Chapter 735: Skill Mastered

Moon and his team stepped out of the gate, reappearing in the residential district where it had opened.

One of the watchers monitoring the gate for abnormalities spotted them immediately and relayed the news through his communication device. Moments later, the Association representative emerged from the command tent, a massive grin splitting his face.

"Sir Moon! And the whole team, back safe and sound." He strode over, practically beaming. "And so quickly! I’ll be honest, we didn’t expect a clearance this fast. The Association is going to be very pleased."

"The team did well," Moon said easily. "It was a clean run with no real trouble."

"Modest as ever." The representative clasped his hands. "Truly, it’s an honor to have hosted this operation. Your contribution points for this clearance will be credited immediately, and I’ll make sure the report reflects the efficiency of the work."

They exchanged a few more pleasantries, the representative commending each member in turn, before moving on to business.

Moon and the team emptied their storage rings, laying out all the beast corpses they’d collected, the canines, the boars, and the two apex specimens. The representative arranged for an immediate appraisal and purchase on the spot, the Association buying the entire haul then and there.

The split was straightforward. Each of the four members took a quarter of the total bounty, and once the bodies were sold, each share came out to roughly thirty million dollars.

It wasn’t bad, but it was nothing substantial, not compared to the hundreds of millions Rivergate had produced. The division was based purely on headcount rather than contribution, an even four-way split regardless of who had done what.

Moon didn’t mind in the slightest. He’d taken this gate to train Honeybun, earn contribution points and level his new taming skills, not for the payout. The thirty million was a pleasant bonus on top of what he’d actually come for.

After pocketing the money, he bid the team farewell.

"Good working with all of you," he said before making his way out of the district, checking his skill progress as he walked.

[Hive]

[Order: Second]

[Rank: Rare]

[Proficiency: 50%]

[Details: Establishes a mental link between all of the Beastmaster’s active beasts, allowing them to share instincts and coordinate their movements. Each additional beast in the hive grants the others increased attack speed, reaction speed, and resistance to status effects. The bonuses stack up to five beasts. +15% Attack Speed, +15% Reaction Speed, +15% Damage Reduction]

The bonuses had tripled upon reaching half proficiency, exactly the kind of scaling he expected from a Rare-ranked skill. Fifteen percent bonuses across the board at only fifty percent, and it would climb higher still as his beasts kept coordinating.

[Shared Senses]

[Order: Second]

[Rank: Rare]

[Proficiency: 25%]

[Details: Links the Beastmaster’s vision with one companion for 30 seconds. The beastmaster can see through the beast’s eyes and detect creatures within its perception range. +14% Perception]

Shared Senses lagged behind, at only twenty-five percent. Partly because he’d used it far less, the thirty-second duration and short cooldown limiting how often he could drill it. And unlike Hive, which climbed through his beasts’ actions, the more they coordinated the more it rose, Shared Senses only advanced when Moon actively used it himself.

Hive practically levels itself as long as my beasts are fighting together. Shared Senses I’ll need to be more in touch with. Still, I’ve got plenty of time. The class duration’s got hours left, and both will keep climbing the more I use them.

Moon boarded the orbital back to his zone and settled into the VIP section. As always, he made his way to the training room and got to work with Mirage and Honeybun.

Time passed in a blur.

Before he knew it, the landing announcement chimed overhead.

"Attention passengers, we will descend to the orbital station shortly..."

Moon checked his skill progress with a satisfied smile.

Throughout the entire trip, he’d kept Hive active. It drained a considerable amount of mana to sustain continuously, but that was fine. He wasn’t under any threat, and his mana recovery rate was far above average, especially after the constitution and mana boosts he’d accumulated. The constant drain and his steady regeneration more or less balanced out, letting him hold the link the whole way while his beasts drilled their coordination.

He’d also used Shared Senses dozens of times, cycling it through its cooldown again and again. The skill was excellent, but using it so frequently came with a cost. The constant shift in field of view, the disorienting jump from his own perspective into a beast’s and back, left him faintly nauseous after a while. But his high constitution and improved physical body let him recover quickly between uses, and before long he’d acclimated to the sensation entirely, pushing through without any further issue.

[Shared Senses]

[Proficiency: 76%]

[Hive]

[Proficiency: 99%]

"So close," he murmured, eyeing the Hive counter sitting just short of completion.

As he spoke to his pets and prepared to disembark, the final point ticked over, and the skill completed.

[Hive]

[Order: Second]

[Rank: Rare]

[Level: MAX]

Hive was his now, fully mastered. A permanent addition to his beast-taming pathway, and with his growing menagerie, an increasingly valuable one.

Five beasts stacked at max proficiency would grant meaningful buffs across the board, turning his companions into a coordinated force rather than a collection of individuals.

Shared Senses is the only one left, and it should be easy to complete in an hour or two at most.

He stepped off the orbital with Mirage and Honeybun trailing behind him. Unlike before, Moon no longer hid them, letting them enjoy the beauty of earth without any restraint.

Back when he was still an awakener, Moon had completely hid Mirage from any eyes on earth. But now? It was a different story.

Tom had texted him a short while earlier asking him to come by, so rather than heading home, Moon set his course for Tom’s mansion, curious what the old man wanted this time.