Limitless Fortune: I Collect SSS-Rank Skills as Payment-Chapter 165: Beast Cores

—

[Name: Lucien Goldveil]

[Race: Human]

[House: Goldveil Viscount Lineage]

[Class: The Empty Throne (Unique)]

[Secondary Classes: Enchanter, Mage, Devourer, Assassine, Beast Master, BroodKing]

[Rank: Apprentice (Peak)]

[Title: None]

[Talent: Exceptional]

[Attributes]

Strength: 630

Physique: 312

Agility: 760

Endurance: 720

Vitality: 200

Intelligence: 605

Perception: 890

Charisma/Charm: 72

Dexterity: 118

Willpower: 105

Mana: 350/350

Lifespan: 10 (extra)

[Unique Stat: Origin]

[Current Origin: 1 point]

[Use of Origin: Locked]

[Affinity: Earth (Rare), Fire (Rare), Shadow (Rare)]

—

Sitting on a futon in an empty room, Lucien scanned his entire status screen, feeling incredible.

Seeing most of his stats already crossing 500 points marks, he felt that it was too easy.

It was so easy that Lucien doubted whether he could farm points like this until he could have thousands.

Wouldn't he be invincible at that time?

Although there was a body cap that restricted him from using all the power, he could always increase the limit. Just like awakening the Dragon King's physique.

To be honest, it felt too tempting.

[Power without origin is worthless and can easily be stolen. The host is advised not to look at the quantity but the quality of power. It is better to go to a wider world and increase your perspectives.]

Just as Lucien was tempted, his system suddenly sent a crisp sound directly into his mind, waking him up.

'Power without origin can be easily stolen? What do you mean?'

Lucien couldn't help but get confused by the prompt. Did it mean someone could steal his stats just like he did with Debt Collection?

If it were possible, then what was the use of his golden finger at that time?

Unfortunately, after warning him a bit, the system went silent again, refusing to answer anymore.

Lucien could only put aside the confusion and focus on what was important.

'Hmm, although all the stats have increased, Agility, Endurance, and Perception have increased a lot. Maybe, because most of the people in the auction were mercenaries and assassins.'

He thought.

If his guess was correct, a normal late or peak stage Weaver rank powerhouses generally have their stat around 500 points.

Of course, someone like Zeyvyr might possess far more than that. Even Velamara, when he awakened his ancient Vermilion bloodline, could easily surpass such a threshold.

Still, it was a reasonable benchmark for that stage of power.

Seeing himself already surpassing seven hundred points in Agility and Endurance, with Perception soaring above eight hundred, Lucien couldn't help but feel a touch of pride.

After all, he was still at the peak of the Apprentice rank. True, that was only because he had yet to undergo his class ascension, but it was impressive nonetheless.

'Sigh… unfortunately, I've once again reached my body's limit. It seems I'll have to go through class ascension once I enter the Shadow Kingdom.'

Lucien decided and stood up, heading towards the training room.

While it was true that this time, his gain was massive in terms of stats, this wasn't all the gain he got.

To be honest, if he fully opened his status panel, it was so long that it might take him a moment to read through it all.

All of that because of the skills he got during today's feast of collecting debts.

Currently, his status panel was filled with tons of E and D rank skills that he had no use for, at least not yet.

He didn't know what to do with them, as going through was a chore.

But besides those skills, Lucien also got one B-rank skill from Kurma, Celestial Weight, and the C-rank Beast companion, Crimson BroodQueen.

Those two were his biggest gains this time.

"Come out!"

As soon as he came to the large empty place in the training room, Lucien opened his beast space, ordering lightly.

"Squeak?"

"Screechhh!"

In an instant, what came into his view was a large insect nearly touching the ceiling of the training room, its many legs twitching as faint light glimmered off its chitinous body.

Unfortunately, that wasn't the main focus here, as along with Crimson BroodQueen, there was also someone else whom Lucien also forgot.

It was none other than Little Guy, the Glimmergnaw, Lucien's first pet. It seemed it had finally healed.

"Squeak? Grr…."

At first, Little Guy was confused as to why Lucien summoned him. But when he saw the massive body of an insect staring at his soul, he immediately put on his guard warily.

