"Doesn't the system say that now it will be a fixed percentage increase to my base stats?" he muttered under his breath.

He glanced again at his higher Intelligence stat, the numbers flickering faintly across his vision.

"The more I level up, the more disparity in stats..." he murmured, brows knitting.

He sat still for a moment, quietly analysing every line in his Status panel.

"From the looks of it, my stamina will be left very much behind in just a few levels, and my agility will skyrocket. It's like I will be the second Shyra," he chuckled. Obsidian Panther Cubs were infamous for their agility.

Shyra lifted her head from the ground, eyes half-open and curious, then lazily dropped it again with a soft huff.

"No! I need to bring all my stats into balance before any level up. That way, I'll maximize the benefits."

Then he sighed, shoulders slumping a little.

"Sigh... this should have been from the start. Would've saved me some trouble." He grimaced, mind running through every method he knew to raise stats artificially—herbs with bitter aftertastes, grueling training, potions that burned down the throat, even artificial measures—when an unexpected system response flashed before him.

<Host needed to acquire basic survival instinct before getting strong, or else it's detrimental to growth>

Leo blinked, taken aback by the sudden reply... and then it clicked. If he had levelled twenty times on his base stats alone, his attributes would've pushed near 3400 by now, around a High 4-star's strength.

He glanced toward the corpses of the Soilworms lying beside him, the earth around them still cracked and unsettled. A short laugh escaped him.

"Basic instincts... hahaha. Yes, basic instincts. That's what saved me twice when they split the ground beneath my feet."

He checked the remaining unassigned stat points.

"12, huh... let's try to even things out."

Vitality: 21.9 → 22.9 [57.9]

Strength: 18.1 → 23.1 [58.1]

Agility: 25.1    [60.1]

Stamina: 16.9 → 22.9 [57.9]

Intelligence: 37.4  [72.4]

Unallocated Stat Points: 12 → 0 —> Deleted

"Well, it is what it is. Looks like in the future I'll be a mana monster." He closed the Status panel with a flick. "I wonder if there are treasures like the Elasian Bloom that help raise strength, agility, or stamina."

His attention shifted to the two huge corpses beside him. The scent of murky, metallic blood wafting from them made him wrinkle his nose.

"Let's get some points real quick."

He tapped the metal plate against each corpse.

Shu! Shu!

Both bodies vanished, leaving behind two cores and two mana crystals.

"Hm? No soul crystal this time, I guess."

He slipped the two mana crystals into his spiritual space with practiced ease and examined the cores in his palms—their veiny red and brownish patterns giving them a grimy, almost diseased appearance.

"I didn't notice it earlier, but Niri seemed to have gained weight after the rank up..." he said absently as he stroked her red, leafy hair, which had drooped over his face like soft vines.

As if insulted, Niri's ruby eyes snapped open, giving him a sharp, offended glare.

"No! I must be tired from the fight. She's perfectly fine," Leo corrected himself immediately.

Niri closed her eyes again—but not before lightly smacking him.

Definitely a girl, Leo thought.

---

After a bit of contemplation, he decided to feed the Peak 2-star core to Shyra and the High 2-star core to Niri. It was basically an experiment—to check whether Shyra would jump directly from Low 2-star to Peak 2-star.

He first fed the core to Niri, but contrary to his expectations, there was no visible reaction. Or rather… There was.

She seemed to have gained a little bit more weight.

Leo didn't dare voice that thought. He didn't even let it fully form in his mind, afraid that Niri might somehow sense it. When she continued lying there without any dramatic change, he let out a small sigh of relief.

Next was Shyra.

The moment he tossed the core toward her, she lazily cracked open her jaw. The core dropped in, and her teeth clamped shut—the crisp snap of shattering crystal echoing around them.

Then her eyes flew open.

A brilliant white light exploded from her black body, forcing Leo to squint. Her silhouette expanded inside the glow, limbs stretching, spine lengthening. Her panther form swelled until she stood nearly four meters tall and seven meters long.

When the light finally dimmed, Shyra's new form emerged—majestic and imposing. Raven-black fur rippled like liquid shadow across her frame, and her violet slit pupils gleamed with a sharp, predatory menace. The aura rolling off her made the tiny hairs on Leo's arms rise.

