169: Leichi

Watching the Monarch-level Thunder Battle Bear leave the mountaintop, Xu Yan turned his head to look at Xiong Nian beside him and asked, "Xiong Nian, according to what you said before, Profound Thunder Battle Bears get a free opportunity to enter this place every year. Have you been here before?"

Regarding Xu Yan's inquiry, Xiong Nian first nodded, then shook its head, and finally informed Xu Yan through their contract.

Profound Thunder Battle Bears indeed have one free opportunity to enter this place every year, but compared to other bears of a similar age, because of its mutation and lack of the lightning attribute, Xiong Nian cannot absorb the lightning power within the Thunder Pool.

When Xiong Nian was young, although it had been here several times, it mostly came along with its little companions, watching them enter and absorb the lightning power within. Every time those companions came out, their strength would improve to a certain extent.

Because of this, Xiong Nian had once coveted this method of rapidly increasing strength and tried several times to enter the Thunder Pool to absorb the power within. However, with its strength and physical toughness at the time, it would lose consciousness the moment it touched the water surface, let alone enter the Thunder Urgency Platform in the center of the Thunder Pool.

The clan elders responsible for guarding this place, after fishing out electrocuted or bald bears from the Thunder Pool several times, could no longer tolerate it and directly issued a ban: until Xiong Nian's strength reached the Commander Rank and it could withstand the lightning power within the Thunder Pool, it was forbidden from entering this area.

Of course, as compensation, the number of times Xiong Nian could enter each year did not expire if unused. Instead, they accumulated, to be used once Xiong Nian could withstand the power of the Thunder Pool. This is also why other bears could only stay here for at most three days at a time, while Xiong Nian and Xu Yan could stay here until school started.

After listening to Xiong Nian's answer, Xu Yan continued, "Is that so? I had originally thought you might have had some experience using this place, but I didn't expect that you hadn't used it either."

"In that case, let's follow the method the Monarch-level Thunder Battle Bear mentioned earlier. We will first test the effects of the Thunder Pool and the Thunder Urgency Platform, and then decide whether to use the blood soul crystal at this time."

As he spoke, he summoned Wu Xiang from his beast taming space, having it conjure various monitoring instruments and setting them to full power to monitor the changes in the Thunder Pool and Xiong Nian's body in real-time.

After doing all this, Xu Yan signaled for Xiong Nian to enter the Thunder Pool.

Upon receiving Xu Yan's instruction, looking at the lightning-ravaged Thunder Pool, it was as if the envy it felt when seeing its companions playing inside when it was young, and the miserable results after it had touched the pool water several times, reappeared in its eyes.

Before Xiong Nian could react, the scene changed to one where Xu Yan, having broken through to the Monarch Rank, was holding the blood soul crystal and asking if it wanted to use it.

Later on, all the scenes disappeared, leaving only the Thunder Pool before it.

During this process, Xiong Nian's gaze gradually became firm. Without any hesitation, it walked directly to the edge of the Thunder Pool, lifted its leg, and stepped into it.

As soon as one of Xiong Nian's paws touched the water of the Thunder Pool, the blue-purple lightning flashing on the water surface within a hundred meters instantly converged. Together with the pool water, it flowed into Xiong Nian's body through the paw it was in contact with, starting from the paw and rapidly coursing through its limbs and bones.

The moment the lightning power entered its body, a strange sensation of pain mixed with numbness appeared on Xiong Nian.

At the same time this feeling appeared, Xiong Nian, who did not possess the lightning attribute, was immediately somewhat stressed by this invading alien energy. Its originally smooth fur instantly stood on end, and it instinctively wanted to drive the power within its body to expel this alien energy.

However, as soon as this thought appeared, it was forcibly suppressed by Xiong Nian.

Almost the very next moment after Xiong Nian suppressed this thought, it felt the benefits that the lightning power brought it.

During the time it had been by Xu Yan's side, if nothing else, it had never lacked various resources or spirit food.

The energy and nutrients contained in the resources and spirit food consumed by Xiong Nian, besides being digested and transformed into its own strength, were also partially stored directly within its body, being absorbed imperceptibly.

However, because Xiong Nian basically never stopped eating various resources and spirit food, the efficiency with which it imperceptibly absorbed the accumulated energy and nutrients obviously could not keep up with the speed at which they were continuously piling up.

Now, with the lightning entering its body, the energy and nutrients accumulated within Xiong Nian were actually being digested by its body at two or three times the original speed. The pleasure brought by the increase in strength quickly overwhelmed the strange sensation of numbness and pain on its body.

After discovering this situation, Xiong Nian's eyes brightened. It no longer hesitated, exerted force with its legs, leaped up, and with a perfect parabolic arc, threw itself into the water with a "splash."

Following Xiong Nian's action, the liquefied lightning power instantly submerged its entire body. Including its head, its whole body sank completely into the pool water, and a feeling of comfort, pain, and numbness, hundreds of times more intense than before, instantly erupted over it.

The intense stimulation caused Xiong Nian's mind to go blank for a moment. Ultimately, it was its remaining willpower that allowed it to drive its telekinesis, controlling its whole body to launch itself from the pool water toward the shore.

Xu Yan, who was on the side, watched this somewhat "aggressive" action of Xiong Nian and was just about to tell it to slow down and not be so hasty.

However, before Xu Yan could speak, almost the next moment after it entered the water, Xiong Nian's body broke through the water surface and was thrown onto the shore.

Seeing this, Xu Yan walked quickly to Xiong Nian's side and saw Xiong Nian with its eyes tightly closed, its body pitch black, and emitting the smell of roasted meat and burnt char.

At the same time, a somewhat confused, stimulated, and chaotic consciousness was transmitted through the contract between them, making Xu Yan involuntarily shiver.

Just as Xu Yan was confused and alert because of this, after the stimulation from the pool water disappeared, Xiong Nian, who had finally recovered, slowly opened its eyes. Seeing Xu Yan looking at it with a worried face, it awkwardly raised a paw and scratched its head.

Eventually, under Xu Yan's "questioning," Xiong Nian told Xu Yan about its previous situation, and then Xiong Nian received a knuckle rap on the head from Xu Yan, followed by a series of lectures and warnings.

After making a series of promises, Xiong Nian stepped into the Thunder Pool once again.

However, compared to throwing its whole bear body into the water before, this time, Xiong Nian chose to walk step by step from the edge toward the deep water area, taking a step and pausing, until it had completely adapted to the feeling on its body, before walking deeper.