A divine beast.

If only he had killed it…

If only he had been stronger…

If only he had gotten the powers of Tiamat before…

He exhaled and buried the thought.

There were better things to focus on.

Lin Fang turned toward the final treasure: the Dinosaur Egg.

He placed a hand on its surface and whispered, “Alright, big guy… time for you to earn your keep.”

The interface opened.

He clicked Submit.

The egg dissolved into fragments of light.

*Ding!

[You unlocked Theropod-species Monsters.]

[Theropod catalog added to Summoner’s Shop.]

[You gained 100,000 coins.]

“Well damn…” Lin Fang whistled softly. “System’s acting like a rich uncle again.”

The reward was generous—if he were still poor.

But he wasn’t.

Not anymore.

“Hundred thousand coins feels like pocket change now,” he muttered, rubbing his neck. “After what I earned with that undead anaconda… even killing one King-tier is worth five times this.”

Still, he wasn’t ungrateful. A hundred thousand coins is the same as earning 10 million credits for free. And also, he only unlocked more dinosaur monsters through this egg.

Lin Fang returned to the Summoner’s Shop and expected a lots of dinosaur monsters.

But he saw a simple word, Theropod, with no image, and the price below it was strange. It wasn’t fixed, but rather shown: 10 coins to 100,000 coins.

Curious, he clicked on Theropod.

The moment he clicked Theropods, the screen exploded into hundreds of images—jaws, claws, talons, feathers, scales, horns, spikes—creatures that looked like they crawled out of nightmares, museums, and sci-fi labs all at once.

Lin Fang’s jaw dropped.

“What the hell is this?”

Alpha chuckled in his mind, smug like an old scholar revealing a forbidden library. “These are the real carnivorous theropods, kiddo. The system just gave you an entire evolutionary tree. And look—filters. Use them.”

Lin Fang muttered thanks under his breath and tapped the filter button.

Two options appeared.

Sort By

Price Range

He clicked Sort By >> High to Low.

Instantly, the sea of beasts vanished, replaced by a clean row of apex monsters.

At the top:

Tyrannosaurus Rex – 100,000 coins

Lin Fang tapped on it, and a detailed window unfolded like a documentary narration:

Tyrannosaurus Rex

* Natural Spirit Core: None

* Peak Strength Equivalent: Overlord Tier (non-spirit entity)

* Growth Period: 15 years

* Lifespan: ~60 years

* Cannot consume Growth Pills

* Will mature naturally

* Genetically engineered by the system

Lin Fang’s face fell so hard it almost bounced off the floor.

“Overlord Tier BUT spiritless? Fifteen years? I would have to pay a hundred thousand coins for a lizard that grows slower than a government project?”

He was ready to close down the screen in disgust, feeling as if the system cheated him, but then his eyes caught the final line, glowing innocently at the bottom. A Note.

NOTE: Genetically engineered units can undergo mutation. By feeding outer spirit cores, the host may transform the creature into a Spirit Beast with the corresponding element.

Lin Fang froze, nearly stopped breathing.

Mutate… into a Spirit Beast?

A Tyrannosaurus, mutated by an elemental spirit core, becomes a true monster—a fire-breathing variant, or an armored-earth version, or even a lightning-monster…

“Holy crap…” He couldn’t help but curse out at last…

Lin Fang then groaned, “Man, I suddenly feel like I have made a mistake earlier. I shouldn’t have submitted the green anaconda core. If I had used that core in this dinosaur… Ugh…”

He slumped back, dramatically mourning his earlier decisions.

Still, not all was lost.

Fifteen years was long, but…

“Once it becomes a spirit beast, I can use cores to speed up its growth?”

Alpha hummed approval. “I guess so. You can’t use Growth pills, but just like normal spirit beasts that every hunter out there is training—feed the right cores, elixirs, and elemental crystals. Years can become months. Months can become weeks. You are officially an A-rank Hunter anyway. You can go into high-ranking dungeons and gain the spirit cores you want.”

The disappointment washed off him like dust at Alpha’s reminder.

Suddenly, the possibilities hit him like a truck made of gold bars.

“My god… my shop is about to become the most dangerous place on Earth. And I love it.”

He grinned wider.

Lin Fang pushed away the swirling thoughts of dinosaurs, dragons, and profit margins. A single objective rose to the top of his mind:

Upgrade the system.

That’s the most important, considering the threat he has. He almost died from an assassination once. He doesn’t want to face assassination again.

He opened the Nursery interface.

Xuan Hei’s tiny portrait blinked back at him, smug and adorable as always.

