Chapter 42: The Waiting Game

Chapter 42: Chapter 42: The Waiting Game

Eric recalled Coal into his spiritual beast space with a soft pulse of intent, stepped out of the Cultivation Chamber, and paid the full ten-day booking fee at the front desk. Even though they had concluded their refinement in only eight days, the center’s rigid policy stated that pre-booked premium reservations were strictly non-refundable.

Not minding the minor loss of change, he was far too eager to claim his breakthrough,

Eric hurried straight toward the Riverdale branch of the Beast Tamers Association.

The grand marble hall buzzed with an ocean of active mercenaries, armored raid squads, bounty boards, and staff bustling between administrative counters. Eric bypassed the lower exploration desks and approached the central intake counter.

"Excuse me."

"Yes? How can I assist you today, explorer?" the clerk asked politely, glancing up from her holographic terminal.

"I’m here to submit an allocation request for a state-subsidized Mana Stabilizing Pill."

The clerk’s eyebrows lifted in genuine surprise before she quickly regained her professional composure. "Ah, congratulations on reaching the threshold. You’ve attained Mortal Stage Level 10, then? In that case, we need to run a biometric verification to map your mana threshold, followed by the standard government allocation documentation."

"Let’s do it."

The verification process took nearly an hour of thorough evaluation.

First, Eric had to press his palms flat against a bulky, brass-rimmed mana scanner mounted to the testing pillar. The crystal arrays hummed to life, pulsing pale blue light across his chest. The internal sensory runes meticulously mapped the turbulent pressure of gaseous mana packed within his Mana Heart, confirming peak Level 10 saturation without a shred of doubt.

After the scan came the mandatory bureaucracy. Eric filled out forms registering his tamer identity, his clean civilian record, Coal’s species classification, and their verified residential address.

Once the terminal chimed with final confirmation, Eric collected his temporary tracking slip and walked back toward the residential district.

*Twelve days for the logistics queue,* Eric calculated as he strolled down the paved avenue. *Three hundred thousand credits due upon delivery... I can gather that easily by running daily clearing operations in the grasslands. Being broke really is a full-time job, but at least the finish line is in sight.*

With Coal firmly established at Soldier Rank, rift hunting in the Mortal-tier plains was about to become an absolute walk in the park.

If municipal regulations had permitted it, Eric would have preferred diving straight into actual Soldier-rank Tier 2 rifts where elite monster drops, refined organs, and high-grade cores fetched ten times the price.

However, because Eric was still biologically anchored at the Mortal stage, Association safety bylaws strictly prohibited him from setting foot inside Tier 2 rifts. A tamer’s fragile vessel was a fatal liability in high-tier environments, and no guild gatekeeper would risk their license by letting an unevolved human pass through the barrier.

Over the next twelve days, Eric and Coal treated the Tyra Grasslands like their private harvesting grounds.

Coal’s newfound speed and raw kinetic power made tracking and slaughtering Gorgefiends almost comical.

With his advanced Skystride (Rank C), Coal could pivot mid-air off pure atmospheric pressure, descending like an obsidian thunderbolt to decapitate Level 8 and Level 9 behemoths before they could even sound their hunting calls.

Meanwhile, Eric utilized every skirmish to drill his *Shadow Steps* and *Advanced Swordsmanship*, weaving through flanking beasts with fluid precision.

They easily cleared upwards of fifty thousand credits every single afternoon. Within seven days, the required three-hundred-thousand-credit fee for the alchemical pill sat securely in his account, but Eric refused to take a rest day.

He couldn’t cultivate his own vessel any further until the breakthrough, and raw Mortal-rank mana stones were virtually useless for Coal’s refined Soldier-tier core now. With nothing to halt his momentum, he simply kept clearing the ravines from dawn to sunset.

*I can pass these high-grade cores directly to Sister Emily for Jade,* Eric thought, reviewing his system subspace at a gleaming mound of over sixty top-quality Mortal-rank stones.

*Offloading them on the commercial market would fetch a small fortune, but strengthening Emily and Jade to late or peak Mortal Stage will make Sunshine Home ten times safer once I leave Riverdale for the academy.*

*BZZZZ.*

A sharp, rhythmic pulse vibrated against his left wrist.

Eric glanced down at his arm. Bound to his wrist was a sleek, matte-silver smartband, the standard tactical gear used by high-tier hunters, completely replacing the bulky old smartphone used only by impoverished civilians. Now that his finances were healthy, spending a few thousand credits on modern hardware had been an easy decision. The band handled instant biometric verification, encrypted comms, and banking transactions with fluid speed.

A pale blue holographic projection flickered into the air above his wrist, displaying an incoming priority transmission bearing the official Beast Tamers Association crest.

He tapped the interface to accept the call. "Eric speaking."

"Good afternoon, Mr. Eric," a crisp, pleasant operator voice spoke through the smartband’s audio feed. "Your requisition for the state-subsidized Tier 2 Mana Stabilizing Pill has cleared the pharmaceutical board and arrived at the Riverdale distribution hub. You may collect it directly from our central vault, or we can dispatch an authorized armored courier to your registered residence for a nominal handling fee."

"It’s finally here?" Eric’s heart skipped a beat, a surge of adrenaline warming his veins. "Dispatch the courier to Sunshine Home on Elm Street."

"Confirmed, sir. The sealed parcel has been released to an armored priority escort. Your delivery will arrive at the premises in approximately thirty minutes. Please have three hundred thousand credits ready for immediate transfer."

The projection winked out.

Eric looked toward the sky, where Coal circled in a wide, effortless loop through the clouds.

"Thirty minutes," Eric whispered, a fierce, hungry smile spreading across his face as he began the brisk walk home.