"Master, you seem quite upset? Dain asked curiously, unsure as to why Grant would be so shocked

  It was a unique looking lizard for sure, but it didn't warrant such a reaction.

  Even Dain could tell that the lizard was valuable somehow judging from Grant's reaction.

  Natalie seemed to have gotten a hint as she asked curiously. "Is it dragon related? Or dinosaur maybe?" She asked, after thinking about what could make this monster so valuable.

  It didn't look strong after all. The first thing to consider was potential. ANd of the scaled monsters she knew that was valuable, dragons and dinosaurs were the ones she knew best.

  Grant responded as he watched his most recent disciple play with the critter in question.

  "Dinosaur related. In particular it happens to belong to a quasi-god bloodline." Grant sighed, but his reluctant statement caused the young ork to pause as shock was clear on his face.

  Grant was not a lax teacher after all, and had taught him all there was needed to know when it comes to beast taming, especially the basics.

  For beast tamers, the levels are classified into 6 levels, similar to the cultivation world. Frankly, the adventurer's guild was the odd one out in this regard.

  They were as such: extraordinary, elite, overlord, king, emperor, god.

  The 6th rank was considered god since those at the 6th rank were immortal, incapable of dying of old age, and even able to abandon their body for ten thousand years .

  And given that 6th rank was the pinnacle one could reach on earth currently, dubbing it the god level was appropriate.

  When a creature has a "quasi-god" bloodline it meant that it had ancestors who had reached the god level, and thus the creature in question already had a pre-established evolutionary path to the god level.

  It's called quasi-god because even having a straightforward path did not guarantee 6th level power in the future. Dragons in theory, were quasi-god creatures since they had 4 6th level ancestors under earth: Yinglong, qinglong, Bahamut and Tiamat. And dragons were lustful creatures, so the four of them had plenty of direct descendants yet none of them had 6th level descendants, even after all these millenia.

  Even so, quasi-god creatures were not to be underestimated.

  And the ignystro before them had quasi-god potential.

  "Really!? But according to the textbooks, such creatures are impossible to find? It''s why dragons are such coveted creatures!" Devis was a diligent student and thus knew about how valuable quasi-god creatures were.

  The textbooks and lessons emphasized their clear rarity, and how such creatures are often either controlled by the elite or hidden deep in the wild, beyond the touch of civilization. Even though everyone knew dragons were guasi-god creatures, few still formed a contract with one as true dragons were often protected by other dragons or had their own pride, to die before being controlled.

  Grant laughed proudly as he puffed out his chest.

  "Trust me boy, there's nothing this old man can't get!" he claimed proudly, while Dain and Natalie merely shared glances.

  Grant was after all, in the body of a young adult man. Calling himself an old man was weird to them.

  After saying that, he sighed. "Originally, after my death, I had planned to leave this in my inheritance realm, so that those who are destined to pick it would get. Then some things went differently from what I expected, I survived, and now here you are, my apprentice, having the fortune to receive my blessing.

  It can only be said to be fate."

  Well, Grant supposed it was better this way. Who knows if whoever had inherited this egg would be an ally of his? He had made it an open inheritance.

  As said in the east, better the meat rots in ones own pot than to be taken by another.

  "So what is it exactly?" Dain asked and Grant chuckled.

  "At first glance, it's nothing special, but that's because you're merely viewing it's base form. This creature is born and bred in the fiery realm of Muspelheim, which has long predated the age of man. The lyostro fled to the infernal realm many years ago during the permian mass extinction, with the ones that survived becoming this creature before you.

  However, it is not the ignystro you should fear.

  The ignystro ended up becoming the preevolution of the dimetrava, which itself was derived from a group of dimetrodons that had managed to thrive in muspelheim.

  This was due to a mix of interbreeding, and the occasional ignystro absorbing dimetrava essence.

  Most importantly, both are barely connected to their ancestors, having become elemental creatures, and merely inheriting certain aspects of their ancestors.

