At a camp near the bloody pool.
A pale, skinny boy, as thin as a bamboo pole, was sitting in front of a pile of phones, methodically removing the trial chips from each one.
"Robert, what's the point of dismantling all those useless chips?" A burly young man applied antiseptic to his wounds, grimacing in pain. "I went through all that trouble to help you kill people, and it's all for these worthless things?"
"Felix, you don't understand. You do it for money; I do it for trial points. Isn't this a win-win situation?" Robert chuckled, then took out his phone to check the leaderboard:
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[Ferocious Beast Mountain Trial Points Leaderboard]
1st Place: Grace [817 points]
2nd Place: Emily [472 points]
3rd Place: Robert [465 points]
...
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"Damn it, what kind of monster is Grace! In less than half a month, she's almost reached a thousand points?" Robert cursed under his breath, crushing the chips in his hand. The leaderboard quickly updated.
↑ 2nd Place: Robert [493 points]
"Hunting ferocious beasts is such a hassle. It's dangerous and the points increase slowly. But killing people and taking their points is much easier!" Seeing his points increase by 21, Robert smiled coldly.
Thanks to a friend who participated in the ferocious beast mountain trial last year, Robert learned that besides hunting ferocious beasts, robbing other Beast Masters of their point cards could also earn points.
Tossing a few gold coins to Felix, Robert mounted his four-winged tiger and prepared to leave. As he reached the camp's entrance, he suddenly turned around. "Haven't you found that kid Daniel yet? I paid you 5 gold coins for his head!"
Felix hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. "We almost had him that night. The first team was nearly wiped out by us, but then we encountered a beast tide... With his strength, there's no way he survived such a strong beast tide."
"Good. I saw in the group chat that Team 7 is also nearing this area. Make sure to keep things clean this time!" After giving a few more instructions, Robert turned and left.
After Robert left, Felix looked towards the tent where a middle-aged man in a black coat, smoking a cigarette, was sitting. "Dad, do you think it's worth all this effort and the risk of offending the entire Lsengard Beast Master Guild for a few gold coins?"
The middle-aged man took a drag of his cigarette and blew out a smoke ring. "When I got into trouble in Lsengard years ago, I was set for the gallows the next day. It was Sly who got me out of jail. We share a life-and-death bond."
"Besides, we've always been in the business of robbery and grave robbing. Are we supposed to be afraid of killing?" The man flicked ash from his cigarette and suddenly remembered something. "By the way, that young man named Charlie, did he survive?"
Felix sneered. "Don't worry, Dad. I've searched the entire area near the bloody pool. There's no other exit. The tomb has been quiet for the past two days. I'll go in and loot the treasures tomorrow."
Hearing this, the middle-aged man smiled in satisfaction. "Good. You mentioned he's only a Tier 1 Beast Master but managed to defeat the Lightning Ape. A Beast Master with such incredible talent would be a future threat if we don't eliminate him now."
"Don't worry, Father. I understand that much." Felix tightened his bandages and stood up from his chair. "I've already gathered the nearby men, disguised as ferocious beast hunters. As soon as those trial teams get close, none of them will escape."
...
"So cold, it's freezing!"
Near a steaming spring shrouded in white mist, Charles, bundled up in a thick down jacket, squatted in a corner, shivering.
It was strange; it was July, the peak of sweltering heat, yet the area around this spring was covered in white frost, colder than a walk-in freezer.
"Thank goodness for the system prompt. Otherwise, I would have missed this [Polar Cold Spring]!" Charles smiled to himself, glancing over at Max in the spring.
After finding this cold spring, Max had all the materials needed to ascend a tier!
However, the process of advancing required time, and it was during this vulnerable period that many high-tier ferocious beasts were ambushed and taken down. To ensure Max's safety, Charles stayed close by.
"While Max is advancing, I can upgrade my [Ice and Fire Supreme Spear]!"
Charles retrieved the spear from his storage space. The spear tip, embedded with an ice attribute beast core, gleamed with a faint blue light on one side, while the other side had a normal metallic sheen.
