Chapter 440 - 408: News
Chapter 440: Chapter 408: News
It was already December 20th. This world also had a lunar calendar, similar to the one from his previous life, which they called the old calendar.
Many holidays, including the New Year, followed the old calendar.
Li Qian did a quick calculation. There were still forty-five days until the New Year, and only one month left until the end of the semester.
Looking back, this semester had gone by rather quickly.
The thought made Li Qian a little sentimental.
That day, after finishing his studies and research, Li Qian was preparing to leave the Third Secret Realm.
At the exit of the Central Ridge, Li Qian noticed that Elder Ying, a familiar sight, was absent. He casually asked the guard on duty, "Why isn’t Elder Ying here today?"
"Elder Ying has other arrangements. I’m not too clear on the details myself," the young guard replied.
Hearing this, Li Qian didn’t think much of it and strode out of the Secret Realm.
The only reason he had asked was because he and Elder Ying were on good terms.
Elder Ying was one of the few friends he had made over the past month, a friendship that transcended their age difference.
Li Qian had once asked him what his responsibilities were in the Secret Realm.
The white-haired, white-bearded old man had simply said he was in charge of security and guard duties within the Secret Realm.
But Li Qian often saw him wandering about idly. ’His status can’t be as simple as he claims,’ he thought.
However, it would be inappropriate to pry into the affairs of a new acquaintance. Li Qian didn’t press the matter. ’In any case, since he’s in this Secret Realm, he must be one of the university’s elders.’
After his brief question, Li Qian didn’t linger and left the Secret Realm directly.
With the Five-tailed Cat secured in its Beast Taming Ball, Li Qian headed to the university’s back gate. Not far from there, he spotted Al Durie, the graduate senior who had protected their team during their last trip into the Dimension Plane.
Also known as Senior Brother Du.
Li Qian had sent him a text message earlier, and he had finally replied. This meeting was the result.
Compared to the last time they’d met, Senior Brother Du looked a little different. The biggest change was that he had shaved off his thick, bushy beard.
However, with the dense stubble that remained, he didn’t look much younger.
The two met at a restaurant not far from Sha City People, where they had eaten before.
Li Qian didn’t know anything about this restaurant. In truth, he didn’t care much for such things. The food in the Secret Realm, whether for lunch or dinner, was always quite good, so he normally didn’t come out to eat.
When they met, Senior Brother Du had already ordered. While waiting for the food to arrive, the two began to chat.
Li Qian took the opportunity to pull out the Beast Taming Ball containing the Five-tailed Cat. "Here, Senior Brother Du. This is the payment I promised you."
"You figured out how to evolve a Four-tailed Cat so quickly?" Senior Brother Du stared at the Beast Taming Ball in Li Qian’s hand, his face a mask of shock.
Although Li Qian had already explained the purpose of their meeting in his text, receiving confirmation in person still felt incredible to Senior Brother Du.
Li Qian handed the Beast Taming Ball to Senior Brother Du. After the latter took it, Li Qian shook his head meaningfully.
Seeing Li Qian shake his head, Senior Brother Du froze, not quite understanding. He asked tentatively, "Did the evolution fail?"
"It’s not that the evolution failed. The evolution was fine, but the Pet Beast I’m giving you isn’t a Four-tailed Cat..."
Li Qian said, a smile playing on his lips.
Seeing that Senior Brother Du was still completely bewildered, Li Qian stopped being cryptic and revealed the truth. "The Pet Beast I’m giving you is a Five-tailed Cat!"
"What?!"
Senior Brother Du shouted upon hearing this, "A Five-tailed Cat? You evolved a Five-tailed Cat?!"
Fortunately, they were in a small private room. Otherwise, his outburst would have attracted the attention of everyone else in the restaurant.
"It’s just a Five-tailed Cat, Senior Brother Du. No need to be so shocked," Li Qian said nonchalantly. "Actually, if you could have waited a few more months—until next semester—I’m certain I could have figured out how to evolve a Six-tailed Cat for you."
Li Qian’s casual words left Senior Brother Du speechless.
’This junior brother of mine is a breeding genius... No, he’s a monster when it comes to cultivation.’
Once the shock wore off, he immediately waved his hands in refusal. "No, no, a Five-tailed Cat is more than enough! In fact, I should be paying you an additional cultivation fee."
Li Qian smiled. "Senior Brother, there’s no need for such formalities between us. It’s just a Five-tailed Cat."
When he saw Senior Brother Du actually start to calculate the cost of the fee, Li Qian quickly stopped him. "If you try to pay me, you’ll be treating me like a stranger."
In the end, thanks to Li Qian’s insistence, Senior Brother Du didn’t end up paying the extra fee.
While they were still waiting for the food, Senior Brother Du couldn’t wait any longer and summoned the Five-tailed Cat.
Senior Brother Du’s eyes filled with adoration as he looked at the Pet Beast. It was noticeably larger than a Four-tailed Cat, with five trailing tails, and it moved with the calm elegance of a leopard.
After looking it over for a moment, he didn’t hesitate, forming a contract with the Five-tailed Cat right there in the private room.
With the matter of the Five-tailed Cat settled, both men were in high spirits. The food arrived quickly, and Senior Brother Du even called the server back to order a few more dishes.
Li Qian saw this and didn’t object. He knew the straightforward Senior Brother Du was doing this because he felt indebted.
At the table, he even thumped his chest and swore that if Li Qian ever needed a favor in the future, he would do it without hesitation, as long as it was within his power.
Li Qian, of course, readily agreed, saying he would definitely keep him in mind if anything came up.
’In reality, he was just being polite.’
’With Senior Brother Du’s level of strength, if Li Qian were to run into real trouble, he wouldn’t be much help anyway.’
During the meal, Senior Brother Du began talking about recent events in the Dimension Plane. Although Li Qian had his Ordinary Adventurer’s Badge, he hadn’t entered the Dimension Plane recently, so he knew nothing of these events and listened with great interest.
As he listened, Li Qian’s brow furrowed the moment Senior Brother Du mentioned a recent major event.
"What did you say? A permanent, deep-layer Dimensional Rift has appeared in the area under the jurisdiction of Feihua City in the Dimension Plane?!" Li Qian immediately pressed.
Li Qian knew a little about deep-layer Dimensional Rifts.
Just as Dimensional Rifts appeared between the real world and the Dimension Planes, they could also form between a surface-layer Dimension Plane and an even deeper one.
These were known as deep-layer Dimensional Rifts.
Passing through a deep-layer Dimensional Rift allowed one to enter a deeper-layer Dimension Plane.
The Ordinary Adventurer’s Badge Li Qian currently held only permitted him to adventure in the shallow-layer Dimension Planes.
To explore and train in deeper-layer Dimension Planes, one needed a higher-Level Adventurer’s Badge.
From what Li Qian understood, the entire dimensional world was like an onion, with each Dimension Plane being just another layer of its skin.
The Dimension Plane where Yuntian City was located was a shallow-layer one. Further in were the Second-Layer Dimension Plane, the Third-Layer Dimension Plane, the Fourth-Layer Dimension Plane, and so on.
The most reliable information Li Qian had was that the Dimension Plane corresponding to all of Shazhou City had only been explored as far as the Fourth-Layer Dimension Plane.
And that was truly just exploration...
No outposts, cities, or strongholds had been established in the Fourth-Layer Dimension Plane!
Because they were fundamentally indefensible!
Across the entire Dongxia Federation, only the regions corresponding to Zhonghai Beast Taming University and Kyoto Beast Taming University were believed to have explored the Fifth and Sixth-Layer Dimension Planes.