  Dimetravas are B-rank monsters, and they evolve into lavaspinos, which similar process, cretaceous era, arrived later, and also became an elemental race.

  Lavaspinos are actually an S to SS-rank race, before evolving into trispino or hellspino, both which are SSS rank races and capable of fighting the high-end dragon races.

  Now what makes it a quasi-god potential individual is the essence it managed to acquire by chance."

  Grant paused, as he waved his hand and produced a humanoid silhouette, bearing a large blade.

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Do you recognize this being?" He asked patiently, and this time Natalie responded with a look of awe.

  "The mighty God Surtr! Lord of Muspelheim, and one of the primordial spirit of fire!" SHe said with amazement, able to quickly to figure it out.

  Dain also showed a look of respect, perhaps as fellow greatsword users.

  Only Devis looked uncertain.

  "Is Surtr... a god level beast?" he said unsurely, and Grant nodded, patting the boys head as he praised him.

  "Indeed. As one of the oldest elementals in existence, Surtr has managed to reach the 6th level, ranked by the guild as apocalyptic, or god as denoted by the beastmasters. HIs counterpart, ymir, has also managed to reach the 6th level.

  Alongside Yggdrasill, the three of them could basically be seen as the world's most terrifying norse starters" he said jokingly, more for himself than anything.

  Natalie seemed to realize something, as she pointed at the little ignystro with astonishment and disbelief.

  "You don't mean... this thing!?"

  "Yes!"

  "Is a son of Surtr!"

  "Ye- No, no, no don't say that. No, good lord no. No, if he heard me say that he'd singe my eyebrows off. Well, I mean, he might castrate me instead thanks to that last incident." Grant hummed that last part to himself. It didn't count in this world after all.

  Thankfully, Devis was better versed in this, and thus said the right answer.

  "Did this creature manage to catch a drop of his essence during its developement?" He asked, this time more confidently, and Grant nodded, handing the boy a lolipop as a reward.

  Grant explained. "I managed to catch this one while it was still developing. It was the aftermath of a great battle, and Surtr had shed blood."

  Had shed blood fighting him of course. Probably

  "I had been looking to collect some essence in the aftermath, only to notice all of it had disappeared. And this little fellas egg had been greedily absorbing it." he said, poking the ignystro's cheek casually, though the ignystro ignored him and continued to eat out of Devis' hands.

  "See? Greedy. It was a lucky fella too. Had some other monster in the zone discovered it, like another lavaspino or some other critter, they would've likely consumed it to gain such an opportunity. One of the jotun of muspelheim would've definitely cracked that egg and ate it like an omelet.

  The jotun worship Surtr as their god. Anyone who absorbs his essence can assume the position of a chieftain or a great chieftain amongst their people." Grant commented casually before explaining.

  "And that's why it's essentially a quasi-god species. I mean, in theory, both the hellspino and trispino can become quasigod species, but the conditions are quite difficult, even for me. Hellspinos need to bath in the pits of hell to become true hellspinos, and trispinos in theory need to become five element spinos. ut in the case of the five elements, one would need to get the essence of 5 god level beings of each of the five corresponding elements.

  Even I can't do that easily. Kunpeng is too slippery." He complained. Not like he hadn't tried mind you. He'd set traps, sat outside the big ol fishes home, and even tried bargaining with the ancient fish.

  As expected of one of the fastest beings alive, the fish who robbed the tomb of emperor Dijun was not an easy to net fish.

  And 6th level beings weren't soft persimmons. There were about 45 of them in the world, and to expect any five of them to easily cede enough essence to promote a creature to the 6th level? Unthinkable!

  The only reason the little fella here received such a blessing was because it was born after the battle, when the essence was freshest and untouched by other people who would covet it, and it met him, who was willing to take in such an egg.

  Otherwise such a concentration of essence would've been spread across the lands.

  Hearing this, even Dain couldn't help but feel awe at this statement.

