《My Summons Are Mythical Beasts》


 Chapter 1 The Usual

    "There are five types of grimoire that a fated person can awaken. From weakest to strongest, there are Unranked, Iron, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The grade of a grimoire is predetermined upon awakening¡­"


    Starlight Academy, inside a room, a teacher was exining the various grades of grimoires to the students who seemed to listen attentively but were actually quite bored from the teachers long exnation and repetitive discussion.


    "Teacher Julian, can you discuss something else? Every year, we hear such words from our ss advisers. Even I, a dumb student, have already memorized the various facts and knowledge about grimoires due to you, teachers'' repetitive lectures," a student wearing a red bandana over his head started with azy and criticizing tone.


    The teacher did not seem to care about his attitude but just looked at the student before saying, "Then, Hector, could you pleasee in front and recite the whole first chapter of ''Grimoires: Facts and Knowledge'' for the whole ss to listen to?"


    The student named Hector paled in fear upon the mention of recitation. Although he imed that he memorized the various facts and knowledge, he did not dare to say that hepletely memorized the whole chapter of the book.


    The whole ss immediatelyughed upon seeing his reaction. There was nothing more funny than seeing a boastful guy getting face-pped at the next instant.


    Hector could only grit his teeth in anger and embarrassment.


    At this moment, a person''s head suddenly popped up in the door of the room.


    The teacher, Julian, noticed the head immediately and he instantly beamed a radiant and weing smile, "Teacher Christy, wee, wee!"


    The students also quietened down upon hearing Teacher Julian''s words. Each of them adjusted their seats, expectations and excitement apparent on their face as they looked at the box held by Teacher Christie.


    Teacher Christie nodded her head as she put the box on the table," Are they ready?" she asked Teacher Julian.


    Teacher Julian nodded his head and looked at the students, "Alright guys, the day you''ve been waiting for is finally here."


    "Just like we discussed earlier, each of you will undergo your awakening in alphabetical order. Just a reminder, do notugh and look down on your ssmates that awakens a low level grimoire. And anyone that awakens higher level grimoires, do not becent and stay humble."


    "Dungeons are dangerous ces full of nasty demons and beasts. It has been more than 100 years since they appeared and we now possess knowledge about them that our ancestors were not privy to."


    "Dangers lurk everywhere inside the dungeons, so each of you needs all the help one can get to survive inside, who knows if it''s your low level ssmate that helps you in the most dangerous time."


    "Alright, let''s start. Good luck everyone!"


    The reminder of Teacher Julian was not heard by everyone as all of them now had their all attention fully captivated by the ball brought by Teacher Christie.


    "Anjie, you go first," Teacher Julian looked at the ss record and mentioned the name of the first student in the list.


    The girl named Anjie stood up from her seat. She gulped a mouthful of saliva and began walking to the front. She felt nervous, but deep inside, was also excited about what kind of grimoire she will awaken and what kind of beast it will give her.


    Teacher Christie nodded her head and opened the box for everyone to see what was inside.


    It was a crystal ball the size of an infant''s head. It looked unique and perfect, without any impurities mixed in.


    "Awakening Ball," at the back of the ss, a boy muttered to himself as he looked at the crystal ball that was now emitting a mysterious light.


    ''Sigh! It''s been 15 years. This day has finallye,'' Lucas thought.


    In truth, he was actually not originally from this world.


    After an unfortunate ident back on Earth, his soul had mysteriously possessed the body of a baby in this world with the same name as himself.


    As for what kind of ident it was that sent him here, well¡­ All he could say was that it was the usual.


    Lucas had always been conscious since he was delivered out of his mother''s womb. On the day of his transmigration, a mysterious system also popped up inside his mind. Unfortunately, ever since then, it has never appeared again in his life.


    However, Lucas knew for himself that the day of his awakening as grimoire summoner, would also be the day that the slumbering system would once again awaken to help him.


    At this moment, Anjie had already retracted her hand away from the Awakening Ball. Anjie had already closed her eyes. No one made a sound, as if afraid of interrupting her from what she was going through.


    At the next moment, the Awakening Ball suddenly let out a resplendent bronze light, startling everyone.


    "A Bronze Grade Grimoire?"


    "Damn she''s lucky!"


    "I hope I can awaken a Bronze Grade Grimoire, too!"


    Teacher Julian and Teacher Christie had a smile on their face as they looked at the bronze light emitted by the awakening ball.


    Although owning a Bronze Grade Grimoire doesn''t mean that she was set for life, a Bronze Grade Grimoire still has a lot of promisepared to Iron Grade.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    An individual''s grimoire determines their talent and achievements in the future.


    Iron Grade were considered mediocre, Bronze were average, Silver were very good while those who awakened a Gold Grade Grimoire were considered geniuses no matter where they went.


    In Starlight Academy, awakening a Bronze Grade Grimoire was already considered good while those who awakened Silver Grade Grimoire can be nurtured to be the school''s trump card.


    As for awakening the Gold Grade, there has never been a case like that in Starlight Academy. The Starlight Academy did not have a long history after all.


    As for Unranked Grimoires, after a 100 years of development, the new generation like theirs would basically no longer awaken such grimoires.


    Such grimoires were also considered trash by many. Those who awakened Iron Grade Grimoires still have a chance to rise, but the Unranked Grade Grimoires were basically hopeless.


    One must note that an individual''s grimoire also determines the kind of beast they can effectively control.


    It was said that there were also grimoires higher than a Gold Grade, however, even on the inte, Lucas haven''t been able to see one.


    As for Lucas himself, he also hoped that he would awaken a Gold Grade Grimoire or higher. With the system, he was confident that he would be able to seed.


    Teacher Julian spoke up, "Anjie, since you are the first to awaken in your ss, set a precedent and summon your first-ever contracted beasts."


    Anjie nodded nervously and closed her eyes.


    ording to the information Lucas knew, summoning the grimoire once one awakened would be as easy as eating a pie. The hard part was summoning the creature it came along with as it needs the individual''s spiritual power.


    However, since an individual''s spiritual power would also increase one''s they awaken, there has never been a precedent where an individual did not manage to summon their first contracted beast.


    Concentrating hard, she channeled her newfound power into the grimoire that had appeared in her hand. A bronze-colored book floated before her, its cover intricately designed with ancient symbols.


    The room watched in rapt attention as a beam of light shot out from the grimoire, forming into a shape in front of Anjie. As the light faded, a bronze-colored wolf stood before her, its eyes glowing with a fierce intelligence and confusion.


    "Wow, a bronze wolf!" someone eximed.


    "Such a powerful beast for a beginner!"


    Anjie opened her eyes and looked at the wolf with amazement. She could feel a deep connection with it, as if they were linked by an unbreakable bond. The wolf padded over to her and sat at her feet, looking up at her with confusion and loyalty.


    "Well done, Anjie," Teacher Julian said, nodding approvingly. "You have a strongpanion to start your journey. Remember, your grimoire and your beast are your allies. Train hard and take care of them."


    Anjie beamed with pride as she returned to her seat. As summoning and maintaining a contracted creature and beast requires spiritual power, Anjie decided to let it return inside the grimoire first.


    The rest of the ss looked on with a mix of envy and excitement, eager to discover their own fates.


    "Next up, Brandon," Teacher Julian called out.


    Brandon stood up, his face a mixture of determination and nervousness. He approached the Awakening Ball and ced his hand on it. The process repeated, and soon enough, a different light filled the room.


    As each student took their turn, the atmosphere grew more electric with anticipation. Some awoke Iron Grimoires, while others, like Anjie, were lucky enough to receive Bronze Grimoires.


    A student managed to awaken a rare Silver Grimoire, eliciting gasps of awe from the others. Teacher Julian and Teacher Christie nodded and beamed with smiles of approval as they told the student toe to the facultyter for future instructions.


    Finally, it was Lucas''s turn. He stood up, his heart pounding in his chest. He could feel the weight of the entire ssroom''s eyes on him. With a deep breath, he approached the Awakening Ball.


    As he ced his hand on the ball, he felt a strange sensation wash over him. Like before, the ball began to glow, brighter and brighter, until it was almost blinding. The room held its breath, waiting for the result.


    The light shifted, and Lucas felt a surge of energy. He closed his eyes, focusing on the connection he felt with the grimoire forming in his mind. When he opened his eyes, he saw the awakening ball before him, its cover shimmering with¡­ ordinary and weak hue.

 Chapter 2 Gold Grade

    A wave of disappointment washed over him. He had hoped for something extraordinary, but the reality was far from his expectations. Fortunately, he still has the system to rely on, so he was not overly disheartened.


    However, the same could not be said for his surroundings. Standing in front of everyone, Lucas could literally feel their disappointment, and some of them even smiled gleefully.


    He felt strange about why that was the case for most of them.


    As someone who has lived a total of two lives and knows the consequences of not studying well, he has always been diligent this time around.


    Due to that, he had always topped the ss ever since he was aware of it.


    Teacher Julian maintained aposed expression, though there was a hint of pity in his eyes. "Lucas, you''ve awakened an Unranked Grimoire. Remember, the journey ahead depends not solely on the grade of your grimoire but on your perseverance and hard work."


    Although he said that, Lucas was aware that it was all for formalities. Deep inside, he knew that Teacher Julian''s expectations for him went down the drain the moment he awakened an Unranked Grade Grimoire.


    Due to him being at the top of the ss, their expectations for him to awaken at least a Silver Grade Grimoire were quite high. Now that their expectations were not met, there would be bound to be changes around him.


    Lucas nodded, though the weight of disappointment bore down on him.


    Perhaps due to the fact he only awakened an Unranked Grade Grimoire, Teacher Julian and Teacher Christie did not bother to let him summon his first contracted beast.


    Instead, he gestured for Lucas to return to his seat as he called out to the next student, "Hector,e in front."


    The two students, Lucas and Hector, passed by each other. One was feeling down, while the other had a smirk on his face as he went through his own awakening.


    Back in his seat, Lucas saw Anjie staring at him with aplicated expression on her face.


    Anjie was Lucas'' childhood friend. They have been familiar with each other since they were little, but it was only around high school that they began to get close to each other.


    In truth, their rtionship was progressing much faster, and they were only a shy away from formalizing or announcing their romantic rtionship.


    Lucas smiled wryly as he looked at Anjie. He did not know what to say. He could not tell her that he still has a system to rely on, right?


    Just as Lucas was about to talk to her, amotion suddenly resounded at the front.


    A resplendent light blinded everyone. The Awakening Ball let out a glow that was never seen before.


    "A Gold Grade Grimoire?!"


    "A Gold Grade Grimoire?!"


    Teacher Julian and Teacher Christie''s voices, full of surprise and jubtion, echoed in the air. As the closest to the Awakening Ball, they were the first to notice the golden light emitted by the Awakening Ball.


    Hector stood there, a wide grin spreading across his face as he basked in the golden light.


    The room erupted in astonishment. They had never seen anything like this before. The Silver Grade Grimoire awakener was already a surprise earlier; how more now that someone has actually awakened a Gold Grade Grimoire?


    "Unbelievable! A Gold Grade Grimoire!"


    "He''s going to be a legend!"


    Teacher Julian, regaining hisposure, addressed the ss, "Everyone, please calm down. Hector, you''ve awakened a Gold Grade Grimoire. Congrattions. You have a bright future ahead of you."


    Teacher Christie also nodded at Hector. She had high expectations for this child.


    There has never been a Gold Grade awakener in Starlight Academy. Being the first, Hector was bound to be famous and strong in the future. The Starlight Academy would also spare no effort in nurturing him from now on.


    It could be said that Hector had just be the Golden Boy of Starlight Academy, quite literally.


    Hector''s grin widened as he summoned his grimoire, the golden book appearing in his hands with a powerful force. With a confident gesture, he activated it, and a majestic lion emerged, its mane zing with golden light. It was quite massive, even much bigger than a regr sedan.


    The ss watched in awe, some with envy, others with admiration. However, one thing was clear: Hector had be a brilliant figure that all of them must show respect and fear from now on.


    As they say, a person''s fate was determined the moment they awakened their grimoire.


    Even Lucas himself could help but feel envy upon seeing that Hector, the dumbest in the ss, awakened such a high-level grimoire. But he quickly shook it off, reminding himself of his own potential and the system he had yet to fully utilize.


    Hector was immediately surrounded by the inquiries of his ssmates.


    When Lucas turned to look at his side, he noticed that Anjie was no longer there. She had also gone to Hector, inquiring about his newfound abilities.


    As the rest of the awakenings continued, Lucas sat quietly, deep in thought. The excitement in the room was palpable, but he remained focused on his own goals. This was just the beginning, and he was determined to make his mark, no matter the challenges.


    The ceremony finally concluded, and the students were dismissed. "Alright, settle down and pack your things. Those who did not awaken Silver Grade Grimoire and above can now go home and rest."


    "You must also prepare for tomorrow, as you guys will be entering your very first dungeon to train your abilities," Teacher Julian continued with a wave of his hand.


    The students stood up one after the other, preparing to leave.


    Compared to before, there were now a lot more people surrounding Hector. Previously, it was Lucas who received such treatment for being the ss genius. However, the situation has now changed, and the tables have turned.


    Lucas awakened the most useless grimoire, while Hector awakened the most brilliant one.


    The spotlight that had once belonged to him was now in Hector''s grasp.


    As a transmigrator, Lucas'' view on such a matter was actually quite normal. He was not a person obsessed with fame and attention. As long as it didn''t affect him, then everything was fine for him.


    "Anjie, let''s go?" Lucas stood up and stared at Anjie beside him.


    Since the two of them were neighbors, they had always walked home together. Today, Lucas expected it to be the same.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    However, a few seconds had passed, and Lucas received no response from Anjie.


    He looked at her once more and noticed that she did not even bother to look at him.


    "Anjie?" He asked once again.


    "Oh, sorry. You go home first. I''ll hang around for a little bit," she stated without even bothering to look at him. Her gaze was fixed on the figure surrounded by their ssmates.


    "Why? I can wait for you if you want," Lucas replied.


    Just as he said so, an arrogant and loud, booming voice echoed in the room, startling everyone, including Lucas himself.


    "If she doesn''t want to leave with you, then she doesn''t want to leave with you, idiot!"

 Chapter 3 Betrayal?

    Lucas turned to look at where the voice wasing from.


    Turns out it was Hector who said it in such a loud and arrogant voice.


    "You''re just a trash grimoire awakener. Who wants to go home with you anyway? Only a fool and other talentless trash will go with you!" Hector continued.


    Their ssmatesughed loudly upon hearing their words. Lucas also saw that at the corner of his eyes, even Anjie herself produced a light giggle hearing Hector''s words.


    Lucas frowned at his attitude. Although Hector was quite haughty and arrogant before, he had never acted this way toward him. This was the first.


    Nevertheless, Lucas ignored his provocative words. He was not someone who only had a tiny brain that would respond to any provocation just like that.


    Of course, due to him working almost 9-5 daily from his previous life, he was actually quite petty and liked to hold grudges. Especially to his senior employees who liked to take advantage of him.


    Lucas turned to look at Anjie one more time with an inquiring attitude. However, Anjie merely shrugged her shoulders before she stood up to go forward and join the group surrounding Hector.


    Hector smirked triumphantly as he reached out to hold Anjie''s waist.


    Lucas felt bitter seeing such a scene.


    However, knowing that it would only benefit and inte their ego if he red up now, he forcefully calmed his emotions down as he walked out of the room.


    Behind him,ughter could be heard and some snide remarks even entered his ears.


    "Hah! That dude still thinks that he''s a genius."


    "Yeah, right. Awakening an Unranked Grade Grimoire¡­ It''s basically the end for him. There won''t being back from this set back at all,"


    "Well, that''s for the better. I have always hated that kid for acting such a smartass before. Now, he is still smart, but will his intelligence help him in killing high level beasts inside the dungeon? Hmmp!"


    "Sigh! Such a pity. With such a low-level grimoire, it would be a miracle if he''s able to kill a beast. And without killing a beast, how could he level up and grow stronger?"


    "A pity, indeed!"


    Hearing the remarks and mockery of his ssmates, Lucas'' gritted his teeth in anger and could only clenched his fist at his side as he walked out of the ssroom.


    The sting of betrayal from Anjie and the disdain of his peers cut deep, yet Lucas knew he couldn''t afford to let his emotions take over. He had to stay focused.


    Fortunately, his rtionship with Anjie was not that deep yet, else, he would have felt that he had obtained and worn a strange colored hat after this experience.


    Although he felt a sting of betrayal, it was not that deep and Lucas felt that he would be able to recover in.. a few hours at least.


    As a person who lived around twenty years of life from his previous life, Lucas was not overly sentimental toward Anjie. It was just that he had grown up with her and they had be quite close recently, causing him to develop some feelings.


    Naturally, by the way how Anjie acted toward him, he also assumed that Anjie felt the same.


    Now, Lucas realized that all of it was superficial and might just be her act to make him fall in love and get infatuated with her.


    ''What a devious character,'' he sighed andmented inwardly as he began walking home.


    At this point of time, the whole Starlight Academy was still bustling with activity. It was already a known fact that today would be the day for the 2nd year students to awaken their grimoire and determine their fate.


    As he looked around the people he passed by, Lucas realized that there were a lot of emotions that he could see from the students. Some were happy, some were sad, while others were content. It was apparent that the second year student''s mood at this current instance was all due to their fate being determined by the awakening of their grimoire.


    In this life, his parents were not rich and they were not extremely poor either. They were just living a pretty average life, but both his parents loved him very much, hence, he wanted to study hard and give back to them and make them proud.


    His parents had always felt proud due to his achievements in school.


    In his previous life, he had not experienced the love of his real parents as they died early and he was adopted by an abusive rtive.


    Experiencing such a warm life in this world, Lucas, of course felt different and sentimental.


    Anjie''s and their ssmate''s betrayal was nothing to him.


    However, if it was his parents who acted that way to him, Lucas would surely feel heartbroken and would not be able to recover for a long time.


    This time, although he still had confidence due to the system, he still felt nervous as to what kind of reactions his parents would have toward his awakening.


    Both his parents were only Iron Grade Grimoire users. Their achievements were nothing strong, and they could only act as normal dayborers for others with their low-level beasts and strength.


    His mother worked as aundry maid for others during the weekend with the help of her beast, the Squirt Turtle while his father worked in a constructionpany and was always basking in the sun daily with the help of his Strong Ape.


    His father''s ie was rather low and his mother only earned a handful to mitigate some of their expenses.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Fortunately, his mother and father were also smart and quite prudent and nned very well. They did not have another child aside from him, knowing that they could not support another.


    In fact, his mother and father even joked that he was only an ident¡­ and that he was only conceived because his mother miscalcted her ovtion period.


    Still, the two of them wee him wholeheartedly in this life and they said that they did not regret having such a beautiful ident happen to them from time to time.


    Anyway, even though his father and mother were quite thoughtful, they still could not escape the fate of having an Iron Grade Grimoire.


    In this day and age, having such a grimoire meant that one was destined not to be sessful, how much if it was like him who only has an Unranked Grade Grimoire.


    This was why he was afraid that even his loving parents would reject him upon knowing what kind of grimoire he awakened.


    Their house was not that far from Starlight Academy. His father''s work was not far from the academy either so they made the decision to move here a few years ago in order to prepare for Lucas'' future as well.


    After half an hour of walking, Lucas finally saw the ce that he could call home.


    This home, however, was quite small and ordinary. This ''home'' whatsoever was only rented to them by one of their neighbors for a considerable amount of Unity Coin.


    His stride became faster as he raised his hand to knock on the shabby wooden door after a few moments of hesitation.


    He gritted his teeth in nervousness as he knocked a few more times before the shabby door was finally opened.


    At that moment, a warm voice entered his ears.


    "Luke, you''re home."

 Chapter 4 Warmth Of A Family

    As the warm voice entered his ears, Lucas could not help but visibly paused.


    At that moment, the door was opened, revealing a gentle woman with a warm and weing smile on her face.


    "Quick,e in, I have already prepared dinner for you and your father. He just texted me that he is on his way home as well," her mother, Rosana, stated with a weing gesture toward her son.


    As far as he could remember, his mother had always been gentle and kind toward him and his father. She was also very hard working, taking care of both her husband and son wholeheartedly. Lucas had never heard herin toward them, no matter how hard their life was, not even once.


    For such a loving mother, Lucas had always been grateful.


    "I''m home," a warm smile etched over Lucas'' face as he finally took a step to enter the so-called home.


    This so-called home was quite small. Their dining room and small kitchen was all in one ce, and there was only a small space in front to entertain guests if there were any. There were only two rooms, one for him, and the other for his mother and father. They live frugally and don''t have anyvish furniture, only buying the most basic necessities needed for daily survival.


    As a man from another world who experienced better things, of course, Lucas was not satisfied with this way of life. For him, having a loving family was not enough. He must let them experience bliss and make them worry-free for life. He had been working hard in his studies and did not dare to ck-off, all for the grand ambition of bing rich and giving back to his parents.


    Unfortunately, in this world, studying hard and topping the ss does not guarantee one''s future achievement. It would help, but such help would only amount to nothing if not paired by good talent determined through the grimoire.


    Not longter, a robust figure knocked on the door of their house. Lucas stood up and opened the door to see his father, Lumbert. A man with a huge build and vigorous face. He has a face full of beard, the kind that entuated his looks and muscr build. His father once joked that he was ady-killer during their high-school days, earning a harrumph from his mother at that time.


    In terms of looks, his mother and father indeed did not fail. They were pretty good looking, allowing Lucas to inherit their looks without fail.


    In his previous world, such looks of his father and mother might even allow them to be small-time celebrities. Unfortunately, in this world, one must not only have a good look to be a sessful actor or celebrity. If they vie to be one, they must also have a good beast and good grimoire to support their career.


    Anyway, upon entering the house, his father smiled widely and ruffled his hair before walking toward his mother who was still cooking.


    She looked at his father''s huge stride with a stern look before saying, "Ah-uh, wash your hands first, you might identally contaminate the food I''m cooking."


    Lucas chuckled lightly after seeing that his father slumped weakly after hearing his mother''s words. Lucas remembered that everytime he came home, he would go straight to his mother and hug her tightly. At first, it was pretty awkward for Lucas, but he had grown used to it and he would even find it unusual if his father did not hug or kiss his mother upon arriving home.


    Anyway, the room went unusually quiet after his father made his ''ritual''. The two of them knew that today was Lucas'' awakening day, but they never spoke about it, just silently waiting for their son to make an announcement himself.


    The two of them considered this day a big asion, they even took some money from their savings just to buy meat so they could eat delicious food to celebrate today''s asion.


    However, not saying anything was even more unbearable for Lucas who did not know what to say and where to start.


    Should he directly tell them that he awakened an Unranked Grade Grimoire and follow it up by saying that there was no need to worry as he still has reassurance?


    Yet, for the current Lucas, the matter of his future and how to announce it was not what he was afraid of.


    What he was afraid of was the reaction his mother and father would have upon learning that he had awakened such a weak grimoire.


    The thought of rejection and abandonment filled him with dread. He was afraid of feeling such emotions, especially if it came from his loving parents.


    Time moved swiftly in this small ce called home.


    Lucas'' mother prepared and served their dinner. He helped by bringing some tes to the table, while his father, due to the nature of his work, was quite tired, hence, was only resting on his reclining chair, waiting for the duo to call him over to eat.


    The aroma of meat wafted over Lucas'' nose. For such a grand asion, Lucas noticed that even his mother had used her treasured condiments to make it even more delicious.


    As Lucas took a sip of the hot broth, it brought warmth toward his throat. The feeling traveled through his stomach as he felt the warmth and love of his mother through this hot broth.


    His father did not speak anything, just silently slurping the broth and eating the tender meat. For him, this was the bestpliment for a cook.


    As he finished his serving, a resolute glint finally appeared on his eyes.


    "Mom, dad¡­" he spoke as he looked at his mother and father.


    The duo looked at each other before they decided to stop eating, waiting for Lucas to continue.


    "My awakening¡­" Lucas clenched his fist under the table.


    He knew that he must make this step, regardless of his parent''s reaction.


    He only hesitated for a bit before he continued with an action.


    He silently summoned his Unranked Grade Grimoire, presenting it over to his parents with his head hanging low. Even though he already steeled his resolve, he still does not dare to look at his parent''s eyes and reaction.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    His parents looked at the unremarkable grimoire that floated before them. They looked at each other and released a relieved sigh.


    At the next moment, his father''s stern voice entered his ears.

 Chapter 5 Knot Resolve

    His father, befitting of his burly figure, has a husky voice.


    His father''s big hand was lifted and then rested upon Lucas'' shoulder heavily.


    "Lucas, kid. It seems that you are worried about this. No wonder you have not spoken since earlier," his father''s stern voice echoed in his ears, making Lucas instinctively look up, only to be met with his father''s loving and concerned gaze.


    "Luke, are you worried that we will me you because of awakening a low-grade grimoire?" His mother looked at him tenderly. Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes as she looked at Lucas gently.


    Although they had not spoken earlier, both his parents were actually worried upon realizing that Lucas has been silent since earlier. The usual Lucas was not like this and he was always energetic and smart, hence the two of them grew worried, but did not speak about it, just silently waiting for him to speak up.


    It turns out that Lucas was disappointed by his awakening, and was worried that they would me him for it.


    Lucas nodded his head, hearing his parent''s words.


    "Awakening such a grimoire¡­ This means that I won''t be sessful and I won''t be able to spoil the two of you in the future."


    Lucas'' father, Lumbert, released a sigh and stated, "Lucas, have we ever made you into our investment? Have we ever told you to shoulder our burden in the future?"


    Lucas thought for a moment and shook his head.


    Indeed, he had never heard his parents speak about such things to him. They always supported him, but had never told him to be great in the future so that they couldy back and enjoy life.


    As a person bullied and taken advantage of by his abusive rtive in his previous life, Lucas had unconsciously thought of his parents being the same. He automatically burdened himself with such thoughts.


    "Right? Lucas, kid, as long as you''re happy and we''re happy, it''s all that matters. Me and your mother were also considered talentless back then. Our ssmates and friends made fun of us during our awakening ceremony. However, where are most of them now? Three foot unde-"


    His father''s words were cut off by an elbow from his mother who gave her husband a stern look.


    "Ehemm, anyways, it''s actually quite good already that you have managed to awaken a grimoire. I heard from my father that back then, there were also people who did not manage to awaken a grimoire and their fate was even worse during such dangerous times. I heard that they die-"


    Once again, his father jerked to the side as another elbow was delivered to his waist.


    "Anyway, Luke, for us, it doesn''t matter if you grew sessful in the future or not. As long as you''re happy, we''re happy too. And a grimoire''s grade doesn''t really mean anything in the long run."


    "Being sessful or not, who decides that? For us, me and your father, having such a loving and peaceful family is already sessful enough and we could not hope for more," his mother said with a soothing and calming voice.


    "Besedes, this is actually a good thing."


    She continued, "I have always worried that you will awaken a high grade grimoire because you have always shown outstanding smartnesspared to those of your age. I have always worried that if you awakened a high grade grimoire, you would slowly leave us to explore the dungeon and be constantly met with danger."


    "Isn''t living peacefully and working day to day more satisfying than being in constant danger?"


    His mother continued to rant, overwhelming Lucas and his father. They both look at each other as his father shivered in fright after he realized that the topic that his mother talked about has shifted toward their younger days.


    Anyway, with the rant of his mother, and the casual shivering of his father, Lucas finally heaved a sigh of relief deep inside him. His worries were for naught.


    He did not expect that his parents would not have any reaction toward him awakening a low-grade grimoire aside from being worried for him.


    He did not realize that his parents were already content with the way their life was. Although not wealthy, they were not poor either. Perhaps, for the both of them, living was enough and there was no need to pursue greater wealth if it meant more danger.


    "I''m sorry mom, dad," Lucas suddenly stated as he put down the spoon after he was done eating.


    His parents wore confused expressions upon hearing his apology. They thought that Lucas was still hung up on awakening a low-grade grimoire.


    However, his next words stunned both of them.


    "Mom, dad, although I only awakened an Unranked Grade Grimoire, I still have some confidence to grow stronger and be sessful. So, I apologize that I must still go to the dungeons and seek opportunities," he said with a resolute gaze.


    His mother and father smiled upon hearing his words. They looked at each other and could not help but reminisce about the past as they saw the hope and confidence in Lucas'' eyes.


    As Iron Grade Grimoire awakeners themselves, didn''t they have the same resolve and confidence before they sumb to despair and ultimately ept their fate?N?v(el)B\\jnn


    For them, Lucas'' words were nothing but ast struggle. Although they thought of this, they didn''t say anything and just told him to just be careful on his endeavor.


    They know that after the first dungeon exploration conducted by the academy, Lucas would lose hope and ept the fate of low-grade grimoire users. At that time, it would be their turn tofort and guide him as his parents.


    Lucas helped his mother with the chores before he went to his room.


    With the knot in his heartpletely resolved, and knowing that his parents would not abandon or reject him for awakening a low-grade grimoire, Lucas finally had the time and heart to check his first ever contracted beast as well as the long lost system.


    Summoning his Unranked Grade Grimoire, Lucas opened the cover of the book and saw his own information at the very first page. After ncing at it a little bit and discovering nothing new, he flipped to the second page and finally saw what kind of beast he awakened along with the grimoire.


    Seeing the beast''s information, Lucas could not help but produce a wry smile on his face.

 Chapter 6 The Dog, The System

    Even though his parents already said that it didn''t matter to them if he did not achieve anything and that they were content with their current lives, Lucas still harbored the intention to seed and support his parents for the rest of their lives.


    With that, he still expected that he would grow strong without relying on the system. His chance lied with his first beast. Unfortunately, the moment he saw the details of his beast, he realized that he was still asking for too much. With an Unranked Grade Grimoire, how could he get a good beast?


    ording to what he knew from ss and the inte, the grade of the grimoire determined the grade of the beast one was able to awaken and contract as well. It was said that no matter how much you grow stronger, the grade of the grimoire will always determine what grade of beast you will be able to contract..


    This type of rule could not be ovee. This was just one of the reasons why lower-grade grimoire awakeners were looked down upon by the masses.


    Lucas sighed as he looked at the information provided on the second page of the grimoire.


    [Beast Name: Gentle Dog


    Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Unranked


    Skills: Gentle Gaze


    Gentle Gaze: The eyes emit a gentle, warming light, providingfort and mild warmth, ideal for soothing and calming. ]


    Like the grimoires, beasts also have different grades that determine their potential and strength. Starting from Unranked to Gold grade, the strength of the higher grades was more than doubledpared to the previous ones.


    Unranked grades could just be said to be normal animals that obtained one skill, while higher grades could beparable to legendary beasts from his previous life. The number of their starting skills also varies, with the Unranked Grade Beast having only one ordinary skill, while the number increases for each seeding grade.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Lucas even heard that a Gold Grade beast at least had five skills at its disposal the moment it was awakened, and each of them was equally lethal as thest.


    Now, what he awakened was called Gentle Dog, with Unranked as its grade. Not to mention its grade, the skill it had was even more depressing for Lucas as it literally has nobat capabilities.


    ''Gentle Gaze¡­ ording to the description, this skill should just be named ''Act Cute instead! Gentle Gaze, my a*s!''


    ''Sigh! It seems that the only chance I have is to rely on the system. Is this my fate?''


    Resigning to his fate, Lucas'' eyes emitted a warm glow as he calmly rested his palm on the second page of the grimoire.


    Closing his eyes, hemanded ''summon'' inside his mind and instantly connected with the entity stored inside the second page of the grimoire.


    The next second, the room was lit with a brilliant glow. This glow was also called the summoning glow. Lucas saw a lot of this earlier at the school.


    The glow onlysted for a few seconds before it died down. At that moment, Lucas knew that he had sessfully summoned his first beast, the Gentle Dog.


    He also felt something being extracted from him. As far as he knew, this was his Spiritual Energy getting consumed after summoning his Gentle Dog. Different grades and ranks consume different amounts of Spiritual Energy. Since the Gentle Dog was only Unranked in both grade and strength at the moment, the Spiritual Energy consumed was also just a little.


    Lucas looked down and immediately saw the Gentle Dog right below him.


    It was sitting and was looking up at him with a curious gaze. It was pretty small, like an adult Chihuahua from his previous life.


    Although it looked small, like a chihuahua, it did not look as menacing as that of one.


    Lucas shivered after recalling some bad memories about the Chihuahua-menace from his previous life.


    The dog was a mix of ck and white, with white being the most prominent color. There was a spot of ck on its right eye, making it look strange yet cute at the same time. The vibe it gave off was that it was pretty harmless and docile. The kind that only knows how to act cute and be a man''s best friend.


    The next moment, the dog suddenly emitted a soft glow as the Gentle Dog tilted its head to the side while looking up at him. Lucas'' heart melted the moment he saw such a scene. Lucas immediately realized that the dog had just used its only skill, Gentle Gaze.


    ''Gentle Dog, huh¡­''


    Lucas smiled at the dog and stroked its head warmly. Although it was weak and had no potential with its grade being Unranked, it did not discourage Lucas a little bit as he still had the system to rely on.


    Speaking of the system, Lucas finally turned his attention to the system that had now awakened inside him.


    With a thought, a transparent screen popped up in front of him. It was like a digital screen from his previous life, minus the fact that it was floating right in front of his eyes. It was like a hologram screen, and Lucas knew that he could interact with it or touch it if he wanted to.


    Lucas saw that only some minor information was shown on the screen.


    [No contracted beast detected. Will enter hibernation until the host contracts a beast!]


    This was the same message he saw back then when he transmigrated to this world.


    Lucas shifted his view and nced below it.


    [Contracted a Beast for the first time. Bloodline Detector is now avable for use.]


    The information provided was always brief and concise. Lucas did not even know the whole function of the system; heck, he did not even know what the system was called. All he knew was that it could help him strengthen his beasts.


    With a thought, the two previous messages were cleared from his view. A wheel-like menu reced it, divided into many columns, with only one column lit at the moment.


    This lit column has the icon of dripping blood, vibrant red in color.


    Lucas focused his gaze and clicked on the dripping blood icon. The screen shed, and he was shown new information regarding this function.


    [Bloodline Detector: Trace the origin of the beast through the bloodline, find the strongest ancestor of the lineage, and search for suitable skills to inherit. You can choose one skill to inherit! Do you want to use this function?]


    Below this function was the image of the Gentle Dog, his only avable beast at this moment.


    Looking at the description of his function, Lucas could not help but gasp in delight.


    After a hundred years of development, from chaos to peace to prosperity, it was noted and widely known that a beast could only gain skills through battles, self-reflection, and hard training.


    No matter what method you use from the three to gain skills, the grade of the beast always ys a major role. Higher-grade beasts meant more talent and potential, and hence, they were able to awaken skills easilypared to lower-grade beasts.


    As for an Unranked grade beast learning a new skill, Lucas had never heard of it before. But ording to his parents, their Iron Grade beasts only managed to learn their other skills after more than ten years. It was apparent how difficult it was for lower grade beasts to learn new skills.


    However, this function actually allowed him to choose one skill directly?


    "Deymm, this is overpowered!"


    Even if, for example, the skill he could choose from was not powerful, a new skill was still a new skill regardless.


    It must be known that, aside from battles, beasts could only grow stronger through evolution and by acquiring new skills. They might not necessarily rank up if they obtain a new skill, but they would be infinitely closer to the next rank and would only need a little push to enhance further.


    Lucas calmed down his excitement as he looked at the Gentle Dog that was still emitting the Gentle Gaze skill.


    Lucas smiled and looked at it adoringly. "Little guy, are you ready to soar?"


    The Gentle Dog titled its head in confusion.


    Woof?


    Without wasting any more time, Lucas immediately used the Bloodline Detector function of the system on the Gentle Dog.

 Chapter 7 Bloodline Detector

    After Lucas used the function, a trace of blood appeared on his fingertips. This blood looked real, but at the same time, it appeared as if it were just an illusion. It was mysterious, surreal, and ethereal.


    Lucas marveled at the sight of it. His heart palpitated as he felt the intense aura it contained within that drop of blood provided by the system.


    He dragged the blood and dropped it toward the Gentle Dog.


    The Gentle Dog was still looking at him curiously. Its gaze was still emitting the warm light of the Gentle Gaze skill. It was if the drop of blood did not affect it a bit, having shown no reaction after Lucas made the action.


    However, Lucas himself knew that the deed was done as he looked at the progress bar that appeared on his system screen. And only in a few seconds did the progress bar end and disappear, followed by new information that Lucas immediately read.


    [Gentle Dog: Tracing bloodline¡­


    Bloodlines detected: Cerberus, Fenrir, Kirin, Fire Dragon, Light Dragon, Winged Earth Dragon, Cryptic Worm, Green Butterfly, Rabbit¡­ ]


    Lucas was dizzy looking at the list of bloodlines that were traced to the Gentle Dog.


    ''What the heck is this? Are you sure you''re testing the same dog?'' Lucas could not help butment inwardly.


    The top contained formidable creatures he only heard of from myths and legends from his previous life.


    The bloodline from Cerberus and Fenrir that he could understand, as one was illustrated as a three-headed dog from Greek mythology, the guard of the underworld, while the other was said to be a monstrous wolf in Norse mythology, both of them looked like, and had a resemnce to, the dogs of the current age.


    The Kirin was somewhat understandable as well.


    However¡­


    ''Can someone tell me why the bloodline of a dragon is present here? And there is even one more kind!?''


    ''And more importantly, why is a worm included in the list? There''s also a butterfly and a rabbit?''


    ''What kind of interracial scandal is this!?''


    Lucas continued reading the list of bloodlines where the Gentle Dog originated from.


    Fish, ck Bee, White Blood Mosqui-


    Lucas was bewildered and thought, ''Alright, let''s just stop it right there!''


    Lucas looked at the Gentle Dog and could not help but say, "Little guy, I must admit, your ancestor is not a dog but a dawg!"


    Woof?


    The Gentle Dog tilted its head in confusion as if saying, "What are you talking about?"


    Lucas shook his head at the clueless expression of his Gentle Dog.


    He finally ignored the list of ''formidable'' bloodlines of the Gentle Dog and nced down at the information right below.


    [Gentle Dog:


    Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Unranked


    Choose one of the skills listed below to inherit. The skills are optimized ording to the creature''s grade and rank. The skills listed below are the most suitable for the current beast. Please choose wisely.


    Hellhound Manifestation: Temporarily transforms into the Hellhound form. During this transformation, the beast''s inner ferocity will be released while its strength and endurance are significantly enhanced.


    Gale Shield: Releases a powerful burst of wind from its body, knocking back enemies and creating a protective barrier of swirling air around it. This barrier can deflect projectiles and reduce the impact of physical attacks.


    Phantom Illusion: Creates two illusory copies of itself, confusing enemies and making it difficult to distinguish the real one. The illusion mimics the beast''s movements and attacks, making it harder for opponents tond a sessful hit.]


    Lucas smiled from ear to ear as he saw the three skills. Each of them was very powerful, in his opinion, so much sopared to the Gentle Gaze that the Gentle Dog currently has. Well, Gentle Gaze was also powerful, but in a different way.


    Lucas calmed his excitement as he read the description of the skills a few more times.


    Among the three, one was a buff or transformation-type skill that could significantly increase his Gentle Dog''s abilities temporarily. The second was a defensive skill, while the other was an illusion skill that could help it escape during a dangerous situation.


    After some deliberation, Lucas decided to choose the Hellhound Manifestation due to some reasons and his current circumstances.


    First of all, they will be entering the school-regted dungeon tomorrow. Inside the dungeon, they must form teams and work together to kill the dungeon beasts to gain experience points that would help them level up their rank.


    As someone who awakened an Unranked Grade Grimoire and an Unranked Grade Beast, he would surely struggle and would be left behind if he did not have an offensive ability to rely on.


    Although the Hellhound Manifestation was not a direct offensive ability, it allowed his Gentle Dog to enhance its overall attributes, so Lucas thought that it was better than the other two, which were defensive and evasive abilities.


    As for using the two skills for strategic purposes, like making the Gentle Dog use Phantom Illusion, while he himself will go and fight the enemy beast directly. Lucas scrapped this idea as soon as it appeared on his mind due to a lot of reasons.


    The most important reason was that,pared to even the lowest-grade beast with skills, he was as fragile as a piece of ss. It would be foolish to engage them inbat directly with his meager skills and experience.


    Heck, even his father, a man with a robust figure, able to lift a hundred kilograms easily with one hand, does not dare confront an Iron Star 1 Beast head-on, even with the help of his contracted beast.


    One must note that Iron Star 1 beasts were just a level higher than Unranked beasts like his Gentle Dog.


    Anyway, after deciding on the skill that he wanted the Gentle Dog to inherit, Lucas did not waste any more time and proceeded forward immediately.


    As soon as he clicked on the skill of his choice and then a confirmation, the screen disappeared, and Lucas'' gaze was soon attracted to the glowing eyes of the Gentle Dog.


    Different from before, when it was using the Gentle Gaze, the glow emitting from the Gentle Dog''s eyes at the moment looked ancient and profound.


    Woof?


    The Gentle Dog looked around in confusion. It stared at Lucas and barked at him again softly. Even though he could not understand what it was saying, Lucas could sense that it looked happy and excited. Lucas also noticed that its size seemed to grow a little bit.


    Meanwhile, Lucas looked at the scene in a dumbfounded manner.


    ''Wait! That''s it? No more special effects?''


    He thought that since it was a skill inheritance, it would produce world-shaking tremors, create celestial phenomena that wouldst three days and three nights, and make all the experts in the world look in his direction.


    ''Alright, I must admit that I have been reading some fantasy novels recently,'' he thought in a self-deprecating way.


    Anyway, after confirming that there were no more special effects, Lucas took out his grimoire and looked at the changes on the second page where the information about the Gentle Dog was listed.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    [Beast: Gentle Dog


    Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 2


    Skills: Gentle Gaze, Hellhound Manifestation


    Gentle Gaze:..


    Hellhound Manifestation:..


    ]


    Looking at the new data, Lucas clenched his fist in excitement.


    ''It''s real!''


    ''The Hellhound Manifestation is actually that powerful. It even made the little guy''s rank rise two times in a row!''


    Lucas could not hide his excitement as he focused his gaze on the new rank and the new skill of his Gentle Dog.


    Without wasting any more time, Lucas ordered the Gentle Dog to use its new skill.


    The dog replied with a woof before its body burst out into a new form.


    Boom!


    The next moment, Lucas widened his eyes in horror as he shouted desperately, "Stop! Stop! Return!"

 Chapter 8 Small Incident

    A loud explosion ensued in the small home of Lucas'' family.


    Cough! Cough!


    Lucas coughed out the smoke and dust he identally inhaled as he heard hurried footstepsing outside of his room.


    "Luke, are you okay? What''s going on?"


    "Is there an enemy?"


    Both parents smashed his door open. Worried looks were apparent on their faces as they waved their hands in the air, clearing the dust and billows that wafted around Lucas'' small room.


    Behind each of them were their respective summons: the Squirt Turtle of his mother, Rosana, and the Strong Ape of his father, Lumbert. Although both parents don''t have greatbat capabilities, they still stormed to Lucas'' room after hearing themotion, worried for their child.


    The Squirt Turtle was held by Rosana on her chest. It was pretty small and had a gentle-looking face. Upon a closer look, one would notice a hose-like structure located at the center of its fore flippers, at the top of the stron, hence its name. It was with the help of this Squirt Turtle that Rosana was considered a goodundry maid by the neighborhood.


    The Strong Ape of Lumbert, on the other hand, was standing in front of Lumbert. It has muscr and long arms that extend all the way to its knees. If not for its shuddering jaw, the Strong Ape would have been a good fighter with its strength and stature. Unfortunately, the Strong Ape was born to be cowardly and does not dare to fight.


    It can only do menial carrying jobs with Lumbert on the construction site.


    Seeing his parents storm into his room with worried faces, a wry smile blossomed in Lucas'' face.


    "Mom, Dad, don''t worry about it. It was just an ident. I identally ordered my beast to release its skill," Lucas exined hurriedly.


    In truth, he himself was surprised about the oue of his little ''experiment'' and curiosity.


    ''So big!'' He thought to himself, recalling the scene earlier.


    The small-sized Gentle Dog directly transformed into the size of a sedan car. It was a sight to behold. He was amazed and, at the same time, felt scared for his life. His room was just that small. It only has a bed and a little space beside it to roam around.


    With the Gentle Dog''s transformation, his bed was directly destroyed, and it almost pierced through the wall of their house. One piece of the broken bed shot toward him, making him feel the presence of death before him. It was fortunate that the Gentle Dog reacted in time and swatted the piece of wood away. Lucas was also quick in ordering the Gentle Dog to retract its transformation.


    Hearing his words, his parents looked around and finally noticed the Gentle Dog sitting beside Lucas.


    A warm light emitted from the Gentle Dog''s eyes as his parents tout nerves immediately eased. In fact, even the turtle and the ape''s expressions also softened after seeing the gentle light.


    "Ahhh, what a cute dog! Luke, what''s the name of this little guy?" Rosana''s eyes and heart melted as she saw the Gentle Dog. She even forgot about themotion earlier as she went forward and squatted in front of the Gentle Dog to pat its head.


    The Gentle Dog replied with a woof and even tried to lick Rosana''s hands that were petting it.


    Compared to Rosana, Lumbert was more calm. Although his nerves had rxed due to the Gentle Gaze, he was still a little vignt of his surroundings. It was only when he confirmed that there was no enemy that he finally let his guard down.


    Recalling the words of Lucas earlier, Lumbert could not help but ask, "Is your dog''s skill that powerful?"


    For a newly awakened beast, this kind of damage was very absurd.


    It must be noted that even his Strong Ape, an Iron Grade beast with its Iron Star 3 rank, would not be able to do this damage.


    Well, mainly because it was afraid of damaging properties. But still, Lumbert was still amazed that Lucas'' small dog could do so much damage with it being just an Unranked Grade beast.


    Lucas nodded his head slightly. The skill was indeed powerful. In fact, the term ''powerful'' was downying its abilities; it''s overpowered.


    Lumbert smiled and nodded his head. He did not press further, but he was very happy for his son.


    There were indeed cases of low-grade beasts having powerful starting skills. Perhaps Lucas and his beast indeed have the potential to grow stronger.


    He smiled from ear to ear, clearly happy that Lucas would not follow the path they had taken.


    However, after recalling that Lucas only has an Unranked grimoire, his mood could not help but sink down: ''Sigh! What a pity, my boy.''


    Anyway, this was just a minor incident for the small family. It was normal for a newly awakened to not be able to control their beast''s skills.


    After helping Lucas tidy up his room, his parents finally returned to their own room with a satisfied smile on their faces.


    As Rosana had said, the Gentle Dog was irresistible, so she requested that Lucas summon it more often in the future and not hide the dog from her.


    Lucas had no problem with it, so he agreed without much thought. His father, on the other hand, felt stifled, not knowing how to react.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He would not be jealous of a dog, but why was she sweeter to the dog than toward him? This was not scientific.


    Lucas still had school tomorrow. And as new awakeners, tomorrow would be one of their moments as they would finally enter a dungeon for the first time and earn experience points to level up.


    Summoners or grimoire users can increase their rank by gaining experience points obtained from killing uncontracted beasts found inside the dungeon or in the wild. The experience points earned differed from person to person for a lot of reasons.


    After a hundred years of studies, it was noted that the experience points that a person can gain from killing a beast will be influenced by a lot of factors.


    The participation rate, the grimoire grade, the enemy beast''s rank and grade, as well as the grimoire user''s rank, will be considered before they gain the experience points.


    One must note that it was pretty difficult fighting a wild beast head-on solo, so you must always act in a group and work together to kill a beast of the same level.


    This was also why the teachers would always remind the students not to look down on others, as everyone needs a team to move forward.


    Unfortunately, among all the influencing factors, grimoire grade carries the heaviest weight in experience point calction, making it a significant element that determines a person''s growth potential.


    Bronze Grade and even Iron Grade were still eptable; however, when ites to Unranked Grade grimoire, the experience acquisition was truly pitifully low. Not to mention that since they have weak beasts, they could only contribute little during a fight, making their experience point acquisition rate drop even further.


    It could be said that low-grade grimoires had it worse in this world, especially for the Unranked Grade grimoire users like Lucas.


    Anyway, tomorrow was a big day for Lucas. He needs to be at full energy tomorrow to make a good performance.


    After he stored the Gentle Dog inside his grimoire, hey on the makeshift bed as he closed his eyes to sleep.


    Morning came in the blink of an eye.


    Lucas, due to his excitement, was not able to sleep even a single wink.


    He arrived at the school with huge eye bags and dropped his shoulders. It was as if he were at the end of his life and might fall at any moment.


    His ssmates, seeing him, could not help but snicker in delight. Even those who awakened Iron Grade grimoires joined in the fun by insulting him.


    Although he preferred to keep silent during such situations as he was not strong enough to confront all of them yet, one insult still made him burst into fury.


    "Well, as they say, only apples fall on an apple tree. We could not expect a geniusing out of trash parents, right?"


    Lucas turned around and red at the person who said the insulting words.


    "What did you just say?"


    Upon turning around, Lucas realized that it was actually an acquaintance who said such words.


    Rage boiled up inside as he muttered, "Anjie!"


    .____


    A/N: Those who wanted to review, refrain from typing or saying curse words as it will be automatically deleted by webnovel.

 Chapter 9 Perfect Response

    Lucas gritted in rage as he saw the face of Anjie.


    Anjie used to be a good girl. She was quite funny and was very kind to him. She also likes to stick around him all day long, as if her world just revolved around him.


    At least, that was what Lucas thought before.


    At this moment, Lucas red at Anjie and the person beside her.


    Unsurprisingly, it was Hector, whose hand was holding Anjie''s waist intimately.


    In an instant, Lucas thought and saw through Anjie''s ruse. His conjecture from before was further confirmed. Now that Anjie had found another ''genius'' to stick to, she obviously would not be on his side anymore.


    What she said earlier was a clear indication that she wanted to oppose Lucas now, perhaps, in a way to please the ''genius'' beside her.


    If he red up at this moment, they would just continue with their remarks, and it might escte into something big.


    At this moment, Hector was the school genius. He would be favored and protected by the school, so even if they were in the wrong, the school would only look to the side and make it seem like it was Lucas'' fault.


    If she seeded in riling him up, Anjie would rejoice and would sessfully integrate herself into Hector''s circlepletely.


    Lucas scoffed inwardly, not nning to y along.


    Instead of ring up, he just found the perfect counter for the current situation.


    He looked at the two of them with a smirk. He focused his gaze between the two of them before saying, "I see. Another man''s trash is indeed another man''s treasure."


    He chuckled and turned around coolly, no longer bothering about the dumbfounded gaze of his ssmates, not expecting him to respond in that way.


    Anjie also froze on the spot.


    Hmmpp!


    Hector harrumphed and released his grip on Anjie''s waist, even pushing her to the side a little bit.


    He was actually quite proud earlier, as he managed to snatch Lucas'' girlfriend. However, hearing his remarks, Hector did not feel that happy anymore. Instead, he even looked at Anjie as if she were truly another man''s trash.


    If he picked her up, wouldn''t that mean that he valued Lucas'' trash?


    Meanwhile, delivering the perfect response, Lucas proceeded to a square where a lot of people were present.


    Since today was the day that they would enter the dungeon for the first time, they have already been informed by the teacher that they will gather in the Dungeon Area the moment they arrive at school.


    The Dungeon Area was a special area where the school-regted dungeon was present. ording to the school''s history that Lucas has read before, the Starlight Academy was established fifteen years ago, and this sole dungeon controlled by the school itself was one of the keys to the school''s establishment.


    Dungeons had descended all over the world a hundred years ago and were still continuously descending at random intervals at this moment.


    The dungeon located in the Dungeon Area was a dungeon that appeared in this area fifteen years ago. After the experts dived into the dungeon, conquered the beasts inside, and thoroughly studied the environment as well as the dungeon''s rules, it was finally deemed to be a regted dungeon.


    A regted dungeon was just another term for a controlled or conquered dungeon. Meaning, the situation inside was thoroughly studied, and the minimum and maximum strengths of the beasts were identified. They would then ssify the dungeon into different levels ording to the danger it posed to the dungeon divers.


    The owner of the school, Mr. Starlight, then bought the rights to the dungeon and finally established the Starlight Academy around it.


    In front of Lucas was a huge and towering building. This building was the tallest among all the buildings in the neighborhood, and it was pretty popr as the school-regted dungeon can be found inside of it.


    Two guards were standing at the massive door. Even though they did not summon their grimoire, one look, and it would be easy to tell that they were formidable summoners.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    As he arrived at the Dungeon Area, Lucas noticed that they were divided ording to their ss.


    There were four second-year sses in the Starlight Academy, named after the first four letters of the alphabet.


    They were not ranked ording to their abilities, and they were just randomly assigned to their respective ss, so a genius could be assigned to ss D.


    Lucas was a student in Second Year ss B, so he walked forward to join his ssmates who arrived earlier than him.


    There were a lot of familiar faces around, including the ssmates who hurled some snide remarks at him yesterday.


    Upon noticing him, some of them even smirked, especially after seeing his weak appearance.


    "Look at Lucas'' eyes. I think he cried out all night long. His eyebags are literally dropping to his cheekbone."


    The others nodded their heads,pletely agreeing with the statement.


    Lucas ignored them as he found a corner to sit.


    Since the teacher was not here yet, he decided to check his grimoire once again just to confirm some information.


    Unlike the others that looked metallic and cool, his grimoire cover was brown in color, akin to dirt. It also showed the texture that it was made of dpidated paper,pletely different from the metallic luster that Iron Grade and above grimoires emit.


    Lucas ignored the gaze of everyone present as he flipped to the grimoire''s first page.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Unranked (0/100 XP)


    Spiritual Energy: 50


    Beasts: Gentle Dog


    ]


    The first page did not contain that much information. ording to what he knew, there would be informationter that would pop up at the bottom part of the page, so his profile or information just mostly upied the top part of the page.


    After seeing that there was no new information, Lucas nodded his head and looked at the Gentle Dog''s information as well. Seeing the Hellhound Manifestation skill being there, a smile bloomed on his face.


    ''Stable,'' he thought to himself as he retracted the grimoire.


    It just so happened that their teacher, Teacher Julian, had already arrived at the scene.


    Julian took a nce at Lucas and could not help but shake his head in pity.


    Teacher Julian pped his hands, instantly gathering the attention of the chattering students. His authoritative presence made the crowd quiet down as he stepped forward, his voice calm but firm.


    "Alright, ss B, listen up!" he began, sweeping his gaze across the students. "Today is a critical day for all of you. It''s your first time diving into the dungeon, and I don''t need to tell you how important it is. This is where theory meets reality. The monsters inside won''t care about how high your grades are in ss or how impressive your theories are during discussions.


    Out there, it''s your skill, your grimoire, and your quick thinking that will keep you alive..."


    He proceeded to warn them of the dungeon''s danger. Even though it was considered regted or controlled, there were still beasts inside that could kill anyone if they were not careful.


    He reminded them not to act recklessly, and they must remember to always act with caution and help others if they can.


    He also especially reminded them that they must only search for beasts in the periphery area, as the inner and core areas were dangerous ces not suitable for their current level.


    Julian''s eyes scanned the students, making sure they were listening carefully.


    "Since you guys know your abilities the best, I won''t assign you to teams. Instead, you can form teams of your own with a maximum of five members per team. I''ve seen talented individuals fail simply because they thought they could do it all alone. You need to trust your ssmates and understand that every member of your team has a role to y¡ªwhether they''re strong or weak in your eyes."


    He nced at Lucas briefly, then turned back to the ss. "And remember this: the dungeon has its own rules. Follow your instincts, but follow your training even more. If, at any point, things seem out of control, retreat. The goal today is not just to defeat the beasts but also toe back alive."


    Another pause filled the air before he continued, "Your first target inside will be Iron Grade beasts. Some of you might be confident; others might be nervous. That''s fine. But just know that the real danger lies in being overconfident or careless."


    "Now, are there any questions before we begin?"


    The students exchanged nces, most of them too nervous to speak. Julian nodded, satisfied with the silence.


    After realizing that the other ss teachers also seemed to be done with their instructions, Julian moved his hand and allowed the student to follow him inside the Dungeon Building.


    Once inside, Lucas finally saw the appearance of a dungeon personally for the first time in his life.

 Chapter 10 Inside The Dungeon

    Dungeons were categorized into two types.


    The non-regted and the regted types of dungeons.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Non-regted dungeons can be mostly found outside of cities. They were dungeons that were either too dangerous for the hunters and hence could not be conquered, or dungeons that had recently popped up or descended.


    Regted dungeons, on the other hand, were mostly controlled by some major forces. They were dungeons that had already been mapped out and conquered. Most of them exist inside the cities or in controble areas outside of the cities.


    At this moment, the world outside of cities was still very dangerous. In fact, even in cities, dungeons would still pop up without warning, anywhere, and at any time.


    Butpared to cities, the danger in the wild was very rampant.


    From time to time, non-regted dungeons would send out beasts to the real world, hence the need to send hunters inside to constantly kill the beasts inside and regte them.


    From what he knew from the inte, the outside world was basically like a living hell, even for strong summoners.


    ording to the history of this world, from the moment the dungeons descended, it took more than ten years for all of humanity to retreat to one corner of the world where the descent of dungeons was not very frequent before they managed to stabilize themselves.


    It was only a few yearster that they managed to fight back and constantly conquered low-level dungeons, progressing from there.


    Now, he heard that humanity had slowly begun to fight back, and some even started to conquer back the areas that were once lost to the beasts that came out of non-regted dungeons.


    Seeing a dungeon, the source of terror in the world, in person for the first time in his life, Lucas could not help but clench his fist in excitement and nervousness.


    The dungeon entrance was unlike anything he had seen before.


    It looks like a semi-translucent vortex suspended in the air. It looks like a whirlpool made of swirling currents of air, constantly in motion but never moving from its spot.


    This was what they called the dungeon and, at the same time, the portal to another world.


    The portal distorts light, creating an almost mirage-like effect, as if the space around it were bending and warping. It was purplish-ck in color, looking devious, sinister, and, at the same time, mysterious.


    The dungeons, after being conquered, will be ssified into various sses ording to the level of danger they pose.


    From the information he knew, this school-regted dungeon was ssified as a ss C dungeon.


    It was a high-level dungeon with the strength of beasts inside ranging from Iron Star 1 to Silver Star 3.


    With such a setting, it should have been impossible to let the newly awakened students wander inside.


    However, the school-regted dungeon was a special case among C-ss dungeons as it was divided into three parts: the Outer, Inner and the Core areas.


    Strong beasts generally just roam around the Inner and Core areas, so students who only want to gain experience can still boldly enter and gain experience points as long as they do not wander around the two dangerous areas.


    This was also the reason why the ''ownership'' of the dungeon was highly contested and was even put up for auction before it was obtained by the Starlight Academy owner, Mr. Starlight.


    Starlight Academy was also considered pretty popr due to the existence of this special C-ss dungeon.


    After Teacher Julian approached the receptionist and informed her of the situation, they were finally told to fall in line and enter the dungeon one by one.


    As an Unranked Grade awakener, Lucas was naturally cast aside and was thest one to enter the dungeon, with Hector and his circle of friends being the first to enter along with Teacher Julian.


    As he stepped into the vortex, Lucas felt his consciousness spin a few revolutions per second before he felt that he hadnded softly on t ground.


    The urge to puke then overtook his mind; fortunately, he managed to control himself in time and was finally able to ovee the dizziness he experienced.


    Even so, he still felt weak and could not help but kneel down on the ground to recover himself for a few seconds.


    He looked around and noticed that most of his ssmates were actually puking their guts out.


    After some observation, he realized that those who overcame the urge to puke were basically those who awakened to Bronze Grade and above.


    Of course, not all of them managed to do so.


    For example, he saw Anjie, a Bronze Grade awakener, belching her guts out a few meters away from Hector and his group. Hector has an ugly expression as he turns his back away from her.


    Teacher Julian, on the other hand, seemed calm.


    A few minutester, the other second-year students were also transported inside the dungeon. The same situation appeared, so this was obviously not an isted case.


    This was a pretty normal situation for those who entered a dungeon for the first few times.


    A few minutester, seeing that everyone had already calmed down, Teacher Julian finally nodded his head and said, "Alright, now that you have already experienced the thrill of being a dungeon diver firsthand, it''s time for you to form groups and kill some beasts to gain experience."


    "We have already discussed the situation before, so I won''t repeat myself. There is no requirement this time around. As long as you receive even the tiniest bit of experience points, then I will be happy and proud of your achievement.


    This is just thest reminder: stay in the Outer area; do not attack a beast recklessly if you do not recognize it; andstly, prepare thoroughly before attacking a beast."


    "After you''ve formed your teams, you can set out on your own; just be sure toe back to this area, the Safe Area, before the twenty-four-hour limit is up."


    Every person can only stay inside a dungeon for twenty-four hours straight. After that, if they do not go out, they will be ejected forcefully, and they will receive penalties like injuries and not be able to enter any kind of dungeon again for a set period of time. This rule applies even to the strongest summoner out there.


    After saying his words, Teacher Julian did not concern himself about his students anymore and allowed them to do as they pleased.


    After he left, the students immediately grouped themselves into a maximum number of five.


    The friends automatically teamed up with each other, while the others chose to cling to those who awakened good beasts and high-grade grimoires.


    As the only Unranked Grimoire awakener in the whole ss, Lucas was automatically disregarded by everyone else.


    Those who happened to turn to look in his direction would even look away in an instant, as if afraid that they would be contaminated by his weakness.


    Lucas, on the other hand, did not mind their actions.


    In truth, after he obtained the skillst night, he was already confident and had already nned to go alone. Even if Teacher Julian forced him to group with others, he already nned to break away from the team and go solo.


    Doing so has a lot of advantages, especially for someone like him who only has an Unawakened Grade Grimoire.


    Lower-grade grimoires naturally earn fewer experience points than others. And if he teamed up with someone else, his experience points would be further deducted based on his contribution.


    Last night, he had already nned to go solo.


    The current situation just made his life easier.


    Ignoring the gaze of others, Lucas went to one corner and inspected the contents of his bag.


    This bag was quite full at the moment, with a lot of contents such as food, medicine, and other basic necessities necessary for survival inside a dungeon.


    Dungeon survival was one of their subjects, so he was quite an expert in such preparations.


    Aside from that, there was also a basic map of the outer area of the dungeon so that he wouldn''t get lost while inside.


    His mother and father had also prepared a set of leather armor for him.


    ording to them, this was what his father and mother had bought for him as a present for his grimoire awakening ceremony.


    Lucas had already donned it, and on his waist was also a small knife made of normal metal, enough to cut some things if he needed to.


    After confirming that he was thoroughly prepared, Lucas took onest look at his ssmates before he walked out of the Safe Area.


    At that moment, Teacher Julian, who saw his departure, could only shake his head in regret and disappointment.


    Like many others, he had also lost hope for Lucas. There was nothing he could do anymore. Lucas'' fate was already decided the moment he awakened his grimoire.


    Meanwhile, after moving for almost a kilometer away from the Safe Area, Lucas took out his grimoire and immediately summoned the Gentle Dog.


    New information also popped up on the nk part of the first page of the grimoire.

 Chapter 11 Hellhound Manifestation

    Lucas took a nce at the first page of the grimoire, especially the new information that popped up at the nk part on the bottom of the page.


    [Consumed 9 Spiritual Energy to summon the contracted beast, Gentle Dog.]


    Lucas was familiar with this situation, as it was also discussed in school previously.


    Each summon of a beast will consume spiritual energy. The rate of consumption will depend on the beast''s grade and rank.


    Each summoning would onlyst 30 minutes in total. One can extend it by consuming another set of Spiritual Energy from the summoner.


    As for how to recover Spiritual Energy, the most basic would be to enter a meditative state while using a Meditation Manual. Aside from that, they could also consume resources such as potions and some special items to recover Spiritual Energy, but such things were very expensive, and not everyone could afford to buy them.


    Lucas closed the grimoire and proceeded to walk forward with the Gentle Dog who led the way while sniffing curiously on the ground.


    It was not searching for any beasts but was just generally curious about the new surroundings.


    ording to the discussion, the beasts would generally appear around 1 kilometer away from the Safe Area, hence the reason why he only decided to summon the Gentle Dog now to save some summoning time.


    Lucas reviewed the map he was holding in his hand and proceeded to walk forward a momentter after confirming his destination.


    As they walked forward, Lucas suddenly sensed that the Gentle Dog seemed to have be agitated for some reason as it looked in one particr direction.


    Knowing what it implied, Lucas immediately ordered it to calm down and stay quiet for the time being.


    As per what they studied, one must not act rashly if they discover a beast.


    The best thing to do was to observe and assess the situation first. Everyone only has one life, so they were told to be extremely careful when dealing with beasts. Only when one confirms that they can handle the beast will they proceed to strike.


    Following the Gentle Dog''s gaze, Lucas gripped the knife on his waist tightly as he slowly moved toward that area.


    Making sure he did not make any noise, he crouched on some bushes and searched for the beast that the Gentle Dog had discovered.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He was very tense at the moment, as this was his first time going out to hunt for a beast as well. Although there was practical training in school before where they needed to face the beast of their teachers and constantly evade their slowed attack, the current situation was different as wild beasts would go for the kill immediately and would not purposely slow down their movements.


    After some careful maneuvering behind the bushes, Lucas finally saw the beast that the Gentle Dog had detected.


    As he had thoroughly prepared and even studied the materials provided by Teacher Julian before, the information about the beast instantly appeared in his mind the moment he saw it.


    "A Blood-Eyed Mole."


    A Blood-Eyed Mole was an Iron Star 1 Beast. ording to the data, it was always alone and liked to burrow into the shallow hole it created while waiting for prey to appear.


    It only has two avable skills: a detection skill and an attack skill. Both skills have a range of three meters from the Blood-Eyed Mole''s body. The Blood-Eyed Mole has the same size as that of a house cat. Although small in size, it was actually very ferocious and would attack anything that entered the detection range of its skill, Blood Sense.


    Lucas looked at the Gentle Dog and said, "It should be manageable. We only need to watch out for its Blood Spike skill, and then you can go for the kill."


    Woof?


    The Gentle Dog replied softly, as if it were also afraid of alerting its prey.


    Lucas'' confidence lied in the Hellhound Manifestation skill of the Gentle Dog. Aside from that, its level had also risen into Iron Star 2, so even if the Blood-Eyed Mole was an Iron Grade beast, he thought that his Gentle Dog, in Hellhound form, should be able to kill the unprepared mole even if his Gentle Dog was only an Unranked Grade beast.


    Just like summoners, the strength and level of beasts were also categorized into stars. The lowest was the Unranked, or No Star Rank, and after that was the Iron Star 1-9, followed by the Bronze Star 1-9, and then Silver, all the way to Gold.


    For summoners, they need to earn 100 experience points before they can rank up to Iron Star 1.


    Beasts, on the other hand, have a different leveling method. They must consume valuable treasures, learn skills, fight, or even evolve before they can level up their rank.


    At this moment, they were still a few meters away from the Blood-Eyed Mole.


    Lucas calmed his emotions and ordered the Gentle Dog to use the skill of Hellhound Manifestation.


    The Gentle Dog replied with a woof and instantly transformed into the manifestation of the Hellhound, whose appearance was drastically differentpared to its previous one.


    From its gentle and clueless demeanor, it transformed into something ferocious and wild.


    It has a sleek appearance and is elegant and imposing. In terms of dog handsomeness, it definitely topped the chart.


    It can be made into a cover model of a dog romance novel.


    Anyway, its fur color was still a mix of ck and white. But this time, the ck part took dominance, with the white furs mainly around its neck, as if acting as a mane.


    Its eyes were entirely blue. It looked as calm as the sky, but Lucas knew that ferocity hid deep within it.


    Seeing the appearance of the Gentle Dog while using the Hellhound Manifestation still left him in a trance. He still could not expect that the small dog could transform into something as massive as a car and look imposing and dangerous.


    Even though the Gentle Dog was his own beast, he could still feel the ferocious and dangerous aura it emitted, even when it was doing nothing at this moment.


    This was the source of his confidence.


    Perhaps this was what it felt like to be in the presence of a dangerous beast.


    Lucas turned to look at the Blood-Eyed Mole. Its detection and awareness range was just around three meters; however, Lucas discovered that it actually seemed to move around and became restless all of a sudden. As if it had discovered something dangerous and wanted to flee at the next moment.


    In an instant, Lucas realized that it must have felt the aura and ferociousness of the current Gentle Dog. Although its detection skill only has a range of three meters, its sense of danger has no fixed range. It must have felt afraid all of a sudden, so it decided to bolt out and escape.


    Knowing this, Lucas did not waste any more time and immediately told the Gentle Dog to attack.


    The Gentle Dog snarled and leapt toward the Blood-Eyed Mole.


    Although the snarl was not loud, Lucas noticed that the Blood-Eyed Mole still shivered in fright the moment it heard it.


    Without even knowing where the snarl came from, it directly turned around and leaped away to escape.


    Unfortunately, the Gentle Dog, in Hellhound Manifestation form, was quite swift and agile.


    With a single leap, it arrived in front of the Blood-Eyed Mole in an instant.


    It raised its massive paw and smacked the Blood-Eyed Mole that was trying to leap away.


    The Blood-Eyed mole squeaked in pain as its body flew and smashed to the ground a few meters away.


    Blood rushed out of its orifices as it felt the force of the smash.


    In panic and fear, it hurriedly stood up and immediately used the Blood Spike skill with its own blood as the medium.


    Three bloody spikes rose from the ground, reaching a meter high. It looked very sharp and strong. If a human was pierced by such a bloody spike, they would surely die in an instant.


    Unfortunately, the Blood Spikes can only grow from the ground, three meters away from the Blood-Eyed Mole''s body.


    The Gentle Dog easily maneuvered around the three spikes and arrived in front of the Blood-Eyed Mole again.


    It smacked it again, directly, to the ground this time. Pinning it down on the ground, the Gentle Dog bit down on its nape and immediately tore the head away from its body, killing it instantly.


    Ferocious and bloodthirsty.


    This was how Lucas described the Gentle Dog during its Hellhound Manifestation form.


    As the Blood-Eyed Mole turns into particles of light, Lucas also notices a new set of information appearing at the bottom part of the profile page.


    Delighted, Lucas immediately read the new data.


    However, his expression froze the moment he saw the amount of experience points he gained from the kill.

 Chapter 12 Pitiful Fate

    Only after a dungeon has been fully conquered will the beasts inside turn into particles of light upon death. Before a dungeon is conquered, the first dungeon raiders or divers enjoy the unique benefit of harvesting the materials left by the beasts'' bodies.


    These early raiders have a significant advantage, as they can gather valuable materials like hide, bones, meat, and other resources that can be used to craft powerful weapons, armor, and even certain potions.


    This was also the reason why newly descended dungeons were pretty popr. Popr and strong hunters would storm toward a newly descended dungeon, trying to get the first raid benefits.


    Lucas even heard that major groups even went to conflicts just to obtain the first raid benefit.


    Once a dungeon gets conquered, the subsequent raids or dives would only earn the summoners the experience points obtained from killing beasts, or if they got lucky and found some undiscovered treasures. However, such cases were rare, as the first dungeon divers would surely search the whole dungeon to obtain all that they could.


    Lucas did not think that he could find any hidden treasures in the school-regted dungeon anyway. Like many others, the sole reason he came into this regted dungeon was to gain experience points.


    Unfortunately, seeing the experience acquisition rate of an Unranked Grimoire summoner like him, his motivation still could not help but sink.


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 1, Blood-Eyed Mole (100%): You gained 1.69 XP]


    From what he knew, an Iron Star 1 Beast gives 100 experience points. Since what he killed was an Iron Grade, it has a bonus of 50%, and hence the total would be 150 experience points.


    If you fight and kill a beast above your star rank, you will also gain a certain bonus. If you fight and kill a beast below your star rank, your experience points will be deducted. The star rank was also calcted based on the summoner''s star rank and not the contracted beast or summon.


    After some calction, Lucas determined that the total experience points that the Blood-Eyed Mole gave should be 169.


    Unfortunately, Unranked Grade Grimoire only obtains 1% of the experience points they gain; hence, he only received 1.69 experience points from killing the Iron Star 1 creature.


    This was even after the fact that his contribution to the kill was at 100%. If there was another person in his team, and that person made a 20% contribution while he only got 80%, then the experience points he gained would only be 1.35.


    ording to the studies of experts, an Unranked grade only receives 1% of the beast''s experience. An Iron Grade receives 5%, a Bronze Grade receives 10%, a Silver Grade receives 20%, and a Gold Grade grimoire user receives a whopping 50%.


    This was the main reason why low-grade grimoires were looked down upon by the others.


    It takes them a lifetime just to go from an Unranked Star to Iron Star 1, which only requires 100 experience points.


    Considering his experience acquisition rate, Lucas calcted that he must kill more than 50 Iron Star 1 Blood-Eyed Mole before he could ascend and be an Iron Star 1 summoner.


    For an Iron Grimoire, it would only take them 12 kills of Iron Star 1 Blood-Eyed Mole to level up to Iron Star 1 rank if they killed the beast solo.


    For Bronze grade and above, it would take them even fewer kills, while a Gold grade would ascend to Iron Star 1 after killing two such beasts with a 100% contribution.


    Looking at the Gentle Dog in the appearance of the Hellhound, Lucas forcibly calmed his emotions.


    Tied down by his grimoire grade, Lucas has no other choice but to kill as many beasts as he can to level up.


    "Since I need to kill, then I shall kill as many as I can!" He vowed as a resolute gaze flickered on his eyes.


    He looked at the Gentle Dog, and as if sensing his determination, it let out a low growl and nudged its massive head toward Lucas'' chin, as if saying ''lift your head up'', as it was in full support of his ambition.


    Lucas smiled and stroked the Gentle Dog''s head gently.


    Since it only took a few seconds for the Gentle Dog to kill the Blood-Eyed Mole, they did not need to rest and proceed to search for more prey.


    Since he did not know the limit of the transformation and the skill description described that it was only temporary, Lucas decided to test its limits as they searched for their next prey.


    As he had studied the map and the beasts roaming in the outer area of the dungeon, Lucas and the Gentle Dog maneuvered and finally found their second beast a few minutester.


    It was a rabbit-like beast with a horn on its head. It was as big as a normal-sized dog from his previous life, but its strength was twice, if not three, as strong as one.


    Knowing that they could take on the beast head-on, Lucas did not hesitate and ordered the Gentle Dog to attack.


    Like before, the Gentle Dog still managed to overpower the beast easily, even if it was a grade higher than it was.


    The Hellhound Manifestation skill was indeed potent. Lucas wondered what the limit of its current strength was.


    Unfortunately, he doesn''t have any data to conform to, so he has no idea just how strong the Gentle Dog in Hellhound form was.


    The rabbit was still just an Iron Star 1 beast. Lucas obtained another 1.69 experience points after the Gentle Dog bit and tore its body apart, forming it into particles of light that dissolved in the air.


    The experience points on his profile page had now turned into 3.38/100.


    Lucas let out a sigh of defeat but did not take it to heart. He just proceeded forward, in search of another prey.


    After a while, Lucas and the Gentle Dog killed another Iron Star 1 beast, gaining another 1.69 experience points.


    After the quick battle, Lucas realized that the Hellhound Manifestation was about to end.


    He calcted the time and realized that it had been fifteen minutes since the moment the Gentle Dog used the skill.


    Lucas noted this down as he told the Gentle Dog to revert to its normal form. After it did so, he also took note that it was a little weak, probably due to the effects of the skill.


    Lucas decided to take a rest and wait for the Gentle Dog to recover.


    He returned it inside the grimoire, as it was known that they recovered quickly if they rested insidepared to if they rested in the real world.


    Since the summoner could still sense the situation of a beast inside the grimoire, Lucas would still be able to know its status even if it was inside.


    Lucas also did not wait long, as he realized that the Gentle Dog had fully recovered after resting for 5 minutes.


    He summoned it again and noted that it could use the Hellhound Manifestation once more.


    A smile formed on his face as they went to search for another beast that they could kill.


    Not longter, Lucas found another beast with the help of Gentle Dog.


    Unlike before, Lucas realized that the beast was an Iron Star 3 beast, and there were even two of them.


    "Ember Soldier Ants!" Lucas immediately paled in fright the moment he saw the two ants marching forward together.


    Known for being hard to kill, the Ember Soldier Ant always came in pairs and always worked together to defeat their opponent. One was acting as the attacker, while another was assigned as the vanguard or the defender.


    Both have a hard exoskeleton, making them very hard to kill with sharp weapons, and their tactic makes them almost impossible to kill during a sudden confrontation. And this was even in a situation where multiple people, or summoners, worked together to defeat them.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    They were also known for their ferocity, often attacking any creature around them, no matter if they were dungeon beasts or summoners. They do not discriminate and attack everyone that enters their range.


    From the information, it was suggested that when they meet the Ember Soldier Ants, they must flee at once before they get discovered.


    Lucas did not hesitate and decided to retreat at once.


    However, at the next moment, he realized that one of the Ember Soldier Ants had already noticed their presence.


    Knowing that there was no chance to escape easily, Lucas ordered the Gentle Dog to transform into the Hellhound form at once.


    He ordered it to mainly defend while they retreated, hoping that they would find help as they retreated toward the Safe Area.


    The next moment, though, a shocking scene was presented in front of his eyes.

 Chapter 13 Old Habits

    Lucas froze on the spot as he saw an unbelievable scene unfold before his eyes.


    He was mind-blown and bbergasted.


    The old bad habit of cursing his mind out that he had been unconsciously hiding deep inside him slowly rose as he saw the shocking scene.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "What the actual f*ckery f*ck is this?"


    An Unranked Grade Iron Star 2 Gentle Dog was actually overpowering two Iron Grade Iron Star 3 Ember Soldier Ants?


    He had never heard something like this before.


    He could have epted it easily if the Gentle Dog was of a higher grade than the Iron Grade ants, as higher-grade beasts tend to be stronger than beasts of lower grade on the same star rank.


    An Unranked Grade Iron Star 2 Gentle Dog killed an Iron Grade Star 1 beast? That he could still ept, as the Gentle Dog has a higher star rank than the Iron Star 1 beasts. In that sense, even if it was of a lower grade, its strength waspensated by being higher in rank, so Lucas thought that it was only normal that it could defeat the Iron Star 1 beasts before.


    However, not only were the Ember Soldier Ants of a higher grade than the Gentle Dog, they even had a higher star rankpared to the Gentle Dog.


    And this was in a case of two versus one, where the two were known for being able to work together wlessly well, while the Gentle Dog had just made its fighting debut earlier.


    It must be noted that summoners also need to train their beasts. Some beasts were naturally timid, like his father''s Strong Ape. Some also don''t have the instinct to fight, so the summoners must train them well if they want to be strong.


    The Gentle Dog was actually also like this at this moment. Its way of fighting was very crude and savage-like.


    Heck, the reason why it was able to fight right now was solely because during the Hellhound form, its inner ferociousness increased.


    When it was fighting with the Iron Star 1 beasts before, it always relied on its brute strength to kill the opponents.


    Lucas just did not expect that it would still be the same case while fighting two beasts with a higher grade and star rank than them.


    For Lucas, who had always studied and valued the information he received in this world, this was very inconceivable.


    However, after thinking about it, the system was also an inconceivable thing. He thought that it seemed pretty normal for the Hellhound Manifestation skill that came from it to be inconceivable as well.


    At this moment, the Gentle Dog was still highly active during the fight.


    There was no sense of unease from it as it fought the two Ember Soldier Ants. Like before, its way of fighting was still very crude and unpolished.


    Lucas knew of this because they were also taught basic martial arts in school as a form of self-defense.


    Although the exoskeletons of the two Soldier Ember Ants were very hard, the paw of the Gentle Dog still managed to break through them by smashing them repeatedly.


    Not longter, the two Ember Soldier Ants turned into particles of light, turning into Lucas'' experience points.


    The Gentle Dog returned to Lucas'' side. It let out its signature low growl as a greeting and as a way to tell Lucas that the job was done.


    Lucas nodded and patted the dog''s head before he turned to look at the information on his grimoire.


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 Ember Soldier Ant (100%): You have gained 4.64 XP]


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 Ember Soldier Ant (100%): You have gained 4.64 XP]


    Lucas widened his eyes upon seeing the number of experience points he got.


    Normally, he would have only received around 3 experience points if he killed an Iron Grade Iron Star 3 beast with his Unranked grimoire. However, since it was considered that he was fighting above his level, he would naturally receive a bonus for doing such feats.


    Although this was still pitifully low,pared to the 1.69 experience points he got from the Iron Star 1 creatures earlier, this 4.64 was already pretty massive.


    At this moment, the total experience points he had were already at 14.35/100.


    Lucas'' mind rapidly calcted, and he estimated that they only need to kill 19 more of such Ember Soldier Ants before he breaks through the 100 xp mark and bes a full-fledged Iron Star 1 summoner.


    Knowing that the Gentle Dog was actually too strong in the Hellhound form changes everything for Lucas.


    With this, they can grow bolder during their hunt and target higher-level beasts. With such a set-up, it would surely not take long before he became an Iron Star 1 summoner.


    Lucas also wondered about the ceiling of the Hellhound''s strength.


    For now, though, being able to fight a grade higher and a two-star rank above was already beyond belief for him.


    Since the Gentle Dog was able to kill the Ember Soldier Ants, a n has already formed inside Lucas''s mind.


    One thing to note about Ember Soldier Ants was that they were just periphery soldiers of a big colony of Ember Ants.


    Aside from the fact that they work in tandem very well and were pretty hard to kill, the reason everyone was advised to get away from them was because of the huge colony behind them.


    It was noted that if you saw Ember Soldier Ants, you should always assume that a colony of Ember Ants was nearby and that backup would soon arrive if a battle breaks out and it gets prolonged.


    Knowing this, Lucas and the Gentle Dog did not linger in the area any longer.


    They moved out and only stopped around a hundred meters away. Lucas left a mark as they retreated. He also memorized the location and marked it on the map as well.


    After seeing that the area they were in was now safe, Lucas let the Gentle Dog transform back to its original form and let it rest, even though it was still far from the time limit.


    Lucas did so because he also wanted to see if there were any cooldowns if the Gentle Dog reverted to normal form before the time limit was off.


    Lucas nodded his head a momentter as he realized that, doing this, the Gentle Dog would only need to rest for two minutes before it could use the skill again.


    While they were resting, Lucas also prepared for the n he had been brewing earlier.


    After he was done with the preparation, Lucas and the Gentle Dog set out for another hunt.


    As for the target, it was none other than the Ember Soldier Ants themselves.

 Chapter 14 Hunting

    The preparation that Lucas made was actually pretty simple.


    As long as one listened to the teacher''s discussion, anyone would be able to do what he has done.


    The first and crucial thing was the application of insect repellent powder.


    As the name says, it has the ability to repel low-level insect-type beasts.


    Since it was only made through normal materials, it was sold cheap, and hence, Lucas was able to buy it easily.


    The Ember Soldier Ants could easily detect him if he was not careful. They sense their surroundings through the change of smell present in the air, as they have bad eyesight. The insect repellent powder was an effective way to disrupt their powerful senses.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The next crucial thing was identifying the location of the Ember Ants nest.


    The Ember Soldier Ants would naturally patrol the periphery of their nest.


    Since these creatures liked to dig to form their nest underground, the entrance of their nest would naturally form the anthill. As for how big the hill was, Lucas was not sure. But ording to the information he had read before, the size varies depending on the size of the colony. The smallest anthill would be the size of a house, while thergest would be like a small mountain.


    The school-regted dungeon was a tropical dungeon. It has dense andrge trees as well as a stream of water that seemingly divided the three areas into three parts. With such a setting, it would be difficult for Lucas to search for the anthill, given that there were towering trees around.


    However, since he knew the patrol area of one of the Ember Soldier Ant pairs, he could also roughly conclude the location of the nest.


    Being the top student in terms of grade and theoretical knowledge, among his ss and grade, Lucas was naturally the undisputed first.


    Since the Ember Ants were studied by the experts before, Lucas just needs to follow their research results to navigate the ant''s nest sessfully.


    However, Lucas'' goal was not Ember Ant''s nest.


    Even if he had balls of steel, he would still not dare to mess with the Ember Ants'' nest right now.


    It was stated that when the C-ss dungeon just appeared, the experts had been troubled by the existence of the Ember Ant''s nest in the outer area. Since a person could only exist inside a dungeon for twenty-four hours, it took them a lot of time before they managed to clear the outer area.


    Lucas'' target this time around was the Ember Soldier Ant''s themselves.


    Since they constantly patrolled the periphery of their nest in pairs, it would be easier for Lucas and the Gentle Dog to find and fight them.


    Even though he knew that a pair of Ember Soldier Ants was an easy fight for the Gentle Dog, at the moment, he would still not dare to send it near the Ember Ants'' nest to fight.


    The risks involved were just too high.


    One must note that when a contracted beast dies, they die for real, and there is no method to revive them back.


    Letting the Gentle Dog fight an unnecessary battle was not something he wanted to do.


    Only when he was certain that they would win would he send the Gentle Dog to fight.


    Why take risks when you can have an absolute advantage during a fight if you came prepared?


    In his map, Lucas circled the area where the anthill was most likely located based on the patrol area of the Ember Soldier Ants they killed earlier.


    Using that as a guide, Lucas tried to calcte and obtained some guesses on where another pair of Ember Soldier Ants were located.


    As he was not sure what the situation was at the ce where they fought earlier, Lucas decided to go to another possible patrol area to see if another pair was truly there.


    If he confirmed that a pair of Ember Soldier Ants was truly there, then he would more or less confirm the location of other patrols as well as where the anthill was, and hence, would be able to avoid it.


