Thalion had meditated the whole night, working on his spirit body. In the large magic circle beside him stood a blood container Lucan had built for him, which infused the blood with more mana every second. He could feel how the sanguine thorn watched his progress with glee. He wondered when the plant would be able to speak. Back when he had talked with the vampire god, he’d learned something like that should be possible.

Everything in the base was working out better than he could have ever imagined. Garrick and Michael were even hunting at night, gathering blood and survivors. His base had grown rapidly, with over 500 survivors joining him.

The problem was that he still wasn’t getting enough credits to buy something around a million credits after the first week, but he had an idea to fix this problem. And he had to fix it quickly since with every week the prize would rise further.

“Can you build me one of these?” Thalion asked Lucan, showing him one of the broken handcuffs the blue-robes had used to enslave Annie and Jakob. More importantly for him, they were able to transfer credits. He had no intention to enslave anyone, but he needed their credits or his life could be very difficult.

“Oh, wow, what a complex craft!” Lucan exclaimed after scanning it. “But what do you want to do with slave cuffs?”

“I need a lot of credits when the system shop appears,” Thalion sighed, not happy about the hole szenario himself. Can you and the other smiths craft some armor and weapons for them, then the credit loss won’t be as bad.”

"Sure, only today ten more smiths joined us. They can easily build close to a hundred armors or weapons each day,” Lucan said with confidence.

“So are we crafting something cool after the system shop?” Lucan asked with a grin.

“I can’t promise it right now. I have a lot of open projects at the moment,” Thalion sighed. “It all depends on what I can buy in the system store.”

“Okay, I’ll make you some cuffs. You only need them right before the system shop, I guess?” Lucan asked with a raised brow.

“Yes, that’s enough,” Thalion said, deep in thought. “I don’t like doing it one bit, but it’s necessary; things could get dangerous otherwise.”

“Don’t hesitate to ask for more stuff, like armors, talismans, or weapons. I’m here for you,” Lucan grinned. “I can’t wait to see you build something like that red templar sword.”

“Sure, I’m also looking forward to it,” Thalion laughed. He liked the old smith.

“Ah, one other thing: I’m planning on traveling with a skyship to the mountains to collect a crazy amount of crystals. You still have that formation, right?” Thalion asked the smith, smiling.

“Oh, I’ve got even better stuff now,” the smith grinned with anticipation. “We can build something powerful, maybe even beyond mythic rarity, at least for an F-grade.”

“Do you know how upgrading such a powerful weapon works? Are the chances high it will lose its high rarity when evolving?” Thalion wondered out loud.

“Yes, the requirements for high-rarity equipment shoot through the roof in the higher grades,” Lucan nodded seriously.

Thalion soon left after a little talk. He had to create his soul core before the system shop, which would be a lot of work until then.

<--

Kargul and Vorlok loved the new stage. The moment they spotted the big beasts, they were on their way.

“Just look at those big ones,” Kargul laughed at Evelyn, who was sitting on Vorlok’s back, her new favorite place.

“I want to smash that big one,” Kargul shouted in joy while pointing at a stormhide stegagon that was munching on grass.

The grass was much taller than they first thought. Kargul fully disappeared in the tall grass, with only the top of his head showing.

“Where do I have to go?” he shouted up at Evelyn after turning around a few times.

“A bit to the right, then you’ll see it,” Evelyn laughed back. Spending time with Vorlok and Kargul was just too funny.

Vorlok was already bouncing his head up and down in anticipation; it must have been very hard for the turtle not to let loose and divebomb the dino. Finding a stegagon without any other beast in proximity was lucky, and Evelyn could understand Kargul’s excitement as he recklessly charged at the stegagon, which had no idea what was coming.

Evelyn watched as Kargul crashed into the side of the stegagon, breaking its ribs and making the dinosaur stumble to the side, roaring in defiance. Evelyn jumped off Vorlok’s back as the turtle divebombed into the side of the dinosaur, throwing it to the ground and immediately starting to feed.

With every bite, multiple kilos of flesh disappeared down the turtle’s throat. The stegagon thrashed around with its spiked tail, injuring Kargul heavily. Then lightning ran down its scales, shocking Vorlok, who screeched in pain with a full mouth before letting go of the dino. Evelyn started healing both of them as the stegagon’s body bled profusely from the turtle-sized hole. All in all, not the best situation for the stegagon.

