Chapter 162 Stake

What could the Martial Union want from him so urgently? Rui wasn't sure, but there were several general possibilities. They wanted something from him obviously, the only rea possibilities were his Apprentice Realm combat prowess and his knowledge.

Why would they want his Apprentice Realm combat prowess urgently? There was no shortage of Martial Artists in the Academy, unless the town of Hajin had suddenly been attacked by a horde of monsters or something, it was impossible for them to want his Martial prowess this desperately.

That left information, what information did he possess that the Martial Union didn't? Well, there was his scientific and combat knowledge and research from Earth, but obviously that was not why they were calling him. There was something that they knew he knew, they wanted.

Information about the latest mission? This was the only real possibility as far as Rui could think of. There was something about this mission that the Martial Union needed him for.

But he had already sent the Ministry of Ecology and Environment extensive data via the eco-survey device.

Furthermore, even if they didn't urgently summon him, he was naturally going to make his way to the Martial Union. So why the rush?

('It means there's something of such importance and magnitude, that every second matters.') Rui realized as he sprinted towards the town of Hajin.

Something to do with his mission.

Something that was extremely urgent.

Some need of theirs that only he could fulfill.

('Information about my mission definitely fits the first and third condition, but why would information about a completed mission be so urgent?') Rui frowned, when suddenly a horrifying possibility crossed his mind.

"Could it be that the beast is still alive?" Rui gasped, before calming down and shaking his head. ('That's impossible.')

He had taken extreme precautions to ensure the beast was dead, there was almost no way whatsoever that the beast could possibly be alive, unless it was immortal.

Of course, since this was a fantasy world, there were no limits. But if the beast was immortal it wouldn't have been so afraid of death and risks, yet it clearly was.

"It must be something else." Rui concluded. From his analysis, it was quite likely that the Ministry of Ecology and Environment had identified the species of the beast and had consequently discovered something about the beast that was quite alarming and required his intelligence immediately.

Maybe the beast's body self-destructed in a gigantic explosion ten minutes after its death. Thus, the Martial Union had sent him an urgent summon to save his life? The mission-tracker was not capable of facilitating two-way conversations, after all.

It was hard to say.

Rui shook his head, putting aside these superfluous thoughts, the best thing he could do right now was rush back to the town of Hajin.

As he sprinted back, the dawn had begun to crack through the veil of darkness and night, illuminating the Earth. It was only then that Rui had realized how long the fight against the beast had taken. As a beast its endurance was otherworldly, its size also allowed it to take damage from Rui's smaller attacks that didn't penetrate it too deeply.

Rui had had to pepper it with an unbelievable amount of strikes, not even Dalen would have been able to survive that onslaught if he did nothing but stand and take it.

As time passed, Rui eventually reached the town of Hajin. He had to slow down once he reached the commercial districts of the town. The morning rush was truly insufferable, making Rui glad that he spent most of his life far away from it. He wouldn't be able to deal with it on a daily basis.

Soon enough, he reached the Martial Academy.

"Apprentice Rui Quarrier."

"Miss Helga." Rui frowned, recognizing the official from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment that was in charge of his mission.

Each commission filed by the ministry to the Martial Union was handled by an individual official that kept tabs on the mission and ensured due process and protocols was being followed.

"Your arrival is timely." She informed. "Please submit the eco-survey device and proceed with the post-mission protocols immediately, we don't have much time."

"Can you inform me about the reason for the urgent summon?" Rui frowned as he handed the eco-survey device to the Martial Union staff.

She paused for a moment before replying. "I suppose we can tell you, especially since it may yield some useful results to us."

Rui's eyes sharpened at those words.

"I'll explain as we head to the commission department, we are truly short of time." She said, continuing only after they had entered an empty office in the commission department of the Martial union.

"After you fulfilled the first objective and recorded the appearance of the target of your mission, we compared the image with our database of the animal kingdom, eventually, we got a hit for its species. Unfortunately, the result was problematic."

She pulled out a device, fiddling with it until it projected and image on the table.

('Woah.') Rui careful scanned the image. It was an image of the beast he had fought.

('No not quite right. A different beast of the same species.') He realized as his eyes widened.

"This is an extremely rare species known as the earthen basilisk." She explained. "It's a species non-native to the Kandrian Empire, or any other human colony as far as we are aware. The only spotting of a creature of this species was far west of the Kandrian Empire well into the Beast Domain. We suspect that the target earthen basilisk of your mission must have migrated into the Kandrian Empire through our Mantian region, recently."

('Interesting.') Rui couldn't help but think. "So, what exactly is the problem here? What does this have to with my urgent summon?"

She hadn't yet divulged this.

"I was getting there." She replied, before continuing. "One of the few known facts about the earthen basilisk is that they're asexual hermaphrodite reproducers, meaning they reproduce without mating. The reason we summoned you urgently was because we need every ounce of information you can provide us... because this creature's reproduction rate is proportional to its diet and food consumption rate."

Rui's eyes flew wide open at that statement. The creature's reproduction rate was directly proportional to its food consumption rate? Meaning the more it ate, the more it reproduced?

"But it has done nothing but eat like a monster for the past month." he said with a pale face.

"Exactly." Helga nodded with a grim expression. "We require you to tell us everything, there is a lot at stake here. More than you can imagine."