Carefully, Charles took out a fire attribute beast core from his storage space, feeling its warmth in his palm. He cautiously embedded the beast core into the reserved slot, and the spear glowed with a vibrant blue and red light, like swimming dragons coiling around it.
Gripping the spear tightly, Charles swung it around. With several whizzing sounds, he felt the ice and fire attribute energies swirling around him.
[Ice and Fire Supreme Spear [Blue]: Forged from refined steel, a lethal weapon for slaying ferocious beasts, now in its fully completed form. When ice and fire attribute energies are injected simultaneously, it will cause explosive piercing damage.]
"Explosive piercing damage?" Charles was puzzled as he read the system prompt.
Since bonding with Max, he had gained the ability to harness both ice and fire attributes. He carefully channeled the attribute energies into the spear.
The spear began to vibrate...
Whizz—!!!
Before Charles could react, the Ice and Fire Supreme Spear shot out of his hand, piercing through a large tree in front of him, leaving a perfectly round hole.
"This power is amazing!" Charles exclaimed. He thought being able to penetrate a tree with a three-meter diameter was impressive, but the Ice and Fire Supreme Spear showed no signs of stopping.
"Boom!!!"
One tree...
Two trees...
Twenty trees!
The spear finally came to a stop after piercing through dozens of trees.
"This is ridiculous! It pierced through 26 trees!" Charles was in shock as he pulled the Ice and Fire Supreme Spear from a tree trunk hundreds of meters away.
Looking back, he saw a perfectly round hole extending from where he stood to the polar cold spring. The tree trunks showed no cracks, indicating the incredible penetrating power of the spear!
Such terrifying penetration would likely be too much for even earth attribute ferocious beasts known for their defense.
The commotion attracted the attention of those nearby.
"Charlie, he's alive?"
"Quick! Kill him!" Seeing the figure in the woods, a few tomb raiders' faces twisted with malice.
Charles was supposed to be locked in a monster-filled tomb by the second-in-command. How did he escape alive?
One of them reached for his walkie-talkie, but before he could dial, a fierce wave of air was already stabbing towards his face!
He didn't even have time to react before he was pinned to a tree trunk by the spear, blood streaming down to the roots, pooling into a crimson mess.
Charles extended his hand, and the spear, as if it had legs, quickly flew back to him. He pointed its tip at the remaining tomb raiders:
"Who else wants to kill me? One by one is too boring. Come at me all at once!"
Hearing Charles's taunting words, two tomb raiders summoned their spirit beasts. Behind the black hexagrams, two Black Iron quality Level 6 ferocious beasts appeared.
"We have the numbers and two Beast Masters. His spirit beast isn't with him. Let's take him down together!" The tomb raiders, faces filled with viciousness, drew their long knives and charged at Charles along with their spirit beasts.
As the four men and two beasts rushed toward him, Charles's face remained expressionless. This was the first time he had killed since transmigrating to this world, and it seemed much easier to accept than he had anticipated.
If others wanted to take his life, then to Charles, killing them was no different from killing a few ferocious beasts.
With a light tap of his toes, Charles leapt onto a nearby tree, using the momentum to swing the Ice and Fire Supreme Spear downwards!
The tomb raiders didn't even have time to scream as the spear slashed their throats, blood spurting from their severed carotid arteries like fountains.
Looking at the twitching corpses on the ground and the two spirit beasts fleeing in panic, Charles's face remained expressionless, his heart filled with the thrill of revenge.
"The disappearance of these people will definitely attract more tomb raiders. Max is in a vulnerable state right now. If Felix comes, I can escape, but Max would be in danger."
After burying the corpses and cleaning up the blood, Charles hurried back toward the polar cold spring. Before he reached the spring, a system prompt sounded—
[Ding! Your spirit beast Max has successfully advanced! 1500 stored experience points used successfully, current level Lv12!]
[Your spirit beast Max triggered a critical evolution during the advancement process. Please choose an evolution route!]
Seeing the system screen pop up with four evolution routes to choose from, Charles was overjoyed. "Max evolved during its advancement? And it triggered a critical evolution?!"