Skill Mutation

"Keep it up. The whole city needs to be under martial law for at least two days. We have to make sure not a single burrowing rat slips through."

"Burrowing rats have a strong reproductive capacity. If even a few escape and are given time to breed, they could easily form another beast tide."

"Especially with the virus these burrowing rats are carrying—it only increases the likelihood of another beast tide forming."

"Our top priority right now is to find a way to close the Secret Realm Rift."

"Even though the email said the rift will repair itself in a day, closing it sooner will greatly reduce the risk."

As long as the Secret Realm Rift exists, an endless stream of burrowing rats will keep pouring out of the secret realm.

Although the Pet Beast Guild members are killing the burrowing rats emerging from the secret realm as soon as they appear, killing so many at once means they might miss some.

Burrowing rats are rodent-type Strange Beasts. When in danger, they're good at playing dead and digging holes.

If any escaped burrowing rats form another beast tide, all the previous precautions will have been a joke.

The reason beast tides are feared is that during them, the Strange Beasts go mad and devour every living thing in their path, leaving nothing but barren land in their wake.

During this process, their levels skyrocket without any bottlenecks.

Normally, a Strange Beast breaking through from First Order to Second Order is extremely difficult, but during a beast tide, it becomes much easier.

This is a very peculiar phenomenon. According to expert research, it might be because the Strange Beasts secrete a special Signal Hormone during the beast tide.

Stimulated by the Signal Hormone, the cells in their bodies generate a craving. They'll recklessly devour anything beneficial to them, achieving a leap in life.

Wang Jinyin once sent people into the secret realm to investigate. What they found was that burrowing rats covered the mountains and fields, having eaten the entire secret realm bare.

Even their own young had become food for them.

This shows that the burrowing rats' reproduction has exceeded the secret realm's carrying capacity.

Even without the Spatial Rift, these burrowing rats would have started killing each other, restoring the secret realm's supply-demand balance.

So during this process, the burrowing rats will attack recklessly. Even if they die, their flesh and blood become nourishment for their companions.

This makes it easier for high-order Strange Beasts to emerge.

The appearance of the Spatial Rift shifted the burrowing rats' attention away from fighting each other and toward the outside world.

"These burrowing rats are infected with some unknown virus, making them even more bloodthirsty and frenzied."

"They've completely lost their reason. All that's left is the primal urge to attack and reproduce."

"They'll eat voraciously and then undergo a life leap."

"I'm worried high-order Strange Beasts might appear."

"So we must do everything in our power to kill these burrowing rats and minimize the impact on Jiaying City."

"Tell the newly joined Pet Beast Masters in the guild to be careful. Once burrowing rats evolve into Second Order Berserk Blood Rats, they become much harder to kill."

"If you don't land a crippling blow, the Berserk Blood Rats will recover quickly."

"If these things devour enough flesh and blood, they might even break through to Third Order."

Wang Jinyin stressed repeatedly.

During this beast tide, many burrowing rats will certainly advance to Second Order, and some might even reach Third Order.

Jiaying City isn't rich in ores, so the chance of burrowing rats evolving into Berserk Blood Rats is higher.

"How are the evacuation efforts at Sacred Mountain Middle School and the other schools in Jiaying City?" Wang Jinyin asked his secretary.

"All the schools have opened their shelters. The teachers are patrolling to guard against burrowing rat invasions."

"We've already developed patrol vehicles that emit Infrasonic Waves specifically targeting burrowing rats, based on their characteristics."

"Teams of two are now patrolling the streets."

"When burrowing rats hear the Infrasonic Wave, it feels like countless nails are being driven into their brains."

"They'll crawl out of hiding in a frenzy to attack the patrol vehicles. Don't worry, Guild Leader."

Wang Jinyin rubbed his throbbing temples. "I feel like I'm overlooking something."

"I've had a bad feeling for a while now. Strange—we've done everything we should have."

Wang Jinyin's heart was uneasy. He rarely felt this unsettled.

"Also, speed up the search for the person with the Future Prediction Talent. They're extremely important to us, and to the entire Yan Country Alliance."

"We must find them and protect them. Future Prediction is an S-Rank talent."

Wang Jinyin said firmly.

Usually, people in the Yan Country Alliance are tested at age sixteen, in their third year of high school, to see if they've awakened a Pet Beast Space and become a Pet Beast Master. They're also tested for any awakened talents.

According to scientific research, awakening becomes very difficult after sixteen.

But it's not impossible for someone to awaken their Pet Beast Space and talent after that age.

This person who awakened Future Prediction probably suddenly awakened their talent and became a Pet Beast Master on their own, which is why they weren't recorded in the Yan Country Alliance's registry.

On the other side, the Blood Steel Rat was sent flying by the Thousand Changes Silkworm. Now completely bald, its back was covered in Blood Holes.

It had just fired all the steel spikes from its body in one burst, yet not a single one hit the Thousand Changes Silkworm, enraging the Blood Steel Rat to the point it nearly jumped out of its skin.

Its steel spikes were all single-use.

Now it had to replenish enough metallic material to regrow the spikes on its back.

But Ye Bai wasn't about to give the Blood Steel Rat that chance.

The Blood Steel Rat was now like a toothless tiger, utterly incapable of posing any threat to the Thousand Changes Silkworm.

"Thousand Changes Silkworm, deliver the final blow—use Roll and crash into the Blood Steel Rat!"

The Thousand Changes Silkworm rolled over the Blood Steel Rat's body like a heavy war chariot.

The Blood Steel Rat spat out a mouthful of blood with a pfft, feeling as if its internal organs had been crushed into a single mass.

It collapsed to the ground, with more breath leaving its body than entering.

"One last hit."

The Thousand Changes Silkworm slammed its massive rear down onto the Blood Steel Rat, completely KO'ing it.

Star-blue energy surged straight into the Thousand Changes Silkworm's body, and at that moment, it broke through its bottleneck, its level rising to LV7 (First Order, Level 7).

Just then, a vine emerged from the ground. It rummaged through the Blood Steel Rat's bloody, mangled head and picked out a silver-white Crystal Core.

The vine coiled around the Crystal Core and handed it to Ye Bai.

Ye Bai casually tossed the core to the Thousand Changes Silkworm, who was staring at him with eager eyes.

After devouring the Crystal Core, a new skill suddenly appeared in the Thousand Changes Silkworm's skill bar: Steelize (1/100) [Entry Level].

But the next second, Ye Bai was astonished to find that the proficiency of this Steelize skill was skyrocketing.

The Steelize skill proficiency quickly reached Familiar, while the Thousand Changes Silkworm's Harden skill vanished entirely, replaced by Steelize.

"So, when the Thousand Changes Silkworm devours a Crystal Core, the skill it comprehends automatically merges with similar low-tier skills?"

"That's a bit ridiculous."

Ye Bai blinked his eyes, an expression of disbelief spreading across his face.

Asking for votes, and by the way, explaining why the protagonist doesn't reveal the Eye of Insight: first, at the start, the Awakening Stone detected that the protagonist's awakened talent was Eidetic Memory. If he suddenly gained the Eye of Insight talent, he'd definitely be targeted, and they'd investigate where that talent came from.

Second, if he revealed this talent, he'd also be hunted by other nations, ending up in the same situation as Li Weiyang.