Chapter 19: Phantom Claws

Two days had passed since Ain posted his service, but there had been no response so far. He wasn’t too anxious; he knew it would take time.

In the past two days, he had already begun studying Spirit Impact and had succeeded after a couple of attempts. He was still some distance from mastery, so Ain dedicated some extra time to practicing it.

Yesterday, after school, Ain used one of the academy’s training facilities to test his strength. After the test, he gained a comprehensive understanding of his current abilities.

Ain’s physique was already better than that of other spirit tamers his age. After Nox’s possession, it was equivalent to that of an Intermediate Rank-1 Spirit Beast. It's important to note that Nox was still at Rank-0.

Ain had researched the Possession skill, but the boost it provided wasn’t usually as significant. It might be because Nox was special, or maybe because of its high quality.

For now, he didn’t care too much about it. He knew he was far from uncovering Nox’s true nature. He didn't even know anything substantial about it, other than its species, which was Ink Revenant.

It was already evening, and the lights in the park were starting to turn on to chase away the darkness of the impending night.

Ain had just finished his spell practice, followed by his body tempering training.

He lay on the grass in utter exhaustion, which was consistent with his previous training sessions. After a small break to catch his breath, Ain got up, ready to return home.

But before he could start walking, he sensed a sudden change in his spirit ring. There was a surge of energy emanating from it, and he felt Nox’s feedback becoming stronger.

Upon a contract, a spirit pet could provide its spirit tamer with feedback, passively strengthening their physique and spirit energy.

Ain was completely focused on this feeling, attempting to understand it when he felt a couple of taps on his shoulder, as if someone was trying to draw his attention.

In that instant, his body froze as his heart skipped a beat. Although he was focused on his spirit ring, he was still aware of his surroundings.

Despite that, someone had managed to evade detection and arrived behind Ain without notice.

As a million thoughts passed through his mind, Ain quickly responded. Instead of turning around, his feet pushed into the ground forcefully as he dashed forward before following it up with a roll. By the time Ain recovered from the roll, he was already facing the other direction.

He stared at the sight before him with sharp eyes, but then he was stunned again.

There was no one there, at least no one who shouldn’t be there.

“Wooo…” Only Nox was floating in Ain’s previous spot, looking at him curiously. It even sent Ain a telepathic message, asking him why he jumped away.

Ain ignored its question and focused on the hand, or claw, that was extending from its body.

He soon realized what had just occurred: Nox, who had somehow condensed a claw, had just tapped his shoulder…

After this realization hit him, a hint of embarrassment appeared in his heart, but it was instantly suppressed by his joy and curiosity.

From Nox’s feedback, Ain knew that it had just ranked up, reaching Beginner Rank-1, just like him.

Spirit pets and beasts could instinctively train to increase their rank. Of course, their opportunities and personal talent played a vital role as well.

In this regard, spirit pets and beasts were similar to humans. Only those with sufficient talent could continue to increase their rank.

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Ain originally estimated that Nox would need some resources and even medicines to quickly reach Rank-1, but the little guy turned out to be extremely talented.

After the initial surprise, Ain focused on the claws Nox had condensed.

“What are these?” Ain pointed at the claws while asking his spirit pet. Ain already had an inkling as to what they were; he just wanted to see Nox’s response.

“Wooo…” Nox’s voice sounded, responding to Ain.

After deciphering its response, Ain smiled to himself, looking at his silly spirit pet.

Nox often played with the cat and wanted to catch it. It had seen Ain use his hands to pick up the cat; thus, it tried to create hands of its own, which resulted in today’s little fiasco.

‘My hands don't look like that,’ Ain kept this to himself as he stared at the sharp claws and encouraged Nox instead.

“Nox, great job. You comprehended a skill on your own.”

“Wooo…” Nox seemed happy at Ain’s praise as it turned to look at the cat, who had approached Ain at some point.

“You too, cat.” Of course, Ain didn’t forget to thank the cat for motivating Nox. The cat just yawned in response.

Ain was already used to the cat’s weird behavior.

