Chapter 175: Chapter 175: The Strange Tentacle
The level-seven Beast Master from the Constellation organization didn't have much on him, leaving Charles feeling a bit let down. There were only five gold coins and some miracle drugs and materials.
This was clearly not in line with the identity of a level-seven Beast Master, he didn't even have something like a jet ring for storage—what a miser!
As for Winston, he had quite a bit more. He had thirteen gold coins alone, not to mention several other high-value items, which would likely bring in even more gold coins.
The exact amount would only be known after selling everything at the shops in Calivia.
Then there were Byron and Zoe, both looking poorer than the last, making Charles frown in frustration!
Finally, there was Jason. When Charles picked up the red miracle drug, Jamie, who had been silent until then, suddenly spoke up, "Wait a minute, that thing seems a bit off. Let me take a look!"
Charles was curious, it was his first time seeing such a miracle drug. According to the information in front of him,
[Red Corruption Miracle Drug]
[Grade]: Special
[Description]: Consuming this miracle drug can activate a Beast Master's potential for an extended period, enhancing reaction speed, attack power, recovery speed, and more. However, it comes with severe side effects, causing loss of reason and descent into madness, where one is controlled by various inner desires!
This [Red Corruption Miracle Drug] had a quality that Charles had never seen before—something special?
Moreover, judging by its effects, it was indeed very powerful, the only drawback was that the side effects were hard to accept, leading one to lose their sanity and be controlled by desire.
This was the first time Charles had seen such side effects!
Jamie examined the miracle drug that Charles had handed over, his brow furrowed tightly, and his eyes filled with intense disgust, as if he had seen something that made him want to vomit.
After a moment of contemplation, he said to Charles, "You'd better give this to your alchemy teacher, Colton. He will tell you everything about this miracle drug!"
"Okay, Dean. I'll go see Professor Colton as soon as I get back." Charles replied, nodding.
He understood that it was best for someone of Colton's master-level alchemist status to take a look at this incredibly strange miracle drug.
"Remember, you must not use this miracle drug. You need to hand it over to Colton, understood?" Jamie reiterated, a hint of concern in his tone, and continued,
"This is a miracle drug that causes Beast Masters to lose their sanity and become Fallen Beast Masters. I never expected to see it appear in Calivia!"
Charles was puzzled by Jamie's words and quickly asked, "Dean, what do you mean by Fallen Beast Masters? I don't think I've ever heard of that before!"
Jamie looked up towards the direction of Genosha Calivia.
The once peaceful and quiet Calivia appeared to him as a place roiling with turbulence and hidden dangers!
He sighed and said heavily to Charles, "A Fallen Beast Master is someone who has used such a miracle drug, becoming addicted to false power and being controlled by their inner desires. They typically show up in chaotic and disorderly places. I can't believe this miracle drug has appeared in Genosha Calivia!"
"It seems we need to conduct a thorough investigation with the royal family and the other two major academies!" Jamie was right.
In his experience, once a peaceful place had such a potion, it wouldn't be long before that place would completely lose its order.
Charles watched Jamie's retreating figure, and a vague feeling told him that something significant would happen in Genosha soon.
Even Jamie, as an eighth-level Beast Master, was this serious and heavy.
A strong sense of crisis welled up in Charles's heart, he needed to enhance his Beast Master abilities quickly and reach fourth-level Beast Master in the shortest time possible!
"By the way, Charles, if you have time in the future, you can try going to the academy's Trial Tower. You might find some unexpected surprises!" Jamie almost forgot about this and quickly said to Charles.
"Trial Tower? Dean, what kind of place is that? Is there something special about it?" Charles asked.
As Jamie walked ahead, preparing to return to Calivia, he explained, "That's a place you can enter after studying for half a year, but you're special, so you should be able to try it out early."
"The Trial Tower is a place that helps students rapidly improve their combat abilities. If you have enough insight there, you can learn various powerful combat skills!"
When Jamie mentioned "combat skills." Charles instinctively recalled the "Break the Enemy's Marksmanship" that Zachary, the general's son, used during the class division competition. That must be what Jamie was talking about!
Charles voiced his thoughts,
and Jamie nodded, saying, "Combat skills are a special means of attack or defense, primarily used by Beast Masters to enhance their power and combat capability."
"In the Trial Tower, you will face various battlefield simulations, and through repeated battles, you'll come to understand the combat skills that suit you best!"
