The Dog, The System

Even though his parents already said that it didn't matter to them if he did not achieve anything and that they were content with their current lives, Lucas still harbored the intention to succeed and support his parents for the rest of their lives.

With that, he still expected that he would grow strong without relying on the system. His chance lied with his first beast. Unfortunately, the moment he saw the details of his beast, he realized that he was still asking for too much. With an Unranked Grade Grimoire, how could he get a good beast?

According to what he knew from class and the internet, the grade of the grimoire determined the grade of the beast one was able to awaken and contract as well. It was said that no matter how much you grow stronger, the grade of the grimoire will always determine what grade of beast you will be able to contract.. 

This type of rule could not be overcome. This was just one of the reasons why lower-grade grimoire awakeners were looked down upon by the masses.

Lucas sighed as he looked at the information provided on the second page of the grimoire.

[Beast Name: Gentle Dog

Grade: Unranked

Rank: Unranked

Skills: Gentle Gaze 

Gentle Gaze: The eyes emit a gentle, warming light, providing comfort and mild warmth, ideal for soothing and calming. ]

Like the grimoires, beasts also have different grades that determine their potential and strength. Starting from Unranked to Gold grade, the strength of the higher grades was more than doubled compared to the previous ones. 

Unranked grades could just be said to be normal animals that obtained one skill, while higher grades could be comparable to legendary beasts from his previous life. The number of their starting skills also varies, with the Unranked Grade Beast having only one ordinary skill, while the number increases for each succeeding grade.

Lucas even heard that a Gold Grade beast at least had five skills at its disposal the moment it was awakened, and each of them was equally lethal as the last.

Now, what he awakened was called Gentle Dog, with Unranked as its grade. Not to mention its grade, the skill it had was even more depressing for Lucas as it literally has no combat capabilities. 

'Gentle Gaze… According to the description, this skill should just be named 'Act Cute instead! Gentle Gaze, my a*s!'

'Sigh! It seems that the only chance I have is to rely on the system. Is this my fate?'

Resigning to his fate, Lucas' eyes emitted a warm glow as he calmly rested his palm on the second page of the grimoire.

Closing his eyes, he commanded 'summon' inside his mind and instantly connected with the entity stored inside the second page of the grimoire.

The next second, the room was lit with a brilliant glow. This glow was also called the summoning glow. Lucas saw a lot of this earlier at the school.

The glow only lasted for a few seconds before it died down. At that moment, Lucas knew that he had successfully summoned his first beast, the Gentle Dog. 

He also felt something being extracted from him. As far as he knew, this was his Spiritual Energy getting consumed after summoning his Gentle Dog. Different grades and ranks consume different amounts of Spiritual Energy. Since the Gentle Dog was only Unranked in both grade and strength at the moment, the Spiritual Energy consumed was also just a little.

Lucas looked down and immediately saw the Gentle Dog right below him.

It was sitting and was looking up at him with a curious gaze. It was pretty small, like an adult Chihuahua from his previous life. 

Although it looked small, like a chihuahua, it did not look as menacing as that of one.

Lucas shivered after recalling some bad memories about the Chihuahua-menace from his previous life.

The dog was a mix of black and white, with white being the most prominent color. There was a spot of black on its right eye, making it look strange yet cute at the same time. The vibe it gave off was that it was pretty harmless and docile. The kind that only knows how to act cute and be a man's best friend.

The next moment, the dog suddenly emitted a soft glow as the Gentle Dog tilted its head to the side while looking up at him. Lucas' heart melted the moment he saw such a scene. Lucas immediately realized that the dog had just used its only skill, Gentle Gaze.

'Gentle Dog, huh…'

Lucas smiled at the dog and stroked its head warmly. Although it was weak and had no potential with its grade being Unranked, it did not discourage Lucas a little bit as he still had the system to rely on.

Speaking of the system, Lucas finally turned his attention to the system that had now awakened inside him.

With a thought, a transparent screen popped up in front of him. It was like a digital screen from his previous life, minus the fact that it was floating right in front of his eyes. It was like a hologram screen, and Lucas knew that he could interact with it or touch it if he wanted to.

Lucas saw that only some minor information was shown on the screen.

[No contracted beast detected. Will enter hibernation until the host contracts a beast!]

This was the same message he saw back then when he transmigrated to this world.

Lucas shifted his view and glanced below it.

[Contracted a Beast for the first time. Bloodline Detector is now available for use.]

The information provided was always brief and concise. Lucas did not even know the whole function of the system; heck, he did not even know what the system was called. All he knew was that it could help him strengthen his beasts.

With a thought, the two previous messages were cleared from his view. A wheel-like menu replaced it, divided into many columns, with only one column lit at the moment. 

This lit column has the icon of dripping blood, vibrant red in color. 

Lucas focused his gaze and clicked on the dripping blood icon. The screen flashed, and he was shown new information regarding this function.

[Bloodline Detector: Trace the origin of the beast through the bloodline, find the strongest ancestor of the lineage, and search for suitable skills to inherit. You can choose one skill to inherit! Do you want to use this function?]

Below this function was the image of the Gentle Dog, his only available beast at this moment.

Looking at the description of his function, Lucas could not help but gasp in delight.

After a hundred years of development, from chaos to peace to prosperity, it was noted and widely known that a beast could only gain skills through battles, self-reflection, and hard training. 

No matter what method you use from the three to gain skills, the grade of the beast always plays a major role. Higher-grade beasts meant more talent and potential, and hence, they were able to awaken skills easily compared to lower-grade beasts.

As for an Unranked grade beast learning a new skill, Lucas had never heard of it before. But according to his parents, their Iron Grade beasts only managed to learn their other skills after more than ten years. It was apparent how difficult it was for lower grade beasts to learn new skills.

However, this function actually allowed him to choose one skill directly?

"Deymm, this is overpowered!"

Even if, for example, the skill he could choose from was not powerful, a new skill was still a new skill regardless.

It must be known that, aside from battles, beasts could only grow stronger through evolution and by acquiring new skills. They might not necessarily rank up if they obtain a new skill, but they would be infinitely closer to the next rank and would only need a little push to enhance further. 

Lucas calmed down his excitement as he looked at the Gentle Dog that was still emitting the Gentle Gaze skill.

Lucas smiled and looked at it adoringly. "Little guy, are you ready to soar?"

The Gentle Dog titled its head in confusion.

Woof?

Without wasting any more time, Lucas immediately used the Bloodline Detector function of the system on the Gentle Dog.