He decided to use Scan on Nox to confirm his thoughts.

[Innate Skills: Possession.]

[Skills: Phantom Claws]

Phantom Claws was a common skill for ghost pets. It could be used to slash at a target, causing considerable damage, as well as infecting the wound with ghost energy, or ghost attribute spirit energy.

Ain was satisfied with this skill. Not only did it finally allow Nox to have some combat power, but Ain could also use it in the possession state. It could serve as a trump card for now.

Along with Spirit Impact, Ain was more confident in his upcoming trip.

He was curious to see its power, but after glancing around, he only saw trees again.

‘I need to find a solution for this. I can’t go to the academy’s facilities every time I need to test something,’ Ain thought.

He added another item to his to-do list.

A nutritious diet, medicines and potions, resources for Nox, more techniques for Deduction, and now this. He realized once again that most of his to-do list was hindered by his lack of funds.

He had already scoured Cyberspace for different types of techniques. With his 3-star access, he found relevant markets for meditation techniques, body tempering techniques, martial arts techniques, spells, and pet skills. Of course, their prices were outrageous.

But this had at least solved the issue of searching for a source.

‘Only a couple more days, some of these will be temporarily solved by then,’ Ain collected himself and beckoned Nox and the cat to follow him back.

After the usual meditation, Ain went to bed.

…

The next day, Ain headed towards the Spirit Tamer Association after school.

Today was Friday, which meant Ain’s first trip outside the city was tomorrow.

As Ain approached the Spirit Tamer Association, he saw the familiar buildings he had seen two weeks ago.

This time, his destination was the main tower in the center of the building complex.

Although Ain was registered as a spirit tamer after he awakened his innate talent, he was still required to register his current rank before accepting missions.

Thus, Ain immediately made his way to one of the many service desks after waiting in a small queue.

A young lady in her twenties greeted Ain with a pleasant voice. “Hello, how can I help you today?”

“Hello, I want to register my rank,” Ain stated his purpose.

“Alright, please present your ID and place your hand on this device.” The service clerk smiled and politely gestured towards a small device on her desk.

The device looked like a box, with an indentation outlining a handprint. There were some runes and circuits visible on its surface. Ain glanced at the device before complying with the instructions.

Soon after he placed his hand, a faint glow was emitted from the handprint before fading away.

“Alright Mr. Weisman, you’ve been registered as a Beginner Rank-1 Spirit Tamer. We recommend you record your spirit pet’s information as well. We can send you customized mission recommendations with your complete profile on hand.”

“It’s alright, I’ll do that another time,” Ain dismissed the idea of providing more information.

“Okay then, can I help you with anything else?” The service clerk didn’t mind and continued with her script.

Ain gave it a quick thought and couldn’t think of anything, so he said, “That’s all, thank you for your help.”

“I’m happy to help, have a good day!” The service clerk’s enthusiastic voice sounded as Ain turned to leave.

He didn’t leave the building but instead headed to one of the higher floors, which was the missions hall.

Upon arrival, a wide double door entered his vision. Outside the door, it was silent, as if it was midnight. But when he passed through the door, what greeted him was an amalgamation of loud voices and laughter in the spacious hall.

There were spirit tamers everywhere, and some looked young, while others were clearly older.

Spirit tamers had greater longevity, so some of the young spirit tamers might not be as young as they seemed. Although they had concealed their auras, Ain still felt a stifling pressure as soon as he stepped in.

Ain took a deep breath and tried to ignore the slight pressure and paid attention to the layout of the hall.

There were many large screens and devices scattered in an orderly manner. There was also a long row of windows where clerks assisted the incoming spirit tamers.

Near the entrance, there was also a row of handheld devices that could be used to browse through missions.

In the middle of the hall, there were numerous tables and chairs, with many occupied by teams of spirit tamers.

Spirit tamers used all these various means to accomplish their purpose here, which was to view, accept, and submit missions. Some even used this venue to search for teammates.

Ain observed the spirit tamers’ various actions before making his way towards the handheld devices.