"Charles, you need to improve your strength quickly. Genosha won't remain peaceful for long, only with strong abilities can you protect yourself well."
After explaining, Jamie reminded Charles with a hint of concern.
By the time the two returned to Cyber Academy, it was already evening.
Today was also the time to learn alchemy from Colton. After a simple dinner, Charles hurried over to Colton's bamboo house without stopping.
As soon as he entered, he pulled out the Red Corruption Miracle Drug and asked Colton, "Teacher, I came across this this afternoon, and Dean Jamie asked me to hand it over to you."
Colton was in the middle of refining a miracle drug when he looked up and saw what Charles was holding. He immediately set aside his ongoing steps and rushed over to Charles, taking the Red Corruption Miracle Drug from him.
"How did this thing end up in Genosha?" Colton asked, disbelief written all over his face. He didn't hesitate to ask Charles how he obtained this miracle drug.
Charles explained the whole situation, and after listening, Colton pondered for a long while before responding.
Colton led Charles to a shelf and casually pressed a spot on the wall. The entire shelf began to slowly move aside, revealing a hidden passage.
Charles suppressed his curiosity and followed Colton into the passage. After walking for a long time, they finally arrived at a secret chamber.
In the center of the chamber stood a massive glass container, inside which was a writhing red tentacle!
The tentacle looked incredibly strange, covered in countless eyes. As if sensing their presence, hundreds of eyes on the tentacle opened simultaneously, fixating on Charles.
For a brief moment, Charles's gaze locked with that of the tentacle, and it felt as if a hallucination appeared before him. In a crimson space, pools of blood and chunks of flesh coalesced into a massive, unfathomable unknown creature.
On its surface, numerous bizarre and distorted grayish-white humanoid figures emitted a maddened, painful hiss-roar!
It was chaotic and twisted!
"Wake up!" Colton shouted sharply, jolting Charles from that hallucination.
Charles felt a bit dazed, unsure of what had just happened.
"Teacher, what was that just now?" Charles asked, as if he had just woken from a dream. He couldn't recall what had just occurred, as if that segment of memory had vanished completely.
Colton looked at Charles with intense shock and concern, slowly saying, "I didn't expect your spiritual sensitivity to be so high. If I had known, I wouldn't have brought you in."
"Spiritual sensitivity? What is that?" Charles was taken aback by the unexpected events of the day.
In just one day, he had encountered many things he had never known before.
He felt a sense that a vast, chaotic, and perilous world was about to unfold before his eyes.
Colton explained, "Charles, this world is not as simple as it seems on the surface. In certain corners of the world, there are hidden horrors that ordinary people are unaware of! Spiritual sensitivity is the means of perceiving those horrors."
"The higher your spiritual sensitivity, the more you can sense things that others cannot, like that thing inside the glass container."
Charles asked, "Teacher, what is that?"
Colton picked up the Red Corruption Miracle Drug in his hand and said, "That is one of the raw materials used to make this miracle drug, and it is also the culprit that drives Beast Masters to lose their sanity. It used to be a Beast Master, but now it has become a servant of unknown horrors!"
Unknown horrors? Once a Beast Master? Servants?
Charles's mind was filled with questions. Ezra had once taken him to hunt the "salivate over a humpback whale." where he had seen ten indescribable meatballs hanging in the sky!
Now, it was connected to these so-called unknown horrors and the servants that Beast Masters had been corrupted into?
Charles tried to speak, wanting to know more information, but Colton seemed to sense his thoughts and quickly shook his head, saying, "Don't ask any more questions. We've talked enough for today. Your current level as a Beast Master is too low to handle more information."
"If you want to know the whole story, wait until you become a Level Seven Beast Master!"
Charles understood that Colton was looking out for him. He pushed his questions back into his heart. The most important thing now was to increase his strength!
Not only did he have to face the inter-academy exchange competition in a little over a month, but there was also the Cyber Academy's main assessment in six months, along with even greater crises in the future!
Taking a deep breath, Charles glanced at the tentacle trapped in the glass container, which seemed to have lost its vitality and remained completely still.
Charles couldn't fathom that such a thing had once been a Beast Master?
After Charles and Colton left, the bizarre tentacle began to slowly writhe, its entire body trembling rhythmically, as if it were trying to convey some kind of message.