    After making sure that his scent was still full of the insect repellent, Lucas carried the Gentle Dog on his arms as he surveyed the area.


    His eyes lit up upon arriving in the area.


    Although he still doesn''t have any visual of the Ember Soldier Ants, he could still see the traces they left behind in the area.


    This was a direct confirmation that the Ember Soldier Ants were indeed here.


    Knowing that, Lucas heaved a sigh of relief as he finally set his ns in motion.


    He looked around and found the tallest tree in the area. He then left the Gentle Dog below as he climbed up to the highest point, surveying the area as thoroughly as possible.


    In case something went wrong, Lucas had also spotted and evaluated some escape routes that he could take.


    After some time, Lucas finally heard some footstepsing from the distance.


    After a few seconds, he saw the pair of Ember Soldier Ants crawling with each other toward his location.


    Signaling the Gentle Dog below, Lucas waited for the two ants toe near them.


    At this moment, the two ants were still unaware of the fact that they were being ambushed.


    The insect repellent was indeed pretty effective, though it only works on insect-type beasts with a powerful smell.


    Unfortunately, it was only made of low-grade materials, so the efficiency was not that great. In close distance, the Ember Soldier Ants would be able to sense that something was wrong.


    Knowing this, Lucas estimated the distance, and after seeing that the two ants were only seven meters away from the Gentle Dog, he immediately ordered it to transform into the Hellhound Manifestation and attack one of the ants as soon as possible.


    The Gentle Dog was very obedient and did as it was told. Its size grew instantly as it rushed toward the two ants.


    When it reached the area in front of the two ants, it was already done with the transformation, and its paw was already on its way to smack one of the ants.


    Even though they had hard shells, it still could not protect them from receiving blunt damage.


    The pawnded in one of the ant''s heads, smashing it down the ground with a boom.


    Its mandibles were snapped into two as it squeaked in an unusual sound.


    The other ant finally reacted and attacked the Gentle Dog with a bite. The Gentle Dog easily avoided it but was unable to avoid another attack that came from another direction.

 Chapter 15 First To Become Iron star 1

    The legs of the ants were not particrly strong. The front legs kicked the Gentle Dog away, its feet dragging on the ground, and only stopped a meter away.


    The strength of these ants was not really to be underestimated. They were smallpared to the Gentle Dog''s current form, but one of them was still able to push away the Gentle Dog with a simple kick.


    Fortunately, the Gentle Dog had a strong defense, and such a kick was nothing to it. It recovered easily and pounced forward once again.


    Since one of the ants was already smashed to the ground and was quite injured, the battle this time went smoother than Lucas had anticipated.


    It did not take long for the Gentle Dog to finish the two ants off, transforming them into particles of light.


    Lucas nodded his head at the top of the tree.


    Although it went smoothly and the battle developed ording to his n, he was still nervous deep inside him, as he was not sure if there were any variables that he had overlooked.


    After confirming that he had gained another two sets of 4.64 xp from the ants, Lucas went down and did not linger in the area any longer. He and the Gentle Dog proceeded to the next area he marked on the map.


    ¡­


    On another side of the outer area of the dungeon.


    Hector, Anjie, and three other students could be seen confronting a Blood-Eyed Mole with great teamwork.


    Hector led the charge with his lion, Anjie, with her Bronze Wolf and the three students with their respective beasts supported the lion.


    With theirbined efforts, it did not take them long before they were able to kill the Iron Grade, Iron Star 1 Blood-Eyed Mole.


    Hector smiled in delight as he saw the experience points he gained from killing the Blood-Eyed Mole.


    "Wow, another 30% contribution and 25 experience points gained. As expected of a Gold Grade Grimoire user," one of themmented in awe as everyone''s gaze was attracted to the numbers listed below Hector''s profile page.


    With Hector upying 30% of the contribution, the four of them could only share the remaining 70. The four of them were only Bronze Grade awakeners, so they were already satisfied with what they were getting.


    Anjie, for example, with a contribution of 19%, receives a total of 3.21 experience points after they killed the Blood-Eyed Mole. As for the other three, their contribution points were lower than Anjie, but they were still thinking that it would not take long for them to advance to Iron Star 1 summoners.


    It must be noted that when Lucas killed the Blood-Eyed Mole, he only received 1.69 experience points with a 100% contribution. It can be seen the disparity of the grimoire grades and why lower grades were looked down upon.


    Hector smiled proudly and stated, "If we kill another two Blood-Eyed Mole, I should be able to advance to Iron Star 1."


    This was the second beast they had killed for the day. It has only been two hours since they entered, and killing two was already pretty impressive, especially since today was the first time that they were here.


    Others would need to prepare a lot before they could sessfully hunt a creature. However, relying on Hector''s Majestic Lion, they were able to kill two Blood-Eyed Mole with not much preparation.


    "Bing an Iron Star 1 Summoner just a day after you awakened? Sigh, we Bronze awakeners can only envy geniuses like you!"


    Anjie nodded her head. Her eyes glistened as she became even firmer about her decision. For her, the Iron Star 1 rank was just around the corner as long as she followed behind Hector.


    "Hector, with this, you should be written in the history of the Starlight Academy as the first to be Iron Star 1 summoner, right?" Anjie said with a light giggle.


    "And if you break more of such records, won''t you be a legendary figure in Starlight Academy in the future?"


    Hector grinned proudly and stated, "Of course. It''s only natural that I do so!"


    The group rested and proceeded to search for another prey a few minutester.


    In the next moment, though, a hurried shout was heard ahead of them.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Quick! Run! Ants!"


    ¡­


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 1 (16.43/150 XP)


    Spiritual Energy: 3/53


    Beasts: Gentle Dog ]


    "Finally!"


    Lucas looked at his profile page and was ecstatic to see the increase in his rank.


    After more than an hour of hunting, he finally became a bona fide summoner, bing an Iron Star 1 summoner.


    His spiritual energy had also increased from 50 to 53. The small increase was mainly attributed to the grade of his grimoire being unranked.


    His current spiritual energy was also pitifully low, just amounting to 5. To summon the Gentle Dog, he needs 9 Spiritual Energy. So after the 30-minute time limit was up, he would no longer be able to summon it as long as he did not recover any Spiritual Energy.


    At this moment, Lucas looked ragged and dirty.


    During the first few hunts, everything went smoothly.


    However, after the sixth time, something went awry as they faced two pairs of Ember Soldier Ants.


    Fortunately, the Gentle Dog, in its Hellhound Manifestation form, still managed to beat the four Ember Soldier Ants. Although the process was a little difficult and dangerous, it managed to do it in the end, which excited Lucas a lot. That hunt earned him a total of 18.56 experience points.


    The Gentle Dog was in its Hellhound Manifestation form and could actually fight four Iron Star 3 beasts and defeat them.


    Of course, the Gentle Dog also sustained some injuries during the fight, minor ones. But it still worried Lucas a lot, as the Gentle Dog was his only summons at the moment.


    If it died, he, as the summoner, would also receive some sort of damage due to the contract.


    Due to that worry, Lucas decided to return to the safe area and recuperate.


    However, what he did not expect was that he actually encountered six Ember Soldier Ants.


    Like the previous two pairs of Ember Soldier Ants, these three pairs were also very alert.


    They easily spotted Lucas even though he had applied a new set of insect repellent powder on his body.


    With that, Lucas had no other choice but to summon the Gentle Dog again, who was still recuperating inside the grimoire for about 5 minutes.


    Although he was not sure what was going on, he could roughly infer that it had something to do with his recent hunt of Ember Soldier Ants.


    The battle of the Gentle Dog and the six Iron Star 3 Ember Soldier Ants was even more hard and dangerous than the previous two pairs.


    This time, the Gentle Dog was already injured, and it was even besieged by six beasts at the same time.


    Seeing that the Gentle Dog was sustaining injuries, Lucas decided to join in and fight.


    Of course, as a weak human, he did not fight the beasts directly.


    Instead, using some tactics, he distracted some of the Ember Soldier Ants by throwing the remaining insect repellent powder around them as well as some rocks in the surrounding area.


    They became disorganized, allowing the Gentle Dog to take a momentary breather, and even sessfully killed one of them.


    With Lucas making a lot of effort to distract the Ember Soldier Ants, the Gentle Dog finally managed to defeat them one by one.


    However, it also grew weaker and was no longer as ferocious. It sustained some heavy injuries but was still fighting hard.


    Perhaps it knew that the moment it fell, it would also be the doom of Lucas. Hence, it was still fighting hard even though it was already quite injured.


    For that, Lucas was very grateful.


    When there was only a pair remaining, the Gentle Dog was already at its limits.


    Fortunately, at that time, Lucas had already advanced to Iron Star 1.


    And when a summoner advances a major rank, they would randomly gain one skill from their contracted beast.


    It was due to this skill that he and the Gentle Dog managed to finish the remaining two Ember Soldier Ants without any more problems.


    Lucas nced down on his profile page and saw the information about the newly added skill.

 Chapter 16 Seniors

    If one were to choose between a powerful transformation skill and an ''act-cute'' skill during a life-and-death situation, anyone would surely choose the powerful transformation skill without a question.


    When a summoner advances to Iron Star 1, Bronze Star 1, Silver Star 1, and Gold Star 1, they would get one random skill from one of their contracted beasts.


    Random!


    The Gentle Dog only has two skills at the moment, the Gentle Gaze and the Hellhound Manifestation.


    A fifty-fifty chance.


    Apparently, Lucas'' luck was not good at that time.


    [Gentle Gaze: The eyes emit a gentle, warming light, providingfort and mild warmth, ideal for soothing and calming. Consumes 5 Spiritual Energy for each use.]


    Although this was the skill he randomly acquired, given the situation, Lucas had no other choice but to make do with it.


    Fortunately, it was quite effective during the battle.


    His role as the ''attention grabber'' was even more solidified the moment he used the skill once.


    One of the Ember Soldier Ant''s happened to look at him.


    Although the Ember Soldier Ants don''t have any good eyesight, the effect of the Gentle Gaze made it so that the Ember Soldier Ants could see the soft glow on his eyes.


    The Gentle Dog did not miss the opportunity when one of them got distracted. It immediately pounced and bit its head, killing it directly after forcefully separating its head from the thorax.


    Thest one was an easy kill. It could not respond to the situation and was killed by the Gentle Dog.


    After killing the two, Lucas gained another two sets of 4.64 experience points. His experience points were now at 16.43, and he needs a total of 150 XP to reach Iron Star 2.


    Lucas closed the cover of the grimoire and saw a single grayish star on the cover.


    The star ranks and ssifications were based on the stars that would appear on the grimoire''s cover.


    As an Iron Star 1, the single star on his grimoire cover was naturally grayish in color. It also looked metallic, a stark contrast to the paper-like and dpidated brownish color of the grimoire cover.


    Seeing the star, a smile formed on Lucas lips.


    Leaving the area of battle in a hurry, Lucas found a thick bush and hid underneath it. Under the thick bush, Lucas sat in a meditative position to start recovering his Spiritual Energy.


    With the current situation of Ember Soldier Ants going rampant, he, with no capabilities, truly did not dare to go out, lest he encounter another batch of Ember Soldier Ants.


    He also doesn''t have any more items to help with the situation, as he used all of them during the fight earlier. In fact, even the leather armor his parents had given him already had a little tear due to the intense battle earlier.


    Lucas quickly entered a meditative state a whole minuteter.


    Meditations were also taught in school along with the free basic meditation technique.


    Lucas had already mastered it and hence was able to quickly feel that his Spiritual Energy was beginning to recover.


    Although it was only a small amount due to his grimoire grade being low, Lucas thought that this was still better than nothing.


    Recovering only 0.5 Spiritual Energy per minute, Lucas spent a total of 12 minutes to recover 6 Spiritual Energy. His total Spiritual Energy was now at 9, enough to summon the Gentle Dog once for thirty minutes.


    During the time he was recovering his Spiritual Energy, the Gentle Dog had also already recovered inside the grimoire. All of its injuries were healed, and it was now in its peak condition.


    Lucas did not summon it yet, as every minute for him was precious.


    After reviewing the map and route that he nned to take, Lucas stood up from the bush and immediately began the journey back.


    His nerves were tense, and he did not dare to rx. A slight mishap might cost him his life.


    As he was running, Lucas suddenly heard the rustle of leaves not far away from him.


    At the same time, he saw an object flying toward him at extreme speed at the corner of his eyes.


    He shivered in fright and immediately dashed away, not bothering to take a clear look at what it was.


    Boom!


    The next moment, an explosion ensued at the location where he stood earlier.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Lucas looked back to his horror and soon saw that the ground was already charred ck.


    It was fortunate that his body was well trained; otherwise, he would surely not be able to have enough reflexes to dodge such a terrifying attack.


    Further ahead, Lucas saw an ant head that was much bigger than the Ember Soldier Ants he had faced before.


    In an instant, the name of the ant immediately popped up on his head.


    Iron Grade-Iron Star 4, Ember Molten Ant.


    Unlike the previous Ember Soldier Ant, the Ember Molten Ant was a long-range attacker, famous for its Exploding Spit skill.


    Lucas was horrified and was about to summon his grimoire when a huge flying praying mantis appeared above the Ember Molten Ant''s head.


    With a swoosh, its de-like arm descended down and instantly decapitated the Ember Molten Ant''s head.


    The next moment, multiple figures appeared right behind along with their respective summoned beasts.


    "Hey, are you alright?"


    One of them, a man with spiky hair and sharp canine teeth, asked with a grin.


    Behind him were four others, two men and two women.


    With a quick nce and quick analysis, Lucas guessed that they were probably seniors in Starlight Academy.


    Lucas nodded his head politely, not saying much.


    The spiky-haired guy summoned his bronze-colored grimoire and proceeded to flip open the page eagerly as if he wanted to check something urgently.


    Lucas saw the stars embedded into his grimoire. With a quick count, he determined him to be an Iron Star 7 summoner.


    "Damn it, I only got a 12% contribution this time as well! Captain, how much did you get this time?" He stated with an aggrieved tone as he looked back.


    Lucas followed his gaze as the four behind him also looked at their respective grimoires.


    Lucas saw that one of them has a Silver Grade. It was the woman in the middle, wearing green armor made of some unknown metal. She looked pretty and cold. The small mole on her right eyebrow just added to her cold charm.


    Lucas also saw that her star count was only 1, but the color of the star was actually bronze.


    A Bronze Star 1 Summoner.


    No wonder they could finish the Ember Molten Ant that quickly.


    The others were also pretty powerful. One of them was already at Iron Star 9, while the other two were at Iron Star 7, just like the spiky-haired guy.


    "55," the woman with the silver-grade grimoire replied simply.


    "Damn it!" The spiky-haired guy cursed and stomped his foot on the ground angrily.


    "Haha, calm down, Darian. Even if she gets the highest contribution, the amount of experience points the captain gains is still meagerpared to the amount of experience points she needs to level up to Bronze Star 2," said the guy whose grimoire was also a Bronze Grade and was already at Iron Star 9.


    "Right, right! Sooner orter, I''ll surpass you and the captain!" Darian nodded his head with a proud expression.


    "Friend, are you perhaps a second-year student?" The Iron Star 9 guy who has long hair and a gentle demeanor asked.

 Chapter 17 Return

    Lucas nodded his head upon hearing the question.


    "Oh? Why are you alone? Where is your squad?" Darian asked.


    Lucas shook his head and answered, "I don''t have any squad."


    "Hmm? You''re that confident in your strength and thought that you don''t need any squad?" The other girl chuckled.


    She has curly hair and was a little shortpared to their captain. Although she was not as pretty as the captain, Lucas thought that she had some allure too. At the least, she was prettier than Anjie.


    She suddenlyughed as she stated, "I just recalled that some dumb ass also had the same confidence as you back during our second year. Well, do you know what happened next? Haha, he came back and begged to join our squad with tears in his eyes."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Hey, hey, shut your mouth, E. What do you mean, beg? At most, I just stated the word ''please'' three times back then," Darian refuted with another aggrieved tone.


    Although they were bickering, Lucas could not sense any tension between them and concluded that they were pretty close.


    The girl named E continued tough, as if she did not care about Darian''s reaction.


    And before Lucas could honestly answer why he was alone and had no squad, the long-haired gentle guy smiled at him and said, "Don''t mind them; they''re always like this."


    "By the way, what should we call you, friend? My name''s Lucian. He''s Darian, that one is Kael, that curly girl is E, and this is our captain, Selene."


    Lucian introduced the whole squad, pointing to them one by one.


    Lucas nodded his head and answered, "I''m Lucas." He said simply.


    "Right, in case you didn''t know, all second-year students are ordered to go back to the Safe Area as soon as possible."


    "Apparently, an Ember Ant Colony has gone rampant, and they are now sending Ember Ants out of their nest to hunt any creatures nearby their nest. The Ember Molten Ant Darian just killed was one of such creatures that are sent out by the Queen Ant," he stated patiently.


    "As for the reason why they are doing it, it is still under investigation. But ording to past experiences, they only go rampant when they are disturbed."


    "As your seniors, we would normally bring you to the Safe Area if we don''t have anything to do. Unfortunately, an Ember Ant nest going rampant is a rare situation. The academy doesn''t really let us hunt these ants, but the situation has changed, and we are now allowed to proactively hunt them."


    "This is an opportunity that we could not miss, as we can earn a lot of experience by hunting a lot of them even if we are beyond their level already. We apologize in advance that we will not be able to apany you back."


    "You can take the route where we came from. We had already hunted some Ember Ants along the way, so you should be able to arrive at the Safe Area safely if you follow the path we have taken." Lucian was very patient as he exined the things to Lucas.


    His tone was always gentle and calm. He also handed Lucas a new map where some areas were specially marked, saying that it was the route they had taken.


    Hearing his words, Lucas nodded his head and bowed slightly toward them. "Don''t worry about it, Senior Lucian. Killing the Ember Molten Ant was already a big help to me."


    "Thank you for the help, seniors. I''ll be on my way now," Lucas said as he slowly retreated from their sight.


    Before he could go far, he heard Darian''s energetic shout, "Hey, don''t forget to tell your teacher that we helped you. We will earn some points that way!"


    Lucas nodded his head and finally disappeared from their view.


    "I haven''t seen a second-year student asposed and courageous as him during that kind of situation," Kael, the one who has not spoken since earlier, finally spoke.


    "What do you meanposed? I thought he was scared sh*tless the moment the Ember Molten Ant appeared in his view. " Darian asked curiously.


    "Byposed and courageous, Kael meant an entirely different thing. There might have been some panic in his eyes when he saw the Ember Molten Ant, but he quickly recovered and was already prepared to fight the ant when your mantis appeared and killed it," Lucian exined further with the same calm tone.


    Kael nodded his head, as if to confirm his conjecture.


    "I heard that today is the first dungeon dive of the second-year students. We have met and rescued a lot of second-year students earlier, but none of them showed courage and bravery to try and fight any Ember Ant they faced. At most, they would immediately run without thinking of fighting back," he continued.


    "Hmmm? No wonder he dared to go solo then. We just don''t know if he is just simply courageous or actually strong too, though," E said with a hint of regret in her voice. As she said so, she took a nce at Darian, who acted as if he did not notice her stare.


    A figure then shed past her and the others.


    "Let''s go before the other squad takes all the rampaging ants!"


    ¡­


    With the route being cleared by the seniors, Lucas finally arrived at the Safe Area safely.


    He heaved a sigh of relief as he observed the situation in the Safe Area.


    He noticed that it was more lively herepared to before.


    He also saw that most of the second-year students from his section and other sections were already here.


    At one corner, he also saw Hector and his group. They were now facing teacher Julian, who was saying something to them.


    He noticed that Hector seemed to be in a bad mood. Anjie and the other group members had pale faces, as if they had experienced something horrible.


    Lucas walked toward them as he wanted to report to Teacher Julian about the seniors helping him.


    "Reaching Iron Star 1 in a single day will certainly be history in the Starlight Academy. However, the dungeon has just be extremely dangerous for new awakeners right now, so we will postpone this event until further notice."


    "Once the situation calms down, everyone will be allowed to enter the dungeon as many times as they want as long as you paid the admission fee or do certain missions for the acade-."


    Teacher Julian paused with his exnation as he noticed Lucas approaching them. A hint of surprise shed across his face. With the current situation, he did not expect that Lucas was still alive and kicking.


    He observed for a bit and noticed that the once handsome Lucas now looked haggard and dirty.


    Seeing that, he assumed that Lucas did not go too far and had tried fighting some beasts nearby but was unable to defeat them; hence, he decided to return.


    "It''s good that you''re still alive. Well, since you''re already here, let''s go and gather the others; I have an announcement to make."


    Even before Lucas could say a thing, Teacher Julian had already started to walk away. Following behind him were Hector and the others.


    ''So that''s how it is now, huh,'' Lucas thought to himself, seeing the change in Teacher Julian''s attitude toward him.


    Teacher Julian had always paid attention to him before. No matter what he says, Teacher Julian has always listened and allowed him to finish speaking before he would reply.


    Fortunately enough, Lucas did not have to hear the snide remarks of Hector and his group this time around, as they just silently followed behind Teacher Julian.


    For them to be so quiet, it seems that they had really experienced something terrible.


    Lucas waited for them to move a few steps ahead before he followed behind them.


    After a while, Teacher Julian finally gathered everyone.


    With a quick nce, Lucas noticed that all of his ssmates were present. All of their moods were gloomy and afraid. No one was an exception.


    He wondered what exactly happened to them.


    No matter what, Lucas knew that he didn''t want to get involved in it.


    Teacher Julian announced what he had just said to Hector and the others earlier. He just added some words of constion before he dismissed everyone, telling them to wait as they will go out of the dungeon for the time being.


    After Teacher Julian finished his speech, Lucas also finally knew the reason for everyone''s gloom.


    One of the second-year students had actually died!

 Chapter 18 Guilt

    After hearing what happened, even Lucas himself could not help but be shaken.


    After living in this world for the past 17 years, he had alreadye to terms that deaths were moremon herepared to the previous world he lived in.


    However, hearing that someone had died from the beasts was a different matter. Especially since in this life, the one who died was of the same ss year as him. He even had some interaction with that guy before, as that guy was also an achiever in ss D.


    From what he heard, that guy heroically sacrificed himself to save the other students. He willingly took the risk of being pursued by the beast so that his teammates could escape to safety.


    Apparently, that guy was a Bronze-grade awakener.


    Although his grade was only Bronze, it was still a huge loss for the academy.


    In this world, every capable summoner was important. This was also why the academy had always encouraged everyone to work together and not look down upon others.


    The seniors would also help the lower-grade students. Lucas had experienced this himself personally.


    Every fighting force against the beasts was a valuable asset.


    To avoid further damage, the academy decided to postpone the ''dungeon trip'' for the time being.


    ording to the official announcement, the nest of the Ember Ant needs to be calmed down before the second-year students are allowed to go back in and hunt beasts for experience points.


    Upon hearing that the cause of death was the rampage of the Ember Ants, Lucas was suddenly ovee with guilt.


    From what he heard from the seniors earlier, the cause of the Ember Ants going rampant was probably because they were disturbed by something or someone.


    When he was retreating earlier, he had pondered and guessed that it was due to his actions of hunting the Ember Soldier Ants that the next became restless.


    In that case, it could be said that he had just caused the death of one of his acquaintances.


    As someone who came from a world of peace and entertainment, Lucas struggled internally and did not know how to feel.


    Fortunately, he was able to lessen the guilt he was feeling a few momentster.


    Although he still felt guilty, it was lesspared to before, as he knew that this was inevitable considering the world that they lived in.


    He also needs to get strong. In order to do that, it was inevitable that something like this would happen.


    Perhaps, in the future, he might have to kill someone in order to get stronger?


    In this world, the ultimate enemies were the beasts and the dungeons; hence, the thought of killing someone had only crossed his mind now.


    Lucas pped his head and quickly calmed his overthinking as he focused his mind on the present.


    There was no use thinking that far ahead. In this world, the ultimate enemies were the beasts and the dungeons.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    If he focused himself on feeling guilty, he would face death sooner orter in the same way.


    If he could choose between doing nothing and dying early because it made him weak, or if he could act normally and cause the indirect death of someone to be stronger, Lucas thought that he would surely choose the second option.


    Lucas realized that no matter what world, the term, ''survival of the fittest'' had always existed and always had some truth in it.


    As someone from a peaceful world, it was fortunate that Lucas was able toe to terms with his guilt quickly. Or else, it would have been detrimental for his mental health and would cause him setbacks in the long run.


    After Teacher Julian brought them out of the dungeon, the school nurse was already waiting to cast some calming skills to soothe their mind.


    In terms of mental attitude, Lucas was obviously cut above the rest of his ssmates. It took them a lot of time to recover to normal. The school nurse seemed to feel fatigue after thest second-year student recovered from her skill.


    From the attitude of the nurse and the teachers, it seemed that they had actually expected something like this to happen during this dungeon trip.


    Perhaps this was not the first time that this happened, and hence, they were able to calmly assess and address the situation.


    Although the teacher and the academy had emphasized over and over again that beasts were dangerous and anyone could die at any moment, it looks like it was only at this moment that the second-year student finally realized the horror of beasts firsthand.


    Those of their age had not experienced the terror and chaos that the first summoner experienced. It could be said that they were quite lucky that they were born inside a city, a stronghold, where powerful summoners would arrive in an instant once a beast crisis arrived.


    The constant reminders of the teachers and their parents had finally sunk in their minds right now, including Lucas.


    The second-year students felt fortunate that they were now outside of the terrible dungeon.


    The unfortunate thing was that the second-year students now had to pay some fee before they could enter the dungeon again.


    It was in the rule that the new awakeness could only enter the school-regted dungeon once for free.


    It was unfortunate that they were not able to capitalize on this free opportunity, but every second-year student, except for two people, was not happy with the arrangement.


    One was Hector, who wanted to reach Iron Star 1 as early as possible and create history, while the other was Lucas, who was broke and did not want to pay the admission fee.


    Fortunately, he couldplete missions for the academy and earn contribution points, which he could then exchange as payment for the admission fee.


    After they were dismissed and were allowed to go home, Lucas went to the library to study.


    From the situation earlier, he noticed that he made a lot of blunders and mistakes.


    He thought that he waspletely at fault about the death of that guy, but instead of focusing on the guilt, he thought that it was better to do better and avoid such mishaps in the future.


    As it was not recorded in the information he read before, Lucas proactively thought that he could hunt the Ember Soldier Ants, not thinking about what kind of reactions the nest would have to such a situation.


    The school-regted dungeon had existed for over a decade now. There was a lot of research done on the beasts inside, including their behaviors and such.


    All of this was avable in the academy library that any students could ess at any time through theirputers or phones.


    Unfortunately, Lucas doesn''t have a phone much less aputer, so he could only go to the library and use the freeputer there to ess the information.


    He wanted to check and study the beasts inside the dungeon once again and review if he had missed some crucial information, just like the reaction of the entire nest if the Ember Soldier Ants were getting killed.


    Sitting in front of the libraryputer, Lucas frowned as he looked at the information about Ember Ants once more.


    "It''s really not here!"


    _____


    A/N: Do not misunderstand this as him being weak minded. Unless you''re an extremely horrible person, anyone would feel some sort of guilt if they think that they are the cause of someone''s death. Also, Lucas needed the reality check firsthand, that this world is no longer the peaceful world he once lived in before.

 Chapter 19 Coming Clean

    In the study that he was reading, it was concluded that when the Ember Soldier Ants were killed, the nest would offer only two kinds of responses.


    One was to let nearby Ember Soldier Ants go for backup, and the second was to send another pair of Ember Soldier Ants to rece the pair that had been killed.


    It was noted that no matter how many pairs of Ember Soldier Ants were killed, the nest would only respond ording to the two mentioned above.


    And this would only change when all of the Ember Soldier Ants they have inside the nest getpletely wiped out.


    Upon recalling the events earlier, Lucas had only hunted a total of ten pairs of Ember Soldier Ants. Even with the smallest nest, this kind of number was nothing great and was only a drop in a bucket of their total number of Ember Soldier Ants.


    Up until now, Lucas thought that he was the cause of the Ember Ant Nest incident.


    However, based on the study he was reading, it doesn''t seem like he was the one who caused the disturbance in the Ember Ant nest at all.


    The guilt he was feeling lessened even further.


    Now reced with curiosity, Lucas read further to freshen up his knowledge about the Ember Ants.


    After finishing the study, Lucas concluded that he was indeed not the cause of the disturbance.


    In the study, the disturbance was also mentioned, and it can agitate the whole Ember Ant nest.


    However, the only method to do so was for someone to go directly to the nest entrance and create chaos there.


    Lucas had made sure that he did not go close to the entrance of the nest earlier, so it could not be him who caused the disturbance.


    Confirming that, Lucas felt relieved and, at the same time, curious as to who it was that disturbed the Ember Ant''s nest.


    Based on Lucian''s words earlier, the academy seemed to forbid the senior students from hunting the Ember Ants proactively.


    Second-year students like him who only experienced their first dungeon dive today would also not dare to confront the Ember Ants, so it could not be them as well.


    Anyway, since this has nothing to do with him, Lucas decided to drop the matter and continue to grow stronger once they were allowed to go back in the dungeon again.


    For the time being, he continued to read a lot of information to freshen up his knowledge about the beasts in the school-regted dungeon.


    It was only when he felt hungry that he went to the school cafeteria to eat.


    The food and drinks in the school cafeteria were free for the students and the teachers. Although they did not offer luxurious foods and beasts meat that were extremely nutritious and delicious, what they offered was still fresh food that can easily be seen in the market.


    Due to the nature of the world, one might think that the cost of living was pretty high and that basic food necessities would be extremely pricey.


    However, due to the existence of beasts getting involved inbor and other industries, the cost of goods and services has actually gone cheaperpared to before the dungeons descended.


    Of course, as a result of this, the basic sry ofborers had also gone lower, as they did not have to do much with their beasts helping them with their work.


    For example, his father''s job was a constructionborer. During the pre-descent, the basic sry of such jobs would have given him a minimum sry of 18 Unity Cents per hour, but right now, such jobs only give him 10 Unity Cents per hour.


    Unity Cents were a lower denomination of the Unity Coin, where a single Unity Coin had an equal value to 100 Unity Cents. Below the Unity Cent was the Unity Microcent, with a hundred of them equaling 1 Unity Cent.


    Due to the risk and dangers of the beast destroying the money, the currency of this world was not printed or made into any physical form. Instead, they exist digitally, protected by the one and only remaining bank in the world, the World Unity Bank.


    Just like other industries, the technology of this world has also started to grow rapidly recently due to the schrs owning powerful beasts that could help with their research.


    It was said that after humanity stabilized themselves in one corner of the world, the technology industry was one of the major contributors to the stabilization of the situation, as they eased the mass panic and calmed everyone when the inte andmunication were revived.


    It was just unfortunate for the cars and transportation industry.


    Due to the existence of huge beasts that act as transportation vehicles and can carry more heavy loadspared to normal cars, they had slowly lost their purpose and hence had been slowly abandoned.


    The prices of fuel had also gone extremely high due to scarcity, so everyone thought that it was better to use the beasts that do not need the expensive fuel to operate for transportation and some activities.


    It was the same case for nes or helicopters, which had now been reced by huge flying beasts such as the most popr flying transportation beast, the Verdant Eagle.


    Arriving at the cafeteria, which doesn''t have many people, Lucas immediately went to the counter and ordered the food he wanted to eat. He mainly chose vegetables this time around, as he had meat the other day.


    The waitress was already familiar with Lucas. He has been here countless times already. He was also nicknamed a greedy eater by some of the chefs, as he once tried every food avable in the disy ss.


    Anyway, Lucas quickly finished his meal but did not stand up immediately.


    Instead, as he faced a hallway full of people, he pondered about what he should do next.


    Getting stronger through obtaining experience points was a given.


    At this moment, his only chance to gain experience points was the school-regted dungeon that was temporarily unavable to him.


    This n can be postponed for the time being until the second-year students gain the rights to enter the dungeon once more.


    Aside from getting stronger, the next thing he should do was earn money so that he could help with the family''s expenses.


    However, in this world, aside from manualbor, the only source of ie one can have was to hunt beasts outside the city. However, it was pretty dangerous, and Iron Star summoners were basically not allowed to go out, unless it was a special case or they really insisted on going out.


    Unlike inside the regted dungeons, the beasts in the wild were mostly random, and one would not be able to know what kind of beast they would encounter. So it was better not to get out of the walls unless you have confidence in surviving such an environment.


    The next item on his agenda should be to train his and the Gentle Dog''s cooperation. He should also hone the skills of the Gentle Dog in battle, as it still has a very crude way of fighting at the moment and mostly relies on its brute strength during the Hellhound form.


    There was also the need toplete a mission for the academy to exchange for contributions.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Realizing that he still has a lot of things that he needs to do, Lucas decided to borrow some pen and paper from the cafeteria staff and write down all the things he should do so that he could organize them easily.


    After a while, he arranged them ordingly and finally settled on doing the academy first and then honing his and Gentle Dog''s cooperation while doing it.


    After that would be the need to train the Gentle Dog''sbat capabilities.


    The next thing on the list was to wait for the dungeon to reopen for him again, and then thest thing was to earn money through hunting beasts outside once he gained enough abilities.


    Lucas looked at the time and realized that there were still two hours left before five. He did not waste any more time and proceeded to the Starlight Academy''s Mission Hall.


    _____


    A/N: If you want to ask anything, feel free toment below, and I will do my best to answer your questions as long as there are no spoilers involved.

 Chapter 20 Mission Hall, Beast Gymnasium

    The Mission Hall was just a few walks away from the dungeon area.


    In the Mission Hall, students can ept andplete missions and be rewarded with contribution points. The contribution points could then be used as the school''s internal currency.


    Just like the Unity coins, the school''s internal currency, the Starlight coins only exist digitally.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Using one''s unique student ID number, they could log in to the school website and ess their student files if they wanted to.


    In the Mission Hall, one would also need to log in to their ount if they wanted to view or ept a mission. They can do it on their own phone andputer, anytime and anywhere.


    The missions were all listed on the school website, and the missions they can view will be based on their school year grade.


    Everything was mostly automated except for some instances where human assistance was needed or when a student handed in a special mission, in which case a receptionist was always avable for help.


    As for those who don''t have gadgets like Lucas, they can simply go to the Mission Hall and view the avable missions that they could ept there. Theputers there were free for use, and since most students already had gadgets of their own, there was no need to wait for a long time in order to use them.


    Lucas had already been in the Mission Hall before. There were mandatory missions that students must do in order for them to stay at school.


    The free food in the cafeteria was only possible because students do the mandatory missions that don''t give any contribution points or Starlight Coins.


    One of such mandatory missions that Lucas liked to do was to clean a ssroom once a week.


    Arriving at the Mission Hall, Lucas went to theputer directly and entered his unique ID to log in on the Starlight Academy website.


    The Starlight Academy has a messaging feature, a forum feature, and many others.


    For now, Lucas clicked on the Mission Hall section and searched for a suitable mission he could ept.


    Since he was already an awakener, he could now ept more missions aside from the mandatory ones that could only be epted by the first and second year students who had not awakened a grimoire yet.


    After searching for a while, Lucas finally found a mission that was very suitable for him.


    Mission Name: Beast Cage Cleaning Duty


    Mission Description: Clean the cages of the beasts kept in the academy''s Beast Gymnasium. The task includes removing beast waste, washing out the cages, and the food and water dispenser. (Students with water or cleaning-type beasts are rmended to take this task.)


    Mission Type: Maintenance


    Difficulty: Easy, but unpleasant


    Reward: 30 Starlight Coins per cage cleaned


    Time limit: No limit (can be repeated multiples unless all beast cages are already cleaned.)


    Mission Location: Beast Gymnasium, Beast Cage Area


    ept?


    "Cleaning beast feces¡­"


    Looking at the mission''s description, though, he could not help but hesitate a little.


    "But 30 Starlight Coins is a lot," he said.


    Each Starlight Coin has more or less the same value as that of Unity Cent. His father earns 10 Unity Cents per hour, so 30 Starlight Coins for each beast cage cleaned was definitely a lot. If he could clean 10 beast cages in a single day, it would mean that he would be earning more than his father.


    However, cleaning beast cages wasn''t that easy, and one could definitely not finish cleaning a single beast cage in an hour.


    However, from all the missions that were avable to him, this mission was definitely the most suitable one for him.


    It offers high pay for a simple and safe job inside the Beast Gymnasium.


    Compared to other missions like feeding the tamed beasts, bing training partners, and so on, the beast cleaning duty was definitely the safest.


    Bing a training partner was also an option, and he would definitely take it if the mission description did not mention that it was a week-long task that only pays 200 Starlight Coin.


    And you would be a training partner for a senior student as well, in which case it would not be suitable for him as the senior student would be too strong for him and he would be too weak to face the senior student, not benefiting either party.


    Gritting his teeth, Lucas pressed the ept button on the bottom page of the mission, Beast Cage Cleaning Duty.


    To enter the dungeon, the students need to pay 250 Unity Cents or 250 Starlight Coins if they have it. This price was a lot cheaperpared to others, as only students and the Starlight Academy staff were allowed to use it.


    If he could finish at least 3 cages a day, it would take him at most 3 days to save enough to enter the dungeon.


    He wondered if the academy would already allow the second-year students to enter the dungeon by then.


    After epting the mission, Lucas went directly to the Beast Gymnasium.


    The Starlight Academy was pretty big with a lot of facilities. Although it was not considered a top academy in Eclipse City due to its recent history, it was still among the biggest academies, and it has hopes of bing a top academy in the future as long as they umte enough for a few years.


    The Beast Gymnasium was pretty massive. In terms of sizeparison, it was even bigger than football fields in Lucas'' previous world.


    Lucas walked to the cage area and saw massive cages that were a lot bigger than his room.


    As he approached, a man also approached him and asked if he wanted anything. From the looks of it, this man was also here for a mission, but a different onepared to what Lucas had epted.


    After telling the man that he epted the cage cleaning mission, the person gives him an inquisitive look before nodding his head. He then led Lucas to a facility, where he handed him the cleaning tools.


    "If you have a contracted beast that is suitable for cleaning, then it''s better to use them than these cleaning tools. I also must remind you that the cage gauge must at least be at 90% before the job is considered done. You can just then click the missionplete button in your mission tab and enter the serial number of the beast cage you''ve cleaned," the man exined.


    Lucas nodded his head but did not immediately don the cleaning outfit after the man left.


    Instead, he found a good spot and meditated to recover some Spiritual Energy that was enough to summon the Gentle Dog twice.


    After a few minutes and achieving the goal, Lucas finally started the cleaning mission.


    The Gentle Dog, who always had a gentle smile on its face, was having a breakdown at this moment.


    Wooof!?


    It covered its nose with it''s paws and looked at its owner as if saying, "Are you trying to torture me to death? "

 Chapter 21 Training In The Beast Cages

    "Dodge! Dodge the water cannons!"


    Inside the beast cage, Lucas held a high-pressure water gun and aimed at the Gentle Dog.


    The beat cage was prettyrge and had a wide area. It was evenrger than their house, so the Gentle Dog hopped around and tried to dodge all the water cannons ejected from the high-pressure water gun used for cleaning the cage.


    By doing this, Lucas hoped that the Gentle Dog would be able to learn how to dodge strikes instead of just allowing it tond on itself. That way, when they meet powerful opponents in the future, it just would not rely on brute strength and would be able to utilize its advantages more.


    In its Hellhound form, the Gentle Dog was also quite fast and agile. Lucas wanted it to capitalize on the all-around attribute increase so that it could refine its way of fighting and not solely focus on attacking.


    "Remember, attacking is not the only form of offense. Dodging and even defending can be a form of offense too if one were to use it properly," Lucas stated as he aimed at the Gentle Dog.


    As the Gentle Dog dodged all the iing strikes, the dirt and feces located around the beast cage were slowly cleaned by the water pressure gun.


    Getting familiar with your beast, training them, and bonding with them was also part of being a summoner. There could not only be fighting as it would change the beast''s nature or personality, and it might cause them to be problematic in the long run.


    Although it may seem like Lucas and the Gentle Dog were just ying around while cleaning the beast cages, there were actually a lot of details that came into y.


    Since the descent of the dungeons a century ago, the humans had already studied and learned much about grimoires and the beasts.


    ording to some data he had read before, there were even cases of contracted beasts not listening to their summoners if the way they were raised was not right.


    As they say, the beasts were not just the summoner''s pet or ve; they were partners that they could rely their lives on.


    Bonding with them naturally meant that they would be more willing to listen to you.


    The Gentle Dog panted heavily as it kept dodging. Its stamina in the Gentle Dog form was nothingpared to its Hellhound Manifestation form.


    However, Lucas did not allow it to transform and instead ''trained'' with it using the base form.


    Lucas thought that since its attributes were multiplied on the Hellhound form, then the higher the attribute in the base form, the higher the attributes multiplied during the Hellhound form as well.


    After thirty minutes, the summoning time limit for the Gentle Dog was up. Lucas chose not to continue and instead decided to take a rest while he recovers some spiritual energy as well.


    Since the beast cage cleaning mission has no time limit, it was okay for Lucas to take rest as long as he wanted.


    This kind of mission was also not pretty popr with students, as it was kind of gross to clean up the feces of beasts. The smell can be so strong that some might even puke just from a whiff of it.


    Lucas thought that even if his mother, with her Squirt Tortoise, would also not ept such a job unless it was thest option.


    There were avable masks that could iste the smell, but others would still be unable to stand the sight of beast feces; hence, the mission was rarely epted, causing the beast cage cleaning mission to have a higher pay. Unless they truly have no other choice, they would obviously not pick such a disgusting mission.


    Usually, it was the academy staff that would clean if no student epted the mission for a set period of time.


    As for the beasts that were stored here, they were beasts captured outside the city strongholds. They were weakened and tamed and can be used for a lot of purposes, such as training dummies for the seniors or to collect renewable materials such as beast furs that can be used in various fields in school.


    After twenty minutes of resting, Lucas recovered a total of 10 Spiritual Energy, allowing him to summon the Gentle Dog once more with some reserve in case of emergency.


    He continued cleaning the beast cage all the while ''training'' with the Gentle Dog, refining its ability to dodge and evade iing attacks with ease.


    Three hourster, Lucas finally finished cleaning the beast cage. The gauge that could be seen in the entrance of the cage had also turned green with a 93%beled right above the gauge meter.


    Lucas nodded his head in satisfaction and looked at the beast cage that was thoroughly cleaned by him and the Gentle Dog after more than three hours of hard work.


    After memorizing the cage''s serial number, Lucas returned to the Mission Hall and logged on theputer once more.


    He then entered the serial number of the cage in the mission tab just like what the man earlier had said, and finally pressed enter to submit the mission.


    After a while, the mission tab showed a ''verified'' message, and 30 Starlight Coins were added to his ount.


    Lucas smiled in delight and went home as it was already dusk.


    Upon arriving home, the face of his worries greeted him on the door.


    After assuring them that he was fine, the two of them finally felt at ease.


    "Just remember, kid, you don''t have to work so hard to prove yourself to us. You''ve already made us proud long ago. No matter what you aplish or do not aplish, it won''t change the fact that you are and will always be our loving child."


    Lucas smiled and felt warmth hearing his father''s words.


    The parental love he had not experienced before was here.


    He would do anything just to let things stay the way they were right now.


    However, their lives were destined not to stay the same with Lucas.


    With the system, he was confident in elevating their way of life and perhaps even letting them live in the Inner Cities in the future.


    Inner Cities.


    Cities that were pretty peaceful and prosperous. It was said that no dungeons could ever descend on those ces.


    It was said that Gold Star summoners reside there.


    A safe haven in such a chaotic world.


    A ce where everyone desired to live.


    ¡­


    Three days passed in the blink of an eye.


    Lucas'' world around this time also just revolved around the library, the Mission Hall, and the Beast Gymnasium.


    "Wow! Lucas, I must say that you are pretty diligent and efficient. I never heard of a single student cleaning beast cages three days in a row before!"


    Ethan, the man whom Lucas had met before in the Beast Gymnasium, stated as he looked at Lucas with a gaze full of admiration.


    Having worked as a cage cleaner these past three days, Lucas had also be a little familiar with Ethan.


    A senior student in hisst year. He was the type of student who doesn''t like to battle. He has a Bronze Grade grimoire and has epted the mission of transferring tamed beasts from one cage to another.


    "You tter me, senior. You''re the one I admire the most. You can actually make the beasts here be submissive and easily transfer them to another cage. Senior, you are pretty strong," Lucas replied.


    "Haha! It''s nothing; it''s nothing. It''s just that my beast is very suitable for the job; hence, I am able to handle the beasts that are weaker than it."


    Lucas nodded his head in understanding.


    This senior was indeed a little powerful. Lucas saw them in action before, and he could say that his beasts were indeed suitable for the job. Lucas also saw that this senior was already at Bronze Star, even stronger than Selene, the captain of that squad before.


    "It''s a pity, though. I hope that you could clean more beast cages, but it seems that it won''t happen in the short run, does it?"


    Lucas nodded his head in confirmation. Just earlier, he read in the group chat on the school''s website that the second-year students could now enter the dungeon as the situation inside was already resolved as the Ember Ant nest has been cleared.


    After seeing this announcement and seeing that he had already saved enough Starlight Coins to enter the dungeon, Lucas decided toe to the Beast Gymnasium once more and bade farewell to Ethan, who was very good to him.


    "Yes, senior. If I have the time, I will surely help you clean the cages here again!" Lucas stated that he indeed nned toe back again as he was already familiar with the job, it was safe, and it pays a lot of Starlight Coins.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Good, good! Right, you can let your dog have this. I found this a long time ago and could not find anyone that liked it. Since it''s only rotting in my storage room, I think it''s better to give it to a well-behaved junior like you," Ethan said as he handed him a brown pouch.


    The poor Lucas would not decline such an offer. His first reaction was to take the pouch and then ask the senior what it was.


    "Senior, what is this?"

 Chapter 22 Entering The Dungeon Once More

    Seeing how quick the pouch was taken from his hand, Ethan could not help but be shocked.


    Shouldn''t you hesitate first?


    "That is called Moonlit Bone. This is not a high-level treasure, so you don''t have to feel burdened about it. You can use it as treats for your dog-type beast. I saw that you have been training diligently with it as well, so this is a great treat to make it more obedient. Long-term consumption will also increase your dog-type beast''s stamina," Ethan exined.


    "Of course, to increase the beast''s stamina, you definitely need more than a just pouch," he continued with a smile.


    "Thank you, senior. I''ll get going now!" Lucas bowed and left the Beast Gymnasium in a hurry, as if afraid that Ethan would take back what he had given.


    Seeing him depart in a hurry, Ethan could not help but shake his head.


    "s, that masochist junior can''t clean any more beast cages today," Ethan sighed with regret.


    For a person to be able to clean and even train under the suffocating smell of the beast cage for a few amounts of Starlight Coin, Lucas was indeed a lunatic and a masochist.


    ¡­


    Lucas rushed to the dungeon area with the Moonlit Bone now being stored inside his bag.


    Approaching the female receptionist of the dungeon that Teacher Julian had approached before, Lucas told her that he wanted to enter the dungeon and gain experience.


    The receptionist was quite polite. Even though she was older than Lucas, she still nodded her head and began to deduct Starlight Coins from his bnce after he logged in his unique ID.


    After verifying that the unique ID was his, the receptionist told him that he could now enter the dungeon once. Once the time limit was up, he would need to pay again before he could enter the dungeon; otherwise, he would be hunted down by the guard and receive punishment.


    The same rules applied to dungeons owned by the government or even privatepanies.


    Others might think this was an act of tant capitalism, and indeed, they were not wrong.


    However, even if they knew that it was so, they would still notin about it. In fact, others might think that this was just justified and right.


    As they say, there was no free lunch in this world.


    You want to get stronger inside a regted dungeon where every beast and location has already been recorded and you need to search and kill?n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Then pay up.


    What? You want to enter a dungeon for free?


    It''s possible. Just search for a newly descended dungeon and enter.


    However, doing so would mean that you would have no idea what kind of creatures you will face inside the dungeon.


    As for how they would verify that he had already paid, Lucas did not know.


    After paying, Lucas only has 50 Starlight Coins left. With a rate of three cages per day and adding the one he had finished during the first day, he cleaned a total of 10 beast cages and received 300 Starlight Coins as a reward.


    Taking a deep breath, Lucas stepped into the portal and experienced the same nauseating feeling once again.


    Landing on the ground, Lucas staggered and took some time to recover his bearings.


    He looked around and noticed that the Safe Area was still as lively as always. There were teachers and students roaming around, each with their own agenda.


    ncing around, Lucas realized that there were no second-year students present yet. At least none that he knows of. And as the ss representative, Lucas knew a lot of the second-year students.


    ''Are they still not over what happened before?'' Lucas thought to himself.


    As someone who was not originally from this world, it should have been him who will recoverst from the trauma.


    As kids born in this world, their point of view towards death should have been more different and casualpared to Lucas, as death was pretty normal in this world due to the threat of beasts and dungeons.


    It has been more than three days since that incident; even the guilt that he was feeling had already diminished.


    Anyway, Lucas did not think too much about it anymore. If they do not want to level up, then it''s on them.


    Reviewing the contents of his bag, Lucas nodded his head and proceeded forward alone once more.


    Like before, he had thoroughly prepared for this dungeon dive.


    In case he encountered the same situation before, he even brought more insect repellent powder and some throwable items that he could throw as distractions if needed be.


    His bag was bulging as he walked away from the Safe Area.


    The other students looked at him with a weird expression.


    ''Is he out on a field trip or something?''


    All of them thought the same way upon seeing how full his bag was.


    ¡­


    Lucas, with a bag full of supplies, arrived near a cliff that towers about fifty meters high.


    This cliff, known as the White Stone Cliff Area in the map, was famous for the beasts that resided under it.


    There were a lot of beats that could be seen in here, like the Crack Back Lizard and Cliff Borne Ram, but the most famous one was still the Rip w Spider.


    This Rip w Spider was also Lucas'' target for today.


    They mostly reside and build their webs beside the cliff. They were easy to spot and easy to fight as they were pretty territorial and didn''t live in groups.


    For a solo leveling person like Lucas, this was the most suitable beast for him to hunt.


    Since he knew that the Gentle Dog could fight multiple beasts above its grade and star rank in its Hellhound form, Lucas wanted to test its limit and try the Rip w Spider that was an Iron Grade-Iron Star 4 Beast.


    Even though he was the summoner of the Gentle Dog, he truly did not understand the full extent of its prowess during the Hellhound form. He wanted data and to gauge the limit of the Gentle Dog to avoid underestimating it like he used to before.


    The Rip w Spider was perfect for the job as it lived alone. If the spider turns out to be too strong for the Gentle Dog, they can just retreat away from it, as it doesn''t live within the perimeter of its territory. And if the Rip w Spider could still be easily handled by the Gentle Dog, Lucas had already thought of another beast that they could fight that was stronger than the Rip w Spider.


    Since the beasts inside the dungeon would resurrect after a set period of time, there was no need to worry about it running out of beasts. The period of resurrection depends on the dungeon.


    To conquer a dungeon, one would only need to defeat the dungeon boss, which, most of the time, was the strongest beast inside a dungeon.


    Walking along the pediment, Lucas searched for traces of the Rip w Spider around in caution.


    At this time, he had not summoned the Gentle Dog yet.


    The Rip w Spider liked to cast their webs around their territory; if one were to trigger it, the Rip w Spider would know it almost immediately.


    If the Gentle Dog was around, Lucas was afraid that it would identally trip over the trap webs; hence, Lucas did not summon it for now.


    In his hand was a shlight that operated with a battery. Using the light, one would be able to see the light''s reflection if it hit on a web. Using such a method, Lucas carefully tread along the pediment of the cliff.


    A momentter, a glimmer of delight finally shed across Lucas'' eyes.


    A few meters in front of him, Lucas saw a thin, thread-like line suspended in the middle of the air. Struck by the shlight''s light, the thin web of the Rip w Spider became visible to the naked eye.


    With that in sight, Lucas hurriedly went forward to examine where the end of each line was.


    "Since the line is here, the Rip w Spider could only be at one of the other ends of this web-line."


    One end was extending to the forest, while the other extended toward the face of the cliff.


    It was obvious where Lucas would search next.


    Tracing the line toward the cliff, Lucas finally spotted the Rip w Spider, sleeping inside a huge crack in the cliff''s face.


    It was stone-gray in color and camouged extremely well with the cliff. If not for the shlight showing the webbings around it, Lucas might not be able to spot it at all.


    With the target in sight, Lucas did not waste anymore time and summoned the Gentle Dog.


    Upon its descent, Lucas immediately told it to use the Hellhound Manifestation immediately.


    He then wore the leather armor that was already quite damaged, took a small ordinary knife, and then picked up a fist-size stone on his other hand.


    Once he determined that he was ready, Lucas finally shed the trap web of the Clip w Spider.


    Ting!


    As the sound and vibration akin to a guitar string getting plucked resounded in the air, the sleeping Clip w Spider also woke up from its slumber.

 Chapter 23 Clip Claw Spider

    The Clip w Spider has a stone gray color. It was a huge creature, standing over two meters high and a length of five meters.


    In terms of size, it was even bigger than the Hellhound form of the Gentle Dog.


    Its eight bright red eyes jiggled as it automatically zoned toward Lucas and the Gentle Dog.


    It was in that direction that its trap web had been disturbed.


    Its pedipalp vibrated rigorously.


    The fangs slowly extended and opened wide. A gaping hole wide enough to fit two human heads could be seen at the center of the fang. Full of razor-sharp teeth, the Clip w Spider''s mouth released a loud yet suppressed hiss.


    Hissssh!


    As it did so, its two front legs suddenly rose up in the air, way above its head.


    It was posing for a strike.


    Upon closer inspection, one would be able to see that the tip of its legs actually had two sharp ws, akin to a clip.


    Seeing the famous posture, Death Lunge, in person, Lucas actually did not panic.


    Like an arrow waiting to be released, the Clip w Spider arched its legs up in the air even more.


    Knowing that this strike was deadly, Lucas did not wait for it to be released before he hopped away. At the same time, he ordered the Gentle Dog to attack.


    As always, the Gentle Dog in Hellhound form has no fear in its eyes as it lunges toward the Clip w Spider.


    At that moment, the Clip w Spider finally moved.


    Swoosh!


    Like an arrow released from a bow, its huge figure swooped toward the Gentle Dog.


    Its two ws were extended forward, as if it wanted to pierce the Gentle Dog in one go.


    If it were before, the Gentle Dog in Hellhound form might just choose to withstand this attack head-on.


    However, recalling the training it had with Lucas, it actually stepped to the side at thest second, avoiding the Death Lunge without any harm.


    ''The training has paid off!'' Lucasmented as he distanced himself from the battle.


    Boom!


    Its two ws actually pierced a thick three.


    "Attack it now, Spot!"


    Hearing his words, the Gentle Dog, whom he conveniently named Spot, turned and attacked the Clip w Spider that was now stuck on the tree.


    With its butt exposed toward it, the Gentle Dog Spot did not waste the opportunity and was merciless enough as it attacked the Clip w Spider''s spines with its massive paw.


    The strength of the Hellhound form was truly not to be underestimated. The Clip w Spider has a great defense; its body was as hard as stone, but one attack from Spot alone and Lucas saw that its spinnerets had somehow cracked from the impact.


    The Clip w Spider forcefully ripped the tree away. It was desperate and hurriedly turned around to face Spot.


    Its humongous fangs bit toward Spot''s paw. Fortunately, Spot was quick enough to retract it in time.


    But the Clip w Spider did not stop there.


    It suddenly spit a grayish fluid toward Spot.


    Seeing its action, Lucas hurriedly ordered Spot to dodge.


    That attack was called Stone Toxin Burst. It allows the Clip w Spider to shoot out poisonous substance from its fang toward its target.


    It has paralysis properties, and long-term exposure to such toxins could even turn anyone into stone.


    Since Lucas reminded Spot about it, it did not question anything as it hurriedly dodged in time. The speed of the projectile was quick at close distance, but Spot''s reaction was quite swift as well.


    Since Spot and Lucas had already trained and deepened their bond during the past few days, Spot was no longer a stranger to his sudden order and was able to execute it wlessly.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    After it dodged, it went back to attacking the Clip w Spider. Its two front legs kept on stabbing and shing toward Spot.


    As Spot deflected, dodged, and even counterattacked from time to time, he slowly gained the upper hand and advantage of the fight.


    The Clip w Spider was an ambush predator to begin with. It was not great at prolonged and sustained battle. One of the reasons why Lucas chose it as an experimental target was also because of this detail.


    One could say that he had thoroughly prepared this time around. The hours he had spent in the library after he was done with 3 cage cleaning missions per day were well worth it.


    Compared to before, Spot had also gone stronger. Its ability to dodge and deflect strikes might not be perfect, but it was already above basic, making Lucas extremely happy.


    After a while, Spot finally broke through the tough stone-like cuticle after repetitive bashing.


    The cuticle slowly cracked, and bloody fluids oozed out until it turned into particles of light.


    Lucas looked at his grimoire and was ted upon seeing the amount of experience points he got.


    [You have killed an iron Grade-Iron Star 4, Clip w Spider (100%): You gained 6.96 XP]


    His total experience point was now at 23.39/150 XP.


    He still has a long way to go to be an Iron Star 2 Summoner, but he was not disheartened and remained positive.


    Now that he confirmed that Spot could defeat an Iron Grade-Iron Star 4 beast, Lucas became bolder and decided to hunt the Clip w Spider for experience points.


    As for trying something of a higher star level, Lucas was not in a hurry to confirm it as the day was still long.


    After he told Spot to return to his Gentle Dog form, Lucas set out to search for traces of Clip w Spider once more.


    Since he was afraid that Spot would trigger some web traps, he decided to let it hop on his head as they moved forward.


    Spot, in his Gentle Dog form, was only around five kilograms in weight.


    It was definitely manageable for Lucas to carry him over his head for a long period of time, as his body was trained well too.


    And it seems that Spot was also enjoying the view from up there.


    With the shlight leading the way, Lucas soon found another Clip w Spider camouged above him. It was sleeping and curled up on the cliff. Quite far for Lucas and Spot to fight.


    Fortunately, they did not have to approach it to fight it. They can simply trigger the web trap it set and let ite down by itself.


    After Lucas allowed Spot to transform into the Hellhound Manifestation, he plucked and cut the web trap to rm the Clip w Spider.


    At the next moment, it woke up from its slumber and immediately assumed a striking position the moment it detected the two of them below.


    Like before, Lucas did not wait for it to strike before he moved out of the way.


    Spot, having experienced killing the same creature earlier, was more calmer and merely waited for it to strike.


    As it struck, Spot immediately hopped to the side to dodge. The Clip w Spider''s w struck and created indentation on the ground.


    Its side became vulnerable to Spot as it tried to recover from the strike it made. Spot was quite experienced and did not allow it to do so easily.


    After a few minutes, Spot killed the Clip w Spider without sustaining much injury because it dodged very well.


    "Good job, Spot. Here," Lucas petted Spot''s head as he handed him the Moonlit Bone that Ethan had given him.


    Woof?

 Chapter 24 Two Hours of Hunting

    The Moonlit Bone was shaped like a crescent moon the size of Lucas'' thumb. Like an actual bone, it was also grayish white in color, with few holes around its surface resembling that of biscuits.


    Inside the pouch, there were a total of thirteen Moonlit Bones.


    Just like what Ethan stated, the Moonlit Bone was really a suitable snack or treat for dog-type beasts.


    Even though Spot had never tried this before, he clearly liked it the moment he tasted one.


    Unlike wild beasts, contracted beasts do not have to consume food to sustain themselves.


    ording to the experts, it was the grimoire itself that provided their needs; hence, there was no need to feed them daily, mitigating the cost for summoners by arge margin.


    They can still consume food if they want to, but it was not a requirement, so the summoners could rest easy about it.


    Lucas heard that the only time the contracted beasts truly desired to eat was when they sensed that a treasure to help them get stronger was nearby.


    It was also due to this reason that summoners were not allowed to contract other beasts with grades higher than their own grimoire. Contracting one grade higher was alright, but contracting two or more would just be detrimental for the beast and the owner.


    If one were to forcefully contract a beast above their grade and level, the beast will die.


    Once a contracted beast dies, the owner would also receive damage.


    There were even cases where the summoner exploded into a mincemeat as they contracted a severely wounded Gold Grade beast when they only had Silver Grade grimoire, thinking that it was their fortuitous encounter.


    The same thing happens when a low-star rank summoner forcefully contracts a creature several star rank or even a major star rank higher than them.


    And even if they managed to survive the first ordeal, it would still be hard for them to summon higher-star creatures, as they needed high energy requirements to summon.


    No matter how one sees it, it was not beneficial and was only detrimental.


    Due to this, it was already an undisputed fact that there was no need to try and contract higher-grade or higher-ranking beasts like said in genius category novels.


    A researcher even had some strong words about this.


    "You are not the main character!"


    Was what he said after various cases of ''main character syndrome'' were reported with thousands of casualties around the continent.


    Seeing that Spot truly liked the Moonlit Bone, Lucas decided to give it another one.


    "Alright, this is thest one for now. You need to eat sparingly; otherwise, you might finish all of the Moonlit Bones in one go."


    "I can''t afford to buy you more of it, so we need to consume it slowly, okay?"


    Woof!


    Though the Gentle Dog Spot did not fully understand his words, he still felt sad upon hearing them.


    It looked at Lucas and suddenly used Gentle Gaze toward him.


    Lucas was taken aback by Spot''s action.


    "You traitor! Using that skill on your summoner!"


    "Alright,st one,st one." In the end, Lucas decided to give in as he really could not stand the cute Gentle Dog paired with Gentle Gaze.


    Of course, to avoid being manipted by his own creature in the future, Lucas decided to set some boundaries in advance.


    He could have chosen not to give in, but Lucas decided to give Spot another Moonlit Bone.


    "This is a reward for being smart. Using your Gentle Gaze to your advantage, very good," he said with a nod of approval.


    "You can also use your Gentle Gaze during a battle to distract your enemy."


    Woof?


    "Anyway, as long as you continue to behave and be a good boy, I don''t mind giving you more snacks. Got it?" Lucas promised.


    Woof!


    Lucas smiled after seeing that Spot understood his understanding.


    Lucas stored the pouch of Moonlit Bones inside the bag as they once again moved to search for another Clip w Spider.


    The Clip w Spiders were numerous in the White Stone Cliff area, as they like to live in such an area where there was a dense forest on one side while the face of the cliff was on the other.


    After almost fifteen minutes of searching, Lucas and Spot finally found another Clip w Spider.


    With the previous experience, Spot killed the Clip w Spider with less timepared to the previous battle.


    After resting for a few minutes to recover some Spiritual Energy, the two of them continued to hunt.


    Two hourster, Lucas and Spot rested under a tree as he looked at his profile page in satisfaction.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 1 (99.95/150 XP)


    Spiritual Energy: 12/53


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    With an efficiency of 5 kills per hour, Lucas'' experience points finally reached 99.95. Only a little more to go, and he would advance to Iron Star 2.


    In terms of speed, Lucas thought that this should still be quite fast enough.


    Due to Spot being able to fight across star levels and defeat opponents alone, the experience points that Lucas got were still plentiful.


    Killing 5 Iron Grade-Iron Star 4 beasts in an hour was definitely unheard of in Twilight City.


    Even with a squad, killing 3 beasts in an hour was already impressive enough if the beasts were not clustered together like the Clip w Spider.


    Hunting does not only involve killing. Every hunt was time-consuming and should not be underestimated.


    And after a sessful hunt, the squad would still have to divide the experience points they gained ording to contribution.


    In this regard, although Lucas was at a disadvantage due to his grimoire''s grade, he also had his own advantage by hunting alone with a powerful summon like the Gentle Dog.


    Even though he only has an Unranked grade grimoire, Lucas still found his advancement speed a little ridiculous.


    And he knew that all of this was due to the Hellhound Manifestation skill that he got from the elusive system.


    Giving credits where credit was due was only natural.


    He does not dare to im that he was a genius because of such an achievement. If he truly was a genius, wouldn''t he have awakened a Gold grade grimoire or even above during the awakening ceremony?


    And if he had a Gold-grade grimoire, would he still be at Iron Star 1 now after killing such a number of beasts?


    He just wondered when the system would give him another opportunity to use it, though. As of now, the system had gone silent, as if it had not existed in the first ce.


    After reminding himself to be humble and be aware of his origins, Lucas entered a state of meditation and gradually recovered his Spiritual Energy.


    Twenty minutester, his Spiritual Energy count had recovered to 22.


    He could summon Spot for a total of one hour now if he wanted to. Sighing at his slow recovery rate, Lucas was just about to meditate and gain another batch of Spiritual Energy again when his eyes snapped open in alertness after he heard amotion in the distance.


    Lucas stood up from his seat and told Spot to hop on his head before he found a spot to hide.


    When summoners ranked up, it was not only their Spiritual Energy that would increase.


    Their physical strength would also strengthen along with it, albeit with just a very slight and barely noticeable increase.


    When Lucas became an Iron Star 1 summoner, he also felt the increase of his physical strength, along with his sensory organs.


    With his slightly increased hearing, Lucas could even tell that themotion in the distance did note alone from a single human or beast.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    From the looks of it, it was a squad pursuing a beast.


    As he hid behind a huge rock situated beneath the cliff, Lucas could not help but recall the seniors who were also pursuing an Ember Molten Ant back then.


    Gazing at the distance, Lucas soon saw where themotion had originated from.

 Chapter 25 Baffling Situation

    A mix of light and heavy footsteps rang amidst the rustling of leaves.


    The cliff stood tall behind Lucas, its jagged edges jutting out over the surroundings. Beneathy an open clearing, with a few scattered boulders and tall, dense trees that swayed gently in the wind.


    The shadows of trees cast over the ground; their thick branches seemed to reach toward the cliff, as if trying to touch it.


    At the base of the cliff, the ground was uneven, with rocky patches mingling with small nts and moss, while the sunlight barely reached the lower areas, giving it a slightly eerie atmosphere.


    Behind a boulder over two meters tall, Lucas hid along with Spot as his gaze remained fixed into the distance.


    The sound of footsteps gradually closed as a massive beast came into his view.


    Behind it were four beasts of different sizes, and even further behind were five people following the beasts with uniform and eased strides.


    The massive beast, a Cliff Borne Ram, seemed to be injured and was in bad shape.


    Its steps were unusually heavy and forceful, leaving deep footprints beneath.


    Seeing the injured Cliff Borne Ram, Lucas could not help but frown.


    Cliff Borne Ram, a creature of Iron Star 6 rank, was also one of the inhabitants of White Stone Cliff.


    Unlike the Clip w Spider, who usually resides beneath the cliff, and the Crack Back Lizard, hiding on the cliff''s cracks, the Cliff Borne Ram was a creature that lived at the clifftop.


    Seeing it beneath was a surprise for Lucas, as he wondered how it wound up here.


    The answer seemed obvious, but it was also a little baffling, considering that the cliff was about fifty meters high.


    If the Cliff Borne Ram fell from above due to the battle with these seniors, it should have already died and, if not, would be an easy kill for the group of hunters the moment itnds on solid ground as it would practically be maimed already.


    With his knowledge being challenged by this strange situation, Lucas still remained silent and did not make any sound.


    Spot seemed to have noticed his actions, as he also kept quiet while lying at the top of Lucas'' head.


    The two of them observed the group passing by them.


    Seeing them pass, Lucas breathed a sigh of relief.


    He rxed his tensed nerves as he confirmed that the group would no longer turn back.


    He was actually afraid of the Cliff Borne Ram turning toward him all of a sudden. He would then be implicated in a battle he did not want to be in, which in turn would create only troubles for him.


    Even if the beasts were jointly killed by them in the end, Lucas would not receive a huge reward even if he contributed to the kill.


    The calction of the contribution has always been a mystery that the researchers could not understand for now.


    Others theorize that the way it was calcted was based on the damage dealt to the beast during the battle.


    However, there were a lot of cases where supporting characters received experience points even if they did no damage to the beast.


    There were also those who theorize that those whond thest hit would receive most of the reward, but the scions of the rich families proved this theory to be false, as even when their seniors bring them along to a hunt and let them have thest hit, they would only receive a fraction of the overall contribution, and most percent would still be given to the seniors.


    And even when the seniors do nothing, as long as they ''apany'' someone of lower level during a hunt, they would still be automatically included in the contributors and would receive experience points for it.


    Operating under such a rule made it impossible for the high-star summoners to carry the lower-star summoners.


    Although the method to measure one''s contribution during a battle was still not discovered, everyone still tacitly agreed that as long as you helped, you received some rewards.


    Everyone could also agree that the ''contribution percentage'' had always been truthful and had never been manipted once.


    Knowing that it would only do him more harm than good if the beast went his way, Lucas had silently prayed that it wouldn''te near him.


    Fortunately, his prayers were answered as the beasts seemed so focused on escaping and the hunters behind it were adamant on pursuing the beast; hence, none of them noticed him hiding dozens of meters away.


    Anyway, now that trouble had passed, Lucas and Spot resumed their hunting spree once again.


    Specially avoiding the direction at which the group earlier had gone, Lucas and Spot finally found another Clip w Spider almost ten minutester.


    However, aside from him, there was also another group of students seemingly trying to hunt the Clip w Spider he just traced through the web trap.


    Or, to be precise, it was the Clip w Spider that was hunting them down.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He was not familiar with any of them, so they were probably his seniors. However, the way they fought the Clip w Spider seemed to say otherwise.


    Just like any other squad, there were also five of them in total.


    Upon further observation, Lucas saw that three of them only had Iron Grade grimoire, while the remaining two had Bronze grade.


    The stars on their grimoire were also pretty obvious and clear. The two Bronze grades were both at Iron Star 5, while the remaining three who had Iron grade grimoires were only at Iron Star 1 and the other two at Iron Star 2.


    This group of students, though, had struggled to keep up with Clip w Spider''s pace.


    The three Iron Grade grimoire users were even injured, one of them heavily at that. The situation of the two Bronze grades was also not optimistic. Their beasts were also bleeding, and it seems that they could only hold on for a little while.


    Their faces were pale as they faced the quick and menacing Clip w Spider.


    Seeing their situation, Lucas only hesitated for a moment before he decided to help.

 Chapter 26 Iron Star 2

    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 4, Clip w Spider (35%): You gained 2.44 XP]


    Lucas nced at the experience points he got by helping them kill the Clip w Spider. Even though he did most of the damage and was the one who killed the beast, he still only received 35% of the whole contribution percentage.


    Receiving only 2.44 XP out of it instead of the usual 6.96, Lucas was nevertheless sad.


    And for someone like Lucas, every bit of experience points was as valuable as gold.


    Anyway, he did not regret his actions one bit as he looked at the relieved smile of the ''seniors'' he had just helped.


    "Thank you for the help, senior. If not for you, it would have been impossible for us to defeat the Clip w Spider," one of them stated with a gratified voice.


    ''Senior?''


    Lucas thought for a moment before he realized why he addressed him that way.


    From the looks of it, they were clearly third years, and at the bottom of the chain at it.


    For them, there was no way a newly awakened second year could already defeat a Clip w Spider, and the one who helped them kill it was not familiar to them, so it could only be a senior whom they had never met before.


    Since they misunderstood, Lucas did not think too much about it and did not correct their assumption.


    This should be the only time that they would interact anyway.


    Lucas nodded his head and did not say anything before he turned around and left.


    Providing help was already the best thing he could do. There was no point in lingering around anymore, as it does not bring him any benefit.


    "What''s your name, senior?"


    Hearing that, Lucas merely waved his hand without looking back. The Gentle Dog, in Hellhound Manifestation form, walked beside him leisurely.


    The silent wave made the ''senior'' students look at each other in confusion.


    ¡­


    Adapting to the Clip w Spider, Spot was now able to kill one in a short period of time.


    With their efficiency increasing, Lucas nced at his profile page and was satisfied after seeing his experience points.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 1 (144.15/150 XP)


    Spiritual Energy: 12/53


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Only another kill more, and he would finally advance to Iron Star 2 summoner.


    His degree of advancement may seem fast, but it was nothingpared to the effort he put in to hunt numerous Clip w Spiders just to advance one star rank.


    With the same kill count, even an Iron-grade grimoire summoner could have already reached Iron Star 4, or even above by now; how much more if they have a higher-grade grimoire?


    Sighing at his own situation, Lucas found a spot and started to recover some Spiritual Energy once more.


    A habit he had formed was to always maintain at least one more summoning chance before each battle urred for safety purposes.


    Each minute of meditation allowed him to recover 0.5 of Spiritual Energy. Within twenty minutes, his Spiritual Energy once again rose to twenty-two, allowing him to summon the Gentle Dog for two consecutive times if he wanted to.


    Summoning the Gentle Dog, Spot, once again, Lucas set foot to find another Clip w Spider and reach the Iron Star 2 summoner.


    With how big and wide the White Stone Cliff was, Lucas rarely found another group of students trying to gain experience here.


    The Clip w Spider, although easy to spot and encounter, was actually hard and dangerous to kill.


    Most students, if they came here, usually hunt the weaker Crack Back Lizard and avoid the Clip w Spider if they can.


    Ever since his encounter with the seniors pursuing the Cliff Borne Ram and the group attacked by the Clip w Spider, Lucas had not encountered any other students, making his hunt smooth with no distraction.


    Even though killing a fellow human was also forbidden byw in this world, he knew that true murderers had never been afraid of thew.


    Especially in a world like this where power reigns supreme, a slight disagreement can cost you your life.


    Even though he constantly saw the propaganda that the beasts were the ultimate enemy of the world, Lucas knew that conflict has always been ingrained in the genes of humans.


    The surface may seem peaceful, but who knew what was happening behind the backs of the masses?


    In truth, if he could, Lucas would certainly avoid interacting with humans inside a dungeon where everything can happen at any given time.


    Lucas heard that in other dungeons where rare resources and treasures were still present, a conflict would always lead to someone''s death.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Outside of the Safe Area, just like how anyone can be your friend, anyone can also be your enemy.


    The situation inside a regted dungeon was, of course, more tranquil and orderlypared to non-regted dungeons out there.


    Here, the school''sw and regtion still apply, and students were more or less afraid to break any of them.


    Killing a fellow student, for example, was a huge crime that can sentence one to life in prison.


    Of course, that was if they got caught.


    Due to the invasion of dungeons and beasts, one might think that this world was specially united.


    However, Lucas himself knew that this was far from the truth.


    As one expert had said, the true enemy of humans has never been the beasts or the dungeons, but the humans themselves.


    ¡­


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 2 (1.11/225)


    Spiritual Energy: 18/58


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Nodding in satisfaction, Lucas prepared to return to the Safe Area, exit the dungeon, and call it a day.


    The White Stone Cliff was no longer the best hunting ground for him during the night, as during that time, the Clip w Spider would finally wake up and build their web to hunt for prey.


    Battling was also more dangerous, as one would not be able to see clearly during the night.


    Lucas had no n to risk his life battling in such an unfavorable environment.


    His gain for today was already enough, and there was no need for him to continue hunting.


    Raising one star rank in a single day was unheard of, especially for someone like him who only has an unranked grade grimoire.


    Lucas thought that he had already broken even from his Starlight Coins. In fact, what he gained has countless times more value than the Starlight Coins he spent to enter the dungeon.


    What was disappointing, though, was the fact that he still had not received another grimoire page that can be used to contract another beast.


    Usually, one has a chance to receive as they level up in star ranks.


    Lucas already leveled up twice but still did not receive any.


    "What bad luck."


    More than an hourter, Lucas finally arrived in the Safe Area once more.


    As he entered, he saw a lot of people gathering in a certain spot.


    Curious about what was going on, Lucas approached and regretted his action a momentter.


    "Yeah, they''re in their third year. I heard they died after getting attacked by a Cliff Borne Ram in White Stone Cliff."


    As Lucas heard those words, his gaze alsonded on the five disfigured humans lying in a pool of blood.


    Lucas'' eyes constricted, realizing that the bodies belonged to the five ''seniors'' he just saved earlier.

 Chapter 27 Possible Scenarios

    Five ck bags were carried away by the Corpse Collectors with their fiverge contracted beasts.


    The air was heavy and mournful.


    The gossipers respected the dead as they too went silent while the five dead bodies were carried away by the Corpse Collectors.


    Lucas did not know what to feel about the sudden situation as the procession of the dead passed by him before ultimately exiting the dungeon.


    The crowd dispersed, leaving behind soft murmurs of regret about the situation.


    For them, something like this was normal, not the first, and would surely not be thest.


    For Lucas, the situation was indeed sudden and left him speechless, but perhaps he was slowly getting ustomed to this world''s ways, and theck of intense reaction from the crowd made him think that this situation was only normal.


    ''The Cliff Borne Ram, huh.''


    His thoughts drifted to the Cliff Borne Ram he saw earlier as he took a step and exited the school-regted dungeon through the portal.


    Uponnding, the same familiar sensation once again assaulted his mind. However,pared to before, Lucas was able to recover much easier.


    As hended, Lucas frowned as his thought recalled the scene of the ''seniors'' pursuing the Cliff Borne Ram.


    That squad was already pursuing the injured Cliff Borne Ram with ease, so they should have managed to kill it after a while. There was no way it could have escaped their grasp.


    Even Lucas himself felt that the Gentle Dog could kill that beast with such heavy injuries. How much more those seniors who were clearly stronger than him by a notch.


    ''Was it not the same Cliff Borne Ram that killed the other seniors?'' He thought seriously.


    ''But how is that possible?''


    Cliff Borne Ram has always resided at the clifftop of White Stone Cliff. There has never been a record of any of them descending down to the base of the cliff. And if they do, it could only be through falling from above, in which case would leave them dead and in shambles, making an easy kill for those who spotted it.


    The site earlier was a first to Lucas, hence the reason why he was surprised at the moving Cliff Borne Ram pursued by the squad.


    That one instance was already rare enough, and if there were another Cliff Borne Ram that managed to survive a fall and was the one who killed the seniors he helped, the danger level of White Stone Cliff must be increased so that no student would meet their early demise if they rashly hunt in those areas that might have some Cliff Borne Ram.


    However, as was said earlier, such a situation was rare and almost unheard of. If the Cliff Borne Rams could indeed survive a fall of that height, it would have already been long recorded in the studies that Lucas had read before going to the White Stone Area.


    Lucas'' frown deepened as he continued to think of some possible scenarios that he might have missed as he walked to the receptionist and reported his dungeon exit, a procedure he must follow ording to the rules.


    After the receptionist nodded her head, Lucas walked away without saying anything; the strange situation in White Stone Cliff was still circling in his mind.


    ''Is it possible that those seniors were killed by Cliff Borne Ram instead?''


    That thought crossed his mind for a bit. If there was no second Cliff Borne Ram, this was the only possible scenario he could think of to make sense of the situation.


    ''Or could it be that they were not killed by a Cliff Borne Ram and were instead by another beast?''


    He only assumed so earlier because of what he heard from the report. There was also a chance that they only assumed that it was a Cliff Borne Ram who did it because of the mangled bodies of those seniors.


    It was unfortunate, though, as such deaths caused by beasts would not be thoroughly investigated by the authorities, treating them as unfortunate incidents.


    If the rtives wanted some investigation, they could do so by hiring private investigators, and they must get considerable leads before the authorities would open up the case again, if there were any to begin with.


    Lucas would truly have loved to hear the answer himself, maybe because he felt that he had saved those seniors for nothing.


    As for trying to avenge them, that thought never crossed his mind at all.


    As he was walking toward the exit, a familiar voice suddenly entered his ears.


    "Lucas?"


    Lucas turned around to see Ethan wearing his usual button-up shirt and dark colored pants looking at him with an excited smile on his face.


    It has only been a few hours since they''vest seen each other at the Beast Gymnasium earlier. For someone who''s only tasked was cleaning beast cages, Lucas thought that senior Ethan''s excitement upon seeing him was clearly out of hand and unwarranted.


    ''He doesn''t swing that way, does he?''


    Lucas immediately erased that thought as he probed, "Yes, senior?"


    "Did you just get out of the dungeon?" Ethan asked in return.


    Lucas nodded his head, not knowing what Ethan was up to.


    "Well, don''t worry about it for now. You can go home and rest. By the way, can you meet me tomorrow in the Beast Gymnasium? Someone I know wanted to meet you earlier, but since you already left, I just told her that I will bring you to her once I see you again."


    "Don''t worry, I''llpensate you handsomely if youe. In case you misunderstand, I also have something to gain in this transaction," Ethan said.


    ''Her?'' Lucas thought and could note with any woman in the academy that he was acquainted with except for his ssmates.


    But none of them should be able tomand Ethan, as he was already in hisst year at Starlight Academy and was considered their senior.


    Although curious about the identity of the person looking for him, Lucas nodded his head and thought that there was no harm in checking it out tomorrow.


    He was also curious about the handsome reward that Ethan had just promised.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Greet! I''ll see you tomorrow then," Ethan said before he left as quickly as he arrived.


    After Ethan disappeared from his view, Lucas also walked out of the campus to return home.


    His endeavor today might not be as dangerous as the first one because he was thoroughly prepared before setting out, but Lucas still felt that he was on the edge of a cliff every time the Gentle Dog fought a beast, and especially when he saw the Cliff Borne Ram for the first time.


    Even though the Gentle Dog was quite strong due to the skill provided by the system, Lucas still remained vignt and always fought with a high chance of survival.


    His nerves were always tout, and even when he arrived at the Safe Area, he acted calmly, but he had never considered himself to be at a safe ce.


    It has only been a few days since he awakened, but a lot has already happened that his two life timesbined could notpare to.


    Fortunately, he was slowly growing ustomed to this world after the awakening.


    Perhaps the only ce he could trulybel as safe was the tiny home that he had lived in for the past few years.


    The gentle smile of his mother and the resolute smile of his father were what greeted him the moment he arrived home.


    In this dangerous world, these were the smiles that allowed him to move forward.


    "I''m home."


    ¡­.


    First Arc End¡ªAwakening!

 Chapter 28 The Present

    Thin and lightweight, yet packed with wonderful functionalities, Lucas'' smile could not be contained as he held the smartphone in his hands.


    This was not the first time he held a phone, but this was the first he owned in this life.


    "Do you like it?"


    His mom''s gentle voice prated his ears. Although she said it in the most gentle tone, the words still felt as if an echo of thunderps reverberated in his chest.


    The strong words of his mother made his heart melt like butter.


    This was not his first time receiving a gift either. However, receiving something so valuable made him extremely emotional and grateful.


    He nodded his head and said, "Thank you!"


    Heartfelt words left his mouth, his smile still lingering as he swiped the smooth screen of the smartphone, not made of ss but of an unknown material he did not know of.


    Compared to what he was using in his previous life, and before the dungeons descended in this world, the gadget and this world have gradually advanced too.


    Nowadays, the usual smartphones would not break, even if you smashed them with a hard brick.


    "It''s good that you like it. It''s actually very expensive, and it took us a-"


    As usual, his father''s words were cut short with an elbow from his mother.


    "Who cares if it''s expensive or not? As long as Luke is happy, that''s all that matters."


    Although his father''s words were cut short, Lucas somehow knew the full extent of it.


    Due to the materials used and the functionalities, the smartphones in this world were actually very expensive.


    The one in his hands was even considered a mid-range one, so its price was even higherpared to the others with lower specs.


    To buy such a phone, one must at least have 15 Unity Coins.


    A Unity Coin was equivalent to 100 Unity Cents. Considering his father''s ie of 0.8 Unity Coin per day, he must work for a total of 19 days before he could save enough money to buy the cheapest mid-range smartphone out there.


    Of course, saving money was not that easy. With their daily needs, they would be lucky if they could save at least 20 Unity Cents per day.


    Knowing that, Lucas could imagine how long his parents had saved the money just to buy him this phone. This was also the first time that they have given him such an expensive gift. It was apparent that his parents had always nned to give him a smartphone as a present but were only able to do so due to theirck of savings.


    "Well, don''t worry about it anymore. It''s our present to you for all the years you''ve made us proud. Continue to make us proud and always be safe, okay?"


    Confirming his thoughts, Lucas smiled and nodded his head.


    Returning to his room, Lucas thoroughly inspected his first phone in this life.


    In his previous life, it was through his own hard work that he was able to buy a decent phone. In this life, he assumed that it would be the same way as well.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He did not expect his parents to give him such a thing, as he knew that they didn''t have enough money to buy such an expensive thing.


    For that, he was extremely grateful and appreciative.


    Lying on his bed, Lucas scrolled and was very satisfied with the phone.


    The storage alone was staggeringpared to what he used in his previous life.


    Since one could not use the inte inside the dungeons, storage space has be the main selling point of smartphones nowadays.


    For those who could not memorize well, storing information inside the smartphones for easy ess has always been the solution. With such a function, one could ess Beast''s and other information as long as they downloaded it in advance.


    Aside from that, the phone could also double as their bank ount.


    Normally, after opening an ount in the bank, they would receive bank cards linked to their ounts. This card would store the necessary data for transactions and could be used as one''s own personal wallet.


    For those who don''t have any gadgets or ess to the inte, they could use such cards for their transactions. Lucas'' parents had these kinds of cards.


    However, these cards could only be used physically. Unlike when one has a smartphone, in which case they could use the smartphone to transact digitally and physically.


    A smartphone also acts as a verifier during offline transactions in areas without inte. Since it was unable to be forged and counterfeit, one can even make offline transactions, provided that they still had bnce in their ount prior to the signal interruption; the transaction would then reflect in real time after they connected back to the inte.


    Eager to open an ount of his own, Lucas hurriedly essed the World Unity Bank app, which was already installed in advance on the phone, and proceeded to open a bank ount.


