She pressed two fingers to the comm at her ear.

“Sir… I have reached the hotel where the young master has checked in. He seemed to have fallen asleep.”

A deep voice answered on the other end, cold and clipped. “Good. Maintain the stakeout for now, Zora. I will inform Xuenyi to take over your job.”

“Understood, Sir…”

As the line clicked off, the woman lowered the binoculars, her gaze then fell on the smartphone she took out as she sat down against the wall on the terrace. The photo of Lin Fang was seen on the screen.

“The young master really looked cute… With such a face, he must have been a playboy…” she murmured under her breath.

*

When Lin Fang finally surfaced from his sleep, the room was dark except for the faint neon glow bleeding through the curtains.

Midnight had wrapped the city in a quiet hush. He groaned, rubbing the stiffness from his neck before stretching like a cat whose nine lives had all been used but somehow returned.

A packaged meal from his inventory vanished in a few bites, and with the warmth settling in his stomach, he sat cross-legged on the bed, palms rubbing together in excitement.

“Alright…” he whispered, unable to hold back a giddy grin. “Moment of truth. Let’s check the earnings.”

A swipe of his hand called the system window into view. Rows of digits shimmered, and the sight made his heart stutter.

2.2 million system coins.

The number stared at him like a silent scream.

He only participated to remove his debt to the system, but instead, he even earned 220 million credits worth of wealth… in under a week.

Lin Fang chuckled—quiet, disbelieving, almost breathless. “Good… Now, I have enough capital to do whatever I want with the business…”

He then opened the inventory next, and the screen filled with spheres of faintly glowing essence.

He focused on the spirit cores he stored. As he counted them individually, a murmur escaped him, “243 spirit cores. Of which, 228 are rare-grade, 13 are from epic-grade monsters and 2 are legendary…”

One from the Anaconda Queen…

And one from the jet-black dragon core Jin Di had tossed him as casually as someone gifting an apple.

Lin Fang slowly laid the two legendary cores on the bed. Their glow pulsed softly, like sleeping hearts waiting for the right touch.

He separated the loot neatly:

The 228 rare cores are put into a storage ring for Nebula’s feeding, and the remaining will go to the store.

The 13 epic cores will become skills for sure. Maybe he should split them, swallow 6 or 7 to gain skills, and put away the remaining for the sales? He wondered.

And then at last, his eyes fell on the two legendary cores in front of him, gleaming like forbidden fruit.

His gaze locked onto the black dragon’s core.

He picked up the fist-sized gem.

The system’s message appeared immediately:

*Ding!

[You received the spirit core. Consume to gain one of its skills, or use the Spirit Collection function to extract its soul and gain its egg token. (Note: The Egg token cannot be sold or used in Summoner’s Shop. The Egg Token will be one lower grade due to the absorption of its spirit.]

Lin Fang lifted the core toward his lips.

A legendary grade skill from a dragon…

His fingers tightened in excitement, thinking of what ultimate skill he could acquire…

Just as he was about to swallow it…

He stopped as a thought flashed like a lightning crack.

This is a dragon. A real dragon.

He lowered the core slowly and exhaled through his nose.

“No… wait.”

He grabbed his phone and typed Verithar Black Dragon.

A detailed wiki page opened:

Verithar — Overlord Tier Beast

Origin: Andes Mountains, Zuania

Destruction Level: Continent Threat

Status: Deceased

Lin Fang blinked once.

Then twice.

“Overlord tier?” His brows knitted in thought…

His mind raced.

If he gave this to the system…

“Alpha,” he murmured inwardly, “if I submit this, I’ll get a dragon egg with at least King-tier potential, right?”

Alpha sighed, sounding as if he already regretted the answer.

“Yes. You would. But think before you throw away a legendary skill. Moreover, its grade and value will be lower than the original. At most, you get an inferior grade Dragon, and neither you lacked any powerful creatures in your midst…”

Lin Fang smiled faintly, shaking his head.

