I really am going to control you, Haki Rat

With that thought, Su Lin looked toward Grant. He was just about to speak when a thin streak of yellow light suddenly flashed past the edge of the bushes on the right side of the woods in the corner of his eye.

"What's that?" Su Lin immediately turned to look at Grant.

Following the direction of Su Lin's finger, Grant narrowed his eyes slightly. It could already be considered nighttime, and his eyesight had improved to a certain degree. His gaze pierced the dim light and caught the little creature's profile as it paused for an instant at the roots of the second tree.

Pointed ears, round eyes, a long tail, and a coat of short, golden-yellow fur that almost seemed to flow, with a small tuft of bright white fluff at the tip of its tail.

"It looks like a Lightning Rat." Grant raised his eyebrows in some surprise, then frowned. "Strange. Lightning Rats are usually grayish-white or silvery-white. How come I've never seen a yellow one like this... Hmm? Wait, its speed..."

The Soul King abruptly broke off, a trace of grave astonishment flashing through his usually steady eyes.

In that brief instant just now, the little creature had sprung from the roots to the fork of another tree. The movement had taken almost no time at all, leaving an afterimage half a foot long.

Clearly, that speed far exceeded what an ordinary three-hundred-year-old Lightning Rat should have possessed.

"So it's a mutant," Grant said in realization.

Within the Douluo Continent's system of Soul Beasts, the word "mutant" meant rarity and uniqueness, a departure from the conventional lineage that possessed some special quality that could not be replicated.

A mutant?

Something stirred in Su Lin's heart. He hurriedly pointed in the direction where the streak of yellow light had vanished. "Uncle Grant, I want this one!"

"All right!"

Hearing this, Grant did not hesitate at all. He scooped Su Lin up under one arm, spread his wings with a powerful snap, and became a bolt of pitch-black lightning beneath the night sky, racing after the vanished streak of yellow light.

Su Lin also got an early taste of flying at low altitude.

"Whoa, this little fellow can really run." Grant's voice drifted into Su Lin's ears in snatches through the wind, his tone actually carrying a measure of admiration.

The mutant Lightning Rat had clearly realized that a powerful enemy was pursuing it. Its escape route grew increasingly tricky, veering left and right, sometimes making sharp turns close to the ground, sometimes leaping onto high branches, trying to use the complicated terrain to shake off its pursuer.

It was only the size of an ordinary tabby cat, and it darted and twisted through the dense branches almost without obstruction. An ordinary Soul Master could only have eaten its dust. Unfortunately for it, it had encountered Grant, a level fifty-seven Agility Attack System Battle Spirit Master.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, purple.

Five Soul Rings bloomed in sequence behind Grant, forming a multicolored halo in the darkness: two yellow and three purple, the standard configuration for a Soul King.

Looking down at the mutant Lightning Rat still weaving through the trees, Grant's gaze turned cold, and the innermost Yellow Soul Ring blazed with light.

First Soul Skill: Shadow Wing Swift Assault!

A rich, deep-purple glow enveloped the edges of Grant's wings, coating the edges of those gray-black wing membranes in a thin layer of flowing purple light.

With the enhancement of his first Soul Skill, Grant's speed abruptly rose another notch. In a mere instant, he landed in the mutant Lightning Rat's path, cutting it off outright.

"!" Startled, the mutant Lightning Rat erupted with electrical arcs, every hair standing on end, its eyes filled with terror. Its forepaws abruptly braked its charge, and its body twisted sharply at an angle that defied inertia. Golden lightning crackled around it, bursting into tiny sparks as it turned to flee through a gap at the side.

But how could Grant give it a chance to escape? The second Yellow Soul Ring behind him lit up in response, its rich glow spreading outward like ripples.

Second Soul Skill: Corrosive Sound Bewildering Barrier!

His enormous bat wings vibrated rapidly at high frequency. Grant opened his mouth slightly, and dense shadow Soul Power erupted in a fan-shaped sonic wave.

The invisible sonic wave spread outward in a semicircle, extending a full thirty meters in radius. Wherever it passed, leaves fluttered and scattered, the air shook with layers of visible ripples, and a humming sound enveloped the entire area.

As the mutant Lightning Rat sprinted headlong, it felt a muffled buzz inside its head. Almost without pause, all four of its little legs went limp at once. Its forward momentum sent it crashing into the tree trunk ahead with a bang, and it promptly fell asleep.

Grant folded his wings and landed lightly before it, setting Su Lin down.

"How about it?" Grant asked with some anticipation. "Judging by its size, this Lightning Rat should be over three hundred years old. It's just right for you to absorb, Little Lin."

[Lightning Rat]

[Base stats: high]

[Evaluation: an exceptionally outstanding Starter Pokémon]

Su Lin glanced at the panel's evaluation, unable to suppress the upward curve of his lips. "This is the one!"

"Great!" Overjoyed, Grant hurriedly said, "Little Lin, try capturing it first. I'll stand guard for you."

"Thank you, Uncle!" Su Lin replied. He came before the mutant Lightning Rat and rubbed his hands together, equally delighted, then chuckled. "Haki Rat, this time I really do have to control you!"

The capture process was extremely simple. He merely threw the Poké Ball in his hand toward it.

As it approached the Lightning Rat, the silvery-gray metal ring at the center of the Poké Ball rotated on its own, scattering tiny silver-blue sparks where the metal rubbed together.

With a soft click, the Poké Ball slowly sprang open to either side along the perfect dividing line between red and white. A soft yet highly penetrating milky-white beam poured out from inside the shell, releasing a powerful suction that drew the entire Lightning Rat inside.

Su Lin felt a violent wave of dizziness strike deep within his mind, as though his entire being had been pulled out of his body and stuffed into another dimension.

The forest, the moonlight, and Grant's concerned face in his field of vision began to twist and distort. Their colors faded and their outlines dissolved, replaced by a boundless grayish-white void.

He stood there with nothing beneath his feet and nothing above his head. Uniform, gentle grayish-white light surrounded him in every direction, with no boundaries, no sense of direction, and not even a shadow.

An inexplicable feeling told him that this was his mental world.

"Squeak!"

Just then, a piercing cry rang out from the sky.

Su Lin looked up and saw a golden-yellow shape fall from above, landing with a splat on the ground before him.

"Squeak! Squeak! Squeak!"

The Lightning Rat flipped over and sprang up from the ground the moment it landed. Its amber eyes were wide and round, and its gilded-looking fur bristled until it became a ball of fluff. Crackling golden arcs coiled around it, threads of electricity as fine as hair roaming and leaping across its body as it adopted an extremely aggressive posture toward Su Lin.