Chapter 719: The Golden Turtle’s New Name

Staring at the Golden Turtle, Moon’s mouth dropped open.

"You’ve reached Four-Star Evolver. Already."

Devouring the Shadow Panther’s corpse had pushed the newborn turtle from Three-Star to Four-Star in a single meal. The speed of it was staggering, a rate of progression Moon had never seen and could barely believe even watching it happen.

As expected of a Supreme-rank creature. Its potential is sky-high, and the more it feeds, the faster it climbs. Its body converts everything it consumes into raw growth at a rate that shouldn’t be possible.

He immediately started planning. Once he returned to Earth, he’d buy Surpasser-tier beast corpses, as many as he could get his hands on, and feed them to the turtle.

If I can push it to Five-Star, it becomes a powerhouse. Two of us on the same team, and we could tackle low Surpasser-tier threats without much trouble.

"Good job," Moon said, kneeling down to pat the turtle’s golden head.

He gave the southern commander an appreciative nod for guarding his companions, then glanced at Mirage. The steed had grown stronger too, from the shared feeding, though nowhere near as explosively as the newborn turtle.

Moon turned back to the Golden Turtle.

"We should find you a name. Golden Turtle works fine, but you’re part of the family now. Do you mind if I name you?"

The turtle responded through their connection, a warm feeling of assent, granting him the authority.

Moon considered it for a moment, then grinned.

"How about... Honeybun? You’re golden, sweet like honey, and, well, you’re shaped like a bun."

The Golden Turtle’s eyes glinted, and it brushed its head against Moon’s hand, clearly pleased with the name.

"Honeybun it is," Moon said, grinning foolishly.

Then the sky darkened.

Lightning cracked overhead, and a fissure split the heavens. For a single instant, a silhouette flashed across Moon’s vision, the image of a vast, flowing river suspended in the sky, ancient and endless.

Fearing another attack, Moon immediately moved to shield his companions, not focusing on the image.

"Commander, watch out for an ambush!"

The Beast Soul’s blades snapped upward, ready to intercept anything that dared to descend.

But the phenomenon didn’t last. Less than a second, and then the sky returned to normal, the fissure sealing, the river vision gone. Moon’s eyes swept the area, searching for a threat, before dropping to check on the little turtle.

The sight stopped him cold.

"What the..."

Honeybun lay collapsed on the pavilion floor. Its limbs had gone slack, splayed loosely rather than braced beneath it. Its eyes were shut, its head resting against the stone, and its breathing had settled into a slow, deep slumber.

"Honeybun! Are you okay?"

Moon dropped to his knees beside the turtle, checking it over frantically. It was breathing, its shell rising and falling gently, but it didn’t stir at his voice, didn’t respond to his touch.

After a quick check up, Moon found no wounds or any signs of injury. The small turtle was simply not with them.

"What just happened..." Moon muttered, his eyes rising back to the now-calm sky.

He replayed the flash of lightning and the vision of the river in his mind, and an inexplicable feeling of closeness washed over him, a resonance he had experienced once before.

His gaze dropped slowly back down to the unconscious turtle.

"Did it..." His voice was quiet, disbelieving. "Did it just enter the River of Paths?"

Moon stayed kneeling beside the unconscious turtle, and his mind turned over a theory he’d been quietly building for a long time, one he had told Alaric about before the second stage of the tournament started.

The River of Paths.

Almost no one knew of it. To the vast majority of humanity, S-Rank beasts were the pinnacle of what existed, the ceiling of power in the world. The concept of Supreme-rank creatures, of anything beyond S-Rank, was unknown to nearly everyone. Only a rare few carried that knowledge. Moon. Alaric. Perhaps a small handful of others scattered across the kingdoms that Moon didn’t know about, keeping the secret close.

And of those who knew Supreme creatures existed, fewer still understood what actually set them apart. In comparison, due to his numerous experiences with such beasts, Moon had formed a theory.

What makes a Supreme-rank creature different from an ordinary S-Rank beast isn’t just raw strength. It’s their connection to the River of Paths that no other beasts had.

He’d noticed it in the Three-Tailed Fox. In the way certain powerful beings moved, the way they wielded abilities with a control and depth that was beyond ordinary, even the so called ’genius’ ones, simply couldn’t match. Supreme creatures had a terrifying command over their power, whether physical or magical, a mastery that dwarfed anybody else, embedded into their very essence.

_Most humans who touch the River of Paths follow what I’d call minor paths. Small branches, or fragments of the greater current. They pull insights, techniques, and most importantly skills from the branch and even that is enough to elevate them. Alaric had risked his life twice to break out of that path, and managed to make a small path of his own, allowing him to gain a powerful skill that went beyond the standard bottleneck of Epic-Rank.

But Supreme creatures were different.

_They walk the deep channels that carry the truest, most powerful expressions of a discipline.

His eyes settled on the unconscious turtle, its breathing slow and deep, its consciousness clearly elsewhere, drawn somewhere far beyond the pavilion.

And a being that walks a major path of the River... doesn’t come away with ordinary skills.

The thought sent a thrill through him.

Hopefully Honeybun comes back with a legendary skill.

Despite all the knowledge he had gathered, Legendary-Rank skills was the epitome of what he knew was possible, and he himself only had one and it was immensely useful, helping him gain information that would have otherwise been hidden from him.

Honeybun. You just came into this world an hour ago. And already the River has opened for you.