Chapter 274: Checkpoint
Casually navigating the System Interface in the middle of a frozen wasteland, Ethan would’ve looked completely insane to anyone watching. For one, he was casually tapping at invisible windows that only he could see. For another, he was practically naked in temperatures that would’ve killed an ordinary person long ago.
Ethan glanced around as icy winds howled across the endless tundra, snow whipping through the air in violent gusts.
’I’d guess it’s around minus forty.’
With his rags mostly torn apart from countless battles and his sandals having long since disintegrated somewhere back on Floor Twenty-One, the cold bit relentlessly into his skin. Even as a Titled and with his absurd physique, he could feel it settling into his bones.
"Alright."
He reached out.
"Come here, buddy."
A glow flashed across his chest.
The tattoo of the red-eyed Fenrir came alive before leaping from his skin.
A heartbeat later, Wolfy landed in the snow with a heavy thump.
The giant wolf stretched lazily, shaking loose a shower of frost before turning those intelligent crimson eyes toward Ethan. To anyone else, the towering Fenrir would’ve been the embodiment of terror.
To Ethan, it was just his oversized pet and one of the few beings he trusted with his life.
The Fenrir tilted its head.
Thanks to Beast Communication, Ethan didn’t have to guess what that expression meant anymore. A familiar set of growls and barks echoed faintly inside his mind, but he understood exactly what they meant.
’I guess I can speak Fenrir now,’ he laughed to himself.
It almost seemed jealous as it asked why it kept assimilating with the new beast instead of it, and why he was keeping them so separate. Well, it conveyed how it felt, and he gathered the rest.
Ethan couldn’t help smiling.
"You’re having plenty of fun being summoned anyway, aren’t you?"
Wolfy stared at him.
Then, almost reluctantly, it huffed, as if to agree.
The massive wolf-like creature then lowered itself onto the snow, completely unfazed by the freezing temperatures. Ethan immediately buried himself against the thick black fur that was ridiculously warm.
It was like wrapping himself in a heated blanket.
A satisfied sigh escaped him. "I knew this was a great idea."
Wolfy merely rolled its eyes before allowing its master to use it as a pillow.
Comfortable and warmer now, Ethan reopened the System Interface and was using this time as a checkpoint.
He’d been progressing almost nonstop ever since returning to the Tower. It was about time he paused to appreciate just how far his beasts had come. And he decided to start with the beast currently serving as his personal heater.
{Name: Wolfy
Race: Fenrir
Growth Stage: Prime
Beast Rank: B
Beast Potential: B+
Strength: 63
Speed: 63
Stamina: 63
MP: 4/39
Skills: Predator’s Frenzy (D), Cross Slash (C), Crescent Fang (C), Sovereign Howl (B)}
"Woah."
Ethan blinked.
"Your stats are still ridiculous."
If an average B Rank beast possessed roughly two hundred total attribute points, Wolfy’s numbers were already far beyond that.
He quickly added them together.
"Two hundred and twenty-eight... pretty good"
Actually, that was incredible.
Those were already brushing against the lower end of A Rank base stats, and those numbers didn’t even account for skills. Predator’s Frenzy continuously amplified Wolfy’s offensive power and aggression, while Sovereign Howl simultaneously strengthened the Fenrir and weakened everything around it.
Together, they transformed an already terrifying predator into an absolute monster.
"You’re progressing well, buddy."
Wolfy simply wagged its tail.
It made perfect sense.
Few beasts in existence could consume the sheer variety of meat Wolfy had over the past few days. Plant-like monsters, mountain predators, giant insects, acidic creatures, and even volcanic beasts.
Most monsters were confined to a single ecosystem for their entire lives, with limited prey to help with their growth and evolution. Wolfy had been feasting across multiple worlds, so it naturally grew stronger at an absurd pace, and so had all of his beasts.
Ethan scratched behind the Fenrir’s ears, earning an appreciative rumble before moving on.
The next status window appeared.
{Name: Talon
Race: Griffling
Growth Stage: Prime
Beast Rank: C
Beast Potential: C
Strength: 20
Speed: 85
Stamina: 30
MP: 2/28
Skills: Gale Rend (D), Skyshatter Cry (C)}
The first thing Ethan noticed wasn’t the stats, but its Growth Stage.
"Prime already. You’ve grown too, haven’t you?"
A smile spread across his face.
The Griffling engraving across his back gave a faint pulse as a chirp of acknowledgement resounded in his mind. Unlike Wolfy, Talon wasn’t overly expressive, but Ethan had spent enough time around the proud aerial predator to understand it well.
Again, it wasn’t surprising.
Talon had been with him almost as long as Wolfy. It had fought through countless battles and consumed mountains of beast meat. But in the same way the Fenrir’s stats remained relatively even, the Griffling’s were specialised.
’Eighty-five speed.’
Every time Ethan looked at that number, he couldn’t help shaking his head.
"No wonder you’re impossible to keep up with."
Despite only possessing two skills, both perfectly complemented Talon’s fighting style, and once it reached B Rank and acquired even more skills...
Ethan could already imagine just how terrifying it would become.
The thought alone made him grin.
Then he moved on to his next beast, which was even more specialised.
{Name: Spark
Race: Cinder Wisp
Growth Stage: Juvenile
Beast Rank: C
Beast Potential: C
Strength: 1
Speed: 25
Stamina: 25
MP: 5/110
Skills: Ember Pulse (D), Flare Drive (C)}
"Still built like a marshmallow."
Spark’s physical stats were almost laughable, and it barely had a single point of Strength. Yet Ethan wasn’t remotely disappointed, as that wasn’t how the little fire spirit fought. Everything about Spark revolved around mana.
Its flames, its movements, its attacks, and even sustaining its tiny body relied upon it.
But seeing that number of MP made Ethan whistle.
"Talon’s speed is insane, but your mana is just ridiculous."
He smiled softly.
"I’ll evolve you soon, too."
"And it won’t be long before you hit Prime Growth Stage."
From everything he’d observed so far, Prime seemed to represent physical maturity. Once a beast reached that point, its size and appearance changed very little until another evolution occurred.
That wasn’t to say it wouldn’t continue to grow and change through evolution.
Spark was getting closer to that point.
And surprisingly so was his newest beast, whose status he was most interested in.
{Name: Storm
Race: Lightning Dragonfly
Growth Stage: Juvenile
Beast Rank: B
Beast Potential: A
Strength: 47
Speed: 69
Stamina: 49
MP: 34/69
Skills: Volt Sense (D), Electric Blast (C), Thunder Dash (C), Chain Lightning (B), Kinetic Charge (B)}
Ethan slowly nodded.
Storm had improved again.
Its physical attributes had all climbed slightly, and its mana pool had also increased. Overall, its total stats already exceeded that of Wolfy’s, which was likely thanks to its A Rank potential.
Then there were the skills.
Ethan had experienced every single one firsthand, and they weren’t merely impressive...
They were absurd.
Every one of them felt like they belonged to a higher-ranked beast, which they technically did. Combined, they had transformed Ethan’s fighting style entirely. And Storm itself also grew alarmingly quickly, even quicker than his other beasts, already nearing the Prime Growth Stage despite being barely over a day since acquiring it.
But just by looking at its MP, it was clear that it was the least used out of his beasts. The half that was expended had been done so by him through Beast Assimilation. He could practically feel it begging to be allowed to let loose.
And he was planning to let it do exactly that.
But before that, there was one status he had left, which was arguably the most important of them all.
Ethan’s smile slowly faded into one of anticipation.
"My own..."