Where Do I Buy Infinite Possibilities?

Euri's parents returned quite late, looking exhausted and covered in soot. The good news was, both had managed to land a job. The bad news was, it was one of those hazardous duties in a fuel refinery.

The payment wasn't anything to boast about either. Euri knew for a fact that most people who worked in those fields ended up spending half of their earnings on medical treatment.

"Neither of you are fit for that sort of work. Don't go back there tomorrow. Look for something else," he said at the dinner table, watching their sickened complexions. But going by the dry look his father gave him, he had probably underestimated the troubles they had gone through to get this one.

"We've looked in most places nearby that were hiring. Nobody chose to take us in when we failed to explain why we got laid off from our last job. Some of them contacted our ex-overseers and got even more suspicious after their refusal to speak. Only this factory didn't care because they were in desperate need of workers."

Bottling down his frustration, Euri finished dinner and retired into his bedroom, knowing that his parents were going to take an extra dose of Black Foam tonight. This was how they handled anything beyond their comfort zone. 

The accumulation of growth in the game was perhaps the only thing neutralizing his volatile thoughts. The emotional investment he had in seeing these numbers go up was akin to a drug itself, certainly numbing something inside his mind with its endless distracting mechanisms. 

[ Cultivating: Infinite Forms ]

[ Checkpoint estimated in ten minutes ]

These two lines were now visible on many of the locusts he had adopted last night. The second line had started popping up since an hour ago, much to Euri's relief. Although the timeframe varied for some locusts, and a great portion of the army didn't even have this notification, he was still happy.

He had been worried all day that cultivating these coreless creatures would be a futile endeavor. Now, he could rest assured that something significant would surely happen to the locusts after cultivating. He only needed to wait.

The wait, however, felt torturiously lengthy because the gas well had already recovered from its latest depleted phase. Every minute spent now was a minute lost from his growth schedule.

Ten minutes later, three locusts reached their cultivation checkpoint simultaneously. Euri was about to go through their status window one by one, but a series of notifications stopped him.

[ Alert: This beast familiar has entered a unique growth phase! Please ensure that it is served with adequate resources. ]

[ Primary Requirement: Higher level beast body (1 unit) ]

[ Secondary Requirement: (Infinite Possibilities) ]

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Euri was dumbfounded. "Higher-level beast body? It's a Rank-0 lifeform, so do I have to supply it with a Rank-1 beast's corpse? Bullshit!"

And what was that secondary requirement? Infinite possibilities? How was he supposed to provide that?

Sol-Wa suddenly climbed out of her hiding spot—the gas well, and grabbed one of the locusts. Then she took off like a rocket, heading straight into the dense woods at the peripheral region of the grove. 

Euri lost sight of her under the shroud of greenery for a few seconds, but he noticed a new icon appearing not too far away from where she had disappeared. 

"Another new mechanism? How many of these does this sacred ground have? Can't they just be upfront about their internal resources?"

Annoyed, but still happy, Euri clicked on the icon. The canopy under it immediately became transparent, showing him a black spherical chamber sticking out of the soil. 

[ Welcome, dear Administrator! Congratulations for unlocking the second secondary core of the sacred ground! ]

[ Secondary Core: Breakthrough Pod ]

[ Property: Avails cultivating beasts the opportunity to stably break through to higher levels of existence. Requires no extra deposit except for what the beast needs. ]

[ Level: 1 ]

[ Occupant: Infinity Locust (Deposit) ]

"So this is how all my beast familiars shall be breaking through..." Euri nodded to himself. "But what do I deposit? I don't have the corpses of Rank-1 beasts lying around."

After thinking for a while, he ordered Scout Dog to drag over one of the corpses near the ambrosia pool. It was a remnant from the hunt this morning; a Rank-0 rabbit that he hadn't found very interesting. Its special attribute was just a boosted physique. 

The main use of beast corpses for him right now was producing ambrosia. The appetite of the beast familiars wasn't large. So when neither the pool had a slot left for a body, and nor did the beast familiars want to eat, corpses like these would often be left to rot.

"The requirement does not say the deposit has to be a beast of a higher rank; it's asking for a beast of a higher level. Judging by the cultivation process of all my familiars, this game considers even minor improvements within a rank as level-crossing. That implies that it may be possible to meet this pod's deposit requirement with the corpse of a slightly stronger beast!"

Euri felt that the logic made sense. And it wasn't as if he had other options left to explore. So once the dog brought the dead rabbit near the Breakthrough Pod, he ordered it to throw the corpse at the glassy wall, hoping it would stick.

Not only did it stick, it got quickly absorbed by the wall upon contact. A new notification told Euri that his route of thinking had been correct!

[ Deposit Detected. Assessing...]

[ Deposit matches with the primary requirements of the occupant beast. Would you like to proceed with the breakthrough? ]

Seeing the [ Yes ] option available, Euri was taken aback. 

"So the secondary requirement isn't absolutely needed for the breakthrough? What a relief!"

He didn't have to search for this [ Infinite Possibilities ] thingy, whatever the hell it meant. So Euri was more than happy to smash the affirmation option and watch what transpired.

Bright green rays flashed from the wall of the black pod for nearly a minute. Then a small gap opened up to let the locust out. It screeched happily, appearing safe and sound. The only change in its appearance seemed to be its size. It had grown by at least 50%. 

[ Infinity Locust ]

[ Rank-0 Lifeform ]

[ Physique: 0.03+0.2 ]

[ Special Attribute: Infinite Forms ]