The heavy oak door at the back of the Black Anchor Tavern was reinforced with bands of blackened iron and hidden behind three rows of sour ale barrels.
Kaelen Ashford stood in the damp, low-ceilinged storage corridor, the smell of spilled mead, rot, and salt air clinging to the stone walls. Beside the door stood a hulking man with a scarred jaw and arms like iron logs, leaning against a rusted heavy-headed mace. The bouncer’s yellowed eyes narrowed as Kaelen approached, his gaze lingering on Kaelen’s worn linen tunic and patched leather boots.
"Lost, dock boy?" the bouncer grunted, his voice sounding like grinding stones. "The gutter is back up the stairs. This door is for men with heavy purses and business with the deep."
Without saying a word, Kaelen reached into his pocket and drew out the notched copper token Old Bram had given him. He held it in his palm, letting the dim light of the tallow candle flicker across the crude blacksmith's mark stamped into its metal surface.
The bouncer’s eyes widened slightly. His harsh expression relaxed into a grunt of begrudging recognition. He took the token, flipped it once in his palm, and slipped it into his leather pouch.
"Bram's mark," the bouncer muttered. "He hasn't sent anyone down here in three years. Mind your hands, dock boy. If you steal from a stall, they won't throw you to the city watch. They'll throw you into the harbor with a stone around your neck."
The bouncer pulled a heavy iron lever mounted into the wall. With a groaning screech of ungreased gears, the iron-bound oak door swung inward, revealing a flight of steep, slick stone stairs descending into the black depths beneath the sea wall.
Kaelen pulled his hood lower over his face, adjusting the heavy linen satchel slung across his shoulder. Beneath the folds of his cloak, resting securely on his left collarbone, Nox remained as light and silent as a shadow. Through their soul bond, Kaelen felt a subtle wave of anticipation pulsing from the small creature. Nox’s golden eyes flickered in the dark, its Void Stealth II wrapping them both in a faint, light-bending aura that rendered Nox virtually undetectable to normal mana perception.
"Let's go," Kaelen whispered inwardly.
He stepped onto the cold stone stairs and descended into the subterranean underbelly of Oakhaven: The Fossil Market.
As Kaelen reached the bottom of the stairs, the narrow stone tunnel opened into a cavernous underground vault carved into the living limestone cliffs beneath the docks. The air here was cool and humid, smelling of damp earth, ozone, roasted meat, and the metallic tang of dried monster blood.
Dozens of stalls, tents, and temporary wooden counters lined the perimeter of the cavern. Illumination came from floating glass globes filled with luminescent blue moss and iron braziers burning fragrant sweet-resin to mask the stench of black-market goods.
Hundreds of people moved through the cavernous market—rogue mercenaries with unbadged armor, hooded cultists, disgraced scholars from the High Precinct, and underground dealers who operated beyond the reach of the Royal Summoner Guild's strict tax collectors and inspectors.
Here, nobody asked for a Guild license. Nobody cared if you were a noble scion or a Failed Summoner. The only law in the Fossil Market was the value of what you carried in your hands.
Kaelen walked slowly down the central aisle, his eyes scanning the stalls.
To his left, a scar-faced mercenary was selling vials of venom harvested from Shadow-Tail Scorpions. To his right, an old woman with white eyes sat behind a velvet cloth display containing uninspected monster cores, their faint elemental glows flickering rhythmically.
None of these have what we need, Kaelen thought, keeping his pace steady.
Suddenly, a cold, mechanical ping resonated inside his mind.
[ANCIENT ARCHIVE SENSING DENSE PRIMAL ESSENCE...] [DENSE FOSSILIZED MANA DETECTED IN LOCAL VICINITY] [RECOMMENDATION: LOCATE RAW ANCIENT MATERIAL FOR EXTINCTION POINT CONVERSION]
Kaelen’s heartbeat quickened. He followed the faint pull of the System resonance, turning down a narrower side alley filled with piles of unrefined ores, petrified wood, and dusty relics excavated from deep coastal caves.
