Invitation!

Phantom Rhinoceros: Mutated ghost pet. Attack aptitude: 1660, Defense aptitude: 1725, Stamina aptitude: 6850, Magic aptitude: 1483, Speed aptitude: 1625. Inherent skills: Advanced Penetration, Crushing Charge, Advanced Tempering, Phantom Body, Advanced Life Recovery, Advanced Might.

After undergoing another mutation, the Phantom Rhinoceros’s size became slightly smaller, now only a head taller than Morning Breeze, but it appeared sturdier and more ferocious. What surprised Morning Breeze most was that this time, the Phantom Rhinoceros emerged with six skills—an absolute rarity among rarities. Even after years of the game's operation, it would be hard to find a pet stronger than this one.

Besides the visible attributes and skills, pets also possess a growth attribute, which is hidden and can only be determined through calculation. No one had ever owned a Phantom Rhinoceros before, so Morning Breeze didn’t know its growth value, but he could imagine it must be top-tier, probably not much inferior to a divine beast.

Back in the main city, Morning Breeze didn’t hesitate—he took out his advanced pet skill books and, following his prior experience with timing, taught new skills to the Phantom Rhinoceros. As long as “Phantom Body” wasn’t replaced, he didn’t mind losing other skills. Applying skills is an art in itself, as the order of skills is important and there are both overwrite and insert modes. If you want to preserve a special skill, skill application must be precise.

For example, since “Phantom Body” is in the fourth position, he couldn’t apply a skill to overwrite or insert at the fourth slot. Advanced Penetration increases crit chance by 20%—a must-have for physical attack pets. Crushing Charge is a dash skill, a unique skill for the Phantom Rhinoceros but not particularly useful. Advanced Tempering boosts defense, Advanced Life Recovery restores health, and Advanced Might increases damage. Morning Breeze aimed to remove Crushing Charge and Advanced Life Recovery, while preserving the rest.

However, applying skill books is highly random. On his first try, “Crushing Charge” was removed; on the second, “Advanced Might” disappeared. After using ten skill books, Morning Breeze finally achieved perfection.

Phantom Rhinoceros: Mutated ghost pet. Attack aptitude: 1660, Defense aptitude: 1725, Stamina aptitude: 6850, Magic aptitude: 1483, Speed aptitude: 1625. Inherent skills: Advanced Penetration, Advanced Assault, Advanced Tempering, Phantom Body, Advanced Vampirism, Advanced Divine Protection.

Advanced Penetration: Passive skill. Increases physical critical chance by 20%.
Advanced Assault: Passive skill. Increases physical damage by 20%, and attacking from behind the enemy grants an additional 10% damage.
Advanced Tempering: Passive skill. Increases defense by 20%, reduces physical damage taken by 15%.
Phantom Body: Passive skill. While out of combat, the Phantom Rhinoceros can enter a separate space and ambush enemies within, landing guaranteed critical hits with 50% additional damage. In this space, it can see stealthed enemies and attack them.
Advanced Vampirism: Passive skill. After dealing physical damage, restores 30% of that damage as health. Ineffective against ghosts, elementals, undead, or mechanical creatures.
Advanced Divine Protection: Passive skill. Upon death, the pet has a 30% chance to convert incoming damage into health.

“Let’s see who dares ambush me in the wild now!” Except for Hunters, pets can’t be used in arenas or dungeons, but they can be used in the open world. With a pet as overpowered as Morning Breeze’s, if a Beastmaster Hunter got their hands on it, few could rival them. If the Hunter class saw Morning Breeze’s pet, they’d likely look down on him. For now, non-Hunter classes can’t use pets in the arena, so Morning Breeze’s pet is mostly for open-world fun. Was it really necessary to go this far?

Screenshot, print!

Morning Breeze immediately took a screenshot of the Phantom Rhinoceros’s stats and printed it out with the studio’s printer as a keepsake. Such a formidable pet was certainly worth collecting. He had done the same with his Sandstorm Birdman—capturing its stats for future bragging rights. Anyone who tried to flaunt their pet in front of him would be left speechless.

“Sister Ye Xin, you’re amazing! You even caught a Phantom Tiger.” Morning Breeze was about to check the kitchen for a late-night snack after logging off when he heard Lin Shanshan’s voice in the living room.

Phantom Tiger? Seriously, are ghost pets so common now? Two appeared in one day?

Morning Breeze hadn’t expected that the long-legged beauty would capture a Phantom Tiger. If she leveled it up, she’d probably come challenge him. Previously, he could suppress Ye Xin’s pets, but now he risked being countered. Ghost pets all share a trait: physical damage taken is reduced by 50%. Even with the Brotherhood Sword, he might not deal significant damage.

“How many skills?” Morning Breeze found a bowl of congee in the kitchen and headed to the living room, eating as he walked. Every night, Xiaoxue would leave him a late-night snack; tonight it was his favorite, preserved egg and pork congee.

“Four skills!” Ye Xin was thrilled to have caught a Phantom Tiger. She had always disliked Morning Breeze’s show-off gamer attitude, and now she finally had her moment. Currently, there were only four ghost pets in the world, and Ye Xin owned one of the two Phantom Tigers in the China region.

