Lucas took a quick glance and realized that they were actually beast taxi drivers and their beast taxis.
Lucas nodded his head in understanding, thinking that they were here after knowing that a lot of summoners would come and go to Western Swamp to search for the Gobbling Toad.
Since Serene City was still quite a distance from here, Lucas decided to hail a taxi so that he could reach Serene City quicker. That way, he could also reduce the likelihood of being ambushed.
After all, even though rare, the chances of getting ambushed on their way back to Serene City was still something that could happen. Lucas himself had experienced firsthand, after all.
After speaking with the beast taxi driver, the two of them agreed on a price and immediately set out to Serene City.
Fortunately, no incident occurred on his way back and he immediately arrived at Serene City a few minutes later.
He told the driver to bring him close to his home directly. After paying the driver with 5 Silver Coins, Lucas walked the remaining distance and arrived at his house a minute or so later.
Upon arriving, Lucas immediately saw Kane fidgeting around at the entrance of his house.
With a grin, Lucas walked forward and waved his hands to get his attention.
Kane's eyes lit up the moment he saw Lucas.
He was beginning to worry earlier. He thought that his assumption was incorrect, and that Lucas might have encountered some trouble hence he was not home yet.
In truth, this was already the second time that he was back here in his house to check if he was already home.
Earlier, he had already reported this matter to Shelsea and the others. He knew that Shelsea has a lot of connections and might be able to find Lucas easily if she made use of them.
"Bro, where have you been? I was really worried about you!"
This was the truth. He felt guilty as he thought that he had left Lucas there due to his wrong assumptions. If he got into trouble, as the person who brought Lucas there, Kane would feel responsible.
Hearing that, Lucas merely grinned.
He then went inside his house with Kane following right behind him.
Suddenly, a summoning light lit up the small living room.
When Lucas turned around, a palm-size frog was already on his palm, silently looking around in vigilance.
Upon seeing the frog, a flash of surprise surfaced in Kane's eyes.
'He truly did it!'
"Haha, I knew it! I knew it!" Kane's laughter echoed in the small living room.
Lucas smiled upon seeing his reaction.
Kane has always bragged about this Gobbling Toad before. Now that he has a Gobbling Toad of his own, he kind of understood why he always bragged about it to his companions.
Kane stared at the Gobbling Toad, and could not help but realized that it seemed a little different.
"Wait, why is yours bigger than mine?"
"I don't know. It's already like that after I contracted with it," Lucas shrugged his shoulders, equally puzzled by this change as well.
Before initiating the contracting process earlier, he did not take a close look at it, but he was sure that Shadow was not this big and thin during that time.
He did not know how it changed, but he suspected that it was an effect after Shadow was branded by his grimoire, and after taking its personality into account. This was just his speculation, though, and it still needed to be confirmed.
"Really? Well, I heard that happens with wild beasts. But something like this never happened to all the contracted Gobbling Toad's in Serene CIty. At least, none that I heard of," Kane said after some thought.
"Something like this happened before? Is there an explanation for it?" Lucas asked curiously before he unsummoned Shadow as he realized that he was getting uncomfortable being in the open.
Kane shook his head.
"There is no known explanation about it that I know of. But I heard that, beasts that changed their forms after being contracted often exhibit strange behaviours not seen in their respective races, making them unique in their own way. Some even consider this as a half-evolution kind of thing."
"I don't know if these changes are good or bad, though, as I haven't experienced such a case myself. Perhaps Sister Shelsea knows something about it? According to her, her Blood-Seeking Mouse had only shrunk to that size after she signed a contract with it."
Hearing that, Lucas nodded his head in understanding.
According to the information he knew, Gobbling Toad's limits were just Iron Grade and Iron Star 9 beasts. However, if Shadow had somehow triggered a 'half-evolution' state, that might mean that he has the ability to surpass the known limits of Gobbling Toads.