    Since the smartphone was already very advanced, there was no need for Lucas to make an appearance at the local World Unity Bank branch in Twilight City.


    After his biometrics data was scanned a few times and it was confirmed that the identity was his and not a forged one, Lucas finally smiled as an ount was finally opened in his name.


    Although the bnce as of this moment was a few rows of zeros, Lucas simply did not care.


    ying a bit with his phone, Lucas then downloaded the Academy app and logged in with his unique ID a momentter.


    Trying the functions of his phone, Lucas found an interesting post in the forum and began to read it.


    The post was nothing but a student''s rant about the academy''s poor administration and exploitative behavior. Lucas was amused and began to read thoroughly, and in some parts of the post, he could even sympathize with the original poster.


    The bias towards students that were gifted has always existed, even during his previous life.


    Closing the post, Lucas went to the library function of the app and downloaded a thesis that he wanted to read.


    The inte speed was quite fast, downloading the document almost in an instant.


    This speed was iparable to his previous life, and the best thing about this was that the inte in this world was actually free, a feature that was well liked by Lucas.


    After downloading a bunch of studies that might be usefulter on, Lucas then turned his attention to the school group chat that belonged to his ss.


    Upon clicking, Lucas realized that it was especially active today, with a lot of chats popping one after the other.


    As he read back to know the details of their conversation, Lucas could not help but sigh in frustration as hemented at how unfair the world was.


    ''What a hack!''

 Chapter 29 Thief Of Joy

    In the group chat, an image of a golden grimoire was sent by Anjie.


    It hovered on the grimoire''s first page, and on it, one would be able to see Hector''s basic information, mainly the current star rank and the spiritual energy, as the others below it were purposely blurred for privacy.


    [Name: Hector Wardell


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Gold


    Rank: Iron Star 3 (7.33/338)


    Spiritual Energy: 41/1361


    Beasts:----,----]


    As it turns out, after the school-regted dungeon was closed for the second-year students, Hector and his squad did not sit idly by.


    Instead, using Hector''s family''s connection, they were able to enter another dungeon owned privately by somepany and continued to gain experience points there.


    In fact, most of his ssmates were more or less doing the same.


    In Twilight City, the school-regted dungeon was after all, not the only regted dungeon avable.


    It was just that they were inessible to Lucas, as each entry has a high Unity Coin requirement, which he simply could not afford for the time being.


    Previously, he thought that his batchmates did not enter the dungeon the moment it appeared because they were still struck with trauma after what happened to one of their batchmates.


    Lucas shook his head after realizing how naive his thinking was.


    It''s not that they were unable to recover from the trauma; it was just that they were already busy gaining experience points in other dungeons while Lucas himself was still busy cleaning beast cages to earn Starlight Coins.


    Perhaps to them, the death of a ssmate was indeed not something that they needed to dwell on.


    ''As expected of a Gold-grade Grimoire user.'' Lucas could only sigh in envy as he looked at Hector''s stats.


    The spiritual energy was simply miles apartpared to his.


    His spiritual energy recovery should also be miles ahead. With his talent, there was no way his family and even other families would not invest in his growth.


    Lucas was only using a basic meditation method, but Hector might be using an advanced one. Coupled with his gold-grade grimoire, the amount of spiritual energy he recovers per minute would simply be staggering.


    With that alone, it was possible for Hector to continuously summon his beast for a long period of time and continue to hunt for as long as he wanted.


    Of course, summoning a higher-grade beast also meant a higher spiritual energy requirement; however, the cost could be negated easily by how high his spiritual energy recovery speed was.


    Not to mention the fact that Hector might even use some potions to hasten his spiritual energy recovery.


    ''But why is he still in Iron Star 3?''


    This was what confused Lucas the most.


    With his Gold-grade grimoire, the amount of experience points he can receive for each kill was simply outrageouspared to what Lucas has been getting.


    What he was confused about the most was that, why was he still lingering within a group when he could actually go solo and hunt alone to monopolize all the contribution percentage?


    As a Gold-grade beast, his lion must also be extremely strong, so there was no reason why it could not defeat an Iron Star 1 beast.


    And even though it got blurred, it was still obvious that he already has a second contracted beast.


    ''Lucky bastard!''


    ''Is he afraid of going solo? Or had the thought simply never crossed his mind.''n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Although it was encouraged to work as a team, there was never a rule, even in the academy, that one could not go solo.


    In fact, most summoners, after they grow to a certain extent, would prefer to hunt a weaker beast alone than to fight a strong beast with a group of people.


    Although the experience points would be deducted due to the level difference, the amount they would get would still be worthwhile as they would be able to monopolize all of it, unlike when they were in a group.


    Another reason was also because it was safer to hunt low-grade beasts.


    ''Is he so dumb that he did not even know how powerful a gold-grade beast is?''


    It was already an acknowledged fact that, in terms of intelligence, well, Hector was not well gifted.


    Oftentimes, he let his emotions get the better of him, and he would say anything without thinking.


    As for how he was able to enroll in the academy, it was all because of his Wardell family, of course.


    ''Wait, could it be that he just did not want to work that hard?''


    "What a waste of gold-grade grimoire!" Lucas grunted in displeasure as he thought that the arrogant Hector was simply wasting his potential by ying around within a party.


    He was struggling to earn a meager single digit of experience points per kill, and this bastard, who could earn double digits, was not doing his best and was just simply ying around.


    ''Sigh. Comparison is the thief of joy indeed,'' Lucas thought, as the joy he felt earlier for reaching Iron Star 2 slowly diminished.


    Anyway, even if Hector did not employ the strategy that Lucas thought was possible, he could still not bepared to the other party''s leveling speed.


    With talent and background, and then resources, the gap between Hector and the other summoners would just continue to widen.


    Of course, it was the same case for Lucas.


    However, with his system and the Gentle Dog, the gap should not widen that much, right?


    Lucas sighed at his circumstances.


    Others might have simply skyrocketed already after they obtained the same system as his, even if they did nothing.


    However, since he was limited by his grimoire grade, Lucas still needs to work extremely hard to just see a glimmer of advancement.


    Speaking of the system, Lucas summoned the virtual screen and was disappointed upon seeing that none of the columns were lit up.


    The only function, Bloodline Detector, was also unavable for use.


    Lucas guessed that it would only light up once again after he contracts another beast. The reason why he wanted to receive another grimoire page so badly was also because he wanted to use this function once more.


    Anyway, Lucas turned off his phone with envy in his heart.


    Tomorrow, he would need to earn Starlight Coins once again so that he could enter and earn experience points to level up.


    ''Sigh, life is hard even with a system!''

 Chapter 30 Faculty

    "You''re here, Lucas."


    Ethan smiled and greeted Lucas the moment he arrived at the spacious beast gymnasium.


    Behind Ethan was a massive beast, twice the size of a sedan car, pulling another beast within a cage effortlessly.


    Seeing it again the second time, Lucas could still not hide his awe toward this gargantuan beast owned by his senior, Ethan.


    This beast was called the Bronzehead Oxen by Ethan.


    Towering at twice the height of a sedan, this Bronze-Grade, Iron-Rank beast was a menace when it came to strength. Its massive, muscr frame, draped in coarse, brown fur, rippled with power at every step. Two horns curved crudely to the side of its face, appearing rough, yet looked quite tough and hard.


    The ground seemed to tremble as its colossal hooves hit the earth, each step confident and measured.


    Its two massive eyes swept over Lucas; even though Ethan had already said that his beast was a gentle creature by nature, Lucas still could not help but feel nervous upon being stared at by such a massive creature.


    The beast it was pulling, though, was equally impressive and massive. Lucas has read about this beast before; it was a famous beast outside of the city called the Rock Golem. It was roundish and looked like a rough ball of rock.


    It also has two eyes situated at the center of the ball-like structure, two arms and legs protruding to the side, equally muscr with a rock-like texture, befitting of its name.


    From its appearance alone, one could already tell that it was quite heavy; even a truck from his previous life might not be able to move such a creature. The Bronzehead Oxen of Ethan, on the other hand, was able to move it quite effortlessly. Although the wheels of the pulling cart helped to lighten the load, being able to pull it in itself was quite a feat already.


    "I''ll settle this guy first, and then I''ll get back to you," Ethan said as he led the Bronzehead Oxen forward.


    The Rock Golem was just one of the many beasts captured from outside the city. Like the others, it could be used for a lot of purposes. One example was being a sparring partner for a student, in which the Rock Golem would need to fight until the student was satisfied or wounded.


    Each battle, the student would pay a certain price, which would be used to take care of the Rock Golem''s needs, such as basic food and a wage for cleaning its cages.


    A cruel treatment, if it were a normal animal, but as a wild beast, no one thought of giving them any right at all. Even the most extreme animal rights activist might not say a single word even if the Rock Golem was subjected to even harsher treatment.


    Wild beasts were extremely cruel by nature. They would attack and even consume every human they encountered.


    Just like how humanity saw them as the greatest enemy, the beasts also saw the humans the same way.


    The Rock Golem that was being pulled by the Bronzehead Oxen might look calm and gentle, but once it was outside of the cage, it would immediatelyunch a barrage of attacks on any nearby human or creature.


    After a while, Ethan finally came back. The Bronzehead Oxen was no longer following behind him; Lucas guessed that he had already returned it inside his grimoire.


    "Follow me; we''ll go see her now," he said as he beckoned for Lucas to follow him.


    Lucas nodded his head and silently followed behind Ethan.


    As they walked, Lucas could not help but ask, "Senior, who is it that wanted to meet me?"


    "Oh, haven''t I told you yesterday? It''s teacher Christie."


    ''Teacher Christie?''


    Lucas repeated the name inside his mind.


    As he did so, the figure of a beautiful, mature woman appeared in his mind.


    He had heard of this name countless times in the past year but had only seen her in person twice.


    Once from afar and second up-close during the awakening ceremony.


    She was collectively known in the school as the ''Crystal Keeper'' or ''Keeper'' for her role of being the only teacher known to operate the Awakening Crystal ever since she came here.


    As for why she wanted to meet him, even Lucas was even more confused now that he knew that it was her.


    "Anyway, just don''t think too much about it. All I can say is that it''s only beneficial and not detrimental. You should have already heard of her strength, background, and personality; getting noticed by her is a good thing."


    Lucas nodded his head in affirmation. He also heard of some rumors regarding this teacher.


    It was said that she actually came from the frontlines and was actually a very strongbatant. As for how high her star rank was, no one knows, and no one dared to find out either.


    Teacher Christie has always been known to be gentle and kind, equally to the students and teachers.


    If there was anyone who doesn''t have an enemy in Starlight Academy, it should be her and her alone.


    Ethan led Lucas to the building called the faculty building, situated directly opposite to the entrance of the dungeon area.


    This building was not as massive as the dungeon building, but it was equally as important.


    Students can onlye here during special matters, and no students dared to loiter around here either, as this ce belonged to the teachers and all the staff of the Starlight Academy.


    It was even rumored that Mr. Starlight himself also has his own office here, situated at the very top of this building.


    As they entered, Lucas could feel an oppressive atmosphere forebode the whole area.


    As if separated by a great wall, the world inside the building was starkly differentpared to the one outside.


    Outside, one could always see students walking around in groups. Even though they do it softly, the collective murmurs and soft chatters would still enter one''s ears and make the scene appear lively.


    Here, however, it was different.


    As if everyone agreed to be quiet and not produce any sound, the hallway, even though it had a lot of peopleing to and fro, was as silent as a lost library forgotten in time.


    This was a different silencepared to a mournful one. Here, it feels as if everyone was afraid of disturbing the peace that everyone collectively maintained.


    Everyone''s steps were measured and soft, as if afraid of something hearing their steps.


    Even Ethan shut his mouth and softened his steps the moment they stepped inside the building.


    Following behind Lucas also unconsciously softened his steps, not wanting to attract any trouble.


    Although he was the representative of their ss, this was actually the first time he came here. It was apparent how important and well-respected this site was for everyone.


    This, after all, was where the teachers rested and did their duties aside from teaching.


    A momentter, Ethan stood before an office door.


    After a few knocks, the door opened, revealing a spacious office that emitted a gentle ambiance.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Good morning, Teacher Christie. Lucas is here."


    Inside, a woman wearing ck sses looked up to them and smiled.


    "Come take a seat."

 Chapter 31 Teacher Christie

    Perhaps, due to the anticipation of his awakening, Lucas did not observe Teacher Christie when he met her the second time during the awakening ceremony.


    However, upon seeing her up close now, Lucas finally realized that the rumors regarding her beauty were actually true.


    She has long jet-ck hair that cascaded down her back in soft waves. The ck reading sses perched on her nose did little to hide the mature beauty behind it. Her brows were rxed, and her brown eyes emitted a gentleness that could only be seen in mature women.


    She has a calm and mature presence that anyone could not ignore.


    Even while sitting, Lucas could see the figure of Teacher Christie being well-defined.


    Only upon seeing her up close that Lucas finally confirmed the type of woman he likes.


    Part of the reason why he had not fallen into Anjie''s trap so easily before was also because of this tendency of his.


    Uponing to this world, Lucas had always had the perspective of a twenty-five-year-old guy trapped inside the body of a growing baby.


    He had seen Anjie a few times since they were little, and he had always seen her as an underage teen.


    Even when she began her advances to her, this thought had always lingered in his mind, and hence, it took her a lot of time to wear his guard down.


    And when she eventually seeded, it was also the time of the awakening when Anjie decided to cut off her hard work to go with the real genius.


    In fact, Lucas felt d that he had not sumbed to the temptation quite easily.


    Others might not see it, but deep inside his mind, he realized that he was going to the path of a degenerate.


    Fortunately, the path was severed in time.


    Looking at the mature beauty in front of his eyes, Lucas confirmed that he had indeed not sumbed to the eternal genjutsu called pedo.


    ''Ouch-''


    Lucas thought was suddenly interrupted due to the sudden pain he felt on his side.


    He turned his head sideways and saw Ethan giving him a noticeable side-eye.


    It was only at this moment that he recalled that he had been staring at Teacher Christie for some time now.


    A gentle chuckle paired with a soft melodic voice entered Lucas''s ears.


    "Haha, don''t worry about it. I get that a lot; I''m already used to it."


    "Come take a seat," she stated and beckoned for Lucas to sit in front of the table.


    Ethan also did the same thing. It seems that he doesn''t n on leaving anytime soon.


    Lucas took a nce and noticed that this senior was actually stealing some quick nces toward Teacher Christie¡ªquite a lot, actually.


    Lucas was taken aback. He did not know that this senior was actually a brother. He secretly gave this senior a thumbs up as he sat down on the soft chair.


    Sitting in front of the beautiful teacher, Lucas could not help but feel tense.


    At this moment, he still did not know why Teacher Christie called him here.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Teacher Christie''s expression softened as she observed Lucas'' anxious demeanor.


    "Lucas, I''ve heard about how hard you''ve been working these past few days to earn enough Starlight Coins to enter the dungeon. It''s quitemendable," she said with a gentle smile.


    She sped her hands together as she continued, "Please allow me to be frank."


    "That sort of persistence, especially when you have an unranked grade grimoire, is what I admire the most. I have been to the frontline, and most would already give up the moment they felt that a situation was hopeless. There, it is easy to give up and turn around from one''s duty."


    "You, on the other hand, did not give up." With a gentle smile, she continued, "Instead, you kept pushing forward, despite your circumstances. That''s why I admire the kind of attitude you have. It''s rare to see someone so determined, especially when the odds aren''t in their favor."


    She leaned forward slightly, her voice soft but earnest. "That''s why I''ve called you here. I want to offer you some help. There''s a special mission avable that could earn you a significant amount of Starlight Coins. It''s a unique opportunity to support you in your goal. Are you interested?"


    Teacher Christie wore the standard academy outfit, but on her, it looked anything but boring.


    A crisp white undershirt peeked from beneath a sleek, tailored zer that fit snugly around her curves. The zer, dark with sharp lines, entuated her slim waist and highlighted her graceful posture.


    As she leaned over, Lucas'' gaze unconsciously traveled to the two peaks that seemed to want to protrude out of the shirt.


    His mind buzzed for a moment, but he forcefully calmed down the sudden euphoria rushing to his mind as he thought over the words of Teacher Christie.


    "Teacher, can I know what kind of mission? If it''s too dangerous and is beyond my abilities, then I can only apologize and decline your offer," he said with a serious tone.


    He was d of the thought of someone trying to help him, but he was not dumb enough to ept anything she had just said.


    What if the mission turns out to be dangerous and something that he could not handle?


    Being an unranked grade grimoire user, he could be best defined as a ''fodder.''


    Thest thing he wanted to do after epting the mission was to be someone''s shield or scapegoat.


    Teacher Christie nodded her head as she leaned back on her seat.


    "Your cautiousness is a good trait. This time, you don''t have to worry about the danger," she chuckled and then continued, "As I said, I only wanted to offer you some help. How could it be a help if it involved danger?"


    Lucas nodded his head in affirmation.


    "Anyway, the mission is pretty easy. You only need to catch some bugs for me."


    "Bugs?" Lucas tilted his head in confusion.

 Chapter 32 Bug Eradication Task

    "Bugs?"


    "Yes. My garden has been infested by bugs during the past few days; your mission is to search and exterminate them."


    "I have already posted this to the mission hall, but no one has epted it yet, probably because they are grossed out by the bugs." As she said so, she swiped the screen on her phone and showed the mission to Lucas.


    [Mission Name: Bug Eradication Task


    Mission Description: Search and exterminate the Vinecrawler caterpirs that have infested a teacher''s magical garden. The pests, Vinecrawler caterpirs that feed on magical nts'' leaves, must be eliminated. The task is to locate and kill each caterpir before it evolves and transforms into a Greenthorn Locust.


    Mission Type: Hunting


    Difficulty: Easy-Medium(Depend on how many Vinecrawler caterpirs you can spot)


    Reward: 1 Starlight Coin per caterpir eradicated


    Time Limit: No limit (can be repeated multiple times until all the Vinecrawler caterpirs are already eliminated)


    Mission Location: Faculty Building (report to Ethan Silverwind for more details)]


    Looking over the mission details, Lucas could finally understand why most students did not want to do such a mission.


    First, just like the beast cage cleaning mission, this one also pays ording to the quantity of work and not by the hours you''ve spent on the work. And second, like the beast cage cleaning mission, most students would also think that this mission was disgusting and unhygienic.


    "The reward you see there is just the normal rate. But since you need the Starlight Coins, I will make it as 2 Starlight Coins for each Vinecrawler Caterpir you exterminate; that way, you can easily save up for the dungeon fee as long as you work hard enough."


    Teacher Christie retrieved her phone and allowed Lucas to decide.


    "For someone like you, every hour and second wasted in doing missions for the dungeon fee is also every hour and second wasted from earning experience points, right?" She said softly.


    Lucas nodded his head and pondered over Teacher Christie''s words; it seemed that she already knew of his current circumstances.


    As for how she knew that he was in need of Starlight Coins for the dungeon fee, it should be Ethan who told her about it. Lucas had talked with Ethan about this after all.


    Recalling the bottom part of the mission where it said that he must look for Ethan Silverwind, Lucas made a bold guess that it was also him who tried to rmend him to this mission.


    As for the Vinecrawler Caterpirs, Lucas had read a thread about them before.


    They were just unranked-grade beasts and had no star rank. They do not have anybat ability, but they have one skill that allows them to camouge perfectly to their surroundings, making them hard to spot and locate.


    From what he knows, the Vinecrawler caterpirs feed on the leaves of magical nts. Upon satiation, they would immediately encase themselves with a cocoon and then evolve into a Greenthorn Locust, which would then propagate to spread more Vinecrawler caterpirs in the area, making them a headache for magical garden owners.


    After pondering over the mission details, Lucas thought that it was not that difficult and was much betterpared to the beast cage cleaning mission he did before.


    Like what Teacher Christie had said, he truly needed such a mission right now. One where he could easily amass Starlight Coins for the dungeon fee.


    Teacher Christie was even giving him more help by doubling the payment for him.


    In fact, this felt too good to be true and even made him wonder if this mature beauty actually had a crush on him.


    In any case, since there was nothing to lose, Lucas no longer hesitated and finally nodded his head and epted the mission.


    Teacher Christie was visibly ted after hearing his nod that she even pped her hands together.


    "Let''s consider this a private transaction. I need to pay some fee if I use the mission hall anyway; it''s better if I gave the Starlight Coins to you directly instead."


    Since the Starlight Coins were the internal currency of the Starlight Academy, transactions like this were alright. Even some students also trade with each other; how much more if it was a teacher?


    Lucas nodded his head; it doesn''t matter to him anyway. As long as the payment was there, that was all that matters.


    "It''s settled then. Ethan, can you lead Lucas to the garden and brief him on what he should do?"


    Ethan nodded his head and called for Lucas to follow him.


    Lucas bowed gratefully to the mature beauty before he followed behind Lucas.


    The Starlight Academy was a big ce.


    After walking for a while, Ethan finally led Lucas to a spacious garden enclosed within a wide white.


    "I know what you''re thinking," Ethan suddenly said, prompting Lucas to turn his head toward the senior.


    "You must be thinking that Teacher Christie has a crush on you, right?" Ethan said with a chuckle.


    Lucas almost choked on his own saliva after hearing his words. He scratched his chin awkwardly, as he indeed thought so earlier.


    "Hah, don''t tter yourself, young man," Ethan stated.


    Although his tone did not change, Lucas could somehow feel that this senior had turned hostile.


    "Teacher Christie is just that way. She just likes to help the less talented students. Like you, I also received a lot of her help back then. Not only us, there are also a lot of others that had once received her help," Ethan continued, a hint of reverence and appreciation contained in his voice.


    Ehemm!


    Ethan cleared his throat before he continued, "And just like you, we all thought that Teacher Christie had a crush on us as well. After all, how could someone offer some help so casually, right?"


    "She''s basically an angel sent from heaven to help untalented poor souls like us, right?"


    Hearing his words, Lucas could get where he wasing from.


    Being helped during times of need, one would truly feel deep appreciation toward the helper, just like what Lucas was feeling right now.


    But as a bronze-grade Grimoire user, how does this senior of his have the nerve to say that he was untalented?


    Lucas wanted to refute the senior''s contradictory words but decided against it a momentter.


    "Anyway, don''t think too much about it. All you need to know is that unfortunate souls like us should be grateful that she''s here."


    "Come inside," Ethan said as he opened the door to the garden enclosed with the white.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Uponing in, the green and huge leaves of a nt immediately attracted his attention.


    "Those are the Soulshade leaves, a magical nt. Be careful not to damage any of them; Teacher Christie had personally nted and cared for each of them." Ethan introduced the nt to him.


    Lucas nodded his head and asked, "Senior, what is the use of this Soulshade Leaf?"


    It was a known fact that each magical nt has its own sets of uses and effects.


    Wilderness survival was part of their subjects in the academy. Part of the lesson was for them to recognize nts and differentiate if any of them were edible or poisonous, especially magical nts that can take the form of almost anything.


    This was not the first time that Lucas had seen a magical nt, but this was the first time that he had heard of this one called Soulshade Leaf.


    "I don''t know the details myself. But I once asked Teacher Christie, and she only said that it''s about nourishing the soul or something," Ethan answered.


    "Anyway, while inside, make sure not to summon your beast, lest it damage the Soulshade Leaf. They are fragile and very expensive after all. And don''t even think about stealing any either. Don''t even think about wasting this opportunity that Teacher Christie had given to you," he warned with a stern tone.


    Lucas nodded his head. He was not foolish enough to steal something like this. He had no use for it, and he guessed that this ce was heavily monitored as well.


    In any case, he should just do honest work, and he would be honestly rewarded.


    "Good." Ethan then went over to one corner to fetch a small basket and a ck knife and handed it over to Lucas.


    "Since this is your first mission to catch and hunt the Vinecrawler Caterpir, I''ll demonstrate how to spot and kill them for you here. Watch carefully!"

 Chapter 33 Vinecrawler Caterpillar

    The Vinecrawler Caterpir was an Unranked and Starless beast.


    They had nobat power, and even a normal person would be able to kill them with some effort.


    In truth, this was the same for all Unranked-Starless creatures. After all, the difference between an Unranked-Starless creature and normal animals before the cataclysm was that the former had a skill, while thetter didn''t.


    Previously, his Gentle Dog also belonged to this category, a beast that can be killed even by mortals with some effort.


    However, ever since it ranked up to Iron Star 2 and obtained the Hellhound Manifestation skill, it had long abandoned that category and became something even Lucas could not properly exin, and perhaps no one would, except for the system and the grimoire, of course.


    Crouching right beside a Soulshade Leaf that was a mixture of light and dark purple in color, Lucas stared intently at Ethan, who was now seriously inspecting every nook and cranny of the wide magical leaf.


    His brows were raised, his eyes were squinted, as he turned over the leaf carefully, checking if any Vinecrawler Caterpir was hiding beneath it.


    From what he read before, Vinecrawler Caterpirs have a peculiar way of eating magical nt leaves.


    Instead of devouring all the leaf they passed through, they wound instead just eat the one underneath, leaving enough above to make it seem as if the leaf was still whole and undamaged.


    In scientific terms, they would just consume the lower epidermis and the parts below it, leaving the top section of the leaf untouched.


    This way, it would seem as if there was no creature lurking beneath and that the magical leaf was untouched and in a pristine condition. However, after a weekter, the leaf would slowly wither and die.


    But at that time, everything would already be toote, as the Vinecrawler Caterpirs would have long transformed into a cocoon and evolved into the Greenthorn Locust that would spread even more Vinecrawler Caterpirs to wreak havoc on the surrounding magical nts.


    Killing the Vinecrawler Caterpir was an easy task. What was hard was how to spot them.


    Their camouge ability caused headaches to those who do not have searching-type skills like Ethan and Lucas.


    To spot one, they would need to scrutinize every nook and cranny of every leaf and determine if anything was unusual about it.


    "Here," Ethan''s squinted eyes suddenly erged as he gazed at one particr spot of the Soulshade Leaf.


    Following his gaze, Lucas was confused and strained his eyes to spot the elusive Vinecrawler Caterpir.


    Ethan''s eyes did not move, but his hand slowly reached toward the knife. His hand, now holding the knife, slowly reached toward a particr spot on the leaf, to be precise, toward the dark purple veins of the Soulshade Leaf.


    Lucas scrutinized and squinted his eyes as well, staring intently at the spot. However, he still failed to see the Vinecrawler Caterpir that his senior had seen.


    In the end, the tip of the knife slowly poked one of the veins.


    The next moment, that particr vein squirmed and wriggled, as if trying to shrug the thing that was poking it.


    Seeing the vein move, Ethan immediately yanked it away using the knife.


    The Vinecrawler Caterpir, almost as thick as one''s pinky finger, was smashed to the ground.


    Before it could try and recover, Ethan immediately stabbed it with the knife he was holding. The small beast only struggled for a moment before it stopped moving and died.


    Phew!


    Ethan heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he wiped the imaginary sweat on his forehead.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    "Done! Did you see how I did it?"


    He was breathing heavily; his eyes were bloodshot as he stared at Lucas.


    If Lucas did not know any better, he would have thought that this senior of his had just fought a life-and-death battle against a terrifying beast.


    Hearing his words and his action, Lucas smiled inwardly and wanted to remind the senior that what he killed was just a tiny worm.


    However, considering that even he himself had trouble seeing the Vinecrawler Caterpir until it moved, Lucas smiled wryly and reigned in his words.


    He then nodded his head, answering the senior''s question.


    "Good! Good!"


    Ethan even repeated the word twice, showing how ted he was.


    "Well then, since you already know, I''ll leave the matter to you now. I hope that when Ie back, I''ll get to see many of such abominable beasts in that basket, okay?" Ethan said, his voice full of hope and expectation.


    Seeing the eyes of his senior, Lucas could not help but shudder at the expectation that the senior had set for him.


    ''Seriously, is there a need to be so hopeful? Will he be disappointed if I only hunt one? Damn, I don''t even want to know what his reaction will be. Is this Teacher Christie''s effect?''


    "I''ll do my best, senior."


    Hearing that, Ethan patted his shoulder as he turned around, preparing to leave the Soulshade Leaf garden.


    His mood was bright. The thought of getting rid of some trouble for Teacher Christie made him smile in delight.


    "Senior, wait," Lucas suddenly called out, making him pause in his tracks.


    "Yes?"


    "Ahh, you said yesterday that you wouldpensate me foring, right?" Lucas remembered with a little bit of a smile on his face.


    Senior Ethan''s words yesterday were still as clear as a pristineke in his mind today.


    "Don''t worry, I''llpensate you handsomely if youe. In case you misunderstand, I also have something to gain in this transaction," was what Senior Ethan said to him.


    Hearing his words, Ethan tilted his head in confusion before the bright mood suddenly turned dark.


    "I did not forget about that. I will give it to you after you''re done with the task," Ethan said before he turned around and left in a hurry.


    In his mind, though, he was already cursing Lucas slightly.


    ''Damn, this kid is actually a greedy little fellow!''


    ''Well, this is good. With his greed, he should be able to hunt as many Vinecrawler Caterpirs as possible, right?''


    Thinking of that, his smile turned bright once again but turned dark at the next moment as he thought of something.


    ''With his greed, it''s possible that he would take some leaves with him¡­''


    "I hope not," with his heart growing cautious toward the honest youngster, Ethan left the Soulshade Leaf garden with a mixture of ever-changing emotion.


    ¡­


    Back inside the garden, Lucas smiled happily, thinking about the promisedpensation.


    Reeling his emotion in, Lucas took a deep breath and finally observed the garden and the Soulshade Leaves once more.


    With the cast over the garden acting as a dome, it made him wonder how a Greenthorn Locust or even a Vinecrawler Caterpir was able to sneak and propagate inside.


    However, such matters were not something he should be thinking of.


    His job today was to kill as many Vinecrawler Caterpirs as possible, not investigate how they got inside.


    Clearing his mind, Lucas took the basket and the knife, crouched down toward the nearest Soulshade leaf, and began seriously inspecting underneath.


    Following Ethan''s example, Lucas finally saw his first Vinecrawler Caterpir camouging as the vein of the Soulshade leaf five minutester.


    With a start, Lucas immediately went into action.


    "Attack!"

 Chapter 34 Labor

    Swish! Swoosh!


    A Vinecrawler Caterpir was lodged out of a Soulshade Leaf with precise action.


    Landing on the ground, the Vinecrawler Caterpir wriggled but was pierced by a sharp knife the next instant, killing the beast without mercy.


    [You have killed an Unranked Grade-Unranked, Vinecrawler Caterpir (100%): You gained 0.01 XP]


    "And sixty," Lucas wiped the sweat at the corner of his forehead as he picked up the dead Vinecrawler Caterpir and put it inside the basket.


    The previous empty basket had now been filled by carcasses of purplish Vinecrawler Caterpirs that Lucas had killed.


    Every time he killed one, Lucas would tally and list them inside his mind.


    The one he just put inside the basket was the sixtieth Vinecrawler Caterpir he killed. With each Vinecrawler Caterpir rewarding him with 0.01 Experience Points, an additional 0.6 Experience Points has now been added to his total.


    "Well, at least, I now have 120 Starlight Coins," Lucas'' eyes lit up as he consoled himself and forgot about the heartache of only gaining 0.6 experience points after a couple of hours hunting¡ªif it can be called that way.


    Unranked grade beasts already give one the lowest amount of experience points, and an Unranked grade with no star rank gives even worse.


    This was also the reason why no summoner bothered to hunt those Unranked grade-Unranked beasts.


    Heck, even a Gold Grade Grimoire user would more or less receive the same amount of experience points that he was getting now.


    It was just a waste of time and effort¡ªexcept for instances like this that he was rewarded for killing them, of course.


    Still, who among the academy students was as poor as him, and hence, would doborious work like this just to gain enough Starlight Coins to enter the regted dungeon once?


    Perhaps there was, but none among them was as untalented as him.


    In this year''s batch of new awakeness, only Lucas had awakened an Unranked Grade grimoire.


    For those who had the same circumstances but a higher grimoire, they would probably not do thisborious work and instead would just opt to loan Unity Coins. That way, they would be able to spend most of their time inside the dungeon instead of doingborious works like the beast cage cleaning and bug extermination mission that Lucas had done.


    Lucas had considered this option as well. However, given that he only has an Unranked Grade grimoire, he guessed that no loan institution would be willing to ept his request. In fact, even loan sharks might hesitate to lend him money.


    His parents also knew of his circumstances, as they had talked about it before.


    At first, his parents wanted him to just ask for money from them¡ªthey said they have some extra savings¡ªbut Lucas did not buy their words and insisted that he would work for his own dungeon entrance fee.


    Thinking about it, Lucas could not help but apud his decision. If he had epted their offer, would they have postponed buying the phone for him?


    Anyway, Lucas did not give his parents more burden by letting him pay the fee for the dungeon entrance when he could just work hard for it.


    "Well, time to work," Lucas remarked as his eyes went into slit once more, an indication that he was now in serious mode.


    Fortunately for him¡ªunfortunately for Teacher Christie¡ªthe Soulshade Leaves were truly infested with the Vinecrawler Caterpirs.


    Each Soulshade Leaf has four to five leaves in total. Thergest of them¡ªsituated at the bottom, suspended at around one and a half feet from the ground¡ªwas two feet wide and four feet in length. Their sizes grew smaller the further they were from the ground, but still, the smallest of them were half a foot in width and at least two feet in length.


    In each Soulshade leaf nt, Lucas could sometimes find two to three¡ªseldom one¡ªVinecrawler Caterpirs.


    One must note that the Vinecrawler Caterpirs only eat the lower epidermis, so even though the leaves looked fine now, they would most likely wither and die in a few days, given that they did not get fixed or healed.


    With how many Soulshade leaf nts that he had yet to inspect, Lucas estimated that he would be able to get at least 300 Vinecrawler Caterpirs out of it.


    A pity for teacher Christie though, as that would also mean that she would be losing at least 300 Soulshade leaves in a few days.


    These were magical nts after all; their value, Lucas could notprehend yet, but still, he knew that each of them was very expensive.


    In the end, Lucas could only sigh.


    "Work! Work! Work!"


    Boring and repetitive work, Lucas'' mind felt dizzy as he stared at the basket full of dead Vinecrawler Caterpirs after an entire day of work.


    Anyone with lepidopterophobia would surely copse upon seeing his collection.


    Fortunately, Lucas had none of that phobia and, hence, was able to endure the harrowing sight of such creatures clustered together inside one basket.


    With a sigh, Lucas stood up and stretched his aching legs and body.


    Even though his body was quite strong and was even enhanced by the grimoire every time he ranked up, it still could not endure a long period of doing such minute and meticulous work.


    If he had a better choice, Lucas would have already given up the moment he filled half of the basket.


    Anyway, it was already dusk. He did not want to continue and just wanted to rest. His back was aching from a long period of crouching too.


    At this moment, Lucas just wanted to go home and drop dead on his bed.


    Fortunately for him, a figure was already approaching in the distance.


    The senior was finally here.


    Lucas beamed a smile as he walked to meet Ethan in the middle.


    The thought of the senior bringing him the promised pensation'' instantly invigorated his mind.


    Ethan nodded his head at him and said, "How about it? How many did you catch?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Lucas smiled in return and stated, "Ahh, don''t worry, senior, I caught a lot of them."


    He then presented the basket full of Vinecrawler Caterpir toward the senior.


    However, the senior''s reaction was not what Lucas had expected.


    "W-what the hell is that thing!? "


    As he said so, Lucas observed that his body even involuntarily shivered in disgust and even fright.


    _______


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 Chapter 35 Realization

    Standing three meters away from him, Ethan looked at Lucas and then the basket with an aghast expression.


    "How were you able to find so many?" Ethan asked with a dire tone after a few seconds of silence.


    When he was tasked by Teacher Christie to supervise this mission, he did not think that the Soulshade garden was infested by that many Vinecrawler Caterpirs.


    And most of all, he did not think that Lucas would be able to find that many in a span of a few hours. At most, he estimated that he would be able to catch and kill at least 30 before the day ends.


    Ethan stared at the basket and involuntarily shivered once more. He still felt ufortable seeing that many caterpirs in one basket.


    "It''s a freaking whole basket of caterpirs!"


    "Where did you find so many?" Ethan asked once more.


    Lucas grew confused upon hearing his words.


    "In the Soulshade leaves?" Lucas answered; a hint of uncertainty was mixed in his voice as he stared at Ethan''s expression.


    ''Is it bad that I got so many?''


    Ethan rolled his eyes and said, "I''d be damned if you did not find it in there. What I meant is, how are there so many? And how did you find so much in a short period of time?"


    Finally taking the courage, Ethan closed in toward him and looked at the Vinecrawler Caterpirs up close, wanting to verify if they were real or not.


    After confirming that they were indeed real, Ethan could not help but shiver once more.


    Lucas realized that this senior of his might have a mild lepidopterophobia.


    Realizing that, Lucas decided to move the basket away from him, not wanting to traumatize the senior even more.


    "Senior, aren''t there usually not this many?"


    Ethan frowned before shaking his head, "No. At least, not to this extent. How many Soulshade leaves have you inspected yet?"


    "A third?"


    "Well, this is bad indeed. If you found that many in such a small area, we can assume that there are many more of them hidden in those leaves. If this is not resolved, the whole Soulshade leaf garden will be deste," he said with a grim expression on his face.


    Ethan did not expect for the infestation to be that bad either, hence his unusual reaction to the situation.


    "So, what should we do, seniors?" Lucas asked.


    "Let''s report it to Teacher Christie first. Bring that and follow me," Ethan said as he began walking back.


    He paused for a moment and then said, "Cover that thing with a cloth or something, will you?"


    Lucas nodded his head and found an item in his backpack that he could use to cover the basket''s mouth.


    As they were walking, Lucas thought about his confusion earlier and asked, "Senior, with the garden being enclosed with the, how was it possible for the Vinecrawler or the Greenthron locust toe inside and propagate?"


    "I was confused about this as well. However, ording to Teacher Christie, it was possible that the eggs of the Greenthorn Locust were carried over from the saplings of the Soulshade leaf. A Greenthorn Locust egg is usually very small and only hatches about three months, so it is possible that she did not notice it while nting."


    Lucas thought and realized that it was indeed possible. He thought that there was some foul y going on, but it seems that he was just overthinking it.


    Well, the fact that this type of locust undergoes a caterpir stage is already unusual enough; how much more of a locust''s egg that hatches after three months?


    After a while, the two of them finally returned to the faculty area.


    Dodging the suspicious gazes of the people they passed by, Ethan knocked on the door to Teacher Christie''s office.


    The gentle voice of Teacher Christie entered their ears, telling them toe in.


    Upon entering, Ethan did not waste time and immediately reported everything to Teacher Christie.


    As they were talking, Lucas saw that a hint of worry appeared on Teacher Christie''s face the more Ethan spoke.


    "Lucas, can you let me see them?"


    Lucas nodded his head and pushed the basket toward her.


    Ethan took a slight step back as Teacher Christie took the cover off the basket''s mouth, revealing the hideous Vinecrawler Caterpirs underneath.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    A frown appeared on her gentle face before she closed the makeshift cover.


    "Don''t worry about this anymore; I''ll think of a solution," she said with a sigh.


    "Right, have you counted how many Vinecrawler Caterpirs you''ve caught?" She said, back in her usual gentle tone.


    Lucas nodded his head and stated, "There''s a total of a hundred and sixty-two Vinecrawler Caterpirs in there. Teacher Christie, we can also count it here again if you don''t believe me."


    Teacher Christie chuckled before shaking her head, "No need. I trust you."


    "Give me your ID number, and I''ll send the Starlight Coins to your ount," she said.


    Lucas nodded his head and then allowed her to scan his ID through his phone. Although he memorized his ID number, doing it this way was way faster and more efficient.


    A notification then popped up on his screen, showing that he had received the Starlight Coins.


    Upon seeing it, though, Lucas was immediately confused.


    "Teacher, I think you''ve sent the wrong amount of Starlight Coins?"


    On his screen, it showed that he received 500 Starlight Coins. He only caught a total of a hundred and sixty-two Vinecrawler Caterpirs so he should''ve only received 324.


    "Don''t mention it. I appreciate your help and dedication. If you did not manage to get that many, and the Vinecrawler Caterpirs were left alone, my Soulshade Leaf garden would surely be doomed in four days at most."


    "Now that I know that the infestation was this bad, though, I can still use some extreme method to eliminate them, although doing it this way would damage my Soulshade Leaf garden as well. But so be it," she sighed dejectedly.


    It seems that the Soulshade Leaf was indeed that important for her.


    As for Lucas, he did not decline the generous reward and simply bowed to express his gratitude.


    With this, he would be able to enter the dungeon twice.


    Teacher Christie looked at him and smiled, "Continue with your dedication and continue working hard, Lucas. One day, such effort would surely be rewarded; even if just by a small amount, everything will be worth it in the end."


    Hearing those words, Lucas involuntarily clenched his fist.


    Although it might not seem like a lot, those words were truly what he needed at the moment.


    Although he might seem stable, he was also equally pressured due to what he had seenst night on their group chat.


    The thought of working hard tirelessly only to be beaten by the others with less effort disheartened him.


    He was unwilling tog behind others, especially when others did not put the same effort as him toward something.


    However, hearing Teacher Christie''s words, Lucas'' mind and horizons were broadened.


    ''Right. Who said that what I''m doing is not enough?''


    ''Sess isn''t measured by the speed of others but by my own perseverance. As long as I keep pushing forward, I''ll eventually reach my destination.''


    "Thank you!" He said, his tone carrying more gratitude than usual.


    Teacher Christie just smiled and told him that he coulde back if he ever needed help.


    She dismissed the two of them a whileter.


    As their figure disappeared from her view, her gaze shifted toward the basket of Vinecrawler Caterpirs as she released a dejected sigh.


    ¡­


    Outside of the faculty building.


    "Are you going to do the beast cage cleaning mission anytime soon?"


    Lucas thought for a moment and asked in return, "Will the bug eradication task still be avable?"


    Shrugging his shoulders while continuing to walk, Ethan replied, "I don''t know about that. It depends on Teacher Christie, really."


    "If the bug eradication task is still there after two days, then I might not go back to cleaning cages yet," Lucas answered.


    "Understandable. In fact, now that you''re already acquainted with Teacher Christie, it''s better that you go to her directly if you need help regarding missions. As I said before, Teacher Christie liked to help untalented people like us. There is no shame in trying to get her help either; others even consider it their blessing to be helped by her."


    Ethan paused for a moment before continuing, "A word of advice, though. Just don''t overdo it; else, if those guys know, they would surely hunt you down to the ends of the earth."


    Lucas tilted his head in confusion hearing his words. Although he did not understand its full meaning, Lucas still nodded his head in agreement.


    Arriving at the academy''s exit, Ethan was about to walk away from Lucas when thetter spoke.


    "Ahh, senior, I think you forgot something?"


    Hearing that, Ethan''s expression darkened.


    ''You brat!''

 Chapter 36 The Compensation

    "A tonfa?"


    Ethan nodded his head as he handed a pair of wooden tonfa to Lucas.


    "This is what I''ve used before. I no longer used it, so I thought of giving it to you."


    His decision to give it to Lucas, though, was not out of generosity. As he had said before, he indeed gained something for introducing Lucas to Teacher Christie.


    And after the event earlier, he was even more certain about this decision. Lucas had just been so perfect for the job that he was able to discover more Vinecrawler''s than usual in a short period of time, allowing Teacher Christie to make countermeasures to prevent the damage even further.


    For that, he was extremely grateful.


    Lucas received the iron tonfa from his hands; however, hesitation appeared in his mind as he felt the cold tonfa touching his skin.


    "Iron grade? Senior, isn''t this too valuable?"


    Just like other treasures in this world¡ªsuch as magical nts, potions, and grimoires¡ªweapons are also graded based on their strength and effectiveness.


    Most of the time, their grades depended on the materials that were used to forge or make them, but there were also seldom cases where the weapon went up a grade or downgraded for some various reason.


    Although Lucas was not an expert when it came to grading a weapon and materials, he was more than aware of some basic things due to his eagerness to learn new things.


    As for their value, of course, he was more than aware of it.


    An Iron Grade weapon was made mostly of Iron Grade or even above materials. Their prices may vary depending on their usage, but Lucas knew for a fact that the cheapest Iron Grade weapon or item out there can cost at least a thousand Unity Coins.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    A thousand Unity Coins¡­ That''s like a hundred thousand Starlight Coins. Lucas could not even calcte how many days he would need to spend at work just to save that amount.


    Normally, Lucas would have dly epted such a generous gift.


    However, everything has been going so smoothlytely that he could not help but grow suspicious.


    Senior Ethan and Teacher Christie have been so good to him that he could not believe it.


    Although he did not know them personally and only interacted with them a number of times, he still could not see the reason why the two of them were good to him, especially after they knew that he only has an unranked grimoire.


    He did not think that there was something special to him, and he did not think that they would gain anything of value if they swindled him as he was extremely poor.


    In fact, given the current situation, it even seems like he was the one swindling the senior and the teacher.


    Lucas shook his head and calmed his overthinking.


    "Senior, this is an Iron Grade Tonfa, right? This is too valuable for me to ept."


    "Are there... Are there some strings attached to it?" As he said so, he could not help but unconsciously cover his chest.


    Understanding what he was implying, Ethan''s lips could not help but twitch.


    Now, he kind of regretted giving this bastard his tonfa.


    ''This kid is not only greedy; he even ys too much. Should I take it back?''


    Sigh!


    "Don''t think about it. I already said that I also gained something out of it, so it''s a fair deal, to say the least. And I no longer have any use for that Armadon Tonfa, and I don''t want to sell it either because its value has already depreciatedpared to the first time I bought it."


    For Ethan, this was definitely a win-win situation for both of them. At least, that''s what he thought.


    For Lucas, it was even more so.


    A thousand Unity Coins worth of weapons? For doing nothing other than to show up to be introduced to someone? If this was not a good deal, then what was?


    Lucas smiled and did not hesitate anymore and said, "Thanks!"


    Ethan nodded his head. "Don''t mention it. I just hope that when Teacher Christie ever has a new mission that you can handle, I hope that you won''t decline it."


    ¡­


    Sometimeter, Lucas began walking back home.


    His smile was sleek and uncontained as he held the two tonfa in his hand.


    The tonfa was deep, dark brown, almost resembling aged wood in color. ording to Ethan, this tonfa was made from the body of an Ironwood Armadon, a humongous beast with a strength of Iron Grade-Iron Star 9. It was also where its name came from.


    The Armadon Tonfa''s main shaft was a foot and a half in length and was cylindrical in shape. The shaft and the handle were as thick as an infant''s arm; the head of the shaft was rounded and had a white jewel embedded in it.


    The grip was wrapped in a rubber-like material for better grip.


    Due to its appearance looking like aged wood, a simple nce might reveal that it was extremely light. However, made from an Ironwood Armadon''s body, each tonfa actually weighs around eleven pounds.


    For Lucas, however, the weight was just right.


    All in all, Lucas liked this Armadon Tonfa very much. It was his very first graded weapon after all.


    Now, the only thing left was to practice how to use it.


    In this world, every child has been taught basic martial arts and how to use various weapons ever since they were young, not to attack the beast themselves but to defend themselves when an undesirable situation arises.


    Fighting a beast with your own body has always been discouraged, as it was a known fact that a human''s body was very weakpared to beasts, no matter how well-trained the human body was, unless, of course, they have the skill that allows them to go toe to toe with the beasts.


    Hence, everyone was only taught basic martial arts, and only when they wanted to pursue such careers would they delve deeper into this area.


    For them, learning how to defend oneself and not be a defenseless summoner in front of a beast was more than enough.


    Lucas was more or less the same.


    Even though he did not know how to properly use a tonfa before, his foundation in terms of martial arts was solid¡ªlike everyone else¡ªhence, he did not think that he would not be able to wield such a weapon.


    If he wanted to, he could even specialize in using it.


    Lucas pondered about his option as he yed with the tonfa while walking home.


    For a summoner, a weapon was truly not that important, as their main fighting force was their summoned beast.


    Still, having a weapon was still better than having none.


    Not attacking does not mean that they can''t, after all.


    The tonfa was a good weapon for both offense and defense. It was a very versatile weapon suited for summoners. Although it could not cut and pierce like a sword and a spear do, the blunt damage it can do could still not be underestimated.


    Since it was thick, it also should not break easily if struck by a beast of the same grade.


    Lucas shrugged his shoulders as he yed with his new tonfa.


    Like always, he thought that his walk home would be as safe and uneventful.


    However, his steps halted a momentter due to themotion he saw ahead of him.

 Chapter 37 Privilege Of A Genius

    The absence of homes or shops made his path on the way home a path few chose to walk to.


    Although this was not the only path home, Lucas always chose to walk this path as he liked the symmetries of the trees that lined up on the side of the street.


    Walking home has always been peaceful and his rare chance to contemte life.


    At least, that was how it was supposed to be.


    A frown appeared on his face as he kept the tonfa inside his backpack; though, the tonfa''s head protruded out of the bag as it was not tall enough for it.


    Ahead of him was a group of students gathered together.


    Lucas was extremely familiar to all of them, as they were his ssmates.


    And just when he thought life was peaceful and was going smoothly for him these past few days. Hector, his cohort, and a couple of others were now standing on the road that he used to take.


    Seeing how they were looking around, Lucas would jump off a building if they were not waiting for him specifically.


    As for their reason, Lucas did not want to find out at all.


    Just as he began to walk back and just take another route to avoid trouble, one of them actually noticed and pointed at him.


    "He''s there!"


    Knowing that he has been spotted, Lucas could only stop in his tracks to avoidplicating the situation even more.


    Hector smirked, and along with Anjie and the others, began walking toward him.


    "What do you want?" Lucas asked with a roll of his eyes.


    Hector strode up to Lucas, his smirk widening with each step. "What do we want? Isn''t it obvious?" he scoffed. Anjie stood next to him, arms crossed, her eyes filled with disdain. The others followed suit, forming a semicircle around Lucas, cutting off any chance of retreat.


    "We were sent by Teacher Julian to check on everyone''s progress," Hector continued.


    ''Sent? The privilege of a genius, huh.'' Lucas thought, recalling that Teacher Julian often sent him to do such chores before.


    From the looks of it, Teacher Julian also wanted the other students to think that Hector was their leader and that they should follow his words as it was the same as his¡ªjust like how it was used to be for Lucas.


    The only difference was that Lucas did not abuse such ''privilege''.


    "ss tournament is next week, after all," Hectare continued, his voice dripping with condescension, as if the mere mention of the tournament was a joke at Lucas'' expense.


    Lucas smirked inwardly. He knew where this was heading.


    "Of course, checking on you is pointless," Anjie chimed in, her tone equally mocking.


    "I mean, what''s there to check on? You''ve got an Unranked Grimoire. We already know your ''progress.''" She punctuated her words with air quotes, earning snickers from the others.


    ''Wow, what a change!'' Lucas ridiculed inside him.


    He never knew Anjie was this talkative before. It seems that birds of the same feather flock together, indeed.


    Hector pretended to think for a moment, thenughed. "Yeah, right. What could someone with an Unranked Grimoire possibly contribute? What beasts do you even have? One little dog, maybe?"


    ''Bingo! It''s not your normal little dog, though!''


    Lucas snickered inwardly, but he kept his expression neutral. He had dealt with their mockery ever since they had all awakened their grimoires. They all wielded Iron to Gold Grimoires, unting their summons in the ss chat.


    Lucas, however, had remained unnoticed, unheard, and, as they said, untalented.


    "You''re wasting your time," Lucas finally said, gripping the strap of his backpack, the tonfa still poking out from it. "Go mock someone else."


    "Wasting our time? Are we?" Hector grinned as he looked at his group, who each shook their heads. "We''re just here on behalf of Teacher Julian, or are you saying that his words are a waste of time?"


    "Wow, you have some balls, do you?" Hector stepped closer and tapped his shoulder lightly.


    "Put your hands away from me!" Lucas finally said, his tone t but his eyes locked toward Hector fiercely.


    Hector visibly flinched; cold sweats suddenly appeared behind his back.


    "I won''t ask a second time!" Lucas asked, his tone now grim and has a hint of threat in it.


    "Hmmp! Bastard! You think you''re still as strong as before?" Hector snapped back angrily. His hands, however, voluntarily left Lucas'' shoulder.


    ''That''s what I thought.'' Lucas sneered.


    Even though Lucas wasn''t arrogant enough to im he was the best when it came to basic martial arts and personal fighting ability among the second years, he had still managed to give Hector more than a few beatings during their sparring sessions.


    Most of them who surrounded him also received a beating or two.


    Of course, that was all in the past. Now, with grimoires and summoned beasts reshaping the bnce of power, individual martial skill no longer held the same significance.


    This must be their way of enacting vengeance toward him, huh.


    ''What did the teachers say during those sparring sessions again? Right. No hard feelings.''


    Hector red at him in contempt and took a step back. "Don''t worry, though. This won''t reach Teacher Julian at all."


    Lucas'' expression remained steady after hearing that remark. He no longer cared about Teacher Julian''s impression of him at all. Hector''s threat does not have any effect on him.


    He could only fail if he does not meet the required star rank to be a third-year student anyway. And it just so happened that he already did, a few days ago, actually.


    "If that''s all, then let me through."


    Lucas walked forward without waiting for their answers, brushing off Hector and Anjie''s shoulders.


    During their interaction, Lucas had never spared Anjie a nce¡ªnot even once.


    One of them tried to block his way, but with a re from Lucas, he also took a step back.


    After all, in the streets and other public areas, it was prohibited to summon one''s beasts casually¡ªespeciallyrge beasts. Only those with a license, like the beast taxi drivers who frequently travel the main roads, are permitted to do so.


    Even in Starlight Academy, there were certain areas where it was prohibited to summon one''s beast.


    On a secluded road like this¡ªout of the public''s eyes¡ªof course, it was possible to summon their beast without a license.


    But do these students dare to summon their beasts here to fight him? Even if this was a secluded street, the fight would still be bound to attract attention from the others, not to mention that Starlight Academy was just one block away.


    In this kind of situation where they could not summon their beasts to fight on their behalf, they would be absolutely toppled by Lucas alone.


    This was a fact that has been proven countless times during their two years at Starlight Academy.


    It was rumored that Lucas liked to train secretly, hence why he was so strong. His body may not be as strong as a beast, but it was definitely the best among the second years.


    Lucas even admitted once that he did a hundred pushups, a hundred squats, a hundred situps, and a ten-kilometer run every day. How true that was, only Lucas knew.


    Seeing his figure grow further away from them, Hector and the others could only grit their teeth in anger.


    "Prepare yourself, Lucas! I''ll trash you down in the ss tournament next week!" Hector bellowed in fury and indignation.


    Hearing that, Lucas merely waved his hands without looking back while saying, "I won''t join then."


    "What!?" Hector and the others eximed in bewilderment,


    Anjie frowned, and augh resounded from her after a slight pause.


    "I see. Lucas, you''re just afraid of being beaten, aren''t you? You just don''t want others to im a victory over you, isn''t that right?"


    "Are you hearing yourself, Lucas? You sound like a sore loser right now!" She said with a provocative tone.


    "Yeah, and you sound like a farmer''s tool!"


    Unfortunately for her, Lucas did not buy her provocation at all. He continued to walk forward, not wanting to be in their presence any longer.


    "What?"n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    This time, it was Anjie''s turn to grow bewildered.


    "What do you mean by that?" She shouted. Her face contorted in anger and confusion.


    Lucas was already far away, though. And even if he was still near, he absolutely would not tell her what he meant by that.


    Anjie looked at Hector and the others, wanting to see if they knew what Lucas meant. However, they also have the same confused expression as hers.


    "Bastard!"

 Chapter 38 A Waste Of Gift

    "How''s school, Luke?" Rosana asked in a gentle tone.


    She was sitting on a wooden chair; in herp was the Gentle Dog, Spot, that Lucas had summoned the moment he arrived home.


    This was one of his mother''s stress relievers after all¡ªstroking the smooth fur of his Gentle Dog.


    "Don''t worry, mom. Everything''s alright," Lucas smiled and replied with a certain tone.


    Rosana nodded her head and did not ask any more questions. As a low-grade grimoire herself, she knew the struggle and difficulties of having one. The best thing she could do right now was to not add to Lucas'' stress and problems.


    Just let him do his thing and let him explore on his own. Eventually, he will give up¡­ Just like what they and the others did. And there was nothing wrong with that.


    "Just stay safe, okay?"


    That was all her wish for her son.


    To be safe. Always.


    Lucas nodded his head. He could feel his mother''s concern over him.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He would stay safe¡ªby preparing the best he could before a battle, of course.


    ¡­


    After eating, Lucas returned to his room and inspected the Armadon Tonfa once more.


    Grasping the handle, he gripped it firmly and began practicing with it using some basic martial arts movements. His movements, though, were of course suppressed and were minimal due to the small space his room had.


    However, that was more than enough for Lucas to practice some basic moves to familiarize himself with the tonfa.


    Using the same movements as one would while doing a punch, Lucas slowly familiarizes himself with the tonfa.


    After an hour, Lucas felt that he had already grasped the basic striking movements of the tonfa. He also already has some preliminary ideas for the moreplicated movements, but that could wait when he has a huge space to practice.


    Laying on his bed, Lucas essed his phone and went to the Starlight Academy website''s forum to view some blogs. Seeing nothing that interested him, Lucas went to the school group chat and read the messages.


    Upon reading, he realized that his ssmates had once again set foot in the school-regted dungeon to hunt for experience points. After they returned, they then posted their ''result'' in the chat, informing, or more precisely, bragging to everyone about their achievements.


    Upon looking, Lucas realized that most of his ssmates had already begun to enter the ranks of Iron Star like him. Those who did not manage to do so, on the other hand, remained silent and acted as if they were invisible.


    As Lucas does not share his progress like everyone else, all of them thought that he was part of the group that became mute due to having no progress. In fact, none of them expected anything from him anyway.


    Hector and his group also gained some experience points today. However, upon some calction, Lucas realized that they had only hunted for two or three beasts at most before calling it a day.


    Killing three beasts on the same day, however, was already an achievement on its own considering the preparations one must make before fighting for a beast.


    In fact, Lucas expected more from a Gold Grade grimoire user, considering that he himself managed to hunt dozens of beasts in a single day.


    Of course, this did not make him underestimate Hector''s strength. After all, a Gold-grade beast has a lot of starting skills, with each of them boasting powers that his Gentle Dog''s Gentle Gaze could notpare to.


    Instead, he only thought that Hector was beingzy and was not really using his gifts to their limits.


    Lucas sighed and allowed the ''young master'' to do as he pleases. He was in no position to criticize him anyway.


    He nced at the virtual screen that appeared in front of him with a thought and muttered, ''At least I won''t do the same.''


    ¡­


    The next morning, Lucas woke up early as always.


    "Two hundred!"


    Lucas sat on the hard floor of his room as he swiped the sweat around his forehead.


    After doing two hundred pushups, situps, and then squats, his breathing was ragged as he sat on the floor a little exhausted.


    If it were before, doing a hundred and fifty a day would have already sent him sprawling to the ground exhausted. However, after receiving feedback from the grimoire for ranking up twice, his body had already grown much strongerpared to before.


    The increase, however, was minimal considering that he only received feedback from his low-grade grimoire; however, it still managed to make him much stronger than he initially was, so Lucas was still ted.


    He already finished his set of exercises and even increased the usual amount, but he was still able to sit properly and only felt a little exhausted at the end of it.


    His exercise, of course, does not only consist of the three. He also did some light workouts as warmups before doing the three, and all of them were equally exhausting, to say the least.


    However, with strict discipline, he always persevered and had been able to do all of them, even if it took him some time to finish.


    In his previous life, Lucas was actually somewhatzy and had always canceled all workout ns after two or three days. In this world, however, Lucas had always trained due to his ambition and the fact that he did not want to repeat his actions from his previous life.


    After years of hard work, Lucas could confidently say that his decision to do so was right.


    His body was pretty muscr, to say the least. Although he might notpare to his father''s hulking figure, his build was still something that would put other students to shame.


    It was just unfortunate that he had a sleeper build¡ªthe kind of physique that didn''t reveal itself unless he was shirtless or flexing. His muscles stayed hidden beneath his clothes, giving little hint of the strength beneath.


    After resting for a bit, Lucas wore an ordinary dark-blue tracksuit as well as his shoes.


    Now that he was done with the home workouts, it was finally time to do some running.


    "Ten miles should be enough... for now!"

 Chapter 39 Brittle And Fragile

    Ten miles was nothing short, even for Lucas. However, after doing such activities continuously¡ªalmost daily¡ªhe had already gotten used to it. The Starlight Academy alone was three miles away from his home. Not to mention his daily run; he would have to travel such a distance by foot twice a day.


    Lucas took a nce at the towering building of the Starlight Academy as he ran at a moderate pace. He did not get close to the academy, however, and remained running on the road seldom traveled by the masses.


    The main road, where everyone traveled, was located at the next block. Lucas would pass by that roadter and then go to the public park to cool off a little before returning toplete the ten-mile morning run.


    Arriving at the crossroad, Lucas stopped for a bit to let the traffic pass before crossing over.


    Early in the morning, the main road was already busy and full of traveling beasts. Most of them were beast taxis, while the others were used privately by citizens that owned a license to summon.


    Different kinds of beasts passed by him. There were quadrupedal beasts, while there were also bipeds carrying their masters on their backs. Other than that, there were also beasts with more than four legs.


    There were endless varieties of beasts that looked fascinating to the eye.


    These beasts, though, mostly don''t have anybat ability, hence the reason why they were being used for transportation.


    After the road became less crowded and the traffic light turned red, Lucas finally had the chance to cross the road along with the others.


    Leaving the main road behind, Lucas ran forward and eventually reached the public park that was also filled with people.


    Unlike the road where it was allowed to summon one''s beast if they have a license, in the park, however, it was truly prohibited. It was because there were a lot of children ying around, so beasts should not be summoned here lest they hurt the mundane people.


    There was a separate park for those who wanted to summon their beast, but that ce was often empty and devoid of people, as summoners would usually have their own private ce to practice with their skills, or if they didn''t, then they could go to beast gyms to train with others. There were fees before one could enter such a facility, though, so going there had never crossed Lucas'' mind.


    Entering the park, Lucas began walking to cool down before he found a seat to sit.


    The seat he found was situated in front of another road. Although not as busy as the main road, there were still a lot of pedestrians and beasts roaming around the street that he was facing. His gaze moved as he curiously identified the beasts that passed by his eyes.


    This was how he usually spent his morning here in the park. Nothing stressful, just a rxing and peaceful morning.


    However, Lucas also knew that such a rxing and peaceful morning was very brittle and as fragile as ss.


    One dungeon descent, and all this peace will turn into chaos and destruction.


    Lucas sighed and stood up. Having rested enough, he nned to return home and prepare for school. Today, he would hunt dungeon beasts for experience points once more. His goal was to reach Iron Star 3.


    As for how long it would take him to reach that rank, even he himself was not sure anymore.


    Just as he exited the park, Lucas suddenly saw some familiar figures coursing the street.


    Riding atop a bear-like beast, Ethan sat gracefully along with two other figures that Lucas found familiar as well. Upon a closer look, he realized that they were part of the seniors who pursued that injured Cliff Borne Ram before.


    As if feeling his gaze, Ethan and the other seniors also turned their heads toward his location.


    Their gazes met in the air as Lucas'' body froze for a moment. He did not know why, but he suddenly felt nervous after being subjected to their gazes.


    Ethan smiled and ordered the bear beast to go closer to him. Lucas silently stood on the sidewalk as he waited for them to approach.


    "Lucas," Ethan said with a smile. He nced at the park right behind Lucas and continued, "I did not expect to see you here of all people."


    In his mind, Lucas was a hardworking, ambitious, and, at the same time, a greedy kid. Of all people, Lucas was thest person Ethan expected to see near a park where most people were seen being idle and rxed.


    At this hour, he expected Lucas to be already on campus, doing missions, or had entered the dungeon and gained experiences, as time was valuable for someone like him who doesn''t have a high-grade grimoire.


    "I am just doing a normal exercise, senior," Lucas answered with a polite tone. This was the senior who had given him a graded weapon; of course he would speak to him politely. After all, who knows if he would suddenly give him another gift for being polite, right?


    "I see," Ethan nodded his head in understanding.


    "Right, these are my ssmates, Dorian and Asher," he said, introducing the two men sitting along with him.


    The one named Dorian has messy, ash-blonde hair. With his robust body, it might seem as if he was very energetic, but it was actually the opposite. Hisplexion was a little pale as he slouched forwardzily, as if sitting beside Ethan was the hardest thing he had done for the entire week.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The Asher guy on the other hand was a little better. He has dark brown hair and striking ck eyes. Hisplexion was also pale, but not as pale as Dorian''s. The most notable feature of the guy, though, was the ck eyebags that rested below his eyes.


    Both of them were still wearing the same uniform that Lucas had seen them wear before.


    Since Starlight Academy does not have any student uniforms due to how costly they were, Lucas guessed that the uniform they were wearing was the uniform of their squad.


    The two nodded politely to him but did not speak any word, as though they were mute.


    As if it werepletely normal, Ethan ignored their reaction and said, "Are you going back now? Wanna hitch a ride with us?"


    Lucas hesitated for a bit before he finally nodded his head.


    Although he still needed around five miles to run, Lucas decided on a whim that today would be his cheat day.


    Riding a beast in the street was something he did not usually experience. The fare was also expensive, and depending on the beast and the distance, the fare would even increase. Since the senior had offered him to ride the massive beast for free, how could Lucas decline?


    At the same time, he was actually a little curious about Dorian and Asher. The scene of them pursuing that injured ram was still as clear as day to him.


    His curious mind wanted to know what happened to that ram. Were they able to kill it? Or has it managed to escape and then eventually killed the other students?


    "Hop on, then. Don''t be intimidated by him; he''s just a transport beast and does not have anybat ability," Ethan said with an inviting gesture.


    The bear-beast was massive and was as wide as a bus from his previous life. Its length wasparable to a pickup truck, and its height was as high as ten feet.


    The bear had thick ck fur that seemed to glisten enthusiastically against the morning sun that had slowly risen on the horizon.


    With another order from Ethan, the bear beast lowered its body, allowing Lucas to hop above it and easilynd on its wide back.


    After Ethan gestured for him to take a seat, he ordered the bear beast to move forward.


    Like riding a horse, one might think that it would be a bumpy ride. However, that was far from the truth as Lucas felt that he was actually riding a bus due to thefort it provided.


    The ride wasfortable and full of breeze.


    For most transportation beasts, something like this was actually pretty normal. Most of their skills revolve around transportation after all. Some of them has skills that addedfort to their riders, while there were others that has skills to increase their running speed.


    Sometimeter, the ride finally arrived at Starlight Academy.

 Chapter 40 Boundary Fog

    In the end, Lucas had not been able to find the time to ask the two seniors about what happened to the Cliff Borne Ram that they were pursuing. Aside from the fact that he did not want them to know that he was there at that time, the two seniors were also very silent throughout the ride, and it was mainly Ethan and Lucas who had been talking until they arrived at the gates of Starlight Academy.


    The seniors went in while Lucas ran back home to prepare for his huntter.


    Thirty minutester, Lucas went inside the gates of Starlight Academy once again and proceeded toward the dungeon area directly.


    After paying the fee with Starlight Coins, Lucas found himself inside the dungeon once more.


    The familiar sight of the busy Safe Area greeted his eyes. Upon looking around, Lucas found some familiar faces amongst the crowd. His ssmates and the other second years were among them.


    Lucas even saw Teacher Julian standing near them. From the looks of it, it seems that he was giving his ssmates some tricks and pointers on how to hunt a beast.


    As if feeling his gaze, Teacher Julian turned to look in his direction. However, as if he were invisible, Teacher Julian had no particr reaction upon seeing him at all. Their gaze met in the air for a brief moment before he nonchntly turned his head away, as if Lucas were nothing more than thin air.


    Seeing that, Lucas merely shook his head in disappointment.


    Wearing a dark-green camouge shirt and dark pants, Lucas moved out of the Safe Area with his ck bag full of supplies in tow. He no longer cared about Teacher Julian or anyone''s view toward him at all.


    He will get stronger, no matter what.


    When he sets his mind to something, who would dare to stop him?


    Even time itself would not be able to.


    A low-grade grimoire gains a minute amount of experience points? He will kill more topensate then.


    He won''t be able to hunt in the school-regted dungeon due to theck of Starlight Coins? Then he will work on some missions and gain more.


    He won''t be able to do missions? No problem. Wasn''t the wilderness a ce full of beasts as well? He will just go there and hunt then.


    A few minutester, Lucas stared at the area ahead with caution.


    Taking out the dungeon map from his pocket, Lucas reviewed his current location and determined that he was indeed in the right ce.


    Ahead of him was a lush forest with towering trees. The trees resembled ck oak trees, but they were much more humongouspared to what he had seen from his previous life.


    Each tree was as tall as the peak of White Stone Cliff.


    This area was alsomonly known as Giant Dark Forest.


    The area inside the dungeon also came in different shapes and sizes.


    The area, or more precisely, the ''world'' inside a dungeon, was pretty massive. Depending on its grade, a dungeon might even contain a ce as big as an entire region or multiple citiesbined.


    The C-ss Starlight Academy dungeon, in terms of size, was already half the size of Twilight City, and one must note that it only received such a grade due to the nature of the beasts that dwelled inside it.


    If sizes were the basis of a dungeon''s grade, then the C-ss dungeon of the Starlight Academy might have been reduced to a mere E-ss instead.


    The Safe Area, White Stone Cliff, and Giant Dark Forest were just some of the few notable areas in the Outer Area of the dungeon.


    Looking to the side, Lucas saw the white fog that ran parallel to the edge of the Giant Dark Forest.


    This white fog was also called the Boundary Fog. No matter what grade, the Boundary Fog had always existed inside a dungeon.


    Located at the extreme edge of each dungeon, the Boundary Fog remained steady and calm, staying at the extreme edge of each dungeon, not allowing anyone to pass through.


    The Boundary Fog extended all the way upward with no end in sight. Although it may appear like a smoke, the moment one touches it, it would actually turn into something extremely solid and tough, forbidding anyone from passing through it, no matter what kind of skill one used.


    Since the academy dungeon was in the form of a circle, the Boundary Fog had enclosed it like so as well. In fact, right behind the teleportation area in the Safe Area, the Boundary Fog was also actually present.


    Since he had already seen it multiple times, both on the inte and in real life, and knowing that there was nothing interesting about it other than being impregnable, Lucas did not dwell too much about it and focused on the Giant Dark Forest ahead of him.


    The beast that he wanted to hunt lived inside the Giant Dark Forest.


    Although lower in star levelpared to the Cliff w Spider, the beasts here have some unique characteristics like that of the Ember Ants¡ªthey liked to form in groups.


    Since hunting the Ember Soldier Ants seemed problematic, and going back to White Stone Cliff was even more so due to that injured Cliff Borne Ram, Lucas had decided to avoid the two areas and just search for another suitable beast that he could hunt.


    After some research and with his previous experiences as a guide, he finally decided on hunting a particr beast in Giant Dark Forest, the Shadow Lynxes.


    The Shadow Lynxes were Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 creatures like the Ember Soldier Ants. However, unlike the Ember Soldier Ants that onlye in pairs, the Shadow Lynxes usually travel in a group of four or five¡ªseldom six.


    Although their coordination was not as seamless as those of the Ember Soldier Ants, the Shadow Lynxes still hunt in packs, so it would be normal for them to have good coordination.


    Even knowing that, Lucas was still confident in hunting them. This was not due to arrogance, but due to the multiple preparations that he had made.


    The reason why he chose them was because he knew that Spot could take all of them at the same time. And with his help and proper preparation, it would even be easier.


    Another reason was that in terms of cost-effectiveness, Lucas realized that hunting groups of low-level beasts was more profitable than hunting high-level beasts that lived alone, like the Clip w Spider.


    Although the higher-level beast rewards more experience points for each kill, they were also harder to kill and contained more risk to hunt.


    While hunting low-level beasts like the Shadowmire Lynx might not provide the same amount of experience points per kill as the Clip w Spider, the sheer number of lynxespensates for it.


    Taking out the Armadon Tonfa, Lucas entered the Giant Dark Forest cautiously.


    He had also summoned his grimoire, preparing to summon Spot the moment he felt something awry.


    A few minutes after entering the Giant Dark Forest, Lucas finally found some traces of the Shadow Lynxes.


    As he crouched and examined the pawprints left in the ground, Lucas confirmed the direction they were traveling in and immediately began the game of pursuit.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

 Chapter 41 Shadow Lynx

    Having found traces of his target, Lucas followed the trail for a few minutes before he stopped and crouched down.


    Examining the traces they left behind, Lucas determined that the Shadow Lynxes had passed by the area not too long ago.


    Realizing that, Lucas did not proceed further and instead took out some items from his bag and prepared to set up some borate traps.


    The Shadow Lynxes were swift and elusive beasts. ording to what he read before, the lynxes used the natural advantage of the Giant Dark Forest being dark to ambush their prey.


    Using their skill, they could blend into the shadows, bing almost invisible to the naked eye, and strike their prey in surprise.


    They were master ambush predators, even more so than the Clip w Spider.


    However, Lucas had never started a battle that he could not win.


    Just like how he thoroughly studied the Clip w Spider, he had also studied the Shadow Lynxes behavior and characteristics¡ªa lot.


    Taking out a transparent wire from his backpack, Lucas searched for a suitable ce and began to set up the trap, or more precisely, the trips.


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    The transparent wire was actually made by the beast of his father''s coworker. ording to his father, it came from a spider beast whose only ability was to weave such wires or webs that they could use as ties in the construction sites.


    Since the wire had many uses, Lucas'' father, Lumbert, had asked for some to fix minor issues around their home. The piece in Lucas'' hand was the leftover spare from those repairs, and after nning his attack on the Shadow Lynxes, he requested more from his father, who readily agreed.


    Normally, the thickness of the webs was thinner than a needle. Although they were pretty durable, Lucas also knew that they would not be able to trip the Shadow Lynxes, much less stop them. Knowing that, Lucas had already woven the webs together to make them even stronger and more resilient.


    Now slightly thicker than a needle, the web was more resilient than ever. Carefully searching for a spot, Lucas tied the web from one tree to another, setting it a foot above the ground. After building about seven trip traps and using almost half of his web supply, Lucas thought that it was already enough.


    It did not take him more than ten minutes to set them up. He then tidied up the ce, making it seem like it was untouched. The semi-transparent webs became even more elusive with his borate cover-up.


    Lucas took onest nce at the trap he made and moved forward to continue his pursuit of the Shadow Lynxes. Now that he had set up the trap, it was now time to lure the lynxes over and reap the rewards of hisbor.


    Around fifteen minutester, Lucas marked his own trails and finally found the source of the trails of the Shadow Lynxes that he was following.


    Dozens of meters away from him, Lucas saw four lynxes resting beneath the shadow of a giant dark oak tree leisurely.


    Standing over one meter tall at the shoulder and two meters long from nose to tail, the dark gray¡ªalmost ck¡ªfur, paired with faintly glowing ck markings that provide natural camouge in low light, made it impossible for anyone to spot them from afar with one nce.


    If Lucas had not known enough and had not paid special attention ahead of him due to the trails they left behind, even he himself might just think that the four lynxes ahead were just parts of the dark tree''s shadow that they were resting on.


    Not that Lucas found his target, he finally began to move and initiate the next phase of his n.


    Summoning the Gentle Dog, Spot, Lucas ordered it to gather the attention of the lynxes so that they could lure them into his trap.


    With the Gentle Dog''s strength, it was truly possible that they would be able to beat the lynxes without using the traps. However, thest time Spot fought multiple Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 beasts at the same time, he was severely wounded and had to rest for some time before he was able to recover in full state.


    Although a summoner''s beast could treat their injuries inside the grimoire, Lucas still did not want to subject his beast to such if they could avoid it with careful preparation.


    The Shadow Lynxes were swift and elusive beasts that blended well with the surrounding shadows. If they fought them head-on, Lucas worried that Spot might get wounded, much like in the previous battle when he fought multiple enemies at the same time.


    The trap he made might not provide direct offensive power, but it would surely help them to restrict the elusiveness of the Shadow Lynxes a lot.


    After summoning Spot, Lucas immediately told it to use Hellhound Manifestation.


    The winds rustled and twigs broke one after the other as the small dog turned into a behemoth.


    Themotion was brief and sudden, but the Shadow Lynxes were quite alert and managed to capture the unnatural noise in the air.


    The four Shadow Lynxes abruptly stood up and turned their heads toward their location.


    Without even a few seconds before they do so, the Shadow Lynxes'' eyes lit up one after the other as all of them hopped forward.


    Lucas, on the other hand, did not linger on the same spot any longer. He ran as fast as he could, tracing back the markings that he had marked earlier. He had already given Spot the order, and what was left was to properly execute it.


    Remaining on the same spot, the Gentle Dog, Spot, red menacingly at the four lynxes that hopped from shadows to shadows.


    They were nimble and quite fast. Only a moment had passed, and they were already half-way through the initial distance between them.


    The moment they did so, Spot also made his move.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Instead of moving forward to fight, he instead took a step back and ran the opposite direction, following behind Lucas'' trail.


    The order Spot received was pretty simple. Wait for the Shadow Lynxes toe closer before following behind him.


    The n was to retreat and then ultimately lure them toward the location of the trap, which Lucas was now tracing.


    Spot executed the order perfectly. Dozens of meters away from him was Lucas, while behind him were the Shadow Lynxes out for their blood.


    With the Dark Giant Forest being their natural habitat, the Shadow Lynxes maneuvered from one tree shadow to the other, gaining momentum and speed with each quick leap that they made.


    Two minutester, one of the Shadow Lynxes finally caught up right behind Spot.


    Using one of its skills, that particr Shadow Lynx dove into the shadows.


    The next moment, that same Shadow Lynx appeared behind a tree right in front of Spot. Its bloody paw with sharp ws swiped toward Spot''s face without warning.


    Fortunately, Spot leaped to the side at thest second, evading the lynx''s attack by a hair''s breadth.


    Without stopping, Spot continued to run forward while the four lynxes followed behind him, each of them delving into the shadows from time to time and attacking Spot the moment they appeared.


    As they only attacked one by one, Spot was not overwhelmed and easily out maneuvered each of them with ease.


    From time to time, Spot would also counterattack. Unfortunately, the elusive and swift Shadow Lynxes could also evade his attack at thest moment by blending into the shadows.


    Out of the four of them, he only managed tond a hit on one, and the wound was very superficial.


    "Alright, take them over to that area!"

 Chapter 42 Spot Versus Shadow Lynxes

    Spot followed Lucas'' order immediately.


    Swiftly dodging another iing strike from one of the Shadow Lynxes, he turned toward another direction and sprinted toward it madly.


    Lucas ran parallel with them a few yards away. His speed was quite slow, and he was soon left behind by Spot and the Shadow Lynxes.


    Spot continued to run forward, and hearing another order from Lucas, he swiftly entered an area with many dark oak trees.


    "Let loose, Spot!"


    Lucas shouted from afar as he saw that Spot and the Shadow Lynxes had already entered the area where he had set up the trip traps.


    "Stay in the center and out maneuver them. Allow them to blend into the shadows if they want to. Strike swiftly when an opportunity arises," he ordered. The distance between him and the ongoing battle slowly reduced as he picked up his speed.


    Finally stopping fifteen yards away, Lucas took out the Armadon Tonfa and prepared to defend himself if the situation needed him to.


    Ahead of him, Spot fought the four Shadow Lynxes alone with great effort.


    From one simple look, Lucas could tell that Spot was stronger than any of them Shadow Lynxes.


    His physique was extremely strong, and his brutal way of fighting could hardly be defended by the Shadow Lynxes.


    However, as strong as he may be, Spot was still alone, and the Shadow Lynxes always relied on stealthy maneuvers to try and attack him. Using the shadow of the trees around them, the Shadow Lynxes easily put themselves in the blind spots of Spot.


    And that was where the trip traps he made came into y.


    Tied between one tree and the other, the trips set up a foot above the ground were barely noticeable to the naked eye after his seamless cover-up.


    Suddenly, one of the Shadow Lynxes retreated from the onught and slightly hopped toward the shadow of the giant trees, trying to blend into the shadows to strike back if the enemy was careless enough to ignore it.


    However, as it did so, its body suddenly froze¡ªits front legs tripped by something it hadn''t expected to be there. The force of its initial lunge caused its body to continue forward while its legs stayed in ce, making it stumble and fall miserably.


    Seeing that, Lucas'' eyes lit up as he eximed, "Nice! Spot, go!"


    Spot also saw the opportunity at the first notice. Even before Lucas could order him, he had already sprang into action.


    He dashed toward the stumbling Shadow Lynx in an instant, and before it could recover from the fall, a massive paw had already fallen toward its head.


    Boom!


    The Shadow Lynx''s mind spun from the impact of the paw. Blood was squeezed out of its orifices as it struggled to calm its disoriented mind. And before it could do so, Spot''s paw was once again falling toward it, this time with an added sharp w along with it.


    Blood sttered in the ground as the three remaining Shadow Lynxes finally arrived to support the fallen Shadow Lynx.


    However, everything was already toote the moment they arrived. The Shadow Lynx''s eyes lost their luster as Spot hopped back to the center of the trees.


    The three Shadow Lynx purred in agitation and rage as they continued to surround and attack Spot from different angles.


    With only three of them remaining, though, the pressure was considerably less for Spot.


    Although victory was in sight, Lucas did not dare toe too close in the battlefield, lest he get targeted by the Shadow Lynxes all of a sudden. He might be confident in confronting some kids in the street, but there was no way he would fight a beast head-on if he could avoid it.


    Staying on his spot, Lucas silently prayed that the Shadow Lynxes would once again stumble on his trap and create another opportunity for Spot to eliminate any of them.


    The second Shadow Lynx to trip another of his trip traps also sumbed to Spot''s paw and died with a swift death.


    With the second Shadow Lynx''s death, the situation of the battle immediately turned for the worse for the remaining two Shadow Lynx.


    One of them silently appeared right beside Spot and bit his legs. Spot snarled at it and flung it to the side with such force that Shadow Lynx smashed into a tree as a result of its action.


    As for the other one...


    ''Wait, where''s the other one?'' Lucas realized in horror that the remaining Shadow Lynx was no longer in sight.


    The moment he realized that fact, a gust of wind suddenly hit his face.


    His face lost its color as a shadowy figure leapt in front of him from one of the tree shadows around him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Shit!"


    Lucas cursed out loud as he brought his two arms upward.


    Cling!


    The sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the area as sparks flew in the Armadon Tonfa in Lucas'' hand.


    ''Too strong...'' Lucas grimaced in pain as he felt the force from the impact of the Shadow Lynx''s pawnding on the Armadon Tonfa in his hands. His whole body shook as he felt as if a sledgehammer had struck his arm. His muscles taut as he endured the pain.


    Gritting his teeth, he immediately redirected the force away by flinging the Armadon Tonfa to the side as he hopped away to retreat.


    The Shadow Lynx brushed past him andnded softly in the ground. It immediately turned its body and lunged toward him once more. Its speed was incredible, as it managed to leapt in front of Lucas once more. Its paws extended forward, shing toward his neck. Continue reading at empire


    Lucas was barely able to react. His heart beat faster than it ever could. However, his thoughts remain calm andposed.


    Although he did not expect this situation to happen, he had always prepared himself for the worst that could happen.


    Rotating the way he held the Armadon Tonfa, he smashed the Armadon Tonfa toward the oing paw of the Shadow Lynx, blocking its advances for a brief moment. However, that brief moment was all he needed to hop away and retreat once more.


    Feeling the force reverberating through his arms, Lucas gritted his teeth and retreated away as fast as he could.


    The Shadow Lynx quickly followed behind him, hopping toward one tree shadow after the other.


    Although he was retreating, Lucas'' eyes had always been glued to the Shadow Lynx, afraid that it would disappear toward his blind spot once again. This way, he could also respond, evade, or block its paws if needed.


    In order not to hit a tree while retreating, he even especially ran toward an area with fewer trees. It just so happened that the shadows in that area were considerably less as well. Although there were still shadesing from the tree leaves, it was considerably less darkpared to the trunk''s shadow.


    Arriving at the center of that clear area, Lucas prepared to meet the paw of the Shadow Lynx with his Armadon Tonfa once more.


    However, at the next moment, Spot has already appeared with his paw descending toward the Shadow Lynx''s head.

 Chapter 43 Gains

    The Shadow Lynx was smashed to the ground with great force. The unexpected arrival of Spot had surprised even it.


    Lucas did not waste the opportunity and retreated far away from the two, his arms still trembling due to the force that struck it earlier; at the very least, though, his arms were still intact thanks to the Armadon Tonfa''s block.


    As he retreated, Lucas turned his head to the area of the battle earlier and saw that the other Shadow Lynx was already disintegrating into particles of light. A momentter, thest Shadow Lynx also sumbed to Spot''s vicious ws.


    The blood and gore slowly disintegrated, restoring the surroundings anew. If there were no marks left, like the indentations on the ground or broken twigs around, one might even realize that a battle had taken ce here just moments ago.


    Calming his nerves, Lucas nodded at Spot in appreciation before he proceeded to recollect the trip traps he had used earlier. The trip traps had proven to be very useful, and he still needed to use them for the next hunt.


    While doing so, Lucas did not forget to give Spot his well-deserved treat. He also allowed him to dismiss his Hellhound Manifestation in order for him to have a rest. Spot was not badly injured, to say the least. There were just some scratches and shallow wounds around his body that had slowly begun to heal even before he reverted to his normal form.


    Lucas also obtained some bruises on his arms due to the blunt force he received from blocking the Shadow Lynx strike. However, such bruises were bearable for him, so it was not a problem.


