Chapter 758: Broken

Moon pulled out his phone as he made his way from the gate, checking the messages that had piled up during his days on the island.

The first batch came from Tom. The old fox had sent over a list of gate expeditions and their dates, keeping Moon in the loop on everything available.

Unfortunately, he’d already missed a few. But none of them were worth regretting, C-Rank gates, low-stakes and uninteresting, the kind of thing he only bothered with when he wanted to train a beast or had nothing better to do.

On the brighter side, several gates were still up for grabs, and a handful of them were B-Rank. Those were worth his time. Better Life gains, stronger teammates to copy classes from, and more contribution toward the Sacred-Rank art.

At his current level of power, Moon was too strong for normal B-Rank gates, but was too weak for A-Rank gates. He could easily five-star beasts without any trouble, but he also struggled profoundly against Surpasser rank beast.

He fired off a quick reply to Tom.

I’ll take the B-Rank gates starting from tomorrow, sign me up for whatever’s still open. Also, Honeybun hit Surpasser and I killed a Surpasser leopard myself today. Long story, I’ll tell you in person. Thanks for the tortoise blood, it did more than you can imagine.

Then he scrolled to the messages from Selene.

She’d sent them a few hours earlier, and reading through them, a soft smile crossed his face. Little updates about her training, a complaint about Emma’s teasing, a photo of some dish she’d apparently learned to cook, and a question about when he’d be back, trailing off with a casual "no rush" that didn’t quite hide that she’d been wondering.

Moon typed out his replies as he walked, answering each message warmly.

He pocketed the phone and quickened his pace toward home.

Days of fighting and growing behind him, and now, for a little while, home.

On his way home, Moon felt a massive shift in the energy around him.

His face darkened, and he raised his guard instantly, his senses sharpening. It took him only a few seconds to recognize the sensation, the telltale pressure of space tearing.

A gate was opening right here, before his very eyes.

"Everybody evacuate!" he shouted, his voice moving across the street. "A gate’s appearing, move, now, get clear!"

The people around him startled, heads turning in alarm, but the moment they realized who was speaking, they obeyed without hesitation. Most of them were weak Awakeners or Nulls with no combat ability, and they scattered, running for their lives, clearing the area as fast as their legs could carry them.

Moon watched the gate tear open, his brows furrowing.

Since he was on the scene, he decided to secure the perimeter. It was one of the unspoken duties of Evolvers strong enough to handle it, protecting civilians when a gate appeared unexpectedly in a populated area.

The gate itself wasn’t strong. A First Order gate, and Moon was a Second Order being now, far beyond anything it should contain. Still, it radiated unusual power for its order, at least A-Rank by the pressure pouring off it, strong for a First Order gate even if trivial to him.

He didn’t bother calling the Association. Others on the street had already done so, their panicked reports surely flooding the emergency lines. Not to mention the special equipment the association uses to immediately know when a gate appeared.

But before the Association’s members could arrive to properly secure it, the gate began to swirl, ominously, and Moon’s expression tightened.

This gate isn’t normal.

Without hesitation, he placed several siege runes around the gate’s perimeter, moving fast, encircling it.

"Roarr!!"

Just as he finished, a roar split the air, and beasts began to flood out of the gate in a surging torrent.

"A broken gate," Moon muttered. "Didn’t expect to see one of these again."

Broken gates were a rare natural phenomenon. Ordinary gates were sealed, holding their contents until one or two clearance teams failed within a set time. Broken gates obeyed no such rules. Moments after appearing, they vomited out all their beasts at once, as if their sole purpose was to unleash destruction on everything around them.

Theories abounded about why they existed. Some scholars claimed they were unstable gates, unable to contain their contents. Others argued they were mutations, aberrations dangerous to humanity. None of the explanations were concrete.

Right now, Moon didn’t care why they existed. He simply besieged everything that poured out. At his level of power, a single siege rune could contain at least ten First Order beasts, and with the many runes he’d placed, he immediately trapped the entire flood of escaping creatures, the beasts snarling and thrashing against invisible barriers, held fast.

He didn’t bother killing them. Instead, he looked around for any Awakeners still in the area who might benefit from the opportunity.

He spotted a young girl about twenty meters away, clutching a staff, watching the scene unfold with a grim expression.

"Hey, you!" Moon called out.

She didn’t react, lost in her own thoughts.

"I said you, in the blue robe!"

The girl jolted, looking around to confirm he was actually addressing her. "Yes, you," Moon said. "I’m talking to you. Come here and kill these beasts."

"But... I can’t," she stammered, shrinking back. "I’m too weak. I don’t have the strength to fight something like that, I’ve awakened just recently, barely a month ago."

Moon studied her for a moment, then reached into his storage ring and tossed a weapon toward her.

An S-Rank First Order staff, arcing through the air for her to catch. "Use this. It’ll give you a decent boost. And the beasts are already weakened and contained by my runes, they can’t move properly, can’t fight back. You’ll be able to handle them."

The girl caught the staff and stared at it, then at Moon, utterly stunned. An S-Rank weapon, handed to her, a stranger, just like that.

A level of item she could never have dreamed of owning.

"What are you waiting for?" Moon prompted, a hint of amusement in his voice. "Why are you taking so long? You won’t get a chance like this again, a field of helpless beasts and a weapon that’ll let you cut through them. Use it wisely. Go on."

The girl’s grip tightened on the staff, disbelief etched on her face, and she looked from the contained, struggling beasts to the powerful weapon in her hands to the famous Evolver who had just handed her a fortune and an opportunity in a single breath.