The morning was quiet.
Qalish sat at his desk with the system panel open in front of him.
Foxy was on the bed. Three tails moving slowly. Eyes half-closed.
He had been awake for a while already. Thinking about what came next.
He checked his balance first.
[ Monster Points: 1,040 MP ]
Most of what he had built up had gone into getting Foxy to D rank — the evolution attempts, the boost stones, the Rank Upgrade. What remained was what it was.
He confirmed the hidden path analysis.
[ Hidden Path Analysis — Available ]
[ Cost: 50 MP ]
[ MP: 1,040 → 990 ]
[ Analysing... ]
[ Complete. ]
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[ EVOLUTION PATH — HIDDEN ]
[ Void Ember Fox → C Rank ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Species : ??? (unlocks at requirement completion)
Element : Fire + Dark + Void + Glacial
Type : Beast / Spirit / Phantom
Requirements:
› Evolution Aura : 100%
› Monster Points : 800 MP
› Foxy Level : Lv.15 (current: Lv.5)
› Frozen Beast Core : x1 (A Rank material)
› Ancient Ice Crystal : x1 (A Rank material)
------------------------------------------------------------------
He read through it once. Then again.
800 MP. Two materials. And Foxy needs to be Level 15.
She was Level 5.
He leaned back.
The 800 MP for the evolution cost alone — he had 990 right now, so technically within reach. But that wasn't the whole picture. The two materials were A Rank grade. Not something he would find in a standard hunting ground. And getting Foxy from Level 5 to Level 15 was not a short process.
He was still reading when something in the panel stopped him.
Glacial.
He had never seen that listed as an element before. Not in any evolution text, any species catalogue, any instructor's lecture. He had read through nearly every volume in the academy library that touched on elemental classification.
Glacial was not in any of them.
And then —
◈
He had never seen it before. It didn't correspond to any element he had encountered in any text, any panel, any instructor's lecture. Not wind. Not earth. Not light.
Something else entirely.
He closed the panel slowly.
This evolution path keeps getting stranger.
He exhaled through his nose.
There has to be a faster way to build MP.
---
The system chimed.
[ System Notice ]
[ System Shop upgrade available. ]
[ Upgrade Shop: Lv.1 → Lv.2 ]
[ Unlocks expanded functions. ]
[ Cost: 500 MP ]
[ Proceed? ]
He looked at it.
Expanded functions.
He had just been thinking — practically out loud — about needing a faster way to build MP. And the system had chimed immediately after.
Convenient timing.
500 MP was half of what he had. But not knowing what was behind "expanded functions" felt worse than the cost.
He confirmed.
[ 500 MP deducted ]
[ MP: 990 → 490 ]
[ System Shop: Lv.1 → Lv.2 ]
[ New functions unlocked. ]
He opened the shop.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[ SYSTEM SHOP — Lv.2 ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Currency : Monster Points (MP)
────────────────────────────────────
Crystal Boost Stone (Small)
Effect : Crystal Boost +20% (single use)
Cost : 80 MP
Crystal Boost Stone (Large)
Effect : Crystal Boost +50% (single use)
Cost : 200 MP
Evolution Aura Potion (Small)
Effect : Evolution Aura +50% (single use)
Cost : 300 MP
Evolution Aura Potion (Large)
Effect : Evolution Aura +100% (single use)
Cost : 600 MP
────────────────────────────────────
[ EXCHANGE — New ]
Convert materials, gold, or valuables into MP.
Exchange rate varies by item rarity and value.
────────────────────────────────────
[ More items unlock as Shop levels up ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
He read through it slowly.
The Exchange first. Convert materials, gold, anything of value — directly into MP.
So I didn't have to grind monsters this whole time.
The thought sat there, flat and unpleasant.
Then — the Aura Potions.
Small — fifty percent. Large — one hundred.
He went very still.
He had spent five days watching Foxy consume carcasses one by one. Ten E-rank carcasses bought from the black market specifically for that purpose. Each one ten percent. Done quietly every evening, one sitting at a time, the process slow and unglamorous.
There had been a potion this whole time.
He pulled up the system prompt.
"Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
[ Notice ]
[ Exchange function was unavailable at Shop Lv.1. ]
[ Evolution Aura Potions were unavailable at Shop Lv.1. ]
[ Shop Lv.2 upgrade was required to access them. ]
[ User did not inquire about upgrade availability. ]
He stared at the last line.
