Mr Hampton was a bit taken aback by Linus's question but not for long as he already knew the boy's circumstances. He started thinking about the letter, he had received. The young miss had explicitly told him that helping the boy's financial problem would be the boy's problem.

Normally, he would decide to not help the boy any further but aside from having the young miss"s help, his talent has also attracted the attention of the headquarters and his benefactor. When they learned about the boy's current circumstances their interest would increase even more to the point that they would help the boy out.

That, however, would come with a heavy burden and debt which could be detrimental for the boy who had taken a small liking to him after personally meeting him. After thinking about what he could do to help and some possible ways for the boy to gather enough money for the evolution within a short time frame, he answered Linus's question:

"Linus, I have to be honest. Currently, the Pet cultivator association's headquarters has taken some interest in your talent and were waiting for your performance during the National examination to give you a certain offer if your performance was decent enough.

Aside from them, a benefactor of mine had some inclinations to take you as a disciple if you were capable of meeting his standards during the National examination. But your current involvement and contribution to the new evolution of dark roses should already be sufficient to ask for some help.

This will however affect your future as you will be in someone's debt while also lowering their opinion of you due to not being capable enough to solve this hurdle which in their eyes could only be seen as a minor obstacle for a talented pet cultivator.

Another path you can take is to gather enough money by yourself and then I would be willing to help you buy and gather the necessary materials for the concoction of the evolution potions. You probably don't know due to your background and not spending a lot of time in the digital world, but there exist many opportunities there to earn money, win beast cubs or be granted some opportunities.

I know of some of them due to some personal experience or from other sources. The first and hardest for you is the hundred mysteries tower controlled by our Pet cultivator association.

This is a testing ground exclusive to pet cultivators of our association and can be accessed from any physical branch of the association within the Global Federation. The hundred mysteries tower is a digital tower which holds a hundred mysteries related to pet cultivation and solving one of these mysteries will allow you to ask the association for one favour. Unfortunately, this is exceptionally hard and it has been a decade since the last mystery has been solved and that had been done by a genius high ranked professional pet cultivator.

I wouldn't have informed you about it if you hadn't shown your talent and the time restriction for you to gather the money. A second way for you to earn 150 million FD within a month is to win 100 consecutive battles within the Pet trainer association's battle coliseum where you can fight against other pet trainers of the same rank from all over the Global Federation.

This, however, is another almost impossible challenge due to the limited power your pet can exert due to its iron rank race as most participants have silver rank race pets or higher while every tenth consecutive battle, you will have to face a guardian which is specially chosen strong opponents by the coliseum's AI manager.

A third way that I know of that could allow you to earn enough money is the Global casino in the digital world's capital city. You could gather enough money through gambling and betting. This would, however, depend on your luck and gambling skills.

The last possible way that I know of that relies only on your skills is the nine realms of hell. This is a special opportunity available to all citizens of the Global Federation established by the mythical pet trainer known as the Blood Shura.

The person who can complete the entire nine realms of hell will become his disciple and inheritor. The Blood Shura is currently still alive and also known as the youngest pet trainer to have reached the mythical rank since the establishment of the Global Federation.

The trial has existed for almost a century, but not one person has managed to complete it. Not even the seventh realm of hell has ever been completed. Now the nine realms of hell have become a joke to anyone who wishes to try it as no one believes it to be possible to complete.

The nine realms of hell are also very special in that their difficulty will change according to the participant's rank and pet, but this doesn't make it harder or easier for a strong or weak type of race to complete it. Instead, this makes it equally as impossible for any kind of pet to complete it no matter if it is a legendary phoenix or an iron rank worm.

The only reason that I mention it to you is that it can be challenged as many times as you want while also being the only possible chance for you to succeed compared to the other three due to your background, skill and luck not allowing the other three."

When he had finished, he could see a light in young Linus's eyes. A kind of determination of either trying or dying, which currently wasn't possible due to the opportunities existing in the digital world.

Mr Hampton then send all the information about the possible directions he knew towards Linus together with the material list. Linus and Mr Wellington then left the office after stating goodbye and thank you.

After Linus left the association and arrived back home, he read through all the information he had been given by the branch head. It took him until midnight to read through them all and gain a surface understanding.

He realised that he had missed a lot of possible opportunities by not investing more time to research the digital world and its opportunities. Aside from the nine realms of hell and the battle coliseum, which are well known and open to any pet trainer of the Global Federation. Other opportunities which are easier to complete or win are widely available even though their rewards are far smaller than what his current need could satisfy, it could have been another road for him to grow as a pet trainer to earn money and gather resources before he became strong enough.

An example would be competing in tournaments organised by small corporations which offer decent prizes to the winner. Another example would be participating in the battle coliseum where winning 10 consecutive battles reward 10 000 FD for apprentice pet trainers and each next 10 consecutive wins will double the earned prize money. 100 consecutive victories would earn him only 5.12 million FD in total but if he were to concede all the earned money by initiating the 100 battles challenge upon winning the first ten battles, then the amount he would earn if he successfully won would become almost 100 times the usual amount 500 million FD. This would, however, require him to succeed or lose all the money he could have earned.

