NOVEL WEB Chapter 19: Rank B Summoner
"Time to meet you…"
The moment he clicked Use, a pulse of light burst out from the token. It wasn't dazzling white like Po's or Lei Fei's hatching. The effects of this hatch were different.
Instead of the light filling the entire room, instead, the moment the light burst out of the token, his surroundings became dark. Not just simple dark. It's pitch dark. It was as if the egg devoured every trace of light in the room.
It was a few terrifying seconds, but a soft purr, almost a whisper against his palm, took away that effect in an instant.
The darkness faded, and his vision was restored.
And when it did, there was a tiny kitten in his hands.
It was pitch black from head to tail with soft fur. Its eyes hadn't opened yet, but it purred with such joy that Lin Fang's heart tightened.
It arched its back with a stretch, then curled against his fingers, nuzzling him like a newborn recognizing its mother.
"You're… even tinier than Lei Fei," he murmured.
The system's notification right then floated up before his eyes as a soft chime echoed in his head:
*Ding!
[Congratulations! You've successfully hatched Nemesis.]
[Please name your new companion]
Lin Fang didn't name it yet. He just stared at its details on a new window.
[Unnamed]
Grade: Mythical
Species: Nemesis
Potential: Level-90 (Quasi-God)
Element: Void
Current Level: 1
Passive Skill:
[Soul Cloak]: Can conceal its presence as well as its master, from all beings that are not 3 tiers above it, using an invisible Cloak.
Active Skill:
[Predator's Glare]: Can paralyze any enemy below its grade up to 30 seconds. (Effectiveness will be reduced by the level difference.) Cooldown: 60 seconds.
Lin Fang stared at the screen in silence. "Damn those overpowered skills… Mythical grade for sure."
The kitten stirred again, licking the inside of his wrist. The tongue was warm. Real.
"What should I name you?" Lin Fang whispered under his breath.
The kitten purred louder, trying to reach its tiny paws to his face.
He picked up the kitten carefully and observed. "A black cat, a void element, overpowered skills, and a beast that could become a Quasi God tier in the future… I need to name you based on these…" Meanwhile, the little kitten yawned and sneezed.
A gust of wind hit Lin Fang's face, almost tumbling him backwards to the floor. "Ah…" He managed to support himself at the last second while still having his grip on the kitten.
The little kitten suddenly raised its tiny paws and covered its face, like making the face of an embarrassed human.
Lin Fang couldn't help but chuckle, rubbing his forehead against its soft fur. "Alright, I decided. I'll call you Xuan Hei."
*Ding!
[Name registered: Xuan Hei]
[Xuan Hei has been soul-bound. This creature is now permanently linked to host Lin Fang.]
A pulse of heat rushed through his chest the moment the soul-binding completed, sharp, quick, but not painful.
But before he could even gather his thoughts… the series of notification chimes filled his head.
[Combat Power threshold exceeded. Initiating summoner rank advancement]
Ding! Congratulations! You are now a Rank-D Summoner.
[Combat Power has exceeded the threshold again. Initiating further advancement…]
Ding! Congratulations! You are now a Rank-C Summoner.
[Combat Power rising... Proceeding with the next rank-up…]
[Ding! Congratulations! You are now a Rank-B Summoner.]
Lin Fang's jaw dropped. "Wait, what?"
More notifications followed.
*Ding!
[New Skills Unlocked]
Shared Vision Link: The host can momentarily share a monster's vision from any place in the world. Duration: 1 minute Cooldown: 2 hours Limitation: During this skill's active state, the host's body will be in the state of stasis.
Combat Merge: The host can temporarily put one of the soul-bound monsters into a hibernation state and gain their stats for a temporary period, without any side effects afterward. Duration: 3 minutes. Cooldown: 6 hours. Limitation: The Host can only use a sound-bound monster's skill if he possesses mana. Without mana, the host can only gain raw physical strength.
Soul Fusion: Any two soul-bound monsters can temporarily fuse into a new, combined entity with enhanced abilities, traits, and appearance. The fused monster inherits both of their elements and skills. Note: It also inherits both of their weaknesses. Duration: 5 minutes Cooldown: 12 hours. Limitation: The monsters cannot have a level gap of more than 10.
Echo of the Soul (Passive): Whenever a soul-bound monster reaches its maximum level, the host will receive one of its skills to use as his own.
*Ding!
[The Main Quest has been completed. Training Ground Unlock]
[New Maint Quest unlocked — Become a Rank C Summoner]
*Ding!
