As the man emerged abruptly from the shadows, Charles instinctively tightened his grip on the Ice and Fire Supreme Spear.
“Senior? Could you give me a heads up before you visit next time? Your sudden appearances are quite startling!” Charles sighed in relief when he realized the visitor was Ezra.
“You seem to be in some trouble. If you agree to become my student now, maybe I can help you,” the man in the black robe said with a faint smile.
Although Charles had little interest in joining the Cyber Academy, his heart skipped a beat upon hearing Ezra’s offer.
“No need, I can handle my own matters,” Charles responded bluntly. He knew that nothing came without a reason; the more eager Ezra appeared, the more suspicious Charles was of his intentions.
“I must admit, your talent in Beast Mastery is exceptional. But I’ve also heard about the wager you made with the city lord’s daughter. Her talent is no less than yours, and she has already started her training at the Aredale Academy. Do you truly believe you can defeat her in two years? And about your parents, I might know some clues about their disappearance if you’re interested…
heh,” Ezra said, clearly well-prepared, with each statement targeting Charles’ vulnerabilities.
Charles’ hand, still gripping the Ice and Fire Supreme Spear, trembled slightly, surprised at how thoroughly Ezra had investigated him.
But he was telling the truth; those who reach the pinnacle of their abilities often show remarkable strength from their youth. With Grace’s talent displayed in the Ferocious Beast Mountains, even if he were to study at Nova Academy, he might not surpass her in two years.
And he knows something about my parents? Could he be lying?
Looking despondently at the mysterious man, Charles, not fully certain if he was even human, quipped, “I need lamp oil made from a humpback whale if you can help Mousie evolve, I’ll consider joining the Cyber Academy. How about that?”
He decided to play along, to see if Ezra could indeed help Mousie evolve. After all, he had a recommendation letter from Emma of Nova Academy, allowing him to slip away at any time.
“Hmm, since when do students threaten their teachers? People are usually desperate to get into Cyber Academy, but here you are, turning the tables,” Ezra chuckled, incredulously unable to believe that this was merely an 18-year-old youth, slicker than some centuries-old creatures.
Charles scratched his head and chuckled, “Heh, if you can’t handle this small task, how can I believe anything you say isn’t a lie?”
“Fine, since I still need something from you, follow me.” Sighing helplessly, Ezra stretched out his gaunt hand and pulled Charles into the shadows beside them.
The surroundings plunged into chaos, startling Charles, but as he calmed down, he realized he was likely traveling through space within the shadows. It was somewhat similar to his [Darkness Cloak], but judging from the changing scenery around him, Ezra’s teleportation skill was faster and covered greater distances.
“Goo-goo—”
After an indeterminate amount of time in the dark silence, Charles faintly heard the cries of seabirds, and a light appeared ahead, almost too bright for his eyes.
As the rolling heat waves hit him, Charles moved his hand from his eyes and found himself standing in the shadow cast by a rock on the beach.
Looking up, he saw a group of seagulls leisurely circling and playing in the calm bay, the blue sea shimmering like fish scales under the sunlight.
“Where have you brought me?” Charles asked, stepping on the soft sand, his eyes wide with surprise. Just moments ago, it felt like he was in a temporal tunnel, everything around him turning into phantoms.
Blinking open his eyes, he found himself suddenly at the seaside.
Noticing the distinctly hotter weather around him, Charles pulled out his phone and found it located him over 1000 kilometers away at a beach in Lsengard!
“Didn’t you say you needed the fat from a salivate over a humpback whale? Here it is,” Ezra snorted.
Following the direction of his pointing, Charles rubbed his eyes, but the sea was calm and still—no sign of a salivate over a humpback whale, not even a fish in sight.
“You say we can hunt a salivate over a humpback whale here, but I don’t see anything…” Confused, Charles rubbed his head, looking bewilderedly at Ezra.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, a dark energy flowed from Ezra’s fingertip into his eyes, and suddenly, everything around him seemed to change.
“Now, look.”
As Ezra’s voice fell, Charles raised his head and witnessed a scene he would never forget.
The eternal golden sun in the sky suddenly split into ten distinct spheres, no longer dazzling with light but transformed into ten bloody orbs. From each orb, a chain stretched into the boundless cosmos, clinking softly as they collided.
The rays that should have radiated out turned into dark tentacles that enveloped and obscured the entire sky.
No words could adequately describe the eerie and mysterious sight Charles beheld. He was so shocked that he found himself speechless. The ten orbs loomed over the world like creators, as if everything beneath them was merely a plaything.