The hundred mysteries tower is another opportunity, but he would most probably only have a chance of succeeding after learning a lot more together with reaching a much higher rank. The Global casino on the other hand isn't something that he will touch due to his aversion for gambling and luck as both the previous body owner and his life on Earth have never been lucky in anything gambling related.

This left his only hope with the impossible nine realms of hell established by the Blood Shura. Any challenger will have to survive nine different trial realms which will adjust according to the challenger. The only certainty is that every challenge is related to combat and survival with some commonalities for the first three realms.

The first realm will be a battle against a simulated pet trainer with pets of the same rank in both strength and race as the challenger's pets, but their skill mastery is quite high.

The second realm requires the challenger to survive against a small beast horde while defending a structure behind common defensive walls found in the Global Federation. The attacking beasts will all be of the same rank as the challenger's strongest pet and have equal skill mastery as the beasts found in the wild.

The third realm requires the challenger to fight against a copy of himself and his pets, but whose combat ability is theoretically maximised by an AI.

The fourth realm and higher are unknown to the public due to most commoner challengers not even completing the first realm while completing the third realm is only done by rich scions and personal disciples of top dojos.

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It has even been 7 years since the last person completed the third realm. Two decades for the fourth realm. 47 years since someone completed the fifth realm and only one person has ever completed the sixth realm and entered the seventh realm. That person is currently a legendary pet trainer and this happened 70 years ago.

Most challenges also happened within the first decade of its establishment and 70 years ago when the seventh realm was entered. Linus planned to start entering the digital world starting from tomorrow where he will first look at the hundred mysteries tower to take his chance. Then try his hand at the nine realms of hell before the mock survival test, before putting his entire focus on the battle coliseum and the nine realms of hell.

Linus then retired for the night and started meditating. The next day, he went to school as normal and after he had dinner, he made his way to the association branch where he could enter the hundred mysteries tower. He didn't go to work as an assistant as Mr Wellington didn't require his help anymore and he had to spend his trying to earn money for the materials.

After he registered his entry to the hundred mysteries tower, he entered the tower itself. Upon entering, he appeared inside a floor filled with people who were talking and discussing. In front of him was a painting which held the first mystery and to the side were two platforms found that transported people to the other 99 mysteries or outside the tower.

While Linus looked around, he noticed that among all the people present only one other person was an apprentice like him and she was focusing intently on the first mystery while no other person bothered her some looked with ridicule at her.

When some people noticed Linus and identified him as an apprentice, they did the same to him which he didn't bother with and he copied the girl's actions and seated himself before starting to focus on the first mystery.

All the 100 hundred mysteries in the tower were unsolved problems, theories or cases in the Pet cultivator association and if one was solved another would take its place. Most mysteries have remained unsolved since its establishment, but some have been solved and each time a mystery is added it will appear on the first floor and become the first mystery.

The most solved mysteries have also mostly been the first three mysteries in the tower making them the most popular as they are known as the most probable to be solved. The current first mystery is displayed in a painting and displays the following problem:

'The bronze rank winter spider can evolve into a gold rank poisonous yin spider, but there is a 50% chance for the evolution to fail and the winter spider's potential to be exhausted. The reason why is unknown as this is always the case even when winter spiders are nurtured and trained in the same circumstances. which are ... '

When Linus read the mystery, he was immediately at a loss even after spending five minutes thinking about any possibilities. Linus decided to not spend any more time on this mystery and teleported to the second mystery.

Finding an answer to a mystery didn't require the pet cultivator to research the mystery itself but write a report with their theory and if the report was sound and logical enough, the association would research the mystery for the person who answered the mystery. This was due to the association's interest in the mysteries and even if the research failed, more data would be gathered and more possibilities would be excluded becoming a bit closer to the truth.

Linus spend his first hour ascending the tower discovering that every mystery he was presented with wasn't something he could solve or try to solve with his limited knowledge. When he arrived at the 29th mystery no one except an old man was present, this was similar to the previous few mysteries he had visited.

The old man was fully focused on the mystery and Linus started doing the same. This mystery was in the form of a statue and an explanation. The mystery was:

' The darkness element is as rare as the light element and its opposite. Both are seen as equal in strength and potential, but due to the light elemental energy being more gentle in more cases is nurturing light element pets many times easier than darkness element pets making the light element more popular. How could the nurturing of most darkness element pets become easier and less dangerous for pets without resorting to costly materials to eliminate the harsher and more violent characteristics of darkness elemental energy?'

This mystery and problem interest Linus greatly due to his ability to restrict him to pets of the darkness and shadow element which is a fusion element of the darkness and space element. Linus started pondering upon this problem for the rest of his time as he decided to not head to the other mysteries and floors anymore.

