The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 971: Top Step

Karl stood at the top of the temple, and looked down into the half empty pool of black energy where Cara was napping peacefully, mumbling about loot and cupcakes in her sleep.

Of all the things that he expected to find at the top of the temple, Cara was not one of them. It was clear that she hadnʼt taken any trials, and she had been here the whole time, just watching. The pile of cloth bags that the kitchen staff kept the snacks in told him that much.

Karl sent the empty bags back to the Guild Store inventory, so they could be cleaned and reused, then placed his hand on the stone plinth at the top of the stairs he had arrived from.

{Congratulations. Maximum Reward Achieved. Calculating}

{Status Optimized. Adjusting Interface.}

Karl wasnʼt sure what that was about, but suddenly, there was a wealth of new information available in his System Interface, including icons for his group members, which were all currently in a yellow status.

{Physique Optimized. Epic Grade Physique Active. Upgrading.}

{Chaos Beast Constitution} Tier 2 active. Improved Growth speed versus Tier 1.

{Class Status Optimized} Remaining Skills Unlocked

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{Packmaster Skill Tree}

[Follow Me Little One] Directly teach a known skill to a compatible target.

[Pack First] Removes the usage and targeting limits on {Evolution} but adds an increasing materials cost every time it is used on a bonded beast.

[Territorial] All attacks by the Packmaster have a chance to cause {Intimidation}

{Hidden Skill} [Home] One Time Use Skill. The Packmaster may designate a target location as their permanent home, granting various bonuses as the location is improved. Home location may be periodically changed, but never disabled.

[Pack Affinity] The Packmaster has an affinity for all skills that any of his bonded beasts have an affinity for, and may learn them as normal.

[Dominating Power] The Pack Masterʼs Aura gains a {Mental Domination} effect at will, requiring weaker minds to submit to his will. Hypnosis type ability.

[Benevolent Elder] Unbonded Upgraded beasts gain the ability to form a [Contract] with eligible targets before the targetʼs initial Class Selection

[Limitless] Passive Skill. Beasts Evolved by the Packmaster have an increased chance of surpassing milestones in development.

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Karl already had most of the skills in the Skill Tree, but [Benevolent Elder] was a big gain, and [Dominating Power] would be incredible in combat, even if it did still feel a bit creepy.

{Finalizing Optimization}

{Nameplate Updated}

{2% Physical growth remaining to next advancement}

That was a new announcement. Karl had never seen a distance to his next advancement measure before. But when he looked through his interface, he couldnʼt see anywhere that a progress metre might appear, so it had to be a one-time System Message related to the optimization.

He did find the group settings, and realized that there were new functions there. He could form a party or a Guild Party, which seemed to be the same thing, but with a bonus to group buffs.

Then there was an option to set allied parties by group leader.

That one should be incredibly handy in the near future as they were working with various military groups to defeat monster spawns.

The only question he had left was what did his nameplate look like now? He couldnʼt see his own, and he hadnʼt seen any that looked out of the ordinary. Or did it give him a new title?

He didnʼt see a new title in the options.

Cara opened her eyes and smiled at Karl.

[Oh, you made it all the way up here. That was a good nap. You should taste this water, itʼs spectacular.]

Karl chuckled and reached down to grab the errant badger from the pool of Chaos energy, but found that they were separated by a barrier. Though she was here with him, he couldnʼt interfere with her event.

Cara shrugged and pulled an empty barrel from her space, then dunked it in the pool to fill it with liquid chaos.

Only, once the barrel was full, she was unable to put it back in her space at all.

”So, you can drink as much as you like, but no looting? It seems the Gods prepared an anti badger countermeasure before you arrived.” Karl joked.

”The joke is on them. Once I get my rewards, I will be the strongest of us all.

Ooh, notification. Thatʼs new. I never get system notices, since I donʼt have a class. I hope I get a class. I want to be a berserker. Berserker looks like itʼs fun.”

Karl couldnʼt argue with that. It might prevent some of the looting, but a Berserker type class did suit Cara pretty well. If you got her emotional now, she tended to fly into a rage and rip things apart with her bare hands.

{Evolution Complete} Winged Void Badger ⇒ Chaos Badger

{New Skill Gained} [Chaotic Foresight] Reveals one random insight into one random target per use. Insight may apply to any point between the present moment and the collapse of the Realm, so long as the random target exists at that point.

”I got the mirror spell! Oh, this will be good. Butterfly is going to love this new skill.” Cara announced, as Karl read the notification about her new ability.

It would likely need to be levelled up with [Skill Master] to give her the full overview of someoneʼs life, the way that she had seen it with Supreme Lady Matilda, but it was going to provide endless entertainment for the Badger either way.

”Have you seen how the others are doing?” Karl asked as Cara began chugging chaos from the spigot of the barrel.

Cara gave him a thumbs up, but waited until she had to come up for air before changing her focus to answering.

[Theyʼre all still climbing. The Dana Mage might make the fifth resting spot, and Ophelia is just now reaching the fourth. But the other three are going to come up short. I donʼt know what their difficulty level was, but if it was three, they should all be fine.]