Chapter 120: After Victory

Oliver’s face was visibly irritated by the result of the match. His eyes flared with a mixture of raw fury and embarrassment as he stared down at his fallen beast.

His pride as a Grandmaster Tamer couldn’t accept this result without a question. Decades of status, grueling combat experience, and supreme authority were stripped away in a matter of seconds.

Gritting his teeth with clenched jaws, he reached out to his downed Predator Werewolf with a dark, trembling expression. His veins bulged against his forehead, his knuckles turning stark white as he crouched beside the unconscious monster.

’No... I can’t accept this defeat. This is not real,’ he thought, his chest heaving in shallow, rapid gasps while Terrence calmly stood nearby, watching his every reaction with a cold smirk.

"Hey, my reward money? Haven’t we had a deal?" Terrence’s sarcastic tone pressed heavily onto the hurt pride of the Grandmaster.

Oliver didn’t pay attention as he assessed his beast more. His trembling fingers checked the beast’s pulse, probing the bruised chest where the pink sheep’s headbutt had landed. He desperately wanted to know where it went wrong and what he should do to improve it.

’Bonding technique. Testing and creating each failed trial. All that effort... for an ignorant kid who sells a beast?’ Oliver felt his lower lip turn warm as he bit down hard enough to draw blood. His entire body shook with an agonizing sense of humiliation.

"So, what now? You are not going to give me my reward money?" Terrence asked, tilting his head slightly while crossing his arms over his chest.

When no answer came, Terrence clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Tsk. What do I expect from an old senile who is just proud? But anyway, if you don’t give it, I don’t give a shit."

Terrence shrugged nonchalantly, dismissing the old man without a second thought as he turned around with a quiet sigh.

He walked over to face Elissandra, who was completely frozen in place. Her hands were still tightly clutching her skirt, her jaw dropped, and her wide eyes locked onto the tiny pink sheep currently sitting by Terrence’s feet. She stood paralyzed, utterly stunned by what had just transpired right before her eyes.

Everything didn’t make sense. Her mind raced to process the impossible sight—a low-rank utility creature laying out a high-rank apex predator, guided by a blindfolded tamer who hadn’t even broken a sweat.

Elissandra snapped out of her daze, her eyes darting from the panting Predator Werewolf on the ground back to the fluffy pink sheep sitting casually by Terrence’s boots. Her heart pounded against her ribs as a wave of intense excitement washed over her.

"I’ll buy it!" she blurted out, taking a sudden step forward. Her cheeks flushed with heat, but her eyes shone with absolute determination. "I want to buy this exact beast right now!"

Terrence stopped in his tracks, turning his head back to look at her with an amused glint in his eyes. He let out a light chuckle, crossing his arms.

"Slow down, kid. You went from crying about a bet to tossing your wallet at me in five seconds flat."

"I am serious!" Elissandra insisted, her posture straightening as she tried to recall her noble etiquette, though her trembling hands betrayed her eagerness. "Name your price, Terrence. I saw what it did with my own eyes. It completely overwhelmed a high-ranked combat beast while you didn’t even look! I don’t care how much it costs—my family can afford it!"

Oliver stiffened in the background, his head snapping up with a furious glare, but his throat remained dry, unable to utter a single word of objection after his crushing defeat.

Terrence looked down at the Pink Sheep, which let out a soft, adorable baa in response. He smirked slightly, resting a hand on his hip.

"You realize why it fought like that, right?" Terrence asked, his voice dropping into a calm, informative tone. "Most people look at a Pink Sheep and think it’s just a fragile, low-grade C-Rank utility beast meant for harvesting soft wool or working in farms."

Elissandra nodded rapidly. "Yes! That’s what every official record says! But... how is it so durable? How did its body bounce off a direct strike from Electric Titanium Paws?"

"Because this one isn’t a standard C-Rank anymore," Terrence explained smoothly, leaning down slightly so he was at eye level with her. "It underwent a rare mutation during its growth when I was training it, absorbing trace mana from the Hard Element."

Elissandra’s breath hitched. "Hard Element mutation...?"

"Exactly," Terrence continued, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. "Its wool and internal structure underwent a total density shift. It retains the soft, lightweight appearance of a normal sheep, but under kinetic pressure, its physical form solidifies like hardened alloy. That mutation permanently promoted its overall combat rating straight to A-Rank."

Elissandra gasped, her mind whirling. An mutated A-Rank beast hidden under the guise of an innocuous pink sheep was an absolute treasure—especially for someone in her position who needed to prove her worth to her strict family.

"A-Rank..." she whispered, her eyes glowing with absolute fascination. She looked at Terrence with newfound respect, her earlier doubts completely wiped away. "I want it even more now. Please, tell me your price."

Terrence smiled, smelling the sweet scent of a massive profit for his Gacha Shop funds.

"Well, since you’re my store’s very first official client," Terrence said, extending his hand, "I’ll give you a fair deal–!"

Suddenly, a piercing dark force laced with lightning element came from behind. Terrence was just short from dodging it, his eyes widening in horror as the air sizzled past his shoulder.

With his nape goosebumps, he slowly turned around, only to see the dark expression on Oliver’s face.

"Why did you do that?" Terrence asked all in one question, his voice dropping into a dangerous quiet. "Do you want to kill me?"

The Pink Sheep jumped to his side immediately, aiming to protect him on the next attack with its wool humming with defensive energy.

"Decades of effort were wasted just because you have some luck. I don’t know how you did it, but you must give that formula to me. How did you manage to promote a rank to an average low-rank beast." Oliver’s voice was pressed with all raw emotions, his eyes bloodshot and unhinged.

"None of your business." Terrence clicked his tongue as he summoned Noir without thinking twice.

In a shadow-soaked flash, the Iron Shadow Hound materialized. Then, with a snap of an order, Noir lashed toward Oliver.

Frozen on his position, Oliver wanted to escape but he couldn’t beneath the terrifying aura. But then, Noir passed right through him, attacking the Predator Werewolf behind him who was turning into something far more terrifying than usual.

"What did you do to your beast!" Terrence yelled, spotting a strange sight on the dirt.

Beside the dark beast was an empty, shattered glass vial.

It felt like the Predator Beast was mutating differently under the chemical influence, swelling into an unstable mutant form, but just on time, Noir had slain the dark beast in a swift snap before it could even complete its transformation. A sharp shadow blade severed its core in an instant.

"N-NO!"

Realizing what Terrence’s tame just did, Oliver fell directly to his knees before the dying Predator Werewolf. The beast fell without life, leaving only its material body fading into dust without any remaining sign of mana within it.