It roared in pain while stepping back. Kargul and Vorlok didn’t show any mercy as they attacked again, and moments later the dino lay dead on the ground as Vorlok immediately began to feast. Evelyn stood and watched, just happy there were no baby dinosaurs.

“This was glorious! Let’s find our next prey,” Kargul roared, while Vorlok nodded excitedly with his giant head. Moments later, Evelyn and Vorlok were back in the air, looking out for lone beasts. As they circled above Kargul, they spotted a pack of five spikeback hyenadons heading his way. Their shoulder height was around three meters, and they definitely smelled the blood of the stegagon.

“Five spikeback hyenadons 50 meters in front of you,” Evelyn shouted down to Kargul.

“What level? Are they punchable?” Kargul roared back, still not satisfied after the fight.

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The hyenadons’ ears twitched at the exchange, and they started moving toward Kargul.

“Not sure, they’re around level 70,” Evelyn shouted back.

“What, five of them?” Kargul exclaimed in shock and started running the other way, as if the devil were after him. The hyenadons saw the grass moving and began to chase after him.

They were faster than Kargul and were soon close behind him. Evelyn motioned for Vorlok to fly a bit lower and started casting an illusion. Back on Earth, Evelyn had a dog, Lucy, who would jump around the living room whenever she saw herself in a mirror. Remembering this, Evelyn summoned a mirror in front of them, and suddenly the pack of hyenadons saw a reflection pack running at them.

They stopped and growled at the mirror, making themselves bigger. To their surprise, their reflection didn’t fall for the intimidation. It did exactly what the hyenadons did. Meanwhile, Kargul kept sprinting and was soon hundreds of meters ahead of the hyenadons. The mirror had done wonders in distracting them until they finally attacked it and destroyed the illusion. By then, Kargul was already gone.

“That was close,” Kargul muttered when they landed beside him.

“Yes, there are so many beasts in the area it will be difficult to hunt without alerting any others,” Evelyn concluded while looking around.

“This is nonsense! Now I have to worry about other beasts interfering,” Kargul exclaimed, unhappy with the situation.

“We can use this to our advantage,” Evelyn said thoughtfully. “With bait, we could lead many beasts to fight each other first before we clean them up.”

“That’s a great idea! What do we use as bait?” Kargul cheered. “A bottle of vodka should do the trick.”

“No, not vodka; I have some grilled meat sticks from Lars,” Evelyn laughed out loud.

At the mention of meat, Vorlok’s head shot up, and he stared at Evelyn in anticipation.

They found a piece of rock that stood out from the usual tundra and Evelyn laid the meat stick on it, then they moved back. Kargul climbed one of the larger trees to watch, while Vorlok and Evelyn circled a few hundred meters above.

“Okay, we just wait until something comes along—simple as that,” Evelyn concluded.

It turned out that Vorlok wasn’t good at waiting, as after a few minutes he flew down and snatched the meat stick. Soon after, he was back in the air, acting like nothing had happened.

“Vorlok, can you stop eating the bait?” Evelyn sighed. This was not working well at all.

The turtle just looked up as if nothing of importance had happened.

“Okay, we’ll have to hunt the usual way, but we’ll need to scout the area around the beast and finish the fight fast, or we’ll have trouble,” Evelyn sighed as they moved on to find the perfect target.

<--

Jack and Josh arrived on a slight hill on the fourth stage after paying 50,000 credits. They hadn't managed to travel all the way back to Kael's base before the teleportation, but they had hoped that the token would be enough for them to come out at the same spot as all the others. Sadly, their assumption had proven wrong. Now they overlooked a giant tundra roamed by powerful beasts close to level 70.

"I knew we shouldn’t just teleport and hope for the best," Josh sneered. The last hard days had exhausted him a lot.

"At least you got your toes and fingers back," Jack said comfortingly.

Before they had left the palace, Josh had his injuries—inflicted by the torturer—healed by a water healer.

"What are we doing now? We can't fight those beasts," Josh said, deep in thought. The situation was pretty bad for both of them.

"I have an idea; follow me." Jack cheered and transformed into a grasshopper, flying toward a herd of thunderspire gazelles, all around level 65.

"What are you doing? This could be your end." Josh exclaimed in fear while transfoming into a grasshopper too and tried to chase after his friend.

Before he could answer, a gliderfang lion shot out from its hiding spot in the high grass and snapped at Jack.

