Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 415

Chapter 415: Chapter 415 - Tamers War - Single Obstruction (2/2)

When a creature reached the fifth of the ten development phases, it underwent a transformation greater than any previous rank.

Platinum rank was the first where creatures truly prepared for their ascension, the metamorphosis to become a dragon, the pupa after the egg. And this came with significant power increases that redefined the rules of combat.

The very air around a Platinum-ranked creature became saturated with mana so dense it was visible to the naked eye.

Hagen and his team could deal with a Gold 3 if necessary, working together, although they would prefer to avoid it for the sake of a faster mission. The logistics of such a battle would be complex, requiring perfect coordination and likely some casualties if not extremely careful.

But a Platinum beast was almost unknown territory for most. Although Hagen had some experience in fleeing from them, he was hardly an expert in fighting them.

The gap between Gold and Platinum wasn’t just numerical... It was qualitative.

’Maybe we could wait?’

Once a creature ascended to Platinum at this depth, it would immediately try to go deeper. That would make it inevitably fall into the zone they now called Deep Gold, the territory where mana had been corrupted and become incompatible with common creatures.

There, the corruption influence network of the great living crystal extended like deep and pulsating roots that day by day made that enormous purple crystal grow in Yino’s territory. The crystal was a living entity of sorts, feeding on the corruption it spread and growing stronger with each passing moment.

Deep Gold was a completely distorted ecosystem where abyssal creatures thrived in incredible quantities, almost pressed against each other in the highest population density of all depths. It was a writhing mass of corrupted life that existed in numbers that defied comprehension.

But a Platinum creature couldn’t be harmed by them.

Being more than a full rank above, the energy was simply too dense for abyssal creatures, who could only reach Silver 3, to affect it. The sheer power differential created an impenetrable barrier, like trying to harm a mountain with raindrops.

The numbers of abyssals were incredible, but for a Platinum they were completely irrelevant.

The Platinum also wouldn’t stay to eliminate them for much time. The absence of compatible mana would push it to leave the place soon, digging deeper until reaching Platinum-density mana that would be its new natural home.

A Gold 3 creature, on the other hand, couldn’t do the same. Although the individual damage that Silver 3 creatures could do to it was little, the amount of abyssal monsters was absurd, and in the end it would be death by a thousand cuts, exactly what kept the ecosystems separated by rank.

The reason there were so many abyssal creatures was the ridiculous quantity of monster "cubs" that climbed to their correct mana ranks pushed toward the surface by survival instinct.

It was these young beasts that became corrupted by spending enough time in the corrupt zone, if they weren’t devoured first or managed to crawl among the thousands of monsters until finding an exit. The process was brutal, most died, but those who survived populated the upper zones.

The resulting population density from the transformation or absorption of the majority was ridiculously larger here than in almost any other place in the depths.

But the small offspring were also numerous in the lower levels, and in numbers there was relative safety. When a Gold 3 ascended to Platinum and crossed toward the greater depths, the disaster it left in its wake in the deep gold zone allowed a good quantity of young beasts to cross without being corrupted, maintaining the constant flow between levels.

It was a cycle that had been functioning for decades, maintaining the balance between power zones. Nature, even in the abyss, found its own terrible equilibrium.

Hagen observed his team as they breathed carefully above the massive presence. The creature below continued its transformation toward Platinum, oblivious to the thirty humans moving like ghosts above its lair.

But waiting until it finished transforming wasn’t an option, Hagen finally decided. Each minute the creature got closer to Platinum, the more dangerous it would become. And they didn’t know exactly how long it would take to finish. Hours? Days? Weeks?

They had two options: move slowly and trust in not being detected, or generate a distraction so the beast would ignore them while they passed.