating, the Flame Mountain Tribe's people feasted to their hearts' content, savoring the joy and satisfaction that greasy roasted meat brought to their lips and tongues.

In the Milky Way, the Human Race that ruled over tens of thousands of Life Planets was also flourishing.

Yi Chen's sudden rise was changing the entire world of the Human Race.

The most obvious change was that humanity was gradually bidding farewell to sleep.

Outside of school and work, people spent the overwhelming majority of their time cultivating.

And cultivation required only one Grand Circulation. In merely an hour or two, one could become full of energy and feel excellent in both body and mind.

When night fell and the bright moon hung high, the time that had once belonged to young people's revelry had become a thing of the past, replaced by a period of cultivation for all.

All kinds of entertainment activities suffered a crushing blow.

Yet every industry benefited enormously as human physical fitness and speed rose sharply.

Only some young children still followed humanity's former routines and slept as usual.

"Eh, look at the Scanner! The Scanner picked up what seems to be a Ferocious Beast-level creature sneaking toward the window."

In the Live Stream Room, a viewer had casually opened the Scanner and discovered the situation.

According to the Scanner's display, a Ferocious Beast was lurking quietly by the window.

At those words, the viewers immediately grew tense and hurriedly brought up the map to check.

After getting a clear look at the Ferocious Beast, they all breathed sighs of relief.

"That scared the life out of me. I thought some Ferocious Beast was trying to attack Yi Chen."

"I was scared stiff too, but thankfully, it's only a Level 1 Ferocious Beast."

"It was probably hungry and came out looking for food, only to stumble into Yi Chen's house by sheer coincidence."

"Come to think of it, this Ferocious Beast is pretty adorably silly! If it has decent intelligence, it would definitely be a treasure worthy of anchoring a pet shop."

Outside the window lay not some Large Ferocious Beast, but a Miniature Ferocious Beast.

It was only around ten centimeters tall.

It had short arms and short legs and walked upright.

Its entire body was covered in golden fur.

It looked like a little golden ball.

A Miniature Ferocious Beast did not necessarily mean it posed no threat.

Miniature Ferocious Beasts at levels in the dozens were not uncommon.

These high-level Miniature Ferocious Beasts looked harmless, but were actually incomparably powerful—far more terrifying than those gigantic Ferocious Beasts.

However, according to the Scanner's results, the energy within this little golden ball could only reach the level of a Level 1 Ferocious Beast.

A Level 1 Ferocious Beast was only about as strong as an ordinary person, so it naturally posed no threat whatsoever to Yi Chen.

"That's not right! Why doesn't this Miniature Ferocious Beast have a name?"

"Now that you mention it, it really doesn't. Did the Scanner malfunction?"

"How could that be? A Large Warship's Scanner cannot possibly malfunction."

"Then does that mean this is a Ferocious Beast that our Human Race has never discovered before?"

"On other planets, it might have been brought over by the Myriad Races. But this is an Exile Planet. It's impossible for anyone from the Myriad Races to enter it. So there's only one possibility: it's a mutated rare species."

"What a pity it's only a Level 1 Ferocious Beast, with extremely low intelligence. Otherwise, with its size and appearance, plus the fact that it's a mutated rare species, even if it were priced at over ten million, there would be no shortage of rich second-generation heirs fighting to buy it."

"Wait, you—you all should search for footage of this Miniature Ferocious Beast. It seems far from simple!"

The owner of a pet shop noticed something unusual about the Miniature Ferocious Beast.

He had wanted to trace its origins and see how it had mutated, whether there was any possibility of breeding this type of Miniature Ferocious Beast in batches.

But the more he watched, the more astonished he became.

Everyone brought up their AI Brains and searched for footage of the Miniature Ferocious Beast.

The footage rewound continuously, as though time itself were flowing backward.

At first, everything was normal.

The golden Miniature Ferocious Beast had no fixed abode and survived by catching small insects.

But when the footage rewound to one month earlier, it had suddenly become a small golden egg.

Skipping directly back to two months ago, it was still a small golden egg.

Three months ago, a small golden egg.

One year ago, a small golden egg.

Three years ago, a small golden egg.

Ten years ago, a small golden egg.

One hundred years ago, a small golden egg.

One thousand years ago, a small golden egg.

More than two thousand years ago, it was still a small golden egg!

Any earlier than that, there was no footage.

Before the Exile Planet had officially been designated as a planet for exiling Serious Criminals, Large Warships had not been stationed in the Exile Planet's outer space. Naturally, no related footage had been collected.

"Holy shit, what is going on with this little thing? It stayed an egg for over two thousand years and only hatched in the past month?"

"Over two thousand years is only because there are only a little more than two thousand years of footage. That little golden egg may well have existed for far longer than two thousand years."

"This defies all common sense! This Ferocious Beast isn't a reptile or a bird, yet it's an egg-laying Ferocious Beast?"

"Some high-level Ferocious Beasts do indeed take a long time to hatch, but no one has ever heard of one needing thousands of years."

"Much less one that hatches after thousands of years and is only Level 1."

"Ferocious Beasts in their juvenile stage are indeed far weaker than in adulthood. But even a Ferocious Beast that reaches Level 10 as an adult should at least be Level 2 or 3 while young."

"Those Level 40 or 50 Ferocious Beasts are even stronger in their juvenile stage than Ferocious Beasts at Level 10-something."

"And besides, over the past two thousand years, that little golden egg was swallowed, trampled, and struck hard by Ferocious Beasts, yet it always remained perfectly intact. Its toughness is simply outrageous."

"But after hatching, it's only a Level 1 Ferocious Beast?"

"This Ferocious Beast makes absolutely no sense!"

"If we can't make sense of it, that means there's something strange about it. Let's hope it won't threaten Yi Chen's safety."

The viewers in the Live Stream Room grew more confused the more they watched.

This Miniature Ferocious Beast was utterly abnormal.

And at that moment, while the viewers chatted idly, the Miniature Ferocious Beast observed the situation inside the room.

Then it quietly squeezed through the gap in the window and entered the room.

Afterward, it crept forward on tiptoe, utterly soundless, all the way toward Yi Chen.

This made the viewers in the Live Stream Room unable to stop their hearts from pounding.

If it were merely an ordinary Level 1 Miniature Ferocious Beast, it naturally would not amount to much.

But this Miniature Ferocious Beast was simply too bizarre.

People could not help worrying that there might be something unusual about it that could threaten Yi Chen's safety.

Fortunately.

After drawing close to Yi Chen, the Miniature Ferocious Beast actually lay down beside him.

Its tiny mung-bean eyes closed.

It actually began snoring away in deep sleep.

Judging from its expression, it even seemed to be thoroughly enjoying itself.

The girls in the Live Stream Room were immediately filled with limitless fantasies.

They all imagined themselves becoming that Miniature Ferocious Beast, lying on Yi Chen's bed and sleeping beside him.