A few days of quiet, dedicated training was all it took for the Terran Titan Vole to settle into its new, powerful form. The bond between Lin Ke and his partner was solid as the earth itself. The power was there, humming under the surface. It was time to put it to use. With the thought of the 'Starfall Auction' burning like a brand in his mind, he walked back into the bustling, chaotic Mission Hall of the Beast Tamer Guild.
The hall was the same loud, crowded place, but he walked through it like a different person. He breezed right past the big, flashy boards for E-Rank and D-Rank missions—the pest control and herb-gathering chores that had once been his entire world. His new C-Rank license was a key to a different room, a higher tier of challenges. He made his way to a smaller, quieter section of the hall where more seasoned, serious-looking tamers gathered under the warm Jamaican evening lights, the air smelling of stale coffee and worn leather.
He scanned the C-Rank board, his eyes analyzing the tasks with a new, predatory focus. He mentally discarded the group missions—Guard Duty, Beast Hunt—too many variables, too many potential questions. Then his gaze locked onto one. Nest Clearing. A colony of aggressive Razor-claw Crabs. Solo mission approved. Perfect. A clean, simple test of his partner's new power, with no witnesses. He walked to the terminal and accepted it.
The action didn't go unnoticed. He felt a few pairs of eyes on him.
"Isn't that the kid?" one of the veteran tamers murmured to his buddy, nodding in Lin Ke's direction. "The one who won the qualifier? With the Rock Vole?"
"Yeah, that's him," the other replied, a skeptical smirk on his face as he took in Lin Ke's slight frame. "Guess the championship went to his head. A fresh-out-of-the-exam Rock Vole against a whole nest of Razor-claws? Kid's gonna get chewed up and spit out."
Lin Ke heard them. He let a small, private smile touch his lips. Their information, he thought, is dangerously out of date.
An hour later, he stood on the edge of a massive, concrete drainage canal, the roar of rushing water filling the air, which was thick with the damp, briny scent of algae. The infestation was impossible to miss. A fifty-meter stretch of the canal wall was a chaotic, ugly mess of mud and burrows, from which dozens of Razor-claw Crabs were emerging. Each one was the size of a large dog, all thick, armored shell and massive, serrated claws that clicked and scraped against the concrete. They began to scuttle forward, a clattering, hissing wave of armored fury.
A few weeks ago, this would have been a nightmare. A long, drawn-out, desperate battle. Now? It was just a math problem.
"Don't even let them get close," Lin Ke said calmly, his voice almost swallowed by the roar of the water. "Target the center of the nest. Use Earth Spike."
The Terran Titan Vole planted its heavy feet, its amber runes glowing brightly. It raised its front paw and slammed it down with titanic, earth-shattering force.
The effect was apocalyptic.
The entire concrete floor of the canal erupted. A dense, brutal forest of sharp, thick rock spikes shot upwards with explosive force, covering the whole area in an instant. The charging crabs were impaled from below, their hard shells shattering like porcelain against the raw power of the earth. In a single, overwhelming, devastating attack that was over before it even truly began, more than half the colony was instantly annihilated. The few survivors, terrified and confused by the sudden forest of death, tried to flee. A second, smaller Earth Spike cut off their retreat.
The battle, if you could even call it that, was over in less than a minute.
Lin Ke calmly walked through the carnage, collecting the serrated claws from a dozen of the defeated crabs as proof of his work. His Editor confirmed what he already knew: these were normal creatures, not corrupted. This wasn't a research mission. This was just a job.
His terminal pinged. Mission complete. Reward: 25,000 credits.
He looked at the number. A sum that would have taken him months of scrimping and saving before, now earned in the time it takes to make a cup of tea.
"This," he thought, looking at his powerful, silent partner, who hadn't even broken a sweat, "is the power of an A-Rank potential." A cold, confident smile spread across his face, but it was tempered by a new, cautionary thought. An attack of this magnitude was far beyond the scope of a normal C-Rank tamer. Anonymity, he realized, would be harder to maintain than he'd thought.
Still, this was just the beginning.