    All in all, the battle went well and ording to n, until the unexpected situation where the Shadow Lynx chose to attack him instead, at least.


    After retrieving all the trip traps he had set up, Lucas and Spot did not linger in the area any longer. They moved toward another location as Lucas searched for a suitable spot to take a rest.


    After he found a safe spot to hide and recuperate, Lucas immediately closed his eyes to meditate and recover Spiritual Energy to mitigate his usage from his earlier summon of Spot.


    Now that he was already an Iron Star 2 Summoner, Lucas realized that he could now recover 1 Spiritual Energy per minute. The Spiritual Energy recovery speed was also affected by multiple factors, including rank, grimoire grade, location, as well as the mediation technique the summoner used.


    Recovering 1 Spiritual Energy per minute, Lucas opened his eyes ten minutester as he felt that his Spiritual Energy had be full.


    Now that he had rested, Lucas could finally turn his attention and review his experience gains from the recent hunt.


    Opening the grimoire, Lucas smiled in satisfaction as he saw the logs of the battle earlier.


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 3, Shadow Lynx (100%): You gained 3.8 XP]


    The same log was repeated four times in total.


    Due to the fact that he was already an Iron Star 2 Summoner, the experience points he gained for each beast were a little lesspared to when he hunted the Ember Soldier Ants with simr grade and star rank from before.


    Depending on one''s star rank, a summoner might obtain more or less experience points when they eliminate beasts.


    The difficulty during that time and this time was no less different. This was because even though he had an increase in rank, his majorbatant, Spot, still had the same strength and rank during that time when Lucas was still an Unranked Summoner.


    What was a good thing, though, was the fact that it took them less time to hunt a chain of lynxespared to a pair of Ember Soldier Ants. So even though he received less, he would still be able to earn more in the long run if they continued with such a pace.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 2 (16.91/225)


    Spiritual Energy: 58/58n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Even though he felt upset about the loss of some experience points, Lucas still looked at his current profile with a satisfied face.


    "Still a long way to go," Lucasmented as he stood up from his hiding spot. "Well, the day is still long, so we better work harder. Right, Spot?"


    Woorf!


    Still chewing the Moonlit Bone, the Gentle Dog responded with a muffled bark; it''s eyes glistened as it used the Gentle Gaze toward its owner once more.


    Smiling gently to his reliable summon, Lucas ced Spot over his head as he sprinted forward, searching for another chain of lynx to hunt.


    Not longter, Lucas found another trail left behind by a chain of Shadow Lynx. Upon a closer look, it seems that the trail was still fresh too, so the Shadow Lynxes should not be far from where he currently was.


    He then searched for a spot to set up his trip traps once more.


    With his earlier experience, Lucas optimized the current setup even more. Increasing the number of trips made it seem like a chaotic spiderweb that a spider had wovenzily or in a hurry. This time, he also used all of the remaining trips to make it even more chaotic.


    Of course, he didn''t forget to consider that having too many in one ce would make them easily discoverable. To prevent this, Lucas decided to wet some soil and coat the traps with it, making them harder to spot. Although the soil made the traps a bit inflexible and rigid, they would still serve their purpose well due to the resilience of the web they were made from.


    As he set up the traps, Lucas also decided to educate Spot about them, telling him to be careful and not to trip on any of them. He provided a lot of space in the center for Spot to maneuver, though, so he should be fine. The only areas where he set up the traps were just in the shadowy area where the Shadow Lynxes would most likely blend into.


    Learning from his experience, Lucas also set up another batch of trip traps in another area. It was in this area that he nned to watch and observe the battle. In case one of the Shadow Lynx decides to attack him, he would also have his own trips to restrict them.


    Lucas then unsummoned Spot as he was already near his time limit. Not wanting to waste some precious minutes, he decided to summon himter, right at the start of the battle.


    With his preparations done, Lucas followed the Shadow Lynx trail once again.


    Five minutester, Lucas ran back as quickly as he could.


    Dozens of yards behind him, Spot could be seen fighting five Shadow Lynxes as he retreated back in the same direction as Lucas.


    "Shit, there''s actually five of them!"


    Lucas cursed as he ran wildly in front.


    The fifth Shadow Lynx was an unexpected surprise for Lucas. He did not see it during his observation earlier, as it actually camouged in one of the huge roots of the dark giant tree. He only noticed that particr Shadow Lynx right after he made the noise to gain their attention, and it was already toote for him to stop.


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    Still, even though there were five of them, everything was still within Lucas'' expectations.

 Chapter 44 Progress

    The five Shadow Lynxes were hot on Spot''s pursuit. With how huge Spot''s body was, the Shadow Lynxes might have thought of how delicious he would be as their lunch.


    Unfortunately for them, Spot does not n on bing their lunch.


    Leading them toward where the trap was, Spot stopped in ce and finally began to counterattack.


    The Shadow Lynxes were well coordinated and had good teamwork. Two went to attack Spot head on, while the others decided to blend into the shadows, nning to attack him in his blind spots.


    Usually, such tactics were fairly effective, and their prey would usually sumb to their ambushes sooner orter.


    Unfortunately, Spot was no normal prey.


    Aside from being strong himself, Spot also has something that the Shadow Lynxes did not have.


    He has a human.


    One Shadow Lynx dove into the shadows, hoping to move into Spot''s blind spot. However, the moment it did so, its foot was suddenly entangled by one of the traps that Lucas had set up. The Shadow Lynx tripped over pathetically. Spot did not waste the opportunity and immediately dove to attack it.


    Although the Shadow Lynx did not die in an instant, it was already disoriented and was unable to respond to Spot''s next attack.


    Although Spot may seem dumb and innocent during his normal form, he was actually quite a menace and clever during his Hellhound Manifestation form. Like Lucas, he was also in a state of constant learning.


    For example, his battle style was no longer as chaotic and as barbaric as before.


    Stretching out his ws, Spot shed them toward the neck of the disoriented Shadow Lynx.


    If it was before, Spot might have just opted to smash the Shadow Lynx repeatedly with his paws until it died. However, ever since Lucas taught it how to use its ws, it learned to use them and was now using them effectively. Spot now even knew which part of the enemy was quite vulnerable to his ws.


    As blood sttered like rain, Spot moved away immediately. The Shadow Lynx jumped toward him one after the other, trying to save theirpanion. However, it was already toote.


    In the end, the scene was repeated three more times, with Spot killing a total of three Shadow Lynx with the assistance of the trip traps. After the three were killed, the other two also sumbed to their deaths not longter.


    Fortunately, none of them decided to attack Lucas this time around, saving him a lot of energy as a result.


    His current experience points was now at 35.91.


    After retrieving his traps, Lucas decided to search for another chain of lynx immediately, as it has only been five minutes since he summoned Spot. Lucas was also not injured¡ªnot even bruised¡ªlike the previous battle, so there was no need for him to take a rest as well.


    The Giant Dark Forest was the primary habitat of the Shadow Lynx in this dungeon. There were numerous of them here, and one did not need to search for every nook and cranny just to see a chain of them.


    Of course, they were not the only beasts that could be seen here. It was just that they were the most numerous and active in this areapared to other beasts. Due to the trail they left behind, they were also easily spotted and hence hunted¡ªby strong squads, of course.


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    They also have a strange nature of not joining any fight that they had not started.


    ording to the observations, the Shadow Lynx would ignore fights if they encountered one. ording to the theory, this was because they disdained trying to get the prey of others and preferred searching for another prey for their own.


    Well, it just so happened that this was part of the reason why Lucas decided to hunt them.


    On average, Lucas found a chain of lynx every forty minutes.


    And as such, four hourster, his experience points had obtained a massive change.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 2 (100.51/225)


    Spiritual Energy: 58/58


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Resting above the branch of a dark giant tree, Lucas smiled in delight seeing his progress.


    "Almost halfway there."


    Aside from that, there was also another unexpected surprise that happened during theirst battle, in which Spot fought five Shadow Lynxes.


    [Beast Name: Gentle Dog


    Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 3


    Skills: Gentle Gaze, Hellhound Manifestation, Sharp w


    Gentle Gaze:...


    Hellhound Manifestation:...


    Sharp w: Harden and extend the w upon use, gaining a razor-sharp edge that can slice through some tough materials with ease.]


    After a bitter fight with thest five Shadow Lynxes, not only the Gentle Dog, Spot, gained another skill, but it also raised its level by one star rank.


    Obtaining a skill through battle was, of course, the best way for everyone to gain a new skill. However, such instances were also quite rare and did not happen too often.


    This was why most summoners would usually outrank their beasts in the long run, as beasts had trouble leveling up due to their strict conditions and requirements for them to do so. The lower the grade of the beast, the more this was the case as well. This was why higher-grade beasts were more valued, as they grew stronger and learned more skills much quickerpared to lower-grade beasts.


    As for Unranked Grade beasts like Spot, having two skills was already unheard of, not to mention three.


    However, Spot broke the norm once again by actually learning another skill while still being in Unranked Grade.


    Given how strong Spot was, Lucas wondered if he could still be considered an Unranked Grade beast. However, in his Hellhound Manifestation form, Lucas suspected that his grade might have been elevated to a higher level. After all, it was the manifestation of a Hellhound, and a Hellhound was¡­ well, an entirely different creaturepared to a Gentle Dog.


    Even Lucas himself did not expect Spot to learn a new skill at this time. He thought that the only way for his Gentle Dog to gain another skill and increase its star rank was through the help of the system, or if he miraculously evolved to a new grade.


    Nevertheless, Lucas was quite happy about this achievement. So much so that he had given Spot two Moonlit Bones as a treat instead of just the usual one.


    Looking at the description of the skill, Sharp w, Lucas'' mood went high to another level. This was a skill most suited for offense after all. Such a skill was something that Spot did not have yet, so Lucas was extremely delighted the moment he saw it.


    Although the name and the description were quite ordinary, an offensive skill was still an offensive skill after all. They have more might and offer more damagepared to normal attacks. Of course, this also means that using it requires some energy. If Spot continuously uses this skill, he would also easily get tired, so skills like this must be used sparingly and only in the right situation.


    With excitement in his voice, Lucas took a nce at Spot in his Gentle Dog form and ordered, "Come on, Spot, show me Sharp w!"


    Spot titled his head to the side, trying toprehend what Lucas was talking about.


    A momentter, Spot raised one of his front paws and then shook it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Shing!


    The next instant, his ws extended and elongated. It shone brightly, as if to announce how sharp it was.


    Seeing it, though, Lucas'' smile dropped as disappointment appeared on his face.


    "Why is it so small?"


    ____


    A/N: Thanks pachakili for the cs.

 Chapter 45 Small

    Spot''s ws had indeed elongated and looked quite sharp and hard. However, the only problem was that the effect looked small... and insubstantial?


    Lucas sighed in disappointment as he ordered Spot to retract his ws. Although the effect may seem small, it was still an offensive-type skill, and its efficacy in battle should be tested before he came to a further conclusion.


    Speaking of battle, Lucas descended down the branch and began to search for another chain of lynx to hunt.


    It just so happened that Spot had grown stronger from thest battle, so Lucas was quite eager to find out how strong he has be now. Coupled with the Sharp w skill, Lucas thought that it should not be a problem for Spot to severely wound a Shadow Lynx with one strike now.


    Now that Spot has ranked up, the Spiritual Energy used to summon him has increased as well. Since there was still time before his current summon time limit was up, Lucas did not dismiss him for now, trying to take advantage of the remaining time that the current summoning time Spot has left.


    Fifteen minutester, Lucas dismissed Spot as he crouched down to examine the trails he discovered in the ground. Although the trail of pawprints was not fresh, Lucas determined that they were made not too long ago as well. The problem, however, was that he realized that these pawprints were not left behind the Shadow Lynx.


    The Shadow Lynx paw prints were shallow and did not create too deep of indentation on the ground, while the pawprints in front of him were at least twice as deep as those of the Shadow Lynx.


    Upon recollection, Lucas determined that these were the pawprints of another beast that also dwells in the Giant Dark Forest.


    ''A Stone Paw beast?''


    Lucas was alerted the moment he recalled that name. The Stone Paw beast was, after all, a fearsome beast of the Iron Grade-Iron Star 5 rank. It always traveled around the Giant Dark Forest searching for prey. The Stone Paw, however, was a slow-moving beast, and hence, the casualties regarding it were minimal, to say the least.


    Still, Lucas did not dare to underestimate it due to its slow movements, knowing full well that those who did so had paid the price for their behavior.


    Not wanting to provoke the slow-moving beast, Lucas decided to take another route and search in another area.


    However, before he could do so, Lucas suddenly heard the sound of faint footsteps echoing in the distance. He shivered in fright, and without wasting any time, Lucas hurriedly looked around and finally decided to climb the tree closest to him.


    Climbing as far as he could, Lucas settled in a thick branch with dense leaves and hid himself in haste.


    One thing about Stone Paw beasts was that they were extremely slow and did not know how to climb trees. As long as he remained above and did not do anything to get its attention, the beast would probably just pass by this area and leave him alone.


    However, instead of the Stonepaw Beast, Lucas saw some people running at a decent speed through the forest. They were moving quickly; their footsteps, although light, still made some sound that traveled to Lucas'' ears.


    Lucas squinted his eyes and focused on the group as they drew closer. He was not familiar to any of them, but it was obvious that they were second-year students like himself but some seniors.


    The second years had only awakened their grimoires not long ago, and none of them dared to hunt in the Giant Dark Forest yet. Lucas only decided to hunt here after carefully calcting the risk and after realizing that it was manageable for him.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The seniors that hunt here were also mostly advanced in strength, and any of them could easily overpower a Shadow Lynx one on one.


    Experience more on empire


    Lucas remained hidden in the thick branches of the tree, his breath shallow and controlled. He wasn''t sure what the seniors were up to, but he didn''t n to find out.


    As the group passed below him, Lucas stayed perfectly still, watching them closely but not making a sound. One of them paused for a moment, ncing up at the tree Lucas was hiding in. Lucas''s heart skipped a beat, but the senior only gave a quick scan before moving on to the same location where the Stone Paw beast had moved.


    Although this was the first group he encountered here in Dark Giant Forest, it was actually normal to find other students hunting in the same area. Although there were times that they fought over the ''custody'' of a beast, most would also just let each other go and proceed to search for another prey.


    No one truly has the time to entertain small disputes inside a dungeon, as everyone knew that it was better to hunt another beast and gain experience points than to argue with some of your kind. There were a lot of beasts inside the dungeon anyway. And after all, everyone''s time was limited inside a dungeon, so they must make use of it to the best of their abilities.


    Once they were far enough, Lucas allowed himself to rx. Even though disputes rarely happen inside a regted dungeon, it still did not mean that disputes could not happen.


    With a sigh, Lucas adjusted his position in the tree, waiting a little longer before deciding toe down. He then turned around and strayed away from the direction of where the Stone Paw and the seniors were going.


    It seems that those seniors were out to hunt the Stone Paw beast. Although such a battle would be exciting and he would learn a lot, Lucas did not let his curiosity get over him this time as he decided to hunt for the Shadow Lynx peacefully instead.


    Not longter, Lucas finally found the trails of the Shadow Lynxes.


    Seeing the familiar trails, Lucas could not help but smile.


    ''Ahh, what a wonderful sight.''

 Chapter 46 Confirmed

    Lucas summoned Spot and ordered him to lure the Shadow Lynxes to where he set up the trip traps.


    Four of them were behind a giant dark tree, and this time, Lucas made sure that they were the only ones and did not have any hiddenpanions. This time, the Shadow Lynxes appeared to be on the move, as Lucas spent almost thirty minutes trailing behind them before the Shadow Lynxes eventually stopped to get some rest.


    After they did so, Lucas hurriedly retreated for a few yards and set up the trip traps and then ordered Spot to invite the guests over.


    Spot did as he was told, and a few secondster, he was back with four Shadow Lynx trailing behind him in a frenzy.


    Lucas, on the other hand, has already hidden himself far away as he observed the battle with caution.


    From afar, Lucas observed that Spot had indeed grown a lot strongerpared to when he was still at Iron Star 2.


    It easily lured the enemies over, not even letting any of them hit him even once.


    The moment they arrived at the center of the traps, one of the Shadow Lynx quickly stumbled over the trap, creating an opportunity for Spot to attack. Spot dove towards that Shadow Lynx and pped its head with his paw.


    The next second, its ws suddenly elongated and shone with sharp and fierce light.


    What surprised Lucas, though, was the fact that the ws this time around had actually elongated to arge margin, unlike when he used it earlier during his normal form.


    Earlier, the ws only extended by ten percent, but in his current state, they increased by an amazing more than fifty percent.


    The surprise did not end there for Lucas.


    The long, sharp w descended in a fierce light. Previously, Lucas thought that the beast hit by his ws would surely receive serious injuries, but the scene that yed in front of him was nothing that he had expected.


    Instead of getting severely wounded, the Shadow Lynx''s neck, where Spot had been aiming for, was torn and sliced in half as if it were tofu instead.


    Find your next adventure on empireN?v(el)B\\jnn


    The Shadow Beast died in an instant, and it seems that even Spot was surprised by the sharpness of his own ws.


    There was no time to examine it, whatsoever, so Spot hopped away to dodge an iing strike from a Shadow Lynx that emerged from his blind spot. Twisting his body, Spot swiped his sharpened ws toward the closest Shadow Lynx.


    An unbelievable sight urred as a deep and ghastly wound appeared on the skin of the Shadow Lynx.


    The w was extremely sharp and lethal.


    The Shadow Lynx purred in pain as it staggered before falling to the ground with a thud, dead as it could be.


    With that as a precedent, Lucas and Spot realized the lethality of the ws almost at the same time. And before Lucas could order Spot on what he must do next, the Gentle Dog had already proactively attacked another Shadow Lynx that was about to blend into the shadows.


    His ws glistened as blood sttered like rain.


    After that, everything was as easy as it could be.


    ***


    At the top of a tree branch, Lucas stared at Spot with a thoughtful look in his eyes.


    The previous battle reyed in his mind,paring the sharpness and lethality of the Sharp w skill in normal and Hellhound form.


    "Try cutting this," Lucas ordered as he presented the web that he used for the trip traps to Spot.


    Spot, in his normal Gentle Dog form, used Sharp ws and swiped toward the web obediently.


    Tringg!


    However, instead of breaking or cutting it apart, the line woven by multiple web threads remained steady and firm.


    Lucas then turned to look at his side, where a woven web line was cut into pieces. These were the webs he set up as trip traps in thest battle.


    At one instance, Spot identally shed them along with a Shadow Lynx. At that time, Lucas saw with his own eyes that the tough lines had not offered any resistance and were instantly cut into pieces by Spot''s sharpened ws.


    ''So the effect is different if used in two different forms?'' Lucas pondered in curiosity.


    This discovery was also new, even for someone like him who liked to read a lot of information in the library.


    Usually, the efficacy and might of the skill depend solely on the beast''s strength¡ªstar rank and grade.


    Take the Sharp ws for example. When used by Spot in his Gentle Dog form, the effect was not great, and it was mild at best, since a Gentle Dog was after all not an offensive beast to begin with. Although the sharpened ws were enough to cut vegetables and some ordinary materials, it would not be able to cut a beast''s skin as effortlessly.


    Meanwhile, if used by another beast with a higher grade, a higher star rank, and an offensive-type beast to boot, the effect of the Sharp ws would rise, and it would be more effective inbat.


    This was a detail that he had remembered but had overlooked when it came to Spot.


    After all, for him, Spot was still an Unranked Grade and support-type Gentle Dog.


    Now that he had confirmed that the Sharp w were strengthened when used in Hellhound Manifestation form, Lucas could basically confirm that his theory about Spot''s grade being elevated during the transformation was true.


    As for how high the elevated grade was, Lucas still had no idea. But from how Spot had managed to defeat enemies with a higher star than him, Lucas guessed that his elevated grade should be at least Silver, or maybe Gold?


    ''As expected of a skill gained from the system,'' he muttered to himself, ncing at the silent gray system screen in front of his eyes.


    The system, though, was silent as always. If not for the fact that it was there and always responding when he summoned the interface, Lucas might have thought that the system had left him for good.


    Anyway, confirming that there was an elevation of grade during the Hellhound Manifestation form, then it was logical why the Sharp ws get a different effect as well.


    What confused Lucas, though, was when Spot used Gentle Gaze in hellhound form before, why did it not show any sort of differences?


    Or could it be that the difference was always there, but he had unconsciously believed otherwise as he was also overlooking the possibility that Spot''s grade was elevated in Hellhound form at that time?


    "Well, there''s only one way to find out, right? Spot?"


    Woof?


    Lucas chuckled and jumped off the tree branch. "Let''s go search some test subjects, then."

 Chapter 47 Huge Discovery

    In a lush forest of dark giant trees over fifty yards tall, underneath the shadow of leaves and the lights that barely illuminated the ground, a massive beast over two yards tall could be seen fighting another smaller, yet nimble foe.


    Around the two were three more of the same species, each bloodied and had a long sh on their neck, killed instantly by what seemed an extremely sharp w that was able to cut everything.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    "Don''t kill thest one yet."


    Lucas shouted as he saw onest Shadow Lynx remaining to fight Spot.


    The battle did notst long; not even two minutes had passed since Spot lured them to the hasty trip traps he made.


    The newly enhanced Spot and his use of the enhanced Sharp w were proven to be too potent. The Shadow Lynxes no longer stood a chance to fight. Not even four of them besieging him at the same time was able to cause a minor wound or even make a debt on his ck and silky fur.


    The biggest flex, however, was that Spot did not even need his trip traps to vanquish the four three Shadow Lynx this time around. If Lucas had not stopped him at thest second, Spot would have shed the beast in the neck, and he would have killed it on the spot.


    Spot, with Sharp w, was simply a menace.


    Retracting the sharpened ws, Spot smashed the head of thest Shadow Lynx, disorienting it a great deal.


    Ity on the ground grimacing in pain as the other Shadow Lynx around it slowly turned into particles of light along with the blood and gores.


    Moving closer to take a better look, Lucas observed the grimacing Shadow Lynx.


    The Shadow Lynx, visibly in pain, still had the same hateful and cruel look in its eyes as it subtly nced at Spot and Lucas.


    "Use it, Spot," Lucas ordered, not bothering about the beast''s hateful look.


    Spot did not linger and immediately followed his order.


    His eyes glowed with a fierce light. He was staring directly into the hateful eyes of the Shadow Lynx. The hateful eyes of the Shadow Lynx, though, disappeared at the next moment and were reced by confusion and perhaps, nkness?


    The Shadow Lynx stared at Spot, seemingly mesmerized and blissed.


    "Hypnotized?"


    This word appeared in Lucas'' mind as he saw the condition of the Shadow Lynx that was struck by Gentle Gaze in Hellhound Manifestation form.


    Lucas recalled the description of Gentle Gaze.


    Gentle Gaze: The eyes emit a gentle and warming light, providingfort and mild warmth, ideal for soothing and calming.


    The Gentle Gaze was supposed to be a skill to calm one''s nerves and tofort with gentle and warm light.


    At least, that was how it was supposed to be.


    However, just like Sharp w, a more potent and stronger version of it was not as gentle as its name at all.


    Upon careful deliberation, Lucas indeed realized that a potent version of Gentle Gaze was indeed akin to a hypnotizing skill.


    His mother liked Spot a lot, as every time the Gentle Dog was in the embrace of his mother, the Gentle Dog Spot would always use Gentle Gaze, calming and soothing her mother''s emotion, calming her a lot.


    However, the enhanced version of it? Lucas did not want his mother to experience it even a bit.


    Lucas waited for a bit, trying to discern how long the effect enhanced Gentle Gazest.


    "A whole minute?"


    Lucas stated in delight. A whole minute of being hypnotized was too damn long during a fight.


    ''Its effect might vary depending on the beast''s strength, but even a few seconds of being hypnotized was already lethal.'' Lucas looked at the recovering Shadow Lynx thoughtfully.


    "Kill it," he ordered.


    Spot eliminated the recovering Shadow Lynx with one swipe of his sharpened w.


    This discovery was bound to help them in their next battle a great deal.


    The Gentle Gaze was not an offensive skill, so for Spot, it was unwise to use it during a battle, and hence he had not used it for a long time now. Lucas did not dwell with it before either, as he thought that it was unwise to try and use it during an intense confrontation.


    However, with the recent discovery, Lucas was bound to take advantage of it now. In his mind, he was alreadying up with some n on how Spot could fully utilize the enhanced version of Gentle Gaze during the battle.


    Even though Spot still does not consider Gentle Gaze as abat skill, as long as Lucas constantly reminded him to use it during a battle, he would sooner orter use it as naturally as an offensive skill like Sharp w during a battle as well.


    Lucas ordered Spot to return to his normal form and rest while he began to retrieve the trip traps he had set up. Fortunately, none of them were identally cut by Spot this time around, but at the same time, he also noticed some tears on the woven web threads. They would probably notst long either.


    Fortunately, with Spot''s recent performance, it should not be a problem for him to fight the Shadow Lynxes without the assistance of the trip traps. Perhaps, in the next battle, Lucas only needs to set up the trip traps in his hiding area.


    While Lucas was retrieving the trip traps, Lucas suddenly tensed as he heard somethinging from the distance.


    Spot also turned his head toward that location simultaneously. He was equally alert and was ready to assume the Hellhound form if something unsightly appeared in front of him.


    The Stone Paw had still not left Lucas'' mind, and he was still rather cautious toward it. Even though Spot had already be stronger, the Stone Paw was still a very strong beast that should not be casually underestimated by someone like him.


    A moment passed, and just like before, Lucas realized that it was not the Stone Paw once again.


    His tense nerve rxed, but he was cursing silently inside as he saw the senior students slowly approaching his location. This batch of senior students, however, was not the same that he encountered earlier.


    ''I swear to god, they always pop up right at the exact moment! Are these bastards trying to frighten me to death!?''


    This was the second time after all, and each time, he would always feel that it was the Stone Paw beast that somehow managed to find him, frightening him a great deal.


    The senior students¡ªfive of them¡ªcame closer and looked at him with interest.

 Chapter 48 Infinitely Near

    "What are you doing?"


    One of them asked, looking at Lucas with a curious gaze.


    He was wearing simple clothing and tied a red-ck bandana on his arm. The others were also wearing the same bandana, but in different parts of their body. It was probably their insignia for their squad.


    Lucas had seen a lot of them these past few days, insignias, or any sort of sign to distinguish one''s squad from the rest. It was kind of a thing in Starlight Academy.


    In his previous life, something like this was called fraternities, but here, the teachers do not forbid or even try to stop from joining one. Heck, some even encourage it.


    "Uhh, traps?" Lucas answered with a raised brow.


    "Are you alone?" The student asked once again.


    Lucas looked to his side and saw Spot. "No?"


    As if knowing what he was implying, the student''s lips twitched in annoyance.


    "Are you perhaps a second-year student?" He asked once more.


    Lucas nodded his head, not knowing what he would ask next.


    "Didn''t your teacher tell you that it''s dangerous for you to hunt in the Giant Dark Forest? And you''re alone to boot. Are you perhaps trying to get lucky with some traps?" He said with a stern tone.


    Lucas suddenly did not know how to react to the sudden scolding. The stern tone, however, carried a hint of care and concern.


    "Do you want us to escort you back to the Safe Area, or to a safer area that you could hunt?" The man offered.


    Lucas shook his head and said with a smile, "Don''t worry, senior, I can manage. I''m pretty cautious, you know."


    The man shook his head. "Up to you then."


    The man and his squad did not linger any longer, thinking the stubborn as good as dead.


    His random kindness, however, was well appreciated by Lucas.


    He had always avoided encountering people inside the dungeon. Perhaps it was because he was very cautious and would always think of the worst scenario and just wanted to avoid trouble. Or maybe his reason was as shallow as him not wanting others to learn of his strength and pitiful talent.


    Anyway, Lucas did not want to meet anyone and would just prefer searching for a chain of Shadow Lynx instead.


    There was no use in meeting anyone anyway. It''s not like he would team up with them or something.


    Waiting for a few moments, Lucas also set foot toward another direction to search for another chain of Shadow Lynx¡ªhis favorite target.


    With Spot''s increased strength, their hunting speed was boosted, and they could eliminate a chain of Shadow Lynx in less than thirty-five minutes. However, most of the time was still spent searching for the Shadow Lynxes, with some dedicated to resting and recovering energy. The actual time spent killing a chain of Shadow Lynx rarely exceeded five minutes.


    There were also minutes spent in setting up the traps, but since he only needed to set up trip traps in his hiding spot now, the time was drastically decreased as well.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    In the past three hours, Lucas and Spot managed to eliminate four more chains of Shadow Lynxes¡ªwith each chain consisting of four Shadow Lynxes. The battle went smoothly, and there was no particr danger that Lucas had encountered.


    There were, however, some more senior students that he had met during this time as well¡ªthree squads, to be precise.


    One of them saw and greeted Lucas, while the other two, Lucas discovered beforehand and hence was able to sessfully hide from them.


    It must be noted that he was actually familiar with one of the two squads that he was able to avoid. They were the same squad that was chasing the Cliff Borne Ram a few days ago. Dorian and Asher were among them as well.


    Just like the other squads he had met prior, the squad of Dorian and Asher also seemed to be searching or chasing for something in the Giant Dark Forest. If Lucas had to guess, then it must be that Stone Paw beast that they were after.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 2 (191.71/225)


    Spiritual Energy: 48/58


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    His experience point had significantly increased after the past three hours. He was now infinitely closer to the next level, and he was pretty excited about it too. In the group chat, only Hector himself, as a Gold Grade Grimoire user, had managed to increase his rank to Iron Star 3.


    Perhaps Hector was already an Iron Star 4 summoner now, but Lucas still did not undermine his achievement because of it. In fact, reaching Iron Star 2 in the span of a few days of hunting was already unbelievable enough for one with a Bronze Grade grimoire; how much more for someone like him who only has an Unranked Grade?


    His experience was nothing short of exciting as well. Every move was fraught with dangers, but he somehow managed due to Spot, or more precisely, due to the Hellhound Manifestation from being too overpowered.


    Without it, Lucas would have probably taken an extremely long time just to reach Iron Star 1.


    Anyway, the sun was setting inside the regted dungeon¡ªor at least, the light that illuminated this world was.


    Usually, Lucas would have rushed to go back to the Safe Area and exit the dungeon by now.


    However, he had never nned to exit early this time around.


    For him, each dungeon dive cost a lot of money and resources, so it would be a waste if he only used half of the time he was paying for. He intended to make use of every bit of it until thest minute¡ªor at least, thest hour.


    For this, he had already informed his parents beforehand so that they would not worry too much.


    His food has been prepared as well. His mother especially prepared his lunch; as for his dinner, he thought that some crackers would suffice.


    Although he did not want to go back to the Safe Area yet, Lucas also had no ns to stay in the Giant Dark Forest, as it was very dangerous staying here during the night.


    Most creatures in the Giant Dark Forest had adapted well to the dark surroundings. The night was especially their domain, and most turned active during such times as well, making the forest even more dangerous to stay in.


    Thest thing he wanted was to get besieged by the sudden activities of beasts in Giant Dark Forest.


    Instead of staying here, Lucas set his eyes to another location where he could still hunt safely even during the night.


    At this point, though, Lucas was still unaware that a few silhouettes were actually following behind him.

 Chapter 49 Ambush

    Lucas suddenly stopped in his tracks as he observed the unusually quiet surroundings. The Giant Dark Forest had always been this silent, but he just suddenly felt that something was wrong with the current one.


    He had been running at a moderate pace, trying to get out of Giant Dark Forest before dusk ended, which was still at least half an hour away.


    Bits of sweat trickled down his neck and his back. As one who liked to work out and train, the dripping sweat has always been the source of his encouragement, knowing that each sweat was the reward of his hard work.


    However, this time around, the sweat trickling down his spine felt unusually cold.


    His heart palpitated as he felt unusually nervous.


    A frown appeared on his face, turning into a scowl, but his hands did not stop as he summoned the Unranked Grade Grimoire, and then Spot¡ªwhom he unsummoned earlier¡ªwith one hand, while the other slowly reached to the Armadon Tonfa stored inside his backpack.


    As the summoning light illuminated the surroundings, a gust of wind suddenly assaulted Lucas back. The cold sweat became even more chilly as Lucas lunged forward in great horror, nning to avoid the thing that had assaulted his back.


    However, it was already toote.


    Whatever it was that assaulted his back, it had sessfully struck him.


    His back suddenly felt light as the Armadon Tonfa that he had yet to retrieve was smashed by something hard. The force sent Lucas stumbling forward, his face almost hitting the ground if he had not rolled forward as ast effort.


    The fall was greatly diminished as a result. Lucas rolled to his feet and hurriedly turned back to see what had assaulted him.


    It was then that he saw that Spot had already transformed into the Hellhound form, its eyes showing a great deal of ferocity and rage as it lunged toward that creature with his sharpened ws.


    ''A Shadow Lynx?'' Read exclusive content at empire


    Determining the creature, however, did not delight Lucas even one bit. To the contrary, it even made him feel more dread.


    ''Not good!''


    As soon as he thought so, another gust of wind appeared on his side,ing from one of the shadows.


    Lucas hurriedly met it with his Armadon Tonfa; the force from the strike reverberated through his arms. His block, however, was a littlete. Still, it managed to serve its purpose, preventing the ambusher from severing his arms, or worse, his entire rib cage.


    The bruises from before ached as his body was thrown a yard away from the impact. Grimacing pain, Lucas punched forward and struck the head of the Shadow Lynx with full force. The head of the Armadon Tonfa hit and connected, but it only made a dull sound. Apparently, the skull of the Shadow Lynx was quite strong.


    Killing it, however, was not Lucas'' purpose, as he knew that he would not be able to do so with his own hands. In fact, being able to hit and defend such creatures was already worthy enough of achievement. And achieving more was simply impossible for the current him.


    Hitting the head of the Shadow Lynx made it a little bit disoriented, to say the least.


    Using that opportunity, Lucas leapt away from it once more, not wanting to engage in frontalbat with the beast.


    Now, all he needed to do was bid time and wait for Spot. And aside from that, there were still two more Shadow Lynx hidden and blended in the shadows, biding their time, and waiting for the opportunity to strike.


    The thought of them suddenly attacking him in his most vulnerable moment filled him with dread.


    It was all well and good when it was him that was hunting them down, but now that the situation had reversed...


    ''F*cking unpleasant!''


    His thoughts were interrupted when another shadow lunged toward him. The dark visage of the Shadow Lynx did not allow him to be careless.


    It was just fortunate that he had neverzed in his training before. Although he could not really contend with the beasts, he could at least respond to their movements, albeit a bitte; still, it was enough for him to avoid death, probably.


    Fortunately, Spot had already finished dealing with the first one. He turned around and made his way to the second.


    Meanwhile, Lucas stared at the nearest Shadow Lynx that was on the move to attack him. However, at that moment, Lucas used Gentle Gaze and made it hesitate for a bit. His Gentle Gaze, after all, was not as potent as Spot.


    Speaking of Gentle Gaze, Lucas hurriedly ordered Spot to use one as well for the current Shadow Lynx that he was dealing with. Spot followed his order, and the Shadow Lynx was struck and immediately fell into the hypnotic gaze. It froze in ce, allowing Spot to deliver a devastating strike toward its neck before turning around to face the third.


    Lucas, on the other hand, immediately leapt away from the Shadow Lynx he had used the Gentle Gaze with. The momentarypse provided by the skill allowed him to avoid its strikepletely.


    At the next moment, though, another shadow leapt from the darkness. This time, it was on point to where Lucas had leapt away.


    And not only one, and not two; there were actually three of them.


    ''F*ck!''


    Lucas cursed inwardly.


    A chain consisting of five Shadow Lynx was already rare enough. And now there were six of them. They had even targeted him out of all the students that came to hunt in Giant Dark Forest.


    What tough luck!


    The pressing matter was still at hand.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Perhaps realizing that he was the easier prey, the three Shadow Lynx targeted and lunged toward him almost at the same time. Each of them was extremely swift; two extended their paws, while the remaining one came from below, trying to bite a chunk of his thigh.


    Everything happened so quickly that Lucas was unable to react in time.

 Chapter 50 Craze

    Seeing three Shadow Lynx lunge toward him, Lucas immediately felt his life hanging by a thread.


    Gritting his teeth, he twisted his body and smashed the head of the Shadow Lynx below him with the head of the Armadon Tonfa. The jaw of the Shadow Lynx was only an inch away from his thigh at this point.


    Discover exclusive content at empire


    At the same time, his left hand did its wonders as well. Rotating his hold of the tonfa, he extended its reach and blocked the paw targeting his neck.


    Although he was a littlete in his two moves, he still managed to do what he wanted to do.


    The jaw missed his thigh by an inch, while the paw was stopped by the extended tonfa. Its force was enough to send him flying backward.


    As for thest one, Lucas only felt his back burning with pain. At the same time, he felt that his back somehow had be drenched by a liquid.


    His precious backpack, however, did not escape the beast''s ws. The contents¡ªor whatever remained inside¡ªspilled and were scattered to the ground.


    There was no time to check what happened to his back. The three beasts were already on their way to send him to hell.


    Lucas rolled backward. His back ached once more as it got pressed to the ground by his own weight. He endured and continued to roll. He wanted to avoid the terrifying beasts more than some more pain in his back. His life was more important than some mealy pain.


    Lucas did not allow himself to get distracted. His eyes were focused and staring at the three beasts intently, not wanting to let them out of his sight lest they blend to the shadows and escape to his blind spot once more.


    The moment hended, another paw descended toward his face. With a scowl, Lucas tried to get away once more. However, at this time, another paw was also trying to sh him from another direction.


    Curse it!


    He hurriedly ducked his head extremely low to the ground. The paw grazed past the back of his head. Lucas felt the back of his head burn due to the friction. As a result of this, though, Lucas hadpletely avoided the other attack.


    As he dove, Lucas took a nce toward Spot. To his delight, the beast was already done with his prey and had now turned toward his direction with rageful eyes.


    A bestial roar escaped from his mouth as he lunged toward the three Shadow Lynx besieging Lucas.


    Lucas on the other hand saw an opportunity to slip away.


    As Spot lunged toward him, he also lunged toward Spot.


    However, his purpose was different from his dog.


    Using the Armadon Tonfa as a support, he rolled forward once more as his hands moved and took a hold of the jumbled web lines that fell from his bag.


    Without even finding the end of each line, Lucas wrapped it around his fist in a hurry as he turned around to meet a Shadow Lynx that had unexpectedly chosen to chase after him. The remaining two had fortunately stayed to confront Spot.


    His eyes seething with rage, Lucas looked at the Shadow Lynx with visible hatred in his eyes.


    This particr Shadow Lynx was, after all, the one that sneaked behind his back and struck him sessfully twice at that.


    Now that he only had to deal with one of them, Lucas thought that he should be able to manage until Spot was done eliminating the other two.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ng! ng!


    Hitting the body of the tonfa against each other, the tonfa produced the sound of echoing metal.


    ''Come on!''


    As if provoked, the Shadow Lynx purred and dove toward him with great speed.


    The speed was truly terrifying for any normal human. Fortunately, Lucas had trained himself well and was somewhat well-versed inbat. During their first year and the first semester of the second year, he had also fought the beast of the teachers¡ªthe lower-ranking ones, of course.


    Although he did not win against any of the beasts he had fought before, he at least gained some experiences that he had proven to be quite useful, even until this moment.


    Just like now, even though he could not see the Shadow Lynx clearly due to its terrible speed, Lucas still hurriedly raised his Armadon Tonfa to cover his face and chest.


    His decision and prediction were on point.


    The Shadow Lynx attacked in a very straightforward manner. For a well-trained and well-sparred fighter like Lucas, predicting such movements was already basic. This was the reason why he was able to dodge or block most of the attacks earlier. The only problem was his reflexes, not being able to respond as quickly as he was predicting.


    The massive force that came from the Shadow Lynx paw made Lucas'' body retreat a yard back.


    The Shadow Lynx dropped to the ground and prepared to lunge toward him once again.


    This time though, Lucas did not allow it to happen.


    He kicked the ground forcefully and lunged toward the beast instead.


    His speed may not be as fast as the Shadow Lynx, but at such a close distance, and with an element of surprise, he arrived in front of the beast in an instant.


    Coming from below, Lucas made an upper cut and struck the beast''s jaw sessfully with the Armadon Tonfa''s head. The Shadow Lynx grimaced and purred in pain. Before it could react, though, Lucas had already struck it another time from a different angle.


    Knowing that he could not really kill it and that his time was limited, Lucas went for another blow before he circled around and grasped its neck with his arm.


    With swift motion, he wrapped the tangled web line around its mouth as he grappled its neck with his other hand. After he was done, Lucas hoped toward its back and wrapped his legs on its torso. He then locked his two arms together, tightening the rear-naked choke along with the tangled web lines.


    The Shadow Lynx chaotically jumped around, trying to shake him off its back.


    His muscles tightened and bulged out. Veins started popping out as he tried his best not to fall from the beast''s back.


    His hold became even tighter as seconds passed. Now, he did not want to let go, not until one of them passed out.


    His sleeper build could no longer sleep. His clothes were torn apart, revealing the bulging muscles from within.


    His hands and arms that were holding the web lines in ce had already started to bleed.


    Lucas did not care, though.


    This Shadow Lynx had already made him bleed earlier; what was another drop in exchange for its death?


    At this point, Lucas was no longer thinking straight. His mind was only filled with malice and no longer cared about his own well-being. His only goal was to kill the damned beast, for better or for worse.


    "DIEE!"


    And finally, after a few moments, Lucas felt the body of the beast staggering, and then it fell limply to the ground along with him.


    Hah-Hahaha!


    A crazed chuckle escaped from his exhausted mouth. His breathing was erratic and ragged.


    However, the most important thing was that he managed to choke the hell out of an Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 beast with his own arm and strength.


    However, at the next moment, his reverie was reced by fear as he recalled that there were still two more.

 Chapter 51 Leaving The Dark Giant Forest

    Lucas pushed the Shadow Lynx aside as he stood up and surveyed the area.


    At that moment, he saw Spot already making his way toward him.


    Heaving a sigh, Lucas sat on the ground once again. Exhaustion filled his eyes as he saw Spot finishing the passed-out Shadow Lynx with his sharpened ws.


    Laying there, however, was not the best course of action for Lucas. He was wounded, and still inside the Giant Dark Forest.


    Unfortunately, with how exhausted he was, Lucas could not even walk straight, much less walk a few kilometers.


    In the end, Lucas ordered Spot to carry him behind his back. Spot, in his Hellhound Manifestation form, was quite massive. He could easily lift Lucas and let him ride on his back if he wanted to.


    Lucas had entertained the idea of riding Spot before. However, as each transformation onlysted fifteen minutes, and every time he reverts to normal, he gets weakened. Lucas dismissed this idea and just decided to let him transform once a battle was about to start.


    This time, however, can be counted as an exception.


    Due to what happened, Lucas no longer nned on hunting more beasts and just called it a day. He was wounded and was sore all over his body.


    Since they don''t need to hunt more, then it was alright to ride Spot until the transformation runs out.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Lucas picked up what remained of his bag as well as the usable supplies shattered in the ground. He was especially worried about his phone, as it was a valuable gift that came from his parents'' efforts.


    Fortunately, phones these days were built from strong materials and were not easily broken. There was not even a scratch on its ss, to his relief.


    After salvaging everything and storing them inside the broken bag, Lucas hopped on top of Spot and ordered him to leave the area immediately.


    Spot galloped out of the Giant Dark Forest as fast he could.


    Lucas held on tightly, lest he fall and get injured even more from falling at such great speed.


    A few minutester, out of the Giant Dark Forest, Lucas finally heaved a sigh and rxed his tense nerve a little.


    After finding a suitable spot, he ordered Spot to stop so that he could take a proper rest.


    His injuries were still untended, and he must do it soon to avoid infection.


    First aid was taught in school, and Lucas had always brought a first aid kit inside his bag. The first kid had not been damaged either, so he applied immediately all over his wounds.


    He grimaced in pain as he tended to his injuries. There was a ghastly wound on his back. Although it wasn''t deep, thanks to his backpack taking the brunt of the Shadow Lynx sharp w, it was still thergest wound he had received to date, three of them to boot.


    Other than there, there were also bruises and scratches all over his body. Rolling in the ground might be cool in animes or movies, but it was truly not the same doing it in real life. Especially in jungle areas where there was a lot of debris lying in the ground.


    When Lucas finished tending to his wounds, Spot''s summoning limit had already ended. However, since he was afraid that some nasty beast would ambush him again, he decided to let him stay even if it wasted some of his Spiritual Energy.


    Failure was indeed the best teacher.


    His experience earlier, however, made him realize firsthand why summoners do not want to fight a beast head-on. They were just pathetically strong and dangerous. He also understood why second-year students were advised not to wander in dangerous areas like White Stone Cliff and Giant Dark Forest.


    However, it was only due to him braving such an area that he was able to level up faster at almost the same speed as Hector, who has a Gold Grade Grimoire.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 2 (214.21/225)


    Spiritual Energy: 33/58


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    The reward was worth the danger, to say the least.


    ''Sigh! I just need to be even more careful next time, I guess!'' He groaned in pain as he saw the experience point count in his profile page.


    Only a little more, and he will be an Iron Star 3 summoner.


    To be honest, even he himself did not expect his speed to be this swift. He had already nned to dive in the dungeon two days straight and rush to Iron Star 2 before Day 2 ends. However, not even before Day 1 could pass, and he was already nearing his goal.


    All of this was only possible due to their hunting speed being unusually high. ying a single beast in an hour was already impressive enough for a squad, but Lucas and Spot could kill a group of them in a single hour without a squad to boot.


    As he felt the burning sensation of the medicine seeping through his wounds beneath the bandage he wrapped around his waist, Lucas tried his best to concentrate and enter a meditation to recover some Spiritual Energy. Entering a meditation and recovering Spiritual Energy was still considered resting. His exhaustion would probably pass after he was done with the Spiritual Energy recovery as well.


    Spot remained by his side in his normal form. Although he was also resting, he was also quite alert and ready to battle. Perhaps the dog was also afraid of repeating the scenes that happened earlier.


    Recalling its enraged roar earlier, Lucas patted the dog''s head as he closed his eyes to meditate.


    Fifteen minutester, Lucas had recovered fifteen Spiritual Energy. He opened his eyes and surveyed his surroundings, trying to figure out where he was currently in the dungeon.


    Dusk had ended a few minutes ago, and his surroundings were now shrouded in darkness.


    However, the dungeon had been fully mapped a few years ago. Each area had distinct characteristics and markings that allowed anyone to determine their location¡ªprovided they hadn''t neglected the school''s dungeon course.


    After a while, Lucas indeed determined his current location and which direction he should go next.


    Even though he was already wounded, he was still unwilling to exit the dungeon for now, thinking that it was a waste of the entrance fee to leave early.

 Chapter 52 Mace Rat

    In a in where giant, dark trees could be seen in the distance. Vaguely illuminated by natural lighting from above, the expanse showed withered grass as tall as an adult person''s waist.


    Waist wrapped in bandages, his torn shirt, worn akin to a zer, fluttered in the wind.


    Lucas stared ahead, his face pale, and there was a hint of exhaustion in his eyes.


    Despite that, he was fully focused andmitted to the scene ahead.


    Spot, in his Hellhound Manifestation form, was fighting a beast akin to a field rat.


    The field rat, however, was at least thrice the size of Spot in his Gentle Dog form. Its eyes were extremely red. Its gray fur added to the sense of dread it brought to the already decaying field of grass around it. The tail of the rat was also a curious sight, with the end tip carrying what seemed like a ball or a mace of some sort.


    An Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 Mace Rat was a solitary beast found in this decaying field of grass situated parallel to the Giant Dark Forest. It was closer to the Safe Area, and hence, the beasts that roamed the field were mostly between Iron Star 1 and Iron Star 3 beasts like the Mace Rat¡ªthe reason why he chose this ce as the finishing touch for his Day 1 journey.


    Compared to the Shadow Lynx that was of the same grade and star rank, the Mace Rat was an easier prey, to say the least. It does not go around in groups and was easy to locate and spot in the field of decaying grass. Its mace skill was also not hard to avoid as long as one was not careless.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    The Mace Rat should also be the next possible target of his ssmates once they are done ying in the other areas.


    The downside of the Mace Rat was that their numbers were limited, and while they were easy to spot once located, they could be quite difficult to find in the first ce.


    The Mace Rat that Spot was fighting was already the second they had found after more than two hours.


    Although their efficiency had decreased, his overall safety had more or less increased as a result as well.


    Here in the decaying field, Lucas does not have to worry about ambushing predators like Shadow Lynx and could put all of his focus on hunting the Mace Rat.


    Anyway, Lucas was having a great time¡ªexcept for his aching wound, at least.


    After a few moments, Spot finished off the Mace Rat with one forceful sh of his sharpened w.


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 3, Mace Rat (100%): You gained 3.8 XP]


    Spot returned to his side as Lucas took a look at this profile page.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 2 (222.1/225)


    Spiritual Energy: 49/58


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Lucas nodded his head in satisfaction upon seeing his progress. Just one more kill, and he would finally advance to Iron Star 3.


    As Lucas meditated between each hunt and even when Spot was still summoned, his Spiritual Energy had mostly recovered to full.


    Now that he had hunted the Mace Rat in this location, though, it was now time to move to a different spot and search for another.


    Thirty minutester, Lucas turned off the shlight he was holding and took a stop to meditate. The Mace Rat was still nowhere in sight, but Lucas was not anxious and instead took advantage of it to meditate and recover another batch of Spiritual Energy.


    Before closing his eyes, he summoned Spot once again and told him to patrol the area and guard him from any possible threat. The Gentle Dog nodded obediently as it chewed the Moonlit Bone that was given to him by Lucas. This was also thest Moonlit Bone that he had.


    Lucas had already mastered his meditation method. It was the most basic of the basics, and it has been taught to them since they were young.


    Entering a meditation through it was fairly easy and only needed a little concentration. Nowadays, he hardly had any instance where he could not enter a meditative state in under two minutes.


    Just fifteen minutester, Lucas recovered fifteen Spiritual Energy in total. He actually nned to meditate more and refill all of his missing Spiritual Energy; however, Spot had barked at him and woke him up from his meditative state.


    "What is it?" He asked.


    Woof!


    Spot barked and wagged his tail toward him.


    A confused expression appeared on Lucas'' face as he stood up from his sitting position.


    Spot barked at him once again before hopping sideways. He then turned around and ran, and then looked at Lucas again.


    Lucas was left confused but somehow understood that Spot wanted him to follow him.


    Turning his shlight on, Lucas followed behind Spot and realized that he was indeed trying to lead him somewhere.


    After a while, Spot finally stopped in front of decayed grass.


    The decaying grass looked normal at first, but upon closer look, Lucas realized that there was more to it than meets the eye. Their stalks were actually tied together into groups. The way they were tied created the illusion that everything was normal, but Lucas could tell that there was a huge space underneath them, hidden from sight.


    Spot nose twitched as he kept on sniffing the sheaf of decaying grass, or whatever was hidden beneath it.


    Lucas frowned, thinking that something was indeed wrong with this particr decaying grass.


    "Spot, Hellhound Manifestation." Although he did not know what it was, it was better to be prepared in case something dire happened.


    Spot barked and immediately transformed into his hellhound form, almost in an instant.


    As cautious as he was, Lucas did not immediately try to check what was hidden underneath the clustered decaying grasses. Instead, with Spot on the lead, they surveyed the clustered grass to determine how huge it was.


    A whileter, he determined that it was not that big and was around eight yards in diameter at most. As he observed further, Lucas saw that one spot seemed to be out of ce.


    "An entrance?"

 Chapter 53 Iron Star 3

    Lucas circled the cluster of decaying grass once more, carefully scanning the area, and confirmed that this was the only spot that seemed out of ce.


    ''Is this a beast nest?'' Lucas thought.


    However, after thinking about it, he realized that it should not be the case.


    In the school database, he had never seen a beast with a nest or habitat like this.


    One must note that once a dungeon was conquered, everything inside of it would essentially be at a standstill. No further advancements would be given to the creatures, and their sole purpose would only be to bring experience points to the hunters.


    Procreation would no longer even be a thing. The eggs would remain eggs and the younglings would remain younglings. Adult beasts will assume a rank, and all of the same species will have the same rank. If they die, another beast of the same rank and species would just respawn somewhere else inside the dungeon.


    With that, there should no longer be any beast that was left undocumented by the early hunters that remained hidden until now. Gathering data has always been a strong suit of humans, after all, so Lucas was quite confident in that regard.


    In a ce where evolution and growth were capped, there was no reason for a new and unheard nest to be present at all.


    ''A man-made one?''


    This was what Lucas thought after crossing his previous idea.


    ''That should be it,'' Lucas was more or less sure about this now.


    He crouched down and observed the tied stalks. There was no way that a beast could do such a sophisticated andplicated task¡ªat least, not the beasts of the school-regted dungeon.


    Confirming that it was indeed man-made, Lucas pondered what its purpose was.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ''A trap, perhaps?''


    He nodded his head, as that was indeed a possibility. Lucas was suddenly curious about how it worked. If proven to be effective, he would one day try such traps too.


    Crouching down, Lucas pointed his shlight and tried to discern what was underneath it through the gaps. Unfortunately, he could not discern anything. The decaying grass stalks were just pretty dense underneath, not allowing the lights of his shlight toe through easily.


    In the end, Lucas decided to give up.


    Spot seemed to be disheartened that they were unable to discover the mystery of the trap, though. But there was nothing that he could do about it. It''s not that he could spoil the trap of someone just because of his curiosity, right?


    Seeing the Spot appearing downhearted and looking at him with Gentle Gaze, Lucas could only roll his eyes before saying, "Alright. Don''t sulk too much. I''ll search about such traps after exiting the dungeon. Let''s recreate it once I''m done with my research."


    One thing about the inte was that knowledge was everywhere, and most were also free. As long as one knows how and what to search, they will basically be spoon-fed with information that most people do not even have ess to before.


    Of course, one must also be careful. There are a lot of trolls on the inte, after all. Who knows if the information you''ve clicked on was true?


    Anyway, Lucas ordered Spot to revert to his normal form as they moved forward to search for thest beast that would propel him to Iron Star 3.


    This time, luck was on his side.


    Ten minutes into searching, Lucas heard the rustle of the decaying leaves in the distance.


    The rustling was rapid and uniform.


    Pointing his shlight forward, Lucas saw the decaying leaves sway and ripple like waves. The rapid movement of the decaying grass traced the path the beast has taken.


    Such movements were a clear indication of a Mace Rat passing through.


    "Spot, go!"


    Lucas ordered in a hurry.


    Spot was quick and ran toward the rapid ripple of the decaying grass. His body transformed into his hellhound form as he ran and chased the Mace Rat''s path.


    The Mace Rat was not particrly strong. With Spot''s strength, he could easily overpower and kill the creature. Its only advantage was its quick running speed. Still, Spot managed to catch up a few momentster and ended the beast''s life with one swift strike.


    Lucas smiled in anticipation as he stared at his Unranked Grade Grimoire.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 3 (0.91/338)


    Spiritual Energy: 58/62


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    His experience points werepletely filled and reached their limit. It glowed for a brief moment before the details of his profile page changed for the better.


    The Iron Star 2 became Iron Star 3, his experience points became 0.91/338, his Spiritual Energy also changed and was increased by 4.


    At the same time, Lucas also felt a cool sensation washing over his body.


    This was the feedback or the reward that the grimoire had granted to him upon ranking up. Read new adventures at empire


    Every time a summoner levels up, they would receive feedback from the grimoire and improve their personal strength through it. The feedback received depends on the grade of the grimoire, and the more advanced the grade was, the more feedback one would be able to receive for each rank up.


    This was the third time that Lucas had experienced this cool sensation washing over his body. First when he became Iron Star 1, second when he became Iron Star 2, and now, the third that he had ranked up to Iron Star 3.


    However, since he only had an Unranked Grade grimoire, the feedback he received was more or less negligible.


    Still, for Lucas, this was better than nothing.


    His physique grew stronger as well as the overall performance of his body.


    Lucas even realized that his bruises and scratches were now gone and his skin was restored to normal. The only notable injury that was left was the shed on his back. Still, Lucas could vaguely feel that the wound was starting to close and healing with swift speed as well.


    Lucas let out a breath of satisfaction. At least he won''t have to exin to his mother about the bruises anymore. As for the wound in his back, he could more or less hide it from their sight so as to not make them worry.


    He clenched his fist and felt the power from his grip. He swung the Armadon Tonfa to the decaying grass beside him. The decaying leaves were obliterated in an instant. The debrisnded a few yards away, a testament to how strong the strike was.


    Although the feedback was negligible, this was the third time that his strength and physique were enhanced by the grimoire''s feedback after all.


    Even small efforts add up over time, like drops of water that eventually fill the bucket.


    With such strength, Lucas reckoned that he would now be able to fare better if he were to fight a Shadow Lynx one on one again. As for winning over the beast, Lucas did not want to overestimate himself that much.


    ''Humility. Humility.''


    It was just a pity that he had failed to receive a grimoire page once more.


    ''Better luck next time, I guess.''


    Now that he was done with his goal, Lucas thought that it was finally time to exit the dungeon and rest in his soft, makeshift bed.

 Chapter 54 Return

    The night was deep and silent when Lucas arrived at the Safe Area.


    Compared to the bustling activity from earlier, the ce now felt almost abandoned. The usual crowd of summoners and students was nowhere to be seen.


    Lucas thought that it must be because it was already near midnight, and most had either returned home or ventured deeper into the dungeon to hunt for beasts. The former were mostly the second-year students, while thetter usually contained the seniors.


    He made his way to the dungeon exit, stepping into the cool night air as he emerged into the real world. Lucas stabilized himself a little bit before he scanned his surroundings. Compared to earlier, the entrance of the dungeon was no longer as bustling as well.


    Looking around, he realized that it was only the two guards as well as a receptionist sitting on her desk. The three of them were unfamiliar to him; they were probably the night shift workers.


    The three of them turned their heads toward him simultaneously. Their stares only lingered for a bit before they resumed with their previous impassive countenance. The receptionist, though, smiled at him and beckoned for him toe over. Enjoy more content from empire


    Not knowing what she wanted, Lucas walked to her desk and asked, "Yes?"


    "It''s a cold night, isn''t it? Here, take this extra shirt that I prepared for situations like this," she said as she handed him a folded white shirt.


    Lucas stared at her and the brand new shirt that she was holding. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, "It''s free, right?"


    His Starlight Coins were limited, and he had reserved them for another dungeon entrance fee, so he could really not afford to buy a shirt right now. He still had a number of them in home anyway.


    The receptionist smiled and shook her head.


    "Don''t worry about it; it''s just a mundane shirt; no need to feel burdened about it."


    Lucas abandoned pretense and took the white shirt from her hand. He took off the torn shirt he was wearing and reced it with the new one.


    If it was free, then there was no reason to refuse.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    "Thank you, ma''am," Lucas said respectfully as he stored the torn shirt inside his torn bag.


    The receptionist nodded at her and went back to what she was doing before. It was only then at this moment that Lucas realized that wrapped around her hand was actually her summoned creature. The beast was glowing with faint pinkish light that illuminated her hand with the same faint glow.


    Although he could not make out what kind of beast it was, he could vaguely tell that it was some sort of vine-like creature.


    The receptionist no longer paid attention to Lucas, so he eventually left as well.


    The streets were quiet; the stillness of the night spoke volume to the growing peace humanity earned through bitter battles and defeats.


    When Lucas arrived home, he found the house dark and silent. Since he informed his parents about his ns in advance, they had gone to sleep without waiting for him. Not wanting to disturb them, he carefully slipped inside, moving as quietly as possible.


    However, even that was thwarted as soon as he saw a lone figure lying on the dpidated couch situated in the small area of the house''s living room.


    "She''s very stubborn, isn''t she?"


    A deep voice resounded, startling Lucas. He turned to look and realized that it was his father, who was sitting in the reclining chair right beside the couch.


    Without giving him a chance to respond, his father continued, "She was determined to wait for you, but her exhaustion got the better of her, and she eventually fell asleep."


    Lucas nodded his head quietly. He wanted to say that there was no need for it, really, but that would seem like he was invalidating the determination of his mother¡ªthat was far from his intention.


    "Wait for me for a bit," his father stated as he stood up and picked his mother up from the couch in a gentle princess carry. He carried and transferred her to their own room, returning a momentter with a medical kit in his hands.


    "You''re injured."


    His father said, clicking the light switch to illuminate the little space they have in the living room. His words carried no inquisitive tone. It was just a in statement, as if he was just rumbling out and was not particrly expecting an answer.


    Lucas was a bit startled upon hearing those words. He was sure that the only injury or wound he had left was on his back, and that was now obscured by the brand new shirt given to him by the receptionist.


    Was it the bandage underneath that had given it away?


    As if hearing his thoughts, his father sat on the couch and beckoned for him toe over before he spoke, "It''s my skill. I can smell the bloody wound in your back."


    ''Oh, right. I forgot about that.''


    His father''s skill was an auxiliary type. His Strong Ape, being very timid, awakened and learned a new skill that allowed it to smell blood so that it could avoid seeing blood. It just so happened that this was the skill that his father had inherited when he broke through to Iron Star 1.


    Their luck in that regard was more or less the same.


    Lucas walked over and sat in front of him with his back facing his father. He took off his shirt, unwrapped the bandage and revealed his wounds toward him.


    Thanks to his recent rank-up, the wound had already begun to close and heal. However, his father still winced the moment he saw his wound up close.


    The Shadow Lynx had really left its mark on him.


    His father released a deep sigh and started to tend to his wounds. "What kind of beast did this? I know you well. Even if you could not defeat one, you were already strong enough to evade an Iron Star 1 beast with ease even before you awakened."


    Lucas winced in pain as the cotton drenched with antiseptic touched his wounds. "From a Shadow Lynx," he answered truthfully.


    "A Shadow Lynx? Isn''t that an Iron Star 3 beast? What''s your business fighting such a strong beast? You''re lucky that you''re still alive, boy!" His father sounded stern and a little angry.


    "It''s alright. I was just careless." As he said so, he summoned his grimoire and showed it to his father.


    Three shimmering stars with the color of iron glowed resplendently at the center of his unranked grimoire. The shimmering stars and the dull, dpidated grimoire created contrast that one would not be able to ignore at first nce.


    His father''s eyes widened in shock and bewilderment.


    "Ouch! You''re pressing it too hard!" Lucas grimaced as he tried to move his wounded back away from his father''s clutch.


    His father remained frozen, still staring at the three shimmering stars at the center of his grimoire''s cover. His words were stuck in his mouth. It was only a momentter that he finally came to his senses.


    "I see. I got it. No wonder you are still confident of seeding before. I thought it was just false hope and confidence. I did not expect that you truly were confident."

 Chapter 55 Safe, Cage

    The small living room went quiet after that.


    Lumber did not ask any more questions, as if seeing the number of stars in his grimoire was more than enough to answer all of it. He carefully tended to his son''s wounds, careful as possible to not add pain to the already grim wound.


    The areas Lucas had failed to reach before were carefully cleaned by his father.


    Tending to wounds was a basic skill that almost every human on the should possess and hence was taught everywhere for free. No one knows when a dungeon or a beast would descend, so it was important to know how to survive on your own while waiting for the arrival of rescuers¡ªif there were any.


    His father suddenly spoke.


    "The world of a genius... I don''t know what it''s like. What I do know, though, is that it''s always apanied by danger and countless trials."


    At this point, Lumbert realized that his son was indeed a genius. He did not know how he did it, but even with an Unranked Grade Grimoire, he still managed to advance to Iron Star 3 in less than two weeks. If that was not a genius, then he did not know what was.


    He also realized that from now on, their worldview would be vastly different. What might seem like an impossible trial for him would just be a mere breeze for his son.


    The rise of a genius... Would amoner like him even be able toprehend it?


    "Luke... What I and your mother want the most is your safety. Do you understand?" He said.


    His father would often joke in an underhanded manner and would always try to make the situation light through it. However, this time, Lucas could tell that his father''s tone was unusually serious and somber.


    His safety.


    His mother and father had always stated that it was all they wanted from him.


    Lucas nodded somberly in return. Even he himself regarded his safety as the utmost priority. Although he might have made a mistake and was careless earlier, there was no way that he would make the same mistake twice when his life would be at stake for such foolishness.


    The father and son went on with a lengthy conversation. His father mostly recounted his younger years as well as his experience. Although not much, it was still full of wonderful experiences, both dangerous and blissful.


    "It''s gettingte. I still have work tomorrow. Don''t let your mother see your wounds, lest she get worried, alright?" He stood up and went to his room with the kit in his hands.


    Before he could enter the room, though, he paused and turned around. "I''m proud of you, Luke."


    A smile surfaced on his serious face as he closed the door.


    ***


    Inside his room, Lucas stared at the ceiling nkly before he sighed, "All the more reason to be careful, then."


    With a peaceful mind, Lucas went to sleep and woke up the next morning fully invigorated.


    His back was still aching from the wound, but he still got up early to do some light workouts. Stay connected via empire


    After he was done, he spent some time staring at his phone to search for the trap that Spot was interested in. Unfortunately, he could not find something like it at all, so he thought that it must be a new invention or that he just did not know the right prompt to search for it. In the end, he could only give up as he ate breakfast along with his parents.


    His mother looked extremely happy and relieved upon seeing him safe and sound. She was worried upon seeing his torn bag, though, and she kept on asking why it became like that. Lucas told her the truth that it was torn by some beast but did not get into details too much.


    Like his father, his mother also reminded him to always be safe and not to work too hard.


    After assuring his mother, Lucas left his home with a new bag that his father had been using before. It was made of leather, and his father said that it was durable for a mundane bag. He had used it for a long time, and it was still good and functional. The bag was not good-looking, but it will serve its purpose.


    Now ready for Day 2, Lucas walked to the Starlight Academy and arrived a few minutester.


    Before he went to the dungeon area to enter the dungeon, though, he decided to go and check the Beast Gymnasium first to see Senior Ethan.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    He was extremely grateful for the Armadon Tonfa, and his parents also wanted to give their appreciation to him. The Armadon Tonfa was, after all, a very expensive item. Although they could not repay it with the same amount, they still wanted to express their thanks in another way.


    Aside from that, he also wanted to check if there were any avable missions that came from Teacher Christie. Thest time he was provided with an extremely good reward, so he kind of wanted to ask if there were more missions like that.


    Lucas saw Ethan a momentter, still doing his usual job of transferring beasts from one cage to another.


    "Huh? Wait, a cage?" Lucas muttered, his eyes narrowing in thought.


    The memory of what he had stumbled upon yesterday shed in his mind¡ªthe strange structure of tied stalks and clustered grass. The one he thinks of as an borate trap.


    His brows furrowed as something clicked in his mind.


    ''It wasn''t a trap?'' He realized, a sudden rity dawning on him.


    ''It was a cage to contain a beast?''


    Both had more or less the same concept but had two different uses.


    One was just used to get the beast, while the other was used to store a beast.


    No wonder he could not search it on the inte. It turns out his way of searching was in the entirely wrong direction.


    As the realization dawned on him, questions rose like tides in his mind as well.


    Who did it? What was their purpose? Caging a beast inside a regted dungeon would serve no purpose. Beasts would turn into experience points, and no material would be harvested from them, no matter what.


    His calm face turned into a scowl. The mind-blowing realization, though, was interrupted by Ethan''s voice.


    "Hey, Lucas."

 Chapter 56 Something Wrong

    Getting pulled out of his thoughts, Lucas stared at Ethan with a subtle smile as he walked toward him.


    "Good morning, senior," he greeted with a smile.


    Ethan greeted him in return and asked, "Good morning,d. Why are you here? Did you take another beast cage cleaning mission?" His voice sounded pleased when he uttered thest sentence.


    "Ah no, senior. I''m here to ask if Teacher Christie requires some help?"


    He then took a lunchbox from his bag and handed it to Ethan. "Senior, for you. My mom made it as thanks for the gift."


    Ethan''s eyes lit up upon seeing it. "Really? It''s been a while since I''ve tasted home-made food. I hope it won''t disappoint."n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Although this kid was greedy and yed too much, at least his mother was a considerate person.


    "It won''t," Lucas said confidently.


    "Oh, Teacher Christie doesn''t seem to be in need of a helper yet. The previous situation has been more or less resolved. It was very urgent, so she hired some specialists for the job." He opened the lunchbox and was surprised at how appealing the food looked. He began to salivate as he continued, "But I''ll ask her again. I''ll tell you once I have an update.


    Give me your ID, and I''ll add you in Starlight Chat."


    The messaging feature of the Starlight Academy site and app was also called Starlight Chat.


    Lucas nodded his head as they exchanged contact. He only had enough Starlight Coins for today''s entrance fee, so he wanted to scout for a suitable mission to do after this.


    "Right, senior, I have a question. Is there a purpose for creating a cage inside a regted dungeon?"


    Ethan pondered for a moment before he answered, "Not that I know of. Wait, do you mean traps? If so, then it''s to trap the beast to hunt them easily, right?"


    Lucas shook his head. He also thought that it was a trap before, not until it dawned on him that it wasn''t a mere trap.


    However, the two had different purposes. One was used to catch a beast, while the other was used to contain one. And he knew that what he had seen was not a trap.


    Even a senior student like Ethan does not know anything like that. There was no purpose for installing a cage inside a regted dungeon after all.


    Since even senior Ethan was clueless about the cage''s purpose, Lucas did not linger in the Beast Stadium anymore and went to the dungeon area.


    Upon arriving, he immediately noticed a lot of people around the dungeon''s entrance. This was a pretty normal scene during the day, as most students would go inside these hours to begin their hunt.


    The receptionist as well as the two guards were already different from yesterday as well. Enjoy more content from empire


    After paying the entrance fee, Lucas stepped on the dungeon''s entrance and arrived inside of it a brief momentter.


    Suppressing the nausea that he had slowly gotten used to, Lucas did not linger in the Safe Area and immediately went out to hunt.


    This time, he still nned to hunt the Shadow Lynxes, but he nned to go deeper and explore. If he found another kind of beast that he could handle, then Lucas would not shy away from it as well.


    Before going to Giant Dark Forest, though, Lucas nned on checking the cage first. He was infinitely curious about its purpose as well as what kind of beast could have been contained there. Or was it ''what beast will be contained there''?


    Right before he could leave the Safe Area, though, his attention was attracted to a suddenmotion not far away from him. Wanting to satiate his curiosity, Lucas changed direction and went over to take a look.


    As he got closer, he immediately heard the murmur spread through the gathered onlookers. His eyes narrowed in shock, and his breath paused when he caught sight of what had attracted the crowd''s attention.


    Four dead bodies are being carried into the Safe Area by some senior students. As he looked closer, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the familiar red-ck bandana draped over the corpse''s arm. Not only that corpse, the other four were also wearing the same bandana from what he had seen yesterday.


    Their dead bodies, mutted and full of ghastly wounds, were horrible to behold, as if they were killed by a ravenous beast that did not stop attacking even after their death. Even so, Lucas could tell that they belonged to the seniors he had seen in Giant Dark Forest the day before.


    "Isn''t that the third time this has happened in thest two weeks?" Whispered a young man, his voice barely audible over the hum of the crowd.


    Another person nodded his head and muttered, "Yeah. The death rate in this dungeon has been hightely. Don''t tell me we''ll graduate with less than thirty percent of our ss poption?"


    A woman nearby shuddered. There were indeed deaths everywhere in the world, but deaths inside a regted dungeon were usually restrained and controlledpared to unregted and in the wild.


    The regted dungeons were supposed to be a safer alternative to gain strength, not another version of the harrowing reality in the wild.


    ''Something''s wrong,'' Lucas thought with a scowl. The death of his batchmate and the senior''s he had helped in White Stone Cliff resurfaced in his mind at this moment.


    As one saying goes, once was an ident, twice was a coincidence, but three would be deliberate.


    Although he couldn''t confirm that foul y was involved, there were already several signs suggesting so. He might have ignored these signs before, but he knew that he could not afford to do so now.


    And it just so happened that one sign clearly indicated the involvements of some senior students that he was also familiar with. Although this particr sign does not mean anything, it still points out the fact that those senior students were in the two areas where the ''murders'' had taken ce.


    Suppressing the tumultuous thoughts ringing in his mind, Lucas left the Safe Area with an unsettled heart.

 Chapter 57 Confirmation

    When he arrived at the decaying field, Lucas was still thinking about the suspicious connection between the two separate deaths of two groups of people and the two instances he saw the seniors in those two particr areas.


    Although he could not confirm if they were also somehow involved in the death of his batchmate, he already knew that it was caused by a disturbance in the Ember Ant''s nest. There was a high possibility that it was them who caused that disturbance as well.


    If his conjecture was true, then it would also raise even more questions.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Why were they doing it? What was their motive? Will they stop here? Or will there be more to follow? Who will be their next target? How will it affect him?


    And more importantly, what should he do with these discoveries?


    ''Wait, are my conjectures and discoveries even correct? What if I''m just imagining things?''


    The problem was that he had no concrete evidence about them and was only guessing through two seemingly connected events.


    ''Arrgh, no need to think about this for now. Even if I knew such things, would it even matter if I''m not strong enough? The thing I should do right now is to continue to get stronger so that I respond to what maye.''


    Afraid of being swept away powerlessly by the currents, he decided to prioritize increasing his strength as soon as possible. That way, even if his suspicions were true, he would have the strength to resist and not be amb to the ughter.


    Looking ahead, the decaying field of grass looked as lifeless and grim as his conjectures.


    The only way for him to get stronger was by hunting beasts. The reason he hade here was not to hunt the Mace Rats but to satiate his growing curiosity about the cage or trap that Spot had seen here the other day.


    At the same time, he also wanted to confirm something that was rted to his earlier thoughts. Continue your saga on empire


    Tracing back the path he had takenst night here, Lucas eventually reached the spot where he saw the sheaf of decaying grass. This sheaf of grass was located almost at the center of the decaying field. It was hard to spot and was fairly hidden from sight.


    Since the Mare Rat were only active during the night, Lucas did not encounter any students on his journey here.


    ''A ce perfect for doing shady things,'' hemented as he circled the cage of decaying grass to see if anything was different with it.


    Unfortunately, he did not find any. The cage of decaying grass was as it was the night before. Nothing had changed, as if no creature had stumbled upon the cage at all.


    He ordered Spot to transform into his Hellhound form and get ready. After he was done, Lucas crouched down and took onest inspection before he slowly parted the decaying grass that acted as the cage''s entrance.


    His movements were slow and careful. Behind him, Spot was prepared to pull him away in case something awful happens. As for letting Spot do it, Lucas considered it but decided against it, afraid of damaging the entrance of the cage.


    Spot was extremely strong, and he might destroy the entrance made of decaying grass identally. Destroying it might cause some unknown implications, so he decided to be safer for now.


    Fortunately, no beast lunged toward him as he opened the cage''s entrance. Upon looking inside, Lucas realized that there was a vast space hidden beneath it. The ground seemed to have been dug too.


    With a quick nce, Lucas estimated that the space inside was about two to three yards deep. Although the cluster of decaying grass spanned roughly eight yards in diameter, the actual open area inside was actually much smaller. The decaying grass, with its stalks tied together, filled most of the space, leaving only a portion in the center clear, surrounded by the grass like a cage.


    A frown appeared on Lucas'' face upon seeing the internal structure of the cage.


    ''This... is not a cage?''


    Lucas came to such a realization as he saw the internal of the ''cage''. However, he no longer believed that it was so after seeing the entirety of it. Aside from the decaying grass that was bundled and tied together, there were no other materials used in it at all.


    The decaying grass, although looked sturdy after being tied together, was actually still too brittle and fragile to be made into the wall of a cage.


    It was because this was too brittle and fragile to be a cage for something. Heck, even Spot, in his Gentle Dog form, would be able to break such a cage easily if he wanted to.


    As Lucas pondered, he suddenly came to another realization.


    ''It''s built not to contain a beast, but just to hide it?''


    This was indeed a possibility.


    No, there was no other answer; this should be it. Lucas was sure of it now. Realizing this fact also made Lucas connect some strings together. Although it still remained as a conjecture with no concrete evidence, at least Lucas now had a direction and could sense what was going to happen next¡ªif his conjectures were correct, at least.


    Still, his sense of unease and urgency to grow stronger just became even worse with his recent discovery.


    With that, Lucas decided to leave this area for now, lest someone see him lingering around here. He might be powerless to resist¡ªfor now¡ªbut who said that he would just sit around and do nothing?


    Allowing Spot to return to his normal form, Lucas put him above his head as he ran toward a particr direction.


    He canceled his previous destination, the Giant Dark Forest, and instead ran back to where he came from. There was a high chance that those seniors were still in the Giant Dark Forest, and just to be safe, he decided to avoid that area as well.


    Instead, he ran and ran until he saw the towering cliff home to the Clip w Spiders, Rock Back Lizard, and Cliff Borne Ram.


    His agenda here was simple.


    Find the same ''cage'' that he had seen in the decaying field and confirm his suspicions.

 Chapter 58 Alone In The White Stone Cliff

    The White Stone Cliff stood tall and firm over Lucas. The white stone would have looked pristine and majestic if not for the countless cracks that ran across its surface. The cracks may haveplemented its beauty as well, if not for the fact that each crack might hold a ferocious beast within that will devour anything thates close.


    Far below, Spot swiped his sharpened ws and killed a Clip w Spider in one blow.


    Ever since he ranked up to Iron Star 3, killing a solitary Iron Grade-Iron Star 3 beast has been a breeze for Spot. Although a Clip w Spider was an Iron Star 4 beast, it offered almost no resistance when subjected to Spot''s ws.


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 4, Clip w Spider (100%): You gained 5.7 XP]


    This was the second Clip w Spider that Spot had eliminated upon returning here. Since Lucas was already an Iron Star 3 summoner, the experience points he gained were a little lesspared to before. The good thing about this, though, was the fact that Spot could now kill the Clip w Spider with even more ease than before.


    His two hunts were particrly easy, and Lucas was able to afford looking around while Spot was killing the beast. Discover exclusive content at empire


    "Where is it?"


    He muttered to himself, searching for the ce where the ''cage'' could have been hidden.


    If his suspicions were correct, then there should be another ''cage'' hidden in White Stone Cliff, and perhaps there was another one in the Ember Ants area as well.


    However, searching for one was easier said than done. The White Stone Cliff was also a massive ce. It not only contains the White Stone Cliff itself but also the forest parallel to it. There was no definite size, but everyone understood that White Stone Cliff was a massive ce full of beasts, up to be hunted as long as one has the capabilities.


    "Continue forward," Lucas ordered as Spot dashed ahead of him.


    Reverting to the Gentle Dog willingly would weaken him for a while, but he could still transform back immediately if he wanted to, unlike when he reverts when the transformation reaches its limit.


    Walking ahead of Lucas, Spot was alert and cautious. In fact, it had been him who spotted the two Clip w Spiders that Lucas had in, so Lucas didn''t need to focus on searching for his next target and instead just focused on searching for the cage and confirming his suspicions.


    Unfortunately, it seemed like his luck had run out this time around. Or maybe he had just not searched enough yet.


    Some timeter, Spot found a Rock Back Lizard hidden in a crack above them. After luring it down below, Spot killed the beast with one fell swoop before they continued forward.


    Noon came in the blink of an eye. As of this moment, Lucas and Spot had already killed a total of 8 Clip w Spiders and 5 Rock Back Lizards.


    He still had no clue where the cage was, but Lucas'' mood was uplifted as he realized that he was actually earning more points herepared to his time in Giant Dark Forest. The reason was because the Clip w Spiders give more experience points, and although they were solitary, there were also numerous of them here in White Stone Cliff.


    Here, he could find one Clip w Spider in less than fifteen minutes, and with Spot''s efficiency, he could kill them almost in an instant. Due to Spot''s strength increase, they could now confidently and boldly hunt a Clip w Spider as well, lessening the risk for both of them.


    Lucas also came to the understanding that his approach before was extremely wrong. Instead of fighting a group of scarce, weaker beasts, he should have gone to find stronger ones that he could easily find instead.


    If there were numerous beasts living in a group, the hunt would be worthwhile and could match the amount of rewards he''d receive from hunting a stronger, solitary beast. However, doing so would mean that Lucas would have to take care of himself, as he might be in danger if one of the beasts tried to attack him instead.


    The two options had their own risk, but Lucas determined that the risk in fighting a stronger one was greater but was more manageable and controble, but at the same time, the reward was also greater.


    ''Learned something new from experience, I guess.''


    Anyway, Lucas found a safe Spot and ate his lunch. It was the same food that he had given to Ethan earlier. The taste was wonderful. As expected of his mother''s cooking. Spot also took some share; Lucas'' mother had specially prepared Spot''s own portion as well. And from the looks of it, she added some extra meat to his meal too.


    Talk about being a favorite.


    After he was done eating lunch, Lucas and Spot continued ahead. Spot searched for a beast to kill, while Lucas looked around the forest, searching for the cage¡ªif there was one to begin with.


    Some timeter, Lucas and Spot even returned to the area where they saved the seniors from before.


    To his dismay, he did not find any beast in there, much less the cage that he had been searching for. Lucas sighed as they moved to a different location.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Time continued to pass, and the number of Clip w Spiders and Rock Back Lizards they killed continued to grow.


    As for the Cliff Borne Ram, Lucas did not meet any at all. And even if he did, Lucas thought that it might even be possible for Spot to eliminate it given that he had already ranked up.


    The Cliff Borne Ram he saw here a few days ago was indeed just a rare case.


    ''...Or was it?''


    Perhaps due to that incident, Lucas did not meet any students here in White Stone Cliff as of yet. They must also be trying to avoid this ce, lest they stumble upon that ''injured'' Cliff Borne Ram that killed those seniors a few days ago.


    After all, those who chose to hunt in White Stone Cliff were typically the weaker third-year students or the more powerful second-year students¡ªif any. And neither group would want to face a Cliff Borne Ram.


    So it was only natural that they would avoid this ce for now.


    Lucas had also avoided this ce for the same reason, until he returned with more confidence and another agenda in mind.


    With a sigh, Lucas looked around the surroundings that had already begun to dim.


    Summoning his grimoire, he decided to check his progress today.

 Chapter 59 Wastrel

    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 3 (155.47/338)


    Spiritual Energy: 37/62


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    All in all, Lucas was satisfied with his progress today. It was already nearing night, though, so Lucas pondered if he should stop or take a breather and go to a low-ranking area like the decaying grass field to hunt lower-grade beasts.


    However, upon thinking about it, with how Spot could kill an Iron Grade-Iron Star 4 Clip w Spider with one sh, wasn''t this area also considered a low level for the two of them?


    Lucas shrugged his shoulders and decided to stay and just hunt here instead. He heard that Clip w Spiders were very active during the night, though. He took note of that detail as he and Spot continued to move forward.


    And if Clip w Spiders goes out actively, it would also mean that Lucas and Spot will have an easier time finding them. This also meant that their time spent searching for each beast would be drastically reduced, increasing their hunting efficiency once again.


    If all goes well, there was a high chance that Lucas would rank up to Iron Star 4.


    Just the thought of it made Lucas smile like a fool.


    And hence, the grindmenced once more.


    ***


    Swoosh!


    AClip w Spider screeched, lunging forward with one of its wed legs.


    A long and ghastly w mark was on the abdomen of the Clip w Spider. Its blood spilled out as it ferociously attacked Spot.


    Spot kept on leaping to the side, dodging the spider''s attack just in time. His movements were quick, but a hint of exhaustion and fatigue could be seen as he moved around.


    "Shit! Spot, circle left, and attack it from the side. Don''t let it pin you down!"


    Standing a safe distance away, Lucas narrowed his eyes and ordered Spot ording to the situation. The injuries in his back ached as he looked at Spot fighting the Clip w Spider ahead.


    A hint of nervousness was in Lucas'' eyes as he continuously looked around warily.


    At this time, Lucas must admit that he had underestimated the number of Clip w Spiders that go out during the night to hunt.


    Previously, they could only find a Clip w Spider in less than fifteen minutes. However, the Clip w Spider that Spot was fighting was already the seventh.


    This was already the second time that this happened after he decided to stay here and hunt.


    The first time, a total of ten Clip w Spider assaulted them one by one before stopping. Spot ultimately killed all of them, but he ended up needing to rest and recuperate inside his grimoire to heal the minor wounds he sustained and, at the same time, to recover some of his energy.


    After they rested, Lucas had already nned to retreat, as he was taken aback by the sheer number of them.


    If Spot''s stamina and Hellhound Manifestation had no limits, Lucas would have rejoiced at the thought of the prey willingly offering themselves as experience points.


    Unfortunately, such a thing does not exist.


    Now, Spot has been fighting continuously, with no time to rest, and he was already nearing his limits once more. His stamina was not endless after all.


    If Spot fought them at the same time, the situation might not have be as unpleasant.


    It was just that every time Spot killed one, a new Clip w Spider, attracted by themotion, would arrive and assault them in turn. Spot had no time to rest, and he was now nearing his Hellhound Manifestation form limit.


    Fortunately, Spot was as stable as usual. He might be exhausted, but his attacks were still lethal. Enjoy new tales from empire


    With another strike, the seventh Clip w Spider finally fell and disintegrated into particles of light. The surroundings glowed, but Lucas had no time to admire the scene as another Clip w Spider had arrived once again to assault them.


    "Spot, attack it first. Don''t let it take the initiative."


    With a growl, Spot charged forward, aiming low. His ws shed across the spider''s underbelly, where its exoskeleton was thinner. His strength was overwhelming. His w scraped the spider''s stone-like shell.


