Next day when Jin went to the counter of the Rising Sun Auction house and showed the purple badge he received earlier, he got a bag full of coins. After carefully opening them in a safe location, Jin was shocked to find thirty-three gold coins. They had been price scouting earlier so they knew that rank F wolves don’t go for more than thirty silver coins. Even the titan was surprised but he didn’t let Jin know. From Jin’s deliveries he only earned a measly five gold coins!

“Wow I am rich!” Jin exclaimed. He was already thinking ahead, if he can earn even just ten gold coins a day then he can have three hundred gold coins a month! If he can give that much to his parents, they’ll be ecstatic!

“There must be another usage of Avatars that we don’t know about…” The titan said to himself. “Kid, ask that chef about spare Avatars.”

Why? Don’t you know everything? Jin wondered but he did as he was told.

“Extra Avatars? Why do people buy them?” Shang was surprised Jin would ask him about Avatars. He was just starting to think Jin was the only kid who wasn’t interested in one since he didn’t use any.

“Well simply put they can become food to the Avatars you own. The only way to upgrade your Avatar is to absorb similar types or species. For example if I have a fire type Avatar, I can absorb other fire type Avatars instead of officially owning them. If it’s the same species then the absorption will be even more effective. However the base type of your Avatar is very important, if you have rat type Avatar then no matter how you upgrade it, it won’t evolve past Rank F. If your Avatar has the potential to be rank A like a phoenix, in theory you can upgrade it from rank F if you ever own a baby phoenix Avatar.”

“Oh…” Jin said as he listened. He realized now why everything sold for so much. Someone must have bought the whole bag of his wolf avatars. The buyer must have took the pack leader as his own and absorbed the rest.

“Damn it kid why didn’t you tell me earlier, this changes everything.” The titan disgruntled voice shouted at him.

“Changes what?” Jin sent the message back mentally. He got not answer.

The deliveries continued as did the nightly activity of Avatar hunting. Most nights Jin fought rank F beasts that roam around the jungle outside the city. On some occasions there would be other humans doing the same but thankfully the titan would warn him so he never made contact.

One particular night Jin ventured into a stone quarry. He had become extremely proficient at fighting wild animals. Although he can cover his body with layers of metal, it still hurts if he got struck. This forced him to read the movements of the animals and react accordingly. His main weapon was still a wooden stick that he reinforces with metal.

The night was quiet and the sky was clear. Not even a hoot could be heard for kilometers. Jin slowly approached a small cave. There was only rank F beasts in this jungle and maybe a few rank E monsters occasionally. After walking inwards for a few minutes a large eagle-like beast flew at him out of nowhere. Its speed exceeded that of Jin’s expectation and he was knocked back. If he wasn’t protected by the metallic element then he would have been sliced in half. The bird was extremely hard, its feathers were made of rocks!

“What has gotten into the bird?” Jin wondered as he braced himself. As the bird flew back, its speed was even faster than the first strike. It took Jin all he had to dodge it. Jin finally realized that this bird was not afraid of dying! It was aiming to take Jin down at the expense of its own life.

Suddenly more stone birds flocked towards them from the direction of which he came in from. Ten… twenty… thirty… too many! Jin can’t handle this many, if enough blows come at him then even his protective metallic armor will break. These birds must be of the earth element type! If they were just regular bird beasts then Jin wouldn’t be as afraid.

“Run out the cave.” The titan said plainly. Jin frowned and threw his stick at the first bird to delay him and without looking, he turned and ran deeper in to the cave. He wanted to listen to the titan but right now the entrance was clogged with aggressors.

The fruits of his physical labor showed as he outran the birds but only slightly. They were still pursuing him like mad animals without a care in the world. More stone birds appeared on the way, the cave which became an endless maze was filled with these birds.

“What is that?” Jin asked as he approached a huge craven. A large corpse as large as a house was at the center of it. After observing the skeletal structure Jin realized it was that of an enormous bird! The flock of birds which now numbered over fifty continued to chase him.

“Are they guarding the corpse of their leader?” Jin wondered as he ran to grab a huge bone to protect himself. The moment he stepped near the large corpse, he fell downwards. He slipped through solid ground somehow.

“Ahh something is ripping me apart.” Jin cried out as he felt himself been dragged by an invisible force.

Cough. Cough. Jin found himself on the ground of a dusty surface. The temperature around him felt fairly warm, too warm in fact. There was also an odd humming noise coming from the distance. After collecting himself Jin found himself in a sandy environment, he was in a middle of a desert!

“Is this… an Instance?” Jin asked but received no response from the titan. Instances… they were something that came from a passing of a Rank D being! Rank F and E humans and beasts can only enter an item when they pass away in the real world. Rank D beings however can form an Instance!

Jin was starting pick up a few things that he noticed about the titan. Although it contained an immeasurably depth of wisdom and knowledge, it didn’t know a whole lot about Avatars. In fact everything he knew seemed to come from Jin and what Jin learned along the way.

Whoosh.

Jin heard a noise but nothing was in sight. However he is no longer the naïve boy he was before, although it wasn’t much he has a bit of battle experience in him now.

Below! Jin used a fair bit of strength and leapt upwards. A second later a ginormous grey crab-like creature appeared from the sand where he stood. Like him, the monstrous creature seemed to be covered in a layer of metallic armor. The creature waited patiently for Jin to land from the air, two scissor-like pinchers were waiting for him.