Pal Pal Sphere This Setting is Genius

“Lao Zhou, Junior Brother Mu, what are you doing?”

Zhong Yi squinted, utterly shocked at the sight of three people ganging up and beating a poor little cat.

“Can’t you tell? We’re catching spirit beasts!”

Zhou Yue replied matter-of-factly, while Zhou Qiaoling and Mu Yawen’s shouts rang out beside him.

“Big Bro, there’s another one here… a Pipi Chicken! Don’t run!”

“Senior Brother Zhou, come help! I’ve got its leg!”

...

The three of them worked together, kicking and beating the creature, and the whole scene left Zhong Yi feeling quite breathless.

Here were the true disciples of the prestigious Lingxiao Sect, ganging up on such an adorable thing...

This time, having learned from their earlier mistake, they refrained from going all out. Instead, they paid close attention to the Pipi Chicken’s health.

They whittled its health down to the brink, then surrounded the Pipi Chicken and began brainstorming ways to catch it.

Mu Yawen rolled up his sleeves, revealing his sturdy arms: “Follow me—I’ll take you to greatness!”

The Pipi Chicken didn’t budge, looking even a bit panicked.

“You’re no good. Let me try!”

Zhou Yue shoved Mu Yawen aside, punched the Pipi Chicken once to knock its health down to its very last sliver, and then jabbed a finger at it, yelling fiercely:

“Are you ready to surrender!?”

In response, the Pipi Chicken mustered all its strength and headbutted him.

“Big Bro, step aside. That’s no way to tame a spirit beast! Watch how it’s done!”

Zhou Qiaoling fished out some wild berries from her backpack—where had she gotten them?—and placed them on the ground, coaxing the Pipi Chicken:

“Come here, little cutie. Let your big sister feed you something tasty... Damn!! It took the food and ran!!!”

The three grew frustrated, failing to figure out how to deal with the Pipi Chicken.

Just then, Zhong Yi, who had been watching from the steps, suddenly laughed.

“Heh... hehehe!”

He swept his long hair back from his forehead and struck an utterly pompous pose.

“The mystery of this illusion... I have unraveled it!”

“Old Zhong, if you have something to say, just say it. Keep posing like that idiot, and I’ll log out right now and come beat you up.”

Zhou Yue shot him a glare.

“...Aren’t you all curious about how to catch this Pipi Chicken?”

Zhong Yi sighed, then pulled a blue “Pal Sphere” from his backpack—one he had just gotten from a treasure chest. When he saw them struggling endlessly over how to capture the Pipi Chicken, it suddenly clicked for him, thinking of the spherical item.

After reading its detailed description, he became even more certain:

[Pal Sphere (Capture Power: 7): An item that can be thrown to catch Pals. This is a mass-produced model, effective only against low-level Pals.]

“Here, they aren’t called spirit beasts... they’re called Pals.”

Zhong Yi pointed at the Pipi Chicken pinned beneath them, speaking with an air of profundity.

“As for how to catch them...”

He raised the Pal Sphere high, striking a perfect throwing pose.

“It’s like this!”

With that, Zhong Yi hurled the blue Pal Sphere with all his might.

The Pal Sphere cut through the air like a blue bolt of lightning, then softly rolled to a stop on the empty ground, a full two meters away from the Pipi Chicken.

Zhong Yi flushed red with embarrassment: “Ahem, I missed.”

Zhou Yue couldn’t help but facepalm: “What the hell was I even expecting...”

“No, no—where’d my Pal Sphere go? It hit the ground and vanished?! Quick, help me find it!”

...

A few minutes later.

The four confirmed two things.

First, when a Pal Sphere misses, it simply disappears.

Second, Pal Spheres really can capture Pals.

Because Zhou Qiaoling had found another blue Pal Sphere in a corner, and when she threw it at the Pipi Chicken, it actually triggered a reaction.

A flash of white light sucked the Pipi Chicken into the Pal Sphere. The blue sphere hovered in the air, shaking violently, as if the Pipi Chicken inside was putting up a final struggle.

The four stared, wide-eyed, as the progress bar beside the Pal Sphere ticked upward bit by bit.

