In that case... I should be able to absorb the weaker Veins, as long as I can take responsibility for the Beast Tides...William realized.


    Thankfully, there was an easy solution to this. As long as the level of the Beast Tide wasn''t too high, even Atticus could handle it without an issue. Of course, William would feel bad if he put his two most importantpanions on a permanent guard-duty, so he had to find another one for the job.


    System, open the Companion Shop.


    ———


    COMPANION SHOP:


    Hatch Existing Egg: (0)


    -No Eggs Avable


    Befriend Living Beast: (0)


    -No Beasts Avable


    Companion Egg Purchase: (194 Avable!)


    -Select Egg from Bestiary: Cost Varies


    ———


    William selected the Companion Egg Purchase option, then scrolled through the Bestiary until he found something that piqued his interest. Since Atticus was added to the Bestiary, he could technically incubate an army of Rat Snakes to guard the chasm, but snakes didn''t have wings so it might not be the best terrain for them.


    me Dragons were also off the table, since they were much toorge.


    System, select ins Vulture.William ordered.


    They were small, had wings, and could use Darkness Magic at higher levels, which would be great for detecting the Beast Tides early.


    -Select Rarity.


    Select Rarity? What do you mean?


    -The Host can select the Rarity of the Egg you want to incubate, up to the highest Rarity you have incubated. Since you have a Mythical Companion already, you can purchase Companion Beast Eggs of Common, Umon, Rare, Epic, Legendary, and Mythical Rarity.


    Is there a difference in cost?


    -Of course. Common Eggs are only 5 Potential Points, Umon are 10, Rare are 20, Epic Eggs are 50 Points, Legendary are 100, and Mythical Companion Eggs are 250 Potential Points.


    -There is an additional cost to hatch the Companion Eggs, which is always 100 Points.


    -Once the Egg is hatched, the cost to upgrade the Beast from one level to the next follows the same cost as upgrading your Talents.


    William nodded in understanding, then selected the Umon option since it was the most cost-effective when one factored in the hatching cost. Not only would it cost the second least to purchase the eggs, but it would also be much cheaper to upgrade the Magical Beastspared to the higher Rarities.


    Even though Atticus was a Mythical Companion Beast, and its strength was very impressivepared to its Cultivation, William couldn''t afford to upgrade multiple Magical Beasts to the same level. It was better to have a group of Umon-Rarity ins Vultures in his opinion.


    -How many Eggs would you like to purchase?


    Hmm... let''s go with ten, for now.


    -Purchased 10 Umon ins Vulture Eggs: -100 PP


    Ten small brown eggs dotted with small specks of ck appeared in front of William, lined up evenly on the ground in front of the Lesser Lightning Vein.


    -Would you like to hatch your Eggs now? Total hatching cost will be one thousand Potential Points.


    Yes.


    The eggs glowed in unison, briefly lighting up the chasm as they cracked apart. Small beaks burst forth from the eggs one at a time, opening to release weak chirps that belonged to tiny featherless chicks.


    -Your eggs have hatched. Name your Companion Beasts.


    Name them?


    -Yes, you are required to name your Companion Beasts if they don''t already have one. How else will you know which one is which when upgrading? If they''re the same species, it''s almost impossible!


    You have a point. Alright then... what to name them?


    William decided on a simple naming method, since the ins Vultures were purely guards for this region and he was likely to forget their namester anyway.


    I''ll name you Chasm Guard One through Ten.


    -Egg Hatched: Umon ins Vulture (x10)


    -Hatched your first Umon Beast: +1 PP


    -Detected the Host has multiple Beasts of the same species and rarity. Floating name tags only visible to you will now appear above the heads of your Companion Beasts.


    William opened his System Panel immediately and looked at the price to upgrade the ins Vultures. Since he hadn''t actually seen an Umon Talent yet, William had no clue how much the upgrade would cost.


    It was funny to think about, considering he had everything from Common to Mythical Talents, but had never seen an Umon Talent.


    ———


    BEASTS:


    -Umon: ( - )


    --Chasm Guard One (ins Vulture): F (2PP to next rank)


    --Chasm Guard Two (ins Vulture): F (2PP to next rank)


    --Chasm Guard Three (ins Vulture): F (2PP to next rank)


    ...


    POTENTIAL POINTS: 21145


    ———


    Oh right, they still start at F-Rank even though my System is C-Rank. I forgot about that, but it seems that the Umon upgrades are roughly twice as much as the Common Talents. Rare are three times as much until SS-Rank, so this makes sense I guess...


    System, how much would it cost to upgrade all ten of them to A-Rank?


    -The total cost would be 7620 Potential Points.


    I can afford it. Let''s do that, then.


    -7620 PP


    The identical ins Vultures suddenly shook as Time Mana seemed toe from out of nowhere and envelop each of their bodies. Their bodies quickly grew from small chicks to the size of a full-grown adult, which would usually take upwards of five years, while their feathers formed in the blink of an eye.


    Even the cycle of feather growth and molting was repeated multiple times, as if William was watching a timpse of a vulture''s growth. It was mesmerizing, to say the least.


    The System messages appeared to confirm that they had skipped through E-Rank and were now D-Rank ins Vultures.


    He continued to watch as the adult ins Vultures developed Qi Refinement Cultivation, then quickly scaled to the peak of the Realm as if they had been there the entire time. Thick, dark clouds formed in the sky as ten ins Vultures attempted the Tribtion simultaneously, pausing the System upgrade.


    William was worried about the Tribtions affecting each other, so he quickly teleported each ins Vulture to a different location to give them enough room, then returned to his original location to watch their upgrade.


    The only problem was, the System sent a few concerning messages that made William realize he wasn''t the only one that wanted to see.


    -The Heavens are watching.


    -The Heavens are watching.


    -The Heavens are watching.


    -The Heavens are watching.


    -The Heavens... (+6 More)


    ...


    The System repeated the same message ten times, to which William promptly concealed himself with the Illusion Element.


    -The Heavens have lost track of you.


    -The Heavens are curious: +1 Attention


    -The Heavens are curious: +1 Attention


    -The Heavens are curious: +1 Attention


    -The Heavens... (+7 More)


    -Attention value has reached 10 Points. The Heavens are interested in the Host.


    His move seemed to work, but not without cost. He didn''t know what it meant for the Heavens to be interested in him, but William guessed that it wasn''t a good thing.


    Just like being too high-profile led William to temporary envement, something about the current situation told him that he was once again taking too many risks.


    I''ll have to hide before every Tribtion. I didn''t expect the Heavens to watch me during someone else''s Tribtion... is it because I''m nearby, or maybe because the Vultures are connected to me?