Charles looked downward. The once calm bay had morphed into an unfathomable abyss, teeming with strange creatures he had never seen before, writhing within the depths…
Not far from him, Charles indeed spotted a whale, its body dark and translucent, equipped with two long tentacles.
—[Salivate over a Humpback Whale]—
[Attributes]: Dark
[Level]: 32
[Quality]: Gold
[Skills]: Darkness Attacks, Tentacle Wraps, Gaping Chasm, Eerie Saliva
[Mood]: Excited
[Health]: Good
[Weakness]: Silver Weapons
[Description]: A dark, bizarre creature from the edge of the abyss, continuously devouring since its birth. Its greed is as vast as its body. Beware the pair of tentacles on its sides.
This was Charles’ first encounter with a dark creature other than Mousie, and just seeing its massive form, he knew it would be a formidable opponent, especially at level 32.
However, having come this far, Charles was not ready to give up. He turned to Ezra and said, “Senior, could you help me hunt a Salivate over a Humpback Whale, or even just cut off a piece of its flesh… Don’t worry, I won’t let your efforts go unrewarded. I can offer something of equivalent value in exchange!”
“I can’t interfere directly. If I summon a mystical beast, They will notice. And… we need to leave,” Ezra said, pulling Charles back into the shadows before he could respond. After another disorienting bout of spatial teleportation, the overwhelming heat that enveloped them vanished.
Stepping out of the shadows, Charles abruptly looked up at the sky where the ten suffocating orbs had disappeared, leaving only a dazzling golden sun.
The nightmare-like world was gone. He looked around and seemed to be back in the Lsengard courtyard, with the sound of car horns beeping nearby.
Everything he had just seen felt like a dream, and the salivate over a humpback whale that had been within reach was also gone.
Noticing the disappointment in Charles’ eyes, Ezra slowly began, “If you want to hunt that thing, you’ll have to do it yourself, and you’ll need a [spirit nail]. Without it, even if you kill it, you won’t get anything.”
Not able to obtain anything after the hunt?
Charles paused, lost in thought. He remembered the treasure chest in Ares’ tomb, where he had found first-order beast cores of ten different attributes, yet he had never seen a dark attribute beast core.
Creatures of the dark attribute indeed possessed some peculiar qualities.
Still unwilling to give up, Charles looked at Ezra, “Senior, you must have a way, right? And about that spirit nail, you can manage that, can’t you?”
“I can craft a spirit nail for you,” Ezra nodded.
Just as Charles was about to rejoice at Ezra’s agreement, the extensive list of materials Ezra continued with instantly dampened his spirits:
“You need to prepare one ton of mystic iron with a purity of 99.99% or more, three dragon crystals, one silver matrix, and a forge. Then, I can naturally craft the [spirit nail] for you.” As Ezra finished speaking, Charles’ expression stiffened, and he hesitated, asking, “What’s the issue?”
“You make it sound so easy. Do you know how much mystic iron with a purity over 99.99% costs per kilogram? You actually want me to find a ton of it?” Charles looked incredulously at Ezra, who was shrouded in his black robe, almost rolling his eyes.
“Dragon crystals? I remember seeing one auctioned on the news for a whole gold coin, and you want three? And silver matrix—only the most pure silver veins, formed over hundreds of millions of years, could possibly yield one. Where am I supposed to find all these things…” Charles looked at Ezra, spreading his hands helplessly, “The items you mentioned would conservatively cost ten gold coins.
Even if you sold me, I couldn’t gather that much money!”
Seeing Charles with a face like a bitter melon, Ezra chuckled lightly, showing no intention of comforting him: “That’s your problem now. I’ve already helped you this much, even agreed to craft the spirit nail for you, that’s more than generous. You can’t expect me to cover the material costs as well, can you?”
With that, Ezra stepped back into the shadows, waving at Charles over his shoulder, “Once you’ve gathered the materials needed for the spirit nail, I’ll come find you.”
But before disappearing, he suddenly turned around and added, “Just a reminder, the salivate over a humpback whale only returns briefly to the vicinity of the abyss during its migratory period. Miss it and you’ll have to wait another year. You better hurry up.”
With those final words, his figure gradually became translucent until he completely vanished into the shadows.
“Damn, being a Beast Master really burns through money. Just for a second-tier evolution, it costs so much!” Watching Ezra’s disappearing shadow, Charles felt almost on the verge of tears.
Where was he supposed to get that much money? freewebnvel.coɱ
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