At the end of the alley stood a quiet, dusty stall constructed from weathered driftwood. Behind a heavy oak counter sat an old man with a leather eye patch over his left eye and a magnifying lens fixed over his right. He was meticulously cleaning a fossilized jawbone with a brass wire brush.
Above the stall hung a faded wooden sign: GIDEON’S CURIOS & UNREFINED FOSSILS.
As Kaelen approached, the old merchant didn't look up from his work. "If you're looking for polished spell-stones or tame beast eggs, keep walking, lad. I only trade in bone, stone, and relics the Guild calls worthless trash."
"I'm not looking for tame beasts, Master Gideon," Kaelen said calmly, stopping in front of the counter. "I'm looking to sell... and buy."
Gideon paused his brush, raising his magnifying lens to look at Kaelen. His single grey eye swept over Kaelen’s worn clothes, then rested on the heavy satchel at Kaelen’s hip. A faint, knowing smile touched the old man’s weathered lips.
"A dock lad with a quiet step and a heavy satchel," Gideon murmured softly. "Old Bram sent you, didn't he? Only Bram knows this quiet corner of the market."
"He did," Kaelen confirmed. He reached into his satchel and withdrew a heavy, cloth-wrapped object, placing it carefully on the wooden counter.
When Kaelen unfolded the canvas cloth, a faint crimson and obsidian glow illuminated the dark wood. Resting on the cloth was a pristine, foot-long razor-sharp fang and three heavy, iridescent dragon-scales harvested from the Mutated Dread-Gorgon Guardian he and Nox had slain in the subterranean sanctuary.
Gideon’s eye widened. He dropped his wire brush, grabbing his magnifying glass with trembling fingers as he leaned over the counter. He didn't touch the material immediately; instead, he drew a small silver needle from his sleeve and touched it to the tip of the fang.
Zzzzt!
A tiny spark of golden-red lightning crackled from the fang, turning the tip of the silver needle bright red.
"By the Ancestors..." Gideon breathed, his voice barely a whisper. "This density... this isn't from any standard Bronze or Silver beast in the Whispering Woods. The mana structure is ancient, dense, and unrefined... It's at least Gold-Grade! Where in the world did a dock boy get a fresh dragon-kin fang?"
"Where I got it doesn't matter," Kaelen replied smoothly, maintaining a cool, unreadable gaze. "What matters is if you can buy it without asking questions."
Gideon looked up at Kaelen, a newfound respect flashing in his single eye. He swallowed hard, adjusting his leather eyepatch.
"In this market, lad, no questions is my specialty," Gideon said softly. "A fresh Gold-Grade dragon-kin fang and pristine elemental scales... the Guild scholars in the High Precinct would pay a fortune for this to craft high-tier catalysts, but they'd demand your license first. Down here... I can offer you thirty gold sovereigns for the set."
Thirty gold sovereigns.
Kaelen’s chest tightened. A single gold sovereign was worth one hundred silver coins. For two years, Kaelen had worked six hours a day in the dung stables just to earn three silver coins a month. Thirty gold sovereigns was enough money to live comfortably for three years in Oakhaven.
"Thirty gold sovereigns," Kaelen nodded. "Deal."
Gideon reached beneath his counter and pulled out a heavy velvet pouch, sliding it across the wood. The coins inside clinked with a deep, rich metallic chime.
Kaelen took the pouch, feeling its satisfying weight, and tucked it securely into his inner coat pocket. Financial survival was no longer an immediate threat.
"Now," Kaelen said, leaning slightly closer to the counter. "What about those crates in the back?"
Gideon blinked, turning his head toward the dark corner behind his stall. Stacked against the stone wall were three large wooden crates filled with dusty, petrified bone fragments, gray stone nodules, and shattered fossilized slabs.
"Those?" Gideon chuckled dryly, waving a hand dismissively. "That's just dredge-rubble, lad. Miners pull those out of the deep sea trenches and mountain coal seams. They're fossilized bones millions of years old, but the mana inside them died out eons ago. They don't react to standard spell-crafting or enchantment. I buy 'em by the wagonload for five silver coins just to carve knife handles out of the workable stone."
