Chapter 373: Unexpected

Shane couldn't help but smile when he sensed that the fiendish cheetah had died. His eyesight was slowly reverting to normal, but he had been able to see everything through Cosmo's eyes.

It was a little bit blurry but definitely exciting!

If Shane were, to be honest, it hadn't been long since he had begun to try out different means to attack his opponents.

Unfortunately, he didn't have an affinity, and could only attack with his physical strength, or his archery skills.

The latter was not very feasible for his plans and could only be ignored for now.

As such, he was still in the experimental phase with the spatial portal attacks.

Nevertheless, it seemed to have worked out much better than he had initially expected.

Thanks to that, Shane could defeat the fiendish cheetah extremely easily.

He was excited that everything went smoother than he could have hoped for, but his gaze was simply lingering on the Penta illusion monkey, whose hair were straight as spikes, pointing in all directions.

It was as if the little beast was electrocuted, and Shane couldn't help but smile lightly.

Since he had crossed a mana purity of [80%] it had been possible for him to tame his third beast.

Because of that, he had always been on the look out for a suitable third companion.

Not only was this important to complete one requirement from the hidden occupation he wanted to reveal, but a third companion would increase his combat prowess further.

With two soulbonds, he was already extremely strong, but with a strong third beast, it should increase exponentially.

Unfortunately, Shane had yet to figure out what exactly he wanted. The best to tame would be a newborn beast or a youngling. Their loyalty would increase at a rapid pace, and there would be more than enough time for Shane to train them while increasing their quality.

Furthermore, it was likely for a newborn beast to accept Shane as its mother, making it easier to reach a loyalty of 100%.

Umbra was one example of a similar scenario, while Cosmo had also reached a loyalty of 100%. However, Cosmo was an exception in Shane's opinion. He had almost sacrificed his life to save the little Lesser Starlet fox, a beast with an extreme sense of loyalty.

As such, it was not as difficult to attain perfect loyalty as he had expected.

However, with the third tamed beast, it would have to be different, and Shane couldn't help but eye the Penta illusion monkey.

'Umbra's attack and defensive capabilities are already strong, and Cosmo is a great support to initiate ambushes and lethal blows! Another means to support wouldn't be bad...or should I maximize my means to attack? Umbra isn't really fast, which decreases the potential strength he can showcase. It is only because of Cosmo that Umbra has been able to exhibit his entire potential strength…'

There were many things Shane had to pay attention to, and he knew that it would take some time to take everything into consideration.

He couldn't afford to make a mistake with something so important after all.

While Shane was deep in thoughts, the Penta illusion monkey wondered what it should do. 

There was not much, to begin with, and from what it had perceived during the battle, Shane seemed to be oblivious to the distorted sight the fiendish cheetah's ability caused.

As such, the Penta illusion monkey could only think that its own illusions would be useless too!

Without the ability to fight properly against beasts with high combat prowess, the monkey's only means to defend itself were its illusions.

Even if its perception might be wrong, the smallest possibility of illusions being useless on Shane made the Penta illusion monkey shiver in fright.

It would prefer to fight hundreds of opponents to become stronger, but not Shane!!

Shane was not resistant to any kind of illusion, and he would have to use every ounce of willpower to defeat the Penta illusion monkey.

However, the small money was oblivious to this, and could only desperately think of a way to not be killed with a single swing of Shane's scimitar.

A few hours passed before their battle started, and not even his passive skill [Hunter's mind] was enough to calm Shane.

He was hopeful of his victory, but a sliver of worry could be seen deep within his eyes.

The moment at which the battle between him and the Penta illusion monkey started, Cosmo had already manifested a spatial portal, allowing Shane to appear right in front of the spot it had been standing only a moment earlier.

However, instead of being forced to enter a fight of his willpower against the threat illusions might form, there was nothing but empty air in front of him.

The Penta illusion monkey was not there anymore, and goosebumps sprang up on Shane's entire body as he assumed that the monkey had already influenced his mind!

'Did he make himself invisible by playing around with my mind??' He wondered, gritting his teeth in frustration, only to hear Cosmo's surprised yelp.

Only a moment later Shane's gaze was averted to the Penta illusion monkey that had not vanished.

Suddenly the system announced his victory, and Shane could only stare at the Penta illusion monkey that had jumped outside the combat arena, the moment the battle had started.

It was extremely weird to try comprehending what had just happened, and confusion spread through Shane's mind as a shocking question of "What?" left his mouth.

Both he and the Penta illusion monkey would advance to the second round as the only ones in their group that were able to fight.

Shane knew this, and he would use this knowledge as his last resort to escape from the Penta illusion monkey's deceiving illusions.

However, to think that his opponent had done so, without even considering fighting him made Shane feel both frustrated and speechless.

There was no reason for the Penta illusion monkey to give up. At least, Shane was unable to find a strong one.

Because of that, he left the arena frustratingly.

It was great that he advanced to the second round, but he felt more annoyed than happy.

Taking a deep breath Shane forced himself to calm down.

After that, he tried to distract himself by taking a look at the battles in his surroundings.

Everyone was giving their best, and Shane figured out many interesting things.

His interest was mostly focused on creating a list of sorts to determine who was the strongest, and who he had to pay attention to because he was unable to determine their exact strength.

It was evident that some were holding back their strength, but the number of those was fairly small.

In his opinion, holding back a little bit was always important, but doing that too much would clearly show the others that one was not giving their best or was afraid.

With that in mind, one would be vigilant, which was not the goal someone would want to achieve by holding back.

The goal was to make it seem as if one was giving his or her best without being too obvious.

Shane noticed a few individuals that were struggling a lot, only to win without sustaining many injuries.

As such, they were set on his 'beware of' list.

But that was already everything, and the fights in his surrounding seemed to be less magnificent than Shane had initially expected.

'What is going on?... Is everyone holding back???'

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