    The Clip w Spider screeched in pain, stumbling forward with a step. It retaliated with a swing of its deadly ws, but Spot had already moved to another location.


    "Finish it!" Lucas yelled.


    Spot''s ws glowed and extended forward. Using the Sharp w skill, his paw swiped toward the Clip w Spider''s spinnerets. The Clip w Spider died as quickly as it appeared.


    With the quick death of thatst Clip w Spider, Lucas and Spot finally have the time to take a breather.


    However, lowering their guard down was thest thing they must do in this kind of situation. Lucas knew it firsthand, and so he ordered Spot to revert to his normal form and jump toward his head.


    The moment Lucas felt the weight on his head, he sprinted away from the scene as quickly as possible.


    "It''s time to retreat!"


    ***


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 3 (258.07/338)


    Spiritual Energy: 24/62


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Hidden inside a cave-like structure beneath the White Stone Cliff, Lucas looked at his profile page with an incredulous look in his face.


    Just an hour ago, his experience points were only 155.47. Now, just an hourter, it had already turned to 258.07.


    ''Ridiculous!''


    An increase of almost a hundred experience points in a single hour was indeed a little overboard. Especially for an Unranked Grade Grimoire user like him.


    Howughable that he was still happy about his progress of having gained a hundred experience points before dusk earlier, and now he almost achieved the same feat within an hour.


    Was he actually cking earlier, or was he just very conservative about his approach?n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    In truth, even Lucas himself did not know anymore.


    Spot was indeed an anomaly with the Hellhound Manifestation skill.


    Of all the Unranked Grade Beasts that existed, Spot might hold the record for ying the most beasts. Suddenly, the feat of learning another skill was no longer as mind-boggling. For a beast like Spot, such a reward and feat was actually undermining what it had already achieved.


    Lucas needed to rethink his choices as he felt that he was wasting Spot''s potential that was granted by the System.


    He had already wasted enough of their potential with his low-rank grimoire, and if he continued to hold back with cautious and restrained tactics, he would feel like he wasn''t doing justice to Spot or the System.


    ''Fuck! What am I even doing all this time? ''


    Hidden inside the dark cave, Lucas cursed himself for being a fool.


    How ironic that he called Hector a wastrel, and here he was, wasting even more.


    Shaking his head, Lucas calmed his thoughts as he considered what should be the right approach given his situation.


    Now that he had tasted the fruit of going all out and earning almost a hundred experience points within an hour, Lucas did not want to continue with being overly cautious anymore.


    It just so happened that he also wanted to get stronger quickly to not get swept by the unknown currents.


    The situation with the Clip w Spider earlier might be unpleasant, but it at least allowed him to see a new world he had not considered before. One could even say that it was a blessing in disguise.


    ''Alright, let''s do that. But for now, I should recover my Spiritual Energy and let Spot recuperate inside the grimoire.''


    Grrrowl!


    However, just as Lucas was about to close his eyes and meditate, a low growl suddenly resonated within the cave, sending shivers down his spine.

 Chapter 60 Inside The Cave

    The low growl coupled with the dark surroundings of the cave made Lucas'' body freeze on the spot.


    Cold sweat trickled down his spine as various thoughts ran through his mind.


    ''Shit, is there a beast in this cave?''


    ''How is this possible?''


    Lucas had already surveyed the cave earlier. Though the cave has a somewhat big opening, the space inside was actually not that big. Even if there was a beast here, Lucas would have spotted it the moment he entered earlier. Spot was also here earlier, so he could not have missed a beast hiding inside the cave as well.


    Lucas did not move an inch, but he forcefully toned his emotion down. He perked up his ears and tried to discern where the low growl wasing from.


    ''Behind?''


    Lucas slowly turned around. His hands were already gripping the Armadon Tonfa, preparing for what was toe. And just to be safe, he decided to summon Spot once again. Although Spot had not properly rested yet, Lucas had no other choice but to summon him.


    Whatever it was that kept on making the growl, Lucas did not think for a second that he would be able to beat it.


    As for escaping, that would be even more of a bad idea.


    Spot was exhausted, and so was he.


    The moment Spot was summoned, he immediately looked around, searching for the enemy. A look of confusion and exhaustion appeared on his face the moment he realized there weren''t any.


    Lucas shook his head and pointed forward.


    "Listen to it," Lucas whispered with the lowest voice he could manage.


    Spot adhered as he tilted his head sideways.


    Growwl!


    At that moment, the low growl once again resounded. Spot immediately tensed as his snout turned toward the location of the growl.


    The low growl disappeared, but Spot and Lucas'' tensed nerves did not.


    ''Woof!''


    Spot growled softly in return.


    His previous tense nerves disappeared; his nose twitched as he kept on sniffing the ground as he moved forward.


    Lucas was just about to stop him, but decided to trust him instead.


    For a while now, most of their enemies have always been carefully selected by Lucas. Now, he decided to trust Spot and decided to stay quiet.


    For Spot to go forward even after hearing that growl, Lucas thought that he must be confident.


    At the next moment, Spot slowly transformed into his Hellhound form. His figure almost filled the entire cave with barely enough space to move around.


    He continued to move forward and growled at the spot in front of him. He then turned his head to Lucas before pulling it back quickly, as if telling him to take a look.


    Lucas nodded his head and took a step forward.


    Taking out his shlight, he carefully illuminated the area in front.


    ''Nothing?''


    A scowl surfaced on his face as soon as he saw that there was only the rough cave''s wall in front of them.


    ''Wait, rough?''


    Lucas looked around, lighting the rest of the cave with the shlight. At that moment, he realized that the cave walls were actually smooth and white¡ªthe same texture as that of the White Stone Cliff. However, the cave wall in front of him and Spot was actually rough and was more grayish than white.


    Aside from that, Lucas also noticed that the rest of the cave walls had some cracks on them, just like the White Stone Cliff outside. However, the cave wall in front, instead of cracks, had some holes scattered around.


    Over all, it looked as if it were a cheap imitation of the White Stone Cliff''s texture. He tried to knock on the wall and determined that it was somewhat hollow, as if there was another space just behind the cheaply crafted wall.


    ''Crafted¡­''


    That alone told Lucas that something was wrong.


    The low growl still kept on resounding in the cave; the interval was not uniform, but a growl would resound once in a while.


    Lucas looked at Spot and asked, "What do you think? Should we try and see what''s behind it?"


    Without hesitation, Spot, in his Hellhound form, growled in affirmation.


    Read new chapters at empire


    Lucas smiled and nodded his head. "Alright."


    He decided to trust the decision of Spot. This way, he would also be able to determine what he should do in the future.


    "Go for it." As soon as Lucas said that, Spot smashed the cheap wall with all his might.


    Boom!


    Spot''s paw connected, and at the next moment, the cheap wall crumbled like dust.


    Lucas let the dust settle as he once again pointed his shlight forward. And just like what he suspected, there was indeed another space hidden behind that cheaply made wall.


    Growwll!


    The growl resounded once more. This time, it was more forceful and enraged.


    Lucas tensed, but upon seeing that Spot was still calm, he also calmed himself.


    Spot returned the growl, his mouth barred, his gaze fixed ahead with a hint of cautiousness in it.


    Lucas also focused his gaze forward, his eyes constricting at the next second. For a moment, Lucas forgot to breathe.


    Woorf!


    His thoughts were pulled back by Spot''s soft growl.


    ''Shit, it''s indeed here!'' Lucas screams internally as he sees what was in front of them.


    It was a massive head akin to a sheep. There was a thick wool covering its forehead, with two long horns curved forward menacingly. Its eyes were half shut, but it stared at Lucas with deep hatred and animosity.


    Behind the massive head was an equally massive body. It has thick and curly brown wool sticking to its body.


    ''The Cliff Borne Ram!''


    Lucas stared in shock at the beast in front of him. Not only because it was a Cliff Borne Ram, but also because this Cliff Borne Ram was a little familiar to him.


    It was the Cliff Borne Ram that was chased by those seniors a few days ago. With this, Lucas could more or less confirm that his theory and conjectures were indeed true.


    He was not happy that he was proven right, though.


    There was a lot to think about now that he had proven his previous conjectures. However, before that, he knew that he must focus on the problem at hand.


    Battered and injured, the Cliff Borne Ram sprawled to the ground, tied tightly by long, thick vines; its eyes emitted animosity and cruelty as it stared at Lucas and Spot.


    It growled toward him and struggled to break free from the vine''s clutches. If it was a healthy Cliff Borne Ram, such vines would not have been able to pin it down. However, with its injuries, it was tightly held in ce by the vines, with no hope of escape.


    Unless, of course, it somehow recovered.


    As soon as he thought of that, Lucas nced down and noticed a peculiar bottle in front of Cliff Borne Ram''s nose.


    A frown appeared on his face upon seeing such an item in front of it. The bottle was also vaguely familiar, as if he had seen something like that before.


    There was no way that it was put there without a purpose.


    Although he was curious about the bottle, reason got the better of him. He did note closer and inspect it.


    Instead, he looked at Spot and ordered, "Kill it!"


    The Cliff Borne Ram looked pathetic and weak. However, Lucas knew more than anyone else not to underestimate it given its state. There was a saying that an injured and cornered beast was more dangerous, after all.


    He did not take pity with it either. All beasts were cruel toward humans; that was a universal fact.


    One should not take pity when they encounter an injured beast. What they must do was to rejoice and kill it for easy experience points.


    That was exactly what Lucas was doing right now.


    Spot did not take pity on the struggling beast either. He hopped forward and arrived right beside the neck of the tied Cliff Borne Ram.


    His w elongated and sharpened as he used the Sharp w skill. His paw descended down, trying to cut the already injured neck of the Cliff Borne Ram.


    However, the thick wool prevented his w from cutting down swiftly like it usually does. However, with even more force, the sharp w gradually cut the Cliff Borne Ram neck down.


    The Cliff Borne Ram wailed in agony. Its eyes, however, stared at Spot as if it wanted to smash him down. Even though it was in pain, it still had the same ferocity and cruelty in its eyes as it stared at Spot.


    It struggled all its might, trying to break free from the vines that restricted it but to no avail.


    Spot was relentless and continued to hack its neck down repeatedly.


    One sh was not enough to cut its thick wool down, but after a while, an opening was created as the wool fell down.


    Spot raised his paw up in the air and brought it down with a lot of force.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Blood sttered as Spot''s w cut through the neck of the beast halfway.


    The Cliff Borne Ram was not dead yet, however, so Spot pulled his w and brought it down one more time.


    At the next moment, the struggling Cliff Borne Ram finally went stiff and then limped. The taut vines also began to loosen as the struggling beast breathed itsst.


    As the Cliff Borne Ram disintegrated into particles of light, Lucas summoned his grimoire and stared at the newly updated log.


    However, his eyes constricted at the next second due to what he saw.


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 6, Cliff Borne Ram (48%): You gained 7.52 XP]

 Chapter 61 Forty-Eight

    ''Forty-eight percent¡­''


    Lucas muttered incredulously upon seeing that unusual detail in the log. Without even thinking about it, Lucas realized what was going on.


    No matter who made thest hit, all the summoners that tried to kill that beast would receive experience points based on their contribution. However, when an injured beast escapes, after some time, that contribution system would reset. Whoever killed that beast at that point, that previous contribution system would no longer matter, and the present was what would be ounted for.


    Judging from the serious wounds and how weak the Cliff Borne Ram in front of him was, and the fact that he saw the same one being chased a few days ago, he did not think that the contribution system had not been reset yet.


    Seeing that only 48 percent of the total contribution belonged to him, Lucas was immediately brought to a stark realization.


    The vines, the bottle, and the overall structure of the cave or cage¡ªall of it was made to continuously damage the beast. How could the contribution system be reset if the beast was continuously being damaged even from afar?


    His eyes constricted upon that realization.


    Lucas jumped forward and picked the bottle on the ground¡ªrealizing that it was somewhat important. Without even checking what it was, he hurriedly jumped back and then hopped on Spot''s back.


    "Let''s get out of here!"


    He no longer cared if they were exhausted or there were a lot of Clip w Spiders out there. All he wanted was to escape the cave as soon as possible. He knew that the repercussions of not doing so were far greater than facing the mass of Clp w Spiders outside.


    As if realizing the severity of their situation, Spot ran out of the cave as if his life depended on it.


    Outside of the cave, a Clip w Spider appeared out of the blue and lunged at them in quick speed.


    Lucas gritted his eyes as he pulled Spot''s fur to the side unconsciously. Spot leaps to the side at the same moment, dodging the Clip w Spider''s w with a hair''s breadth.


    "Don''t bother with it," Lucas ordered.


    Spot followed and ran forward without wasting time with the Clip w Spider.


    He ran and ran forward. The night was dark, but it was no problem for him to maneuver with his senses.


    Lucas held as tightly as he could.


    Another Clip w Spider suddenly lunged at their side. Lucas reacted quickly and swatted its w with his Armadon Tonfa.


    The force made his arm go numb for a second. Fortunately, Spot had already leaped away before that Clip w Spider could take another strike.


    As they escaped, Lucas suddenly thought of something and told Spot to change direction.


    They could not go back to the Safe Area, at least not yet.


    Continue your journey with empire


    The same way he received the log for killing the Cliff Borne Ram earlier, the others who put it there must have also received it at that exact moment.


    If he returned to the Safe Area now, there was a high chance that they were already waiting. Anyone who came from the White Stone Cliff would be suspected without a question. Knowing that returning now would be a bad idea, he ordered Spot to steer away from the Safe Area as soon as possible.


    The location adjacent to the White Stone Cliff area happened to be where the Ember Ants had made their nest. Unfortunately, Lucas had no other choice, as going the other direction would mean that he would be entering the Core Area of the dungeon¡ªwhich he did not want to.


    There were also anomalies in the Ember Ant''s area, but Lucas had no other choice. At least, the Ember Ants area was saferpared to the Core Area for him.


    The number of Clip w Spiders they encountered grew with each distance they traveled. It was fortunate that some of them would give up chasing them after some time, but the number of Clip w Spiders following behind Lucas and Spot still numbered more than ten.


    Fortunately, as they got out of the White Stone Cliff area, the number of Clip w Spiders following behind them also decreased.


    When the White Stone Cliff was already a hundred yards away from them, the Clip w Spiders finally stopped their pursuit.


    Lucas heaved a sigh of relief but still ordered Spot to continue running.


    It was only a few momentster that he finally told him to stop.


    Exhausted, Spot immediately returned inside the grimoire as Lucasy t on the ground beneath a thick bush.


    ''I should be safe here,'' Lucas thought to himself while breathing heavily.


    He summoned his grimoire and saw that his Spiritual Energy reserve was pitifully low.


    Since he used another summoning time earlier while they were running, he now only had a total of 4 Spiritual Energy left, not even enough to use his own version of the skill Gentle Gaze¡ªlet alone summon Spot.


    With how Spot was anyway, he does not n on summoning him soon.


    Finally recovering some of his breath, Lucas sat up from the ground and closed his eyes to begin his meditation and recover his Spiritual Energy reserve.


    He knew that there was a lot to think about due to his recent discoveries. However, he also knew that it could wait.


    He might have escaped the clutches of the Clip w Spiders, but who''s to say that there were no more beasts in Ember Ant''s area?


    He needed to recover as much Spiritual Energy as possible before going back to the Safe Area.


    However, not even three minutes had passed when Lucas was awakened from his meditative state by a disturbance nearby.


    ***


    In the Safe Area, two figures suddenly appeared in front of the dungeon gate.


    One has messy, ash-blonde hair with a robust yet pale body, while the other has dark brown hair and striking ck eyes with the same paleplexion.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    If Lucas was here, he would have recognized the both of them on the spot.


    These two were Dorian and Asher, the two seniors that Lucas saw apanying Ethan a few days ago. The two of them were also part of the squad that chased around the Cliff Borne Ram.


    The ash-blonde hair Dorian suddenly stopped as he summoned his grimoire as if sensing something. It was a Bronze Grade grimoire with seven shimmering bronze-colored stars embedded on its cover.


    Dorian opened his grimoire and looked at the new logs that suddenly appeared on the first page of his grimoire.


    He looked at Asher and said with a dead tone, "Someone killed that Cliff Borne Ram."


    Asher frowned and also summoned his Bronze Grade Grimoire. The number of stars embedded on it was lowerpared to Dorian, but they were still all bronze in color, signifying that he was also a Bronze Star Summoner. Checking the logs in his grimoire and seeing the same notification, he stated, "Let''s go and check."


    "Where are the others?" He asked.


    "They''re in the Giant Dark Forest, finalizing that one."


    Asher nodded and walked forward, with Dorian following closely behind. Despite hearing about the recent killing of the Cliff Borne Ram, neither of them showed any sign of unease as they walked forward leisurely.


    However, before they could take a few more steps, Asher suddenly stopped, an idea crossing his mind. He turned to Dorian and said, "Actually, why don''t you stay here and keep an eye out for anyoneing back from White Stone Cliff?"


    Even though he did not say anything after that, Dorian just nodded his head expressionlessly, as if he already understood why he asked him to do that.


    In the dead of the night, the two of them went their separate ways.


    One walked towards White Stone Cliff, while the other stayed and found a spot to sit.


    ***


    Back in the Ember Ant''s area, Lucas suddenly snapped awake as he heard the sudden disturbance nearby.


    His heart went cold as he looked at the amount of Spiritual Energy he recovered. He only recovered a total of five Spiritual Energy points, along with the stock, he only has a total of nine.


    If this were before, it would have been enough to summon Spot one time. However, it just so happened that Spot had already ranked up to Iron Star 3 a day ago. Lucas now needs 10 Spiritual Energy to summon him.


    ''Curses¡­''


    He did not know whether he was lucky or unlucky.


    Although he was woken up by the disturbance, Lucas does not n oning out.


    He had selected these bushes from a bunch of others in the area due to the underbrush being fairly huge. It does not feel cramped, and he could scoot around freely.


    And even if there was a huge space beneath, there was no need for him to keep on moving either. That way, he would not be discovered by the thing that caused the disturbance outside.


    As long as it just passes by, Lucas could go back to meditation and recover more Spiritual Energy.


    Unfortunately, everything does not go ording to one''s n.


    At the next moment, Lucas suddenly felt a light tremor in the soil beneath him, as though something small was burrowing through the earth in quick speed.


    The next moment, Lucas felt his soul nearly leave his body as a head, roughly the size of his fist, burst through the soil right in front of him.


    It has red eyes and a bloody-colored snout, which consist of multiple red fleshy tentacles that fan out in all directions. The fleshy tentacles squirmed like worms as the beast, Blood-Eyed Mole, stared at Lucas ominously.


    ''Oh shit, not good!''

 Chapter 62 DONG!

    The Blood-Eyed Mole stared at Lucas ominously with its two blood-red eyes. Its ws slowly emerged from the ground and then the rest of its body. With the same size as a household cat, the Blood-Eyed Mole stretched its limbs as snarled at Lucas in glee.


    Lucas cursed under his breath. The surroundings might be dark, but he could perfectly see the Blood-Eyed Mole in front of him due to the faint light that barely passed through the underbrush.


    As the Blood-Eyed Mole stretched its limbs in front of him, Lucas no longer thought of anything other than to escape away from it.


    The Blood-Eyed Mole was an Iron Grade-Iron Star 1 beast. It has two famous skills, which were the Blood Sense and Blood Spike, both of which have a range of around three yards.


    Lucas jumped away and escaped its range immediately. The Blood-Eyed Mole was not particrly dangerous as long as one knew how to maneuver around. This was also one of the reasons why it was part of the beasts that he nned on hunting¡ªif encountered¡ªduring his first dungeon experience.


    As he jumped away, the Blood-Eyed Mole also reacted in turn.


    It immediately used Blood Spike, trying to skewer the escaping prey.


    Fortunately, leaping three yards away quickly was not a problem for Lucas. The blood spikes rose in front of him, barely dodging them with a hair''s breadth. If he was a second slower, his whole body might have already been riddled with holes right now.


    Seeing that its attack had missed and the prey was trying to escape, the Blood-Eyed Mole burrowed through the earth one more time as it shuttled toward Lucas.


    Lucas grimaced as he felt some slight tremor beneath his feet once again the moment hended on the ground. Knowing that the Blood-Eyed Mole was adamant on killing him, Lucas had no other choice but to defend and attack in return. He could not turn his back away from it; doing so would only be foolish given the circumstances.


    Lucas could barely see due to the dark surroundings. He could not take out his shlight now either, as it might cause even more unwanted attention. Gripping his tonfa tightly, Lucas could only rely on his senses, trying to perceive the slightest changes around him, ready to react at a moment''s notice.


    Just then, he sensed the movements beneath stopped. The peace was momentary, though, as the next second, the soil just a yard to his left burst open as the Blood-Eyed Mole''s ws emerged along with the fleshy tentacles of its snout that squirmed like worms.


    Lucas shivered as he sensed its movements.


    Knowing that a Blood Spike would follow, he immediately jumped away and readied his tonfa to deflect any spike that came his way.


    Just like what he anticipated, multiple Blood Spikes rose from the ground, trying to pierce him from below.


    Fortunately, Lucas had already predicted such a thing to happen the moment the Blood-Eyed Mole appeared on the ground, so he was able to get away unscathed.


    ''Huh¡­appear?''


    Lucasnded on the ground¡ªout of the Blood Spikes'' range¡ªand stared at the Blood-Eyed Mole intently.


    At this moment, he noticed a crucial detail that he had not known before.


    He did not know if this was already discovered and recorded, but he knew for sure that he did not know such a detail when he was studying the research about the Blood-Eyed Mole in the library.


    To confirm his suspicions, Lucas jumped away and focused on sensing his surroundings once more.


    The light tremor he felt beneath his feet once again appeared, indicating that the Blood-Eyed Mole had already burrowed deep underground and was shuttling toward him.


    The moment the light tremor stopped, the soil in front of him burst open, and the Blood-Eyed Mole appeared.


    Just then, Lucas jumped away.


    The Blood Spike rose from the ground once more, confirming his suspicions.


    ''Does it only use its skills every time it emerges from the hole?'' Lucas thought. Find exclusive stories on empire


    This was not recorded in the library, and this was the first time that Lucas heard of such details.


    However, it was also this small detail that made him have hope of defeating the beast.


    ''I can do it!'' He thought resolutely.


    Gripping the tonfa tightly, Lucas endured the pain from his previous wounds and leapt a few yards away in session.


    He only has a little time to prepare for his next action, and he knew that he must do it perfectly.


    For more range, he twisted the tonfa and wielded it in reverse. He was still gripping the handle, but the tonfa''s head was now pointing inwardly toward him while the main shaft extended forward acting as a baton.


    His foot firmly nted to the ground, sensing the movements from beneath. The vibration urred as the Blood-Eyed Mole appeared out of the hole it burrowed.


    "Now!"


    Before it could fully emerge, though, Lucas had already leapt towards it with his Armadon Tonfa.


    DONG!


    The next moment, a dull sound reverberated in the surroundings as Lucas leapt out of the way.


    The Armadon Tonfa struck the mole''s head the moment it emerged with great force.


    The Blood-Eyed Mole barked loudly in pain. It burrowed to the ground once more before resurfacing a yard away.


    Lucas knew that he was still in range of its skills, so he did not think further and dashed toward it while bringing the Armadon Tonfa down.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    DONG!


    His strike was on point.


    Blood burst out of the Blood-Eyed Mole''s head. Just then, it used the Blood Spikes desperately, trying to get even with Lucas.


    However, Lucas had already leapt away even before it could do so. He was not foolish enough to stay in the beast''s attacking range.


    The Blood Spikes emerged from where he stood earlier.


    The moment the Blood Spikes began to retract from the ground, Lucas dashed toward the Blood-Eyed Mole once more.


    Even before it could burrow and follow him, he went for the offensive and struck its head that was poking out of the hole.


    DONG!


    The dull sound resounded once more. This time, the Blood-Eyed Mole''s could no longer burrow in time.


    Lucas struck it one more time and even swung his tonfa toward it as if he were hitting a golf ball.


    The Blood-Eyed MOle was extracted out of its hole. Its body now fully emerged from the ground. It was barely moving. Its head has cracked open due to the force of Lucas'' strike.


    Seeing that it was still alive, Lucas'' eyes constricted as he leapt away from it.


    An injured beast was more dangerous after all.


    As soon as he did, multiple Blood Spikes rose from the ground, almost hitting him. It was fortunate that he did not get ahead of himself and reacted in advance.


    However, it seems that it was only thest struggle of the Blood-Eyed Mole.


    The Blood Spikes were retracted as quickly as they emerged from the ground. The Blood-Eyed Mole shivered for a few moments before it went limp. The fleshy tentacles on its snout also stopped squirming.


    Lucas knew better not to approach it, though.


    Who knew if it was only pretending to be dead?


    Instead of finishing it off, Lucas decided to run away from it.


    With such injuries, the beast would inevitably die sooner orter, but Lucas didn''t have the luxury of time to wait for its death. He couldn''t afford to risk it. Who knew what other beasts might have been drawn by the noise of their battle? The longer he stayed, the greater the chance of attracting unwanted attention.


    Just as he leapt away, the Blood-Eyed Mole suddenly moved and burrowed deep underneath.


    "Bullshit!"


    Lucas cursed as he stopped running. He could only sense the vibration of the ground if he was still. If he continued to run and the Blood-Eyed Mole appeared out of the blue, he would not be able to react in time from its Blood Spike skill.


    As he stopped, Lucas truly sensed the movements beneath his feet.


    The Blood-Eyed Mole had indeed chased after him.


    Lucas eyes stared ferociously at the soil that had just burst open.


    ''You just don''t want to leave me alone, do you!?''


    Gritting his teeth in anger, Lucas whacked the mole the moment its head appeared above the ground.


    Even after the dull sound resounded, Lucas did not stop his actions and continued hitting the Blood-Eyed Mole with all his anger and force.


    It was only when the Blood-Eyed Mole transformed into particles of light that he finally stopped with rugged breath. His arms were sore, and he could feel that the wound on his back had reopened.


    ''Curses! If only Spot was here...''


    Not wanting to stay in the area any longer, Lucas endured the pain and ran away as far as possible. His path, though, was littered with darkness, and there might be beasts blocking his way. So even though he was in a hurry, it still took him an extra time before he finally saw the first huge tree that he could climb on.


    After hesitating for a bit, Lucas decided to climb on top of its branches and recuperate from there.


    He could not stay in the ground anymore as another Blood-Eyed Mole might appear out of nowhere to attack him.


    He just hoped that this tree that he decided to perch on had no tenants aside from him. Fortunately, that doesn''t seem to be the case this time around, so he finally chose a safe branch to sit on before he closed his eyes and began meditating.


    As long as he could summon Spot, all these concerns would no longer seem so daunting.

 Chapter 63 Run

    As long as he could summon Spot...


    That was thest thought Lucas had before he was awoken by the sudden rustling of leaves.


    ''Again?''


    Lucas snapped his eyes open. His whole body froze in ce, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention, but his thoughts raced as he tried to perceive the changes around him.


    ''What''s with my luck being shittely? ''n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The tree he was perching on was absolutely devoid of any beast. He had already inspected it earlier, so he was sure of it. Even if there was, it would have already attacked him the moment he tried to climb the tree.


    The rustling of leaves stopped the moment he opened his eyes. The surroundings once again became as quiet and as still as stagnant water.


    Even though there was no wind blowing on his body, Lucas still felt his body turning cold as he sensed the problem.


    There was no wind, but the leaves had rustled earlier.


    This only meant one thing.


    There was a beast nearby.


    And even until now, Lucas still had not found where it was.


    ''This can''t go on!''


    There were no longer any other movements around him. The rustling of leaves seemed to be just mere hallucinations, but Lucas still felt uneasy and unsafe.


    Cold sweat dripped down his back, his wounds sore as the sweat trickled down on it.


    As if being stared at by a ferocious beast, Lucas felt as if his life was hanging by a thread.


    ''No! I need to move!''


    Without wasting any more time, Lucas hurriedly jumped off the tree that he was perching on.


    He had not moved previously as it might attract unwanted attention and so that he could focus on perceiving where the beast was. However, two minutes had already passed and there were still no additional movements around him, yet the same feeling of dread and danger still upied his mind.


    This can only mean that the beast had either left or had already seen him but was refusing to attack for some reason. With his lucktely, Lucas thought that it was most likely thetter.


    If he did not move, the beast would sooner orter attack him. And not knowing where it wasing from, Lucas would not be able to react in time, hence he decided to move. At least that way, there was a chance that the beast would move again or reposition to have a better attack point.


    Lucas was betting on that fact as he jumped off the tree.


    Landing on the ground with a thud, Lucas hurriedlyposed himself as he gripped the Armadon Tonfa even more tightly than ever.


    Preparing for the worst, he focused his ears and senses, trying to perceive any changes to his surroundings.


    Just then, Lucas heard the rustling of leaves once more.


    He turned his head toward the direction of the sound and finally realized where it wasing from.


    A few yards away from him, on a neighboring tree adjacent to the one he had perched on earlier, the leaves rustled as one of the branches was bent down, as if burdened by the heavy object perched on top of it.


    "Damn it!"


    Seeing how the sturdy branch was bent like it was on the verge of breaking, Lucas could not help but curse out.


    He was indeed right. There was indeed a beast that was eyeing him from the dark. He was not happy that he was proven right, though. Lucas had preferred if his assumption was wrong this time around.


    Unfortunately, he does not have the luxury of time to ponder about such things any more.


    Gripping his Armadon Tonfa, Lucas prepared for the worst.


    And before the worst could happen, Lucas bolted out and ran as fast as he could, away from the damn beast that was still lurking beneath the rustling leaves.


    ''If you don''t n toe out, then just stay there forever!''


    Now knowing where the beast was hiding, Lucas bolted out and escaped.


    That was the first reason why he chose to move from his spot anyway.


    And at the next moment, the leaves shook as a creature half the size of Lucas bolted out to chase after him.


    Lucas did not see what it was. His back was already turned away from, and he had already run at least six yards before the creature reacted. Lucas had no ns on staying and knew what kind of creature it was either. All he knew was that he could not afford to fight it given his circumstances.


    He had almost been killed and was done by the Blood-Eyed Beast earlier. If the beast following behind him turns out to be much stronger, then he would have no chance to escape if he stayed even a bit longer.


    Not to mention that, his back was still aching in pain. He felt the bandage getting wet from his own blood. But there was nothing he could do about it, at least for now.


    As he ran forward, Lucas almost fell as he stumbled upon a dead twig. Fortunately, he managed to bnce himself at thest second and continued running forward.


    He heard the rustling of leaves behind him. It seems that the beast was following by moving from one branch to another. Discover exclusive content at empire


    And judging by the sound of the leaves, it was almost before him already.


    Lucas gritted his teeth as he made a hard decision. This decision also involved another gamble.


    It was to turn in another direction and return to the area where he fought the Blood-Eyed Mole. It was an area almost devoid of trees.


    Upon realizing that the beast only traveled from one branch to another, Lucas had already more or less realized what kind of beast it was.


    If his guess was right, then his gamble would pay off, and he would escape from the clutches of this beast.


    If he turns out to be wrong, then he would just have to escape even further.


    As for encountering another Blood-Eyed Mole in that area, Lucas thought that it was much better than facing the beast that was persistently following behind him. At least he could contend and already knew of the Blood-Eyed Mole''s weakness. As for the beast that was following behind him, Lucas thought that there was no way he could survive it if he fought it even for a second.


    That was why he needed to run. And why he needed to gamble.


    ''Ahhh, I hate gambling. Even more so if my life is at stake...


    Lucas grumbled but nevertheless kept on running.


    Luckily, he soon realized that he was already in the area of many bushes.


    As he passed by thest small tree, Lucas continued to run forward until he no longer heard the rustling of leaves.


    Heaving a sigh of relief, Lucas did not let down his guard as he knew that the danger was not over yet.


    Although he had won in his gamble, it does not mean that he was already safe.


    In the bushy area, there were still beasts that could kill him if he was not careful enough.


    Lucas continued further ahead. He did not return to where the White Stone Cliff was, though. Instead, he turned in another direction and ran forward as his life depended on it¡ªliterally.


    After a while, he copsed to the ground, barely able to breathe.


    Even if he had trained his body well and his stamina and strength were great, it was still not to the point that he seemed inhumanly strong and out of the norm.


    With constant sprinting and with worries always lingering in his mind, he felt exhausted and tired, both physically and mentally.


    However, everything was over, at least for now.


    Ahead of him was a ce filled with white fog. Located at the edge of the dungeon, the Boundary Fog remained steady and calm. It was boundless and endless, like how it used to be; no matter if it was day or night inside a dungeon, the Boundary Fog had always remained the same.


    The Boundary Fog was impregnable, not allowing anyone or anything to pass through. There were people who tried, and all of them only managed to walk a few yards deep, only to return with a muddled mind while others lost themselves inside it¡ªforever.


    The Boundary Fog does not discriminate between beasts and humans alike.


    And that was why Lucas chose toe here.


    Just like how humans chose to avoid the Boundary Fog, afraid of getting lost in it, the same could be said toward beasts.


    With the Boundary Fog in sight, Lucas felt safer, at least on one side.


    Turning his back away from it, Lucas forced himself to sit up and close his eyes to meditate.


    ''Meditate. I need to meditate.''


    Just one. He only needs one more Spiritual Energy to summon Spot. As long as he could summon him, his chance of survival would be more or less secured.


    And so, Lucas closed his eyes to meditate once more.

 Chapter 64 Where To Go?

    In the middle of White Stone Cliff.


    Asher waved his hand as a vine appeared to swat an iing Clip w Spider as if he were swatting a fly. The Clip w Spider could not even react as it disappeared, turning into particles of light or experience points¡ªif Asher could receive any from killing it, that is.


    Unfortunately, he could no longer receive experience points after killing such low-level beasts.


    Without showing any emotion, Asher walked forward and entered the shallow cave where he and hispanions kept the injured Cliff Borne Ram.


    Upon entering, he immediately noticed the ruin that was supposed to be a wall they had made to contain the beast.


    Asher''s eyes began to glow as the surroundings became clear to his vision. In his eyes, the cave was no longer dark but was as clear and as bright during the daylight instead.


    After a while, Asher left the cave. His face remained stoic and nk, showing no kind of emotion, just like it had always been.


    ***


    Lucas'' eyes trembled as he felt coldness washing over his body.


    He began to look around, afraid that a beast had been eyeing him from the dark once more.


    The surroundings were dark, though, so he could only perceive what was a few yards away from him. Still, Lucas determined that there was no beast that eyed him this time around, to his delight.


    And even if there was, Lucas was no longer as helpless.


    Summoning his grimoire, he nced at his reserved Spiritual Energy and was delighted to see that he had already recovered a total of twenty energy ever since he came here earlier. In total, Lucas now had twenty-nine, enough to summon Spot twice.


    Recovering this twenty energy, though, was not easy, to say the least.


    Due to his previous encounter, it took him a lot of time before he was able to enter the meditative state. And even worse, every time he entered and began recovering Spiritual Energy, he would wake up on his own due to paranoia.


    The previous encounters had truly left a mark on him.


    Just like what happened earlier. He had woken up as he felt cold and thought that a beast had been eyeing him once more. However, after checking for a while, he realized that he was being paranoid due to his earlier encounters.


    Realizing that did not help him resolve the trauma, though.


    This was already the fifth time that he had woken himself up due to it, and every time, he would feel as if he was being stared at by some beast, only to find out that there was nothing around him.


    He had considered summoning Spot during the second time but decided against it after considering that he was still recuperating inside the grimoire and that it would just be a waste of Spiritual Energy if there was indeed no beast.


    In the end, he closed his eyes to meditate, only to wake himself up midway, making his spiritual energy recovery aborious and exhausting endeavor.


    With that happening to him, Lucas did not know if he should be happy or not.


    However, he persevered and managed to recover a total of twenty Spiritual Energy in the end of it. That at least was worthy enough for him to celebrate.


    Unfortunately, such celebrations could only be done during peaceful times.


    This time, however, was not as peaceful as it seemed.


    As Lucas checked his grimoire and the state of Spot, the feeling of coldness washed over him once more.


    The surroundings remained still, and the wind had not blown toward him.


    It was strange to feel cold all of a sudden with no apparent reason.


    Setting his grimoire aside, Lucas looked around his surroundings once more, trying to discern if anything had changed.


    After a while, he frowned, not discovering anything in front. Enjoy exclusive chapters from empire


    Just then, Lucas thought of something.


    ''Behind?''


    Behind him was the Boundary Fog. Theoretically, no beast should be able toe from there, and hence he would not have to worry about his back.


    ''Theoretically¡­''


    Lucas grimaced as he slowly turned around. His right hand had already tapped on his grimoire, ready to summon Spot, while the other was gripping the Armadon Tonfa, ready to defend or strike whatever may assault him.


    However, a minute had passed and all remained the same.


    There was no beast hiding in the fog, much less one that tried to attack him.


    The Boundary Fog was still how it used to be.


    White, steady, impregnable, and at the same time, harrowing.


    At least, that was what Lucas thought before he discovered something unusual.


    The Boundary Fog¡­ it had already reached him.


    The white fog, still intangible and inanimate, had somehow managed to crawl toward him.


    Its edge, which was supposed to be at least two yards away from him, had somehow begun to embrace his body.


    As if it wanted to devour him whole, the steady and intangible fog seemed toe alive and resembled life-like tentacles that were slowly pulling him toward its midst, wanting to devour him whole.


    Lucas'' eyes widened in horror and apprehension.


    Without wasting any more time, he bolted out of the fog''s reach and only stopped a few yards away.


    The Boundary Fog seemed to have extended out, trying to pull him back, or at least, make him stay.


    Lucas felt stifled as he shivered in horror and fright.


    No wonder he felt cold earlier.


    It turns out to be the fog trying to embrace him from behind.


    This was the kind of embrace he did not want, though.


    Unknowingly, the fog had already reached him and had even extended some tentacles as if to bind him in ce.


    If he was just a few minuteste to the realization, would he have been consumed by the fog, forever to be lost in its midst and without a hope to return?


    Just the mere thought of it made him take a few steps back.


    Now, his apprehension toward the inanimate fog became even more elevated than it usually was.


    Wait, was it even inanimate to begin with?


    What if it''s actually alive? A beast, of some sort?


    ''No way¡­'' Lucas scowled at the thought of it.


    As he observed further, he sighed in relief upon seeing that it does not seem to be the case.


    The Boundary Fog was truly inanimate; at least, that was how Lucas saw it.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Although he could not determine what it truly was, it could not be denied that it had indeed moved from its usual ce and tried to embrace him a while ago.


    In the meantime, Lucas wanted to believe it was a living thing, even if the documents say otherwise.


    Looking at the Boundary Fog, he observed that it seemed to have stopped in ce once again. If Lucas had not maintained a safe distance away from it when he began to meditate, he might have thought that it had always been there and had not moved closer to him while he was in a state of meditation.


    Thinking back, perhaps he had not been paranoid earlier. It might have been his sense of danger warning him about the fog''s danger. However, due to the documents he read about it, he neglected the thought that it might be able to harm him proactively and hence had unconsciously neglected its danger.


    Not wanting to stay near the harrowing fog any longer, Lucas once again pondered where he should go.


    The White Stone Cliff was a no-go. The ce adjacent to it was where the bushy field was, and after that was where the beast that had chased him resided. To their side was the Boundary Fog, and the other side was the overflowing river that separated the outer and the core area of the dungeon, where even stronger beasts dwell.


    For a moment, Lucas did not know where to go.


    His original n had been to move toward the Ember Ant area just after the bushy field. However, since that beast was there, he decided to retreat and recuperate near the Boundary Fog. After recovering some of his spiritual energy, he would then travel alongside the Boundary Fog and eventually reach the Safe Area.


    Although he would still be technically returning from the same direction of the White Stone Cliff area that way, it was at least better than returning from there directly. And much safer if he continued toward the Ember Ant area, where that beast was waiting for him among those trees¡ªat least that was how it was supposed to be.


    But now¡­


    ''Damn it... Where should I go?''


    No matter where he goes, there would be danger.


    Lucas looked up and saw nothing but darkness.


    Morning was still far from over.


    In these hours, the beasts were even more active than they were during the day.


    The Clip w Spider was like that; the Blood-Eyed Mole was the same; that beast on the tree, as well as the Boundary Fog that was supposed to be inanimate, had turned out to be able to move and had even tried to consume him.


    Among all of them, the one that contained the most danger was the Boundary Fog. However, among all of them, it also seemed to be the least dangerous due to its slow nature.


    It might feel harrowing and frightening, but by the way it was moving, Lucas could easily avoid it. Of course, if it could only move that slowly and was not just pretending to make him lower his guard.


    Since this was his first time encountering such a thing, he did not know if it could still move even faster.


    The others contained less danger than it, but all of the danger they contained was immediate and could kill him at any given time if he was not careful¡ªthat he was sure of.


    After a while, Lucas gritted his teeth and finally decided to go with the original n.


    Go to the Ember Ant Area and exit from there to reach the Safe Area.


    As for that beast, Lucas decided to let Spot confront and kill it.


    ''Spot, the spotlight is yours, buddy!''

 Chapter 65 Fight

    Seeing Spot appear in front of him, a visible relief could be seen washing over Lucas'' face.


    Woof!


    Hearing that, Lucas smiled and replied, "Yeah, it''s good to see you too, bud."


    Spot now looked energetic and was no longer as exhausted as he used to earlier. Although there were still minor wounds around his legs, it was negligible and had already begun to close. It seems that not summoning Spot earlier has been the best choice; otherwise, Spot would have not rested enough and would not be as energetic as he was now.


    Woof!


    As if realizing that they were in a perilous situation, Spot did not waste any more time as he ran forward.


    "Alright, do what you see fit."


    Lucas sighed and followed behind him, maintaining a distance of no less than four yards. Just like Spot, he also followed with extra caution, knowing full well that most beasts were active during the night.


    Now, back in the bushy area, Spot continued with great speed ahead, with Lucas following behind him.


    The next moment, Blood Spikes suddenly rose underneath where Spot was running.


    However, instead of getting skewered, Spot dodged the Blood Spike urately as his w sharpened and elongated a little as he swiped it toward the Blood-Eyed Mole hiding in the distance.


    The Blood-Eyed Mole barked in pain as blood rose out of it.


    Spot did not stop his assault as he continued to attack the Blood-Eyed Mole with all his might.


    When the Blood-Eyed Mole died and disintegrated into specks of light, Spot had already begun to run forward once more.


    Following behind, Lucas was unable to react to what he just saw.


    Spot, in his Gentle Dog form, actually managed to defeat an Iron Grade-Iron Star 1 Blood-Eyed Mole?


    Granted that Spot was already at Iron Star 3 right now, it should just be normal for him to defeat those of lower rank than him.


    However, the problem about it was that Spot was merely an Unranked Grade, and his Gentle Dog form was not a form suitable for battle.


    It was called Gentle Dog for a reason after all, as it was not supposed to fight, much less be good with it.


    ''Is he being influenced by the Hellhound Manifestation form?'' Lucas thought upon seeing that his Gentle Dog could now fight in such a wless manner.


    Considering how ferocious Spot was during its Hellhound form, it would be strange if it did not learn a thing or two while he was at it.


    As Spot moved forward brazenly, they encountered more and more Blood-Eyed Mole for some reason.


    Earlier, he had only encountered one when he was traversing this area. But now, there were a lot of them all of a sudden.


    He did not know it was just some coincidence, but he did not like such coincidences at all.


    Fortunately, Spot was already here, so their journey could still be considered smooth, to say the least.


    The number of Blood-Eyed Mole they encountered already totaled to eleven. The number of experience points, though, paled inparison to the effort that Spot put in to kill them.


    In total, he only received 12.43 experience points, while his personal kill earlier only awarded him 1.13 experience points.


    And to think that he almost died fighting that Blood-Eyed Mole, and the reward was just a meager 1.13 experience points.


    Lucas felt like crying as he inspected the logs of his grimoire while Spot led the way forward.


    The only good thing about this, though, was that he was now close to ranking up again.


    The degree of advancements was staggering, to say the least. However, the amount of danger that he encountered to reach such speed was also appalling.


    One could say that it was just bnced, just like how it was supposed to be.


    A momentter, Lucas realized that Spot had already stopped.


    Recovering his breath a little, Spot began to bark at one branch of the tree.


    ''So, you''ve been waiting for me? What a bastard!'' Lucas cursed as he saw one of the branches bending down due to the beast''s weight.


    As if responding to him, the leaves of that branch shook as a beast''s head emerged from it.


    Staring at Lucas, the beast hissed threateningly as its body began to move.


    In such a distance, Lucas could only vaguely tell what kind of beast it was due to the silhouette.


    However, that was all that it took for him to discover what kind of beast it was as well.


    ''Indeed, it''s indeed the Grotesque Chimp.''


    The Grotesque Chimp was a horrible beast of Iron Grade-Iron Star 6 that dwells in the forests of the Outer Area.


    Unlike the others, it usually does not live or be seen in a fixed ce. Instead, it could be said it was all over the forest of the outer area. Sometimes such a beast would be sighted in White Stone Cliff, in the Ember Ant''s area, and even in the Giant Dark Forest.


    Being an Iron Star 6, it could be said that it was one of the most dangerous beasts one would find in the Outer Area, much like the Cliff Borne Ram. However,pared to the Cliff Borne Ram, the Grotesque Chimp was more dangerous in a sense that it could be anywhere and everywhere it liked with no fixed location.


    It could not be traced, proactively hunted, and could only be chanced upon. Your adventure continues at empire


    It was also recorded that this beast disliked setting foot innd and had always been seen jumping from one branch to another. Once it saw a prey, it would not attack it immediately but instead try to scare or subject them to horrible things before ultimately killing them.


    In short, it liked to torture its victim.


    And as luck, or bad luck may have it, Lucas somehow encountered this horrible beast of all people that frequented the dungeon.


    Fortunately, Spot was already here.


    Although he still did not know if Spot was able to fight it, they could still retreat away from the trees and escape from its maw. If it came to that, Lucas would have no other choice but to return to the Boundary Fog and return to the Safe Area from there, even if it mayplicate some things.


    However, Spot was not thinking the same.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His body grew tremendously as he assumed his Hellhound Manifestation form.


    There were some warrines in his eyes, but most were still filled with battle intent and the desire to fight and even kill the beast that was hiding in the tree branch.


    In his Hellhound Manifestation form, it seemed as if Spot did not think too highly of the grotesque beast. Treating it as nothing but a mere fly that it could swat easily.


    Perhaps the Hellhound Manifestation form with its unruly nature and enhanced strength just made Spot arrogant, but who cares about arrogance now?


    If he could fight and back the arrogance up, would it even matter in the end?


    "Go!"


    Lucas ordered with an unhurried tone; his pale face, however, betrayed the thought that was lingering in his mind as he made the order.


    Hearing his order, Spot did not waste any more time as he jumped toward the beast.


    With his strength, it only took him one simple leap to reach the branch where the Grotesque Chimp was perching on. His ws sharpened and elongated in mid-air as he swiped them toward the fiend.


    The Grotesque Chimp, sensing the danger from the strike, chose to dodge by jumping toward another branch in a quick manner.


    Spot''s ws missed their targetpletely as Grotesque Chimpnded on another branch.


    At that moment, Lucas finally saw the full appearance of the Grotesque Chimp. It was an appearance that he would not be able to forget soon.


    Although he had already seen its appearance in the images of the documents he read before, seeing it in person still produced the same feeling as seeing it in person.


    Its body was shaped like an overgrown infant. It has a massive head, almost twice the size of its body. Two long arms, unusually muscr, could be seen dangling to its side. Its two legs, however, in contrast to its two arms, were quite small and miniature. Its feet that resembled oversize hands gripped the branches tightly, holding it in ce.


    As the Grotesque Chimpnded in the branch, it turned around and looked at Spot with a chilling killing intent behind its furiously red eyes.


    At the next moment, its maw opened wide, into four parts, revealing its hideously lined razor-sharp teeth hidden from within. Like a hideous flower that could devour anything, the Grotesque Chimp released a shrill cry that pierced Lucas and Spot''s ears.


    Lucas covered his ears as he grimaced in pain.


    Spot, however, was a little better. He only shook his head for a moment before he jumped toward the Grotesque Chimp.


    Still screaming, the Grotesque Chimp was a split secondte and was unable to react to his strike in time.


    Spot''s ws descended like a sharp knife toward its chest.


    Blood flowed out like a fountain. The Grotesque Chimp''s eyes widened in anger and rage as one of its arms smashed toward Spot.


    Boom!


    Spot''s fell to the ground with a thud. True to their sizes and looks, the arms of the Grotesque Chimp were indeed strong and heavy. Spot immediately stood up from the ground and once again jumped toward the Grotesque Chimp with his elongated ws.


    The Grotesque Chimp responded and met him in mid-air with its two arms smashing toward Spot.


    However, at thest second, Spot suddenly paused in mid-air. As it turns out, he did not truly jump but just hopped a little to deceive the chimp.


    It was just a feint to make the Grotesque Chimp move.


    His n might be different, but it still achieved the same result. The Grotesque Chimp was still descending down, but Spot had alreadynded in all four. Stepping to the side, Spot once again lunged toward the Grotesque Chimp.


    This time, it was him who had the edge as they met in mid-air.

 Chapter 66 Grotesque Chimp

    Using his massive body, Spot bumped into the Grotesque Chimp that was still in mid-air.


    Left with no support, the Grotesque Chimp had no other choice but to brace for the impact that would follow.


    However, the Grotesque Chimp would not simply let Spot do as he wished.


    As both their bodies collided, the Grotesque Chimp finally had the perfect thing to make as a support to move its body around.


    Still in mid-air, the Grotesque Chimp raised one of its massive arms and smashed it toward Spot''s shoulder.


    Spot growled in pain but still continued with his initial n.


    The impact of the collision caused the body of the Grotesque Chimp to be thrown a few yards away.


    The Grotesque Chimpnded on the ground with a thud; its already hideous face grew even more ferocious as it stared at Spot with resentment.


    With its tiny prehensile feet, the Grotesque Chimp had always abhorred stepping on the ground. It had always been seen up in the trees, evolving around its survival. All its life has been above the trees, and it has survived, killed, and escaped with the help of one.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Now forced out of its ''natural habitat'', the Grotesque Chimp stared at Spot with eyes full of resentment and rage.


    Its hideously shaped mouth was parted into four parts, revealing the razor-sharp teeth within, as the shrill scream once again resounded in the surroundings.


    As it screamed, it also lunged toward Spot, who had already lunged toward it as well.


    Lucas, on the other hand, dropped to the ground, his hands covering his ears in pain.


    He had heard about this nasty skill of the Grotesque Chimp, but he had never thought that it was this potent.


    If used properly during a battle, the Grotesque Chimp could potentially render its opponent immobilized and take advantage of such gaps to attack.


    Although Lucas was quite affected by its scream, Spot in his Hellhound Manifestation form does not seem to care about it too much. Or perhaps he was also affected but has endured it better than Lucas did.


    As he covered his ears, Lucas did not forget to observe the battle as well.


    During the first sh, he already determined that Spot was capable of fighting the Grotesque Chimp in his Hellhound form.


    Although the fight was no longer instantaneous, Lucas was still d about such a result already.


    And judging from the fight that was currently happening right in front of his eyes, Lucas felt that Spot could still do much more in this form of his.


    The Hellhound Manifestation was just a transformation skill, after all. No matter how powerful it was, it would still be a useless skill if the user could not realize its full potential.


    Just like when Spot first fought using the Hellhound Manifestation form.


    He was not able to use all of his abilities well, and he seemed to be just a beast that would attack using brute force. Just using his paws, smashing them toward his enemies, and using his jaw to bite off a chunk of flesh from his enemies. In short, it was a primitive and barbaric way of fighting.


    However, it was alright. Ever since then, Spot had already grown, in both strength and technique.


    He had already be more battle-hardened and had already learned a lot of tricks.


    Lucas even noted that in his Hellhound Manifestation form, Spot was able to easily listen and understand his orders. In his Hellhound Manifestation form, it seemed easy for him to learn new things, battlewise¡ªto be precise.


    Hence, the reason why Lucas thought that Spot could still be even stronger and fight creatures stronger than the Grotesque Chimp, even if the two of them were barely fighting to a draw at this moment.


    Spot and the Grotesque Chimp met in the middle once more.


    The Grotesque Chimp was proven to be a horrible beast that should not be underestimated. Although no longer in its primary and advantageous habitat, it was still able to fight Spot head on with its pure strength.


    Spot''s paw met with its fist; the collision created a dull sound as the two retreated from the impact. Spot took a single step back, while the Grotesque Chimp was thrown a few yards away before recovering its footing.


    It seemed that although the two were at an impasse, in terms of pure strength, Spot had the upper hand.


    The Grotesque Chimp was not to be trifled either. The resentment in its eyes continued to grow. The mere thought of it stepping on the ground because of its enemy seemed to have upied all of its little mind.


    As the two shed once more, something finally changed.


    Lucas clenched his fist in excitement as he saw the development of the battle.


    It was because at this moment, Spot finally used Gentle Gaze after the Grotesque Chimp tried to stare at his eyes from a close distance.


    ''Yes! Good job, Spot!''


    Since the Gentle Gaze could only work if the target saw the user''s eyes, Spot had been preparing to use it all this while.


    With that, the Grotesque Chimp froze in ce. It entered a trance, as its red eyes turned cloudy for a brief moment before it returned to its previous deep red color.


    However, that brief moment was all it took for Spot to connect an attack so dreadful that even the Grotesque Chimp released its scream skill by ident.


    It has no effect on Spot, though.


    And at this moment, Spot''s jaw and teeth had already sunk deep into the chimp''s skull. At the same time, his ws had furiously struck its already injured chest.


    With the Grotesque Chimp turning defenseless due to the Gentle Gaze and with how forceful and cruel Spot was with his actions, the Grotesque Chimp was torn into pieces¡ªliterally¡ªby Spot''s dreadful ws.


    The scream of the Grotesque Chimp was cut off abruptly. Its eyes turned dull as its body¡ªthe pieces¡ªbegan to slide down from Spot''s ws. Before they couldnd on the ground, though, they had already turned into particles of light, signifying its death.


    Lucas heaved a sigh of relief and then smiled in delight¡ªfor a lot of reasons. Find your next adventure on empire


    Lucas walked toward Spot and stroked his smooth ck fur. "Good job, Spot! Unfortunately, I don''t have any Moonlit Bone left to reward you, for now, at least."


    He inspected Spot and saw some injuries around his front legs, especially his paws. Just as usual, all of them were just minor wounds¡ªbruises, in fact¡ªbut added together could still ache a lot.


    Scuh injuries, though, could be healed inside the grimoire in mere minutes, so Lucas was not particrly worried about them. Spot seemed to still be full of energy, even though it had just fought a bitter battle with the Grotesque Chimp.


    On the other hand, the battle with the Grotesque Chimp might have seemed long, but it actually did not take more than three minutes, including the moment they first shed.


    "For now, though, let''s get out of this ce!"


    Woof!


    As if agreeing to his sentiments, Spot barked and allowed Lucas to jump on his back.


    The battle earlier might have already attracted unwanted attention, so Lucas wanted to leave this ce as soon as possible.


    Without the Grotesque Chimp blocking the way, Lucas could finally move forward, this time with Spot by his side.


    When the two of them stopped a momentter, they were already in the middle of the forest that Lucas was a little familiar with.


    This forest was the forest where the Ember Ants had built their nest.


    Lucas had never thought that he would feel happy upon arriving in this ce after that incident on the first day.


    With a smile, he got off Spot''s back and allowed him to transform back into his Gentle Dog form, allowing him to rest. Contrary to his previous actions, he did not summon him back to the grimoire, though. Instead, he allowed him to stay by his side as he found a safe spot to sit.


    Now, it was time to recover Spiritual Energy, again. This time, though, Spot was on his side to guard him.


    It made him feel at ease, to say the least.


    By the time Spot reaches his summoning time limit, Lucas would likely have already recovered the Spiritual Energy he used earlier to summon him. For that, Lucas was also prepared to continue even longer, letting Spot stay by his side, consuming Spiritual Energy to summon him again as he continues to recover.


    That way, he might lose 10 Spiritual Energy per thirty minutes, but if he could continue to meditate with no interruption, he should be able to recover at least twenty-five of them. Of course, this would only be possible if he was not interrupted.


    Fortunately, luck seemed to have favored him this time around.


    Lucas meditated peacefully and without interruption that he forgot the time. He did not know how long he had meditated for, but when he woke up from it, his surroundings had already started to turn bright.


    Unknowingly, it was already morning.


    ncing at his full Spiritual Energy reserve, and with Spot by his side, Lucas felt safer than ever before.


    In fact, even if he returned from the White Stone Cliff this time around, he did not think that those seniors would suspect that it was him who killed the restrained Cliff Borne Ram.


    Of course, just to be safe, he would still return from the Ember Ant''s area.


    Preparing to do just that, Lucas stood up from his spot and felt his legs turning numb from sitting too long in the same position.


    It only took him a moment to recover, though, so everything was fine. He picked up Spot from the ground and put him above his head.


    Just as he was about to take a step forward, Lucas suddenly heard the sound of pping wings behind him.

 Chapter 67 Bird?

    His attention was immediately attracted by the sound of pping wings. He turned his head around and saw the source of it a few yards away.


    Perched over a branch of a huge tree, a creature resembling a bird the size of his torso stared at Lucas and Spot with great interest.


    The bird, or whatever it was, has the face of a cat but with a bodyposition akin to a bird. It has enormous wings that epass and cover its whole body. Its gray feathers that seemed sullied and dirty made it seem like it was something unholy and out of this world.


    Its piercing eyes, the size of Lucas'' fist, almost covered all its cat-like face. Those eyes, pitched ck in color, stared at Lucas and Spot with a piercing gaze.


    Seeing the creature, Lucas and even Spot, froze for a moment.


    This was the first time he had seen such a beast, and he knew full well that this kind of beast does not exist inside this dungeon, at least locally.


    Almost in an instant, Lucas realized that this beast was someone''s summon.


    Who that someone was, Lucas did not know, and he did not want to find out who.


    One thing was certain, though: whoever it was that owned this beast, they had already discovered his existence, and through the eye of the beast, might be observing right now.


    Normally, the next course of action for him was just to remain still and act as if nothing had happened.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    After all, he did not know the owner of the beast, and the beast owner did not know him either. There were no connections, and there were no grievances between the parties as well, so it should only be normal that he does nothing to not attract any attention.


    However, at this moment, as he stared at the bird, and the bird stared at him back, Lucas could not help but take a voluntary step back. Continue reading at empire


    Perhaps it was because of what he had just experienced a few hours ago¡ªhis realizations as well as the fear of being discovered by those terrible seniors¡ªthat Lucas''s mind was in disarray as the beast looked at him, now with dead eyes.


    Even though it was not the normal course of action¡ªand he knew of it¡ªhis mind still kept on screaming for him to just abandon caution and just run.


    RUN!


    RUN!


    RUN!


    His mind kept on telling him to run.


    Unfortunately, his body did not listen.


    The moment his eyes locked with the beast''s eyes, his body was already frozen in ce.


    Terror and dread filled him to the core. His body froze, with no hope of escape.


    At the next moment, the bird-like beast unfolded its gray and sullied wings. With a wingspan of at least five yards, the beast dove toward Lucas at terrible speed with just one p of its massive wings.


    As his mind and body were now ovee with terror and grief, Lucas could do nothing other than wait for his demise.


    At least, that was how it was supposed to be.


    Just then, an unassuming dog that was perching over Lucas'' head suddenly lunged forward.


    The dog''s body grew in size almost in an instant, its eyes showing intense ferocity and might as it met the bird beast in front.


    Boom!


    A strong and violent collision ensued. Two ws¡ªof different kinds¡ªmet in midair. The impact was nothing short of harrowing.


    However, in the next moment, an unbelievable scene unfolded in front of Lucas'' eyes. The dog, who he was most proud of in terms of raw strength and power and was twice the size of the bird beast, actually lost in the contest of strength.


    The Gentle Dog, Spot''s body was thrown backward with unstoppable force.


    And behind him, Lucas bore the full brunt of it.


    Boom!


    For a moment, Lucas felt as if his whole body was struck by a sledgehammer. No, the force he received was greater than that as Spot''s body smashed into his.


    His eyes widened in terror and even more grief.


    Fortunately, the grim event also brought sce in an unexpected way. For better or worse, woken up by pain, Lucas finally regained control of his body.


    Using that opportunity, he twisted his body forcefully and rolled backward the moment hended on the ground a few yards away. He grimaced in pain as the wounds on his back began to ache after that roll.


    Spot was also not idle. The moment Lucas regained control of his body, Spot had already moved out of the way, as if afraid of crushing his own master with his own weight. As he took a few steps back to recover his bearing, Spot snarled at the bird-like beast with rage and killing intent apparent in his eyes.


    Lucas, whose mind still kept on telling him to run, did just that¡ªpartially, to be precise.


    As a summoner, he could not be too far away from his own summon.


    He took a few steps back with his eyes and mind still fixed on Spot and the bird that attacked him all of a sudden.


    Although he did not know the reason why the bird had done so, Lucas could vaguely tell that this was rted to what he had discovered and done a few hours ago.


    It seems that for some reason, those seniors already knew of what he had done and that he was the one who did it.


    Now, they were on his tail and had now sent this bird to finish him off, for better or worse.


    And that was exactly why Lucas could not leave. At least, not that easily.


    The next moment, Spot had already lunged toward the bird fearlessly. His w elongated and sharpened as his ferocious eyes stared at the bird hatefully, waiting for the correct moment and timing to use the Gentle Gaze toward the enemy.


    As he lunged forward, though, Lucas'' heart was slowly ovee with dread and apprehension.


    It was because, at this time, he did not think that Spot had a high chance of winning over his opponent.


    From the initial sh earlier alone, Spot was already at a disadvantage.


    This bird beast''s rank must be quite high.


    Iron Star 7? Or perhaps Iron Star 8? What if it was an Iron Star 9?


    What about its grade?


    How strong was it exactly?


    Lucas'' mind was full of such thoughts as he looked at the bird-like beast grimly.


    Weighing their chances, Lucas did not feel too optimistic about their chances of winning.


    However, do they even have another choice?


    Even running or escaping seemed to be a little hopeless as the opponent possessed speed that was greatly superior to Spot, not to mention its ability to fly at that. In terms of the game of pursuit, Lucas did not think they would win at all.


    That was also the reason why he did not stop Spot from taking action.


    He, on the other hand, kept on retreating and extracting himself away from the battle. His body might be quite strong and well-trained, but that was onlypared to high school students and even adults.


    If bodies like his could withstand the attack of a beast, perhaps humanity would not have retreated to one corner of the world during those harrowing times.


    And not to mention the uing injuries he might receive if he did not extricate away from their battle, his previous ones, and even the injuries he received from the impact earlier were already taking a toll on him.


    Clutching his chest in pain, Lucas clenched his fist and prayed for Spot to win.


    No, he did not just pray; if an opportunity presented itself, he would not mind helping Spot.


    As he thought so, he took the Armadon Tonfa from his backpack¡ªwhich was now heavily damaged¡ªand gripped it tightly over his hands.


    At this moment, Spot and the bird-like beast shed once again.


    True to what Lucas perceived earlier, the beast truly had a huge advantage over Spot. Not only could it fly, it even has an equally terrible speed and strength, not to mention its sharp talons that resembled death sickles ready to reap the lives of its enemies.


    As the bird beast swooped down, Spot did something unexpected once again.


    Instead of lunging forward to meet it in mid-air and sh their ws once more, Spot instead decided to crouch down and swipe his sharpened ws upwards.


    The action might be more or less the same, buting from a different angle, the attack finallynded on the bird''s body. In exchange, though, Spot''s shoulder was also shed by the sickle-like talons of the bird beast.


    Spot growled in pain, but the bird beast seemed to offer no reaction.


    Blood was fussing out of their bodies; the injuries they sustained grew as seconds and even minutes passed by.


    Even Lucas himself did not think that the battle wouldst this long.


    This time, he had not even underestimated Spot and had even overestimated him by a huge margin, but it seems that his overestimation was still not enough.


    As for how powerful Spot truly was in that form, Lucas does not dare to assume any more.


    In this battle, though, it was apparent that Spot was on the losing end.


    In terms of skill, even the beast was a little ahead of him. The only few times that Spot had been able to injure his adversary was by giving it a surprise by doing something unconventional.


    Unfortunately, every time he seeded in doing so, an injury or wound would also find itself in Spot''s body.


    At the next moment, the two suddenly paused as their eyes finally locked in mid-air.


    The opportunity had finally presented itself.


    The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and


    continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

 Chapter 68 Opportunities

    The opportunity presented itself.


    However, at the same moment it was an opportunity for Spot to use Gentle Gaze; it was also the same for the bird-like beast.


    Lucas felt terror freezing his body and making his mind scream danger when he met the gaze of the bird beast earlier.


    From that, one could immediately guess that it was also using an ocr skill that could somehow make its target feel terror or dread so vast that their body can literally freeze.


    In a sense, it was the same skill as that of Gentle Gaze¡ªcast in Hellhound Manifestation form¡ªonly the bird''s skill brought more dread towards its enemypared to Gentle Gaze, which was focused on entrancing the enemy to immobilize them.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Both skills more or less achieved the same result, but each was done in a different manner.


    And it was also because of that fact that the two beasts gazing at each other produced two different kinds of reactions as they simultaneously used their own version of the ocr skill the moment the opportunity presented itself to them.


    On one side, struck by the Gentle Gaze, the bird, which seemed to produce no emotion earlier, visibly paused and became tranced. Its pitch ck, deadpan eyes constricted as its menacing expression somewhat calmed down. Its whole body, though, froze in ce, unable to move.


    On the other side, Spot was also struck by the bird''s ocr skill. Contrary to what the bird was experiencing, Spot''s expression turned serious. His snarl became subdued as his face turned somewhat confused. His menacing eyes were constricting violently, as if he were experiencing a horrible ordeal inside his mind. His whole body also frozen in ce, unable to move.


    At the next moment, though, the deadlock between the two was finally broken.


    The first to recover from the trance was Spot. His whole body shook as his once confused expression was reced by cold murderous intent.


    The bird beast, on the other hand, simply returned to its previous deadpan expression.


    Recovering from the slight impasse, the two once again shed with their own versions of menacing ws.


    Lucas, on the other hand, stared at both of them with a grim face.


    Although the situation might have turned in their favor due to Spot being able to match the high-ranked beast, the situation was actually the opposite if one considered a lot of things.


    First, Spot''s transformation ability was limited. Once the limit was up, he would forcefully return to his weak and small original form¡ªthe Gentle Dog form. Not to mention that his stamina, although quite vast in the Hellhound form, was not actually endless. Even at this moment, just five minutes into the battle, Spot had already shown signs of weariness.


    In each of their shes, Spot had always put his very best and all strength¡ªjust to evenly match the strength of his opponent. The injuries he sustained in each sh also grew dense, and at this moment Spot''s body was already full of wounds and blood.


    The same could be said toward the bird beast, though. Like Spot, it had also sustained some injuries during their recent shes. Like Spot, though, it was also bleeding profusely from the w marks that Spot had gifted.


    What was different however was the fact that it seemed to have been able to ignore the pain the injuries brought to it¡ªif it felt pain to begin with¡ªand was still fighting as ferociously as before.


    This, however, was not what concerned Lucas the most.


    His real concern stems from the fact that, up until now, the master of the beast was still nowhere in sight.


    From the information he knew, a contracted beast could not stray too far from its master. That was also the general rule that everyone knows. However, ording to another article he once read before, the distance that the two could exist actually differed from person to person.


    Just like how the grimoire calctes the experience points gained from a battle through the contribution system, the distance could also be calcted, but how to do it has never been found yet.


    One thing that the author was certain of, though, was the fact that the distance would be increased each time a summoner''s rank was increased.


    Five minutes had already passed since the arrival of the beast, and yet its master was still nowhere in sight.


    It might simply be because he or she did not want toe out. But the more obvious and logical exnation should be that he or she was extremely far away from the current location.


    And that was where the problem lies for Lucas.


    The greater the distance, the more powerful the beast''s master would be, which also indirectly means that he or she might have more summons than Lucas could imagine.


    Now that the battle was at an impasse and none of the two seemed to be able to finish each other in a short amount of time, the best possible action should be to send reinforcements, or better yet,e here themselves.


    At least, that was how Lucas would have done it and what any normal summoner would have done.


    And if that happened...


    ''Well, I''ll be truly doomed!''


    Earlier, Lucas had more or less determined that he would not be able to escape the bird''s grasp.


    After Spot fought with it, evening to a draw, hope was reignited in his heart as he felt that there might be a chance to escape, or perhaps even y the bird beast.


    He might not receive experience points for ying it due to it being someone''s contracted beast, but escaping the predicament would have be the most desirable reward that he could hope for.


    The thought of its mastering or sending reinforcement for it, however, poured cold water into his hopeful thoughts.


    ''Damn it! I need to do something before its reinforcement arrives!''


    Lucas thought desperately.


    The deadlock between the two beasts was still going on. Opportunities after opportunities presented themselves, but the two seemed to be holding back their ocr skill due to what happened earlier.


    Lucas looked around as he gripped the Armadon Tonfa tightly. He observed his surroundings as well as the ongoing battle, trying to think of something that would be of use for Spot.


    The light of the morning sun¡ªor wherever the light wasing from¡ªshone over his ragged face.


    Like the two beasts fighting a few yards away from him, Lucas was also waiting and searching for an opportunity. His help might just provide little effect, but it was the little things that mattered in the grand scheme of things after all.


    As he could not recklessly join the fight of the two ferocious beasts that could sh him into pieces in a moment''s notice, Lucas could only wait patiently to the side.


    It was a bit ironic that he wanted to enter the battle now, when he was desperately trying to extricate himself from it just a moment earlier.


    The technicalities do not bother Lucas anymore, though.


    At this moment, his whole body and mind were focused on the battle, analyzing and imagining countless scenarios in which he would be able to enter the battle in the most opportune time avable.


    And just then, the opportunity that he had been looking for finally presented itself.


    ''There!''


    Lucas turned to look in one direction and sprint toward it as fast as he could. His eyes showed caution but also a firm determination. His gaze left the battling duo as he moved to a location obscured from their view. He had also moved right when the bird beast turned its head away from him.


    Ignoring the sh of the duo, Lucas hid himself in one boulder as he mentally ordered Spot to bring the battle over. Since he could enter the battle willingly, Lucas decided to bring the battle over and let it flow toward him instead.


    Obscured from the bird beast''s view, Lucas patiently waited as Spot brought their battle over toward his location.


    The training they had done when cleaning the beast cage seemed to have produced some results. Due to his fear of being drenched with water and slumping over to the beast''s feces, Spot had learned to dodge the iing attacks aimed toward it splendidly. At the same time, he also managed to train his footwork, afraid of stepping over the beast feces.


    That same footwork he had learned was now being used as he moved around to evade the sharp talons of the bird beast. It was also that same footwork that allowed Spot to slowly bring the battler toward where Lucas was hiding.


    Lucas felt his heart tighten as the duo gradually came close toward his location with great fanfare. Suppressing his tumultuous thoughts, Lucas reversed his grip with the tonfa¡ªcreating more reach¡ªas he waited for the distance to shorten even more.


    And just then, Spotnded three yards away from where he was hiding.


    The bird beast followed suit and swopped down toward Spot''s head, intending to pierce his eyes with its sharp talons.


    ''Now!''


    Lucas ordered mentally and ordered Spot to do something unconventional and unexpected once more.


    As the sharp talon came close, Spot did not bother to move an inch but instead stared at the bird''s eyes.


    At the next moment, he used Gentle Gaze, prompting the bird beast to halt its attack and turn its head away in a hurry to avoid Spot''s ocr skill.


    That action created the opportunity for Lucas to butt in. The bird beast, by halting its attack midway to avoid Spot''s ocr skill, lost its bnce and began swerving to the side.


    Having created his own opportunity, Lucas finally emerged in the boulder where he had hidden himself.


    The bird beast that was swerving toward him was unable to react as the Armadon Tonfa fell toward its head.


    The bird beast desperately tried to evade the strike, and indeed it seeded in doing so. It avoided Lucas'' strike as it turned toward him the moment itnded on the ground.


    And at that exact moment, even before the bird could do anything, Lucas had already activated his own version of Gentle Gaze.


    The bird beast lost its usual demeanor, but only for a split second.


    However, that split second of trance was all Spot needed tond a solid strike.


    It was a very solid strike indeed.


    His menacing ws finallynded themselves on the decaying feathers and wings of the bird beast.


    As the blood sttered, the bird beast desperately tried to get away. However, what met its desperate struggle was Lucas'' Armadon Tonfa that he aimed toward the bird beast''s head.


    Swiping down his ws toward its neck, Spot nned to finish the bird in that onest strike.


    As his ws descended, terror suddenly overtook Lucas'' mind.


    As he nced down, he btedly realized that one of his feet had somehow gotten entangled by long and thick vines.

 Chapter 69 Nothing Could Stop It

    Vines as thick as an infant''s arm slowly crawled their way toward Lucas'' thigh.


    His face paled as he tried to pull his feet out of their way, but it was to no avail.


    Lucas had always been proud of his strength¡ªin terms of mundane standards. However, it was only at this moment that he realized how insignificant it was¡ªtruly¡ªin the grand scheme of things.


    In such an important time, his strength, which he was so proud of, could not even rip off the vines that it had entangled to.


    As he stared at the vines, he could not help but notice that they were moving upward. Now, they had already reached his thigh, and soon, they would eventually reach his torso. The vines moved with intellect, as if they wanted to devour him whole.


    With an ashen face, Lucas desperately tried to pull his body away from these vines. At that moment, he also saw the resemnce between these vines as well as the vines that bound the Cliff Borne Ram that he had killed inside that cave.


    ''They''re here!''


    Lucas shivered in fear as he realized that fact a littlete.


    The master of the bird beast, or the reinforcement they had sent, was already here.


    And worse of all, they had already begun to bound him with these vines, without him knowing about it until at thest moment.


    ''Wait. Perhaps Spot would be able to slice them in half.''


    At thought of that, Lucas hurriedly looked up to give Spot the order. However, at that moment, he realized that the same vines coiling around his feet and thighs had already crawled their way toward Spot too.


    The degree of vines that coiled around him seemed even denser and thicker. From the ground, Spot''s hind legs were bound in ce.


    His posture was still the same as earlier, when he was about to deliver the final strike toward the bird beast. Now, that posture was frozen in ce as thick vines coiled around his hind legs, torso, and then toward his front legs that were still raised up in the air, ready to deliver the lethal andst strike.


    Thatst strike, though, was bound to not be delivered.


    Spot wailed in agony and pain. His face contorted, much like Lucas; he also desperately tried to move. To unbound himself out of the vines'' clutches.


    However, it was all to no avail.


    Both the summoner and the summon were helpless against the vines.


    Despair flooded Lucas'' mind. Slowly, but surely, his whole body became immobilized.


    Now, the vines had reached his chest. Thinner vines crawled and coiled around his strong arms, putting them in ce, not allowing them to move, even just an inch.


    The same case was happening to Spot; only the vines that bound him were trembling, as if they would be ripped to shreds in the next moment. However, it did not happen; instead, more vines rose from the ground, wrapping Spot even more, holding him in ce.


    Not being allowed to move, the summoner and the summon slowly sumbed to a vicious struggle to escape.


    "It''s you!"


    Just then, an emotionless voice resounded in Lucas'' ears.


    He did not have to think too much to realize that it was the bird beast''s owner that spoke those words.


    The person gradually came to his view.


    Dark brown hair with deadpan ck eyes, hisplexion pale almostparable to a corpse. He showed no kind of emotion as he walked and then stood beside the bird beast that was still in front of Spot.


    At this point, Lucas'' whole body was already coiled by the vines, except for his neck and head. But feeling the tightness around it, he determined that it would not be for long before they sumbed to the vines'' might as well.


    His eyes were the only part of him that could move at this moment. Through it, he observed the summoner of the bird beast and determined it to be the one called Asher.


    Like before, his face still looked as if it were devoid of any emotion. His pitch-ck eyes looked as if they were lifeless and monotonic.


    His presence here also meant that Lucas was truly done for. With the summoner being here, the might of the bird beast would increase, and not to mention it, the nt-like beast coiling around the arm of Asher seemed to be even equally harrowing and powerfully dreadful.


    Although he felt hopeless, Lucas still harbored the thought of escape.


    However, the question was how.


    What should he do?


    In front of a strong summoner, with two strong beasts, does he even have a chance to escape? Was two beasts even his limit? How strong was Asher exactly? How many contracted beasts does he truly have?


    The more he thought about it, the more depressed Lucas became.


    The more he thought about it, the more dreadful his situation became.


    Was this truly... the end?


    ROAR!


    Just then, a defiant, beastly roar shook the entire surroundings.


    Moving his eyes and perking his ears, Lucas realized that it was Spot who let out such a loud growl that it literally shook his ears and the surroundings.


    Literally in front of Spot''s huge mouth, Asher, the bird beast, as well as the nt beast on Asher''s arm, took the brunt of that bestial roar.


    Even though his face stayed still, Asher still took a step back as he covered his ears with his deathly pale hands.


    Still frozen in ce, hope reignited in Lucas'' eyes once more.


    ''That''s right. Spot is still here!''


    Spot has never been a normal beast, even more so after he received the Hellhound Manifestation skill from the system.


    That roar... doesn''t seem to be a normal one.


    ''Was it a new skill? Did he rank up once more?''


    As much as he wanted to check the logs of his grimoire at this moment, Lucas could not do so due to the vines binding him in ce.


    At the next moment, Lucas felt the grip of the vines loosen. Even though it was just a little bit, it still made him see a glimmer of hope.


    ''Maybe... Maybe there''s still a chance.''


    As the thought rose inside his mind, Lucas saw Asher and his beast, recovering almost in an instant from that bestial roar.


    ''Oh no¡­''


    The emotionless face of Asher finally showed some subtle emotion.


    However, Lucas preferred if he did not show any at all.


    His brows contorted as his eyes red at Spot with visible rage.


    "YOU DARE!"n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    He let out an enrage bellow as he raised and then swiped his hands in mid-air.


    As if directed by a conductor, the vines holding the summoner and the contracted beast in ce seemed to tighten even more with each wave of Asher''s hand.


    Everything happened too quickly.


    The reignited hope dwindled as each moment, each split second, passed like an eternity due to the harrowing pain that Lucas felt.


    The vines tightened their grip. Lucas felt as if he was being squeezed or stepped by a massive elephant. Even breathing was already hard for him.


    His vision focused ahead, his heart trembling in pain as he saw blood oozing out of the vines that coiled around Spot. Along with it were the whimpers and growls of pain that Lucas did not want to hear.


    "Spo¡­ttt!"


    His words were muffled. The vines had already reached his mouth and were slowly covering his eyes.


    Thest thing he saw was a thick and sharp vine raising itself in front of Spot. The sharp point was aimed toward Spot''s head.


    Lucas wailed, or at least he tried to. However, no voice escaped his mouth. In fact, he was not even able to open his mouth anymore.


    At the exact moment his eyes were covered by the vines, Lucas felt a sudden pull behind him.


    As confused as he was, Lucas did not know what was going on until it was alreadyte.


    Somehow, and unknowingly, a small gate¡ªa small dungeon gate¡ªhad already opened behind him.


    It was the gate itself that was pulling him.


    The pull became intense as Lucas felt his body getting pressed by the vines.


    At the next moment, though, the sturdy and thick vines crumbled into multiple pieces.


    Lucas regained his vision as he felt free and out of the vines'' entanglement. However, before he could rejoice, his body, with a forceful jerk, was thrown toward the gate helplessly.


    At one corner of his eyes, he saw Asher''s eyes widening in shock and bewilderment. His hands tried to reach out as vines rose, trying to pull Lucas back. However, the vines disintegrated and fell into pieces once more.


    No matter how sturdy and hard they were when they bound Lucas and Spot in ce, they were as brittle and as fragile as ss toward the force of the gate that was pulling Lucas forcefully.


    Nothing could stop it.


    Lucas'' time inside the dungeon was up, and so he would be rejected and thrown out of the dungeon without a question.


    Nothing could stop it.


    Following right after him was the massive body of Spot that was also being pulled by the same force. The vines that held him in ce also broke into pieces.


    Asher bellowed as he clenched his fist in the air. The vines formed, or at least tried to form, to tangible or taut parts as he desperately tried to reach and pull Lucas and Spot back. But all of it was to no avail.


    And then¡­


    Lucas and Spot disappeared from his sight.

 Chapter 70 Thrown Out

    When a person stayed inside the dungeon for too long, after twenty-four hours, they would be thrown out of the dungeon by the dungeon itself, automatically, and without permission.


    A gate would manifest and suck them out of the dungeon, throwing them out in a random location.


    This was a rule that everyone knew, and everyone did not want to experience themselves.


    As careful as he was, Lucas did not expect that he would also be subjected to that rule.


    Stepping inside or entering a gate voluntarily was already horrible enough for a person''s mind; how much more if it was done forcefully and without preparation? Continue your saga on empire


    Bleerrgh!


    Lucas''s slumped to the ground, weakness covering his whole body.


    His brown iris had receded to the back of his head. He was wide awake, yet only the sclera was barely visible of his eyes¡ªhalf covered by his trembling eyelids.


    With his iris retreating to the back of his head, Lucas felt as if his whole world was spinning and was in a constant kaleidoscopic view.


    Even though he was slumped to the ground with his back lying on the hard and rough gravel beneath him, Lucas still felt as if he was standing, sometimes falling, sometimes somersaulting, and sometimes rolling to the ground.


    His worldview and vision were in a mess, to say the least.


    He could not get a sense of what he was, where he was, or what was happening around him.


    All he knew was that his world was spinning.


    It was a plethora of vertigo assaulting his mind.


    Sending nausea to the depths of his brain.


    Although he did not experience being too drunk, he could guess that this must be what those alcoholic maniacs had experienced if they drank too much alcohol to the point of vomiting.


    Bleerrgh!


    Once again, Lucas subconsciously turned to the side, vomiting the disgusting liquids that he had been puking out since he was thrown out of the gate a few minutes earlier.


    Only this time, there was only a miniscule amount of that liquid that he was able to extricate out of his stomach.


    His stomach churned as he vomited once more, or at least tried to.


    There was no liquid that escaped his mouth. Only empty air escaped out of his mouth; his throat choked as he struggled to breathe for a second.


    It seems that wherever they came from, the miniscule amount he spat out earlier was thest of it.


    On his side, though, was the disgusting puddle of vomit that he had gagged out since earlier.


    ''Water¡­ I need water!''


    Feeling the dryness of his lips and perhaps his whole mouth, Lucas felt a thirst that he had never experienced before.


    Fortunately, along with thest bits of liquid he gagged out, the nausea he was feeling had finally run out as well¡ªor at least beginning to.


    A whileter, Lucas finally managed to get a sense of his body.


    Sitting up, he crawled a little bit to get away from the puddle of vomit on his side, afraid that he would gag and vomit once more if he saw those disgusting liquids.


    Lucas allowed himself to lean on a tree as he opened the leather bag his father had given.


    The bag, however, was already torn beyond recognition. He did not even have to use the zipper to ess what was left inside, as there was already a huge hole at the back of it.


    ''Damn it!''


    He cursed as he felt that nothing was left the moment he reached with his hand inside the bag.


    He looked around and realized that his things were sprawled over to the ground a few yards away from him. It was then that he recalled that he was thrown out of the gate with a lot of force earlier. He then crashed to the ground and got his body dragged for a few meters due to the force.


    The bag must have been damaged beyond recognition from that as well. He looked down and determined that the damage indeed resembled that of being scraped by the ground.


    Aside from the things¡ªmostly damaged¡ªthere was also a trail of blood that extended to where he was lying earlier.


    Lucas inspected his body and then grimaced as he saw the abrasions on his arms and legs.


    ''No wonder I feel sore all over¡­''


    He checked his entire body and realized that he was not severely wounded. At least, the most grievous wound he has was still the same wounds he received from the Shadow Lynx. The new ones were just bruises as well as the abrasions he received from the fall earlier.


    There were violet and blue marks all around his body, though. They resemble twirling snakes that coiled around his body. Lucas sighed, knowing where exactly they came from.


    Fortunately, there were no broken bones or broken parts around his body, so it sent sce to his grimacing soul, to say the least.


    Lucas then summoned his grimoire and was relieved to see that Spot was still there. He did not check about his situation yet, though, as he still has more important things to do aside from that.


    His throat has already begun to dry. Smelling the scent of his vomit still lingering inside his mouth did not help and instead just worsened his desire to search for water.


    After resting for a bit, Lucas slowly stood up from the ground. Using a lot of effort, he slowly dragged his tired and injured body toward his scattered items.


    His body swayed and staggered multiple times; the vertigo was still there, it seems. Butpared to earlier, it was already manageable and mild.


    He looked like a walking drunkard, though.


    After searching around, he finally saw the water canteen that he had desperately searched for earlier.


    After checking the canteen, Lucas was relieved upon seeing that it was still intact. There were some dents to it, and the cylindrical shape was already beyond the original. Still, the canteen felt heavy, so there must still be water left in it.


    He hopes so.


    With thest bit of strength he had left, Lucas opened the can and felt a surge of delight as he saw the water swirling inside of it. He had never appreciated the value of water more than he did at that moment.


    Knowing that he could not rush gurgling the water as he might suffocate, Lucas slowly put the mouth of the canteen on his lip and took a sip, one gulp at a time. He did not even care about the lingering taste in his mouth as he continued to drink more and more.


    It took him a few sips before he satiated his thirst. In fact, he still wanted to drink more, but he decided against it knowing that water was a precious resource, especially in an unknown environment like this.


