Monster Hunter, start with a wife!

He glanced sideways at Ren Tianxing's retreating figure in the corridor.

A strange glint flashed in the eyes of Os, the vice president of the Thunder Guild.

After a moment's thought, he also stood up, knocked on the desk of Liu Changshui, the manager of Thunder Recruitment Department, and walked towards another door.

Upon seeing this, Liu Changshui quickly got up and followed him out.

He bowed deeply until Oss stopped in front of the metal wall at the end of the corridor before asking:

"Vice President, do you have any instructions?"

……

Aus repeated a similar statement to Ren Tianxing.

After explaining the possible connection between Cheng Zhuo and Huangfu Bai, he spoke calmly, yet with an undeniable air:

"Do you understand? We must sign Cheng Zhuo."

"Understood, Vice President. So, what rank should we give him?" Liu Changshui asked.

"Report a C-level contract first. When you contact us, don't forget that we have two advantages," Os instructed.

"Advantages?"

Liu Changshui quickly glanced at the documents, slapped his forehead, and exclaimed in realization:

"You mean Hou Wanli? They were best friends in school. When Hou Wanli signed the contract, he specifically mentioned wanting to be associated with Cheng Zhuo... And what's another advantage?"

With a light tap of his fingertip, Os projected an image of a young girl:

"This woman is Cheng Zhuo's ex-girlfriend, and she's currently in our guild's new recruit reserve team."

His tone was flat and indifferent as he said:

"Let's fire her first to show our sincerity."

"Okay..." Liu Changshui's eyelids twitched, and he was secretly alarmed...

The vice president is so busy, yet he knows such trivial matters?

"By the way, don't be too eager," Os advised.

"Give him the contract. If he signs it on the spot, then sign it. If he needs to think about it, then let him decide."

Liu Changshui was taken aback. Whatever?

Since we're going to sign a contract, shouldn't we be keeping a closer eye on things?

It's impossible that they were the only ones at the scene who thought of the special relationship between Cheng Zhuo and Huangfu Bai.

"Once he realizes that only we can offer a higher price, the negotiations will naturally be easier," Os said with a confident smile.

"Why?" Liu Changshui was a little confused.

Is this an attempt to lower the price?

Aren't you worried about being signed by other guilds? After all, you're a star rookie who can kill bosses of higher levels, so you still have some value.

"Just keep in touch." Os smiled slightly.

"Don't be fooled by the number of guilds inside. Huangfu Bai can only choose between us and Nebula. He doesn't have the ability to change the Lighthouse Contract in the short term. These useless people can only be envious; they don't even have the right to negotiate."

Liu Changshui still didn't fully understand, and asked again:

"What about Xingyun? What if they offer Cheng Zhuo an even higher price..."

A hint of mockery flashed in Os's eyes as he whispered:

"That old fogey Ren Tianxing would never give Cheng Zhuo a contract above C level. Last time he wanted to take Hou Wanli away, but the B level contract we gave that kid in the contract was over the limit, so he replaced him on the spot."

Liu Changshui nodded:

"Indeed, that guy always likes to talk about the rules, but... since we know he might only give us a C-level contract, why don't we just give him a B-level contract directly?"

Os smiled mysteriously:

"First lower the price, then raise it."

Liu Changshui suddenly realized: "Creating a difference in treatment makes him feel valued!"

Os gave him an appreciative look:

"No wonder he's a top-notch manager; he's got real talent."

"You flatter me, Vice President." Liu Changshui nodded slightly. "You are truly brilliant. With a little trick, Cheng Zhuo will definitely choose our Thunder."

"I'm giving you the highest-level B-level contract authority. Don't let me down."

"President Xie, I will definitely do my best."

Inside the large conference room, people were whispering and discussing amongst themselves.

Everyone had their own thoughts and concerns.

S-rank guilds are expected to change the guild landscape, so some guilds, even without a base in Redstone Town, have started planning. There are still six days left, and perhaps they can complete the registration process in time.

The representative of the Holy Beast Guild sat in his seat.

Unlike everyone else who were talking about Huangfu Bai, Rosa bit her fingertip lightly, staring intently at Cheng Zhuo's information page.

The adjacent page was playing footage of Cheng Zhuo killing the rat mantis and his pet attacking Zhao Shichang.

She raised an eyebrow, as if making a decision, and opened a chat window with a turtle icon:

"Teacher, I'd like to sign a new artist."

"What level? Do I need to be consulted for that?"

"It's not a high-level position, but it might violate some of the contract terms, so please don't get angry then~"

……

An endless wasteland.

Cheng Zhuo stared speechlessly at the motionless lump of iron.

Huangfu Bai and the other man refused to come out no matter what, and Cheng Zhuo was too lazy to argue. He simply turned around, took out the floating lamp from the system space, and threw it on the ground.

The pale white light instantly dispelled the surrounding darkness. He then pulled out a short dagger, squatted down, and swiftly slashed at the giant zombie's skull.

With a "click",

A first-order source core, gleaming with a faint light, was picked out and felt cool to the touch in my hand.

Although it's just a basic first-tier source core, one is still worth fifty or sixty city-state coins, so it can't be wasted.

With the help of six cans, they dug very quickly.

In less than five minutes, he had collected more than two hundred source cores.

