“Gray Feathered Lion Hawk, get ready! If the enemy attacks first, take them down quickly!”
Qin Nan held an access card in her hand, eyes fixed on the firmly locked door in front of her, twinkling with vigilance and a probing light.
At her side, the Gray Feathered Lion Hawk, which had reduced its size through a Shrinking skill to be akin to a large dog, stood in the corridor, nodding emphatically.
“Ssiang! (ᓀ◇ᓂ)” (Understood!)
“We’re going in!” Qin Nan hummed lowly and quickly stepped forward.
At this moment, Lin Su was still in the middle of a practical assessment and not at home, and through the assessment’s monitoring equipment, Qin Nan could be completely certain of this.
Yet at Lin Su’s home, someone had used a visitor’s account to submit a brand-new initial monster species, without even bothering to hide the IP address.
There was a problem here!
And a big one at that!
Had someone taken advantage of Lin Su’s absence to break into his dorm?
Or was Lin Su up to something without her knowledge again?
Whatever had actually happened, this incident was definitely related to Lin Su.
So now, it was necessary for Qin Nan to take exceptional measures and burst into Lin Su’s dorm to see for herself.
The access card in her hand was like a master key, capable of unlocking any door within the Research Institute’s staff dormitory. Of course, not just anyone could get their hands on this card— even with Qin Nan’s clearance, she had to explain its use, apply for approval, and could only borrow it temporarily, with the stipulation it must be returned within the specified time.
“Beep~”
As Qin Nan lightly touched the card to the magnetic control area, the door quietly opened a crack.
“Let’s go, inside! Be careful!”
“Ssiang!” (Charge!)
…
“Snap!”
A deep-purple little paw slammed onto the floor, dark energy turning into black shadows rapidly spreading in all directions, unable to expand further, then quickly rising from the edges of the ground shadows into the air, eventually closing up slowly on high, seemingly intending to create an enclosed dark box.
However, just as the dark box was about to seal shut, the surrounding dark energy suddenly became unstable, the dark box shaking violently before completely falling apart, revealing inside a flabbergasted creature with one hand on the ground.
“Jie? (☉Д☉)” (Failed again?)
It scratched its head in confusion, stood up, and consciously sat back on the sofa, picking up the communication device to intently study the teaching video.
Dark Domain Teaching Skill, Black Box.
This skill could create a box-shaped space completely enveloped by dark energy, centered on the beast itself. Within this space, dark element beasts would see a significant increase in combat efficiency.
Now only in the initial learning phase and yet to master the skill, the creature, affectionately known as Ghost, could already create a Black Box as big as half a living room. As it became more proficient, the future growth potential of this skill was high—reaching Level III would easily allow for the construction of a Dark Domain spanning a hundred meters.
So far, Ghost had been following the provided video from the training program, practicing close to twenty times. Each attempt went smoothly until the final moment when the Black Box should have closed, and the dark energy would suddenly collapse.
According to the introduction, practicing this skill over a hundred times as outlined in the program should lead to mastery, so Ghost wasn’t anxious about not having learned it after more than twenty tries.
But the problem was, it still couldn’t figure out what was going wrong.
It was as though every step was correct, yet the results were consistently incorrect in the end.
This was a blow to Ghost, who had thought it could learn on its own like some of the beasts mentioned on the Beast Tamers’ forum.
“Jie!” (One more time!)
Checking the written instructions provided by the program while carefully watching the video at 0.5x speed to ensure no details were missed, Ghost jumped down from the sofa and slammed a hand onto the floor once more.
It was determined to master the Black Box before Lin Su finished his practical assessment, hoping to surprise him!
As before, erratic energy fluctuations came just as the Black Box was about to complete, causing the near-formed structure to collapse instantly.
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It felt like laboriously building a sandcastle, only to have it flattened just as the final flag was about to be planted.
Ghost’s face immediately showed frustration.
Dammit!
Where exactly had it gone wrong?
“Beep~”
That sudden sound from the doorway reached Ghost’s ears.
The noise was abrupt and startling.
Had Lin Su come back?
That fast?
It hadn’t even managed to master the Black Box before Lin Su’s return.
Ghost shook its head and then perked back up.
Lin Su was finally back!
With its persistent confusion over the Black Box, could it ask Lin Su for guidance?
As a Beast Tamer, he must know, right?
With this thought, Ghost trotted toward the entrance.
“Jie… Jie? (⊙▂⊙)” (Lin Su, teach me… who are you?)
Ghost blinked, looking at the stranger who walked in through the door.
Not entirely a stranger though.
It had seen this human before while hiding in Lin Su’s shadow and sneaking peeks at the outside world.
Could this be one of Lin Su’s friends?
But Lin Su never mentioned expecting a friend to visit, did he?
It blinked again, tilting its head and scratching.