    Being sent out of the dungeon forcefully at random was truly unpleasant, but whates next was even more so.


    Now that his thirst had been quenched, Lucas looked around and tried to determine his location. While doing so, he roamed around and collected some of the usable items he could find while tending to his wounds.


    The abrasion around his arm was mild, to say the least. After putting disinfectant around the wounds and putting ointment around the bruises, Lucas wrapped the moderate one with his remaining bandages and used some torn clothes to wrap the rest.


    As for the others, like minor scratches, he let them be for now, as he would look like a mummy if he wrapped his whole body with bandages. Leaving some areas uncovered also allowed him to move more freely without the wrappings restricting his movement.


    After gathering what was left, Lucas put all the usable ones inside the bag and tied the huge opening with the web line he had left. Now, the leather backpack has be more like a leather drawstring bag.


    The space inside the bag has reduced considerably, but it was enough for the remaining items he had left.


    His shirt, as well as the shorts he was wearing, were now tattered with a lot of holes and torn that mostly came from when his body skidded over the ground earlier. The change of clothes he brought over was more or less damaged as well, and some of the usable parts were used to cover his wounds, akin to a makeshift bandage.


    The thing that made him grimace, though, was the fact that there was actually a crack in the surface of his phone. He tried turning it on, but it was to no avail. The screen remained ck and unresponsive. If it was already damaged beyond repair or not, Lucas did not know. Still, he decided to bring it along.


    Even if it was already damaged beyond repair, he was still reluctant to leave it behind.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Not to mention the fact that this phone was a valuable gift to him by his parents. It was their blood and sweat that bought it, so he did not want to leave it behind just like that.


    There was something that he purposely left behind, though.


    It was the small bottle that he picked up when they killed the Cliff Borne Ram inside the cave.


    He only realized it now, but it was possible that the bottle was the reason why he was still found in the end.


    Or maybe he was just overthinking it, but it was still better to be safe.


    Brining the bottle over has no purpose, as he had already determined what it was for. It was the only reason why he picked it up, and he somehow regretted that action of his.


    If his suspicion was correct, then leaving the bottle behind would be a good idea. If his suspicions were not correct, then it does not matter either, as the bottle had no use for him.


    After he was done, Lucas stood up and put the bag over his shoulder.


    Since he could not determine where he was, the only option left for him was to explore on his own.

 Chapter 71 Some Of The Truth, More Questions

    Surrounded by a vast forest filled with towering trees and lush greenery, Lucas found a safe spot to take a rest.


    Exploration was enjoyable and thrilling¡ªuntil you encountered a beast that can end your life in a heartbeat.


    Knowing the danger, Lucas did not hastily move around.


    The safe spot he found was even just a few meters away from where he was thrown out by the dungeon earlier.


    He had already determined that the area he was in was somewhat safe. His crash earlier must have produced a lot of sounds. If there was any beast around, they should have already arrived awhile ago to finish him off¡ªat least, the risk here was significantly lower than venturing out without a proper n.


    Not to mention that he was injured and had not properly assessed his situation yet, so he decided to just stay in this rtively safe area until he figured everything out.


    Staying in the same spot was not viable, as the smell of blood might have attracted some beast. Hence, he gritted his teeth and endured the pain as he moved a few meters away. It was rtively near the area he crashed out, but not too near that he could easily be discovered by any beasts that decided to check the trail of blood he left behind.


    Considering his recent experience, though, Lucas doubted if the safe spot he found was truly a safe spot.


    However, having no other choice, Lucas could only make do with this spot for now.


    As he settled down, Lucas began to assess his situation and what he must do next.


    Getting thrown out of the dungeon was unexpected, even for him. It creates a lot of variables, so even though he made a lot of ns, he did not think that he would be thrown out, as he had never nned on staying inside the dungeon for too long due to the fear of getting thrown out.


    Although it still happened in the end and he did not like it even one bit, Lucas was still grateful as it worked out in his favor in the end.


    The time that he was thrown out was also a little earlier, though. He knew for a fact that he had not passed the twenty-four-hour limit yet.


    He entered the dungeon yesterday at around nine in the morning.


    He was discovered by the bird beast around dawn inside the dungeon.


    Time inside the school-regted dungeon and the outside world was the same, so by the time he was forcibly thrown out, it should still be around five to six in the morning, far from the deadline.


    There should have been no way for him to get sent out of the dungeon at that moment, as he had not passed the twenty-four-hour limit yet.


    The only reason that he could think of that had affected it was the Boundary Fog that had somehow managed to touch him while he was meditating. There was no record about such instances that he had read before, though, so he was not sure about this assumption of his.


    This just adds to the many reasons why one should not get close to the Boundary Fog and another reason why it should be feared.


    Although it was harrowing, Lucas was still somewhat grateful that it had touched him; otherwise, he would not have been thrown out of the dungeon earlier than expected.


    If he had not been thrown out at that exact moment, he would have already died in that dungeon in the hands of that senior... Asher.


    Speaking of Asher, Lucas could not help but tremble in fright as he recalled his face.


    The cold eyes that spoke murder and the way he ruthlessly attacked and tried to kill Lucas without any kind of exnation sent shivers down Lucas'' spine.


    He was once again awoken to the fact that he was now in a different world.


    The government might have shown a lot of propaganda about humanity branding together to fight the beast, how humanity was extremely united, and how everyone should protect each other in this darkest of times, but the truth of the matter was actually far from the ideals they portrayed.


    Though Lucas had some awareness of it, he never imagined that someone like Asher¡ªno, someone like ''them''¡ªcould exist in his own school.


    The motives behind their actions were still unclear for Lucas.


    However, he already had some guesses about their ns, and he was at least eighty percent sure about it.


    The strange happenings inside the dungeon, the sudden and frequent deaths of the other students, the sudden rampage of the Ember Ants, the cage he saw in the decaying field, the Cliff Borne Ram, as well as that bottle that he picked up.


    All of it makes a lot of sense to Lucas now that he thought about it.


    All of it points to the fact that the seniors like Asher were targeting the students, or more precisely, the newly awakened students like Lucas.


    Their n was extremely simple and somewhat crude. It was to capture some strong beast, hide them in selected areas that the second years would eventually venture to, and then let them rampage to kill the students. Continue your saga on empire


    The areas they selected were a little dangerous for the current second-year students. However, after a week or so, the second-year students would already be strong enough to venture towards those areas.


    And it just so happens that around a week from now, the second-year students will have theirpetition. And thatpetition would be held inside the dungeon, where they wouldpete on who would gather more points that depended on the number and strength of the beasts they killed.


    The perfect ce to get points in thatpetition was by venturing into deeper areas to y stronger beasts. The Ember Ant''s area, the White Stone Cliff, the Decaying Field, and even the Giant Dark Forest were one of such areas that housed those stronger beasts.


    There were still some areas with the same setting, but those four were the ones closest to the Safe Area, and hence, would most likely be the second-year student''s target.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    There was also that bottle that Lucas found in the cave where the Cliff Borne Ram was hidden and restrained.


    He picked up that bottle because he thought that it was a little familiar. And he was indeed right in that regard.


    He only recalled it after seeing Asher''s face. Seeing Asher''s face made him recall Senior Ethan. At that moment, he recalled where he had seen that kind of bottle.


    From what he could remember, that bottle was used to store medicine that could help heal beasts'' injuries after a long period of consumption.


    Asher and his group must have put the same medicine in front of the Cliff Borne Ram so that it could heal its injuries after a week to face the second-year students that will participate in thepetition.


    At that time, the second-year students and their beasts might have already be much more powerful; however, they should still not be able to face the Cliff Borne Ram should it go into rampage.


    And this was just the case in White Stone Cliff.


    If the beasts prepared in other areas were stronger... Lucas did not know just how many of his ssmates would survive this setup. Perhaps only geniuses like Hector and some others would be able to survive.


    If their n seeded, they would be able to kill a lot of students without even taking the me at that, as it would just look like those beasts were on a sudden rampage.


    That angle would be investigated for sure, but who was to say if they would be discovered in the end?


    Their n was somewhat crude and seemed to be a little hasty, but if no one was aware of it, the effectiveness would surely shoot up the charts, and they would aplish their goals without a hitch.


    Lucas had already managed to spoil one location, but what if they just set up another one? Lucas wanted to report it to the authorities, but unfortunately, he could not do so at the moment.


    His phone was damaged, and he did not even know where he was sent by the dungeon gate.


    How far was he exactly from Twilight City? In which direction should he go?


    If he was somehow sent to a dangerous area, though, could he even return alive? And even if he did, would he still arrive in time to warn everyone of the uing disaster?


    Lucas shook his head as there was a lot to think about.


    He does not want to y the hero, but the thought of his ssmates getting killed just because he had done nothing just doesn''t sit right with him.


    He, at least, wanted to try and save them, even if they treated him badly these past few days.


    It was not even about morality or whatnot; he just doesn''t feel right if he does not try.


    ''Sigh! Am I even in the position to think about such a thing? I should save myself first before I try to save others, right?''


    Knowing that he could not do anything about it at the moment, Lucas got rid of those thoughts and decided to check on Spot''s situation first.


    Right before they were thrown out of the dungeon, he vaguely recalled that Spot had somehow awakened a new skill. He was curious to see what kind of skill it was and if his rank had indeed increased from that incredible feat.

 Chapter 72 New Skill

    [Beast Name: Gentle Dog


    Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 4


    Skills: Gentle Gaze, Hellhound Manifestation, Sharp w, Soft Bark


    Gentle Gaze:...


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    Hellhound Manifestation:...


    Sharp w:...


    Soft Bark:...]


    ''There''s indeed a new skill. And he also ranked up to Iron Star 4.'' Lucas'' eyes lit up as he saw the changes in Spot''s profile page.


    Normally, learning a new skill does not guarantee leveling up one''s rank as well. It was only when a beast learned a potent and strong skill would they be able to level up their rank.


    Perhaps it was due to his grade still being Unranked, so every time he learns a new skill, it would be counted as an incredible feat; hence, Spot has always leveled up every time he learns a new skill.


    Lucas moved his eyes downward and focused on the description of the new skill, curious about what it could do.


    [Soft Bark: Let''s out a soft bark to announce your presence in the area.]


    Like its other skills, the name of the skill was somewhat ordinary. However, Lucas had already learned his lesson. The name and the description of the skill might look ordinary and normal, but once Spot used it in his Hellhound Manifestation form, he knew that it would have an entirely different effect.


    Recalling how even the enigmatic senior was shaken by Spot''s roar, Lucas has no doubt that there was more to the skill than meets the eye.


    Who knows if the simple bark to announce the presence might turn out to be a good intimidating skill?


    Lucas wanted to try it and see the effects for himself, but unfortunately, he did not want to summon Spot yet. The grimoire might not have shown Spot''s current status, but Lucas, as the summoner, could feel that Spot was still recuperating peacefully inside it.


    He must have sustained a lot of injuries from the previous fight, so Lucas did not expect to summon him anytime soon unless there was an emergency.


    Releasing a sigh, Lucas turned the page of the grimoire to look at his own profile page, trying to see how many experience points he needed to rank up.


    However, the moment he looked at the information, Lucas was surprised to see that he had somehow ranked up to Iron Star 4 now.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 4 (47.08/506)


    Spiritual Energy: 49/67


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Confused, he hurriedly looked below the profile page and determined what was going on through the grimoire logs.


    There, he saw the logs he had not been able to read yet.


    The logs started with his kill over the Grotesque Chimp, and then followed by another kill that Lucas did not know where it came from. The amount of experience points he received in thest one was what shocked him to the core.


    [You have killed an Iron Grade-Iron Star 6, Grotesque Chimp (100%): You gained 15.72 XP]


    [You have killed an Bronze Grade-Iron Star 9, Dark Catowl (100%): You gained 90.21 XP]


    [Experience points reached the limit. You have ranked up!]


    "F-fucking hell?"


    Lucas blurted out uncontrobly upon seeing the number of points he received from thest one.


    For a moment, he even forgot to breathe and also forgot the pain that was coursing all throughout his body.


    "Where the hell did this evene from?"


    Calming himself down, Lucas pondered over the origin of this beast.


    He knew for a fact that the only beasts they fought after killing the Grotesque Chimp were that bird-like beast as well as that nt-like beast coiling around in Asher''s arm.


    Both of them were pretty strong, and Lucas knew for a fact that Spot was unable to kill the bird-like beast; how much more the nt-like beast¡ªwhich was obviously stronger¡ªthat was able to bind both of them in ce without much of an effort?


    ''Or did he?''n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The name of the beast that was killed in the logs also seemed to have a resemnce to that bird that Spot fought.


    Lucas closed his eyes as he tried to recall the events that had transpired before they were flung out of the dungeon forcefully.


    Thest thing he remembered was Spot trying to finish the bird-like beast with a swipe of his ws. However, Asher and the nt-like beast arrived at that exact moment and bound Spot in ce. His ws were just centimeters away from the bird-beast, but he was nevertheless stopped and was unable to kill it.


    After that was the slow and agonizing pain he felt as he was slowly consumed by the vines. Spot must have felt the same too.


    And then there was the Soft Bark that Spot used in his Hellhound Manifestation form, creating a wondrous effect that made Asher take a step back.


    Next was Asher''s enraged bellow, the tightening of the vines, the sharp vines that were pointed toward Spot, and then Lucas felt the pull of the dungeon gate behind him and then his consciousness nkout and only regained awareness when he was in the midst of puking his guts out.


    ''Come to think of it... Was it killed during Spot''s Soft Bark? Was that the reason why Senio¡­ Asher was so enraged?''


    ''Is the Soft Bark in Hellhound form that lethal?'' Lucas could not help but tilt his head in confusion.


    No matter how he looked at it, and no matter how many times he overestimated the skill, he still could not fathom how a skill like that could end a beast''s life.


    ''Perhaps it was because it was already extremely injured? And the Soft Bark skill just finished it off at that exact moment?'' Lucas could only specte on such a scenario on how the Dark Catowl was killed.


    Still, this felt unbelievable for Lucas.


    ''A Bronze Grade-Iron Star 9 beast... So, Spot was that strong at that time?'' He recalled that Spot had managed to fight the beast to a draw. This also means that in Hellhound Manifestation form, Spot was as strong as a Bronze Grade-Iron Star 9 beast.


    However, Lucas knew for a fact that this was not Spot''s limit.


    Not to mention that he has already ranked up once more, and the additional skill would surelye into y and increase his capabilities even more.


    What confused him, though, was the fact that he was able to earn experience points from killing a summoner''s contracted beast.


    ording to the information he knew, one would not be able to receive experience points if they killed the contracted beast of fellow humans.


    The grimoire would not even bother announcing the kill, signifying that it does not encourage such acts. In fact, this was also one of the reasons why there were no instances about summoners killing humans and their contracted beasts to gain experience points.


    Was this information wrong as well?


    ''Could it be that we can actually gain experience points from killing other contracted beasts, but the government just decided to hide it to avoid chaos?''


    However, Lucas shook his head as he thought about it more carefully.


    Nowadays, everyone has a grimoire. Even if the government chose to hide that fact, the truth would still resurface in due time, as there were bound to be reports about it online.


    However, since there were no reports about it, it could only mean that this was an isted case.


    For a moment, Lucas thought about the system.


    Perhaps it was the one that allowed him to gain experience points even if he just defeats a contracted beast?


    The system, though, was still as silent as ever. Lucas could not confirm anything about it, but he just assumed it was so. Even if this assumption was correct, Lucas still would not go around and kill other people''s contracted beasts just for experience points, so it would not really change much of his life.


    Compared to that, though, Lucas wanted the Bloodline Detector function even more. Unfortunately, that function was now grayed out and unusable as well.


    Anyway, these were just some of the new questions that Lucas had no answer for the time being.


    Just as Lucas was about to close his grimoire, he suddenly noticed another log right at the bottom of the page, just below the rank-up log.


    Lucas hurriedly read it and was once again ted at what he was seeing.


    [You have received a grimoire page!]


    ''Damn it! Finally! I''ve been waiting for this!''


    Even though it hurt a little, Lucas still clenched his fist in joy as he saw that log.


    A summoner would randomly get grimoire pages as their rank increased.


    The probability was not high, but ording to some data, receiving at least four grimoire pages while still being at Iron Rank was pretty normal and standard.


    Although most summoners would not use them all due to limited energy on nurturing their beast as well as the fact that one''s Spiritual Energy was also limited, having extra grimoire pages was still better than not having one.


    He hurriedly flipped the grimoire, and indeed, there was another nk page right after the page where Spot and his information were stored.


    At this moment, that page was still nk and clean of any words. If Lucas managed to contract another beast, though, this page would be filled with information about that said beast, much like how it was for Spot and Lucas'' profile page.


    Now that he had another grimoire page, he would finally be able to contract another beast. And at that time, the Bloodline Detector skill would surely be usable once more, and Lucas would be able to gain another formidable summon.


    Before that, though, he should think of what kind of beast he should contract.


    Since even a Gentle Dog like Spot could be extremely powerful due to the skill provided by the system, he figured that if he contracted a beast that was already powerful, then the strength of that beast would multiply even more, making it even more formidable and strong.

 Chapter 73 Lucas Journey To The West

    Where to find such a beast, though, was another problem that he was not in a hurry to solve.


    The first beast that was granted to the summoner was somewhat random and based on the grade of the grimoire. However, for the next and uing beasts, the summoner had the freedom to choose as long as it was within the limits of the grimoire.


    As an Unranked Grade grimoire, Lucas'' grimoire could only allow him to contract with Unranked Grade and Iron Grade beasts at most. The strength or the star-rank of the beast that he contracts should not exceed his own star-rank by arge margin; otherwise, the contract process would fail and it might cause him some bacsh.


    Lucas did not want to hastily choose his second beast. He wanted to n it very carefully to avoid uncertainties.


    For starters, the beast that he needs to contract should be an Iron Star Grade. That way, after it receives a skill from the system, its strength would be multiplied even more, and it might even be even stronger than Spot.


    Lucas eventually suppressed his tion down as he closed his grimoire.


    Although this was an important thing, it was not as important as his current situation.


    He might have stabilized himself, and the threat of Asher was no longer around for the time being, but he still needed to return to Twilight City.


    Recalling the faces of his mother and father, Lucas also knew that he must return in a hurry.


    Asher and his group were still there, just waiting to create havoc, after all.


    His worries grew as he became restless. However, knowing that it would do him no good, he decided to close his eyes and meditate to calm his emotions down.


    As he closed his eyes, he finally decided what to do next.


    The first thing was to recover for a few more hours. After that, he would need to assess his current location so that he could eventually return to Twilight City. Not only must he warn everyone about Asher and his group''s n, he must also return immediately, as he was more worried about his parents''s safety.


    ording to the information he knew, when a dungeon forcefully ejects a human out of it, the distance would not be that far from the dungeon''s location.


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    With how things were going on, though, Lucas just hoped that this was still the same case as what has happened to him. After all, he was sent out of the dungeon earlier than what was supposed to be the limit that everyone knew, so who was to say that he was not sent out extremely far away as well?


    Fortunately, his current location seemed to be devoid of any beast. It seems that the dungeon still took some pity for him after all.


    Lucas rested for a total of five hours before he felt a little refreshed. His Spiritual Energy reserve was also now at full capacity. He checked Spot''s status and realized that he still seemed to be recovering. Lucas did not bother him for now as he looked up at the huge tree near him.


    After hesitating for a moment, Lucas decided to climb to the top of it and see if he could see where the Twilight City was from there.


    Fortunately, the tree has little branches here and there, so Lucas did not encounter a lot of trouble as he climbed to the top. The only problem he experienced was the fact that his wounds kept scraping against the rough bark, causing them to ache a lot.


    Nevertheless, he just gritted his teeth and continued to ascend upward.


    From his estimate, the tree was at least forty meters tall. Lucas had a good estimate, as the tree itself was almost as tall as the top-most part of the White Stone Cliff.


    Eventually, Lucas reached the topmost part of the tree. Trying to look down, Lucas felt his knees grow weak as he saw how high he was from the ground. Hardening his resolve, Lucas ignored the feeling of unease as he looked around from the vantage point of view.


    As he looked around, Lucas could not help but sigh in disappointment. Although he considered himself well-read and well-informed, he still could not tell where he was from his current location.


    All he could see around was the towering trees, as well as a huge mountain in the distance.


    The mountain was also unfamiliar to him, meaning that it was nowhere near Twilight City. After all, there might be some lush forest near the city, but there was no mountain near it at all.


    The thing that he feared the most has indeede true. The dungeon had indeed sent him extremely far away from the city. Having nothing to me, Lucas thought that it should be the Boundary Fog''s fault.


    Looking up, Lucas saw the sun hovering twenty degrees over the horizon.


    At the very least, Lucas could now tell the four cardinal directions through it.


    The distance of the sun also allowed him to know that it was probably over an hour since the sun had risen from the east.


    Releasing a deep and disappointed sigh, Lucas descended down the tree as he considered his next action.


    Since he could not tell where the Twilight City was, he could only try his luck and go to one of the cardinal directions. Considering the name of the city, Lucas decided to go west and try his luck from there; it was also where the sole mountain in the area was located.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Even if he could not find the Twilight City in the short run, as long as he stumbled upon another city or another settlement, his problems would be more or less solved as he would be able to report what he knew to the authorities.


    The forest that he was in, though, was quite massive and has extended for god knows how long. Still, Lucas did not n to give up just like that yet.


    Gathering his things, Lucas began his journey to the west.


    Unlike in cities or anywhere near it, the wilderness housed a lot of dungeons that had not been conquered yet. Due to such reasons, the wilderness was now teeming with various kinds of creatures that came from the outbreak of different kinds of dungeons.


    In the wilderness, one would not be able to know what kind of beast they would encounter. Unlike inside a regted dungeon where everything seemed to be in a constant state since the moment it was conquered, the wilderness has a lot of uncertainties that one would not be able to guard.


    One moment you might face an extremely weak beast, and the next moment you might face an extremely strong one.


    Although the area that he was in now seemed to be devoid of any beast activities, Lucas did not dare to underestimate it, as he knew that everything was not as simple as it seems.


    With his injuries and worries, Lucas walked very slowly and carefully. In his hand, Lucas held the remaining one Armadon Tonfa from the pair that Senior Ethan had given him. The other one was left inside the dungeon, while this one was luckily pulled along with him by the gate.


    Even with a weapon in hand, though, Lucas was still not entirely sure about his safety.


    Danger might sprang up at the next moment, so he decided to summon the grimoire in advance so that he could summon Spot the moment something goes awry. Fortunately, summoning and maintaining the grimoire has no cost aside from some mental fatigue, so Lucas decided to hold it for his own safety.


    Who knew if it was due to his luck or if this ce was truly devoid of any beast, but even after a few hours of walking with a lot of stops in between, Lucas still had not encountered any beast.


    Although he felt fortunate, Lucas still could not help but think that it was very unusual.


    In the information he knew¡ªfrom the news, from the books, and from words of mouth¡ªthe wilderness was full of beasts of different grades and ranks.


    Having not encountered any even after a few hours of walking, it was only normal to feel that it was unusual.


    Still, as long as there were no otherplications, Lucas prayed that the situation would stay as it was until he reached a human settlement or met a fellow human.


    Lucas stopped for a moment and took a sip from the water canteen that he had been drinking sparingly since earlier. Since he doesn''t have any food, he could only satiate his hunger through the water, but it was slowly dwindling with every sip that he took.


    The canteen continued to grow light as Lucas continued to move forward.


    It was true that the danger of beasts seemed to be nonexistent in this area, but his situation was still grim.


    Could it be that he would not die from a beast''s sharp w but instead from hunger and famish?


    Even though he was reluctant to admit it, his situation seemed to be even worse than encountering a beast.


    Another two hours had passed; Lucas decided not to take a sip during the past hours. Only a quarter of the water remained in his canteen, and he decided to ration it carefully, ensuring it wouldst him a few more days if necessary.


    Growing weak, Lucas was already at his wits end when he finally saw salvation a few meters away from him.

 Chapter 74 Alluring Tree?

    In contrast to the towering trees around it, a lone tree just over five meters tall was standing a few meters away from Lucas.


    The tree has lush, dark-green leaves. There were fruits hanging on its branches¡ªred-colored fruit that resembled the shape of apples. It looked very appetizing and appealing to a famished person like the current Lucas.


    However, with how massive the trees and the greenery around were, the tree that looked very normal was even more out of ce.


    Was it truly salvation that he saw, or just a figment hallucination born from his desires and needs?


    His stomach suddenly churned, as if telling him to take a step forward and grab a bite of that alluring fruit.


    However, the more it was like this, the more he was reluctant to do so.


    The more normal it looked, the more it was not so.


    He did not take the wilderness survival lessons just to die a horrible death upon his first encounter with a normal-looking, alluring tree and fruit on his first day in the wilderness after all.


    Clutching his stomach, Lucas endured the temptation of the alluring fruit as he circled around it to continue moving forward to the west.


    A few minutester, Lucas stopped in his tracks.


    A scowl appeared on his face, and his heart began to beat like a wild horse on the loose.


    Ahead of him, the normal-looking, alluring tree that he saw a few minutes earlier was once again standing a few meters away.


    The leaves and red fruit trembled and swayed, as if trying to entice him to move forward, take a fruit, grab a bite, and satiate his hunger and thirst.


    ''I''ll be damned.''


    Lucas did not linger in the area any longer. Even though the abrasions and his bruises ached, he decided to run away from the tree and get away from it as far as possible.


    His heart beat wildly as he ran forward. His hand has already touched the grimoire long ago, ready to summon Spot at any given time.


    ''Shit!''


    Lucas cursed inwardly.


    After running for a whole minute away from the alluring, he once again ended up right in front of it.


    The whole tree rustled and swayed with the wind, beckoning for him toe over and have a taste.


    Without wasting any time, Lucas hurriedly summoned Spot.


    Even if he were a dumb person, he would already realize by now that he was indeed caught up inside an illusion, or hallucination.


    As for what caused it, Lucas did not have to think much to realize that it should be the tree that bore alluring fruits resembling apples.


    He even suspected that the tree itself was some kind of beast.


    Hence, he immediately summoned Spot and observed if he was willing to face that tree beast.


    If not¡­ then they could only run. A beast that Spot was unwilling to face would surely be a troublesome one.


    As Spot appeared, he immediately became alert.


    Observing him, Lucas could tell he had not fully recovered yet. He could even see some rough marks around his fur. Although he did not look quite pathetic, he was still far from his usual sublime self.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Spot immediately used the Hellhound Manifestation form.


    His previous majestic form was now tainted with rough blood sticking around his fur. Even with that, Spot did not look ugly; instead, it added charm to his already good looks. Making it seem like he was a battle-hardened warrior-dog, and considering how many battles and the things he has been through, that statement has never been more correct.


    Looking at him, though, Lucas could not help but feel guilty.


    Spot had not fully recovered yet, but here he was summoning him again to fight for him.


    Although such was the purpose of the contracted beasts, Lucas has bonded with Spot a lot to think of him more than that.


    This time, though, he could only grit his teeth and rely on Spot once more.


    As Spot transformed into the Hellhound Manifestation form, he did not immediately attack the alluring tree, contrary to what he had been doing all this time every time he saw an enemy.


    Instead of attacking, Spot remained standing in front of Lucas. His eyes, though, had narrowed toward the tree, and even those striking eyes of his were not moving and were entirely focused on the tree and the alluring fruit ahead of them.


    Seeing that, Lucas could not help but worry.


    Could it be that Spot, in his Hellhound Manifestation form, also fell to the tree''s temptation?


    ''This is bad.''


    Lucas was just about to wake Spot up by shaking him, but at the next moment, he saw that Spot''s belly seemed to have contracted.


    And at the next instant, a roar as loud as a drum struck by a war hammer resounded in the entire area.


    ROAR!


    Spot had used Soft Bark.


    However, that bark was not soft to the ears or to the soul at all.


    Even though he was not the target of the bark, even Lucas felt his ears going numb for a moment due to how loud it was.


    Compared to what Spot used when they were entangled by Asher and his beast a few hours earlier, this one seemed to be even more sonorous and loud.


    As the roar resounded in the entire area, Lucas saw the whole tremble as if struck by a massive earthquake.


    All its branches shook; the red fruit resembling apples seemed to be moments away from falling from the branches.


    Unfortunately, they didn''t.


    What happened next, though, surprised Lucas a lot.


    The fruits actually disappeared.


    They did not fall or get flung away.


    They just disappeared.


    As if they were erased all of a sudden.


    Or maybe... they have never been there in the first ce.


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    Before Lucas could think further, Spot finally moved.


    He leapt toward the tree and struck its trunk with his sharpened ws.


    Before his ws hit the trunk, though, the tree itself suddenly moved out of the way.


    Spotnded on the ground with a grunt as he followed the tree to attack it one more time.


    As it moved out of the way, Lucas gradually saw what kind of beast it was.


    Or rather, what kind of beast it was that has pretended to be an alluring tree.


    Instead of calling it a tree, it was more appropriate to call it a snake that was pretending to be one.


    The snake itself was quite massive. The trunk was actually its whole body coiling upward. As for where it got the fruit and the leaves, Lucas thought it must be due to it having an illusion skill. It must have used its skill on that, just as it managed to make its body resemble a tree trunk.


    Now, the snake has returned to its original appearance, presumably.


    Its body was as thick as Lucas'' thigh. It was around seven meters in length from Lucas'' rough estimate.


    Its skin was deep green in color, resembling jade. Its head was quite massive; two fangs grew out of its mouth as its red tongue slithered in and out of it.


    Its tail, though, was quite curious. Instead of the usual pointy end, it actually has a fan-shaped one. The size of its tail was also proportional to its head.


    The snake hissed at Spot and looked at him threateningly. Its tail swayed here and there, as if ready to strike when the opportunity presented itself.


    Spot, on the other hand, was unconcerned.


    It just let out a normal bark as it leapt toward the snake without a hint of fear present in its eyes.


    The snake responded and struck forward as well.


    Spot struck with his paws and ws. The snake avoided his strike but was still cut at thest moment. It let out a painful hiss but slithered forward and then under Spot.


    Without waiting for Spot to react, the snake coiled its body toward Spot, intending to strangle him to death.


    As he felt the presence of the snake going under and then coiling around him, Spot let out another Soft Bark.


    The snake trembled for a bit but managed to continue its actions.


    It was quick and elusive, and Spot was not able to react properly as the snake coiled his torso three times in a jiffy.


    Letting out a triumphant hiss, the snake was about to bite Spot''s nape. However, before it could do so, Spot let out another bark.


    This time, it was not a bark that was used with the skill. However, the sound it released was still as loud and even contained more wrath.


    All it did was channel Spot''s fury, though.


    The fury of being reminded by its previous helpless experience against Asher and his beast.


    Still, Spot seemed to have be enraged and muddleheaded.


    It jumped around chaotically, trying to free himself from the snake''s strangle of death.


    His ws elongated as he tried to sh the snake''s body that had coiled around him. Starting from where he could reach with his ws, Spot scratched the snake with all his might.


    At this time, the snake had already bit into his nape. Whether it was effective, even Lucas did not know anymore due to how chaotic the battle was.


    All he knew was that the surroundings were already filled with blood.


    As for whose blood it was, he also had no idea.


    His worry for Spot continued to grow.


    Just as he was about to risk it all and fight the snake along with his summon, the battle seemed to have ended all of a sudden.

 Chapter 75 Not Used To, The Geniuses

    The surroundings suddenly went quiet.


    Lucas looked ahead with a bit of apprehension on his face.


    The two battling beasts suddenly stopped. Who won and who lost, Lucas did not know.


    At the next moment, the snake''s body suddenly moved.


    It hissed at Spot while its tight grasp of his body gradually loosened, as if losing some strength.


    The next moment, the snake''s battered and bloodied body fell limply to the ground with a thud.


    It was dead.


    Spot proved himself to be extremely strong once more. He emerged victorious in that battle of strength and mutual destructive ferocity.


    As he stepped out of the snake''s coiling body, Lucas saw that the white fur around his neck was already quite bloody. If it was the blood of the snake or his, Lucas did not know.


    Worried about his summon, Lucas ignored the new log that appeared on his grimoire and went to Spot to take a closer look.


    "Are you alright, Spot?"


    Woof!


    Spot barked softly as if announcing that he was okay.


    Lucas nodded his head in understanding.


    As he observed Spot, though, Lucas saw that there was a huge bite mark on his nape.


    He just hoped that the venom of the snake was not its main ability; otherwise, the venom might do a lot more damage than he thinks. He also hopes that the grimoire could somehow neutralize it as well.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Spot also seemed to have weakened a lot due to the snake''s suppression. Coupled with his previous wounds, Spot looked as if he was already about to be done for. But he had always persevered and endured.


    "Return inside and recuperate, bud," Lucas stated with a soft smile.


    Woof!


    Instead of returning, though, Spot instead turned toward the snake''s body once more.


    It was then that Lucas recalled that, different from when inside the dungeon, beasts in the outside world or in the wilderness will leave their bodies behind when they were killed.


    The one who killed the beast would then be able to harvest their body for materials and even meat if it was edible.


    Spot in his Hellhound Manifestation form suddenly lowered his head and bit into the snake''s body. He tore its skin apart with his ws to create an opening wound where he bit directly into the snake''s flesh.


    He then began eating the snake''s meat without ceremony.


    And as if remembering something, Spot took a huge chunk of snake meat and put it in front of Lucas with a soft bark as if telling him to eat it.


    Seeing the bloody and messy meat of the snake beast offered by Spot in front of him, Lucas could not help but produce a wry smile.


    He had seen his fair share of blood and gore inside the dungeon already¡ªeven if they turn into particles of light a momentter¡ªbut being offered to eat it raw was something he did not want to experience.


    He knew for a fact, though, that beasts meat, the higher grade and rank they were, the more nutritious they became.


    At the same time, there was also beasts meat that got more poisonous the higher grade and rank they came from.


    Usually, there were experts that helped eliminate such risks, like cooking them with special fires or with the help of contracted beasts. Each of them also had the ability to determine if the beast meat was poisonous or not.


    However, Lucas doesn''t have such an expert by his side at the moment. No matter how many times he studied the wilderness survival lessons, there were still a lot of things that he did not know of.


    The bloody meat of the snake was already unappetizing enough; how much more if he was to eat it raw?


    He did not have any equipment to make his own fire either; there were no such materials around that could help him create one as well. Heck, starting a fire in the middle of a wilderness was also not a good idea either.


    But his stomach...


    It has been growling and churning since earlier.


    Spot might have heard it, hence the reason why he offered him food.


    Since Spot had consumed and even offered it to him, then the meat itself must really be edible and not harmful to him.


    ''Still... Eating it raw...''


    Lucas did not know if he would be able to stomach it.


    Woof!


    Spot barked at him once more.


    He nudged the meat closer to Lucas, as if telling him to eat the meat already.


    "G-good boy. Eat your fill, don''t worry about me," Lucas patted Spot''s head, appreciating his concern.


    Still conflicted about being able to eat the meat raw though, he decided to check the logs as well as his profile page first.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Your next read awaits at empire


    Rank: Iron Star 4 (141.33/506)


    Spiritual Energy: 56/67


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    The first thing that Lucas noticed was the increase in his experience points. He recalled that it was only a little over forty when he checked it earlier. This proves that the snake was indeed a formidable opponent. It might be at the same level or even more frightening than the Dark Catowl.


    The next thing he noticed was the amount of Spiritual Energy that was deducted upon summoning Spot. Now that Spot was already at Iron Star 4, the amount of Spiritual Energy needed to summon him for thirty minutes had increased to eleven.


    Lucas nced at the bottom of the page and saw the name and the level of the snake beast in the logs.


    [You have killed an Bronze Grade-Bronze Star 1, Sylvan Serpent (100%): You gained 94.25 XP]


    "A Sylvan Serpent, huh. Never heard of that one."


    There were countless kinds of beasts that existed all over the world. It was only normal that he did not know of this beast that Spot had just killed.


    Although he was surprised about its grade and star rank, Lucas actually thought that it was justified, considering that Spot had struggled to kill the Sylvan Serpent.


    The Dark Catowl from before was also a Bronze Grade beast, but it was of lower rankpared to the Sylvan Serpent.


    Spot has also struggled against the Dark Catowl before, but at that time, he was only at Iron Star 3.


    With an increase in strength, Spot was now able to fight a higher rank than the Dark Catowl and even managed to kill it in the end. Although the fight was also a bit of a struggle, Spot was able to finish the Sylvan Serpent in a short period of timepared to when he fought the Dark Catowl.


    At this point, Lucas was already used to seeing Spot fight and win against opponents with a higher rank than his own.


    One must note that Ranks and Grades should go hand in hand to determine the strength of a beast. However, if the two werepared against each other, one could say that the Ranks were more important than the Grades.


    Ranks determine directbat strength, while Grades determine potential and talent.


    Higher-ranking beasts were generally stronger, but those with high grades but of low rank could still best them due to the repertoire of skills that they originally had.


    Such cases were rare, and usually, only geniuses were capable of such a feat.


    However, for Spot, the rank itself seems to have lost its value and was not really that important as he could cross-rank and kill those above in rank just like the geniuses in cultivation levels he read.


    Of course, such geniuses exist in the real world too.


    In fact, Lucas considered Spot to be one of those geniuses as well. He might not have been one before, but he was definitely so after inheriting the Hellhound Manifestation from the system.


    Guys like Hector and even those who wield and own at least Silver Grade grimoires were considered such geniuses as well.


    From what he heard, a Bronze Grade contracted beast could already fight a higher-ranking beast with a lower grade already. As for a Silver Grade contracted beast, it was already a definite fact for them to be able to do so. They might even be able to fight two to three ranks higher than them.


    The higher the grade of their opponent, the less they would be able to cross-rank, of course.


    However, those of the Gold Grade... Lucas was not privy to such information, but from what he learned from the inte, they were deemed to be the best of the best and could fight at least five ranks higher than them.


    This was also the reason why Lucas thought that Spot in his Hellhound Manifestation form was as strong as a Silver Grade beast of the same rank and was only a little hopeful that he was as strong as a Gold Grade beast.


    Time and time again, though, Spot had proven himself to be stronger than a Gold-Grade beast.


    If there was a higher grade after Gold Grade, Lucas was sure that Spot would transform into such a grade during his Hellhound Manifestation form.


    For higher-grade beasts, crossing ranks was already a norm.


    What was not normal though was the fact that Spot was still able to defeat the Sylvan Serpent even though it was already at the Bronze Star Rank.


    One must note that in every major star, there would be a qualitative change to the beast and even to the summoners.


    Being at Bronze Star 1, the Sylvan Serpent was countless times more powerful than the Dark Catowl, which was at Iron Star 9, despite both being of the same grade. Though there might only be a one-level gap between the two, the difference in strength was actually as massive as the gap between four full ranks within the same major star level.


    Still, Spot was able to defeat the Sylvan Serpent after rising just one minor star rank.


    That was also not something that Lucas could easily get used to.


    Aside from that, what he could not get used to was the amount of experience points he receives from cross-ranking too much as well.

 Chapter 76 Wow

    During the past week he has been killing beasts and acquiring experience points inside the regted dungeon; Lucas would only receive a meager single digit of experience points due to his grimoire being a low grade.


    Getting over 90 experience points for a single kill was unreal for him.


    Although it was high, Lucas still felt some regret. If he has a grimoire of a higher grade, wouldn''t that mean that he would receive more? Even if his grimoire just happened to be an Iron Grade, he reckoned that the amount of experience points he would receive would be closer to five hundred.


    ''Five hundred experience points for each kill...''


    Unless Spot went over the top and managed to kill an opponent that was at least an entire major star higher, Lucas could only dream of receiving such an amount.


    However, Lucas also knew that it was easier said than done. Although Spot had grown stronger once more, his strength was just more or less the same as the Sylvan Snake, which was at Bronze Grade-Bronze Star 1. Spot might be able to face higher-ranking opponents, but the danger would be considerably higher. Any higher than that, then there was a high chance that Spot would perish for real.


    The higher the rank of the opponent, the greater the danger that they bring as well.


    However¡­


    ''As long as I can contract a powerful second beast, then it won''t be impossible.''


    Lucas looked forward to that day.


    For now, though, he must settle the current situation first.


    At this moment, Spot barked in displeasure as he looked at Lucas, still not eating the food he gave him.


    "Alright, alright. I''ll eat."


    In the end, Lucas decided to give it a try. He was famished and had no other choice anyway. He would not be able to continue his journey with an empty stomach, could he?


    The other reason was because Spot had looked at him in a strange way. It was the same look he gave him every time he was about to use his Gentle Gaze skill.


    Lucas might have liked the affection during normal times, but in Spot''s current form, thest thing he wanted from him was that hypnotic gaze being directed at him.


    And he could not disappoint his only summon, could he?


    Closing the grimoire and storing it back, Lucas looked at the piece of bloody meat that was now resting in his hand.


    The smell of iron that came from blood assaulted his nose, making the endeavor even more unsettling for him.


    He looked up and saw Spot''s eager gaze.


    Closing his eyes, Lucas finally mustered the courage to take his very first bite.


    The moment the flesh of the Sylvan Snake came into contact with his teeth, Lucas could immediately tell how hard it was. The taste and smell of blood filled his mouth and nose. As his teeth sank deep, he felt the rough yet oily texture of the snake''s meat.


    Spot nodded his head with a snort as he went back to eat the snake''s meat. From his expression and actions, Lucas could tell that he was enjoying the meal a lot.


    Lucas'' eyes began to squint. Tears brimmed at the corner of his eyes. His mind was extremely focused as he tried his best not to puke while trying to chew the raw meat of the snake.


    ''Wow!''


    ''It''s really not delicious at all!''


    Lucas might have harbored some thoughts about the meat being delicious due to how Spot was enjoying it, but only after tasting it himself was he able to know how horrible it''s taste was.


    It tasted as horrible as it looked. The proverb, don''t judge a book by its cover, truly did not fit in this scenario at all.


    As if chewing a thick rubber, Lucas continued to chew and swallow the uncooked meat of the snake.


    He just hoped that he would not get constipationter, though.


    Stil, Spot was happy that he ate it. And his mind might have disagreed at first, but his now full stomach definitely would not.


    Knowing that they could not stay in this area for too long, though, Lucas continued his journey to the west once more after Spot ate his fill.


    It was unfortunate to leave the snake''s body there to dpose, but Lucas had no other choice.


    He got a few pieces of meat as well as its two fangs, though. The meat was for his own consumption, while the fangs were handed to him by Spot. Since it was the only material that was not heavy, Lucas decided to store it inside his bag and bring it along.


    Who knows if it might prove usefulter on?


    The smell of the bloody meat in his bag might attract some unwanted attention, so he decided to just bring a small amount, which he had already washed with his water. He only used a very small amount, though, so the smell of the bloody meat was still there, albeit negligible.


    Spot returned to the grimoire to continue resting. Having consumed the meat of a higher-ranking beast, there was a chance that his recovery speed would haste. A slight chance of his rank increasing was also possible, but considering that he only ate a portion of the snake''s whole body, Lucas thought that the chance was negligible at best.


    Due to having his stomach filled, Lucas no longer felt as weary as well. At the very least, he no longer felt as if he would copse at the next second.


    After walking for an hour, Lucas fortunately did not encounter another beast.


    This was very unusual, especially in the wilderness.


    However, considering that he already fought a strong beast earlier, he guessed that he must be in the territory of that Sylvan Snake, and whatever beast found their way here must have already been hunted and allured by that snake.


    It also exins why he had not encountered any beast earlier prior to the Sylvan Snake.


    As a Bronze Grade-Bronze Star beast, the Sylvan Snake indeed has the capability to im a territory of its own.


    Too bad, though, that the territory was now out of a boss.


    Sooner orter, this area would be full of beasts once more.


    That would only happen in a few days, though.


    And due to that, Lucas was considering if he should stay in this area for the time being and allow Spot to fully recover first before setting off.


    However, after thinking about it, he still decided to continue moving forward.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The battle with the Sylvan Snake coupled with the smell of blood might have already attracted other beasts to the area.


    Considering his luck, this territory of the snake might be full of beasts earlier than his expectation.


    Walking for another hour and having not encountered any beasts, Lucas decided to take a quick rest.


    Now sitting beneath another towering tree, Lucas looked up and considered if he should go up and see if he was still walking in the same direction as earlier.


    ''I''ll take a rest first.''


    After resting for a bit, Lucas immediately made his way up.


    Strapping the bag over his shoulder, he reached the top just a few minutester.


    As he looked around, Lucas saw that the sun was already beginning to set in the west.


    He nodded his head, taking note that he was still indeed traveling toward the mountain in the distance.


    The mountain, though, remained far and distant. With his current walking speed, he did not know when he would reach it or if he would encounter any humans along the way.


    That mountain was also not familiar to him, so even if he reached it, he knew that he would not be in the vicinity of Twilight City yet.


    ''Damn it! Just how far did that dungeon send me? Is this even possible?''


    Lucas could only grumble as he began to descend the tree.


    The sun was already setting, and he did not want to travel during the night.


    Since there were no beasts here, he decided to settle here for the night and continue with his journey tomorrow.


    ***


    Starlight Academy, in front of the academy''s massive gate.


    Rosana sped her hands together as he looked beyond the massive gate with worry and anxiety present on her face.


    Behind her was Lumbert, his broad hands resting over Rosana''s shoulders, trying tofort the anxious Rosana in front of him. His gaze, though, was also directed beyond the academy''s massive gate. His expression might look calm andposed, but deep inside, endless worry also filled his mind.


    "Don''t worry, we''ll see him soon," Lumber stated, trying tofort his wife.


    Still, even he himself did not have much faith in his own words.


    Unlike Rosana, he knew that Lucas was strong. Way stronger than the two of thembined, in fact.


    Aside from that, he also knew that Lucas was very smart and cautious. He would not do anything as long as he was not sure about it.


    And for him to not return even after twenty-four hours could only mean that he got into some kind of trouble. As for what kind of trouble it was, he also did not know.


    Rosana, though, did not believe anything he said when he tried to exin that Lucas was very strong. No matter how many times he tried to console his wife that their son was alright, Rosana just would not stop overthinking, to the point that even Lumbert himself had already begun to doubt his own words.


    Now, the two of them decided to visit the academy and check for themselves.


    They had already requested the audience of Lucas'' current teacher, and they were now only waiting for the go signal before they could enter the school premises.


    A whileter, a student approached the two of them. The student in front of them with a wry smile as he stated, "I apologize, but Teacher Julian said that he is busy and would not meet anyone for now."

 Chapter 77 Missing

    A frown appeared on Lumber''s face. Lucas'' teacher not meeting them was nothing but bad news to them.


    Suppressing his emotions, he asked politely, "Sorry, but did you tell him that we are looking for Lucas? And that he has not been home since this morning?"


    The student nodded his head. "Of course. I also mentioned that his time inside the dungeon should already be up and he should have gotten out by now."


    "And?" Rosana inquired eagerly.


    "And? Well, Teacher Julian said the same thing. He is busy and won''t meet anyone for today," the student said while shaking his head. A hint of regret and pity could be seen in his eyes. He did not tell them, but he was actually able to guess why Teacher Julian was not willing to meet Lucas'' parents at this moment.


    As he looked up, though, and saw the expressions of both his parents, he realized that perhaps... they also knew?


    Anyway, Teacher Julian had willingly met the two of them before, so there was no other reason why he was unwilling to meet them now.


    Seeing them in that state, though, does not sit right with him.


    As an Iron Grade Grimoire user, he also knew what kind of treatment Lucas was getting in the school, and especially in their ss. Even he himself was not exempt from such treatments, but what he received was lesspared to what Lucas was getting.


    Being an Iron Grade Grimoire user that was subject to such treatments, his parents, who also somewhat knew of his situation, would always worry about him all the time.


    Though as much as he wanted to help Lucas'' parents, he truly could not do anything in this situation.


    "I''ll try to search for Lucas on the campus. As for searching for him inside the dungeon, I''ll do my best, but I won''t enter the dungeon anytime soon, as me and my squad need to prepare thoroughly before we enter," he said after some hesitation.


    Rosana''s eyes lit up upon hearing his words.


    She bowed deeply toward him and thanked him profusely, "Thank you! Thank you! You''re a good kid!"


    Lumbert also expressed his gratitude, "Thank you! What should we call you? And how should we contact you just in case?"


    "Oh, my name''s Rhyle-"


    He suddenly paused mid-sentence as he saw two people walking in one of the school pathways.


    Recalling some of the rumors, his eyes lit up as he said, "Wait for a moment; maybe we can get some help."


    He did not wait for them to reply before he sprinted away to meet the two people walking in the pathway.


    Stay updated via empire


    A confused expression appeared on Rosana and Lumbert''s faces. However, hearing what he said, a sense of hope could not help but rise up inside them.


    A whileter, Rhyle came back with the two people he approached earlier.


    Introducing them, Rosana and Lumber came to know that they were Teacher Christie and a senior student named Ethan. Likewise, thetter two came to know of their identities as Lucas'' parents too.


    "Is it true that Lucas has not returned yet?" Ethan asked for confirmation.


    Rosana nodded her head. Hearing Ethan''s name, of course she felt happy as Lucas had mentioned how helpful and kind this senior was to him. This senior even gave him a graded weapon, so in return, Rosana gave him one lunchbox as a thank-you gift.


    She knew, of course, that the price of the tonfa was invaluablepared to the lunch she made, but it was all she could afford in the end, so she hoped that this senior of Lucas would appreciate her effort.


    Just as she was about to ask if Ethan had seen Lucas, Ethan turned toward Teacher Christie and said, "This is unusual. From what I know of that kid, he is a very sham... I mean, a cautious individual."


    Teacher Christie nodded her head. "I can attest to that as well."


    "When was thest time you''ve seen him?" She continued.


    Rosana and Lumber both answered yesterday morning when he left for school. As for Ethan, he said that he met Lucas yesterday morning as well when he gave the lunchbox to him.


    "The food you made is very delicious, by the way," he said to Rosana.


    Seeing the worry in her eyes, Teacher Christie came forward and held her hands together. "Please lessen your worries. I will tell my students to search for traces of Lucas on the campus."


    "Worse case scenario, he might have overstayed inside the dungeon and must have been forcefully pulled out. In that case, I can also call some of my acquaintances and set up a search rescue operation outside of the city. Lucas is a smart kid that is only hindered by his grimoire. If he was indeed sent out, then I know for sure that he would be able to survive until rescuers arrive," She said, mixing some truths with cautious optimism.


    Her words seemed to have some effect. At least Rosana managed to calm her worries down.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Lumber, though, was more aware of the situation.


    If Lucas was indeed forcefully sent out by the dungeon, then his situation might be worse than he had expected.


    ''Well, as long as he''s still alive. That''s all that matters,'' he thought.


    "I''ll go and check in the dungeon personally, then," Ethan volunteered.


    "Thank you! Thank you!" Rosana kept on thanking. She did not expect that despite the grade of grimoire awakened by her son, there were still people like them in school that cared for Lucas.


    After a while, Teacher Christie advised the two of them to return home for now and just wait for their news.


    Rosana did not want to at first, but she ended up getting persuaded by Lumbert.


    "Let''s go home and take a rest. Do you think Lucas would be happy if he saw us being weary and tired the moment he returns?"


    As they left, Lumbert expressed his gratitude to Teacher Christie, Rhyle, and Ethan onest time.


    True to their words, Teacher Christie and Ethan began to search for Lucas on the campus with all the means that they have.


    After a while, both of them came to know that Lucas had indeed entered the dungeon and had note out yet.


    Considering that it had already been more than twenty-four hours since his entry, there was a high chance that he had already been sent out of the dungeon by now.


    That is, if he was still alive by the time that his time inside runs out.


    Just like his parent''s, though, Ethan and Teacher Christie did not believe that Lucas would die easily inside the dungeon.


    At least, that was what they thought too at first.


    However, after Rhyle made them recall the strange happenings inside the dungeon these past few weeks, even the two of them were no longer confident about keeping their hopes up as well.


    "Well, Ethan, you should go and check inside the dungeon and check if anyone has seen him. Once you find traces that he''s still alive and was only sent out of the dungeon, then get out and report to me immediately so that we can set up a search and rescue party out of the city."


    Ethan nodded his head and immediately entered the dungeon after paying the fee.


    Teacher Christie sighed and shook her head in regret. She truly hopes that nothing bad has happened to Lucas. Their interaction might be brief, but she was able to see the determination and the drive to grow stronger in his eyes.


    Sometimes, if they don''t die out, that determination and drive will be more valuable than so-called talents.


    Ethan has his own connections in the school. He might not be the most talented of his batch of students, but in terms of resourcefulness, he was up there at the top of the list.


    Just three hourster, he came back with a familiar item in hand.


    "This is one of the Armadon Tonfa that I gave him a few days ago."


    "Where did you see it? What do you think has happened?"


    Ethan shook his head subtly before answering, "I found it near the Ember Ant''s area. From what I saw, an intense battle must have taken ce. Judging by the damages around the area, two powerful beasts not belonging to the dungeon might have fought in there."


    "Maybe Lucas was unfortunately caught up in that battle. There is a chance that he is already dead, but I''m willing to believe that he was truly forcefully sent out of the dungeon after exceeding the time limit."


    Teacher Christie nodded her head. "As long as there''s hope, then we can''t give up easily."


    "How about the two beasts fighting? Do you have any idea about the owner of those beasts?"


    Shaking his head once more, Ethan answered, "No. In fact, that is the strange thing about this situation."


    "After asking around, I realized that no one has any idea of who has fought in there before. Oh right, I also heard from Dorian that Asher has been missing as well."


    "Asher? Do you think this is somehow connected?" She asked with a frown.


    She had some dealings with that Asher as well. As someone who has a Bronze Grade grimoire but has unluckily obtained a weak starter beast, she had also helped Asher before.


    "Slightly. It''s because I saw vine marks left in the area of the battle. Asher has a vine beast, so I think Asher was the owner of one of the beasts that fought there. As for the other party, I don''t have any idea at all."


    "Alright, thanks for the work. I''ll take it from here."


    Ethan nodded his head and bowed respectfully before he left her office.


    He left behind the Armadon Tonfa sitting on her desk, as if a clear reminder that it once belonged to someone that they were about to search.


    _____


    Thank you for the gift, pachakili and David_Needles

 Chapter 78 Massive Passerby

    Surrounded by towering trees, the forest had already begun to darken when Lucas found a safe ce for the night.


    What he found was, surprisingly, a tree cavity. It has enough space for him to move inside with no apparent holes around it except for the entrance.


    With his previous experience in the cave where he found the tied Cliff Borne Ram, Lucas had thoroughly checked the inside of the tree hollow to avoidplications. Fortunately, there was no strange beast bound or hiding inside of it.


    He put his bag inside of it for the time being as he moved around and inspected the surroundings. In case an emergency happens, he would know where to proceed without panicking.


    He also broke some small branches along with the leaves and used them to cover the entrance of the tree hollow and let it act as a makeshift door. That way, the entrance would at least be covered, and if ever a beast passes by, he would not easily get spotted by it.


    With just one entrance, though, he would have trouble maneuvering around if ever a beast cornered him inside. In order to avoid such a scenario from happening, Lucas had prepared a few things outside that he could trigger to distract the beast and create an opportunity to escape.


    After making all of his preparation, the forest was already very dark. Lucas could vaguely see his surroundings now, so he decided toe inside the tree hollow and wait for the night to end.


    Closing the entrance with the branches he broke earlier, the little light that illuminates the surroundings was finally cut off.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    The night was still long, and Lucas needed all the energy he could have to prepare for what might or might not happen in the middle of the night.


    Taking out the meat of the snake, he poured a little water and rinsed it one more time before he took a bite out of it. Chewing as hard as he could, he resisted the urge to vomit every time he swallowed a piece of the oily meat.


    A few bitester, he finally decided to stop. Rinsing his mouth with enough water, he noticed that there was only a little bit of it left in the water canteen.


    With no source of water he could refill the canteen with, he decided not to drink water until tomorrow night.


    Hoping that he could find a water source tomorrow, Lucas slowly drifted to sleep as he leaned his back on the bag that he ced before the trunk.


    His hands held the remaining Armadon Tonfa while the other held the strap of the bag that he was leaning on. That way, even if something awful goes on, he would be able to respond appropriately.


    With how tired his body was, Lucas'' mind went nk and drifted into oblivion without him realizing.


    He did not know how long had passed, but his eyes abruptly opened when the sound of rustling leaves and twigs being broken entered his ears.


    Gripping the tonfa, Lucas entered a heightened state of alertness. However, instead of moving, he sat still and even controlled his breathing, afraid of it being heard by whatever was outside.


    The leaves and twigs he had scattered outside had still continued to sound, as if they were being stepped on by a huge and heavy foot.


    Whatever it was outside, it was surely pretty massive and heavy. Each step it took literally shook the ground as if a minor earthquake were happening.


    Whatever it was outside, Lucas had no intention to know and find out.


    In case it decided to approach the tree hollow that he was in, Lucas had already held the webline that he connected to the distractions he set up outside.


    Although he was unmoving and still, the beating of his heart as well as the chaos ensuing in his mind was not.


    As the sound of broken twigs and rustling of leaves continued to get closer, the more intense the fear and anxiety that Lucas felt as well.


    However, he still remained frozen on the spot. Choosing not to move unless something drastic happens.


    Fortunately, his actions were proven to be the correct ones.


    The beast, or whatever it was outside, seemed to have been just passing by in the end.


    It continued to move forward without the intention of stopping by.


    Lucas felt grateful and relieved as the sound of its massive footsteps grew faint.


    After a few minutes, the sound of massive footsteps finally disappeared from his ears.


    Although he felt relieved, Lucas still did not try to check outside. The massive footsteps might be gone, but who was to say that the beast was no longer outside just waiting for him toe out?


    The surroundings went absolutely quiet after a few more minutes passed by.


    Due to what has happened, Lucas ended up having trouble sleeping, afraid that the beast would suddenly lift the makeshift door he made to greet him.


    In the end, Lucas only got some nap before he would automatically wake up in alert. His mind and heart were tense, afraid that something bad would happen at the next moment.


    Aside from that case earlier, though, no other beast hade close to his hiding spot, so he ended up having an uneventful night, to his delight.


    Although he did not get a full night''s sleep, Lucas was still grateful that no other beast hade to bother him until morning.


    When the first ray of light shone from the gaps of the makeshift door toward the tree hollow, Lucas finally decided toe out, albeit carefully.


    It was only when he confirmed that there was no threat around that he loosened his tense nerve and rxed a little.


    Summoning his grimoire, he sensed that Spot had a good rest too. His wounds were recovering swiftly, and in a few hours at most, he would be back in tip-top condition. Read chapters at empire


    The healing and recovery function of the grimoire was indeed very good. Too bad he could not use it on himself, though.


    Checking on his wounds, Lucas lightly shook his head upon noticing that they were still there.


    Unlike in the novels, nothing magical happened to his wounds after eating the meat of the snake beast after all. He was still d that he was able to fill his stomach without having constipation, though.


    And although the wounds did not disappear, at least they were already beginning to recover as well. The abrasions already had scabs forming at the top of them, while the deeper wounds were beginning to close up as well. If nothing goes wrong, the shallow wounds will probably heal after three days at the very least.


    Looking around, Lucas finally checked the trails of broken twigs left behind by the beast that passed byst night.


    As he observed, he thanked himself for not going out.


    Below him, Lucas saw the leaves and twigs he scattered around werepressed to the ground, forming a pit that obviously came from the foot of the beast that had passed by.


    Judging by how massive the foot was, Lucas estimated that it was at least five meters tall and probably weighs more than two thousand kilograms.


    It was not a wonder why the sound of its footsteps was absolutely heavy, being able to literally shake the ground with each step.


    Tracing the deep indentation of footsteps over the ground, Lucas was relieved to know that it seemed to be traveling away from his own destination.


    After keeping taking his bag as well as the things he prepared as distractions, Lucas finally moved west once more.


    The snake meat that he had left had already started to smell a little foul. Lucas no longer risked eating it as it might truly give him constipation this time around.


    His stomach was churning as he felt hungry. However, with nothing to eat once more, Lucas could only endure the burning pain in his stomach as he moved forward.


    Without lowering his guard, Lucas walked for good two hours before he decided to stop.


    Ahead of him was a field full of waist-tall green cogon grass. The field of Cogon has extended for over a few kilometers, and by the end of it was another forested area much like the one that he just came from.


    What made Lucas stop, though, was the beast situated at the edge of the field of cogon grass.


    At least a hundred meters away from him, the beast that was devouring some cogon grass had not discovered Lucas yet.


    Even from afar, Lucas could tell that the beast was as big as a sedan car from his previous life. In terms of size, it was almost equal to the size of Spot in his Hellhound Manifestation form.


    Although the beast was massive, Lucas did not think that it was as threatening.


    Due to it eating some grass, he assumed that it was not as violent as those beasts that purely ate meat and nothing else.


    Of course, Lucas knew better not to underestimate every beast he met. The beast ahead might not look violent, but who knows what kind of personality it truly has?


    He was not familiar with the name of the beast either, only that it was some kind of pig or a boar¡ªto be precise.


    Do not judge the book by its cover, as they say.


    Since he could not determine what level of threat it had, he could only turn to the expert and let him assess for himself.

 Chapter 79 Boar

    Summoning Spot, Lucas pointed at the boar a hundred meters away from them.


    "Can you defeat it, Spot?" He asked.


    At this moment, Spot had more or less recovered to his full state already. Although he was not in tip-top condition yet, he was also not far away from it.


    In his current state, Spot should be able to fight without much of a problem.


    Spot turned and traced the location where Lucas was pointing.


    After staring for a while, Spot tilted his head to the side cutely and barked softly to Lucas.


    Hearing his response, Lucas nodded his head in affirmation.


    Spot seemed to be quite confident.


    "Let me lure it over here then. You stay here and ambush it at the right moment, understand?"


    Spot barked in response. He then found a ce to hide and then barked at Lucas as if saying that he was ready.


    Lucas nodded and walked closer toward the boar eating the cogon grass.


    The reason why he chose to make himself the bait was to avoid creating too muchmotion. By luring the boar beast over, Spot would be able to ambush it and finish it in an extremely short period of time¡ªif possible.


    They did not know anything about the beast, and a prolonged battle would not be suitable. Finishing the battle as soon as possible would also prevent the beast from using a lot of skills to its disposal.


    Fighting beasts in the wilderness was always fraught with dangers and uncertainty. Not knowing what kind of beast you will encounter, the environment, and what kind of skills they might use should always be considered before starting a fight.


    Due to the nature of the wilderness, though, summoners tend to fight their battles here mostly unprepared.


    As he grew closer, he also observed the appearance of the boar.


    It has a massive and wrinkly head. The red eyes looked menacing and full of hidden ferocity as it gobbled up the cogon grass in front of it. Two upturned tusks protruded out of its mouth; the tip of each was so sharp that Lucas felt threatened upon seeing them even from afar.


    Its body was as massive as he initially assumed earlier. It looked pretty muscr and had ck fur in some parts of its body too.


    Uncertain of what kind of skills the boar might have, Lucas did not carelessly approach it as well. Maintaining a distance not too far from Spot, he picked up a piece of stone as big as his fist and threw it toward the boar beast with all his might.


    The rock flew at quick speed and fell in parab a few meters away from the boar.


    The cogon grass that was hit by the rock rustled, attracting the boar beast''s attention.


    It snorted angrily and looked around warily.


    It was then that it noticed Lucas standing clearly at the center of its field of view.


    Without a hint of hesitation, the boar let out an enraged roar as it charged toward Lucas wildly.


    Judging from its speed, it would be able to reach Lucas in a jiffy.


    "Shit!"


    Realizing that it was dangerous, Lucas did not wait for it toe closer; he immediately ran back to where Spot was hiding with all the speed that he could muster.


    The boar seemed to be charging toward him with some kind of skill. With its speed, the distance between Lucas and the boar gradually decreased.


    Fortunately, Lucas did not go that far from Spot.


    The boar swiftly arrived a few meters behind him. In that distance, it leapt toward him with its two tusks aiming toward Lucas'' back.


    Feeling the threat behind him, Lucas did not hesitate and lunged forward to avoid the two tusks aiming toward him.


    Dodging by a hair''s breadth, the boar was about to follow its attack when an equally massive creature dove toward from the side with an equally terrible speed.


    Spot had appeared at the exact moment with his Hellhound Manifestation form.


    His ws extended toward the boar. They had already elongated and sharpened themselves as they traveled forward.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As if cutting tofu, Spot''s sharpened ws easily cut through the boar beast''s neck.


    Blood spurted out as the boar beast stumbled forward weakly. It let out a terrified growl and was about to get back up when Spot leapt toward it and finished it all together with a quick sh to its already injured neck.


    The boar beast was not able to utter any sound anymore after that strike.


    It struggled to get up onest time before its head fell to the ground weakly. Blood kept on gushing out of its wound. Its body went still, and the next moment, a new log appeared on Lucas'' grimoire.


    The boar beast was dead within two strikes.


    Lucas ignored the log for now as he went to tie the hind legs of the boar together with the remaining weblines he had. After he was done with that, he ordered Spot to bite into the tied hind legs of the boar and hang it upside down on a tree in a different location.


    Spot was quite strong and was able to lift the boar easily from the ground.


    He then told Spot to create more cuts in the boar''s body, particrly around its neck and wrist, to make it bleed out even more profusely.


    Draining the blood of a meat has several benefits, especially in the wild. Not only does it improve the meat quality, it could also reduce the likelihood of spoge and make the meatst longer.


    From what he knows, it also prevents bacterial infection from easily forming. Curing it would also be easier after draining the blood.


    The meat snake tasting horrible was also due to the bloody and gamey taste it has. It has also spoiled easily for the same reason.


    Knowing the importance of food in the wilderness, Lucas decided to prepare some dry food before continuing to move forward.


    He nned to cure the meat of the boar and store it inside his bag for his journey to the west.


    Fortunately, this kind of thing was taught in the academy and from his grade school days, so Lucas was not unfamiliar with the process of curing meat. He wascking some materials and tools, though, so he could only use what was avable to him to the best of his abilities.


    In terms of taste and physiological burden, eating a boar also seemed not as strange as eating a snake. Though if left with no choice, Lucas would still eat the meat of a snake.


    As the blood continued to drain off the boar''s body, Spot looked around in alertness, as per Lucas'' order.


    Lucas had also decided to harvest some usable materials out of it, such as the sharp tusks that had protruded out of its mouth.


    The tusks were quite hard to pull, though, so he ended up asking for Spot''s help. After some time, Spot was finally able to pull the two tusks out of the dead boar''s mouth.


    It was only when he held it that Lucas realized just how sharp its tip truly was. His previous description toward it was an understatement. This tusk could probably pierce a hard stone easily. If he was pierced by these tusks, he would probably get skewered like tofu as well.


    The two tusks were around thirty centimeters long and had the thickness of a baby''s arm. It was also pretty hard, but the surface itself was quite smooth with just a few scratches present on it.


    Using those same sharp tusks, Lucas created incisions on the boar''s body that was now barely dripping with blood. Cutting the thick skin on its belly, the innards of the boar spilled out and unfurled on the ground like a falling chain.


    Lucas had only done such things with ordinary frogs before, so such arge innard was very new to him. He let all the guts fall to the ground and continued to cut the middle section of the boar''s belly all the way to its sliced neck.


    As the guts fell, though, Spot came forward and dragged those innards away and began to eat them.


    Lucas wanted to stop in at first, thinking that the innards probably taste very horrible; however, after thinking about it, a horrible taste to him might be delicious for his Gentle Dog.


    So instead of stopping him, Lucas just let him eat the innards as he pleased. Spot seemed to be enjoying the meal too.


    Lucas ignored him and continued on with what he was doing.


    Using the sharp tusks of the boar, he began to cut the meat into pieces, cutting the whole body and separating them into multiple smaller parts. Lucas focused on the hind legs more, nning to cut them into thin strips for him to sundry and cure it that way as he does not have ess to other methods other than it.


    He hung the other pieces in the branches, tying them with some cogon grass that he casually bundled together.


    After he was done, Lucas was about to begin cutting the hind leg meat into thin strips when he heard the sound of water bursting out not far from him.


    Sensitive to the sound of it, Lucas hurriedly turned his head in the direction of the sound.


    There, he saw Spot, now in his Gentle Dog form, munching on the intestine of the boar crazily.


    As he bit into the huge intestine that was almost as thick as his head, murky water gushed out of the hole made by Spot''s fangs. Under him, a puddle of the same murky water has also formed.


    Seeing that, Lucas'' eyes widened in excitement.


    ______


    A/N: Added image and character of Spot. You can check it out and vote for him in the book page.

 Chapter 80 Sharp-Tusk Boar

    ''How could I not think of it before?''n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Lucas thought to himself as he saw the puddle of water bursting out of the boar''s intestine.


    With such an amount of water present on its intestine, it was apparent that the boar had just recently consumed water.


    For the boar to consume water recently, it must mean that a water source was just nearby.


    And it just so happened that Lucas had been desperately searching for water since yesterday to refill his water canteen. He had also reeked of the smell of wilderness now; a bath would surely help him in that regard.


    Still, even though he was ted by the thought of a water source being nearby, Lucas did not rashly move to search for it.


    Instead, he continued to do what he was doing.


    At this moment, he had already begun to cut the meat on the boar''s legs into thin strips akin to bacon.


    After a while, he had already saved arge portion of them, which he stored in the skin of the boar that he had yed carefully earlier.


    The strips of meat still looked bloody and gore, unappetizing to look at, but were a little bearable whenpared to the snake meat that he had before.


    After he was done and felt satisfied with his harvest, Lucas handed the remaining meat to Spot, who gobbled them up happily. It seems that Spot was fond of the taste of the boar, too.


    Lucas smiled and tied the yed skin of the boar that now contained a lot of meat cut into strips.


    It was fortunate that no beast had bothered them until now, but it was now time to leave this location once again and move to search for that water source.


    Lucas had already been thinking about its possible location while he was cutting the meat earlier.


    Since the boar had been eating in the cogon grass a hundred meters away earlier, Lucas guessed that the water source it had a drink from could not be too far from that area as well.


    Carrying his own bag as well as the yed skin full of meat, Lucas and Spot moved forward to search for the water source.


    As they moved forward, he also checked the logs that he received when Spot killed the boar earlier.


    [You have killed an Bronze Grade-Iron Star 9, Sharp-Tusk Boar (100%): You gained 83.81 XP]


    Seeing that, a look of delight appeared on his face.


    Spot was now capable of ying a Bronze Grade-Iron Star 9 Beast with rtive ease; of course he would be happy.


    The amount of experience points he received, though lesspared to the snake, was still a substantial amountpared to what he had been earning before.


    With that, his experience points were now at 225.14/506.


    With just less than five kills, his experience points had now almost reached the halfway mark of the current star level.


    His progress has now be even more swift than before, courtesy of Spot and his recent breakthrough.


    Speaking of breakthroughs, with Spot consuming the meat of a higher grade and higher rank beast than him, he would be bound to make another breakthrough soon too.


    It was public knowledge that contracted beasts would usuallyg behind with their master''s level as it was pretty hard for them to make a breakthrough, unlike the summoners that only need experience points.


    The higher the grade of the beast, the more it was like this. Even though they could easily learn skillspared to lower-grade beasts, it doesn''t mean that each skill could allow them to level up just like what Spot has been doing.


    Perhaps it was due to his grade being low; Spot had always ranked up every time he learned a new skill. Lucas reckoned that he would easily rank up with his recent appetite too, as what he has been consuming was the meat of a beast that was a lot stronger than him in terms of rank or level.


    For the first time in a while, Lucas actually felt grateful that Spot was just an Unranked Grade Beast.


    The public knowledge did not apply to them, and even now, Lucas and Spot''s level had nevergged behind each other.


    With Spot''s unusual level of strength, Lucas would be bound to reach Iron Star 5 swiftly too. He just wondered if he would be the first to be Iron Star 5 or would Spot beat him to it.


    Regardless, both scenarios were a win-win situation for him.


    What made him frown, though, was the fact that even after thirty minutes of searching, Lucas still had not found the water source that he had been desperately searching for.


    ''Could it be that the Sharp-Tusk Boar had traveled a long distance before arriving here?''


    That was indeed possible. However, considering the strength of that boar, Lucas believed that it would have already marked a territory of its own. And it would not leave its own territory just casually.


    Looking up at the sun, though, Lucas realized that its angle was already beginning to tilt to the west, indicating that noon had already passed.


    Knowing that he could not afford to waste any more time, he decided to search for an open area in the middle of the cogon grass andid the yed skin of the boar to create a t surface. He thenid the bacon strips at the top of it, meticulously cing them a few centimeters away from each other to avoid congesting against each other.


    Since his tools and means were limited at the moment, he could only dry the meat using the heat of the sun¡ªthe most primitive method¡ªto dry the meat of the Sharp-Tusk Boar.


    Without salt, though, he wondered if it would turn out great in the end.


    ''Well, whatever. As long as the moisture gets removed and they don''t spoil easily, then who cares about the taste?''


    Indeed, food was another major problem he had here aside from water and the wild beasts themselves.


    If he could have a steady supply of food for a few days that won''t get rotten easily, then his chance of survival would increase to a certain degree.


    Who cares about taste when ites to survival?


    While the meat strips wereid over the sun to dry primitively, Lucas decided to take a rest and meditate to recover some energy while he did it.


    As he meditated in a secluded area, he also ordered Spot to scout their surroundings and try searching for the water or any visible threat around them.


    He also especially instructed him not to provoke any beast unless necessary, especially if the beasts were very strong. If such things exist around here, he instructs Spot to return immediately and inform him.


    Spot barked and nodded his little head toward him repeatedly, indicating that it had understood. He then went out on his journey, while Lucas remained to guard the meat strips and recover some Spiritual Energy while he was at it.


    A contracted beast could not get too far away from their master. Both the master and the beast could sense the distance limit, so Lucas was not worried that Spot would travel too far from him.


    Even from afar, Lucas could also vaguely sense his existence, knowing his state all the time, and vice versa.


    When a contracted beast dies, the master would immediately know about it; they would receive certain soul damage, and the page of the grimoire that the beast was recorded on would be destroyed.


    On the other hand, when a summoner dies, the beasts would be released from their contact and would most likely return to the wild or die along with their master.


    Lucas guessed that it was due to this that Asher was able to immediately tell that his beast had died and was very enraged after Spot''s Soft Bark.


    If his contracted beast dies, Lucas would probably react the same.


    Fortunately, Spot was pretty strong. As long as they don''t court death, death would not court them either.


    At least, that was what he thought.


    Recalling the face of the enraged Asher, Lucas could not help but open his eyes with a sigh. Losing his concentration, he automatically exited the meditative state and, hence, stopped recovering his Spiritual Energy at the same time.


    Summoning his grimoire, Lucas nodded his head upon seeing that his Spiritual Energy was now back to full.


    After reaching Iron Star 4, his rate of recovery in normal environments had also increased. Each minute spent in a meditative state could now allow him to recover two Spiritual Energy points.


    Within six minutes at most, he would be able to recover the Spiritual Energy lost to summon Spot.


    Closing the grimoire, Lucas nced over the field of cogon grass and was relieved to see that the meat strips heid over to dry remained untouched.


    It seems that this area was indeed the territory of that boar. No beast would casuallye here, even if they smelled blood.


    This also indirectly confirmed that the water source must indeed be nearby.


    Speaking of the water source, his pioneer, Spot had just returned, bearing some good news.

 Chapter 81 Water Source

    Spot walked toward him leisurely.


    Lucas, who had been hiding above a tree, revealed himself before climbing down.


    "Bud, you found the water source?" He asked, his eyes glistening in anticipation.


    Spot barked a little and nodded his in confirmation.


    Lucas'' eyes lit up, "Great! Great! Good job, Spot!"


    He ran toward the meat strips that he was sun drying and packed them up including the skin that had already shrunk after having the moisture extracted out of it.


    Like the yed skin, the meat strips themselves had also shown signs of shrinkage. The smell was nothing pleasant, but it was not unbearable to the point of smelling rotten. Knowing that this was part of the process, Lucas did not mind the smell one bit and packed them all to the yed skin that now acted as the storage bag for the meat strips.


    Now that most of their moisture was gone, the weight of the bag of meat had considerably lightened by almost a half, making it easier for Lucas to carry over his shoulders along with his oringal damaged bag.


    After he was done, he told Spot to lead the way toward the water source.


    The sun was already setting in the west, and Lucas nned to reach the water source before night falls.


    The direction that Spot was leading him to, was not toward west, unfortunately.


    However, it did not matter to Lucas as he only nned to clean himself and store some water from that water source.


    Although he was in a hurry and ted about the fact that Spot found a water source, Lucas actually did not rush toward the location immediately.


    Just as much as he needs water, other creatures, including beasts, need water to survive too.


    As the only water source in the area, the one found by Spot would be bound to have a few beasts living around it, or visiting it every now and then, just like that boar.


    The water itself might provide salvation, but who was to say that going there could guarantee survival?


    Although Spot had not seen any creature there when he ventured earlier, it does not mean there would be no beasts in there now as well.


    Careful as always, Lucas told Spot to lead the way leisurely.


    Spot followed his instructions and strode forward in his Gentle Dog form.


    From his demeanor, Lucas guessed that he had already fully recovered. He looked lively and energetic. As if taking a stroll in a public area, Spot sauntered forward confidently.


    His actions might look careless, but as Spot''s summoner, Lucas knew that the dog was actually quite alert and wary. He might be walking and leading the way leisurely, but once a threat emerges, Spot would directly transform into his Hellhound Manifestation form to confront the enemy.


    Having scouted ahead earlier, though, Lucas already knew that the path they were taking was safe. Spot''s vignce might seem excessive and unfounded, but as someone who had almost their own summoner, Spot was probably just trying to get back to him in one way or another.


    Knowing his intentions through their shared connection, Lucas just allowed Spot be.


    He had never med Spot, and he would never me Spot for what has, and will happen in the future.


    Allowing Spot to express his feelings, the two of them arrived at the water source a few minutes before night fell.


    Even when they were still afar, Lucas could already hear the rushing of water in the distance.


    Before proceeding further, he vigntly looked around, searching for any threat. Below him, in his Gentle Dog form, Spot was also doing the same.


    It was only when they deemed the area safe did the duo walk forward to see the source of water themselves.


    Contrary to his expectations before, the water source was actually not a river, but merely a creek.


    As its name suggested, the creek was not big and deep. The creak was shallow and was around one to two feet deep in some areas. The width of the running water was only around eight to ten feet at most as well, making the creek remain just a creak.


    Although not deep, the water traveled seamlessly and without obstructions. The water was crystal clear, the bedrocks visible from above.


    Upon a quick nce, Lucas did not notice any life in the running water. Even small fish were not present, as if the creek itself was devoid of any life. Something like this was not umon, though, so Lucas just ignored that fact in the end.


    There were chances that this running flow of water was harmful to the human body. Havinge from unknown origin, Lucas did not know what kind of elements were mixed in this flowing water and if they were harmful to him.


    It was unfortunate that he had no testing kit with him at this moment, so he could not check if the water was indeed safe to drink.


    But he was indeed in need of water at this moment, urgently at that.


    His throat was already hoarse and dry. Just like he had promised, he would not drink the remaining water in his canteen until he found a water source.


    Since a water source was now found, the only thing left was to confirm whether the water was harmful or not.


    With no testing kit, he could only turn to Spot and ask.


    He then nced at Spot and asked, "What do you think, Spot? Is it okay to drink water from this creek?"


    As if answering the question, Spot merely took a step forward and lowered his head to the flowing water in the creek.


    Seeing his actions was all that Lucas needed to know the answer.


    Trusting Spot a lot, Lucas abandoned pretense and immediately dropped the meat strips before he plunged forward to the water, much like Spot.


    The first thing he did was to take a bath in the creek and clean himself up. Even though he has not been here in the wilderness for long, Lucas knew for himself how badly he had smelled until the moment he plunged into the creek.


    If he had not found a water source, Lucas was even already nning to abandon his smelly clothes as they might attract beasts one in the future with how badly it smelled.


    As he bathed, Lucas also took a few sips of the running water slowly.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    At this moment, Spot had also chosen to take a bath for some reason. His small Gentle Dog form plunges toward the shallow waters of the creek. As hended, Lucas visibly saw for his own eyes how the dirt on Spot''s body was removed quite easily.


    Knowing that he could not rx for too long, Lucas hurriedly got out of the creek to dry himself up. With no clothes in his bag avable for use, Lucas could only remain almost naked, with only his underwear remaining covering the most private part of his body.


    The clothes he had been wearing just now were washed, and were now hanging in a tree branch not far away.


    After a while, Lucas packed his things up and found a suitable ce to hide.


    As he hid, he opened the yed skin bag full of meat and took a meat strip out from the many that had been stored in the bag.


    Hesitating for a bit, Lucas mustered his courage and immediately took a bite off the meat strips that he had dry sun earlier.


    "Wow!"


    Lucas eximed as the meat strip danced all over his mouth.


    "This is not tasty at all," he continued.


    His words might beining but his hands had already moved as he took another bite off the meat strip he had just.


    Without seasonings and even just the simplest salt, the meat tasted nd and without any vors.


    But for the sake of survival, Lucas could only endure, finishing the meat strip after a few minutes.


    "At least, this one tastes a little betterpared to that snake''s raw flesh," he said, trying to console himself.


    As he took the second piece, Lucas also took a handful and gave them to Spot to eat.


    The meat strips had not properly dried, so Lucas was still able to taste the gamey texture that he once experienced with the snake''s flesh.


    Even though it was not the best, it was still a great survival food.


    After eating three strips, Lucas finally felt satisfied.


    His hunger was mostly gone, but this does not mean that he was already full.


    With how nd the taste of the meat strips was, eating three was simply just his limit.


    Taking a sip of the water that he stored from his canteen, Lucas felt satisfaction that reached to the bottom of his heart.


    ''A what a blissful life this is!'' He thought willfully.


    Of course, he knew that this was nothing but a fleeting moment.


    His real goal was not to feel bliss, at least, not in the wilderness.


    He knew that he must return home and warn everyone.

 Chapter 82 Flame

    The bliss that he has been savoring, though, was rather short-lived.


    Just like what he had said, it was indeed a fleeting moment.


    Perched above a tree, with nothing but underwear covering his body, Lucas looked at the ck creature that had just found its way toward him.


    The creature, or rather, the beast, was not huge like what he had been encountering so far.


    The size appeared normal and rather ordinary.


    It was ck in color and had emerald eyes. Its face was akin to a lizard, but its body was akin to an overgrown cat or dog. The beast has a mane made of me, contrasting its ck body with the orange hue of the me. Its tail was quite thick, bare along most of its length, ending with a tufted tail with ck fur at the tip.


    Aside from the fact that it has a lizard-like head, one would recognize it as a ming lion of some sort.


    However, even though it looked like one, Lucas knew for himself that it wasn''t.


    Now, this not-so-simple beast had wandered beneath the tree that he had chosen to perch on and hide.


    Staying still as a rock, Lucas held on to a tree branch with one hand while the other pressed on Spot.


    In his Hellhound Manifestation form, Spot was extremely strong. However, in this form, Lucas was able to pin him down without an effort, making him stay still as well. Of course, part of the reason he could do so was also due to Spot allowing him to do it.


    Aside from the gushing of water in the distance, as well as the rustling of leaves above, the only sound that could be heard in this area was the vehement sniffing of the ming lizard beneath the tree.


    The beast sniffed vigorously, its sleek tongue slithered in and out of its mouth like a swirling snake.


    The beast circled around the tree, as if trying to confirm something.


    It was clear that day that it had already caught their scent.


    Now, the beast has determined that they were in the tree; it was just that it could notprehend that they had climbed up yet. In that regard, it did not seem that bright.


    As the beast kept on sniffing, trying to find them, Lucas had already begun to rx his grip on Spot.


    A few minutes earlier, Lucas and Spot had already spotted the creature from afar. At that time, Lucas had already asked Spot if he was able to take on that beast.


    Spot replied positively.


    However, in order not to alert the beast, the two of them had been lying in ambush above this tree, waiting for the right opportunity to present itself before them.


    Luckily, the beast had caught the scent of the torn clothes that were hanging in the distance. Following it, the beast slowly crept toward the tree that Lucas was perching on.


    Now directly underneath them, Spot was already about to strike.


    At this moment, the beast also realized that something was amiss.


    It circled the tree a few more times, and it still did not find the prey that it was looking for. However, the scent had ended in this tree, so it was very sure that the prey was still here. It just did not know where it had hidden.


    Realizing that something was wrong, the beast, as if an epiphany struck it, suddenly looked up.


    However, at that time, it was already toote.


    A small figure leapt toward it bravely. Its small paws and ws stretched toward it threateningly.


    That same small figure, though, suddenly turned into a pretty massive beast.


    Almost thrice as big as it was, the small figure, assisted by gravity and its own lunge, descended toward it an instant.


    When it realized that it was being attacked, the w was already before its eyes.


    Its emerald eyes constricted, and in an instant, its ming manebusted resolutely. Its lizard face was covered in that same me, as if trying to defend the threatening ws that dared to sh toward it.


    The me, though, was shed in half by those elongated and sharp ws.


    As if the heat had no effect on him, the massive paw and the elongated ws hacked toward it resolutely.


    Spurt!


    At the next moment, an intense pain assaulted the beast''s mind.


    Its emerald eyes, constricted in fear and pain, as blood slowly covered its eyes.


    Before the massive beast could make another move, though, the lizard-headed beast had already moved to the side.


    Even though it was injured, it was able to recover almost instantaneously, moved to the side, and proceeded to counterattack.


    Its emerald eyes covered in blood looked at Spot full of rage.


    The next moment, its mouth opened wide, revealing razor-sharp teeth akin to alligators.