"Oh god, please not me," Jack cried and flapped his little wings as fast as he could.

Jack was rising fast into the air, while the lion followed, wings beating from the folds between its forelegs and body. Jack climbed higher and higher, but the lion was catching up quickly. When they both reached a height of over two hundred meters, the lion opened its maw, ready to bite the panicked grasshopper in half.

Jack transformed at the last moment into a giant squid, with tentacles over 30 meters long. The lion had just bitten down on one tentacle, and both were pulled down as the squid plummeted from the sky. Another tentacle, covered in spiked suckers, wrapped around the lion and pulled it in, while the beak-like mouth bit the lion into pieces.

"Jack, transform back, or you’re going to die!" Josh yelled, fearing for the life of his friend as he saw the heavy squid fall from the sky.

After the giant squid had dropped twenty more meters, he transformed back into a grasshopper, while nothing remained of the lion.

"Wow, that was amazing! Did you manage to take its form?" Josh shouted at Jack, who was flying in his direction.

"No, I was too confused at the moment," Jack replied cheerfully. Happy that he hadn't died.

"What! Why! This is a joke, right?" Josh exclaimed in disappointment. How could he mess something like that up? The form of the lion would have ensured their survival for the next few days for sure.

"No, I’m never joking," Jack replied with a serious face.

"So, what now?" Josh sighed, trying to think of the more positive things in life.

"Now we hunt the gazelles," Jack declared. Which was his first target anyway.

"And how exactly are we hunting them?" Josh sighed. He didn't even want to hear the answer. A plan from Jack couldn't be good.

"Just watch the expert," Jack cheered and transformed back into a grasshopper, flying toward the gazelles.

The gazelles had run a bit after seeing the gliderfang lion attack the grasshopper. Josh watched as Jack flew a few meters above the gazelles. Then, the grasshopper was gone, and a giant squid dropped on the surprised gazelles. With a loud thud, the gazelles disappeared beneath the squid, and moments later the squid transformed back into Jack, who stood holding his back.

"Oh, my back," Jack groaned, holding his back where blood dripped from tiny holes.

Josh flew over and took the form of the thunderspire gazelle, as did Jack, which was nothing more than a red puddle on the ground.

"I can't believe that worked," Josh said, surprised. "What do we do next with these bodies?"

"We hunt, of course," Jack grinned and transformed into a gazelle, starting to run toward a lone hyenadon that was sniffing the air, clearly attracted by the blood.

"Isn't it dumb to run at that beast? Jack, those should be hunting us, not the other way around," Josh yelled after his friend, chasing after Jack as he sprinted toward the hyenadon.

The spikeback hyenadon noticed them and instantly charged the two of them. Jack kept running at the hyenadon, and when they were only ten meters apart, he transformed into the giant squid.

The beast tried to turn around, but it was too late. A massive tentacle grabbed it, pulling it into a mouth that worked like a giant meat grinder. Soon after, Jack stood on the flattened grass. Nothing more than a bit of blood remained where the hyenadon had been.

"Why did you eat it all? Can we even take its form now?" Josh exclaimed in annoyance.

"Oh, I totally forgot. Sometimes I can't hold myself back, and it did bite into one of my tentacles," Jack shrugged as a matter of fact.

Josh laid his hand on the few blood speckles on the ground and tried to take its form, but it was not possible.

"Don't worry, my friend, we’ll find a better form," Jack cheered, and they shifted back into the form of the thunderspire gazelle, looking out for the next beast that wanted to kill them.

"Damn, I’m leveling fast over here," Jack celebrated after devouring a small pack of mutated dogs.

"Yeah, awesome... and you've eaten them all again." Josh sighed. How was that guy progressing this fast? While he didn't really progress at all for the moment.

"I’m so sorry, but it’s not that easy. I’m getting better at controlling my tentacles," Jack announced. "Besides, have you watched Thalion?"

"Yes, what’s your point now?" Josh retorted, confused.

"He must be investing a lot of time in his forms instead of switching so much," Jack said proudly, like he had solved a very difficult puzzle.

"Yeah, I also wouldn’t switch forms if I had a tidecaller serpent or an umbral predator," Josh exclaimed, not getting what Jack was after.

"I will keep the squid and train that form," Jack announced proudly. "I shall become the strongest squid."

"Sure, let’s just find the next small beast you can overpower with your size," Josh sighed, his shoulders slumping down. "I don’t want to be out here when night approaches."