User did not inquire about upgrade availability.
A slow breath out.
Not quite anger. Something drier.
He had asked the system many things. Monster weaknesses. Evolution requirements. Material sources. He had never once thought to ask is there more to the shop than what I can currently see?
It hadn't occurred to him. He had assumed the shop showed him everything it had.
That assumption cost me a lot of time.
He let the complaint go before it could settle into something heavier.
Ask better questions. That's all.
---
He looked at Foxy.
She was watching him from the bed. Patient, as always. The void-dark wisps drifting faintly from the tips of her three tails.
He thought about the five days. The carcasses. The slow ten-percent additions, one at a time. She had done it without complaint — without any indication that she minded the process at all.
She didn't know either. Neither of us did.
He made a quiet note: next time, Large Aura Potion. One sitting. Done.
That thought settled something in him.
And then — underneath it — a quieter one surfaced. One he kept coming back to without meaning to.
The system chimed right when I was thinking about needing a faster way. It's done that before.
The Unknown Stone in the black market. The hidden path prompt when Foxy first evolved. Moments where the system appeared at exactly the right time with exactly what he needed.
Convenient. Or deliberate.
Where did this system come from?
He had been pushing that question aside since his Awakening. There was nothing in any text he had read — nothing in the academy library, nothing in the evolution volumes — that described anything like this. It had appeared the night his Crystal formed. Bound itself without asking. Gave him abilities that had no precedent in this world's framework.
He didn't have an answer.
One thing at a time, he decided. And filed it away.
---
He turned his attention back to the practical problem.
Foxy needed Level 15. Two A Rank materials. And a fourth element — Glacial — that didn't exist in any catalogue he had ever read.
Which meant he needed access to information that the academy's standard channels couldn't provide.
He picked up his Monster Watch and opened the search function.
[ Monster Watch — Search ]
[ Query: Monster Tamer Association — registration requirements ]
The results loaded quickly.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[ MONSTER TAMER ASSOCIATION ]
[ Tamer Apprentice — 1st Star ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Requirements:
Minimum Level : Lv.10
Contracted Monster : D Rank or above
Registration: Open year-round at any local branch.
Assessment : Practical evaluation conducted on-site.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
He read it carefully.
Level 10. D Rank monster.
Foxy was D Rank. That box was already ticked.
He was currently Level 5.
One week. Push hard — it's doable.
Monster Tamers specialised in exactly what he needed. Species knowledge, rare material networks, evolution research that hadn't made it into standard catalogues. If there was anyone who would have information on a hidden evolution path carrying an element that didn't exist in any published record —
It would be them.
He set the Watch down.
One week.
---
He hunted every day.
Methodical. No excess. Calculated routes through the public hunting ground, pushing just past his comfortable range each time. Foxy worked beside him without being told — Void Sense mapping every approach before it arrived, Shadow Bite and Celestial Echo landing clean. They had their rhythm now. Nothing wasted.
Level 6. Level 7.
He started taking group targets. Foxy's Void Sense handled the positioning — he called the order, she executed. Two, sometimes three at once. The MP climbed alongside.
Level 8. Level 9.
He ran the Exchange between sessions — old materials from hunts, things he had accumulated without a clear use for. Each conversion added to the pool faster than farming alone would have.
Level 8. Level 9.
By the sixth day the MP total had crossed 10,000.
On the seventh morning —
[ Level Up ]
[ Viridis Qalish : Lv.9 → Lv.10 ]
He stopped in the middle of the path.
Foxy landed beside him without a sound. Three tails settling.
He pulled up his status.
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[ USER STATUS ]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Name : Viridis Qalish
Crystal Type : Typeless Crystal (F Rank )(SSS+ Potential)
Level : Lv.10 (0 / 51,200)
Monster Points: 10,340 MP
Mana : 550/550
Contract Skill: Flame Heal (D Skill — Lv.2)
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Level 10. 10,340 MP.
Both requirements met.
He looked at Foxy.
She looked back at him. Amber on the left, violet on the right. Steady, as always.
The forest was quiet around them. Morning light through the canopy, the sounds of the outer zone settling back after the last fight.
Next step.
He turned and walked back toward the city.
---