It should have been a point of pride, but after Morning Breeze showed them the printed stats of his Phantom Rhinoceros, everyone was stunned. They suspected the screenshot was fake, not from the actual game. After its second mutation, the Phantom Rhinoceros's stats had soared, especially its defense aptitude at a staggering 1725—far beyond what a Phantom Tiger could match.

“I just caught it too! Then it mutated again, gained six skills, and I managed to apply a few more successfully.” Morning Breeze spoke calmly as he sipped his congee. The ladies seemed convinced, turning to look at him.

Zhang Xinting, a former pro player, was the most shocked. She clearly understood that this pet was beyond exceptional. If a Beastmaster Hunter obtained it, with its high attack and defense, it would be like wielding both a weapon and a shield warrior combined.

“What a waste, Duan Morning Breeze. You’re not a Hunter—what do you need such a good pet for? You should give it to Sister Xinting!” Lin Shanshan immediately criticized him. Warriors can’t use pets in the arena, so this pet would only be useful for leveling. If Survival Hunter Zhang Xinting had it, her strength would increase significantly.

“I can’t afford such a rare pet!” Zhang Xinting knew the Phantom Rhinoceros’s value—it was a mutation within a mutation, with six excellent skills and no trash ones. It was practically a divine beast. Its appearance alone could fetch a fortune, let alone its stats.

“Do you have more Mutation Potions?” Ye Xin evidently wanted to follow Morning Breeze’s example and use potions to further mutate her Phantom Tiger, raising its stats and skills.

“I do, but are you daring enough to use them?” Morning Breeze could give Ye Xin the potions, but worried she wouldn’t dare. “Your Phantom Tiger isn’t mutated yet, so you can use two Mutation Potions. But after mutation, there’s a good chance its stats could decrease or it could lose skills. You need to think carefully.”

Ye Xin’s Phantom Tiger was already powerful. She could mutate it further, but whether it would get stronger was uncertain. Pets mutated with potions weren’t always improved; some ended up with poor stats. Mutation was an evolution, but the extent was unpredictable. The Phantom Tiger was already top-tier—further mutation might only affect its skills.

“I’m not afraid!” Ye Xin’s gaze was resolute. She never admitted defeat. Since Morning Breeze had a game-breaking Phantom Rhinoceros, her Phantom Tiger had to match that level. But as for skill application, she was clueless—no one had figured out the process yet. How had Morning Breeze done it so precisely?

“All right, I’ll mail you the potions in-game later!” With the printed screenshot in hand, Morning Breeze returned to his room and, after logging in, mailed Ye Xin four Mutation Potions. The Phantom Tiger could only use two, but he sent her two extra for experimenting with other pets to see if she could get a powerful one.

No sooner had Morning Breeze logged in than he received a message from the elven princess “Eternal Song.” She had received a racial quest, requiring her to team up with four elven players to complete the level 25–30 Heroic dungeon “Wrath of the Trolls” and retrieve the Sunblade dropped by the elves. The quest demanded that they secure the world’s first clear of the level 25–30 Heroic dungeon. Every country’s elven princess received this quest, but only the first group to complete it would obtain the Sunblade.

The level 25–30 dungeon! Each country’s version was different. This was the final dungeon before players entered the vast “Ogras” world map, which featured many advanced raids, solo dungeons, hidden instances, and introduced military units. Player creativity would be unleashed. The 25–30 dungeon was the ultimate test—its difficulty made the world-first clear a daunting challenge. Facing level 30 bosses at level 25, and on Heroic difficulty, was tough even for pro players, let alone regular ones.

“Why did they invite me for this dungeon?” Morning Breeze was puzzled. The Dust Team had so many pros—why choose him? Moreover, this quest’s reward was a racial enhancement, boosting elf players to High Elf status with more powerful magical perception. Gaining recognition from a high-tier race was extremely difficult; in his previous life, Morning Breeze never had a chance to boost his racial power.

If he could gain the racial upgrade at level 30, with his dual-talent class and maxed-out skills, he could dominate the new world map for a time.

“There aren’t many high-level elf pros in the team, especially tanks. I thought, since you achieved the world-first Heroic kill in the Withered Treant dungeon, your skills must be impressive. With your gear, no one is more suitable.” Eternal Song’s quest was crucial, but the Dust Team’s main group had only two elven pros—a Rogue and a Hunter. Eternal Song herself was a Mage, and they lacked a tank and healer.

Ordinarily, teams competed fiercely and would never let outsiders get such a valuable quest reward, but the Dust Team couldn’t find a strong enough elven Priest, so they had to collaborate. An elven Priest was found quickly, since the Stealth talent was also good for Priests. Finding a tank was harder. Elf talents weren’t suited for tanks; Dwarves, Barbarians, and Humans were the usual choices.

After much deliberation, the Dust Team thought of Morning Breeze. After all, he had claimed the first Heroic kill in the Withered Treant dungeon, had two Brotherhood Swords, and, as Eternal Song speculated, likely had both Berserker and Shield talents, making him an ideal tank.

Being praised by a radiant “Elven Princess” for his skill was a delight, and he was intrigued by the quest. “Alright, I’ll be level 25 by tomorrow morning!” he agreed.

With that, Morning Breeze planned to grind all night for level 25, so they could run the dungeon the next day. But first, he decided to check out the evening’s grand auction at the Eternal Auction House.