Initially, he wanted to warn the unknown figure that had appeared out of nowhere, but the moment he sensed its aura, he instantly deflated and rushed toward Lucien, climbing onto his shoulder and hiding behind him.

He was a monster after all. His senses were keen.

He knew that he was no match for this guy at all. His poor E-rank was no match.

"Haha…no need to get afraid, Little Guy, this is your new friend."

Lucien laughed at Little Guy and picked him up from the shoulder while caressing him lovingly.

Although for him, who was already nearing the Lord realm in strength, the E-rank rodent was of no use, he had no intention of getting rid of this guy.

After all, he owed his life to it.

"Squeak?"

It seemed the Glimmergnaw understood his words, for it tilted its head, scanning the ant before it with curious eyes.

Yet, from the way its body remained tense, it was clear he had no intention of getting close to the BroodQueen anytime soon.

After all, he was still too weak and uncertain. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Alright, let's get to the point."

Seeing that Little Guy was no longer afraid, Lucien finally turned his gaze toward the ant who had been silently watching him from the start.

She hadn't moved even when the Glimmergnaw appeared, standing still as if awaiting Lucien's command with mechanical obedience.

Lucien didn't dwell on her strange composure. Instead, he suddenly drew out a glimmering gem from thin air.

"I did say that if you did everything as I ordered, I would reward you, didn't I? Let this monster core be your reward, and a gift for joining a new family."

He then smiled as he tossed the glowing red bead lightly toward the massive insect. From his expression, the bead seemed small, almost unremarkable.

Only—

"Screeeechhhh!"

"Squeak? Squeak… Squeak… Squeak…"

The reaction of both the Ant Queen and Little Guy was anything but calm.

The instant the bead appeared in Lucien's hand, both Ant Queen and Little Guy looked directly at it almost instantly.

It was as if some rare treasure had appeared that they couldn't wait to snatch.

And when Lucien so lightly threw it to the Crimson BroodQueen, saying it was a reward, for the first time, she showed a reaction.

Although Lucien couldn't feel it through her facial expression, from the connection, he could feel that she was surprised and extremely so.

After all, the thing Lucien just threw was a Monster Core. And the lowest of low monster cores could only be found in a Weaver Rank Beast.

That meant the thing Lucien just gave her as a reward was just as valuable as her. How could she not be surprised?

"Swoosh!"

The moment the bead left Lucien's hand, hurtling toward her, the Crimson BroodQueen vanished from her spot as if swallowed by shadows.

"Screcch!"

In the blink of an eye, her razor-sharp, almost grotesque mandibles clamped around the tiny bead, crushing it with terrifying force… and swallowing it whole.

It didn't even take a second.

She knew that this thing was too precious. Precious enough for her to lose her composure.

After all, unlike humans, beasts could directly level up their power by devouring a monster core. It was a viable option for their evolution, although a bit too costly.

"Squeak….Squeak…"

While Crimson BroodQueen swallowed her reward and started to refine the beast core on the spot, someone went completely mad with anger.

And it was none other than our Little Guy.

The poor guy couldn't even properly admire the bead that almost shattered his heart in greed before it disappeared.

How could he not be mad? If Lucien wasn't grabbing him strongly, he was about to go fight that Ant.

He didn't even care whether he would die from just her breath.

"Okay, stop it for fuck sake. Why are you so mad when you can't even devour a beast core?"

Lucien finally couldn't take his tantrum anymore and smacked some sense into the Little Guy with the back of his hand.

This guy was just an E-rank beast. If he dared to eat that beast's core, he could die almost instantly, no doubt.

"Sqeak…"

But the Glimmergnaw were known for their greed after all.

Although Little Guy came to his senses after being smacked on the head, he couldn't help but look at Lucien innocently, as if he was wronged.

It was almost as if saying, 'even if I can't eat it, I can at least keep it close.'

"Okay, no need to play such a cheap trick on me. When did I say I won't give you anything?"

Lucien rolled his eyes speechlessly and once again took out another gem from thin air, garnering the attention of both the rodent and ant.

Although the gem this time was smaller and less lustrous than before, it was still a bona fide beast core.