Her progress, however, barely improved, but then again, it has only been in the Nursery for a couple of days.

Lin Fang’s face darkened.

“If this continues, she’ll hit level 30 next Spring Festival…”

He could drag this out for a month…

Or he could burn wealth the way the rich burned incense—frivolously and without hesitation.

His eyes drifted back to the glowing numbers:

2.2 million system coins.

He exhaled slowly, the way gamblers do before placing a bet that could bankrupt them.

“Screw it. You can’t build an empire while hoarding pennies.”

Decision made, he summoned Xuan Hei, dragging it out of the nursery.

*woof*

The Nemesis Werewolf pup emerged in a swirl of dark mist and leapt into his lap the moment it saw him, “Rrroo?” It curled up, tail wagging like an overexcited shadow.

Lin Fang’s sternness melted instantly.

“Yes, yes, you’re adorable, Xuan Hei. And expensive to maintain. Very, very expensive.”

He rubbed behind its ears until it purred like a kitten.

Then, gently:

“Alright, Hei’er. Time for you to grow.”

He laid out a circle of spirit cores—each one fist-sized and shimmering with elemental light… each one worth enough to make any hunter weep.

Xuan Hei didn’t weep.

It simply opened it maw and gulped the first core whole.

Then the second.

Then the third.

Its eyes glowed brighter with each meal, its fur rippling with strange energy as if tiny shadows danced beneath it.

Lin Fang’s heart, meanwhile, shriveled with each crunch.

“Four… five… seven… that one was worth two hundred thousand, Hei’er, can you at least chew it politely—”

By the time she swallowed the 32nd rare-grade core, a notification rang:

*Ding! Xuan Hei has reached Level 22.

Lin Fang stared at the empty floor.

“That was four million credits… gone. Evaporated. This is like feeding gold bars to a puppy.”

Xuan Hei looked up at him, tail wagging innocently.

He groaned and began placing down more cores. “Alright. It doesn’t matter. Come and swallow…”

It devoured them like popcorn, each crunch breaking not just the cores but a little piece of Lin Fang’s soul.

But its aura grew denser… fur glossier… claws sharper… fangs longer, with each level up.

A wolf pup sculpting itself into a future calamity.

And Lin Fang, despite the pain in his heart and wallet, couldn’t help but whisper:

“Let’s get you to level 30.”

In the end, after swallowing a total of 97 spirit cores overall…

*Ding!

[Xuan Hei has reached Level 30]

[Xuan Hei received a new active skill: Spatial distortion.]

[Xuan Hei received a new passive skill: Iilusion Immunity.]

[Your combat power reached the threshold. Congratulations, you are now an A-rank Summoner.]

[You unlocked Beast Tower.]

[You received a new Main Quest: Become a Rank-S Summoner. Reward: Breeding Grounds.]

“Oh, A breakthrough at last…” His eyes lit up with a nod.

Lin Fang then opened up Xuan Hei’s stats.

Xuan Hei

Level: 30

Species: Luminous Nemewolf

Grade: Mythic

Element: Void, Light

Potential: Level-90 (Quasi-God Tier)

Skills:

Passive Skill:

[Mimic Baby Form] – Conceals actual level and strength by reverting to its baby appearance.

[Soul Cloak]: Can conceal its presence as well as its master, from all beings that are not 3 tiers above it, using an invisible Cloak. Note: Works on all humans, except for innate souls.

[Disintegration]: All attacks have the power of disintegration (works on opponents that are lower than King Tier)

[Location Swap]: The monster companion can swap its position with its master, regardless of the distance, as long as they are in the same dimension.

[Illusion Immunity]: As long as the monster is summoned and is within a hundred-meter radius of its master, its master has absolute immunity against any illusions and mental attacks.

Active Skill:

[Heal] — Heal your allies (only outer wounds and injuries could be healed). Cooldown: 10 minutes.

[Predator’s Glare]: Can paralyze any enemy below its grade for up to 30 seconds. (Effectiveness will be reduced by the level difference.) Cooldown: 60 seconds.

[Phase Drift]: Teleports its soul-bound master a short distance up to 500 meters. Cooldown: 5 minutes.

[Mana Heal]: The monster could use its master’s mana and convert it into healing power, restoring its peak state. Note: The power can not only heal its external wounds but also internal wounds, and even fatigue. Note 2: When using this skill, all cooldown timers of the monster will be reduced by 50%.

[Spatial Distortion]: Distort the Space around the target/multiple targets to either confuse them or even crush them with spatial pressure. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep