Chapter 19: Say Important Things Three Times

Lin Huang had anticipated Sha Tu’s dying counterattack. After all, he had slain over thirty of them previously, and a few that hadn’t been dispatched by Bai’s blow had made similar attempts. This final Sha Tu leader died entirely because of Lin Huang’s careful calculations.

Once he had dealt with the leader, Xiao Hei’s prompt chimed in. Because Lin Huang had personally landed the killing blow, he received an advancement card as a reward for defeating a creature above his level. In addition, he obtained a complete monster card.

The odds of acquiring a monster card directly from a kill were not high; Lin Huang had already asked about this, so he had always assumed he’d have to piece together fragments. He hadn’t expected that, with his notoriously bad luck, he would finally get lucky.

But gains came with losses. Since Lin Huang killed Sha Tu himself, Bai couldn’t devour its life force; thus, Lin Huang’s own life wheel showed no growth from this kill.

He summoned the newly acquired monster card to his hand and was startled to see it was a green card. He immediately examined it closely.

The card’s front displayed a gigantic Sha Tu, though its appearance was relatively normal—only one head, no extra eyes, limbs like those of a human. It looked like an enlarged human, simply with more fat, denser body hair, a fiercer visage, and lacking reproductive organs.

Flipping the card over, Lin Huang found the monster’s detailed information.

[Monster Card]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Monster Type: Giant (Branch)]

[Combat Level: Iron Black Three-Star]

[Skill 1: Mighty Strength (Basic)]

[Skill 2: Robustness (Basic)]

[Skill 3: Bronze Skin and Iron Bones (Basic)]

[Summoning Permission: Activated]

[Card Evaluation: Still trash!]

Lin Huang tapped to view the skills’ descriptions.

[Mighty Strength (Basic): Passive skill, strength is tripled.]

[Robustness (Basic): Passive skill, constitution is doubled. (Constitution includes poison resistance, stamina, endurance, environmental adaptability, etc.)]

[Bronze Skin and Iron Bones (Basic): Passive skill, defense is tripled.]

After reading the skill descriptions, Lin Huang finally understood why this last massive Sha Tu was so hard to kill. “No wonder Bai’s attacks never did any real damage. This thing is rare, just like Bai. It doesn’t have active skills, but the boosts from its passive abilities are terrifying.”

He was familiar with the advancement card; he already had two rare monster cards. Whether to further advance Bai or this Sha Tu, he hadn’t decided yet, so he set the card aside for now, planning to choose when necessary.

“Xiao Hei, initiate skill extraction.” All three passive skills were excellent; any one would directly benefit Lin Huang, so he had no particular preference.

[Skill extraction initiated… Randomly selecting one skill for the host… Selection complete… Congratulations, host, you have acquired the skill—Robustness (Basic).]

After the extraction, Lin Huang opened his personal exclusive card.

[Host: Lin Huang]

[Gender: Male]

[Age: 15]

[Combat Level: None (Below evaluation threshold)]

[Skill 1: Blood Energy (Level 2)]

[Skill 2: Wild Blade Scripture (Blade Combat Technique)]

[Skill 3: Robustness (Basic)]

[Summoning Permission: Activated]

[Summonable Quantity: 1]

[Evaluation: Pathetically weak! Pathetically weak! Pathetically weak!]

Seeing the last line of evaluation, Lin Huang’s smile twitched slightly. “Is it really necessary to repeat ‘pathetically weak’ three times? Xiao Hei, you’re getting less friendly by the day.”

[Important things must be said three times. Isn’t that the rule on Earth?]

“….” Lin Huang could find no way to refute.

“The summonable quantity is still one. Does that mean I can’t summon both monster cards at the same time?” He quickly noticed his number of summonable creatures hadn’t changed.

[Correct. No matter how many monster cards the host owns, the summonable quantity is the maximum number you can summon at once.]

Unable to resist, Lin Huang tested it. Without recalling Bai, he crushed the Sha Tu card in his hand. The card disintegrated into fragments and merged into his body. At the same time, a translucent dialog box appeared before him.

[Summoning limit exceeded. Unable to summon!]

After recalling Bai, Lin Huang summoned the Sha Tu card again and crushed it. Only then did the enormous Sha Tu slowly materialize before him.

He circled the nearly ten-meter-tall Sha Tu, chin in hand, pondering for a while before speaking. “From now on, I’ll call you Tyrant.”

Upon hearing this, Sha Tu raised its arms high and let out a roar toward the sky, seemingly quite pleased with the name.

“All right, Tyrant. Go hunt a small creature nearby.” Lin Huang had come for the assessment right after breakfast, and now night had fully fallen. After a day of running and fighting, he was both hungry and tired.

Tyrant, obeying the command, immediately turned and left. Before long, he dragged back a creature resembling a wild boar. Lin Huang recognized it as an Iron Armored Pig, about twice the size of its Earthly counterpart, with black metallic scales on its back.

Despite its large size, the Iron Armored Pig wasn’t a giant type but a beast type; unlike giants, you couldn’t judge its strength by size. No matter how far an Iron Armored Pig evolved, its adult size barely changed.

Lin Huang’s eyes lit up at the sight. He’d eaten Iron Armored Pig meat before at Settled Residence—it was delicious.

Although his cooking skills were average, he built a fire, cut a few chunks, and started grilling. Having anticipated this situation, he’d brought barbecue seasoning. Though he didn’t quite get the timing right and slightly overcooked it, the flavor was still quite good.

Noticing Tyrant drooling at the aroma, Lin Huang grilled a few more pieces for him. Tyrant, after eating, looked at Lin Huang expectantly, but Lin Huang only smiled and shook his head.

“A few bites are enough to taste it. If I tried to feed you, I’d be grilling all night and still wouldn’t satisfy you. The scent of this barbecue, you’ve smelled it—so have all the other monsters nearby. I bet they’ll be coming soon; we have to leave.”

Lin Huang stood up, and Tyrant seemed to understand, rising as well.

“Take me east. With your speed, two hours’ run should get us far enough from this area to rest.” Lin Huang addressed Tyrant again.

Tyrant extended his hand. Lin Huang hopped onto his palm and was placed on Tyrant’s shoulder.

No sooner had Lin Huang settled in than his expression turned peculiar. Looking down at Tyrant’s shoulder, he saw thick, coarse hairs like boar bristles. “What a miscalculation… This Sha Tu’s body hair is so stiff, it’s poking me…”