  These terms were foreign to them, but Surtr, an almighty god, an occasional enemy of the entire pantheon no less, was a being far beyond their comprehension.

  So even though they didn't know of the feats of Kunpeng, or the importance of hellfire, the fact that he elevated such terms to the level of Surtr was enough to make them realize what a heaven-defying opportunity the little fella had received.

  They didn't know that Surtr was the softest peach to Grant here. Hellfire pits? Those are in hell, which is a plain beyond Earth's domain, where beings above the 6th level are common. Go there? Grant was mad, not stupid.

  And to catch 5 beings at Surtr's level? He may as well just go back and beat Surtr to a bloody pul and squeeze some more essence out of him.

  As one of them most powerful elementals in the world, residing in Muspelheim which is the realm closest to Earth in size alongside Jotunheim, he'd recover quickly enough.

  Devis seemed a little anxious as he realized how valuable this harmless looking herbivore was.

  "Master, isn't such a creature too valuable? Can I even accept such a gift!?" he said helplessly. The more powerful the bloodline of a creature, the faster its beastmaster would grow. For creatures like goblins, with weaker ancestries, their potential was more limited.

  While creatures could always forge ahead, break into new levels and make new evolutions, predetermined paths were always easier to retread, and those with more powerful ancestors were more likely to receive greater inheritances in terms of skills and knowledge, and power.

  Dragons were the exception, in that they could take any path they want. Dragons are cheaters.

  Grant laughed at Devis' response. "Kid, you don't need to worry about that. For others, this is a huge blessing that money could never buy, but for me?

  It's nothing!

  Even if a creature has a weak ancestry, so what?

  I can make new evolution lines.

  Knowledge inheritances?

  I can always make new skills. And I've robbed the inheritance of multiple major races, I could drown a man in words!"

  Grant boasted, but he did not exaggerate. He knew things that no one knew on Earth.

  Not even the mythical tower of Babylon could hide its secrets from him. It's why he was so free and easy with Devis' first choice of beast. Anything he wanted, Grant could fulfill. As for the consequences after the fact?

  As long as no one could prove it, no one could hold him accountable!

  Devis thought his master was boasting, but he could see that Grant meant it when he said it was nothing to him, so he felt more relieved, and less worried about contracting this as his first beast.

  It also seemed rather open to his approach as well, eager to eat out of his palm.

  Devis didn't know that the poor Ignystro was bored to death after spending centuries locked away in a bottle, the chance to escape made it quick to cling to the boy who was close to the man with power.

  Ignystros, as part spirits, were not dumb. Few elemental creatures were. They might be tempermental, depending on their element, and bestial depending on their shape, but stupid was rarely the case. Of course after a few centuries the ignystro knew how lucky it was.

  It had sensed Grant, felt his essence and his connection to the realm, his new shape and weakened state meaning nothing.

  All it knew was that the master of the realm was here, and this was his apprentice.

  Grant continued his explanation of the benefits of taming this ignystro.

  "The real benefit the ignystro has is that it has much of Surtr's essence, which will not only make its future developement smooth, but also unlocks a new evolutionary stage of the hellspino lineage:Surtalogiasurus.

  It's named after the flam surtr uses, Surtalogi said to be strong enough to burn the world down. It's only rivals on Earth are said to be the Samadhi flame of Taishang Laojun, or Nyambe's flame of creation.

  Basically, it'll be a powerful spinosaurid capable of drawing upon the destructive properties of Surtr and his strong physique.

  This is a proven path by the way. Due to Surtr's volatile nature, and the close proximity of Muspelheim and Jotunheim, ensuring Ymir and Surtr often clash, their essence then dropping into the two realms, and providing opportunities for those who reside in both.

  Surtr doesn't care much, and even quietly supports it. So naturally, a few monsters derived from Surtr's essence have been born, among which the Surtalogiasaurus is one of the strongest. "

  Seeing Devis' more eager look as he went on, Grant smirked, and spoke proudly. "Well?

  How's my first contract for you? Is it... good enough?"