Everyone knows that spirit beasts have eleven grades, ranging from Scrapstone to Divine. Scrapstone is the lowest, Divine the highest. A single grade difference means ten times the combat power. This is a hard-and-fast rule humanity uncovered over two hundred years of exploring rifts in space and time.
But few people know that a spirit beast’s grade has never been the limit of its potential. It is only the limit of human understanding.
When Kong Chengdao found that insect, the System’s evaluation was: Scrapstone grade, no attributes, negligible combat power, recommended for abandonment. It was an insect that could only burrow into shadows, so worthless that even junk dealers in the black market wouldn’t make an offer.
He glanced at the gray question marks at the very bottom of its evolution panel: “??? (Conditions insufficient, unable to display).” Then he tucked the insect into his shirt.
“From now on, your name is Shadow.”
Years later, when that black silhouette tore open a rift in space and time and dragged the ruins of an entire divine kingdom out of the abyss, the world finally understood:
Some paths were never meant for humans to see.