[Forty-five percent... sixty-eight percent... ninety-one percent... ninety-nine percent...]

“Catch! Catch! Catch!”

In unison, they all blurted out. The next second, the Pal Sphere gave one last shake.

With a pleasant chime, the Pipi Chicken was finally captured by Zhou Qiaoling.

“Yay!! I caught it!!!”

Zhou Qiaoling, thrilled beyond belief, released the Pipi Chicken from the Pal Sphere.

Once tamed, the Pipi Chicken had a clear, innocent expression. It circled her feet, looking absolutely adorable.

“Using Pal Spheres to tame Pals? Pals can live inside the spheres? The design concept... it’s incredible!”

Zhong Yi gasped in awe.

From the perspective of a master of illusions, looking at Lu Ze’s illusion design, the more he examined it, the more terrifyingly brilliant he found it.

Even a single design element could overwhelm anything someone else might achieve in a lifetime.

In truth, it wasn’t just these cultivators, untouched by anime or video games, who found the design mind-blowing.

Even those from his past life, well-versed in games and anime, had been astonished by the “Poké Ball” concept when Pokémon introduced it.

It worked brilliantly in both animation and gameplay.

“Damn it! I want my own Pal too... Are there any more of these spheres? I need to hunt for some!”

Zhou Yue looked at the cute creature wobbling around Zhou Qiaoling’s feet and felt a pang of jealousy.

This novel spirit-beast companion setting was genuinely fresh.

“With Junior Brother Lu’s talent, they can’t just be found lying around...”

Zhong Yi muttered as he followed the mission prompt and headed toward the giant vulture statue.

That should have been the first thing they did upon entering the illusion.

But as soon as they emerged from the ruins, they saw a bunch of adorable Pals, got distracted, and completely forgot about it.

[Level Up!]

[Skill Points Gained: 1]

The moment he unlocked the giant vulture statue and completed the mission, Zhong Yi leveled up to Level 2.

“Skill Points? What’s that?”

Zhong Yi’s attention was drawn once more to a new concept.

Bringing up the [Skills] panel, he quickly saw rows upon rows of skill trees—what players from his past life would call technology trees.

With each level up, a host of new skills became available to learn.

“Workshop? Stone Axe? Stone Pick? Torch?? Aren’t these from Minecraft?”

As soon as Zhong Yi saw the Level 1 skills, it all felt very familiar.

His gaze continued down. At Level 2, one skill could unlock [Pal Sphere Crafting].

“I get it now! We’re supposed to gather materials, craft Pal Spheres, then catch Pals? Ha! It feels like playing the Pokémon version of Minecraft!”

Zhong Yi’s interest was now fully piqued.

Minecraft’s foundation was formidable on its own.

Now paired with an adorable art style and the fresh gameplay of beast taming, it was immensely fun.

And judging by the look of these Pals, combat would likely play a significant role—making it even more appealing to cultivators out in the field.

“Now, we’ll do missions while collecting materials...”

Zhong Yi spoke, turning to follow the mission quest guide.

The second mission was to talk to an islander in the Pal World.

The islander sat by a campfire not far from their starting point, with a rifle slung over his back that somewhat resembled the [Heavenly Soldier·Mark IV].

What made his head spin was that Zhou Qiaoling, along with her Pipi Chicken, was staring at that rifle with an eager, predatory glint.

“Junior Sister Qiaoling, wait a sec—”

“Go, Pipi Chicken! Snatch that rifle from her!”

“Cluck cluck??”

Zhong Yi tried to speak, but it was already too late.

Zhou Qiaoling’s act of stealing the rifle had triggered the NPC’s alert mechanism.

The NPC didn’t hesitate—it raised the rifle and started firing wildly.

And it wasn’t just targeting Zhou Qiaoling and the Pipi Chicken; the other three couldn’t escape it either.

“Ah!! My Pipi Chicken!!”

“Little sis, you’re insane!! You dare to loot a live person’s bag!!!”

“Senior Brother Zhong, my fists can’t beat bullets...”

“What a disaster!!!”