One Week Later…
BAM!
"Don't tell me not to slam the table!"
The thick wooden desk shook violently as the man's fist struck it again. His face was red with fury, veins bulging across his forehead.
"What do you mean?!" he roared. "Lu Feng has been missing ever since he went to the Beginner Forest?!"
The servant standing in front of him lowered his head nervously, trying to keep his voice calm despite the pressure in the room.
"Master… please calm yourself."
The man who had slammed the table was extremely wealthy, dressed in expensive silk robes. He had a huge belly and rather unpleasant facial features that made him look somewhat ugly, but the burning anger in his eyes made him appear even more terrifying.
He clenched his teeth and grabbed the edge of the table.
"You're telling me to calm down?"
This time his voice was deeper, colder, and filled with suppressed rage.
"Lu Feng had an innate spirit power of 4.5!"
He took a step forward.
"That boy could have surpassed even me in the future! One day he might have become a Spirit Ancestor!"
His voice trembled slightly, but it was a tremble born from fury and frustration.
"Maybe… maybe he could have even reached the realm of a Spirit King!"
The air inside the room grew heavy.
The man slammed his fist onto the table once more.
BAM!
"And now you're telling me he went to the Beginner Forest and just disappeared?!"
The servant swallowed nervously before speaking, his voice trembling with fear.
"M-My Lord… according to the information I received from the academy…"
He lowered his head even further, afraid to meet the man's furious gaze.
"Young Master Lu Feng left the city with two orphans named Mo Long and Ling Yan."
"They went to the Beginner Forest to hunt a spirit beast for Young Master Lu Feng's second Spirit Ring."
The servant hesitated for a moment, clearly nervous.
"They reported to the academy that the spirit beast they intended to hunt was only a 60-year Iron-Biting Rat…"
His voice became even quieter.
"A beast of that level… should not have posed any real danger to three Spirit Masters…"
The servant's hands trembled slightly.
"But… since that day…"
"…none of them have returned."
Lu Hao suddenly roared in anger.
"Then why is my son missing?!"
His voice thundered through the entire hall. The servants around him trembled as he slammed his fist against the table once again.
"That Iron-Biting Rat might have a strong attack ability, but at most it would only be equivalent to a 70-year spirit beast!" he growled furiously.
"At best, it could only exhaust three Spirit Masters in a fight!"
Lu Hao's chest heaved violently as his anger boiled over.
Then he suddenly stood up.
"Release a reward notice!"
His voice was sharp and decisive.
"Anyone who finds my son alive or dead will receive 50 gold coins!"
The servants immediately stiffened at the command.
Lu Hao's expression twisted with rage as he continued.
"And bring me the corpse of that Iron-Biting Rat as well!"
His eyes burned with killing intent.
"Even if that spirit beast is the one that killed my son…"
"…it must not be allowed to live."
The servant immediately bowed deeply.
"As you command, my lord."
His voice was respectful, and his face showed perfect obedience.
But inside his mind, things were very different.
While still keeping his head lowered, the servant began thinking.
"How am I supposed to find that Iron-Biting Rat?"
He quickly did the math in his head.
The Beginner Forest was enormous.
And inside it…
there were millions of rats.
The servant complained silently in his heart.
"Wonderful…"
"What am I supposed to do now? Go into the forest and ask every rat one by one?"
A ridiculous scene suddenly appeared in his imagination.
"Excuse me… did one of you perhaps accidentally eat the young master?"
The servant was already tired just imagining it.
But he still straightened up and repeated the order with a serious expression.
"The reward notice will be prepared immediately, my lord."
Inside his mind, however, another thought appeared.
"I just hope… that rat never finds me first."
…
Meanwhile, the one truly responsible for all of this chaos, Aethryon, was completely unaware of the storm he had caused.
At that very moment, he was peacefully continuing his daily hunting routine somewhere deep within the Beginner Forest.
Sliding quietly through the grass, the small serpent patiently searched for his next meal, entirely focused on gaining more system points and becoming stronger.
Far away, people were panicking, rewards were being posted, and a wealthy lord was preparing to hunt down the so-called "murderous rat."
And yet…
Aethryon knew absolutely nothing about it.
In fact, if he ever discovered that someone had called him a rat, only the heavens knew what kind of reaction he would have.
It probably wouldn't be a very calm one.
The past week had been quite productive for Aethryon.
He had hunted almost nonstop within the Beginner Forest. Small spirit beasts, venomous insects, and even a few careless birds had all ended up as guests in his stomach.
Finally, he opened the system panel.
[System Points: 103.5]
Aethryon lightly flicked his tail.
Not bad.
In fact, he was no longer that far away from obtaining the two abilities he wanted.
He quickly did the calculation in his mind.
"Hmm… only 71.5 more points."
The thought caused Aethryon's eyes to gleam slightly.
But…
the small snake still wasn't completely satisfied.
He thought for a moment.
Then something suddenly came to mind.
Brother Lu.
The image of the chubby young man appeared in Aethryon's memory.
His tail immediately swayed with a bit of excitement.
"That one was… quite nutritious."
He paused for a moment.
Then he seriously looked around the forest.
"I wish there were more fat humans wandering around here."
It was a very tempting thought.
Unfortunately, the Beginner Forest mostly contained spirit beasts…
not fat humans.
Aethryon let out a quiet sigh.
"Truly an unfortunate situation."