After an hour passed, the old man moved for the first time since Linus's arrival. When the old man noticed Linus's presence he was at first interested, but when he determined Linus to be an apprentice this interest diminished. The old man then focused back on the statue and the mystery.

After another hour, the old man moved again and he found Linus still present. The old man was a bit bored and asked Linus a question:

"Boy, why are you here trying to solve mysteries when you are only an apprentice? Don't even hope to try and solve this mystery without having a sufficient understanding of the darkness element and why this mystery exists in the first place. I will test you a bit and if you answer my question correctly, I will answer one question for you as long as I know the answer and if I don't then you may ask another question."

Linus heard the old man's words and responded that he wanted to try as he needed something while also agreeing to be tested. The old man then nodded in understanding and asked his test question:

"The darkness element along with the fire element is one of the most violent elements. Most darkness elemental energies have violent and sinister characteristics that can result in a pet becoming more aggressive, sick or a mindless monster. Give one known method to cope with those characteristics without changing to special mild darkness energy?"

Linus was quite interested in this question as Nyx had to experience this problem if she wanted to evolve using abyss energy. He had also read up on some related books during today's library session since Mr Hampton informed him the previous evening.

After thinking about the man's question for a couple of minutes, he answered:

"Currently there exists a special kind of darkness energy called true darkness energy which is at least of the pristine quality and is known to have no negative characteristics commonly found in darkness type energies. True darkness energy is the most desired darkness energy when a darkness element pet below the king rank needs to be nurtured or evolved but due to its scarcity and difficulty in acquiring another use for it has been discovered. It can be used as concoction material to eliminate all negative characteristics from darkness energies below the pristine quality making the creation of lower quality true darkness energy possible and available in much larger quantities."

When Linus had finished answering, the old man's eyes shined before smiling and saying:

"Boy, you are correct and this is truly one way to solve my question. Using true darkness energy as a material to eliminate the negative characteristics of your chosen darkness energy is a common method used to make certain evolutions possible without risks. I will now answer one question of yours if I can, but I want you to explain what your current opinion of this mystery is afterwards."

Linus agreed as he didn't care about revealing his current thoughts and asked the old man the following question: "Do you know how to lessen the risks of absorbing perfect purity abyss energy during evolution as much as possible without needing to use any external materials?"

The old man was surprised by the question as it was oddly specific, but didn't linger on it and answered after thinking about how to formulate an answer:

"Abyss energy is one of the top three darkness energies in having the most negative characteristics with most being related to the mind. The only way to minimize the risks of abyss energies is to increase the pet's will and mind. The pet has to first have a tenacious and strong will coupled with a strong determination making it so that its mind cannot be easily influenced. This is best polished during life and death combat or incredibly hellish training where wounds are common. Another way to increase the power of the mind aside from will is learning a skill related to mental defence. Skills that help defend against mind attacks, illusions and fear are the best in minimizing the risks of abyssal energy. Those skills can be trained the fasted by resisting mental attacks, illusions and fear."

Linus was happy to have his question answered as another way to help Nyx has been found by him now. He has to only teach Nyx another skill and train it as much as possible. Linus then fulfilled the old man's desire by answering his current thoughts on the mystery.

He explained that he currently thought that darkness element pets compared to light element pets are born or given the innate characteristics of the darkness element itself. Linus's first goal is to answer the question: 'What is darkness?' After answering that question, the following question has to answer: 'How can darkness grow?'

When those two questions are answered and the theory of darkness pets inherently have the characteristics of darkness then a way to train and grow them can be found from the answers to those two questions. His current assumption is that darkness certainly has the characteristics of destruction, absorption, and corruption. Those characteristics can be trained by trained through combat against those characteristics and actively experiencing them making the pet used and more resistant to them. When this is the case, the risks will certainly be minimised and mainly depend on the pet's growth, training and resistance.

The best way to achieve this would be training specific skills to observe the growth of the pet and more. The desired skills should best belong to the darkness element. These were Linus's current thoughts formed from his experience in evolving the iron rank dark roses, training Nyx and having been guided by Ms Winter's grandfather.

Linus then left the tower of mysteries due to his time here not being productive anymore so that he could search for a specific skill that Nyx can learn to increase mental defences.

When Linus left, the old man was absorbed in shock and understanding. Linus's words reminded the old man of much knowledge about different pets and how they trained and grew stronger. By the time he recovered, he realised one fact darkness element beasts or pets are natural at combat and the strongest are all baptised in blood and slaughter. He had even gained an idea of how to research this mystery to develop a comprehensive system to train and nurture darkness element pets according to their race's characteristics.

He looked around to find the boy and discuss this mystery more now that he realised that the boy had a unique understanding of the darkness element and the pets of this element but Linus had already left. The old man sighed and left the tower too while planning to return daily for an hour every evening to possibly catch Linus in the future and gain his information and contact details.