$10,000 .
The number weighed on Jasper's heart like an insurmountable mountain.
He lay on his bed, Jojo curled up by his pillow, snoring softly. He gently stroked Jojo's soft fur, his mind a battlefield of conflicting thoughts. He thought of his mother's calloused hands, of his sister's weary back.
That ten thousand yuan was the family's last safety net.
But he knew even more clearly that without power, there was no future. On this extraordinary path, weakness was the original sin.
At three in the morning, Jasper made a decision that would change his life. Like a ghost, he silently took the bank card that held his family's hopes from an old wooden cabinet in his parents' room.
He wasn't a thief, he told himself. He was an investor, a gambler wagering his family's trust and future for a sliver of hope.
Before dawn, Jasper was already standing at the entrance of the "House of Mysteries," the bank card in his pocket. When the cold crystal was placed in a simple box and handed to him, he felt as if something inside him had been completely drained away.
Returning to his room, he closed the door, held Jojo gently in his arms, and then, with trembling hands, cupped the "Heart of the Spirit Realm" in his palm.
The moment his fingertips touched the crystal, a warm and immense energy surged into his body!
[Core spiritual catalyst detected... System activating...]
[Activation successful! Core functions unlocked!]
Jasper's heart tightened. Before he could feel any joy, the next line of cold text appeared before his eyes.
[Lifeform deeply soul-bound to Host detected... Meets 'Anchor' conditions... Initiating SSS-rank summon...]
[Warning: Summon requires the sacrifice of the 'Anchor' to stabilize the advent of a high-tier existence. Sacrificial procedure... initiated!]
"No! Wait! What does that mean?!" Jasper roared in his mind, seized by an unprecedented fear.
But the system didn't respond.
Jojo stiffened in his arms, looking up at its master in disbelief. There was no resentment in its eyes, only a trace of confusion and reluctance. The next second, an irresistible force enveloped it. Its body began to turn transparent, dissolving into countless golden motes of light, like fireflies, which were forcibly drawn into the "Heart of the Spirit Realm" in Jasper's palm.
"Jojo..."
A final, faint cry dissipated into the air.
The crystal flared with brilliant light!
A pitch-black magic circle, filled with an ominous and destructive aura, erupted across the floor of the room!
[SSS-rank summon beginning... Linking to Mythological Lineage... Target locked: 『Nidhogg, the Corpse-Devouring Dragon』!]
The light faded. In the center of the magic circle, the legendary world-ending dragon did not appear.
In its place was a palm-sized, pitch-black, scrawny lizard that looked more like a gecko than a dragon. It stood there trembling, its vertical, dark-gold pupils filled with an innate tyranny and majesty.
[Summon successful. Companion 『Nidhogg』 has been bound. Current form: Wyrmling.]
Jasper stared blankly at the small lizard, the vast emptiness in his heart left by Jojo's loss now filled with an uncontrollable rage and grief.
"You... what did you do to Jojo?!" he roared at the system, word by word. "Give him back to me!"
[A bond with no potential, exchanged for the beginning of a myth.] The system's voice was cold, with a hint of smugness. [From a return-on-investment perspective, you've made a huge profit. The sentimentality of the weak is the most useless baggage on this path.]
"I'll kill you!" Jasper's eyes were bloodshot, his voice hoarse with extreme rage.
[You can try when you advance to Sequence 0,] the system replied nonchalantly. [For now, accept reality, Beast Tamer. Your new companion needs to grow, and growth requires resources. Its every evolution is directly tied to your own Sequence advancement.]
[New quest issued: 『The Path to Advancement』.]
[Objective: Collect the main ingredients for the Sequence 8 'Contractor' potion—'Crystal Lens of a Three-Eyed Jackal' x1, 'Mucus of a Crypt Worm' x50ml.]
Jasper ignored the quest. He just stared intently at the small black lizard.
And the little creature, heir to a mythological name, seemed to feel his gaze. It tilted its head and tentatively crawled toward him.
This extraordinary path, which began with betrayal and sacrifice, had only now truly begun.