For his next Upgrade-Mission, Umbra had to defeat a stronger beast than himself without Shane's help and if Shane was honest, he wasn't exactly sure how to do that.
'What was even the exact meaning of `stronger? Was it only the rank or something else?` Shane thought but there was no definite answer so he had to find out for himself.
'If Umbra has to defeat a stronger ranked beast, it would probably have to be a 3rd-Wild beast, preferably a new advanced one, or maybe only a mid-2nd Wild beast?'
But there was also the possibility that 'stronger' could be described differently.
If one was to compare canine beasts and mices on the same rank with each other, canines were innately superior and 'stronger' due to their genetic model and them being predators.
There were many mid-and-high-ranked fishes that weren't proficient in fighting, within the Primordial Dimensions. Shane was confident that Umbra's thin shadow needles could kill them by piercing through their eyes, but would that be considered as being stronger?
How far-fetched would he have to think?
Assuming that it was only an upgrade-mission for a trash quality innate skill, Shane thought that he wouldn't have to think that far, at least that was what he hoped.
After they finished eating, both of them went outside once again.
Shane had already sifted through his memory and the threads on PrimWeb inside the human section about all kinds of weak beasts at the 3rd-Wild beast. There were many different kinds of horned koi's, two-tailed perches, salmons, and a thousand other fishes with a higher stage and a few of them could even be found close to the DeepMountain shelter.
This caused Shane to be relieved, and searching for the river nearby the shelter, he noticed some fanged coyotes which he would normally avoid.
Pondering for a second, he saw that there were only around five of them and they didn't seem to be on guard, as they drank water.
The only thing they checked was if something attacked them out of the water, which indicated that some sort of stronger beasts resided inside the river.
As such, Shane immediately disregarded the thought of looking out for beasts without combat power in the river.
Nevertheless, the fanged coyotes in front of him could be considered an opportunity as he sneaked closer to them while telling Umbra to hide in the bushes.
He transmitted his plan to Umbra, who looked uncertainly at Shane.
Shane tried to cheer up his reptilian friend but it wasn't helpful.
While he sneaked closer from the right, Umbra activated its ability [One with the Darkness(Trash)] to merge with the shadow of the bushes and trees to some extent.
Circulating his mana into his lower body, he suddenly accelerated towards the riverside, where the fanged coyotes were still drinking.
Shane had been too far from them to reach their group unnoticed. Once he was close enough, he threw a few stones at them before he turned around to run away.
The fanged coyotes were enraged and at the same time overjoyed, because a delicious prey had appeared in front of them at the perfect timing, as it was lunchtime for them.
Pursuing Shane, they passed the tree Umbra was hiding, when four paper-thin needles pierced through the leaves right into the weakest and also slowest fanged coyote, penetrating its low mana resistant fur.
Feeling dizzy, the last fanged coyote suddenly slowed down. When Umbra attacked the weakest fanged coyote, Shane turned around at the exact same time and charged straight at his four opponents with a faint smile and his unsheathed dagger.
While the dizzy fanged coyote was still wondering what happened, it felt its leg numbing. When it looked down, it could only feel a sting at its lower body and a black scaled tail before its vision blurred.
After being hit by four paper-thin darkness needles and two bites enveloped with transmuted mana, the harmful effects caused by the shadow mana stacked and caused even the low-3rd Wild stage fanged coyote to be overwhelmed, even though it was still not dead.
However, there was not much the fanged coyote could do anymore, except struggle for a little bit, whimpering with the slight hope of getting rescued by its brethren.
This futile effort was not rewarded as Shane bent his body towards the ground and nimbly avoided the razor-sharp maws and claws of the fanged coyotes.
Due to his 4th Mortal staged physique, he was still slightly faster than his opponents. He used this advantage to the fullest while circulating his mana into the legs to increase his speed by a small margin.
Inflicting shallow injuries onto the fanged coyotes, only three minutes passed until the pressure on Shane lessened by a considerable degree. The first one collapsed on the ground leaving a puddle of blood as decoration on the ground.
Time passed slowly and Shane knew that Umbra had already assassinated his opponent. Still, he played safe, instead of risking an injury in order to help out Umbra because it was simply not needed.
Three minutes later Shane emerged as a winner without having sustained a single cut, while dozens of cuts filled the fanged coyotes' bodies.
Storing away all bodies within the store's vacancy, Shane selected a price of 30 bronze coins which was roughly the same he would get at the shelter. If someone purchased it for the same amount at the shelter, why shouldn't he sell it within his shop?
There was nothing bad about that, rather it would be considered good.
To unlock the upgrade section for his shop, he would have to earn 1000 gold through the shop as the first requirement, and achieving that would take some time.
At least, that was Shane's opinion and he smiled lightly, looking at the system notification that he received.
[[Taming|Trash|] Upgrade-Mission |★★★★| → Let your tamed beast fight against a stronger beast without the host's support, accomplished! Reward:[Affinity amplification] amplifies the affinities of all tamed beasts slightly.]
[[Upgrade-Mission] |★★★★★|
Shane was overjoyed to look at the reward he received, but his smile immediately vanished, upon reading the next mission…
'How should I be able to influence this glutton's loyalty?' He wondered. The only thing Shane could think of was giving him enough savory food.
But rather than forcefully increasing Umbra's loyalty, Shane decided to try it with care as he went back into the shelter to purchase a huge quantity of food, worth 3 silver coins.
They ate a few dishes until their bellies were full. Shane stored the leftover food before he left the shelter once again because it was barely lunchtime.
Walking outside the shelter's protection was still relatively safe within a radius of three to five hundred meters, where he could see many couples on a picnic while some youths were honing their skills. Some of them were gathering mana from their surroundings and Shane wanted to do the exact same thing.
Without wasting 10 silver coins, he wanted to gather and purify mana outside the shelter.
Leaning on a large tree, relatively close to the shelter, Shane sat down in a meditation stance. Umbra laid down on top of his head, partially fusing with his black hair, as he curled around himself.
Somehow, curling around was the cultivation position of most snakes, and seeing that, Shane smiled as both of them seemed to have a similar ambition to get stronger.
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