Kaelen stepped closer to the nearest crate, extending his hand until his fingers brushed against a heavy, gray, petrified rib-bone the size of his forearm.
The moment his skin touched the ancient stone, the System interface inside his vision burst into a blaze of translucent violet notifications!
[PRIMAL ESSENCE IDENTIFIED!] [FOUND: PETRIFIED RIB OF ANCIENT LEVIATHAN (SPECIES ERASED)] [FOUND: DORMANT BONE FRAGMENTS OF PRIMAL THUNDER-HAWK] [CONTAINED PRIMAL ESSENCE: DENSE / HIGH PURITY] [SYSTEM FUNCTION UNLOCKED: VOID ABSORPTION CONVERSION]
Beneath his cloak, Nox let out a quiet, hungry purr, its golden eyes gleaming through the shadow weave.
"I'll buy all three crates," Kaelen said directly.
Gideon looked at Kaelen as if he had grown two heads. "All three crates? Lad, that's two hundred pounds of dead stone! You can't forge weapons out of 'em, and no mage will buy 'em."
"I like old stones," Kaelen said calmly, drawing one gold sovereign from his pouch and laying it on the counter. "Keep the change. Deliver them to the small alley behind Bram's smithy by nightfall."
Gideon stared at the gold coin, then at Kaelen, before quickly pocketing the coin with a wide grin. "Done! Delivered by sunset, no questions asked."
Kaelen picked up the petrified rib-bone from the top crate, wrapping it in his spare cloth, and stepped back into the shaded alley of the market.
In a dark, quietalcove near the cavern wall away from the busy stalls, Kaelen sat down on a stone bench.
He placed the petrified bone on his lap and pulled Nox out from beneath his tunic. The tiny black creature rested its front paws on the stone, its small black snout twitching as it smelled the ancient fossil.
[INITIATING PRIMAL EXTINCTION ABSORPTION...]
Nox opened its small mouth, and a thread of pure, pitch-black void mist wrapped around the petrified rib-bone.
Within seconds, the stone began to flake away like dry ash. Gray dust dissolved into the air as the invisible, ancient essence preserved deep within the marrow was drawn into Nox's body. The small creature’s fur rippled with dark violet light, its golden eyes flaring brightly.
A torrent of system notifications cascaded across Kaelen's vision:
[ABSORPTION COMPLETE!] [ERASED ESSENCE CONVERTED TO EXTINCTION POINTS!] [EXTINCTION POINTS ACQUIRED: +800 EP!] [CURRENT EXTINCTION POINT BALANCE: 1,520 EP]
Kaelen took a sharp breath as he read the numbers. Eight hundred EP from a single chunk of petrified bone that the rest of the world considered useless garbage!
"So this is how the System works..." Kaelen realized, his eyes shining with awe. "The current world relies on active, living mana-beasts and fresh monster cores. But the Extinct Beast Tamer class draws power from the forgotten remnants of the dead eras—the erased history that everyone else steps on!"
He mentally opened the [EXTINCTION POINT SYSTEM] tab inside the Ancient Archive.
A sleek, translucent blue-and-gold interface unfolded before his eyes, categorizing the functions of Extinction Points:
========================================= [ANCIENT ARCHIVE — EXTINCTION POINT SYSTEM]
[1. BLOODLINE REPAIR & EVOLUTION]
Restore the erased genetic structures of extinct species to unlock their true forms, stats, and physical ranks.
[2. SKILL & TALENT TREE UNLOCKS]
Purchase lost ancestral techniques, void abilities, and primal passive skills for summoned beasts.
[3. ANCIENT BESTIARY INDEX RECONSTRUCTION]
Unlock detailed records, weakness maps, and evolutionary branches of erased species across history.
[4. PRIMAL HABITAT RESTORATION]
Rebuild ancient environments using EP catalysts to passive-buff summoned monsters and hatch extinct eggs. =========================================
Kaelen didn't hesitate. He looked at Nox, who was sitting on his knee, licking its paw with complete contentment.
