Just a few minutes before reaching their destination, Euri's miniscreen buzzed, leaving him puzzled. Hunting mode had ended just a couple of hours ago. He hadn't initiated any other mechanisms in the game that could come to a conclusion at the moment.
All of his beasts were cultivating in the weakened vitality gas, and none of them had shown any signs of breaking through the last time he had checked.
Looking around cautiously inside the shuttle, Euri pulled his mini out and entered the game.
[ Alert: Nurtured beast Blizzard Porcupine has reached its limit as a Rank-0 Lifeform of its subspecies. Please restrict its cultivation energy until it crosses over to Rank-1 ]
Euri's eyes nearly bulged out of his skull upon reading the notification. How the hell did this happen? The porcupine had cultivated only for two hours at most!
Had it been at the edge even before entering his sacred ground? He quickly examined its attributes and fell into a deeper hole of confusion.
[ Blizzard Porcupine ]
[ Rank- 0 ]
[ Physique: 0.85 ]
[ Special Attribute: Endless Arsenal ]
Absolutely nothing had changed in its stats, be it in terms of rank, physique, or speciality. It hadn't even had a normal upgrade of attributes like his older beasts. So how could it reach the limit of its rank?
Euri reread the message and tried to find reason in it.
"It does say that this is the limit of its subspecies. Maybe 0.85 points of Physique is the furthest it can develop to, unlike humans. As for the uncultivated special attribute, maybe it just doesn't have that kind of potential?"
There was no one Euri could turn to for answers. So he could only make more and more theories.
"But if it has already reached its limits as a Rank-0 lifeform, why doesn't it cross over to Rank-1? Is there any special mechanism to help it make the breakthrough?"
In the end, it all boiled down to the question Euri had been searching for since getting acquainted with the game—How did Rank-0 Lifeforms reach Rank-1?
The internet had been awfully quiet about that part of a superhuman's journey, regardless of where Euri searched. Not even the most obscure forums discussed this.
The closest hint he had gotten was that unless one joined a big organization or became a vassal for influential clans, coming across the method of breaking past the limits of Rank-0 was not possible for ordinary people.
Looking at the game's features, there was only one option he could try out. Euri stopped the Porcupine's cultivation and guided it to the Breakthrough Pod amidst the dense woods.
When it pawed at the dome sticking out of the soil, a hole opened up to let it in. Under Euri's coaxing, the porcupine crawled inside reluctantly. Seeing no new messages popping up automatically, Euri checked the data window of the pod.
[ Sacres Ground Secondary Core: Breakthrough Pod ]
[ Property: Avails cultivating beasts the opportunity to stably break through to higher levels of existence. Requires no extra deposit except for what the beast needs. ]
[ Level: 1 ]
[ Occupant: Blizzard Porcupine ]
Not only did the Porcupine's slot show no demand for deposits of breakthrough ingredients, but the slot itself was greyed out, signifying that it wasn't possible at the moment to rely on the pod to help it cross ranks.
Euri had to think for a while before reaching the conclusion that his level as an administrator was probably not high enough yet to access this mechanism.
Perhaps once he got his next blessing from the sacred ground, or when he leveled up the gas well by sacrificing a total of 100 beast cores, he'd learn more about it.
Turning off his mini, he joined Aemon and Jameson in their energetic discussion about hustles in some underground gambling spots. Soon, the shuttle blared its mic, letting the passengers know that they had arrived at Station R-4 of the wing-zone of Peacock District.
Having disembarked from the train, they had to walk about a mile past the station, through an area full of office blocks, before reaching the suburban area where their target, Mr. Vernon, lived.
As it was daytime, most families weren't home. That made things convenient for the trio of debt collectors. They slipped into the gated property belonging to Vernon, and Aemon took out a key from his pocket that magically opened up the locked front door, stunning Euri for a second.
"Hehe, this is just standard practice for us whenever we hand out loans." Aemon chuckled like a villain.
"Breaking in is a crime. So we make sure we have ways to enter their houses anytime we need to; their faces on each visit are always a treat to watch..."
Swearing to himself that he was never going to borrow money from these guys, Euri entered the house and watched attentively as Aemon used the in-house comcell to contact Mr. Vernon.
A confused voice came from the other side of the comcell.
"Who is this? How did you get inside my house?"
"Vernon, it's me, your father. I have keys, remember?" Aemon said, adopting an aged tone.
"...Who is this? My father's been dead for six years!" Mr. Vernon roared from his office.
"I faked my death, son. Come home and see!" Aemon doubled down, hung up the call, and looked back at Euri and Jameson with his arms wide open, face lit up as if expecting an applause for his performance.
Euri exchanged a slow look with Jameson, who shrugged helplessly, as if to say, 'Yes, he's retarded; just get used to it.'
"Do you do this often?" Euri couldn't hold himself back from asking. Aemon pointed a finger at him, looking disgruntled at the ridicule in his tone.
"What the hell was I supposed to say? That we've been sent by a loan shark to collect money? He'd come up with an excuse to not come home today! Some of them even start haggling and threatening us over the call, knowing we can't just bust into their office, demanding money!"
"Did you know that his father's dead?" Euri asked.
"...Yeah, that's why I said it. That's how you know he's gonna ditch everything and race over to us." Aemon spoke like this strategy was something to be proud of. Euri could only give up trying to argue about ethics.