Then the system chimed.

Ding!

Shyra [Obsidian Black Panther Cub] – Low 2-star → High 2-star (Noble Bloodline)

Ding!

Status Updated – Feedback Received

Vitality: 22.9 [57.9 → 67.9]

Strength: 23.1 [58.1 → 68.1]

Agility: 25.1 [60.1 → 70.1]

Stamina: 22.9 [57.9 → 67.9]

Intelligence: 37.4 [72.4 → 82.4]

Mana: 6516 → 7416

{Shyra – High 2-star – 50-70% stats → 20}

{Niri – Peak 2-star – 50-70% stats → 25}

{Total Feedback Stats = +45}

"It works!" Leo exclaimed, excitement bursting out of him. "She is so big now, Damn! I need to ride her and roam around this forest."

From this small experiment, he concluded that feeding lower-grade beast cores slightly enhanced a tamed beast's strength—but the effect became negligible when the rank difference was too big. However, when a significantly higher-ranked core was fed, there was a real chance to skip an entire minor rank stage, just like Shyra had done. But the rank-up would not be exactly that of core; the core energy would deplete and only allow his beast to reach the rank till the energy is supported. Leo could feel it, Shyra was barely of High 2-star rank, maybe stats around 30 to 33.

Leo was ecstatic, practically basking in the feeling of being a chosen one, when the metal plate in his hand gave off a faint glow and then dimmed.

Frowning, he checked it.

A new section had appeared beneath the number, displaying his points scored.

It read: 11,000.

---

---Thalor City---

Middle-aged men and women, along with elders of all ages, stood gathered in a massive clearing beside the great city wall of Thalor City. The area stretched wide—much wider than any training ground—divided into numerous sections marked with floating number plates, similar to candidate numbers. A huge translucent board hovered overhead, shimmering faintly in the morning light.

"Why are we here so early? Do you really think those brats will start rampaging the moment they land on the ground?" a man grumbled, rubbing his sleepy eyes.

"Shut it, man. Don't cry like a kid. If not for those old fossils, even I wouldn't have come," another muttered.

"Absolutely. What are these ashes even thinking? I bet for the next five days, not a single compartment will fill up for us to empty."

"But don't we require fresh blood and flesh? Guess that's why they're whining so much."

"Tsk. Oi, look. Someone actually killed something."

"Huh?" The first man squinted toward a compartment in the distance.

"What's that? Is it a rabbit…? Fuck. These kids really only know how to hunt shit."

"Heeeh, at least someone sent a corpse. I thought most of them would sit around for twenty days and hide in fear. Even a rabbit gives a single point. Look, the metal plate number… RUi906. He's actually the first to kill and gain a point in the whole trial. First person with one point. Pretty good, right?" Both of them burst into laughter.

But then, a sudden bright flare lit up one of the distant compartments, and a wolf corpse tumbled through the shimmering blue veil. They leaned closer to see the number.

URc611 — 20 points.

"Ooo, not bad… High 1-star, huh. And from a core city? Must be a good candidate. Note his number."

Before the murmurs settled, the enormous scoreboard flickered again.

KEo311 — 5000

For a heartbeat, the entire clearing fell silent.

"...Outskirts?"

Then, as if pulled by the same string, every gaze snapped toward the farthest compartments—those belonging to Outskirts City candidates. Some had to squint hard; the outer-city sections were nearly at the end of the massive field.

Through the bluish flare, a colossal segmented body crashed down—

First 4 segments.Then another single segment.Then the remaining eight, all mutilated and torn apart, slammed down one after another until the entire allotted compartment was filled edge to edge.

Silence.

And then the chaos erupted.

"Someone actually killed a Peak 2-star beast!"

"Ay look! It's someone from the outskirts!"

"What the hell! Soilworms are one of the toughest beasts in this trial"

"Note that number! Note that number!"

Amid the uproar, Brant stood quietly at the side, fingers stroking his beard as he stared at the mangled monster parts.

"You were actually sent directly to a Peak 2-star monster," he muttered under his breath. "Really… only a girl brings doom to a man's life."

Brant sighed heavily.

He had known from the start—someone was trying to get rid of Leo by sending him straight into a high-ranked monster's territory.

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