"Time for an upgrade, Nox," Kaelen smiled.
He selected the Bloodline Repair tab and confirmed the allocation.
[EXPENDING 500 EXTINCTION POINTS...] [INJECTING PRIMAL GENETIC RECONSTRUCTION...] [EXECUTING BLOODLINE REPAIR STAGE 0.5!]
HUMMMMMM—!
A silent wave of dark, cosmic energy erupted from Kaelen's soul core directly into Nox.
The small creature stiffened, its shadow suddenly expanding across the stone floor like a pool of living liquid darkness. Its black fur grew glossier, denser, and finer than silk, absorbing all ambient light around it. Tiny microscopic void-runes pulsed beneath its skin, and its four claws hardened into polished obsidian blades that cracked the solid stone bench beneath them without effort.
The System status panel updated instantly:
[NAME: NOX] [SPECIES: VOID-STALKER (PRIMAL DRAGON-HUNTER)] [BLOODLINE REPAIR: STAGE 0.5 / 10.0] [PUBLIC COMBAT RATING: 1 (MASKED BY VOID SHROUD)] [TRUE COMBAT RATING: 380!] [NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: VOID-CLAW MAX] [NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: SHADOW DOMAIN (LV 1)]
"Combat Rating 380..." Kaelen whispered, his heart hammering against his ribs.
380 Combat Rating!
That was the exact Combat Rating of Valerius Vance's Gold-Grade Crimson Flame Drake—the highest-ranked summon in all of Oakhaven! And Nox was only at Stage 0.5 of its bloodline restoration!
While the rest of the kingdom believed Kaelen possessed a weak CR 1 pest, Nox had already equaled the strength of the proudest noble's dragon—all while remaining completely hidden in the shadows.
Kaelen then opened the remaining EP options and allocated another 400 Extinction Points into the [ANCIENT BESTIARY INDEX] and [PRIMAL COMMAND] skill.
[EXPENDING 400 EXTINCTION POINTS...] [BESTIARY DATABASE EXPANDED!] [CLASS SKILL UPGRADED: PRIMAL COMMAND (LV 2)] [REMAINING EXTINCTION POINTS: 620 EP]
A surge of ancient knowledge poured into Kaelen's mind—maps of extinct creature nests, tactical weak points of ancient dragon species, and the precise methods required to hatch petrified eggs from ancient eras.
As Kaelen closed his System window and placed Nox back inside his coat, a sudden commotion erupted near the central stage of the Fossil Market.
A crowd of wealthy black-market buyers and hooded collectors had gathered around a raised stone altar where a prominent dealer in purple robes was displaying a heavy iron cage locked with enchanted chains.
Inside the cage rested a strange, football-sized egg. Its shell was petrified like dark gray marble, covered in intricate, fossilized vein patterns that faintly glowed with a pale emerald light.
"Step right up, gentlemen!" the dealer shouted, his voice echoing across the cavern. "Excavated from the frozen ruins of the Northern Abyss! A petrified beast egg from the First Era! Completely dead to standard mana detectors, but a magnificent artifact for any wealthy collector's mantle! Bidding starts at fifty gold coins!"
The crowd murmured, eyeing the strange egg with curiosity.
In that exact second, Kaelen's vision flashed violently with a crimson system warning!
[ANCIENT ARCHIVE PRIORITY ALERT!] [HIGH-VALUE TARGET DETECTED!] [SPECIES: PRIMAL EMERALD BEHEMOTH (ERASED LAND-LORD)] [STATUS: DORMANT EMBRYONIC FOSSIL / LIVING BLOODLINE] [RECOVERY REQUIREMENT: EXTINCTION POINT HABITAT CATALYST]
Kaelen froze, his eyes locking onto the petrified egg inside the cage.
A second extinct monster. A living bloodline from the First Era, waiting to be awakened.
Kaelen felt the thirty gold sovereigns weighing heavy in his pocket, his hand gripping Old Bram's hunting knife. A cold, fierce smile touched his lips in the subterranean darkness.
The world called them extinct.
Kaelen Ashford was going to buy them all.