    The attack it was about to do, though, had nothing to do with its teeth.


    Instead, a ball of me suddenly condensed at the tip of its mouth. Like magic, the ball of me was lunch. However, it was not in the direction of Spot.


    Instead, it traveled upward, aiming to the figure that was perching on the tree above.


    Looking at the iing ball of fire, Lucas could not help but exim in shock.


    Unknowingly, the lizard-headed beast was already aware of his existence.


    From the looks of it, it also recognized that he was thepanion of Spot, and sensing that he was the weaker one, decided to target him first.


    In that regard, it could be said that it was actually bright.


    That news, though, was a bad thing for Lucas.


    The iing ball of fire traveled toward him with great speed. Fortunately, Lucas had climbed up quite far, so it took a while for the ball of fire to arrive, allowing him to react appropriately.


    With great effort, Lucas kicked the yed skin of the boar as well as his bag forcefully, afraid that they would get implicated by the ball of fire.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    At the next moment after he kicked the two bags away, Lucas had already jumped from the branch that he was perching on earlier.


    As countermeasures for when something like this happens, Lucas had already determined which branch he should grab and which branch he should step on to have a better chance of maneuvering around it.


    Climbing was one of the survival skills taught to them by the school, and Lucas, being the athletic kind, was also quite proficient in it.


    Even before the ball of fire could strike the tree he was perching on, Lucas had already moved to another branch far from the original one.


    The winds blew on his bare body as he swung himself with one hand toward another branch.


    Behind him, an explosion could be heard as the branch that he was perching on earlier produced cracking sound after the minor explosion ensued. The smell of burnt wood assaulted his nose, but Lucas paid them no heed as he continued to move agilely above the tree.


    Under him, he also knew that Spot had already engaged with the beast once more, and it would not have another opportunity to bother him after that failed attack.


    Still, even knowing that, Lucas did not dare to rx.


    It was only after moving to a different tree that he allowed himself to look back and observe the battle. At this moment, he was already dozens of meters away from Spot and the beast.


    The tree that he was perching on earlier, especially the branch, has already turned into charred wood. The branch fell to the ground, and smoke rose out of it, filling the area with dust and smoke almost at the same time.


    The battle in the distance, though, was alreadying to an end.


    With the injuries it sustained from Spot''s ambush, the fate of that beast was already more or less sealed.


    Still, the beast was quite hard to deal with. Counting the ming mane that covered its whole face earlier, the ball of fire, the quick dash, as well as the others, Lucas counted that the beast had already used more than four skills; each of them was also stronger than thest.


    Gaining skills to increase one''s star rank was quite difficult.


    Having many skills at its disposal could only mean that the beast itself was of a high grade and was probably quite talented. The strength it showed was also no less terrifying than the boar and the snake.


    After a while, though, it still fell to the ground, rage and reluctance still present in its emerald eyes.


    The ming mane died off, indicating the end of its life.


    ''A pity. I thought I would be able to use those fire to cook some meat.''


    Curious about the name and the grade of the beast, Lucas, perching on a tree dozens of meters away, took out his grimoire and nced at the new log that had just emerged at the bottom of his profile page.


    [You have killed an Silver Grade-Iron Star 9, me-Mane Lion (100%): You gained 148.01 XP]


    Just like what he had assumed, that beast was indeed of a higher grade. Its rank was also quite high.


    Lucas reckoned that if it was not injured during the first ambush, the battle would have been quite as hard as when Spot fought the Sylvan Snake.


    Bronze or Silver Grade, though, seemed to have no difference for Spot.


    In the battle earlier, or when he fought the boar, he did not even utilize Gentle Gaze and Soft Bark; if he did, the battle would have ended even more easily.


    Those skills, after all, unlike their name, were quite lethal and menacing.


    The experience that he gained was also quite astonishing.


    ''As expected of a Silver Grade beast,'' he thought in delight.


    Lucas then nced up; seeing the number of experiences he currently had, he could not help but let out a satisfied grin.

 Chapter 83 Harvest

    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 4 (373.15/506)


    Spiritual Energy: 51/62


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    The rate of his experience points going up was astonishingly high. He could exin the exhration that he was feeling every time his experience points surged out in huge amounts.


    He wondered if this was how those geniuses like Hector felt every time they gained experience points.


    However, after thinking about it, he did not think that it was the case anymore. At least for other geniuses it might be usible, but for Hector, there was no way he would receive such a huge amount with how he was acting up until thest time he posted his logs in the group chat.


    Anyway, with the surge of experience points every kill, Lucas determined that this should be the right path that they must take.


    He had been pondering about this inside the dungeon before, but only now, when they were doing it firsthand, was he able to confirm that this was indeed the path that they must take.


    Tobat higher-ranking beasts and benefit from the multiplier effect ofbating higher-ranking and higher-grade beasts like what they were doing recently.


    Although the recent killings were not nned and more like a chance encounter, Lucas still knows that this should be how it was supposed to be done.


    If given the chance that he returns to Twilight City, he would surely not waste his time making Spot fight numerous lower rank beasts for ''more'' experience points.


    With that being said, Lucas calcted and quickly determined that he only needed 133 experience points before he could rank up once more.


    If they could just kill another me-Mane Lion, then he would directly shoot up to Iron Star 5.


    Of course, he knew that encountering another beast like that was wishful thinking.


    In the wild, beasts vary even in the same area. Unlike in the regted dungeons, where the beasts keep to their own territories and hardly go to another, the beasts in the wild can go to any ce they want without restrictions if they want to.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    With that being said, one could hardly chance upon beasts of the same kind being in the same area, unless, of course, it was part of their behavior and characteristics.


    But recalling how the me-Mane Lion had behaved, Lucas doubted if it had anypanion nearby.


    If there was indeed pride, they should have been alerted to the battle earlier and should have already arrived to reinforce theirrade.


    ''Iron Star 5... I wonder what level they have reached now...''


    ''I just hope that I''ll make it in time.''


    Recalling his ssmates, a bitter smile could not help but escape his face.


    ''I better take care of myself before worrying about others first.'' Getting rid of his thoughts, Lucas finally climbed down the tree that he was perching on carefully.


    Lucas went toward the body of the me-Mane Lion and inspected its body.


    Every unique beast has their own set of materials that could be harvested upon death.


    Among them, the meat of the beast was the mostmon to be harvested, and they were also the cheapest part of their body¡ªunless it was a special kind of meat, of course.


    Lucas harvested the fangs of the Sylvan Snake from before, but if he had the luxury of time, he would have harvested its scales and bones as well. The boar was of the same case, but the most valuable material it possessed should be the tusks, hence the reason why Lucas kept them inside his bag carefully.


    Each material harvested from the beasts could be made into varying items that could aid everyone in these tumultuous times.


    However, for the same reason that each type of beast was unique, there were also certain beasts that could not be used for crafting, no matter what.


    Before harvesting, one must determine whether the part they were harvesting was usable; otherwise, they would just waste their time.


    For that reason, Lucas crouched down the body of the me-Mane Lion, trying to search what part of it could be used for crafting or refining.


    As for the meat, Lucas decided to abandon it after seeing that even Spot had no interest in eating it.


    After searching for a while, though, the only parts that he guessed had some value in them were the mane, the tail, as well as its emerald eyes that were quite in contrast to its whole body''s color scheme.


    The emerald eyes, though, were a tough nut to crack. He does not know how to properly harvest it, and even if he did, he does not have the right container to store it to avoid it from rotting out or getting damaged. This was also part of the reason why he only took the snake''s fang and the boar''s tusk as his trophy, as the others had a high tendency of getting spoiled and damaged.


    Shaking his head in regret, Lucas could only turn his attention to the mane of the lion that was ming wildly from before. Right now, though, they appear to be just normal fur without any special properties, to his regret.


    He was curious and kind of wanted the ming mane of the lion from before.


    After all, eating raw meat from a beast was truly not an appealing meal. The protagonist of the stories he had read before must have some loose screw in their head for being able to stomach the taste of raw meat.


    ''They''re just built differently, I guess,'' Lucas thought as he began to pluck out the fur of the me-Mane Lion.


    Unfortunately, the me-Mane Lion was a Silver Grade and Iron Star 9 Beast after all. No matter how hard Lucas tried to pluck its mane off its body, they just would not budge even an inch.


    Not forcing it anymore, he took the boar tusk and used it to cut the skin of the lion that contained the mane directly.


    The tusk was not suitable for shing, but since it was an extremely sharp point, Lucas was still able to use it like a knife, albeit with some difficulty.


    After a while, Lucas finally managed to harvest the mane of the lion. He then proceeded to cut its tufted tail.


    With these two being the only parts that he could probably harvest from the beast, Lucas did not linger in the area anymore as he jumped atop Spot''s back as they ran away from the area of battle.


    Of course, he did not forget to collect the two bags as well as his clothes that he was trying to dry on a tree branch. Although it was still a little dump, Lucas had no other choice but to wear them as the chilling wind of the new night assaulted his body as Spot traveled forward.


    A few momentster, Lucas found himself a kilometer away from his previous location.


    Right in front of the creak, Lucas looked around, and only after determining that it was safe that he moved forward to wash his recent trophy¡ªthe mane and the tufted tail¡ªwith the gushing water. He was mainly trying to get rid of the stench of blood, afraid that it might attract some trouble.


    After he was done washing, he moved to another location once more, traveling upstream along the creek. He did not ride Spot this time around, though, as he was afraid that Spot might reach his limit and get weak, unable to transform to his Hellhound Manifestation form again.


    Due to that, his traveling speed was reduced, and he only arrived a kilometer away a few minutester.


    At this point, the night was already deep.


    ncing up, the crescent moon hung high in the sky, illuminating the surroundings lightly. Its bright reflection could be seen over the creek. Lucas looked at it mesmerized, hiding in the spot that he found.


    At this point, he had already unsummoned Spot, allowing him to recuperate inside the grimoire.


    He was already done with his traps; if any beast entered his ''territory'' he would be alerted in a matter of seconds.


    With this kind of setup, Lucas allowed himself to have a moment to ease his tense nerve a little bit, ncing at the bright crescent moon above and then at its reflection above the creek alternatively.


    A vague memory of him and his parents watching the moon''s reflection resurfaced inside his mind. His thoughts churned as the feeling of nostalgia assaulted his mind.


    His mind gradually dozed off as his thoughts drifted to oblivion.


    Lucas slept with the tusk and grimoire ced above hisp for easy ess.


    He did not know how much time he had been sleeping, but for the first time in a while, Lucas was able to have a proper and uninterrupted rest.


    It was only when the morning rays of the sun prated the spot he was hiding on that his eyelids fluttered as he slowly opened his eyes to wake up.


    Feeling invigorated, Lucas suppressed the urge to yawn and stretch his body, recalling the fact that he had hidden himself atop a tree that was overlooking the creekst night.


    He rubbed his eyes, slowly adapting to the sudden light provided by the morning sun.


    After feeling that his eyes had adapted to the light, Lucas began to look around and observe his surroundings before climbing down.


    And it was at that moment that his whole body froze in fright at the scene he saw in front of him.

 Chapter 84 Truce?

    The creek''s water glistened amidst the countless reflectionsing from the sun rays.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    At the top of a tree branch overlooking the creek, Lucas froze in spot as he saw numerous beasts loitering around the edges of the creek.


    Counting them briefly, Lucas realized that there were more than ten of them in his line of sight alone.


    Each one of them was unique, with varying sizes and types.


    Gazing at each other, they were vignt but seemed to be ''tiptoeing'', as if afraid of even making the slightest sound. Huge or small, all of them seemed to be in agreement not to make the slightest sound.


    While they were trying to keep a look at each other, it did not stop them from going over the creek and having a drink of the gushing water.


    Beasts may be of the same race or kind, but it does not stop them from preying on each other. The only way for them to grow stronger was by consuming other beasts, humans, learning new skills, or waiting for their bodies to umte through the ages, ranking up automatically.


    Strangely enough, in this creek, none of them tried to attack each other.


    A small rabbit beast was even beside a threatening tiger beast; as if unaware of the danger, the rabbit drank to its heart''s content, not minding the tiger beside it that was also drinking its fill of water.


    After the rabbit felt satisfied, it looked around vigntly as it began to retreat away from the creek very slowly. It was only when it arrived dozens of meters away from the creek and away from the other beasts that it dared to bolt out, as if afraid of its dear life.


    The tiger beast, though looking threatening and menacing, was also showing an equal bout of caution towards the others. Like the rabbit, it stared at the other beasts vigntly while retreating away from the creek. When it thought that the distance was enough, it also bolted out, not daring to stay in the area any longer.


    The same scene repeated multiple times.


    Once a beast retreats, a new one would emerge from out of nowhere, cautiously approach the creek, drink some water, and then retreat without causing any trouble.


    Big and small, none of them showed any signs of wanting to fight or consume each other.


    It was as if they had decided that this morning, all they wanted was to drink water and do nothing else.


    So just so they could drink the water, they seemed to have decided to make some kind of truce.


    Away from it, though, Lucas guessed that they would return to their ferocious nature.


    Being a prey and a predator, none mattered in the creek.


    Hiding at the top of the branch, Lucas felt as if his life was hanging by a thread. His body grew numb from staying still for too long, not daring to make the slightest movements aside from his wandering eyes, afraid that he would be discovered by the numerous beasts that came to and fro to drink water in the creek.


    The scenested for almost two hours. During that period, Lucas did not dare to move an inch. It was to the point that his foot had already felt sharp paresthesia in his legs, like pins and needles.


    What was even worse was that he did not dare to stretch it out to let blood flow toward it once again.


    It was only when thest beast from his line of sight left that Lucas finally heaved a sigh of relief.


    The scene he saw earlier was nothing short but amazing, and at the same time horrifying.


    To think that beasts withhold their bloodlust and not attack each other as long as they could drink water was a sight to behold.


    If the academics back in the city and all over the world learned of this, they would surely rush toward this area and investigate the full cause of such an event.


    This was nothing normal, as even intelligent beasts could still be seen fighting with each other.


    Regarding that, Lucas guessed that for them to act that way, the only reason was because of the creek, or more precisely, the creek''s water was somewhat special.


    After all, they would not act that way if the water was just a normal one.


    Lucas could tell earlier that the beasts seemed to be just a few centimeters short of wanting to praise and worship the water.


    Or maybe they did already?


    Recalling that he had drank, and even bathed in the water before, though, Lucas could not help but scowl.


    What kind of effect it would have on him, Lucas did not know yet.


    ncing around and confirming that there were no more beasts that lingered in the area, he summoned Spot and asked, "Spot, you drank the water yesterday as well; do you think it''s somewhat dange... I mean, special?"


    Notprehending what he was trying to say, Spot merely tilted his head to one side.


    As if feeling that Lucas was a little upset, his eyes glowed gently as he stared directly at Lucas'' eyes, trying to soothe his mind.


    Shaking his head with a smile, Lucas climbed down the tree carefully along with Spot.


    Knowing Spot, he knew that he would not do anything that would harm himself, and especially him.


    The only reason he could think of was that Spot was also not aware of the water''s specialness.


    As he climbed down, Lucas could not help but notice something different.


    The clothes he wore had already dried down longst night. As hended on the ground, Lucas decided to check and determine what the difference was that he somehow noticed.


    After a while, Lucas looked at his wounds in delight.


    "They are already healing?"


    The scabs on his abrasions had already started to fall off. White marks and scars could be seen from the healed wounds. Although they had not fully healed yet, at least they were already on the verge of doing so.


    He checked the deeper wounds and realized that they were somehow the same. The wounds that he had expected to heal a few dayster, or even a weekter, had already shown signs of being fully healed.


    The wound on his back that came from the Shadow Lynx was no longer aching. Although he could still feel some stretch in there while moving around, the stretch was no longer painful, and he could now move aroundfortably without feeling the pain he was still feeling yesterday.


    Lucas was surprised by this development.


    ''Was it due to the high-ranking meat I have been consuming?''


    This thought arose inside his mind. However, he knew that the meat of the beasts he had eaten so far was not that miraculous.


    As a summoner, and after being feedback by the grimoire after ranking up, his body had grown stronger and could heal on its own more quicklypared to mundane bodies. However, he knew for himself that the effect was not this amazing and immediate.


    Eliminating those possibilities, Lucas was only left with one variable.


    His head turned to the side; there, the creek full of beasts just earlier was now left empty. The sound of gushing water reached his ears.


    It appeared normal.


    Recalling how the beasts restricted themselves just to drink the water peacefully, Lucas could not think of any other reason why his wounds had started to heal swiftly.


    At this moment, Spot walked toward the creek and drank mouthfuls of water without hesitation.


    Lucas was about to stop him, but he decided to let him be, recalling that nothing seemed to be wrong with drinking it.


    However, nothing happening now does not mean that nothing will happen in the future.


    Who knows if the bad effect was not immediate?


    Recalling how the beasts came here and were only short on worshiping the water, Lucas felt afraid that it might contain some unknown dire effects if consumed repeatedly.


    ''Sigh! Nothing is safe in the wilderness!'' He thought.


    To live here, one must always maintain a cautious attitude toward everything.


    The fruit tree had turned out to be a beast, and then the water he desperately needed also turned out to be not normal.


    Nothing was safe.


    Who knew if the rock he was stepping on turns out to be a beast as well?


    Thinking of that, Lucas shivered and hurriedly looked down on what he was stepping on.


    Fortunately, it was really just a normal rock.


    Heaving a sigh of relief, Lucas allowed Spot to drink more until he was satisfied.


    Lucas did not try to drink the water anymore, afraid of the consequences it would bring. Though if left with no choice, he might still do it in the end.


    He then collected the bag of meat that he kept hidden in a separate spot¡ªin case the smells attract a beast¡ªbefore they began their journey to the west once more.


    Fortunately, or unfortunately, the creek upstream had curved toward the west.


    Knowing that the water was special and important, he decided to travel along with it. He kept a distance of a few meters from it, though.


    From what he inferred, the beasts seemed to be avoiding the creek for the time being, unlike the scene earlier in the morning.


    Lucas guessed that, just like how they appeared to be tamed and civilized in the creek, they might have also agreed to juste here every morning. For that, he must wait till tomorrow morning to confirm.


    Just like that, noon came in the blink of an eye.


    For the entire duration, they had not encountered any beasts or even a shadow of them while traveling along the creek.


    The sun was high up in the air, and Lucas was sweating profusely from the heat, so he decided to take some rest. At the same time, Lucas found an empty spot andid the meat strips once to bask them in the searing sun.


    Having nothing to do, Lucas decided to check the contents of his bag.


    And then he discovered something astonishing.

 Chapter 85 Let Him Cook

    The contents of Lucas'' original bag were no longer as abundant as before.


    Aside from the first aid kits like the disinfectants he usually carries around, the now jumbled weblines, the torn clothes that he did not throw yet, and the water canteen that was now brimming with water from the creek, the damaged phone, there were also the Armadon Tonfa, the Sylvan Snake''s fangs, as well as the Sharp-Tusk Boar''s tusks inside the bag.


    The other items were mostly damaged and no longer usable; hence, he left them behind to lessen the weight of what he was carrying.


    On the other bag made of the yed skin of the boar, Lucas has stored the meat strips as well as the newly gained fur and tufted tail of the me-Head Lion.


    The meat strips had already beenid over to an empty spot and were now basking under the heat of the sun.


    The fur that came from the mane was folded along with the yed skin it rooted on. Lucas then inserted the tufted tail inside of it.


    At this moment, the fur as well as the tufted tail wafted out an unpleasant smell. It was then that he recalled that he had not washed them yet. The pungent smell assaulted his nose, and after some hesitation, he decided to wash them over the creek.


    However, just as he was about to dip the tufted tail into the water, the mane suddenly ignited into mes.


    "What the-"


    Startled and afraid of getting burned, Lucas hurriedly threw them away.


    Spot saw themotion and immediately jumped in front of Lucas, as if trying to cover him from the me''s temperature.


    He snarled toward the me, looking quiteical in his Gentle Dog form.


    Seeing that there was no danger, Lucas pacified Spot by stroking his head gently. Spot seemed to like it a lot, easing his posture to a more rxed one. His gaze, though, was still focused on the burning mane in front of them.


    Seeing the mane of the me-Mane Lion burst out into mes, Lucas also could not help but stare at it curiously, but also with worry.


    Curious about how it burst into mes and worried that the valuable parts would be damaged.


    After a minute, though, the me began to wane down until it eventually extinguished by itself.


    Regret shed his eyes as the fire disappeared from his sight.


    However, after seeing the me die down and realizing that the mane was not damaged, he heaved a sigh of relief.


    Recalling who the mane was ming before, though, Lucas thought that it was only normal. Maybe they have some sort of resistance against mes.


    He cautiously walked toward the mane and the tufted tail to inspect them once more.


    He had been searching for fire ever since he was sent here in the wilderness. Eating raw food has never tasted good to him.


    He thought that even without condiments, as long as it was cooked, the meat would still taste better.


    Unfortunately, he had not brought any lighter or anything that could start a fire, as there was nothing to cook inside the regted dungeon, and he did not think that he had any use for it inside at all.


    The me that was right in front of him, though, has already died down before he could even react.


    Inspecting the two parts of the me-head Lion, Lucas recalled what he had done earlier to cause such a reaction from the two parts.


    Lucas cautiously repeated his movements from earlier, trying to discern how the mane and the tufted tail had ignited all of a sudden.


    He recreated what he had done earlier. He inserted the tufted tail back into the folded mane before he put them near the creek.


    Like what he had done earlier, he unfolded the mane and then took out the tufted tail, preparing to dip it into the water to rinse.


    The mane ignited after he did thest part earlier. At this moment, though, the mane and the tufted tail showed no reaction or even a slight sign that they would burst into mes just like what happened earlier.


    Lucas frowned, not knowing what he had done wrong.


    ''Could it be that it was just a one-time thing?''


    This crossed his mind for a second.


    However, recalling how the mane had been burning with the same me when it was worn by the me-Mane Lion before, Lucas thought that it should be the mane''s special property.


    Beasts were magical creatures to begin with. Although something like this was iprehensible during his previous life, this was definitelyprehensible in this one.


    Items or materials like this that retained certain properties when they were alive were more valuable than those that do not have it.


    For example, the mane could be used as material for a weapon, and the resulting weapon might produce mes all of a sudden duringbat.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Not wanting to give up, Lucas repeated his movements once more.


    The next few tries ended in failure.


    The mane remained unlit without showing any signs of igniting into mes.


    However, just as he was about to give up, thinking that it was indeed just a one-time thing¡ªlike a release of rigor mortis sort of thing¡ªthe mane suddenly ignited during hisst half-hearted try.


    Lucas moved away from the mane immediately. He could feel the heat produced by it, indicating that it was indeed fire and not an illusion conjured by the mane itself.


    Startled yet happy, Lucas observed the me for a few moments until it died off a minuteter.


    Although it had died down once again, Lucas was no longer as disheartened.


    After allowing the fire to settle, Lucas went back beside the mane and the tufted tail. He stared at the two parts as he reviewed what he had done differently during thest try that caused the mane to ignite into mes.


    Repeating his movements once more, Lucas jumped back in joy, the mane in front of him having ignited to mes once more.


    ''Do I need to rub the tail to the mane itself?''


    Spot, who had been observing at the side, looked at the mane incredulously and with wide eyes. It let out a confused bark, not knowing what was going on.


    Seeing his look, Lucas could not help but chuckle.


    "Rx bud! If all goes well, we should be able to eat tastier meatter," he said.


    However, Lucas was suddenly reminded of how Spot had enjoyed eating the raw meat of the snake and boar before.


    Lucas did not know if Spot preferred raw meats over cooked ones.


    ''Well, only one way to find out.''


    Hearing him mention tasty food, though, Spot''s eyes still widened in excitement, even though he did not fullyprehend the full extent of Lucas'' words, just focusing on the ''tastier meat'' part.


    After the me died down, Lucas went over and crouched near the mane and tufted tail once more.


    With a clear mind on what he should do, Lucas took the tufted tail and then swiped it at the top of the mane''s fur.


    "It worked!"


    He eximed in tion, seeing that the mane had indeed burst into mes.


    Without waiting for the me to die down this time, Lucas hurriedly looked around, searching for dead twigs that he could use as firewood.


    Since the mane''s me would die down after a whole minute, he could not cook directly above it.


    To sustain the fire, he must find some dead twigs or wood to let it continue burning.


    After a while, Lucas gathered a small pile of dead twigs.


    Igniting the mane once more, Lucas used the dead twigs to create a fire away from the mane.


    After seeing that the firewoods were starting to be embers, Lucas ran toward the spot where he basked the meat strips, took a handful of them, and then ran back toward the embers of the burning wood.


    Skewering the meat strips to a stick made from a thin branch, Lucas put them above the me to cook it.


    Enduring the hot temperature, Lucas'' nose was assaulted by the smell of cooked meat a few minutester.


    He did not know if it was from the smoke or from joy, but he was almost teary-eyed as he smelled the aroma of the cooked meat.


    Even Spot had also curiously walked over after smelling the grilled meat strips of the Sharp-Tusk Boar.


    With a smile, Lucas handed him a few meat strips after seeing that they were already done being grilled.


    He himself took a bite off the grilled meat strips as well.


    As the hot meat strips entered his mouth and touched his tongue, Lucas was ted to finally be able to taste cooked meat once more.


    Even though the taste was nd without salt and other condiments, like what he had assumed before, the grilled meat indeed tasted better than when eaten raw.


    On his side, Spot seemed to be also having the same sentiments. Even after knowing that it was still hot, he still devoured the grilled meat greedily after he tasted it for the first time.


    "Come,e, eat some more," Lucas remarked in joy.


    As he was eating, he also discovered that the little pungent smell of the dried meat strips was also now gone. Instead of the pungent smell he usually endured when eating it raw, the grilled meat was now wafting out the smell of aromatic premium meat.


    Not satisfied by the amount of grilled meat strips they had eaten, Lucas went back to the drying spot and took some more to cook for him and Spot.


    It was only a few minutester that the two of them were finally satisfied.


    The firewood had already turned to ash, but its presence proved that, for the first time in a while, Lucas had indeed eaten a normal, cooked meal once more.

 Chapter 86 Pursuer

    Lucas grilled a few more meat strips before he felt satisfied. Spot, in his Gentle Dog form, was also satiated and was now lying beside him with a peaceful expression.


    Just earlier, Spot had once again walked to the creek to drink some water before he returned beside Lucas to lie down.


    Drinking the water, nothing out of the ordinary happened to Spot yet. Still, Lucas was quite wary of the creek''s water, afraid that it would produce some unknown effects in the long run.


    However, considering that Spot still appeared normal, Lucas lowered his guard down a bit to take a few sips out of the water canteen, just to satiate his thirst.


    He actually nned to boil the water, but since he had no suitable container to boil it on, Lucas eventually discarded that thought for the time being.


    ''Maybe I could take the skull of the beast we killter on and use them to boil water?'' This thought crossed his mind.


    Although crude and barbaric, it was the only way he could think of at this moment.


    Such actions of boiling water might still not eliminate the ''specialness'' of the water though, but he would lose nothing if he did so, so it was worth a try, to say the least.


    Now that he has ess to fire, Lucas could now do a lot of things that he was unable to do prior, especially in terms of safety and overall survivability.


    Speaking of the fire, Lucas could not help but turn to look at the mane and the tufted tail that it would be produced from.


    Earlier, Lucas had marveled at how magical it was. It was unscientific, and to say the least, truly magical and out of mundane understanding.


    However, even though it appeared so, Lucas also discovered something normal about it.


    For example, even though it appeared undamaged, it actually has a few burnt marks on the very corner of the mane''s fur. It was in that area where Lucas had swiped the tufted tail, causing the whole mane to ignite into mes.


    Lucas had thought that the fire it produced was inexhaustible, but after seeing the burnt marks, he realized that it was the ''payment'' for fires he had produced.


    Lucas imagined the me-Mane Lion would do the same thing to ignite its mane into mes. However, since it was a living creature and could grow its mane''s fur, the concept of limited fur never existed, so it would always ignite its mane all day long without any problem.


    However, since the mane he got no longer came from a living being, it would no longer grow any more furs, and hence, the concept of limits could be applied to it.


    In order to gain something, you must also lose something in return.


    The mane''s fire was not as inexhaustible as he had initially thought.


    Although he was not aware of the specifics, Lucas could somehow guess that every time the mane was ignited using the tufted tail, a few strands of fur would be burned in exchange, with the rest of the mane''s fur igniting as a result of being a good conductor to mes and at the same time highly resistant to it.


    It was kind of ironic and conflicting, but this involved something out of realm of what the current age''s science could exin after all, so Lucas took it like a grain of salt. Anyway, these were all just his conjectures, so it might be true, and at the same time, it might not.


    All he could confirm was that once all the fur would be burned, it would be the day that he would no longer have ess to the easy mes it could produce.


    ''Well, better make the most of it while it''s still here,'' he thought.


    Another thing he noticed was that after he ignited into mes, the pungent and unpleasant smell of the mane and the tufted tail seemed to have disappeared as well.


    To confirm, Lucas even steeled his resolve and to sniff it as close to his nose as possible. And he indeed confirmed that the bad smell has disappeared.


    Recalling that the same thing had happened to the meat strips earlier, Lucas took another bold guess that it was another magical property of the mes it produced. That still needs confirmation, though. Unfortunately, he and Spot were already full, so he could only confirm it another time.


    Seeing the smoke billowing out of the put-out fire from the firewood, Lucas thought that it was the right time that they continue to move forward as well.


    Without wasting any time, Lucas went into action.


    He gathered his things as well as the meat strips he hadid out in the sun and kept them inside the bag made of the boar''s yed skin. After that, he and Spot moved forward along the creek, their destination still the mountain located in the west.


    ***


    Some kilometers away, atop a tall and humongous tree, a figure of a man could be seen standing at the top, looking around with a straight and unemotional face.


    The man appeared injured, and quite badly at that. His clothes were torn beyond recognition; the parts that remained intact were barely covering some parts of his body. Wounds andcerations were also present here and there.


    If Lucas was here, he would have recognized the man at first nce as Asher, the senior who hade to finish him off inside the dungeon.


    At this moment, though, Asher no longer looked as clean and steady as before. Even his brown hair appeared bloody.


    Wherever he got his wounds from, it does not look like it was obtained recently, and normally at that.


    The most grievous wound he got was probably the one located on his chest. It appeared to be a wound that came from an extremely sharp object. Blood dripped out of it; some had already turned ck, while news ones, along with some white fluids, were still oozing out, albeit in a small amount.


    As if feeling the ache, Asher touched the wounds on his chest with a slight grimace. His gaze then shifted toward the distant mountain as a decision was finally made inside his mind.


    Recalling how he had ended up here, rage could not help but boil down his eyes.


    "You damned brat! I''ll surely find and skin you alive!"


    One of his precious contracted beasts was killed by him.


    Even at this moment, his mind was still ringing due to the damage he received after one of his contracted beasts was killed right in front of his eyes.


    If he could not get revenge, he did not think that he would be able to sleep peacefully at night.


    Hence, when Lucas was pulled by the dungeon gate that morning, consumed by rage and the desire to enact vengeance, he did not hesitate to dive to that dungeon gate to pursue the damnable brat that had killed one of his beasts by a mere fluke.


    Unfortunately, he did not see Lucas when hended from the gate.


    What was even worse was the fact that he had been grievously injured as a result of forcefully going inside the dungeon gate. The wounds all over his body were the result of his actions.


    As for the huge shed wound in his chest and the more fresh wounds all over his body, it was the result of a recent sh with a strong beast.


    Although it was his fault to begin with, Asher did not think so and med it all on Lucas, who narrowly escaped his wrath.


    This wrath, though, had been boiling and seething ever since he was able to think again after recovering from the dungeon gate''s assault and the mental injury caused by the death of his beast.


    Now that he could move again, Asher was once again in his path of pursuit for vengeance.


    Crushing the broken shlight in his hands wrapped in thick vines with rage, Asher was sure that he was on the right track.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    As he willed toe down, vines suddenly sprouted out of the tree, bringing him down the tree as gently as possible.


    If one were to observe closely, a vine-like creature had still wrapped itself around his arm. The vine-like creature, though, was no longer as lively as before as well. From the looks of it, it has also sustained some form of injury along with its master.


    As hended on the ground, Asher turned his head and saw the corpse of an extremely massive beast not far from his feet.


    Looking around, one could also see the devastation


    That corpse of the beast was wrapped around by thick vines. At this moment, the beast has already deformed, appearing withered and dry, as if it had been dead for a few months, or that the bodily fluids have been sucked out of it.


    Asher turned his head away from it as if it were just a normal sight. He then turned around and walked toward the mountain slowly.


    The vines wrapping around the beast corpse retracted themselves, leaving no trace behind except the marks present in the corpse.


    A few minutester, though, those marks disappeared; along with it was the copse of the beast''s corpse. It crumbled to the ground, as if a building had suddenly lost its foundation.


    ***


    Unaware that someone was pursuing him from the regted dungeon all the way here, Lucas traveled along the creek and finally encountered a beast.


    Checking his grimoire and the amount of Spiritual Energy he currently has, Lucasmunicated with Spot, asking if he could handle that beast.


    Receiving a nod, Lucas no longer hesitated and told Spot to attack.

 Chapter 87 The Hare

    The beast looked like a mix between a hare and a mole. It was pitch ck in color but had blood-red eyes resembling rubies. Its two ears fluttered back and forth; they were massive and almost the size of its entire body. Two of thembined had almost covered the hare''s entire body or back part, looking like a bug with a folded elytra or the hard wings that covered the soft underwings from beneath.


    The size of the hare, though, was definitely not normal.


    Even from afar, Lucas could estimate that it was almost two meters in length from its snout to its tail. The height could reach up to a meter, appearing quite massive even from afar; if the ears were stretched upward, though, it could probably reach at least three to four meters.


    More than a hundred meters away, Lucas put his things in the ground and hid them in a safe ce before heading toward the unaware hare.


    Spot had already taken a spot to hide to ambush the hare in the most opportune time.


    Like before, Lucas acted as bait so that they could have the element of surprise. This way, even if the hare turned out to be stronger than they expected, they would still be able to injure it first, gaining an advantage.


    For others, such tactics might be seen as beneath them, or even cowardly. However, for Lucas, this was a lifeline he was not willing to let go.


    Who needs valiance and honor if your life was on the line?


    Now that his injuries had mostly started to heal, Lucas'' movements were more fluid than before. His walk no longer appeared staggering; although not as steady during normal times, it was definitely better than before. On the other side, this also meant that he could now run back as fast as he could lest something like the case with the Sharp-Tusk Boar using a charge skill get repeated.


    With that incident as the precedent, Lucas was even more careful with his approach this time around. This time, he even held one of the Sharp-Tusk Boar''s tusks in his hand.


    If something goes awry, he could use it to protect himself or even have a chance to fight back.


    As for the Armadon Tonfa that he has been using before, Lucas kept it inside the bag for the time being, thinking that the sharp tusk was more suitable than the Armadon Tonfa that needs great strength to inflict huge damage to the enemy.


    Walking slowly, Lucas gripped the tusk tightly with his right arm.


    The thick part of the tusk was just the right fit to his huge hands, the only problem being its smoothness that hindered his grip. He had wrapped it with some torn clothes as the handle though, so that problem was at least solved for the time being.


    Lucas'' eyes never left the hare as he moved forward.


    At this moment, the hare was also constantly moving, albeit at a slow pace, as it kept on sniffing the ground as if searching for something.


    As he inched closer and closer toward the hare, Lucas suddenly paused.


    At this moment, the hare suddenly stopped as if alerted by something. Its head curiously looked around. As it stood up on two legs, its massive ears covering its back began to unfold like wings before fluttering around, as if it wanted to focus its hearing.


    As it did, its head suddenly turned toward Lucas'' location. Its eyes narrowed into slits, and at the next moment, it released a threatening and ear-piercing hiss directed to him.


    Before Lucas could even react, the hare suddenly jumped upward.


    Lucas'' eyes narrowed in shock as the two massive ears of the hare pped forcefully in midair.


    And then, as mind blowing as it sounds, the hare actually started flying toward him, with a quick speed akin to a diving bird at that.


    Swoosh!


    That was the only sound that Lucas heard before he promptly turned around to run back to where Spot was hiding in an ambush.


    ''Fuck! What''s with these beasts having skills that allow them to close toward a target quickly?''


    Lucas cursed inside his mind as he ran without looking back.


    The sound of wings, or more precisely, the sound of ears pping, gradually closed in on him, making his hair stand on end.


    As it grew louder and louder, and as a strong wind struck his back, Lucas did not hesitate to hop to the side in an attempt to evade the iing foe.


    The next moment, he was d that he was able to move in time.


    As he hopped to the side, Lucas saw a blur shing past by him. At the area where he was standing earlier, a long sh mark could be seen extending forward.


    Shivering in fright, it was only then that Lucas noticed the long ws situated in the hare''s front paws. Shining like sharp des, the ws left shed marks on the ground where Lucas had been standing earlier.


    With a quick nce, Lucas was able to see how deep they had prated to the ground, indicating the sharpness and lethality of those ws.


    As for the hare with massive ears, it has skidded forward a few meters away after delivering those lethal ws.


    Not wasting any more time, Lucas twisted his body and then ran once more.


    The hare has proved itself to be more lethal than what it looked.


    Fortunately, at the corner of his eyes, Lucas had already seen the figure of Spot running toward the hare at full speed.


    The hare had already turned its head toward Lucas, unaware that a small figure was already running toward it quickly. That small figure, though, transformed into a massive one as its stride continued to growrger.


    The hare had jumped upward and twisted its body mid-air to face Lucas. Its ears trembled, and at the next moment, they pped, its body shooting toward Lucas in extreme speed.


    Feeling the change in the air, Lucas stared in disbelief as the hare swooped toward him with its sharp ws extending forward.


    His eyes constricted in fear, his mind rang with danger, while his heart palpitated like a galloping horse.


    Time seemed to slow down in his perception; the sharp ws shed toward his eyes straightforwardly.


    Recovering his agitated mind, Lucas willed his body to move and evade the attack.


    As time resumed in his perception, Lucas had already leaned backward in an awkward pose. The ws sh past above his eyes, narrowly avoiding the sharp ws that have intended to w them out.


    Like the sharp ws, the hare had also shed past him due to its own momentum.


    It pped its ears wildly, trying to stop its body from continuing forward as itnded down on the ground. Even before it could settle, it had already jumped upward and twisted its body in mid-air to face Lucas once more.


    As it prepared to p its ears once more, though, a massive figure suddenly crashed toward it with great force.


    Boom!


    The hare was flung like a kite. Its body crashed toward a tree a few meters away. However, it has managed to p its wings at thest second, minimizing the force of impact a great deal.


    ''Wha¡ªWhat was that?''


    Lucas thought in disbelief as his mind recalled the mind-blowing phenomena earlier.


    His mind and heart were still in chaos as he rolled backward with the momentum of his backward lean before standing up.


    He hurriedly turned toward the hare as he raised his arms along with the tusk in a defensive position.


    As he stared forward, Lucas realized that his arms, no, his entire body, were shaking inexplicably.


    He did not know what had happened, but his mind and heart seemed to have gone into an overdrive, forcing his body to shake, as if ready to face whatever was about toe.


    Staring ahead, Lucas saw that the hare had already stood up and was now hissing toward Spot and him threateningly.


    Seemed remained unconcerned with its taunts, but his eyes already showed bestial rage. Without waiting for the hare to recover, Spot had already dashed forward, and along with it was a roar that shook the surroundings.


    As if realizing that the hare has terrible speed, Spot did not go for the kill directly and instead used Soft Bark to initiate the battle.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The tactic worked perfectly. Its ears twitched and trembled violently as it absorbed all the sounding from the bestial roar produced by Spot using Soft Bark.


    Even before Spot could reach it, Lucas saw that blood had already burst out of the ears of the hare; its ruby eyes lost focus for a few seconds, and when it came to the realization, Spot was already before it, delivering a sharp w that intended to kill it in one blow.


    However, the hare''s ears suddenly pped and covered its body from the strike.


    The sound of something hard colliding with something hard resounded in the air.


    Lucas stared at the scene of the hare''s ears withstanding the sharp ws of Spot. This was the first time that it had happened after all. Even Spot was also surprised by the oue.


    The ears looked fluid and soft from its movements earlier; who would have thought that it could actually withstand Spot''s attack head-on? From the area that Spot had attacked, only shallow white marks and slight bleeding could be seen.


    The hare hissed in pain as it hopped away from the hateful Spot.


    Before it could p its ears and fly, Spot had already begun to chase after it.

 Chapter 88 Black Winged Hare

    The hare proved to be more difficult to kill than all their previous opponents they had recently faced in the wilderness.


    Not only was it fast enough to dodge most of Spot''s normal attacks, it even has its massive ears that allowed it to fly at quick speed and to cover itself from damage.


    However, since Spot had stated that he could defeat the beast, then he could defeat it without any more questions.


    Spot had always been aware and urate of his own abilities and strength after all.


    As if sensing the danger that it was in, the hare actually decided to escape.


    It rose to the air and was about to p its ears when Spot leapt toward it to deliver a paw.


    This was just a normal attack, but the might it carried was still immense.


    The hare felt as if it was struck by a sledgehammer.


    Its ears that managed to block the paw were still trembling due to the impact it received. Its entire body plummeted to the ground with a thud.


    Before the hare could recover from the impact, Spot was already before it once again.


    However, instead of using Sharp w to tear through its flesh and skin, Spot stared at its ruby eyes and used Gentle Gaze right in front of it.


    Caught in a trance, the hare''s entire body froze.


    Not wasting the opportunity, Spot''s eyes narrowed, and he immediately delivered a strike to its head.


    Instead of using Sharp ws,though, Spot just used his right paw to do the job.


    In such an opportune moment, it may look like Spot made a blunder by using the paws instead of the lethal ws.


    However, the next moment, Spot''s move was proven to be the correct one.


    Having been able to recover almost in an instant when struck by Soft Bark, the hare had also managed to recover quickly from the trance caused by Gentle Gaze.


    Even before Spot''s paw couldnd on its head, its massive ears had already moved to cover itself from the iing strike.


    Boom!


    A loud boom resonated in the air.


    The hare might have been able to cover itself from Spot''s attack, but who said that the attack itself had not done any damage to it?


    The Sharp ws from before only left a white mark and a slight seepage of blood.


    The paw, on the other hand, did not deal even a scratch on the hare''s ears, but the damage it caused to the beast was actually much greater.


    Blood burst out of its eardrums; its ruby eyes rolled back to the back of its head. The hare felt the world spinning due to the force contained in that paw as its eyes lost focus.


    Before it could recover from thepse of concentration, another paw had already descended toward it with great force.


    A minor pit was formed beneath its foot; it could only defend itself from the onught of Spot''s paws.


    However, as hard as its ears that it used as a shield, it still could not block the force and impact that transferred from its hard ears to its fleshy body.


    The hare could not even hiss in pain. The sessive attacks from Spot disoriented its mind a great deal. It could no longer even hear any sound as all of its orifices bleed out heavily due to the internal damages it received.


    Seeing it badly damaged and barely hanging on its life, Lucas actually entertained the idea of contracting it.


    His ideal second beast was one that could potentially run fast or one that could receive a beating.


    Although the hare does not run but instead just flies using its ears, it would still be fast enough to escape the enemy''s attack, and even if it could, it still had its ears to rely on to protect itself from most harm.


    Since Spot was already the best attacker, he had nned to contract a beast that could potentially act as the party''s bait, as he knew that he could not use his own body to do such things if there was another choice.


    As a bait, one must be fast enough or hard enough to take damage from the opponents.


    Lucas felt that the hare was the perfect beast for the role, and he badly wanted to contract it.


    As if sensing his thoughts, Spot also stopped his assault but pressed his paws on the heavily injured hare and pinned it to the ground.


    Contracting a beast was actually quite easy, at least, ording to the information he got from school and the inte.


    If one already had a target beast for contract, they could simply tire it down or beat it to barely hang on its life before initiating a contract. To initiate a contract, a summoner could simply will it on their thoughts, and the grimoire would do the rest.


    Most of the time, the beast would be contracted sessfully as long as it did not have a strong will that could resist the contracting process.


    In front of him, the badly injured hare that was barely hanging on to its life was already in the best state for Lucas to initiate the contract process.


    However, Lucas considered it for a few minutes but ultimately shook his head, deciding against it.


    The hare might be the best candidate, but there were a lot of uncertainties involved if he tried to contract it.


    The most obvious was the fact that he did not know the race of the beast, its grade, as well as its Star Rank.


    As an Unranked Grade grimoire user, Lucas would only be able to contract Iron Grade beasts or Bronze Grade if he really wanted to test his limits and receive a minor bacsh. Any further than that, and he would receive a severe bacsh even if he sessfully contracted a beast of a higher grade.


    It was the same case for the Star Rank, though; the requirements were not as strict toward the grade, but the bacsh would be more severe. As an Iron Star 4 Summoner, Lucas could contract beasts up to four levels higher than him, or two levels higher if the beast was a major star above him.


    And from the grade and ranks of the beasts they had encountered in this wilderness so far and how the hare had fared against Spot, he knew that trying to contract it was akin to suicide.


    Shaking his head in disappointment and regret, Lucas gestured for Spot to finish the hare once and for all.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    ''No matter. As long as I can return to civilization, there would still be a lot of opportunities to contract a suitable beast.''


    Spot heeded his order and immediately shed the neck of the hare as his other paw pinned its ears, restricting it from moving.


    After the beast was killed, Lucas looked at the logs and felt relieved upon seeing its grade and star rank.


    [You have killed an Bronze Grade-Bronze Star 2, ck Winged Hare (100%): You gained 150.75 XP]


    If he had initiated the contract, it would truly be a death sentence if the ck Winged Hare epted the contract. There was a chance that his brain would fry, unable to bear the strength of the beast he just contracted.


    If that truly happened, Lucas would have set the best example for the saying, biting more than one could chew.


    Anyway, the experience points he received were once again extremely massive.


    After that log, another one soon followed suit as Lucas felt rejuvenation and strength coursing through his body.

 Chapter 89 Iron Star 5, Harvest

    [Experience points reached the limit. You have ranked up!]


    As soon as he read the logs, Lucas felt that his body began to freshen up. The fatigue he had been feeling gradually lessened as his heart and brain calmed down while feeling the soothing energy that was coursing through his body at this moment.


    The increase in strength after ranking up was not substantial. Still, as an Iron Star 5 summoner, it still made Lucas'' body considerably stronger and more resilient than before.


    Not only that, he also felt his minor wounds healing fully, while the deeper ones had already begun to close up once more. Lucas reckoned that it would not take long before they fully healed.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Unfortunately, the soothing sensation that came from the feedback of the grimoire for ranking up did notst long; otherwise, it would have surely healed his injuries considerably, and there was even a high chance that they would fully heal.


    After the soothing sensation disappeared, Lucas shifted his focus to his profile or status page.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 5 (17.9/759)


    Spiritual Energy: 59/72


    Beasts: Gentle Dog]


    Aside from the rank, the amount of experience points he needed to reach Iron Star 6 had increased once more. His maximum Spiritual Energy limit had also increased substantiallypared to before.


    Although he did not receive another nk grimoire page, Lucas was still smiling from ear to ear as he closed his grimoire.


    The appearance of his grimoire was still the same as before¡ªaside from the fact that there were now five iron-colored stars shining in the cover.


    Storing the grimoire, Lucas finally had the time to inspect the body of the beast, ck Winged Hare.


    Rxing his body, Lucas went forward and crouched in front of the beast. At this moment, Spot, who had reverted to his Gentle Dog form, was already staring at him while using the Gentle Gaze skill, as if asking for his permission to eat the hare.


    "Don''t worry, I''ll let you eat grilled hareter. Just let me harvest the materials of this beast first, alright?"


    Woof!


    Spot responded with glee. He then began to lick his bloody paws and fur while Lucas began to dissect the beast using the tusk he was holding after he tied it upside down to let the blood flow down.


    "Be on the lookout and notify if there''s any beast," he said to Spot, who yet again responded with a bark.


    After a hasty inspection, Lucas determined that the only notable parts of it that he could harvest as materials were the eyes, ears, as well as the ws.


    Since he did not know how to preserve the eye, he just let it be and focused on taking out the giant ears and the ws of the ck Winged Hare.


    For the ws, he directly cut the carpal and the tarsal joints in the hind legs as he was unable to pull the ws out with his strength. Lucas harvested a total of 18 ws, but out of all of them, only 8 were extremely sharp, while the rest appeared to be normal ws of mundane hares. The eight sharp ws were precisely the front ws that it used to attack him earlier.


    The eight ws were also longerpared to the others. Their length varies depending on their position in the paw, with the center being longer with around fifteen centimeters in length, while the shortest was around ten centimeters. They also appeared like little curved knives, with a sharp point and sharp edge on one side.


    They could be good cutting tools, and if utilized well, could be good weapons as well.


    In fact, Lucas had already imagined using them as knivester on.


    For now, though, he shifted his focus to the massive ears.


    It could be said that in all of the beast''s body parts, the wing-like ears of the ck Winged Hare were what interested him the most.


    As he touched the ears, he realized that his first impression of it being smooth and fluid to be used as wings was actually true.


    As his hands pressed on it, he could tell that it was soft and didn''t appear to have any bones or anything hard that could warrant the defensive capabilities shown earlier.


    The ear was quite curious, much like the mane of the me-Mane Lion they had faced before.


    Feeling the softness of the ears, Lucas decided to punch it as an experiment.


    As he knocked on with slight force, though, a resounding ''dong'' was heard as Lucas felt as if he was punching a hard wall.


    Unknowingly, the moment his fist came in contact with the ears, they had automatically hardened as if it were part of their defense mechanism.


    ted that this ability was retained, Lucas knocked a few more times, receiving the same result. He also used the sharp tusk to try cutting it, and it produced the same result. And unlike Spot, who was able to damage the ears with his ws, the sharp tusk could actually not leave even a single mark on the ears aside from scraping some ck fur out of it.


    Fortunately, Lucas does not need to cut it in the center to harvest the ear. All he needed to do was cut the muscles that connected the ears to the head of the hare. Fortunately, that part was soft and did not have the same abilities as the ears themselves; otherwise, Lucas was already prepared to cut it on the neck just to harvest the ears.


    The magical defensive capabilities of the ears were not something he would pass on.


    After he was done with the ear, Lucas proceeded to take its guts out. Blood had already puddled beneath it and the smell had already wafted in the surroundings.


    Recalling that Spot liked to eat the guts, Lucas threw them all toward him for him to consume it.


    Spot epted it gratefully and began devouring the guts while Lucas himself continued with his job.

 Chapter 90 The Change of Mindset

    After extracting the guts out, Lucas also yed the skin of the hare. Its fur was quite soft to the touch yet tough at the same time. If treated correctly, it could be used as clothes with some defensive capability, along with the massive ears that could act as armor.


    After he was done, Lucas was left with the bloody meat.


    The head was still there, but like what he nned before, Lucas wanted to make it into a boiling container, or a cauldron to be precise. The size of the hare''s head was also just right.


    The skull would probably have enough toughness to withstand fire. The only problem he had regarding it was that he did not have the appropriate tool to carve it into the desired shape.


    But well, as long as it could hold into some water without any seepage, the skull would have served its purpose.


    As for the brain matters, as well as the ruby-like eyes, Lucas threw them to Spot after seeing that he was showing interest in consuming them.


    It was fortunate that they were exposed to such gore while still young, so Lucas was not grossed out as he dissected the hare thoroughly.


    After he was done, he gathered all the parts he had dissected and washed them in the creek that was now quite a distance away from his current location.


    Since he now had ess to fire, he no longer needed to dry the meat he had harvested. He could now cook the fresh meat directly.


    The thought of its vor being more richpared to the dry already made him salivate.


    When he told Spot about his n, he also expressed his desire to consume such meat.


    From his previous experience, he also noticed the purifying properties of the me; hence, the thought of boiling the water before consumption crossed his mind.


    Since he only washed the bloody meat, he thought that it should be fine as long as he did not let the meat absorb that much water. After he was done, Lucas gathered the bags he had hidden earlier and decided to go to a different location even more upstream.


    However, before he could do so, a presence nearby suddenly alerted Spot.


    His head turned toward that direction, and his eyes narrowed into slits as he saw a small beast approaching them.


    After a soft bark, Lucas was also made aware of the beast''s presence.


    From the looks of it, the beast was moving with purpose, clearly trying to locate him, or more precisely, the meat that he was holding.


    The beast must have been attracted by the smell of the hare''s meat in his hand. Judging from the direction that it wasing from, Lucas guessed that it went to the area where he dissected the hare, and came here trying to pursue the smell.


    Seeing that Spot did not feel threatened by the iing beast, he told him to attack. This time, he did not n to use himself as the bait, as it was truly too dangerous.


    Since the beast was already attracted by the meat, then it would pass by Spot''s location in a minute or two with its current pace. Spot only needs to sit still and wait for the beast toe.


    The beast looked like an oversized rodent. It was even bigger than Spot in his Gentle Dog form. Aside from the unusual size, the appearance looked normal with no particr special parts like the ming mane of the me-Mane Lion or the massive ears of the ck Winged Hare.


    At this moment, the rodent kept on sniffing the ground as it moved forward with a steady pace without a care about its surroundings.


    Although the beast appeared careless, Lucas still did not dare underestimate it. After all, the hare looked careless before too, and it turned out to be the most formidable opponent they face in this wilderness.


    It even almost took his life out of him. The experience made him not want to act as bait anymore.


    The rodent grew closer, unaware of the dog that had eyed it in one of the trees ahead of it.


    The moment the rodent passed by Spot''s location by a meter, the dog immediately lunged forward, his body expanding in size almost in an instant.


    The rodent was not even able to react before its back was sliced by the Sharp ws. With its size, it was even almost cut in half. The innards gushed out as blood sprawled to the ground grossly.


    Surprise shed across Lucas'' eyes upon seeing how Spot killed the rodent easily.


    Curious, he summoned the grimoire and looked at the new logs that had just appeared.


    [You have killed an Bronze Grade-Iron Star 5, Spiked Rodent (100%): You gained 11.49 XP]n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    ''Oh¡­''


    Disappointment shed in his eyes upon seeing the small amount of experience points he received.


    "What am I even talking about? This is supposed to be the normal experience points I should be getting," he said with a chuckle, realizing that his perspective toward the experience points he gained had somehow changed.


    Before, he was already grateful for receiving double-digit experience points. Now, receiving such, he actually felt disappointed?


    In fact, even the double-digit gain was still not normal for an Unranked Grade Grimoire user like him.


    After all, the normal Unranked Grade Grimoire users could only hunt with others and could not go solo like him.


    Fixing his mindset to not appear ungrateful, Lucas turned to examine the corpse of the Spiked Rodent.


    As for the name of the rodent having a spike, Lucas was curious about it. After checking the corpse, though, he did not see anything that resembled spikes out of it, so he thought that it must have been named as such due to one of its skills.


    Seeing that even Spot has no desire to consume it, Lucas ignored the rodent''s corpse and proceeded with his previous ns.


    Since the curve from earlier, the creek upstream has now always pointed in the west direction, as if it originated from there in the first ce.


    Now a kilometer away, Lucas decided to stop. Looking above, the sun has already begun its descent in the west. In a few hours from now, it would begin to dusk, and the surroundings would once again dim to wee the chilly night.


    Knowing that the area a few meters away from the creek was devoid of any beast presence, Lucas decided to cook the hare in here and probably set camp for the entire night in the area ahead.

 Chapter 91 Boiled Water

    The smell of grilled meat wafted around the area.


    Spot kept on salivating as he stared at the aromatic meat that was being grilled in front of the fire.


    If not for Lucas'' constant reminder that it was not cooked yet, Spot might have already pounced on it and ate it long ago.


    Deciding to be patient, though, he could only salivate to the side while the meat was being grilled.


    Seeing him being patient, Lucas could not help but produce a grin. "I told you cooked meat is more delicious than when eaten raw."


    Receiving no response from the focused Spot, Lucas could only concentrate on cooking the two hind legs of the hare that was now wafting out a pleasing smell.


    Beside the searing embers of the deadwood he used as firewoody a white skull that was now beginning to darken with soot.


    Unfortunately, the skull of the hare has a lot of holes, so he ended up dismantling it through the joints. After that, only the top part of the skull was left for him to use. The interior of the top part was still a little spacious and could hold onto at least one liter of water.


    There was no leakage on the skull, at least not that could cause the water to drain in a minute or two.


    At this moment, the water was already boiling.


    In fact, this was already the second batch of water that he had boiled in the skull.


    He decided to throw away the first one as it smells bloody and gamey.


    The second boil would probably be the same, but it should already be manageable for him.


    After letting it boil for a few more minutes, Lucas took it out of the fire and let it cool down as he continued to grill the meat.


    Beside him, Spot was already showing signs of impatience.


    Fortunately, it did not take long before Lucas decided to take it out of the fire as well.


    He then threw one hind leg to Spot while he held the second one.


    The next moment, the two of them began to eat to their hearts''s content.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Like what he had guessed, the grilled meat of the hare was more juicy than the meat strips they had eaten before. It was full of vor and was not gamey. The texture was just right, resembling chicken meat.


    Spot had also enjoyed his share a lot. As if afraid of gobbling the meat quickly, Spot had even stayed in his Gentle Dog form just so he could savor the meat and eat it slowly to enjoy it more.


    Lucas chuckled while shaking his head.


    The meat was indeed tastier than he had imagined. However, theck of condiments for it was kind of off-putting. Even though this was a graded meat, he still could not help but think that it wasckingpared to his mother''s cooking, which was full of vors from the spices and condiments.


    Recalling the face of his mother, Lucas sighed as he finished eating half of the hind legs he was holding.


    Since he was already full, he handed the remaining half to Spot, to which Spot received in visible delight.


    Lucas then took the hare''s skull and used a boiling cauldron. The top part of the skull now resembled an oversizedle with a short handle¡ªthe short handle being the upper snout of the hare, while the deep bowl was where its brain was previously located.


    Looking at the water that has now begun to cool down, Lucas'' mind was still full of hesitation.


    Even though it was already boiled, he could still not confirm if the special property of the water was already purified by the me.


    As he stared at the water, Lucas suddenly saw Spot standing up from his position. Looking below, he saw that the grilled meat he had given to him was already licked clean, with only the bones remaining unconsumed.


    At this moment, Spot began to walk toward the creek.


    Without hesitation, Spot drank the water without regard for danger.


    Seeing him drink the water at least put some ease in Lucas'' hesitant mind.


    Spot had never consumed anything harmful to him.


    Even though he was gluttonous, Spot had still ignored the body of the me-Mane Lion as well as the Spiked Rodent.


    From Lucas'' guess, it could only mean that the two beast corpses were kind of harmful, hence the reason why he was unwilling to consume it.


    As for the creek''s water, Spot had consumed it repeatedly without showing any kind of problem.


    "Maybe I''m just overthinking it," Lucas stated with a wry smile as he decided to trust Spot''s judgment once more.


    Hardening his resolve, Lucas finally took a sip out of the boiled creek''s water.


    The taste was not as crisp as when it was not boiled. The taste was t and a bit softer.


    Even though he decided to trust Spot, Lucas still did not consume too much. He then stored the remaining water inside the canteen before he decided to cook the remaining meat of the hare, as it would probably turn smelly tomorrow.


    After that, Lucas poured some water in the fire to put it out.


    Before the thick smoke could billow above the towering trees, Lucas and Spot had already moved upstream once more.


    As usual, Lucas searched for a good tree that could hide him from prying eyes. After he found the right spot, he stored his other items, like the meat strips and the cooked hare, in another location, afraid that their smell might attract some beast. As for his other items stored in his damaged bag, Lucas decided to keep them beside him, as it was there where he stored the tusk and the other items he could use as weapons.


    The ears and the yed skin of the hare were also stored in a different location, but a closer onepared to the meat strips and the cooked meat.


    After he was done with his other preparations, Lucas climbed atop the tree branch that he had selected.


    Recalling what happened this morning, Lucas especially chose a thick branch that could still overlook the creek.


    He was curious if what happened this morning would repeat tomorrow.


    He also did not forget the fact that there were no beasts in sight near the creek when they were traveling upstream earlier. The beasts they encountered and killed had also stayed at no less than fifty meters from the creek''s edge. That alone proved that the creek was indeed special.


    If he could confirm that they would only go near the creek during the morning, Lucas would be able to take advantage of it and rush to the west as soon as possible.


    Days had passed since he was sent here from the regted dungeon.


    Judging by the time, the second-yearpetition will start in two days.


    Knowing the preparations made by Asher and his squad, Lucas did not dare to imagine what kind of danger everyone would face if he did not manage to inform them in time.


    ***


    Twilight City, in front of the Valen family''s house.


    "I-is there any news?"


    Rosana''s eyes were watery as she stared at Ethan in front of her with a worried yet expectant gaze. Her hands were sped together in front of her chest, trembling as she waited for the answer from Ethan.

 Chapter 92 Rush

    The next morning quickly came in the blink of an eye after Lucas fell asleep.


    Lucas, who had woken up an hour ago, was staring over the horizon, which had now begun to turn lc.


    To clearly observe what will happen, he had unconsciously woken up earlier than expected.


    At this moment, Lucas hid in the dense leaves of a tall tree overlooking the creek.


    In this position, he was able to see a wide area of the creek. He was not extremely close, and at the same time, not too far away from the creek. The tree that he was perching on has rooted at around twenty meters away from the creek. The branch he was sitting on, though, has extended at around ten meters away from the creek.


    He was in a vintage point of view and would not be easily spotted from above and below.


    As the sun in the horizon began to show itself, Lucas also noticed some movements a few meters behind the tree that he was positioned on.


    These were the dried leaves and dead twigs rm traps he had set up yesterday.


    With his vintage point of view, Lucas easily spotted where the movements wereing from.


    A beast was slowly crawling toward the creek with great caution. It cautiously looked around as it stepped on the dead twigs and leaves sprawled on the ground. Not suspecting anything, the beast continued to move forward toward the creek.


    A momentter, Lucas saw another beasting into his view from another location. This one was more massive and looked more menacing than the first one he saw. Its steps appeared careful, but were actually heavy and quick. Even if the beast did not step on the rm traps he had set up, Lucas was still able to hear themotion that it caused from afar.


    As the sound of the new beast footsteps resound in the area, the small beast that came first halted on the spot, highly alert.


    It kept looking around, its eyes and actions full of wariness.


    The sound of footsteps grew closer, and a momentter, the two beasts of varying size met each other.


    The next moment, an unbelievable thing happened right in front of Lucas'' eyes.


    After the two beast''s eyes met in the middle, the bigger one¡ªthat with a quick nce looked like an apex predator, actually ignored the smaller one.


    As if it did not exist in the first ce, the bigger one ignored the small beast and continued to move forward with the same cautious yet heavy and quick strides.


    After a few seconds, the small beast continued to move forward too, as if meeting the bigger beast was just merely an illusion, and something it did not have to mind.


    A few momentster, Lucas saw the same scene happening over and over again.


    Beasts that met each other would choose to ignore, rather than go into a conflict.


    No matter if they were big, small, a predator or prey, all of them chose peace over violence as they moved toward the creek.


    Looking over, Lucas saw those beasts drinking water over the creek. They were close to each other, one tiny leap and a predator beast would be able to attack the beast nearest to it easily.


    With a quick nce, Lucas counted at least fifteen of them in the area in front of him alone.


    He did not dare to imagine how many beasts were drinking in other parts of the creek during this time.


    None of them seemed to mind the presence of the others, though.


    The scene was quite marvelous, and at the same time bizarre.


    Just like what happened yesterday, the beasts that were done drinking retreated, while new ones would emerge from god knows where to rece them and drink their fill of flowing water.


    Like yesterday, the drinking session went awfully peaceful.


    The session had once againsted for almost two hours.


    As thest beast retreated away from the creek, the surroundings became eerily quiet with only the sound of flowing water entering his ears.


    The morning drinking session was truly bizarre and harrowing.


    It made Lucas wonder what was truly special about the creek''s water.


    His gaze shifted toward the west where the creek probably originated from. If the creek has an end, its secret would probably be hidden there.


    After allowing the surroundings to calm down, Lucas decided toe down from the tree.


    Now that he had confirmed one part of his conjectures, he could now start to prepare for his n of sprinting toward the mountain. To do that, though, Lucas would need all the energy that he could have, though.


    Gathering the things he had hidden yesterday, Lucas began to prepare for his meal. Since he already cooked the remaining hare meat yesterday, he only needs to heat them up now.


    ***


    In another part of the wilderness that Lucas was in.


    Asher bent down on his knees and stared at the dried puddle of blood located beneath a tree.


    Behind him was the corpse of a small beast. Judging from the fresh blood that gushed out of its orifices, one would be able to immediately tell that it was killed through strangtion just a moment ago. Further behind, the corpses of some beasts¡ªmostly small ones¡ªwere present too.


    Asher stood up and looked around, as if trying to determine which direction he should go.


    Through the pieces of trails left behind, he determined the direction and went toward it without any hesitation.


    A momentter, Asher stood over a creek.


    Bending down, he allowed the vine-like beasts in his arm to extend and dip toward it.


    Asher tilted his head, "Rejuvenation?"


    His eyes lit up with glee. Without hesitation, he scooped up some water and greedily drank it as if there was no tomorrow.


    A couple of splutteringter, Asher stood up, his vicious grin growing wild. His previous stoic expression could no longer be maintained all the time and would sometimes show emotions.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    Walking along the creek, he felt the effects of the creek''s water gradually spreading through his body.


    A few momentster, the smell of rotting corpses assaulted his nose.


    "A me-Mane Lion? Am I in that area¡­" a scowl appeared on his face for a brief moment before it returned to its previous nk expression.


    "This me-Mane Lion is the peak of Iron Star?" He judged through its size and color.


    Recalling how that brat''s contracted beast also managed to kill his Iron Star 9 Dark Catowl, Asher gritted his teeth in anger as he realized that maybe it was not a fluke.


    "Could it be that they have grown stronger here?"


    That was indeed a possibility.


    He still believed that the death of his Dark Catowl was just an unfortunate incident caused by a mere fluke on that brat''s end.


    If they had indeed grown stronger in this wilderness, though, it showed how talented they were.


    "Is that brat actually the new Gold Grade awakener?" A hint of annoyance surfaced on his face, but it was soon reced by eyes full of rage.


    "So what?"


    "I''d still win!"


    He needs to hurry, though. Who knew what kind of growth that brat would experience if left unchecked.


    And so, his pace increased for the first time in a while.


    ***


    After he and Spot were satisfied with their meal, they immediately set out to the west once more.


    At this moment, Lucas was running at moderate speed as Spot ran in front of him, trying to match his pace.


    Since he could not confirm if the beasts really did not dare set foot near the creek after the drinking secession, he decided to run at moderate speed for the time. Once he confirms his conjecture, though, he would be able to run as fast as he could without worrying about potential ambushers along the way.


    After almost an hour of running, Lucas and Spot decided to stop. He drank some water in his canteen while Spot went to the creek to drink water there.


    Spot even looked at him as if saying that he should also drink the creek''s water directly.


    Showing a wry smile, Lucas indeed went over and took a tiny scoop of water using his hand to drink.


    After recovering some Spiritual Energy, Lucas and Spot continued with the same pace once more.


    Two hourster, it was already noon.


    They had traveled along the creek, for the past three hours without encountering any beast to his delight.


    Their journey was not interrupted, and Lucas could now more or less confirm that his second conjecture was also true.


    With that, he could now choose to sprint toward the west and reach the west mountain as fast as possible.


    After a slight rest, Lucas and Spot once again sprinted forward.


    The creek had already curved multiple times, but the curve was nothing drastic and it still slithered to the direction that he was going.


    As the sun began to set in the horizon, Lucas, who was quite tired from his sprinting journey, finally stopped on his tracks.

 Chapter 93 Feast

    Aside from feeling a little tired, the scene ahead that made his scalp tingle in fear was what warranted his abrupt stop.


    At this moment, Lucas has already arrived at the foot of the mountain.


    The mountain that could be seen from afar was as towering as he had imagined it to be. From his current location, he could no longer even see the mountains mid-slope, much less the peak.


    Unlike the previous location, the foot of the mountain was actually barren of any towering trees.


    Instead, the trees were of normal size; they were not dense in number and had a huge space between each tree. Thriving beneath the trees was green grass that beds the ground with soil barely visible in a quick nce.


    Like his spection, the creek had indeed extended toward here; its width, though, gradually decreased the closer it was to the mountain. At this moment, the creek''s breadth was reduced to only three feet wide.


    This information, though, was not what caused him to stop.


    Instead, it was the gathering of a beast hundreds of meters away from his current location.


    Their vague silhouettes were entuated by the setting sun, making them appear demonic and sinister.


    Due to the nature of the trees being not densely packed, Lucas was able to see quite a distance away with barely any obstruction in his vision.


    Due to that, the gathering of the beast that had gathered hundreds of meters away was very clear in his eyes.


    The gathered beasts, even from afar, looked massive and humongous. Some of them were even as tall, or even taller than the trees near them. They also vary in shapes and sizes; some appeared to be predators, while some appeared to be prey.


    At first, Lucas thought that they were also having a drinking session in the creek; however, upon closer observation, he realized that they were not.


    Although they were near the creek, it did not appear as if they were drinking or trying to drink the creek''s water.


    It even looked as if they were protecting something, and the humongous and towering beasts were just the guards stationed in that area.


    ''They are not fighting with each other because of the creek, but something else?''


    Unlike the beasts he had seen during the drinking session, the gathering of beasts he was seeing now seemed to be unconcerned and was not wary of each other.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    It was as if there was no need for them to worry about, as they were there with the same goal in mind.


    As that thought crossed his mind, Lucas could not help but shiver in fright.


    Beasts usually only show such behavior patterns if they were being led by someone stronger, or more talented than them¡ªa leader in short.


    From what he could recall, only those who have reached the Gold Star Rank and those with terrifying potential like a Silver Grade and Gold Grade beast have the ability tomand other beasts and rule over them.


    At the next moment, a random beast suddenly appeared out of nowhere.


    The beast was also huge. It appeared to be an elephant with long sharp tusks. It looked menacing and did not look like your ordinary kind of beast.


    In his point of view, the sudden appearance of the elephant was very striking. It strode toward the creek, unaware that a gathering of beasts was taking ce there right at this moment.


    Just as Lucas thought that it was part of the group, one of the humongous beasts present in the gathering suddenly turned its head toward the direction of the elephant the moment it entered around two hundred meters away from them.


    The humongous beast that looked like a massive bird released an ear-piercing shriek toward the iing elephant, as if warning it not toe closer.


    The elephant, though seemingly uncensored, turned a deaf ear to the warning as it continued to move forward.


    The humongous, massive bird did not let out a second warning. It rose to the air and immediately pped its massive wings toward the iing elephant without any warning. Its eyes showed great ferociously and wrath, as if enraged by the fact that the elephant beast had not listened to it.


    A few moments after it pped its wings, Lucas felt a strong gust of wind pping his face. Due to the force of the wind, Lucas was even almost knocked back by it.


    As he blinked his eyes from the wind instinctively, a sonic boom entered his ears at the next moment.


    When he opened his eyes, the bird beast was no longer in sight. Instead, it has already appeared right in front of the elephant.


    Trees were uprooted as its talons sunk deep into the elephant''s eyes and possibly brain.


    The elephant fell to the ground.


    As quick as it came, as quick as it went.


    The battle was over even before Lucas could finish blinking his eyes.


    His eyes constricted as he felt horror gripping the bottom of his heart.


    The bird beast released a triumphant shriek. It rose to the air and brought the body of the elephant toward itspanions with its talons still gripping the elephant''s head. The massive elephant looked as light as a feather as the bird beast carried it over near the creek.


    The ground trembled as the bird beast dropped the elephant''s corpse to the ground.


    The other beasts around it gathered as they proceeded to feast on the remains of the elephant that dared to enter their range.


    At the next moment, with a bloody beak, the bird beast suddenly turned its head toward his location.


    ''Shit!''


    Cursing his mind, Lucas gasped in shock and almost had a heart attack as he felt death even nearer than before.


    Not only him, even Spot, who was sitting at the top of his head, shivered after they were subjected to that bird beast''s cold stare.


    Lucas did not linger in the area and ran as fast as he could to move away from those terrible beasts as soon as possible.


    The distance between them was not that great and should be just between five hundred meters and one kilometer.


    He reckoned that with a simple p of the bird beast''s wings, it would immediately arrive in front to deal with him.


    As he ran, though, he realized that the beast must havepletely ignored him after that initial stare.


    It worked out in his favor in the end, though. Lucas was relieved after realizing that.


    No matter how strong Spot was in his Hellhound Manifestation form, there was no way he would be able to fight those terrible beasts with his current strength. The difference in star rank was staggering, and no amount of talent will be able topensate for it in the short run.


    After running for at least another kilometer, Lucas finally stopped while panting heavily. He drank some watering from his canteen while Spot went over the creek to drink his own water as well.


    Deciding to rest for a bit, Lucas stared at the distant and dangerous mountain as he pondered what he should do next.


    Anyway, his original n was to ascend the mountain and see from there if there were any human civilizations around the area. From there, he would then proceed ording to the result of his findings.


    Walking straight and following the creek, though, appeared to be akin to a suicide, so he crossed out that n for the time being.


    After thinking for a bit, Lucas decided that he should just circle around andpletely avoid that area where the beasts were gathering.


    Drawing a simple sketch of the mountain in the ground with a stick, Lucas determined the direction he must take and roughly estimated the area he must avoid to not enter the activity range of that group of beasts.


    The situation all the way up, though, was still uncertain. There might be even more beasts gathering there, so Lucas reminded himself to always be cautious and not be caughtcking.


    With the sun already setting in the west, though, Lucas decided to move a bit further away while looking for a safe ce to sleep.


    Afraid of attracting unnecessary trouble through the fire, he even decided to skip eating his dinner.


    To replenish his energy, though, he decided to consume the good old uncooked meat strips. The remaining hare meat was already consumed by the gluttonous Spot. So he could only rely on the meat strips for the time being.


    After a while, Lucas was finally able to spot a good tree.


    Like the others around it, this tree was not tall and was just over eight meters in height.


    Its branches were not very thick, so sleeping there would no longer be as safe as before, as there was a possibility that he would fall to the ground if he was careless.


    Lucas has a solution to it, though, so he was not entirely worried about sleeping above the tree.


    After he was done with his preparations and after preparing the ''borate traps'', Lucas climbed the tree and chose the thickest branch that he could sit on without a problem.


    Bending the thin branches around and securing them in ce with his jumbled weblines, Lucas was able to create a temporary shelter that could cover him from normal prying eyes and, at the same time, secure himself to avoid falling to the ground.


    After he was done, the only thing left to do was to close his eyes and wait for morning toe before opening his eyes.


    His eyes, though, suddenly opened themselves in the middle of the night.

 Chapter 94 A Gathering

    Due to what he had seen before during dusk, Lucas'' nerves were already tense and specially cautious.


    He was not even able to sleep early; his mind was constantly thinking of the scene he had witnessed earlier.


    Afraid that he would be subjected to the beast''s assault, Lucas was only able to sleep for two hours before his eyes snapped awake.


    A sudden sound andmotion snapped his eyes open with a start.


    If not for the thin branches he had wrapped around his legs to secure himself, he would have fallen from the tree due to the sudden action.


    His ears and whole body had jerked involuntarily, and his heart was galloping like a horse as he immediately looked around to discern what had caused the suddenmotion.


    Unfortunately, the deep night did not allow him to see far beyond his current location. The crescent moon and the stars hung high, but their lights were not enough to illuminate what was below the tree that he was hiding.


    He just realized that cing himself all the way up above the tree during the night has its own downsides too.


    Unable to see anything, Lucas could only close his eyes and focus on his hearing.


    ''A battle?''


    Lucas thought as themotion grew louder and louder.


    The sound of the battle grew fierce as time passed by.


    Lucas could not help but think that it must be one of those beasts he saw earlier. Judging by the sound of the battle, it looked like the enemy was also a fierce one for being able to contend with those beasts for a long time.


    This has nothing to do with Lucas, though.


    Aside from not being able to sleep, the battle did not affect him that much. Although themotion was loud, especially since it happened in the middle of the night, Lucas could still judge that the battle was happening far away from his current location.


    Although he was tense, Lucas still breathed a sigh of relief.


    ''At least, I won''t be-''


    "You know what? Crash out what I just said!" He said as he tried to ignore the battle and focus on getting some sleep.


    He needs all the energy he could find tomorrow, so he must sleep and take a proper rest.


    Fortunately, the sound of battle soon died down, allowing him some sleep.


    However, it did not take long before his eyes snapped open once again.


    After the firstmotion died down, another one soon followed without a warning.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    ''Another battle?'' Lucas thought with resentment.


    ''If you don''t want to take rest, then at least allow others to take a rest, damn it!'' Lucas cursed, his eyes dropping due to drowsiness. However, no matter how he tried to close his eyes to continue sleeping, the sound of battle just kept on assaulting his ears.


    How could he sleep with such an arrangement?


    Still, he could do nothing about it.


    He could only despair and endure, trying his best not to pay attention to the battle so that he could have the proper rest that he so much deserved after such a long and tiring day.


    Unfortunately, there was no rest for the wicked.


    The battle this timested almost an hour before it finally came to a stop.


    "Finally!"


    Lucas heaved a sigh of relief.


    Now that the sound of battle and themotion it caused have stopped, he could finally take a proper rest.


    At least, that was what he thought.


    Until it wasn''t.


    Snapping his eyes open, Lucas felt the tree that he was hiding on was shaking. As if an earthquake weremencing, the tree kept on shaking as if it would fall at the next second.


    Afraid for his life, Lucas quickly unwrapped the thin branches on his legs but kept on holding tight so that he wouldn''t fall. The reason he did so was because if the tree fell and his legs were still wrapped in ce, he would not have enough time to get out and jump to safety.


    As he kept holding on to the tree, he realized that it was already dawn and the horizon had once again slowly turned to the shade of lc.


    When the tremors died down and the tree returned to its previous calm, the sun was already shining upon the world.


    The world turned bright, but Lucas'' mood was not.


    He was not able to sleep well. He felt tired and sore all over his body. It felt like he had done a rigorous exercise the other day without warming up.


    Seeing that the surroundings had settled after those tremors, Lucas sighed in resentment as he began to climb down the tree.


    He did not know where that tremor or earthquake hade from, but it felt surreal to be a natural one.


    That damn earthquake hadsted for almost an hour, with no change in frequency or magnitude. And then it just stopped, as if it did not ur in the first ce.


    As curious as it was, Lucas does not have the tendency to seek death by trying to locate the source of it.


    He preferred eating the meat strips to going over to seek death.


    At least, that was what Lucas nned when he decided toe down.


    Unfortunately, he was destined not to have a peaceful morning when once again a loudmotion entered his ears.


    Beasts howls and shrieks suddenly resound in the entire wilderness. If there were mundane birds in this forest, they would have flown out of panic if they heard the series of howls and screams.


    Following it was the sound of hooves galloping the ground.


    Faint tremors brush his feet.


    As Lucas felt it, his eyes narrowed in shock as the sounds of galloping hooves grew closer and closer.


    ''Fuck!''


    Without wasting any time, Lucas did not linger in the area and immediately bolted out in the opposite direction. As he ran, his hands automatically moved as an ordinary grimoire materialized right in front of him so that he could summon Spot.


    The sound of hooves that could be heard even from afar surely did not belong to any normal beast.


    He did not stay to find out either, as he still greatly valued his own life.


    The sound of galloping hooves stopped abruptly. However, it soon resumed, and this time it appeared to have found a purpose.


    Lucas'' tensed even more as he tried his best to escape. He did not even bother about the items in the yed skin bag anymore, as he just focused on running away.


    However, the feeling of death gripped his heart tightly.


    The beast had found him and was now in hot pursuit.


    Without wasting any more time, he gritted his teeth and quickly summoned Spot while running.


    Spot materialized in front of him, and as if sensing the iing danger, he immediately transformed into his Hellhound Manifestation form as his paws struck forward without warning.


    Boom!


    As the sound of collision ensued, Lucas saw a blur passing by him in an instant.


    That blur came to an abrupt halt when it smashed onto a tree.


    The normal-sized tree shook before it fell to the ground with a thud, its thick trunk having been broken from the impact.


    As he kept on running, Lucas arrived near the tree and was horrified when he realized that the blur was actually Spot.


    Seeing that he was sent here in just one collision showed how terrifying the beast that had pursued him was.


    At this moment, Spot had already stood up from the ground.


    His body appeared dirty, but there seemed to be no obvious injuries to his body.


    He shook his head and released a Soft Bark.


    The loud roar echoed in the surroundings.


    The description of Soft Bark was that of a skill that allows its user to announce its presence in an area.


    In his Hellhound Manifestation form, that skill does more than just announce his presence, though.


    However, after the release of his Soft Bark, a loud and sonorous roar was what came as a reply.


    As if the Soft Bark had no effect on it, the beast that they were dealing with also released a roar of its own, as if mocking them that it knows how to bark too.


    Lucas was even more horrified.


    This beast actually resisted Soft Bark. Just how high was its rank and grade for it to ignore the effects of Soft Bark?


    The Soft Bark was inefective, and Lucas felt that the world was truly against him.


    Although he was surprised at the result, Spot was not disheartened as he leapt forward to meet and sh with the enemy once more.


    After he ran for a few meters, and after feeling that he was already away from the battle area, Lucas finally decided to stop and turn to look at what kind of beast they were dealing with.


    As he looked closer, a dumbfounded expression appeared on his face.


    "A fucking goat?"


    His first impression about it was that of a goat.


    At least its face resembled one. It has wide eyes and long, pointy horns like a normal goat. Its head was ck and looked ordinary to say the least. The white goatee appeared extremely eye-catching due to the contrasting colors with its face.


    Although its head resembled that of a goat, its body was nothing close to it.


    It was standing like a human with a huge and powerful build. It has wide, hairy shoulders that resemble that of a bear. Its arms seemed to be from a bird beast, with talons so sharp that they appeared like an embedded sickle on its forearm.


    Its lower half seemed to be that of a horse. Its hooves were specially massive and shone with metallic light.


    There are subtle parts of its body that Lucas did not recognize. However, they appeared out of ce, to the point that it looked extremely ridiculous.


    Even though he was not subjected to any fear or intimidating skill, Lucas still felt his heart tighten as he saw the abomination that looked like a mixture of all the beasts that had gathered at the foot of the mountain yesterday.


    ''Fuck! This beast looked nothing like normal at all!''


    Cursing inside, Lucas saw that Spot had already leapt forward to attack the ''gathering of beasts.

 Chapter 95 Hopeless

    Seeing Spot leap toward the abomination without fear, Lucas could not help but worry.


    No matter how Spot showed his talents and strengths during the past few days, he just could not see how he would be able to defeat the mixture of a beast that has targeted them.


    From the initial sh earlier, and by how it sent Spot flying and how easily it neutralized his Soft Bark skill, Lucas determined that the beast was around peak Bronze Star in strength and a possibility of it being a Silver Star. It''s grade did not seem to be low either. It must be at Silver Grade at the very least.


    Although he would have expected his assumption to be wrong again, Lucas felt as he realized that he was right this time around.


    As Spot leapt forward and met the talons of the amalgamation of beasts in mid-air.


    Sparks flew in the air as Spot''s body was sent flying backwards once more. His huge figure smashed into a tree, breaking its trunk and making it fall.


    Spot stood up once more. He shook his body, and the force of impact seemed to have little to no effect on him.


    From the looks of it, his furs had lessened the impact he just received.


    Spot used Soft Bark once more while leaping forward.


    Rage was apparent in his eyes. There was no fear toward the strong, just endless fighting spirit and rage that could shake a person''s soul.


    Unfortunately, the thing he was fighting was no person at all.


    The Soft Bark was ineffective and had served little to no purpose.


    Spot did not give up easily, as he pounced forward with great ferocity.


    The amalgamation of a beast lets out a bellow of its own.


    All this time, it has not moved a single inch from its position, signifying how strong it was.


    As Spot leapt andnded in front of it, he suddenly used Gentle Gaze, nning to memorize the beast and attack after creating an opening.


    However, as ineffective as the Soft Bark was, the Gentle Gaze could hardly do anything to the beast as well.


    Instead of being mesmerized, it has only made its goat eyes tremble a little.


    This little bit of trembling ignited both Lucas and Spot''s hope. Spot did not waste the opportunity and immediately shed toward it with his Sharp ws.


    The amalgamation of beasts, however, reacted swiftly and blocked his attack at thest second.


    Enraged, the beast let out an ear-piercing bellow.


    Spot, that was right in front of it, took the full brunt of the roar. From Spot''s expression, Lucas guessed that the roar was also actually a skill, just like Soft Bark.


    Spot staggered backwards for a little bit before he pounced forward relentlessly. However, his ws were once blocked narrowly; he turned to his primitive form of battle.


    Bite!


    Spot opened his mouth wide enough to fit the head of the goat headed by the beast. However, obviously much faster, the goat beast was able to evade it one more time. Using its horn, it headbutted Spot, making him fall and stagger a few meters back once more.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Seeing Spot being so helpless in front of the goat-headed beast, Lucas could not help but feel dread all over his mind.


    Since his battle with Asher''s beasts, this was the first time that Spot had struggled with his opponent. This time, the struggle was even more apparent as Spot was like a child in front of the beast.


    The gap in strength was just simply too wide that it felt like it was just ying around with Spot.


    Lucas could also see that the beast was just ying around. Ever since it arrived, it had only attacked proactively once. After that one proactive attack, the beast had only been defending itself from Spot''s attacks and counterattacking casually in the most opportune time.