“But it is still a dragon…”

There was a pause from Alpha, and then its voice sharpened.

“No, no, no—listen, Kiddo. If you want more monsters, just submit the dinosaur egg. You’ll unlock dinosaur lineage in the shop. Why throw away a legendary dragon skill for a flashy egg?”

Lin Fang let out a quiet, amused breath.

“Alpha… you really underestimate human obsession.”

He rolled the black core in his palm, watching its inner glow throb like a heartbeat.

“People don’t want dragons to fight. They want dragons to brag. Even if it is a dragon, it is still a dragon, not a drake, not a Wyvern, but a pure dragon… It could become an Epic grade, but still can reach level-50.”

As he leaned back against the pillows, staring at the core hovering between his fingers, Tiamat’s voice then curled through Lin Fang’s mind.

“Host… if you wish to return my kin to this world, I will support you. I will lend claw and flame to your cause.”

Her tone was both regal and strangely tender, as if she were watching a hatchling take its first steps.

Lin Fang’s lips curved.

“Well… I suppose resurrecting your species is a decent diplomatic gesture.”

With a decisive flick, he tapped the system interface.

Submit.

The black dragon’s core dissolved into streaks of dark light and vanished into the system’s depths.

A cascade of notifications sang out:

*Ding!

[Black Dragon Verithar’s Core has been submitted.]

[An inferior-grade Black Dragon Egg token has been sent to your inventory.]

[The spirit has been extracted through the spirit core. The monster cannot be added to the Summoner’s Shop.]

He immediately opened the Inventory to click on the Egg token he received.

A drifting hologram of a jet-black egg rotated slowly, its surface etched with molten red veins that pulsed faintly like a sleeping heartbeat.

Black Dragon Egg Token (Summons a Black Dragon)

Status: Cannot hatch until additional summon slots unlocked

Grade: Epic

Potential: Level-57 (King Tier)

Element: Dark

*

Lin Fang whistled. “A level-57…”

Dragons were humanity’s number one fantasy toy.

He could practically imagine himself wearing the Black Wolf black in black attire while riding a black dragon against the wind. It felt cool…

But reality snapped back like a rubber band:

He couldn’t hatch it. Not yet.

His current status allowed only five summoned beasts.

He was at capacity.

He needed a system upgrade.

Still, he wasn’t discouraged.

Not even close.

After all, he planned to upgrade the system as fast as possible anyway. Now that the threat of Myra is on his head, Lin Fang felt the need to be prepared…

“Okay… Next…” Lin Fang exhaled slowly and placed the emerald-green core of the Anaconda Queen on his palm.

His fingers tightened unconsciously.

That snake had been a nightmare wrapped in scales… but its undead form had been a money-printing machine for him.

No hesitation this time.

Submit.

The system devoured the core with a flicker of light.

*Ding!

[Green Anaconda’s Core has been submitted.]

[An inferior-grade Ananconda Egg token has been sent to your inventory.]

[The spirit has been extracted through the spirit core. The monster cannot be added to the Summoner’s Shop.]

Lin Fang lifted the newly formed token. Inside the glasslike bead, a green serpentine silhouette shimmered, coiled and patient.

He inspected the details.

Green Anaconda Egg Token (Summons a Green Anaconda)

Status: Cannot hatch until additional summon slots are unlocked

Grade: Epic

Potential: Level-44 (Lord Tier)

Element: Water, Poison

“Not bad… not the dragon, but it has two elements.”

He slid it into his inventory, mind drifting back to that silver-gray, three-headed elephant with a divine element. He missed his chance to tame it or even kill it.

His jaw tightened as another figure popped up in his head, the one who forced Alpha to kill Lin Fang and then sacrifice Mimic beast to revive him again.

“That old man… one day, when I’m strong enough…”

He let the words fade. No use promising revenge when he was barely nibbling at the ankles of demigod-tier beings.

Still, the memory of the white elephant lingered like a bruise on his pride.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep