5: Chapter 5: A Brand New Evolutionary Form

In the evening, the lights of Qinglan City spilled through the bedroom's floor-to-ceiling windows in fine patches of light, making the room feel exceptionally quiet.

The Flame Claw Beast lay sprawled out on the fabric sofa by the window, its body rising and falling slightly with steady breaths. A trace of undried saliva clung to the corner of its mouth, and it occasionally let out soft whimpers, as if it were gnawing on something delicious in its dreams.

Lin Chen sat at the desk next to the sofa, his fingertips lightly pressed against his brow, his expression focused as he immersed himself in the system interface within his mind.

The voice from when the system activated during the day echoed clearly in his ears again—"You have successfully descended into the fantasy world before it was shrouded in darkness. The crisis of darkness follows like a shadow; the world awaits your salvation."

This sentence was like a tiny thorn that constantly lingered in his heart, impossible to shake off.

Clearly, some error had occurred when the system appeared in this world.

He frowned slightly, his fingertips unconsciously tapping the desk as his thoughts raced.

According to his memories of the past, although this world wasn't absolutely peaceful—with the Human Federation and various beast kingdoms often having frictions over territory and resources, and occasional local small-scale confrontations—it was generally stable. A "dark crisis affecting the entire world" as mentioned by the system had never occurred.

He didn't know if the dark crisis mentioned by the system truly existed or when it would arrive, nor did he know what he, a Chosen Child, could actually do.

But for now, anxiety was useless. Only by first figuring out the system's functions and improving the strength of himself and the Flame Claw Beast could he deal with unknown dangers.

Even if a world crisis were to descend at this moment, one couldn't expect an Apprentice Beastmaster to save it.

Suppressing the stray thoughts in his heart, Lin Chen concentrated. With a thought, his personal data panel appeared clearly in his mind:

[Player: Lin Chen]

[Rank: Apprentice Beastmaster]

[Skill: Telepathy]

[Beast: Agumon]

[Items: double exp card x2, Small Blast Move Learning Machine]

[Allocatable EXP: 15]

Lin Chen began to study them one by one, first focusing his gaze on the Beast Tamer skill [Telepathy].

This was the most basic innate skill for all Beast Tamers. Without needing to deliberately learn it, one could directly perceive and understand the basic emotions and simple thoughts of a contracted beast, achieving barrier-free communication between human and beast.

Just like now, he could vaguely feel that the Flame Claw Beast on the sofa was in a comfortable and secure state, likely sleeping very soundly.

By continuously raising his Beast Tamer rank, he could learn more Beast Tamer skills, including buffs for beasts or protection for himself, but these were still too far off for him as an Apprentice Beastmaster.

The description of the double exp card was simple and clear: [Doubles the rate of gaining EXP for 24 hours]

Seeing this, Lin Chen's eyes instantly lit up.

He knew very well that EXP was the only way to raise a beast's level. The Flame Claw Beast was currently at the lowest stage; to grow quickly, it had to accumulate enough EXP.

This double exp card was undoubtedly timely help, allowing the Flame Claw Beast's growth rate to double and greatly shortening the time needed to become stronger.

As for the Small Blast Move Learning Machine, it caused Lin Chen to fall into brief contemplation.

It was common knowledge that Agumon naturally mastered the basic move [Small Fire].

And in some settings, Agumon X could master the more powerful but high-consumption [Small Explosion] through learning.

In other words, this move was an advanced version of [Small Fire].

But could a Flame Claw Beast, which wasn't a Digimon, master this move?

He was no stranger to Move Learning Machines; in that game, one could obtain them by completing quests or through microtransactions, allowing a Digimon to master the skills of other Digimon with one click.

After all, the skills a Digimon could master on its own were few and far between, not enough to sustain an intense battle.

But it was precisely because of this that the game's battle system was criticized by countless players, and its reputation was heavily polarized.

Finally, Lin Chen focused on the [Allocatable EXP] column.

Combining his game memories, he quickly sorted out the categories of EXP:

In the game, EXP was divided into two types. One was Growth EXP, which Digimon could obtain by defeating other Digimon to raise their own level;

The other was evolution exp, which could be used to fill a Digimon's evolution bar to make it evolve, mostly obtained through microtransactions.

However, the 15 points of Allocatable EXP he gained by completing the quest were universal; they could be used to raise the Flame Claw Beast's level or to fill the evolution bar.

Thinking of this, Lin Chen showed a look of joy.

This way, the Flame Claw Beast's growth speed could be one step faster.

For other Beast Tamers, raising a beast's rank required persistent training and nurturing, and they might even encounter bottlenecks at each stage due to various factors.

But for Lin Chen, as long as he had enough EXP, he could ignore all obstacles and let his beast become stronger at the fastest speed.

"Quests are great."

"I must do more quests!"

Lin Chen laughed as he massaged his slightly tired thighs after the intense exercise.

Then, with a thought, Lin Chen opened the Flame Claw Beast's data panel to study it carefully:

[Beast: Agumon (Local Name: Flame Claw Beast)]

[Level: Rank 1 (Growth EXP 0/300)]

[Attribute: Fire]

[Race Grade: Mid-tier Transcendent]

[Moves: Flame Breath Bullet (Beginner), Sharp Claws (Beginner)]

[Affinity: 21]

[Evolution Method: evolution exp (0/500), tyrant dragon heart x1]

Lin Chen's gaze slowly swept over every piece of information, his expression thoughtful.

This was not the same as the game's data panel in his memory; it could even be said to be quite different.

But he recalled the system had initially stated "Plane anchor lost, worldview reconstructed." It likely meant the system had integrated to some extent with this world's system, but the degree of integration wasn't very high—otherwise, it wouldn't call a Flame Claw Beast an Agumon.

In this world, a beast's strength was divided into Ranks 1 through 9. The Flame Claw Beast was currently at the lowest, Rank 1, with weak combat power.

"To go from Rank 1 to Rank 2 requires three hundred Growth EXP," Lin Chen murmured, his eyes flickering. "That's not too much."

There was nothing special about the attribute column; the current Flame Claw Beast was just an ordinary pure Fire-attribute beast.

Next, Lin Chen looked at the [Race Grade] column.

Race grade largely determined a beast's growth potential. At the same level, the higher the race grade, the stronger the combat power.

This world's beast race grades, from low to high, were Awakening, Transcendent, Elite Level, Lord, Epic, and Legend. Each grade was further divided into three tiers: Low, Mid, and High.

Awakening was the lowest race grade. Most common low-rank beasts belonged to this grade; their combat power was low, and only the lowest-tier Beast Tamers would choose to contract them.

Transcendent beasts initially possessed a certain amount of combat power and were the best choice for rookie Beast Tamers.

Elite Level-grade and above beasts were powerful and had extremely high requirements for a Beast Tamer's mental strength and experience, making them unsuitable for fledgling rookies to contract.

The Flame Claw Beast's race grade was Mid-tier Transcendent, which was considered middle-of-the-road among the Transcendent grade.

As for the skills column, the Flame Claw Beast currently only mastered two innate skills: the Fire-attribute basic skill [Flame Breath Bullet] and the Normal-type skill [Sharp Claws].

Regarding the Affinity that followed, Lin Chen couldn't think of its use for the time being.

In the game, players could increase a Digimon's Affinity through microtransactions to unlock exclusive skins, but in this real world of Beast Tamers, Affinity might have a different function.

Lin Chen had no clue for now, so he could only keep it in mind and explore it slowly in the future.

The final column of information, however, caught Lin Chen's attention particularly.

Previously, after contracting the Flame Claw Beast, the system had given a main quest: to have the Flame Claw Beast evolve into a Greymon.

If the Flame Claw Beast were truly an Agumon, evolving into a Greymon would naturally not be a problem.

But a Flame Claw Beast was a Flame Claw Beast—a native beast that had lived and bred in this world for thousands of years.

It might have some unknown connection to Agumon, but it definitely was not an Agumon.

Given that, how was he supposed to complete this main quest?

Staring at the evolution column, Lin Chen's thoughts began to wander.

According to the evolution path given by the system, the Flame Claw Beast's evolution required five hundred evolution exp and a tyrant dragon heart.

If he remembered correctly, a tyrant dragon heart was a rare Dragon-type resource in this world.

The Flame Claw Beast needs a Dragon-type resource to evolve?

Lin Chen's gaze grew deeper.

Although he knew very little about the field of beast evolution, he knew one common fact—if a beast's evolution required a resource of a specific attribute, it meant that it would possess that attribute after evolving.

Doesn't this mean that after the Flame Claw Beast evolves, it will have the Dragon attribute?

But neither of the Flame Claw Beast's current two evolution forms has the Dragon attribute, which means this is a brand new evolution form!

Thinking of this, Lin Chen's pupils constricted slightly. He looked at the soundly sleeping Flame Claw Beast and murmured softly, "Could it be... you really can evolve into Greymon?"