    Aside from being strong and of a higher rank, the beast seemed to be well-experienced in battle too.


    Lucas gritted his teeth upon seeing the situation of Spot.


    ''Think! I need to think of a solution!''


    Escape had crossed his mind since earlier. However, the speed that the beast had showcased made it impossible for him to run and escape.


    The beast''s speed was so dreadful that it would be able to deflect or block Spot''s attack even at an extremely close distance.


    Helpless!


    Both he and Spot were helpless against the current foe.


    Lucas tried using Gentle Gaze on the beast, but it did not even cause the goat''s eysh to tremble. In fact, the goat-headed amalgamation did not even turn to look at him. As if the skill he had just thrown was nothing but a drop of water in a great ocean.


    The only sce he had at this moment was the fact that the beast doesn''t seem to have the intention of killing them.


    Its goat head revealed a cruel and yful smile.


    Its head was still facing the relentlessly attacking Spot, but its eyes had already turned toward Lucas, who was standing in the distance.


    Lucas felt terror grip the bottom of his heart upon seeing the beast''s action.


    Before he could make a single sound, the beast suddenly dissapeared from his eyes.


    At the next moment, it had already appeared before him, and its horse-like hooves were raised as it kicked him squarely in the chest.


    Although a littlete to react, Lucas tried to evade the strike.


    However, even before his mind could process what was going on, the kick had alreadynded on his chest.


    An immense force assaulted his chest. Before his figure could shoot out like a released arrow, Lucas had already coughed a mouthful of blood as he felt the dreaded force invade his body.


    His mind jolted in pain, and the next thing he noticed, his back had already smashed to a tree nearby. His figure fell to the ground with a thud. His mind was nk, and he seemed to be out of it.


    Spot''s enraged roar resounded in the surroundings.


    Even though it was notid with Soft Bark skill, the roar still shook the surroundings a great deal.


    Pouring all his emotions into that roar, even the goat-headed beast turned to look at Spot curiously.


    With a step, the goat-headed beast was already before Spot.


    Enraged by the fact that its master was injured, Spot returned to his old ways as he trashed around with all his might.


    His paws kept on swinging toward the beast, his eyes kept on using Gentle Gaze, and his fangs tried to sink themselves in the body of the beast multiple times but to no avail. His growl was alwaysced with Soft Bark.


    The flurry of attacks was desperate and full of rage.


    However, all of them were infectious towards the goat-headed beast. And from the looks of it, it was slowly getting bored from the ything in front of him.


    The goat-headed beast finally released a goat-like sound.


    The goat sound it released was not as imposing and loud as the previous roar it let out. However, although not loud, Spot still trashed around in pain as the high-pitched ''meee'' sound entered his ears without warning.


    Spot howled in pain as he tried to cover his ears with his massive paws. The sound would not be isted by such an action, though.


    Continue reading at empire


    The goat was even amused by his actions.


    Using its talon-like hands, the goat beast suddenly lifted Spot''s head.


    With injuries now all over his body, Spot no longer looked as imposing and grandpared to when Lucas first saw him.


    The goat beast might not have proactively attacked him, but its presence and counterattacks were so lethal that each has injured Spot.


    From all of his wounds, the headbutt seemed to be the one who had done the most damage. At this moment, Spot''s forehead has be a little caved.


    Lucas woke up from his daze upon hearing Spot''s agonizing wails.


    It pained him too much hearing his beast suffer such torture.


    Yes, the goat beast was indeed trying to torture Spot. giving him wounds from time to time, one sh at a time, as Spot kept on pouncing toward the beast to attack with all his might.


    Hatred shed across Lucas'' eyes.


    His mind ignored the pain all over his body as he tried toe up with a solution to the current predicament.


    If normal ways were not enough, then he should turn to something not normal.


    His eyes were still staring at the desperate battle, but his attention was now grabbed by the wheel that had appeared in front of him.


    The System was the one who had made Spot into the glorious beast that he was today.


    Hoping that the System would once again defy logic, Lucas summoned its interface and saw what he could do.


    As his gazended on the wheel-like interface and at the grayed-out columns that indicated they were unusable, Lucas'' hope crumbled to the bottom of the abyss.


    In the end, even the system has abandoned him.


    However, as if thinking of something, Lucas'' eyes suddenly lit up.


    ''Summon... I need to contract another summon!''


    This was the only way.


    If Spot was not enough to defeat the beast, then he would send another one.


    As long as he could contract another beast, the System would once again awaken and give him an opportunity for Bloodline Detection. A powerful skill was a guarantee.


    This time, Lucas no longer thought about his ns for his second beast.


    This time, he was desperate enough to contract anything that he could find. Even if the level was high and there was a risk of bacsh, Lucas no longer cared as long as they could get out of the current situation.


    And at this time, at the corner of his eyes, Lucas saw something move.

 Chapter 96 Despair

    Desperate enough to contract anything, even if it causes him harm, Lucas did not even have a full view of what had moved before he willed the grimoire to contract it.


    All he knew was that it was a beast and he could contract it.


    And so he did.


    The dpidated grimoire shone with a bright light.


    Lucas felt his mind touching something; the process of contracting had already begun even before he knew it.


    To contract a beast was actually very easy. A summoner only had to do it with their minds, and the grimoire will do the rest.


    If the contracting was sessful, the beast will be captured and recorded on the nk page inside a grimoire.


    If it was unsessful, the user would receive a bacsh depending on the degree of difficulty, and they could try again if the damage was just superficial.


    Perhaps due to his desperate will, the beast was contracted in a matter of seconds.


    It felt as if the beast offered no resistance toward his will.


    As soon as the beast disappeared from his sight, Lucas turned to look at Spot, only to see that Spot''s side was somehow wed by the talons of the abominable beast. Blood dripped out of its ws as Spot desperately tried to bite off a chunk of meat from the creature''s bear-like shoulder.


    His bite, though, did little to no damage. His sharp fangs were unable to pierce the thick furs of the beast''s shoulder, no matter how hard he tried to bite through it.


    Lucas gritted his teeth and ignored the dreadful sight.


    He focused on his grimoire and flipped to the third page.


    There, the previous nk was already full of details of the new beast he just sessfully contracted.


    However, his mood hit rock bottom when he saw the description of his newly contracted beast.


    [Beast Name: Mirage Worm


    Grade: Iron Grade


    Rank: Iron Star 1


    Skills: Camouge, Silk Mirage


    Camouge:...


    Silk Mirage: Produce delicate silk strands to create illusions. These illusions can resemble small, harmless shapes or distracting movements that can confuse predators, providing precious moments to escape unnoticed.


    ]


    Lucas could not help but curse his luck.


    However, knowing that he still has the System to rely on, Lucas did not despair that much. He did not bother reading the descriptions of its skills either, knowing that they wouldn''t be much of help either way.


    The only thing thatforted his heart a little was the fact that this beast, even though just a worm, was at least an Iron Grade beast from the start.


    Lucas pressed his hands on the page and summoned the Mirage Worm for the first time.


    Ignoring the worm''s current status and appearance, Lucas willed for the System screen to float before his eyes.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Unlike when he checked earlier, one column of the wheel was already lit up. Enjoy more content from empire


    Seeing the familiar Bloodline Detector function being avable for use once more, Lucas could not help but rejoice.


    The System was finally back!


    Not wasting any more time, Lucas used the Blood Detector function and dragged the drop of unknown blood toward the unsuspecting Mirage Worm.


    Just like when it was done to Spot, the Mirage Worm showed no reaction as the drop of blood fell toward its pinky-sized, small body.


    [Mirage Worm: Tracing bloodline¡­


    Bloodlines: Space Rift Dragon, Mirage Dragon, Mirage Beast, Voig Dragon, Void Bug, Cerberus, Kirin Worm, Cryptic Worm, Aether Wyrm, Green Butterfly...]


    The list goes on with no end in sight. Lucas skipped that scandalous information about its bloodlines and directly nced below the ellipses to see the skills avable to be inherited.


    [Mirage Worm:


    Grade: Iron


    Rank: Iron Star 1


    Choose one of the skills listed below to inherit. The skills are optimized ording to the creature''s grade and rank. The skills listed below are the most suitable for the current beast. Please choose wisely.


    Mirage Projection: Create a grand mirage projection that has the property of confusing those who have seen it, and make them feel like everything is normal when the truth is, it isn''t. What was the truth and what was a mirage will only be revealed after the mirage is over.


    Unhindered Stealth: Temporarily enter a sublime state of being one with the surroundings to hide from the perception of others. Through the connection with the surroundings, the user could choose to hide from the others and hide others from others at will.


    Phantom Illusion: Creates two illusory copies of itself, confusing enemies and making it difficult to distinguish the real one. The illusion mimics...


    ]


    Lucas quickly scanned the three skills and immediately cursed upon reading their descriptions.


    The Mirage Projection was just a powerful version of its current Silk Mirage skill. The Unhindered Stealth allowed it to enter a strange state where it and those it willed to not be perceived, seen, or heard by others. The Phantom Illusion allows the beast to create two illusory copies of itself. The Phantom Illusion skill was also there when he chose Spot''s inheritance skills before.


    Even though the skill set offered this time looked unrted, Lucas could actually vaguely tell the uncanny connection between the three of them.


    These three skills were good for stealthy maneuvers and made the user remain out of sight.


    And if seen from another angle, one could say that these skills were very suited for escaping.


    Coupled with the Mirage Worm''s original skills, Lucas could now somehow guess the personality of this new contracted beast of his.


    And that did not go well for him.


    However, knowing that there was nothing he could do about it, Lucas could only weigh his options and choose the most suitable skill that could be of use for the current predicament.


    Since he could not have another powerful fighter to help Spot, he would create a powerful support so that they could escape to safety. It just so happened that the specialty of his newly contracted beast was that of escaping and getting unnoticed.


    ______


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 Chapter 97 Mirage Worm

    Out of the three, he crashed out the Phantom Illusion skill without any question. The illusory copy might be able to confuse the enemy beast, but how long would itst was a question he was not willing to know the answer to.


    The Mirage Projection was a good option, too. Being able to create arge illusion to confuse the enemy so that they could escape unscathed. From the description, Lucas could tell that it was very powerful.


    However, Lucas ultimately chose to let the Mirage Worm inherit the Unhindered Stealth skill in the end.


    He did not forget that Spot was extremely powerful and could fight above his level due to his transformation skill.


    Although the Unhindered Stealth skill was not a transformation skill, it at least allowed the Mirage Worm to enter a state to be with the surroundings. During that state, it would not be perceived by the enemies, and it would remain hidden so long as it did not want to be seen by others. In that state, it could also make him and Spot enter stealth and avoid the perceptions of others as well.


    He just hoped that this skill would be able to hide them from the beast, though.


    The skill itself might be powerful, but the star rank of his Mirage Worm might limit the skill''s true capabilities.


    As he heard Spot''s howl of pain, Lucas no longer wasted any more time and allowed the Mirage Worm to inherit the Unhindered Stealth.


    Same as before, the Mirage Worm showed no reaction after Lucas clicked and confirmed the skill of his choices.


    Its tiny eyes just glowed with an ancient and profound light before dying down. It was then followed by the worm''s ecstatic squirm. Although it does not have a face to show its emotion, Lucas could tell that it was extremely happy from the skill that it just inherited.


    Well, it was an escape skill, after all.


    Its color and markings did not changepared to before. Its whole body was blue in color, while its underside had white stripes to outline the joints of its countless legs.


    The size of the Mirage Worm had visibly grownrger than before. From the previous pinky-size worm, it had now grown to a thumb-size one. Its length, though, did not seem to have increased; it was still around eight centimeters or three inches in length.


    Due to that, the Mirage Worm looked like a fat and plump worm that was ready to be harvested.


    As if sensing his thoughts, the Mirage Worm''s fat body actually trembled as it red at Lucas pitifully.


    Lucas ignored its actions and quickly ordered.


    "Quick, use the new skill and get us out of this hellhole!"


    His voice was raspy and full of desperation. The pained, indignant, and defiant roars of Spot kept on entering his ears, making him feel as if it were the end of the world.


    At this moment, Lucas wished nothing more than to escape the clutch of the beast.


    As if sensing his desperate will, the Mirage Worm straightened its fat body as it used its newly inherited skill.


    However, right at that moment, a chilling and familiar voice entered Lucas'' ears.


    "HAHA! I finally found you, Brat! "


    Lucas turned his head toward the voice with great difficulty.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    A confused expression appeared on his face, not knowing how Asher was also here. The confused expression was then followed by terror as he looked at Asher.


    Aside from the vine-like creature that was still wrapped in his arms, Asher had arrived at the scene riding a humongous creature that looked quite menacing and strong.


    Although Asher and his beast looked badly injured and seemed to have just gotten out of a battle, Lucas knew that he would not be able to contend with them, especially with the abominable beast still present in the area.


    As despair engulfed his mind once more, he suddenly saw Asher''s expression turn stiff and chaotically confused.


    "WHAT?"


    Not only him, another confused roar soon bellowed and shook the surroundings.


    Lucas turned and realized that the abominable beast had somehow lost sight of Spot. Lucas realized that it must be the same case for Asher as well.


    It was a no-brainer that the Mirage Worm had already finished casting its newly acquired skill. And the effect seemed to be quite good.


    Lucas nced at the Mirage Worm and smiled heartfully, ''Thank you!''


    His lips moved, but no sound came out of it.


    Although surprised, he did not bother with it.


    Feeling that the Mirage Worm seemed to be struggling, Lucas realized that it must have put a stain on it when it made him and Spot enter stealth mode too.


    Knowing that he could not waste such precious time any longer, Lucas stood up from his position, picked up the Mirage Worm, and put it above his shoulder.


    Lucas then took a nce at where Spot was and realized that he had already transformed back to his Gentle Dog form. His body was battered and bloodied. His appearance was unkempt, and he was barely able to keep himself up. Continue your journey with empire


    Now that he was already out of battle, Lucas unsummoned Spot and was sessful with it.


    After storing Spot inside his grimoire, Lucas did not linger in the area anymore as he slowly dragged his injured body away from this ce.


    He did not know the duration of the stealth mode yet, so he knew that he must get as far away as possible before the effect dies down.


    In the stealth mode, both Asher and even the beast were unable to locate him, even though he was right in front of them the whole time.


    The two of them looked around in confusion and anger.


    Both their prey had just disappeared right in front of their eyes; how could they not feel anger over such a matter?


    After a few seconds of searching and to no avail, the beast, which had probably given up on searching, suddenly turned its head toward Asher.


    A grin escaped its goat mouth as its figure disappeared and reappeared right in front of Asher and his beast at the next instant.


    _____


    A/N: Extra chapter for the power stone, gifts and golden tickets the book received. Thank you for the continuous support!


    Sponsor a chapter through gifts. Each sponsor will receive a mention at the end of each sponsored chapter and a character cameo in the future chapters. For more details, please check the author''s note below.

 Chapter 98 Escape

    Hundreds of meters away, Lucas turned his head around as he heard a collision resound from the area they had just escaped from.


    At this moment, Lucas felt that he had exited the stealth state. He took a nce at the worm in his shoulder and noticed that it had entered a semi-weak state, much like when Spot transforms into the Hellhound Manifestation for too long.


    The moment he felt so, he also saw the beast and Asher look toward his direction almost at the same time.


    Asher''s eyes glinted in surprise and rage.


    His movements halted as he turned his body toward Lucas.


    Vines grew behind him, and just as he was about to move toward Lucas, a towering beast suddenly appeared in front of him with a forceful strike.


    Forced to defend, Asher did not have the luxury of time to pay attention to Lucas anymore.


    It seems that the beast was not willing to let go of another prey this time around.


    Seeing that his two enemies had gone for a brawl of their own, Lucas did not stay in the area any longer and proceeded to escape.


    The thought of fishing in troubled waters had naturally crossed his mind.


    However, with Spot being injured and the Mirage Worm being weakened due to overexertion, Lucas trashed that idea as soon as it crossed his mind.


    Instead of staying, he decided to escape with his life.


    Among the two enemies of his that were fighting, he still did not know who was stronger. But no matter, as long as one of them gets defeated, he knows that they wille and pursue him to the ends of the earth.


    Hence, before they could settle their battle, he must escape as far as possible.


    Lucas ignored the sound of the fierce battle and moved forward with caution and goal.


    Due to its specialty, Lucas had always been cautious around the creek.


    However, recalling that it has potent healing properties, Lucas abandoned caution and directly ran toward it.


    His injuries were not severe, having only been smashed toward the tree once. However, although not severe, it still affected him a great deal. His movements were not slow but were not to his optimal state either. He could easily get exhausted because of it.


    More importantly, his valuable fighter, Spot, must recover as soon as possible.


    He knew that a battle against one of the two enemies was imminent. He must prepare before that inevitable battlemences.


    Arriving at the creek, Lucas'' previous hesitation toward it was no longer present as he directly drove his face down the creek to drink.


    Desperate to recover as soon as possible, he drank as much water as he could, not bothering about thetent consequences that might arise in the future.


    As he did so, his hand pressed on the second page of his grimoire, summoning Spot, who has not clearly recovered yet.


    Spot was summoned with a blinding light. Although exhausted and injured, Spot still assumed a battle-ready stance as soon as he appeared out of thin air.


    Seeing his appearance and stance, a pained expression surfaced in Lucas''s face.


    Steeling his resolve, Lucas gritted his teeth and ordered Spot to drink the creek''s water.


    Lucas also took the Mirage Worm and allowed it to drink.


    The fat Mirage Worm, though, looked around in caution and hesitated for a bit before eventually submerging its whole body in the creek''s water.


    Like what he had initially guessed, the Mirage Worm was indeed cautious and might even be a timid beast.


    It was not a wonder why it had survived in this wilderness with its meager strength.


    In his whole journey here, the Mirage Worm was the first beast he encountered with only an Iron Star 1 strength. The others must have already been consumed by the stronger beasts that roamed the area or might have already migrated to other parts of the wilderness with lesser danger.


    The Mirage Worm surviving this wilderness with its meager strength spoke volumes to its cautious and timid personality.


    From Lucas'' guess, it must have relied on its Camouge and Silk Mirage skills to escape and survive from predators.


    Most of the worms Lucas knew were also just Unranked Grade''s and with no star rank, much like the Vinecrawler Caterpirs from before.


    The Iron Grade Mirage Worm must have encountered a special encounter and evolved from an Unranked Grade worm and gained its Silk Mirage skill as a result.


    As the Mirage Worm bathed itself in the creek''s water to recover, Spot had also determined the intention of Lucas and began drinking the water greedily as well.


    Unlike Lucas, Spot has never been cautious toward the creek''s water. It did not take long for him to consume a lot of them in his Gentle Dog form.


    After a while, Lucas unsummoned Spot, allowing him to recover inside the grimoire, before continuing to move forward.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    As for the Mirage Worm, he allowed it to stay on top of his right shoulder.


    In case something appears, the Silk Mirage and the Unhindered Stealth will buy them some time to escape.


    What made him greatly disheartened, though, was the fact that he realized that he needed a high amount of Spiritual Energy to summon the Mirage Worm.


    After it obtains the Unhindered Stealth, the Mirage Worm has directly leveled up to an Iron Star 3 beast.


    Being an Iron Grade beast, he actually needs 20 Spiritual Energy to summon the Mirage Worm, even though it was just an Iron Star 3 beast.


    It must be noted that the Uranked Grade, Iron Star 4 Spot, only requires 11 Spiritual Energy to be summoned.


    With his previous action of summoning Spot as well as the Mirage Worm, Lucas calcted that he would only be able to maintain the summoning of the Mirage Worm for an hour and a half at most.


    With his current speed and pace, he reckoned that he would be able to cover about five to seven kilometers by that time if he traveled without stopping.


    Knowing that a great threat was behind, Lucas dared not stall and slow down.


    With the Mirage Worm by his side, Lucas has no need to worry about encountering beasts; hence, the traveling speed has significantly be faster than before.


    It was just a pity that the Unhindered Stealth could onlyst for two to three minutes if the Mirage Worm went into that state along with him. The time would significantly be reduced if it brought another being with it. After exiting that state, the Mirage Worm would also enter a period of weakness and could not use the Unhindered Stealth during that period as well.


    Fortunately, this period of weakness was not long and was only around three to four minutes. Since he does not have a timer, Lucas could not gauge the exact amount for the time being.


    Anyway, it was enough to take him to safety as long as they did not encounter a stronger beast than the one that Asher was facing now.


    Speaking of them, Lucas could still faintly hear the sound of their battle.


    It has already been more than thirty minutes since he left, but the sound of collision, though faint to his ears, was still terrifying and fierce.


    From the looks of it, the beast and the summoner, Asher, were more or less equal in strength.


    In terms of pure might, the beast might be stronger. However, the summoner''s strength does not rely on an individual''s strength alone. And strong summoners like Asher do not have only one beast at their disposal.


    Lucas and the Mirage Worm had just encountered a fierce beast a moment ago.


    This beast also seemed to be fleeing away from the battle. And although it looked quite afraid and was carelessly escaping away, Lucas did not dare to confront it, knowing that it was a high-grade and high-star rank beast.


    The moment the Mirage Worm saw it, it even trembled in fright and almost jumped off his shoulder to run in the opposite direction.


    Fortunately, Lucas was able to calm it down in time, telling it to cast the Unhindered Stealth as they moved past that beast sessfully without alerting it.


    The exhausted fat Mirage Worm trembled in relief after the beast was left behind without alerting. It was only at this moment that it realized that it had significantly grown stronger than before.


    Its confidence grew a little upon that realization, but that same confidence once again broke down when they encountered another beast.


    To it, the massive beasts that could crush and devour it with one move were still very terrifying.


    What it was afraid of the most was being consumed by those terrifying beasts.


    Looking at it from another angle, with its increase in strength and star rank, won''t it mean that it had significantly be tastier in those terrifying beast''s eyes?


    Its whole body trembled in freight upon thinking about that.


    Hide! Hide! It must hide!


    It snuggled closer toward Lucas'' neck. As if the closer it was to his neck, the safer it was.


    After that encounter with another beast, Lucas decided to take a momentary rest and recover some Spiritual Energy.


    The Mirage Worm had just entered its weakened state too, so continuing to move forward would be more riskier than before.


    While the Unhindered Stealth was on cooldown, Lucas recovered his Spiritual Energy little by little.


    With his current Star Rank''s meditation speed, Lucas recovered thirteen Spiritual Energy after five minutes of meditation. Lucas wanted to recover more, but he knew that he did not have the luxury of time to do it given his current circumstances.


    As he opened his eyes, Lucas also released a frown.


    The sound of battle was still entering his ears.

 Chapter 99 To Create Chaos

    As he focused his ears, Lucas realized a frightening thing.


    The sound of battle was drawing near!


    ''What is going on?'' A bewildered look appeared on his face.


    He had already moved far away from the battle. The sound of it had already even grown faint a few minutes earlier.


    However, not only had the sound disappeared, they had even grown intense and loud, indicating that they were drawing near his current location.


    As he thought about it, Lucas could not help but entertain a certain thought.


    ''Could it be that they are intentionally following me while battling each other?''


    However, out of the two, Lucas knew that only one was capable of knowing and implementing such tricks.


    Although the beast seemed intelligent, Lucas knew that it was not intelligent enough to plot something like this. In its mind, it would have wanted to finish its current battle as soon as possible so that it could pursue the escaping prey.


    The hateful face of Asher naturally came to mind as he thought of the one responsible for this.


    "Damn that guy!"


    Lucas cursed out loud as he stood up from his seat.


    Not having the luxury of time to stay in one area any longer, Lucas proceeded forward with even more haste.


    "Ready your Unhindered Stealth and use it as soon as you feel the presence of any beast," Lucas ordered the Mirage Worm. His face was pale and his brows scrutinized as he realized that the sound of battle was actually keeping up with his face.


    ''Damn it! Aren''t you busy enough fighting with each other? Why do you still have the time to chase after me while you''re at it?''


    Not wanting them to catch up, Lucas hurried even more. At one time, he even decided to turn in another direction, wanting to mislead the two battling enemies.


    The direction he was going was toward the peak of the mountain. He knew that there were still countless strong beasts hiding there. If it were any normal day, Lucas would have chosen to avoid that ce without any question.


    However, it was precisely because there were many beasts in there that he decided to go.


    With the Mirage Worm''s Unhindered Stealth, the two of them should be able to maneuver in that area.


    However, the same thing could not be said toward the two that were pursuing him.


    He wanted them to fight all the way to the mountain and attract the attention of those beasts. If an even bigger fight broke out, Lucas would have seeded in his n and goal for traversing such a dangerous area.


    As he made the turn, though, the fat Mirage Worm clearly showed its protest in going there. From the looks of it, the Mirage Worm was very afraid of that ce. Lucas could not me the worm either. Even he himself was afraid of traversing that ce.


    However, he had no other choice. He knew that he could not simply run and hope that the winner of the battle from behind would not catch up to him.


    What he needed was even more chaos.


    Through such chaos, perhaps he still has a chance to escape.


    The Mirage Worm was reluctant to follow his order at first. Since it thought that its master was leading them to its doom, it expressed a strong desire not to follow his order.


    Having no other choice, Lucas could only threaten it so that it became obedient.


    "If you don''t follow me, then it''s better if I cancel the contract and leave you here," was what Lucas said to calm the nerves of the Mirage Worm.


    After weighing its options, the Mirage Worm reluctantly agreed.


    Although the path ahead was dangerous, it knew that it would not be able to survive on its own given that they were being pursued by their enemies. Its recent rank-up and new skill were also rted to this new master. It knew that it would receive endless benefits as long as it followed the master.


    However, the thought of going deeper to the mountain still filled its tiny mind with dread.


    In truth, Lucas'' assumption toward its nature was mostly correct.


    Among its entire brood, it was the only one who was still alive.


    It was just an Unranked Grade Stray Worm back then.


    Its entire brood was ransacked by a huge bird. Even though they had the camouge skill, none of them escaped the piercing eyes of that hateful bird.


    However, due to a stroke of luck, it fell from the leaves and narrowly escaped death.


    Its next evolutionary path was supposed to be an Unranked Grade, Iron Star 1 Stray Moth.


    However, when it fell from that tree back then, its desire to not be noticed by the hateful bird allowed it to learn the Silk Mirage skill. Through that skill, it created a mirage made out of its own silk, allowing it to finally escape the bird''s eyes, and when it came to it, it had already evolved into the current Mirage Worm.


    After that, its life was always fraught with dangers that it always managed to escape through its usage of the Silk Mirage.


    Not knowing what the evolution would do to its future, the Mirage Worm could only focus on the present and rely on its camouge and Silk Mirage skill to escape beasts of prey. Fortunately, it only consumes leaves, so it does not have to wander around too much, only moving every few weeks or so, avoiding dangers a great deal. It also learned to migrate during the night as well, realizing that it was safer due to the darkness of the night.


    Those that found their way towards its current location would also be misled by its Silk Mirage, allowing it to avoid danger.


    Its whole life just revolved around such a setting. Escape, move to a different area, hide, escape, and then more to a different area. It was monotonous, but the Mirage Worm did not bother about it. Its intelligence had grown, but it was not enough for it to think of its actions, only thinking that it was the right thing to do to survive.


    However, everything changed when the Mirage Worm tried to migrate to another locationst night.


    The sound of battle frightened it too much, making it not dare continue venturing any further. The sound of battle continued for a few hours; the Mirage Worm could only curl and hide itself under the leaves, afraid of its life.


    Due to the sound of the battle, it was also unable to sleep, making the experience even more harrowing for it.


    And when it fell asleep, it was once again awoken by the sound of battle. This time, it was extremely near. Inside its leaf roll, the Mirage Worm does not dare to poke its head out, afraid of endangering its life.


    However, its worldview spun when the tree it was perching on shook a great deal. It felt that the entire branch of the leaf it was hiding on came crashing down with a great force.


    As it smashed to the ground, the Mirage Worm bore the impact and was greatly injured.


    When it came out of its leaf roll, the Mirage Worm was already on its dying breath.


    However, at the next moment, a refreshing sensation filled its tiny mind. Although it did not know what it was, the Mirage Worm could vaguely tell that it would be able to save it. Without more hesitation, the Mirage Worm epted the contract and was made into a contracted beast.


    ***


    Seeing the Mirage Worm that had grown silent after being reluctantly ''convinced'', Lucas could not help but shake his head.


    The Mirage Worm, although still considered a low-grade beast, seemed to have a set of intelligence that was greater than others.


    He already knew of this when he realized that it has a timid and cautious nature, but experiencing it firsthand was still a bit surprising to Lucas.


    Now that it had be his summon, though, Lucas could only grit his teeth and make do with it.


    Even though he threatened it to absolve the contract earlier, Lucas would actually not do it.


    If he cancels a contract toward the beast, not only would it damage his mental state, it would also result in the loss of the grimoire page. Both were risks he was not willing to take.


    Fortunately, the Mirage Worm reluctantly agreed, afraid of getting left behind.


    A few minutester, the area where he saw the gathering of beasts from before was already in sight.


    However, that area was now empty, with no beast in sight.


    A relieved expression surfaced on his face.


    However, he did not lower his guard down and even instructed the Mirage Worm to be ready.


    In truth, Lucas does not have to instruct the Mirage Worm at all.


    The moment they neared the area, it had already turned to its most alert state. It was constantly monitoring its surroundings through its own method.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    It has survived in the wilderness due to its cautious and timid nature; this time, it wanted to use its experience and its newly gained ability to traverse and escape the mountain safely.


    Lucas'' mind was also alert. The sound of battle was still following behind them like a tail.


    From the looks of it, they still managed to follow behind his trail even though he had deliberately made a turn.


    However, it works better for him.


    Now, they only need to locate the beasts that dwelled here and let them join the battle for more chaos.


    However, as he walked a few more minutes along the creek, Lucas could not help but frown once more.


    "The beasts... Just where are they?"

 Chapter 100 No Rest For The Wicked

    ''Weren''t they guarding this ce so tightly before? Just where are they now?''


    The Mirage Worm seemed to be bewildered as well. It might have its own fair share of experience in this area as well. Seeing that the ce was empty also left it confused.


    "Let''s continue ahead," Lucas said.


    The Mirage Worm did not answer. It was still as cautious as always. All of its attention was focused on their surroundings, prepared to use the Unhindered Stealth as soon as it noticed danger.


    Boom!


    The sound of battle drew near. This time, it was closer than ever before.


    The two of them, the summoner and the summoned beast, looked back almost at the same time.


    As soon as they did, both of them shivered as they saw the abomination, Asher and his beast brawling it out just hundreds of meters behind them.


    ''How could they catch up so quickly!'' Lucas cried inwardly. However, no tears fell at the corner of his eyes, as he had already bolted out with the trembling Mirage Worm on his shoulder.


    "STAY THERE YOU BRAT!"


    Asher''s enraged voice resounded in the entire area.


    Lucas could not help but look back, only to see Asher getting flung toward a tree like a cannonball. If not for the vines that suddenly grew in front of him to block most of the impact, Lucas did not know if Asher could have survived that strike.


    The current Asher looked even more haggard and injured than before. His hair was practically over his face. His clothes were torn beyond recognition, and his body was full of blood and wounds. Even from afar, Lucas could tell that he was seriously injured.


    As for the beast...


    "Fuck!"


    Lucas cursed out loud.


    The beast had no visible injuries at all.


    The huge beast that had apanied Asher before was nowhere in sight.


    Instead, it was another beast that looked like a pig that was battling the beast while Asher was flung away¡ªor at least, tried to.


    The pig beast, though, looked like livestock getting thrown around by the beast. Like Asher, the pig beast was also grievously injured; there was even a chance that it would fall at the next moment.


    As the pig beast took the attention of the abomination, Asher stood up from the ground with great difficulty. Helped by his vine beast, Asher turned to look at Lucas with eyes full of hatred.


    Reasoned had left his mind long ago.


    Two of his prize beasts have already died at the hands of the abomination. The mental damage he had received for the death of his beasts felt as if his mind was about to break.


    The only reason that he could still keep on going was through the healing skill of his vine beast and the fact that he truly wanted to tear the hateful brat apart. Even if it meant his death, he would not stop until he killed the brat.n/?/vel/b//in dot c//om


    His expression turned demonic and dark.


    Urging his vine beast to help and the pig beast to hold the abomination, Asher abandoned all his reason and rushed toward Lucas with a terrible speed.


    Seeing that, Lucas cursed and ordered the Mirage Worm to enter the Unhindered Stealth.


    At the next moment, a resounding boom entered Lucas'' ears.


    When he looked back, he realized that the abomination beast had flung the rushing Asher one more time. This time, the vine was a littlete to defend its master. Blood flowed out, and it seemed that Asher was on the verge of death.


    However, the pig beast arrived, attracting the attention of the abomination beast once more. As soon as it did, Asher stood up, barely able to stand. His gaze fixed toward the ce where Lucas had disappeared.


    Knowing that they would appear sooner orter, Asher pursued forward even without a target in sight.


    Seeing such a scene, Lucas could not help but curse.


    ''What a fucking cockroach!''


    At this moment, he finally knew why the sound of battle always seemed to grow near.


    It was true that it was because of Asher, but the reasonpletely blew his mind.


    Instead of trailing behind Lucas so that Asher could finish him once the battle with the abomination was over, Lucas realized that Asher was actually escaping for his dear life.


    No wonder why it seemed that the battle was drawing near. It turns out that the two were also in a chase with each other.


    The abomination was even stronger than he had expected. And contrary to his assumptions, the abomination actually does not n on finishing the battle as soon as possible.


    Just like when it was battling with Spot, the abomination seemed to be enjoying the suffering of its prey.


    He ran as fast as he could with the fully focused Mirage Worm on his shoulder.


    The Unhindered Stealth allowed them to not be discovered for three minutes at most.


    After that, Lucas hoped the abomination would once again stop Asher, buying him some precious time.


    In the Unhindered Stealth state, Lucas continued to run while looking around.


    If the abomination beast was not able to hold Asher off in time, his only hope would be the beast that he had seen gathering here yesterday.


    Unfortunately, those beasts were nowhere in sight at the moment.


    Lucas ran as fast as he could. His speed surpassed that of when he sprinted in an open area.


    Fearing for his life, Lucas mustered all the speed that he could.


    However, Asher''s speed was even faster. He was now only at least fifty meters behind them, making Lucas and the Mirage Worm draw a cold breath of air.


    Lucas continued running and even decided to make another turn.


    It was fortunate that he did so, since Asher could not sense him in that state; he had only pursued them in a straight line.


    As he made a turn, Asher continued moving forward with great speed. The sound of battle from behind grew intense, but Asher did not seem to care about it. His murderous gaze focused ahead, searching for any sign of Lucas.


    Lucas, on the other hand, heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing Asher pass by them.


    He also did not stop running, widening their distance even more.


    However, a few minutester, the effect of the Unhindered Stealth just happened to end at that moment.


    Lucas and the Mirage Worm became visible to the world once more.


    As if sensing their reappearance, in the distance, Asher momentarily paused and looked back.


    His eyes met Lucas; the killing intent was palpable, and Lucas felt cold shivers upon meeting those gazes.


    Even though he knew that Asher was injured grievously, Lucas still did not dare to confront him. Asher still has that vine beast by his side while his offensive beast, Spot, was still recuperating, and only in thest moment would he summon him to fight for him one more time.


    There was no way for Lucas to fight him at all.


    Asher once again ran toward him.


    Lucas did not stop and continued to run.


    At that moment, the sound of battle in the distance grew silent.


    At the corner of his eyes, Lucas saw that Asher had stumbled and fell face first to the ground.


    A look of surprise and delight shed across Lucas'' face.


    It seems that the heavens were helping him.


    However, this thought was immediately erased when he felt a harrowing gaze locking toward him.


    Now he realized why the sound of battle had stopped and why Asher had stumbled to the ground.


    It was because the pig beast had now died in the hands of that beast. Receiving the bacsh and mental damage, Asher naturally fell to the ground.


    Being closer toward it, the abomination naturally locked its sight on him instead of Asher, whom it had been fighting since earlier.


    The heavens were truly fair.


    Damn it!


    The weak Mirage Worm urged him to go faster.


    However, Lucas knew that he was already doing his best.


    It was already unbelievable enough that he was still able to run with such speed even with his mind and body entirely exhausted. Even if he wanted to, Lucas could no longer increase his running speed.


    Afraid of death, the Mirage Worm tried to use its Unhindered Stealth one more time, but to no avail.


    It tried to use its Silk Mirage, but with how big Lucas was, it was unable to create a Silk Mirage that could hide the both of them in a short period of time.


    The Mirage Worm felt even more desperate than Lucas.


    It did not want to die.


    At this moment, Asher had already recovered from the bacsh he received. His expression was even darker than before. He stood on the same spot for a few moments before finally recovering a little.


    He nced up and noticed Lucas running with all his might.


    "BRAT!"


    As soon as his enraged shout resounded, his feet also bolted out to give chase.


    Asher chasing on his left, while the abomination on his right, Lucas felt as if he would truly die this time around.


    His will was already beginning to copse, and he was already on the verge of summoning Spot to try and struggle onest time with him.


    However, at the next moment, a bewildering scene suddenly appeared before him, igniting his hope.


    "Dungeon descent!"


    _____


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 Chapter 101 The Lucky Brat

    Asher cursed loudly when he saw Lucas enter the dungeon that had just descended.


    "DAMN IT! LUCKY BRAT!"


    This was not the first time that Lucas had escaped a perilous situation through a set of coincidences that benefited him.


    The first time, Asher thought that he would sessfully kill Lucas; however, at the next moment, a dungeon gate suddenly pulled him out, leaving Asher helpless and allowing him to only chase to end what he had started.


    He knew that he was pulled due to his time inside the dungeon running out, but he still could not but curse at the fact that Lucas actually stayed inside the dungeon for more than twenty-four hours already.


    The second time was when he found new traces of Lucasst night. With his new findings, he rushed forward in pursuit of Lucas.


    However, who would have thought that a powerful beast would intercept him, making him fight it to death.


    That beast was quite powerful. A Silver Grade Bronze Star 3 creature. If not for the fact that he has four beasts to help him, and one of them had received a great boost, he would have perished in that battle. Fortunately, he managed to persevere and y that beast in the end. The fight in the wilderness also boosted his strength; his rank was elevated to Bronze Star 6 after that battle.


    However, when he was about to pursue Lucas once more, who would have thought that another beast had somehow found its way to him? This beast was even more powerful. Only after fighting it for a few hours were they able to y it. However, it was not without cause. He was heavily injured, and all his beasts were in dire straits.


    His most powerful beast, the Verdant Bloom Vine, has advanced to Silver Grade, Bronze Star 9, after receiving some help from that entity. However, even it doesn''t have endless stamina and energy. The countless fights and heals it provided were extremely helpful, but were not infinite.


    After leaving the area of battle, he quickly retreated to recover Spiritual Energy.


    When morning came, he heard the sound of battle and thought that it was Lucas, so he immediately went out to take a look.


    And indeed, his assumptions were correct.


    He indeed found Lucas, lying beside a broken tree.


    He was delighted and was about to attack when, unknowingly, Lucas vanished out of his sight. His Verdant Bloom Vine tried sensing through its connection with the trees, but it was to no avail.


    And with the powerful beast now eyeing him, Lucas had luckily escaped his grasp once more.


    Although powerful, Asher thought that they could take the beast and kill it. After that, he nned to follow Lucas, who had just appeared hundreds of meters away after a few moments since his disappearance. His mind quickly worked and realized the limitations of the skill that Lucas just used. After dealing with the beast in front, he nned to chase after Lucas and kill him on the spot without hesitation.


    However, who would have thought that once again, Lucas'' luck exploded out?


    The beast that Asher was fighting was actually terrifyingly strong. He suspected that it was a Gold Grade and might have already reached the Gold Star rank itself. Even though he was strong, Asher knew that he was not an opponent of the beast.


    Fortunately, this beast doesn''t seem to be adamant on killing him quickly.


    Using the opportunity, Asher quickly devised a n.


    To feign a fight while escaping.


    And his escape path would obviously be toward the direction where Lucas was heading.


    Fortunately, with the help of his Verdant Bloom Vine, he could still track Lucas as long as it was not long before he passed by an area.


    As he escaped and pursued, he cursed at the fact that the beast was like a tail stuck on following behind them.


    If it only followed behind them, he would not have minded. However, this beast, as if full of hatred, kept on attacking them with lethal attacks that were enough to make them heavily injured but not die.


    This beast was clearly a sadist!


    However, Asher could only endure.


    As long as he could find Lucas and kill him, it would all be worth it in the end.


    And just as he expected, he soon found Lucas.


    After some interceptions from the beast, he had finallye close to iming Lucas'' life.


    At that exact moment, though, who would have thought that Lucas would once again escape his grasp?


    This time, a dungeon suddenly descended, allowing Lucas to escape inside, escaping his grasp once more.


    As Lucas disappeared from his sight, Asher was left in the real world with the sadist beast not far away from him.


    "DAMN IT!"


    As the two of them made eye contact, Asher could only curse at the top of his lungs. He eyed the dungeon gate with eyes full of hatred and malice.


    Although Lucas has escaped inside the dungeon, it also meant that he was now trapped inside with no means of escape aside from staying there for twenty-four hours and being randomly sent out once more.


    If that happens, Asher knew that he would lose track of Lucas once more.


    Hence, without further thought, his figure bolted out toward the dungeon gate. His actions were both to pursue Lucas and to escape from the sadistic beast.


    The sadistic beast, upon seeing his actions, also sprung to move to intercept him once more.


    As the two of them met in the middle, one figure was tossed backward like a cannonball.


    Coughing blood, Asher cursed and stood up from the ground with a pitiful face. His Verdant Bloom Vine healed him once more; this time, the heal was not as potent as before. He took a quick nce at his arm and noticed a crack on the vine''s body.


    Damn it!


    Asher could only curse.


    He summoned his grimoire, a Bronze Grade grimoire with six bronze stars shimmering on the cover. He flipped over to the second page, gritted his teeth, and finally summoned hisst contracted beast aside from the vine.


    Another contracted beast appeared in front of him.


    "Fight that bastard with all you''ve got!"Asher ordered coldly without even ncing toward it.


    The beast did not think too much and immediately intercepted the sadistic beast head-on.


    As for Asher, his figure moved and ran toward the dungeon gate.


    Fortunately, his contracted beast had managed to dy the sadistic beast sessfully.


    In exchange, in front of the dungeon gate, Asher had stumbled upon receiving the bacsh of having one of his beasts killed.


    He felt that his mind was about to be torn apart. Like a splitting headache that assaulted his soul, Asher took a few seconds before he managed to recover a little. Without looking back, Asher stepped toward the dungeon gate along with his Verdant Bloom Vine.


    As his figure disappeared, the beast that was a mix of many kinds stood a few meters away from the dungeon.


    The beast looked at the dungeon but did not enter it. Instead, it looked and began to roam around, as if searching or waiting for something, or maybe someone, to appear.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Meanwhile, inside the dungeon, Ashernded on the ground with a thud.


    Due to his heavily injured mind, he could not resist the power of the gate as he immediately sprawled to the ground to spew outrge amounts of vomit mixed with blood.


    His mind spun, and he became disoriented. He could not make sense of what was going as his eyes stared at the sky nkly.


    It was only a few momentster that he finally recovered. At this point, his Verdant Bloom Vine kept on healing him, his body recovering a little and being now able to move.


    As he stood up from the ground, Asher looked around and observed the situation.


    "A low-grade dungeon? Can you sense him?"


    These were the first words that came out of his mouth as he observed the vast forest ahead. However, although vast, Asher could clearly see the end of it, and from his initial judgment, this dungeon was only two kilometers long at the very least.


    As he received a mental reply from his Verdant Bloom Vine, his eyes emitted ferocity and killing intent targeted at no one other than Lucas.


    Even though he had not fully recovered, Asher still stood up to begin with the chase.


    Knowing that the beast outside might enter at any moment, he would also endanger his own life by staying here. Compared to that, he preferred to go and hunt that brat instead. Staying to wait for him to exit was also out of option, as that brat would just wait until his dungeon time was up before being sent out of the dungeon.


    Fortunately, the heavens seem to be on his side this time around. This dungeon was clearly just a low-level one. The area was not big, so he could easily locate Lucas and kill him in the shortest time possible before that beast entered the dungeon.


    Even though he only has his Verdant Bloom Vine to rely on, he knew that he was more than capable of killing that brat.


    This time, he refused to believe that Lucas would once again be saved by luck. He would not allow Lucas to stay here for twenty-four hours, and no dungeon would appear and descend inside another dungeon.


    The only remaining factor was the beast inside and the one outside that might intercept him.


    However, with a low-grade dungeon like this, the beasts here and even the boss would not be a threat to him.


    As for the one outside, Asher would just kill Lucas before that beast could arrive and intercept him once more.

 Chapter 102 Fishing In Troubled Waters

    After he entered the dungeon, Lucas also discovered that this was just a low-grade dungeon.


    His mind was disoriented for a short period of time, but it was not enough to make him puke his guts out like the first time.


    Knowing that Asher and the beast could enter the dungeon at any moment, Lucas did not linger in the safe area any longer as he moved forward to contemte his next course of action.


    He knew that he would not be able to contend with Asher and especially that beast without Spot. At this moment, his Spiritual Energy was also running low. He could only summon Spot once while the Mirage Worm was approaching its limit.


    His mind worked like a machine as countless ns formed inside his mind. Being inside the dungeon offered him a lot of leeways, and he does not n on ignoring them all.


    He could stay inside for twenty-four hours and be sent out of the dungeon to avoid them. However, he knew that it was impossible given the fact that they would surelye inside to hunt him down.


    As he moved toward the forest, Lucas looked at the boundless Boundary Fog and gritted his teeth.


    He had previously assumed that it was the Boundary Fog that had caused him to be sent out of the dungeon earlier than expected. Although the thought terrified him, and being sent out to an unknown area was even more terrifying, Lucas had no ns on ignoring this valuable knowledge that he has gained.


    He was willing to try and take some risk, as long as he could avoid the two persistent enemies.


    However, he would only do this as ast resort as well.


    Deep inside him, Lucas was still harboring some hope.


    That perhaps, Asher would be killed by that beast, and that beast, not intelligent enough, would not enter the dungeon.


    No, even if Asher could enter the dungeon with grave injuries, Lucas thought that he might be able to switch the situation around.


    He refused to believe that Asher was that much of a cockroach. After battling with the beast and having his beasts killed, Lucas guessed that Asher might also be at the end of his ropes.


    A glimmer of hope ignited inside his heart, praying that all his assumptions woulde true.


    Perhaps he would not need to get close to the Boundary Fog to escape the predicament at all.


    Moving around and searching for a spot to recuperate, Lucas could not help but notice something different inside this dungeon.


    He had already traveled for a few minutes, but he still had not encountered any beasts. Even when he went deeper, there was still no beast in sight, making him feel as if something was wrong.


    Looking back, the safe area and the entrance gate were no longer in sight. He did not know if Asher and the beast had already entered the dungeon at this moment.


    Not willing to find out, Lucas quickly found a spot to meditate and at least recover some Spiritual Energy to sustain what woulde ahead.


    However, before he could do so, a terrifying shriek suddenly shook his mind.


    Standing up in alertness, Lucas looked around with a pale face.


    On his shoulder, the Mirage Worm was trembling in fright, ready to unleash the Unhindered Stealth once an unfavorable situation urred.


    The next moment, a terrifying presence descended before the two of them.


    Without much of a thought, the timid and fat Mirage Worm hurriedly activated the Unhindered Stealth and made their presence and entire being disappear in the world.


    At the next moment, Lucas and the beast saw a massive bird beastnd on the ground not far away from them.


    The bird was extremely huge, at least twice the height of Lucas. Its body was even twice as massive as Spot in his Hellhound Manifestation form. The color of its feathers was a mix between green, blue, and red, making it look special and pleasing to the eye. If not for the fact that its beak was full of razor-sharp protruding teeth, it would have made for a good house pet.


    With one nce, Lucas could tell that it was the boss of the dungeon.


    It was only at this moment that Lucas realized that his previous assumption regarding the level of this dungeon was actually wrong.


    Very wrong, in fact.


    Instead of being a low-grade, this was actually a special high-grade dungeon that only has a boss beast living inside it.


    Normal dungeons have low-grade beasts scattered around, while the boss would usually stay at the center and wait for the dungeon diver''s arrival.


    However, in a special dungeon like this, the boss could go anywhere it wanted.


    Being the first to enter the dungeon, Lucas had naturally attracted the interest of this beast first.


    Fortunately, the Mirage Worm was still with him, so they were able to get out of its sight almost instantaneously.


    At this moment, the colorful bird beast looked around with interest. The prey it had targeted actually disappeared in front of its eyes.


    For it was very unforgivable.


    Its eyes shone brightly as it used a skill, scanning the surroundings thoroughly.


    The bird pped its wings and shrieked loudly to the sky after discovering nothing.


    Its prey had truly escaped.


    Meanwhile, a few meters away, Lucas and the Mirage Worm trembled in fright upon hearing the caw of the bird beast.


    They did not dare create too big of a movement, afraid of attracting the attention of the beast even in Unhindered Stealth mode.


    When the beast cawed, Lucas and the Mirage Worm even unconsciously halted their steps, freezing in ce.


    At the next moment, Lucas noticed some movements at the corner of his eyes.


    He turned to take a better look and was delighted to see that it was actually Asher.


    ''Nice timing!''


    He never imagined that he would be delighted about Asher''s arrival.


    The beast was truly terrifying. Although he could feel that it was weakerpared to the abomination from before, it was still not something that he could face head-on even with Spot.


    With Asher arriving in time, though, he now found the perfect person to hold off the beast while escaping.


    Even if Asher did not like it, he doesn''t have any choice but to fight the beast.


    Looking at Asher, Lucas could tell that his situation was even more dire than before.


    The previous thought reappeared inside his mind.


    This time, perhaps, he could fish in troubled waters?


    As the thought crossed his mind, Lucas instinctively turned toward the safe area where the entrance gate was located.


    ''That abomination did not enter?''


    Before he could ponder anything, the bird beast had alreadyunched an attack toward Asher.


    At this moment, the Unhindered Stealth had also worn off, his figure visible to the world once more.


    However, having engaged in their own battle, Asher and the bird beast who had noticed him no longer had the time to pay him attention as they focused on what was in front.


    Lucas observed for a bit and was delighted after determining that the two were on par with each other, with the bird beast having some advantage due to the injuries of Asher and the vine beast.


    That vine beast was indeed terrifying; even after being injured, it was still able to fend off and contend with the attacks of the bird beast.


    Seeing them evenly match, Lucas'' previous n has solidified. Seeing the opportunity, Lucas did not want to be on the receiving end anymore.


    The only problem left was the beast that he was still unsure if had entered the dungeon or not. To confirm, Lucas decided to withdraw from the current battle and observe the situation first.


    Seeing him retreat, Asher grew anxious.


    ''This lucky brat!''


    At this time, he truly did not know if the brat was lucky or if he was the one unlucky.


    Seeing him about to escape, Asher thought for a moment before he shouted whilemanding his Verdant Bloom Vine to attack.


    "Kid, help me deal with this beast, and I''ll forget our previous grievances."


    However, Lucas did not even pause and continued to move away without even looking back.


    "Damn it!" Asher cursed out loud as he leapt to the side with the help of his Verdant Bloom Vine to dodge an attack from the bird beast.


    As for Lucas, he continued with his previous n and lied in wait. As for Asher''s offer, he did not think too much about it, knowing that it held little to no truth.


    Verbal agreements like this could not be trusted at all. And with how many times Asher had tried to kill him even at the cost of his own life, would Lucas even dare trust his words?


    In his mind, Asher was a lunatic that he should not get close to at all. He was even afraid that even speaking to him would result in him bing a lunatic as well, hence he did not respond.


    Anyway, he made sure that the Unhindered Stealth could be used again before he moved toward the safe area.


    Knowing that the beast might appear at any moment, he did not dare go too close, just waiting hundreds of meters away.


    What he was afraid of was being the mantis that stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.


    With the sound of battle from Asher and that bird beast, that abomination would surely be attracted and move toward them to join the battle.


    However, after waiting for a few moments, the beast was still nowhere in sight.


    If it had entered the dungeon, given how small this dungeon was, it would have already arrived to battle with Asher and the bird beast.


    However, the safe area remained unresponsive and calm. The sound of battle behind him also remained constant, and no beast had passed by him as well.


    Lucas immediately guessed that the beast had not entered and might even be just waiting for them outside the dungeon.


    His eyes lit up, knowing that this was the perfect opportunity to initiate his ns.


    His eyes red toward the sound of battle; the hidden animosity showed itself as he nned the demise of Asher.


    At this moment, the sound of battle drew near.


    It did not take a genius to realize that Asher was employing the same tricks to pursue him.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Lucas did not mind, though.


    He ignored the sound of battle and stared at the Boundary Fog dozens of meters away from him.


    Gritting his teeth, Lucas ran toward it and entered its periphery with a palpitating heart.


    The Mirage Worm jumped off his shoulder, unwilling to enter the Boundless Fog with him.


    Lucas did not mind, though, telling it to cast its Silk Mirage to conceal the area.


    Entering and allowing the Boundary Fog was just his contingency n in case he was not able to finish Asher off or if an ident urred.


    A few momentster, Asher and the bird beast appeared, and at that moment, Lucas emerged from the Boundary Fog, destroying the Silk Mirage in the process.

 Chapter 103 Plans And Schemes

    The cold fog enveloping him dissipated as Lucas emerged out of the Boundary Fog.


    The shivers caused by the cold fog lingered over him for a bit, but his mind and body returned to calmness as he saw Asher and the bird beast battling in the distance.


    At first, Lucas truly had no intention of being embraced by the terrifying Boundary Fog once again. Although he harbored some spections about its effect, they were still just mere spections he had made after one experience, and he has no concrete evidence to support his ims.


    To him, the Boundary fog represents mysteries and the unknown. Though the researchers and schrs had been constantly delving deep into their understandings of the dungeons, the mysteries of the Boundary Fog were something they had not uncovered yet, at least none that he was aware of.


    If not for the pressing matter at hand, Lucas would have not dared to let the fog envelope him willingly.


    It was just that for the sake of his ns¡ªto have a n B¡ªhe could only endure.


    Now that he had resolved to take action on Asher, Lucas knew that he could not do it halfheartedly. Allowing himself to be embraced by the Boundary Fog was just a contingency that he did not even know if it would fully work.


    In any case, he hoped that if he somehow failed with his n, the dungeon would be able to send him out earlier than expected after being embraced by the fog for more than thirty minutes. If not, then he could only hope that he seeds with his n.


    He was also not idle when the Boundary Fog tentacles embraced him. At that time, he also tried to recover as much Spiritual Energy as possible. However, due to his fear toward the fog, he was not able to concentrate in his meditation, and his total Spiritual Energy has only reached thirty-five¡ªincluding what was left from before¡ªafter he emerged from the fog.


    His meditation allowed him to recover less than twenty Spiritual Energy but Lucas knew that this was more than enough.


    He went out of the Boundary Fog as he did not dare enter it for too long, and besides, Asher and the bird beast''s battle had already reached the area where he was meditating.


    At this moment, the Mirage Worm was already summoned back inside the grimoire to let it rest for a little bit.


    Seeing the battle in the distance, Lucas inwardly cursed, feeling just how powerful Asher and that vine were.


    At this moment, Asher fought along with his vines.


    He waved his hands in the air akin to a mage in the books he had read before. Wherever he waved, vines would rise to either shield or assault the bird beast.


    Although Lucas knew that this was the skill of the vine beast itself, he still could not help but marvel at Asher''s strength, but in truth, he knew that it was the vine itself that was terrifying.


    As if feeling his gaze, Asher turned to look at him.


    "Help me kill this one, or else the both of us will truly perish inside this dungeon!"Asher shouted, his voice sounding a little desperate.


    At this point, he was truly in a desperate situation. However, his plea was still to deceive Lucas. His n was to lure him over, or at least, keep him at bay so that he would not lose sight of him once more.


    The disappearing skill Lucas showed before was indeed extraordinary. Even the perception of his Verdant Bloom Vine was obscured and would not be able to detect him.


    Hearing his plea, Lucas remained unmoved and merely observed with a still.


    He was not a fool and would not believe in such schemes.


    Looking at the battle, one of the two would perish sooner orter.


    The two of them were already grievously injured, so no matter which of the two died, it was a great oue for Lucas. He hoped that Asher would be killed by the beast, though, but from the looks of it, it seems that the bird beast would perish first.


    The vine beast was actually very strong.


    Lucas kept a safe distance while he observed the battle in silence.


    Asher had tried to lead the battle toward him multiple times, but the cautious Lucas did not simply sit idly and would also move away after seeing through Asher''s intention.


    With that, Asher could only curse, as he vowed to rip Lucas to a thousand pieces after he was done dealing with the persistent bird beast.


    Speaking of the bird beast, it was truly persistent.


    Asher was able to tell that it was of a lower rankpared to his Verdant Bloom Vine, but its grade was a little higher. With their injuries, it was extremely hard to y it in a short period of time, and with his caution toward the goat beast that might enter at any given moment, Asher did not want to spend all his energy with the bird beast, at least not until he killed Lucas.


    The most troublesome aspect of the bird beast was its speed and its tough body. Even after a few strikes, it was still able to stand up and assault Asher with powerful blows.


    It was fortunate that it doesn''t have any elemental skills; otherwise, there was a high chance that the bird beast would be able to defeat him and his Verdant Bloom Vine.


    At this moment, Asher was also biding his time.


    As he battled, the Verdant Bloom Vine kept on healing his injuries.


    The twenty-four limit was far from over; he did not believe that he would not be able to recover his strength and kill the bird beast within twenty-four hours.


    What he relied on the most was also his Verdant Bloom Vine.


    After being helped by that person, his Verdant Bloom Vine was no longer an ordinary vine that it once was.


    As he bided his time, his only concern was Lucas and the goat beast outside.


    He was afraid that the goat beast woulde inside all of a sudden, and he was also afraid that Lucas would sneak out of the gate and get himself killed by the goat beast that was waiting outside.


    Although Lucas'' death was what he desired the most at this moment, he still preferred doing it himself.


    Hence, he kept an eye on Lucas.


    When he saw that Lucas moved closer to the safe area, he intercepted and brought the battle to make him stop, not allowing him to leave.


    Meanwhile, as he observed the battle for a longer time, Lucas realized that something was amiss.


    ''Damn it! Why is that bastard getting more and more energetic?''


    Although the battle still seemed fierce and chaotic, Lucas was able to observe that Asher was dominating the tempo of the battle. His movements were calcted, and the bird beast was no longer able to hit him with lethal strikes, even when it used multiple skills to bombard Asher.


    ''Is he recovering?''


    As he thought of that, a shiver could not help but rush through Lucas'' veins.


    Although he knew that the bird beast''s death was inevitable, he did not want it to happen like this.


    At least he wanted the two of them to go with the mutual destruction path, with one side losing and one side winning with just a slight margin.


    However, with how things were developing, Asher would soon emerge victorious with a clear advantage.


    ''No, this can''t happen. I need to do something,'' Lucas immediately set his ns to motion.


    Although this was not the perfect time to strike yet, he knew that he must do something to disrupt the situation.


    Summoning his grimoire, Lucas pressed his hands on the second page and third page simultaneously as he summoned Spot and the Mirage Worm one after the other.


    Seeing his actions, instead of being rmed, Asher instead felt a little ted inside.


    At least, harboring thoughts of attacking, Lucas would not leave. He only needs a little bit more time; his Spiritual Energy would be able to recover a little bit, and he would then be able to use his charge skill to move toward Lucas and kill him directly.


    The bird beast in front of him was also about to die; however, to avoid startling the prey that was Lucas, he nned to seize the opportunity to kill the prey itself before dealing with the bait.


    Asher raised his hands wrapped in vines to block the beak of the bird beast. The force sent him flying a few meters away, his arms shaking from the impact, but Asher stood his ground and was able to recover his footing after a few steps.


    Steadying his ground, his body was enveloped by a soft light, sending warm torrents of healing energy all over his body, his Spiritual Energy recovering by a small margin.


    As he felt the Spiritual Energy entering his body, Asher could not help but smile unconsciously.


    Finally enough!


    The bird beast pped its wing and lunged toward him with extreme speed.


    However, Asher did not pay it any attention, merely raising his palm as if intending to block the iing strike with such a pose. His head, though, had turned to where Lucas was just standing earlier.n/?/vel/b//jn dot c//om


    There, he saw Lucas staring at him with a worry and frown on his face. Even from afar, Asher could tell that the brat was nervous.


    And he should be!


    Just as Asher was about to use his charge skill to charge toward Lucas, he suddenly noticed something different.


    Something was missing!


    A momentter, Asher realized what was missing, but it was already toote.


    ''WHERE ARE HIS BEASTS!?''


    All of a sudden, he felt a shocking might descending toward him.

 Chapter 104 First And Iron

    As soon as Asher realized that something was amiss, a gust of wind had already assaulted his face.


    With the bird beast lunging from his right and the gust of wind that came from the left, Asher instinctively raised one of his hands to block while the other tried to order the Verdant Bloom Vine coiling around it.


    Unfortunately, before his mind couldmand his Verdant Bloom Vine and before the vine itself could cast its skill, a searing pain had already assaulted Asher''s mind.


    It was only when he saw his own arm falling to the ground that he realized what had happened.


    His arm was cut into pieces! And his chest now had a ghastly wound on it!


    AHHHH!


    His painful scream echoed inside the dungeon.


    Blood sttered everywhere, but before he could recover from his momentary stupor, another pain assaulted his sides.


    This one,ing from the bird beast that was already quite enraged after Asher battled with it for too long.


    Asher''s figure flew like a cannonball.


    His expression was that of pain as his body smashed to a tree with a loud bang. Vines had somehow managed to cushion his fall, but the impact still made the tree shatter and fall.


    The bird beast did not hold back in that attack at all.


    Asher hurriedly stood up from the ground. The searing pain assaulted his mind, but it was not something he was not able to endure.


    Feeling that his doom was imminent, his eyes glinted and narrowed toward Lucas.


    Resentment, rage, hostility, and all other kinds of emotions boiled down his eyes.


    Not caring about his life any more, Asher used his charge skill to speed toward Lucas.


    Feeling the animosity and hostility of Asher, Lucas was actually quite calm and collected.


    His hands were clenched into fists as he stared at the iing Asher with great resolve.


    Even when Asher was already dozens of meters ahead of him, there was no fear in Lucas'' eyes as he stared at Asher with unbound confidence.


    This was because the moment Asher''s arm was cut off by Spot, who was in the Unhindered Stealth with the help of the Mirage Worm, everything was already set in ce.


    The moment Asher reached six meters away from him, a terrifying roar suddenly echoed in the area, followed by Asher''s body plummeting head first to the ground, akin to a thrown log.


    After thatst roar, the Mirage Worm could no longer maintain its Unhindered Stealth ability as both it and Spot materialized into the real world once more.


    The Mirage Worm was still on Lucas'' shoulder, while Spot was in front of them, standing tall and majestic in his Hellhound Manifestation form.


    Upon a closer look, one would be able to tell that Spot''s size was actually a bitrger than before.


    Asher''s body skidded in front of Spot.


    Unsurprisingly enough, he was still alive and kicking.


    Vitality began to sprout in his eyes as he struggled to look up.


    Anger shed across his eyes as he stared at the towering figure in front of his eyes.


    "DAMN YOU! DIE!"


    His remaining arm containing the Verdant Bloom Vine shot forward.


    The Verdant Bloom Vine glowed with ephemeral light as vines grew out of the ground to assault Spot.


    Unlike before, though, the vines that grew out could no longer contain Spot.


    The Verdant Bloom Vine has already grown weak due to its injuries.


    And at the same time, Spot has already advanced his gradepared to thest time the two of them fought.


    Spot snorted and swiped his ws to the extended arm of Lucas.


    His remaining arm was cut off along with the Verdant Bloom Vine,nding a few meters away from the body.


    Asher''s scream echoed in the dungeon once more. This time, it was more terrifying and bloodcurdling than the previous one.


    The Verdant Bloom Vine slithered out of the arm as it desperately went back to Asher''s body.


    However, at that moment, a huge paw suddenly stepped on it.


    Akin to a helpless snake, no matter how it struggled, it could just not escape the paw that pressed on it. It was if it was carrying a whole house; the pressure and weight it bore were no trifling matter.


    The Verdant Bloom Vine''s body began to let out a cracking sound.


    To finish what he had started, Spot stared silently at the Verdant Bloom Vine that he had feared greatly just a few days ago.


    This time, that same terrifying beast was now sprawling helpless beneath his paws.


    Recalling how his master had almost died from this beast''s vines, rage could not help but boil deep inside Spot as he raised his paw to smack it with an even greater force.


    NOOO!N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Asher''s bloodcurdling scream resounded before it abruptly stopped.


    The bacsh from having his beast killed made it impossible for him to maintain mental awareness.


    His eyes went nk as he fell back to the ground, no longer moving.


    White foam mixed with blood oozed out of his mouth, nose, and eyes.


    Seeing his miserable appearance, Lucas could not help but sigh and hesitate.


    However, after recalling how he suffered because of Asher, his eyes glowed with a resolute light.


    How he was sent here.


    How his group has plotted to kill the second-year students¡ªhis ssmates.


    And most importantly, at how many times he tried to kill Lucas.


    Lucas hardened his resolve as he ordered Spot to finish him once and for all.


    In his previous life, there were times that the thought of killing someone he hated crossed Lucas'' mind.


    However, all of that was just passing thoughts to appease his hateful heart, and deep inside, he obviously would not do it.


    This time, he also hated Asher to the core.


    Killing him, Lucas felt a little satisfaction but also a trace of pity and remorse.


    However, did he regret ordering Spot to finish Asher once and for all?


    Of course not!


    Lucas knew that it must be done.


    There was no other way.


    He was no saint, and he was no demon either.


    All he wanted was to survive and live peacefully with his parents in this life.


    In order for that to happen, Asher and his group must die.


    The fight earlier might look easy and anticlimactic, but it was actually nerve-wracking for Lucas, at least before Spot dealt Asher a serious injury.


    After Spot killed Asher, the Gentle Dog walked toward Lucas and nudged his shoulder lightly, as if worried about him.


    Smiling, Lucas just shook his head and stated, "Don''t worry. I''m alright!"


    Asher was finally dead, and along with it was the absence of his threat toward Lucas.


    "Alright, finish the other one as well before it recovers its mind," he ordered, his gaze turned toward the bird beast that has sprawled to the ground after receiving the full brunt of Spot''s Soft Bark skill.


    ording to what he knew, in order to conquer a dungeon, one must kill the boss that was usually situated in the center or core region of the dungeon.


    The person who managed to make thest hit of the dungeon would assume ownership and would be able to do many things, like expelling anyone they wanted or barring someone from entering the owned dungeon.


    However, most of the time, anyone who managed to obtain thest hit would not do it as they still needed the help of the public to clean and explore the dungeon thoroughly, and only then would it be considered as regted.


    Since this was a special dungeon that only has a boss, Lucas would be its owner the moment Spot kills that bird beast.


    And since there was only one beast present here, after registering its information, this dungeon would be considered regted in terms of Twilight City rules.


    Unfortunately, this dungeon was situated in the wild, and Lucas had no intention of staying in this wilderness to manage this dungeon.


    Other than that, he also knew that the abomination beast was still waiting for him outside.


    Even though Spot has already ranked up to Iron Star 5, Lucas still knew that Spot was not a match for that beast.


    Hence, he could only stay here and wait for the dungeon to send him out.


    Hopefully, he would be sent to somewhere safe, at least far from this ce where the abomination resided.


    Before he gets sent out, though, Lucas nned to explore the dungeon and see if he could find any treasure. Magical nts and ores would be eptable; his leather backpack was torn beyond recognition, but he reckoned that it should still be able to hold an item or two without a problem.


    As he nced around, he suddenly saw that Spot had already dealt the finishing blow to the bird beast.


    Curious about its name and the experience points he gained from it, Lucas hurriedly took out his grimoire to take a look.


    However, before he could flip the grimoire''s page open, something suddenly shed in front of his eyes.


    Lucas stared at the screen in front of him with wide eyes.


    The System, which has always been silent except for the time when the Bloodline Detector function was avable for use, had actually initiated showing itself right at this moment.


    Although in disbelief, Lucas was overjoyed as he read the information provided by the System.


    [Conquered a Dungeon for the first time. Dungeon Devour is now avable for use.]


    Confusion filled his eyes as he cleared the message and allowed the wheel-like menu to appear before him.


    At this moment, another column¡ªaside from the Bloodline Detector column¡ªwas already lit up.


    Unlike the dripping red blood icon of the Bloodline Detector, this one was akin to the maw of a terrifying beast. It was ghastly ck with a shade of gray in it, appearing eerie and terrifying.


    With a thought, Lucas focused on it and read the description of the new function.


    [Dungeon Devour: Devour any dungeon you conquered, assimte all the collected energy to evolve your beast, or your grimoire. Do you want to use this function?]


    [Note: Upon using this function, the dungeon will be devoured and will cease to exist.]


    Seeing the usage of the new function, Lucas did not hesitate as he willed for the Dungeon Eater to be used.


    [You used Dungeon Devour, and you chose your Unranked Grimoire as the main beneficiary!]


    [Dungeon is devoured and will cease to exist!]


    [Your Unranked Grade Grimoire has evolved to Iron Grade Grimoire!]


    ****


    End of Volume 1: Iron!


    _____


    A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this volume 1, especially the end where his grimoire finally evolved.


    I, myself was quite satisfied with this ending, and I hope that you guys did so as well. Please provide feedback in thements!


    Now with this volume end, I hope you''d still continue to support the uing volumes.


    If you have something in mind to help me better the story, I''d appreciate it very much if you share it in thements.


    Once again, thank you for reading and for the support.


    See you in the next volume!

 Chapter 105 Unexpected Harvests

    Blerrrgh!


    In an open field of green grass about two feet tall, a young man sprawled to the ground, belching his guts out.


    ''Damn it!''


    ''This again!''


    Lucas was once again subjected to the onught of vertigo after he was sucked by the gate and then thrown out of the dungeon the moment it was devoured by the System''s Dungeon Devour function.


    Everything happened so quickly that when he came to it, his mind was already spinning. Even though he has already experienced this multiple times, Lucas'' mind still spun a great deal, making him vomit uncontrobly a few seconds after hended on solid ground.


    Because his situation was a lot better thanst time, it did not take him long before he recovered.


    Hey down on his back weakly as he stared at the open sky.


    The sun was high up in the air, and multiple cloud formations flew toward the west, some of them covering the ray of the sun, allowing some shade to descend upon Lucas.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    After taking a few breaths of fresh air to calm his mind and recover some strength, Lucas finally sat up to observe his surroundings.


    Everywhere he looked, he could only see a vast expanse of green grass.


    He did not know where the gate had sent him out this time around. He just hoped that it was near any human civilization, or better yet, near the Twilight City, so that he could return home.


    Having studied the area and the wilderness around Twilight City though, Lucas still did not find this ce familiar to him.


    Seeing no visible threats for the time being, Lucas sighed as he moved to a different position opposite the wind beforeying on his back once more.


    Without the smell of his own vomit assaulting his nose, Lucas could finally take a good rest.


    Seeing the open sky above, without any visible threats around him, Lucas finally let out a chuckle.


    ''I finally escaped that damned ce and that guy!''


    Even though he was once again subjected to the motion sickness caused by the gate''s pull, Lucas was actually very grateful toward it, as it resulted in him arriving in this ce and sessfully escaping that abomination beast''s pursuit.


    His mind and body began to rx, no longer bearing any pressure that he had constantly felt while traversing that wilderness full of strong beasts.


    After a while, Lucas''s eyes fluttered a few times before ultimately closing.


    He slept.


    A few hourster, Lucas opened his eyes to see the moon hanging over his head.


    The sky was clear, well lit by the moon and the countless stars that shimmer in the darkness.


    Speaking of stars, Lucas abruptly sat up as he recalled the matters regarding his grimoire.


    After the dungeon was devoured, the System has announced that his Unranked Grade Grimoire has evolved to an Iron Grade Grimoire.


    However, before he could inspect it, he was pulled by the dungeon gate along with Spot and the Mirage Worm, both of which had returned inside the grimoire the moment he began belching his guts out.


    Although he knew that the System would not lie, he still harbored anticipation and fear that all of it might just be a mere dream.


    Acquiring or inheriting skills was still somewhat understandable and was still in the scope of his understanding, as beasts could learn and awaken new skills themselves.


    The System might be tapping into the beast''s unknown potential, allowing them to learn new skills directly, and with little to no effort at that.


    However, evolving the grimoire was something that he did not expect and something that he could not fathom no matter how rich his imagination was.


    This was because for a hundred years, the humanity of this world had always believed that the grimoire that they awakened would be the grimoire that they would bring to their deaths.


    Upgrading one''s grimoire was simply impossible.


    This was the reason why there was a saying that a person''s fate was determined the moment they awakened their grimoire.


    However, the System had once again broadened his horizons.


    With a worried and optimistic heart, Lucas summoned his grimoire.


    In an instant, a grimoire materialized in front of his eyes.


    Previously, his grimoire looked dpidated and worn like a book that was dusting in the corner of the library that had seen the passage of time.


    The grimoire in front of him, though, was starkly differentpared to thest time he saw it.


    The previous dpidated brown book had now turned a dark gray in color. There was a metallic sheen on it as multiple stars with a lighter gray color decorated its surface.


    Lucas briefly counted, and his eyes widened in disbelief upon seeing the number of iron-colored stars shimmering on its cover.


    "Nine? How?"


    Even before he could fully rejoice about the evolution of his grimoire, Lucas'' mind jubted once more as he saw that he had somehow ranked up to Iron Star 9 from Iron Star 5 all of a sudden.


    Curious to see what was going on, Lucas carefully opened the cover of his Iron Grade Grimoire¡ªafraid that it would be damaged¡ªand looked at the logs situated at the bottom of the first page.


    [You have killed a Silver Grade-Bronze Star 9, Verdant Bloom Vine (100%): You gained 6503.33 XP]


    [Experience points reached the limit. You have ranked up!]


    [Experience points reached the limit. You have ranked up!]


    [Experience points reached the limit. You have ranked up!]


    [Experience points reached the limit. You have ranked up!]


    [You have killed a Gold Grade-Bronze Star 2, Tri-Colored Finch (100%): You gained 376.69 XP]


    "The heck?!"


    Lucas could not help but blurt out a curse as he saw the massive numbers recorded in the logs.


    "Damn! No wonder that vine was extremely powerful!"


    Speaking of the vine, Lucas did not expect that he would receive any experience points from killing it at all.


    It was impossible to gain experience points from killing another summoner''s contracted beast.


    This was not the first time that this happened. When Spot managed to kill the Dark Catowl of Asher before, he also received experience points, confusing him greatly.


    "Is this your doing, System?"


    Obviously, his question received no reply from the System.


    However, Lucas could only assume so.


    Although it sounds demonic to gain experience points from someone''s contracted beast, Lucas was still d that he gained something for killing that guy''s beast.


    It would be a pity if he did not get any rewards from it, right?


    As for that boss beast called Tri-Colored Finch, Lucas also did not expect for it to actually be a Gold Grade Beast.


    Unfortunately, its rank was a lot lowerpared to Asher''s Verdant Bloom Vine, so the experience points he gained from it were not as massive.


    At the same time, his rank was already at Iron Star 9 by the time Spot killed it, reducing his experience points gained even more.


    The death of the Verdant Bloom Vine boosted his rank all the way to Iron Star 9.


    Although Asher was quite hateful, Lucas actually thought that he was quite kind at this moment.


    It was just a pity that he did not receive any nk pages this time around as well. Lucas could only curse his luck in this regard.


    ncing up, Lucas saw his information, which was also starkly differentpared to before.


    [Name: Lucas Valen


    Age: 17


    Grimoire Grade: Iron


    Grimoire Talent: Reduction


    Rank: Iron Star 9 (739.41/7000)


    Spiritual Energy: 199/199


    Beasts: Gentle Dog, Mirage Worm]


    As he took a nce at his profile page, the first thing that caught his eye was the new entry, Grimoire Talent.


    This part was not there before.


    Thinking about it, Lucas willed his grimoire to reveal information about it.


    Below, the kill logs disappeared, reced by new information regarding the Grimoire Talent.


    [You Grimoire has evolved to a new grade! You received a Reduction Talent as a reward!]


    [Reduction: Consume thirty percent less Spiritual Energy while summoning or maintaining the summoning duration of your beasts.]


    "Hmm? So evolving one''s grimoire is actually possible?"


    This was recorded in the grimoire itself, so one would be able to assume that grimoire evolution up was indeed possible aside from receiving help from the System.


    As for how to do it, Lucas was not aware yet.


    Considering that his grimoire managed to evolve after the System devoured a whole dungeon, Lucas could not help but think about those summoners who owned and managed a dungeon.


    From the looks of it, it was not only due to early exploration rewards that those guys would rush to conquer and regte a newly descended dungeon.


    Although he was not sure why it was not announced to the public, he was sure that there were people who knew of this information already.


    Although he was not aware of the specifics, Lucas could tell that his guess was at least eighty percent correct.


    If there were any possible means to increase a grimoire''s grade, it was only through conquering a dungeon.


    As for whether someone has already managed to upgrade their grimoire to the next rank, Lucas did not know as well.


    All he knew was that with the help of the System''s new function, this process was made simpler and easier.


    The Dungeon Devour function also does not only revolve around evolving his grimoire. It could also evolve his beasts if he chose them as the main beneficiaries of the devoured dungeon.


    The talent was a reward that he had not anticipated.


    The talent might also look simple, but it was actually of great use. With this reduction talent, Lucas would now be able to sustain summoning his two contracted beasts at the same time for a longer period of time.


    With his increase in rank and the evolution of his grimoire, Lucas would be able to recover Spiritual Energy greater and faster than before as well.


    Speaking of his rank, Lucas looked at the number of experience points he must gain to advance to Bronze Star 1, and surprisingly enough, he actually did not feel that it was anything high.

 Chapter 106 Not Much

    To rank up a major level, the experience points needed were naturally a lot greaterpared to the previous rank.


    From his calction, to advance from Iron Star 8 to Iron Star 9, he only needs about 2500 experience points.


    However, to advance from Iron Star 9 to Bronze Star 1, he needs to gain a whopping 7000 experience points.


    It was more than twice the amount of the previous requirement, making the breakthrough to a major considerably hard and requires a lot of effort.


    Totaling all the experience points he gained all the way from being an Unranked to Iron Star 9, the total might even be a little lesspared to the current requirement.


    Still, seeing the current requirement, Lucas did not feel that much of a pressure.


    Considering that he just earned a whopping 6504 experience points just a while ago, the 7000 requirement did not seem so daunting anymore to him.


    Not to mention, after his grimoire evolved to Iron Grade, the experience points he gained would no longer be reduced to a mere 1 percent. As an Iron Grade, he would receive a total of 5 percent from the overall experience points after killing a beast.


    An increase of 4 percent might not be a lot, but for Lucas, this was the same as increasing his harvest more than five timespared to his previous earnings.


    For example, if Spot had killed the Tri-Colored Finch after his grimoire evolved to Iron Grade, instead of just earning 376 experience points, he would instead receive over 2000 experience points.


    Over two thousand experience points, if they could repeat it at least four times, wouldn''t that mean that he would be able to advance to Bronze Star 1 just like that?


    Higher-grade grimoires were indeed terrifying.


    Of course, dreaming about it was one thing, but with their current strength, Lucas did not think that he and his beast would be able to hunt a Gold Grade-Bronze Star 2 beast, let alone a Silver Grade-Bronze Star 9 beast like Asher''s contracted beast.


    The previous two kills were truly just due to luck and him being able to fish in troubled waters.


    Anyway, with Spot''s record of being able to kill beasts of a higher star rank and grade than him, and with the Mirage Worm''s help, Lucas thought that they should be able to amass 7000 experience points quite quickly.


    Speaking of Spot, Lucas turned to look at the second and third pages of his grimoire to see the details of his beasts.


    [Beast Name: Gentle Dog


    Grade: Unranked


    Rank: Iron Star 5


    Skills: Gentle Gaze, Hellhound Manifestation, Sharp w, Soft Bark


    Gentle Gaze:...


    Hellhound Manifestation:...


    Sharp w:...


    Soft Bark:...]


    [Beast Name: Mirage Worm


    Grade: Iron Grade


    Rank: Iron Star 3


    Skills: Camouge, Silk Mirage, Unhindered Stealth


    Camouge:...


    Silk Mirage:...


    Unhindered Stealth:...


    ]


    There were no changes in the Mirage Worm''s details. Its rank was still at Iron Star 3, and there were no additional skills in its description.


    As for Spot, his rank has now been elevated to Iron Star 5. There were no additional skills in his arsenal, so Lucas assumed that he had ranked up due to the nutritious meats he had eaten.


    All those meats were from a higher level and star rank beasts to him. Consuming a lot of them allowed Spot to elevate his rank by one minor rank.


    It just takes a while, but if they pursue this method, even if Spot does not learn any new skills, he would still be able to rank up swiftly and not be left behind by Lucas'' rank by that much.


    Done with his inspection, Lucas began to examine his current state.


    To his surprise, most of his injuries had actually been healed already.


    After thinking about it, Lucas attributed it to the feedback he received from the grimoire after he ranked up multiple levels in a row.


    Theoretically, what an Unranked Grade grimoire could provide him during a rank-up was minimal and negligible at best. However, since he ranked up multiple times in a row, it caused the negligible to be substantial, and his injuries healed in the process as a result.


    Clenching his fist, Lucas also realized that his strength and physical body seemed to have increased by a lot.


    In his estimate, he should now be able to fight Iron Grade-Iron Star 2-4 beasts head-on with little to no worries.


    As a mere human, being able to fight an Iron Star 2-4 beast head-on was already a significant achievement.


    After he was done with examining the state of his body, Lucas returned his attention to his surroundings.


    It was dark and silent. The stars and the moon illuminated the grassy in, but the lights they provided were only enough for Lucas to see a few meters ahead.


    Just like in the afternoon, there were no visible threats that he could hear and see around him.


    It seems that he was truly sent to a rtively safer area this time around.


    Lucas was delighted at the thought of it.


    However, just to be safe, Lucas decided to summon Spot.


    As Spot emerged, Lucas hurriedly looked at his profile and saw that his Spiritual Energy was only reduced by 8pared to the previous 11.


    The effects of the Grimoire talent were indeed significant and were of great use.


    Being an Iron Grade Grimoire holder, the amount of Spiritual Energy he now possesses was a staggering 199¡ªmore than doublepared to when his grimoire was still Unranked.


    With that in mind, he would now be able to summon Spot for twelve four hours straight without much of a burden.


    As an Iron Grade Grimoire user, his Spiritual Energy recovery speed had naturally increased as well. If he rested and recovered his Spiritual Energy from time to time, it was not impossible to maintain Spot''s summoning twenty-four seven.


    As for the Mirage Worm, Lucas did not think about summoning it for a long period of time. It was an Iron Grade beast, and the amount of Spiritual Energy it consumed was absurdly high for Lucas. At the very least, though, summoning it for one to two hours would not be a problem.


    Laying down on the grassy field once more, Lucas allowed Spot to hop on his chest and ordered him to guard while he slept.


    During sleep, a summoner would also recover some Spiritual Energy, albeit by a low amountpared to proactively meditating to recover them.


    Ignoring the churning of his stomach, Lucas drifted to sleep.


    Morning came a few hourster.


    Lucas opened his eyes as the color of lc illuminated the distant horizon.


    Having determined the general cardinal directions once more, Lucas began to n his next course of action.


    The field of grass might be safe and pose no visible danger for the time being, but Lucas knew that he should not stay in this ce for long.


    At this time, he no longer harbored the desire of going home as quickly as possible.


    A week had already gone by since he was sent here.


    No matter what kind of n Asher and his group were plotting before, all of it must have been initiated by now. regardless of whether Asher was there or not.


    Lucas sighed, hoping that the damage would not be that great.


    Even though he was not a saint, Lucas still felt disheartened at the fact of his ssmates being killed by Asher''s group.


    Having done his best, Lucas naturally did not feel a deep sense of guilt.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    Knowing that he could no longer do anything about it, he decided to focus on the survival at hand.


    Even if he could not return this week to potentially save his ssmates, Lucas still did not give up on returning.


    No matter how many weeks, months, or years it might take. Lucas vowed that he must return and see his parents once more.


    Lucas sat up and put Spot over his head as he stood up with some difficulty.


    He then began walking toward the west as he took a quick nce at his remaining Spiritual Energy after a whole night of maintaining Spot''s summoning duration.


    "Still over a hundred left."


    His natural recovery seemed to have increased a great deal after his grimoire evolved to Iron Grade as well.


    After a while, Lucas felt his stomach burning due to being famished.


    The abomination beast had struck early in the morning yesterday before he could eat anything.


    His meat strips were also stored in the yed skin bag, which he had stored and hid in another tree; hence, he no longer has any food to consume at this moment.


    Fortunately, he had always carried the other bag with him, so it was sent out of the dungeon along with him yesterday.


    Walking forward, Lucas picked up the bag and determined the items that remained inside.


    Aside from the loss of some items, Lucas did not discover anything significant that was lost.


    The water canteen, which only had half of its contents filled with water, was heavily dented on the side. Although it did not crack and was still usable, the amount of water that could be stored was significantly lower than before.


    Fortunately, anticipating something like this to happen, he had stored the me-Mane Lion''s mane and tail inside the leather bag.


    Although he still doesn''t have any food to cook, at least he already has a fire ready in case food appears.


    In this vast field of grass, though, Lucas did not expect to find any food soon.


    After a few hours of walking, though, in the distance, Lucas finally saw some trees.


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