[The Main Quest has been completed. Nursing Pens have been unlocked]
*Ding!
[New Maint Quest unlocked — Become a Rank B Summoner]
[The Main Quest has been completed. Beast World Unlock]
*Ding!
[New Maint Quest unlocked — Become a Rank A Summoner]
*
Lin Fang sat there, stunned. "Just like that?" he muttered. "From E to B…?"
He looked back at Xuan Hei, who purred contentedly in his lap, grooming a paw with casual elegance, already.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and sighed, "System said summoner rank was based on combat power. So… it's because of you, huh?"
After all, he remembered using Growth Pill on Po to boost its level to 10. Back then, it didn't change a bit.
But, he didn't do anything now apart from hatching the Nemesis Egg.
Lin Fang murmured, "I still have one more to hatch. Let's complete with the hatching and focus on what to do…"
He opened his inventory and selected the White-Winged Lion Egg. Unlike the void-dark swirl of Xuan Hei's egg, this one radiated soft, pale light. The moment he tapped "Hatch", the egg token trembled, and a soft crack echoed through the room.
With a flash of white light, just like with Po and Lei Fei, a fuzzy cub appeared, its coat a brilliant silver-white with faint, glowing feathers lining the back of its limbs.
It opened its azure eyes and gave a surprisingly noble little roar, although it just sounded like meow.
[Please name your new companion.]
Lin Fang smiled. "A pure white beast and soft like a cloud. Let's go with… Yunfeng."
*Ding!
[Name registered: Yunfeng]
[Yunfeng has been soul-bound.]
A faint surge of energy entered him, warm and serene, but it wasn't the violent jolt Xuan Hei had given. Also, no new notifications of any rank-up are given this time.
"So no bonus?" Lin Fang blinked.
Yunfeng tilted his head and let out a low, questioning whimper.
"No, no. It's not your fault," Lin Fang quickly reassured, petting the lion cub's head. "You're still awesome."
Of course, he could see that Yunfeng is a legendary grade beast with Emperor Tier potential (Level-60), but still, the contrast was clear to him.
Xuan Hei wasn't just powerful; it was incredibly powerful, atleast compared to the rest.
As Yunfeng sat down and yawned, Xuan Hei curled into his lap and drifted into sleep.
Meanwhile, Lin Fang continued to explore the new functions. He wasn't interested in going out to the wilderness and fighting yet. So, he didn't pay much attention to the new skills, apart from reading them once and closing them.
What he became interested in were the new functions that were added to the system.
Lin Fang went back to the character interface and scrolled down below Lottery Wheel and clicked on Training Ground.
[Would you like to enter Training Ground?]
Lin Fang hesitated to click at first because the system didn't offer any explanation of what a Training Ground was, but eventually, putting his trust in the system, he clicked on Yes.
Lin Fang felt a jolt in his head, as if he was struck by a rod or something, but when he got to his senses, he found himself standing in the middle of an endless white space with nothing but a floating crystal, as large as his head, before him.
He touched it instinctively.
*Ding!
[Please select the habitat.]
A bunch of illustrations appeared, each one has a name and effects. His curiosity led him to click on one of the illustrations randomly. The surroundings changed in an instant.
[Silver Moon Snow Mountain has been selected]
Lin Fang suddenly found himself in the middle of where everything around is snow. A chilly breeze flew past him and he shivered in cold, down to his knees.
"Oh, god… this is fuc*ing realistic effects… I don't think I can handle this… System let me…"
Before he even finished those words, a notification appeared on the holographic screen.
*Ding!
[Training period starts. All system functions are unavailable.]
[59:59]
[59:58]
[59:57]
The countdown timer started.
"F**k…" Lin Fang's optimistic face turned into horror. He stood frozen, literally and metaphorically, as the bitter winds bit through his clothes like a thousand tiny knives.
His breath came out in foggy plumes as the timer above his head kept ticking mercilessly down.
[59:52]
[59:51]
"System, cancel!" he shouted. No response.
"System, exit! Emergency logout! Return! Escape! I take it back!" he yelled in succession.
Still nothing. The only thing he got in return was a gust of wind strong enough to send his bangs flapping wildly and force him to hug himself tighter.
"You're kidding me..." he muttered, glaring at the countdown like it had personally wronged him.
[59:30]
"You know what. I take back my words. System, you are not a friendly one at all!" Lin Fang wailed, stumbling forward.