Not all evolution leads to a good outcome. However, since his current form was attuned to his personality of wanting to become a lethal assassin, Lucas did not think that this 'half-evolution' state of his was a bad thing.
Although he was confident of bolstering all his summoned strength to their limits, evolving them was a different matter.
Unless he has a clear guide, leading a beast to a good evolution was not something that could be done just like that. Evolving a beast involves a lot of process. Risks were also present as not all evolution leads to a good outcome.
Lucas was not in a rush to evolve his beasts anyway. Currently, none of them showed signs of stagnation yet. This meant that they could still increase their rank in their current grade.
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"How about the space of the Extra Pocket? How big is it?" Kane suddenly asked.
"It's not much different from the Extra Pocket of your Gobbling Toad, but my toad's space is a little bit smaller."
"Really? I did not expect the Gobbling Toad found this time is actually such a high level one. Mine was only Iron Star 4 when it was caught, and it was only due to my intensive efforts that it transitioned to become the Iron Star 7 Gobbling Toad of today," Kane lamented with a sigh.
In terms of luck and capability, he was truly far behind Lucas.
Well, no matter.
Lucas was his 'bro' anyway.
Lucas merely smiled after hearing that. It was only due to Shadow obtaining the Void Opener skill from the System that he directly ranked up to Iron Star 7.
"Right, if it's convenient, can you share some information on how to rank up my Gobbling Toad?"
Kane nodded his head, "Sure, no problem."
He bought this information before but he was not planning to sell it to Lucas.
"However, I must remind you first that since your Gobbling Toad is already high level, upgrading its rank won't be as easy as when I did it to mine. My Gobbling Toad has been stuck on its level since half a year ago with no signs of progress."
"Unless you encounter a rare opportunity, upgrading the Gobbling Toad from Iron Star 7 to 8 is quite a hard thing to do no matter how rich you are," Kane explained.
"I see."
Kane continued, "Well, the favorite meals of Gobbling Toads are Mud-Root Fish. They are Unranked Grade-Unranked beasts that dwell and thrive in wet areas like the Western Swamp. They are also part of the reason why Gobbling Toads frequents that area."
"Long term consumption of Mud-Root Fish can increase the rank of Gobbling Toads. However, as I said, the higher the level of the Gobbling Toad, the less effective their effects would be. With my Gobbling Toad's current rank, Mud-Root Fish are only good enough for a staple meal."
After saying that, Kane summoned his Gobbling Toad and ordered it to 'spit' a basket full of finger-size fishes.
The Mud-Root Fish were dark brown in color. They were finger-size, and had thick flippers to their side.
There was a basket full of them, and with his initial estimate, there should be around ten kilos of them inside that basket.
"Bro, take some for your Gobbling Toad. By the way, a kilo of Mud-Root Fish can be bought for 30 Silver Coins in the market. Depending on demand and weather, the prices may increase as well."
Lucas did not stand during the ceremony. He took a bowl from the kitchen and filled it with Mud-Root Fist. Weighing it, Lucas estimated that there was around a kilo and a half inside the bowl.
Kane did not mind it a bit and even told him that he should take some more.
Lucas declined, thinking that it was enough for now.
Shadow's personality was quite different compared to normal Gobbling Toads so Lucas was not sure yet if Shadow would even want to eat the Mud-Root Fish. A bowl of it was just enough for the time being.
After discussing that, Kane proceeded to tell Lucas everything he knew about the diet of Gobbling Toads. He also included all the things that he must take note of.
For example, if possible, a Gobbling Toad should always be in a state of summon most of the time, and that each summoning instance must not be wasted and must be maximized.
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That way, one would be able to store and retrieve their items without having to summon the Gobbling Toad again and again. Aside from being a waste of time, this will also waste precious Spiritual Energy.
All in all, Lucas learned a lot of information on how to take care of a normal Gobbling Toad from Kane.
Some time later, the two of them heard a commotion outside his house.