The other side of the jars collected even more, and at the edge of the pitch-black giant pit, a crystal-clear pile of source cores was formed.

There is a thinner, gigantic corpse called the Lamp Bearer.

They also provided Cheng Zhuo with eighteen ordinary blind nuclei.

Cheng Zhuo opened it directly.

Of the four gray, twelve white, and two green cards, only the two green corpse poison auxiliary cards were somewhat useful. He didn't even bother with the rest of the ordinary source cards and casually tossed them into the system space.

"What a pity, once we cross the boundary gate, Redstone Town's lighthouse will take 13% of our profits..."

Just as Cheng Zhuo was feeling sorry for someone, he suddenly stopped—

If he puts all his revenue into the system space, can the Lighthouse still be taken away?

Almost subconsciously, Cheng Zhuo rejected this possibility.

Considering that the system can erase the curse of a forbidden object with only 100 points of resonance value, the system is far superior to the rules of the Lighthouse Ruins Realm.

He even suspected that the system allowed him to use 100 points for purification because he only had a little over 100 points at the time.

If he only has a dozen points,

The system's purification requirement might be 10 points.

In other words, as long as he puts all his gains in the Ruins Realm into the system space, he doesn't have to worry about being charged at each level like other hunters.

As for hunting in the wilderness, it would be even less likely that the town's supervisors would discover it.

Of course, some things should be kept out in the open to avoid arousing suspicion.

almost.

Cheng Zhuo noticed that Guan Guan had stopped moving and was squatting next to the source core pile, wagging its tail.

Considering that Xia Mo and Xia Chan were still alone in the RV more than ten kilometers away, Cheng Zhuo planned to go and meet them first.

Immediately, he tried to communicate with Huangfu Bai for a few more minutes, but Huangfu Bai still refused to come out, firmly believing that Cheng Zhuo was a beast in disguise.

Helpless, he had no choice but to let them stay.

Anyway, he cleared out all the nearby monsters. This iron lump of metal is so tough that even the boss can't do anything about it, so it should be perfectly safe.

With this in mind, Cheng Zhuo immediately put away his short dagger, leaped a few times, and quickly landed next to Guan Guan.

He was dumbfounded as soon as he landed.

"What are you doing...?"

"Meow~ Loo~"

Guanguan, with its round belly that looked like it was about to burst, rubbed back and forth against Cheng Zhuo's thigh, looking adorably ingratiating.

Cheng Zhuo stared at the dusty, gray source core pile and was completely dumbfounded.

"You ate it all?"

"The cat only took a tiny bite, pfft~"

Guanguan raised its big round head, its amber eyes sparkling, and it couldn't stop burping no matter what it did.

Cheng Zhuo opened the probe and stared intently at the jar.

Logically speaking, the rank of a summoner's pet, like Cheng Zhuo's, should be the same as its master's; as long as the Origin Card doesn't break, the pet won't die.

However, pets also have a growth period, and different types require different feeding methods.

The source kernel is indeed the staple food for feeding.

But the can has consumed a thousand or so source cores; isn't that growth rate a bit too slow...?

[Summoned Beast: Burial Dune Cat - Infant Form]

[Cub's growth progress: 0.053%]

[Realm: Tier 1 Beast Pet]

[Biophysical Strength: 67.8]

[Talent - Evil Spirit Hunter: Has a deterrent effect on all evil spirits, ignoring any soul-type attacks]

[Talent - Night Owl: When night falls, the little chubby boy's speed will be doubled]

[Description: This is a sand cat that has been enhanced with incredible power. Apart from being greedy, it seems to have no flaws.]

That's absolutely outrageous.

However, this also shows that the enhanced Guanguan is far superior to ordinary pets, Cheng Zhuo comforted himself.

Then, he opened his own panel:

[Owner: Cheng Zhuo]

[Realm Level: 0 (3.95%)]

[Original Card: Grade F, Gray]

[Original Skill: Summon Burial Dune Cat - Infant Form]

【Original Card 2: Undead Summoning - S-Rank - Red - Stealth Status】

[Original Skill: Corpse Summoning]

[Biosome Strength Rating: 26.8]

[Potential for secondary gene unlocking: 0.10007%]

【Strength: 24】

[Agility: 20]

【Spirit: 63】

[Physical Fitness: 20]

Luck: 23

Number of partners: 1/3

【space:……】

……

Seeing that the progress was less than 4%, Cheng Zhuo felt both surprised and frustrated.

Surprisingly, the effects of the passive meditation skill 'Dragon Power' were realized:

For every 1% progress, he actually gained 1 point of strength.

What's frustrating is...

He killed the BOSS and the monsters guarding the BOSS. This level of slaughter is something that an ordinary F-rank might not be able to do in several years.

The realm progress only increased by 3.95%?

Cheng Zhuo finally understood why F-level potential was so disliked.

If it weren't for his mythical breathing card, this progress would have been even slower; ordinary F-ranks would never have had a chance to officially advance.

No, I need to work harder.

Cheng Zhuo looked back towards the direction of the RV where the twin sisters were.

Whether it's to upgrade the level of the Undead Summoning Card or to increase the gene unlock rate and gain the opportunity for a second awakening, he needs to work hard.

Hunting is not yet his battlefield...

The land of gentle pleasures is...