The Battle Commander Wolf!

Both the veteran professor Qiu Yuhua and Zhao Manyan had advised Mo Fan against investing resources in creatures brought forth through Dimensional Summoning.

Dimensionally summoned creatures were, put plainly, hired hands. They had lives of their own — and one day, without warning, they might carve out kingdoms in the dimensional plane and stop reporting for work altogether.

On top of that, these summoned beings could die within their own dimensional planes, making them a thoroughly unreliable investment.

For this reason, most Summoning Element Mages who reached the Intermediate-Level tended to save their resources for their prized Contract Beasts instead.

Mo Fan wasn't the sentimental type. Had the Gloom Wolf Beast not thrown its own body into Mu Nujiao's Wind Disk—Dragon Cyclone during the freshman Beast Battle, he probably would have kept those resources for a Contract Beast too.

But the Gloom Wolf Beast's loyalty and fearlessness had convinced him — it would be a vital companion on his journey. Strengthening it was no waste at all.

The Gloom Wolf Beast seemed to understand this. Why else would it transform into a big dog and nuzzle against Mo Fan in gratitude?

The dimensional plane was no different from the Demon-Beast world beyond the Safe Zone — the weak were preyed upon. Only by advancing in rank could the Gloom Wolf Beast hold its ground there.

"Alright, let's begin," Mo Fan said to the Gloom Wolf Beast.

The Gloom Wolf Beast let out a howl, practically vibrating with excitement.

Blood washing first, then soul shaping, and finally body strengthening — Mo Fan had the sequence committed to memory. Including the Battle Commander Soul, the whole package came to over twenty million in total value. If he managed to hit that fifteen-percent failure rate, Mo Fan figured he might as well pack up and quit entirely.

Summoning Element Magical Energy was mainly used to feed Summoned Beasts, though the enhancement process itself also devoured enormous quantities of it.

Blood washing was a gradual process, not unlike drawing and then transfusing blood in a hospital. It required draining exactly fifty percent of the Summoned Beast's blood before infusing fresh bloodline to trigger new blood production.

The procedure demanded extreme care — for a creature like the Gloom Wolf Beast, losing more than fifty percent of its blood meant brushing against death.

Fortunately, Mo Fan was nothing if not meticulous. He extracted exactly fifty percent of the Gloom Wolf Beast's Servant-class bloodline with surgical precision, then immediately infused the Battle Commander bloodline.

Wolf-clan bloodlines generally offered greater benefits to wolf-type creatures and were less prone to rejection. Though the fresh Battle Commander bloodline triggered a mild rejection response as it entered the Gloom Wolf Beast's body, the two eventually merged into one.

The nobler the bloodline, the greater the power it granted — which was why bloodline had always been the most critical factor for any living creature.

Once the half-infusion of Battle Commander bloodline was complete, Mo Fan gave the Gloom Wolf Beast time to breathe and let its vitality recover.

**Aroo~~~~~** The Gloom Wolf Beast hauled itself back up and let out a loud howl toward Mo Fan — *more, keep going.*

"Fair enough — tough as iron," Mo Fan said with a nod.

Soul shaping was significantly more dangerous. The soul had always been the most vulnerable part of any living being — spells that struck it directly inflicted pain at least ten times worse than any ordinary wound.

If the original soul was shattered through carelessness and the new soul failed to take hold, the Gloom Wolf Beast would be finished.

Soul shaping was a test of willpower. There was nothing Mo Fan could do here; it all came down to whether the Gloom Wolf Beast could endure.

**Arooo~~~~~~!!!!**

The moment the soul entered, the Gloom Wolf Beast let out a howl of pure agony.

Demon-Beasts were ranked by tier, and higher-tier creatures naturally dominated lower-tier ones. When a Battle Commander Soul invaded a lesser soul, the most terrifying outcome was soul devourment.

The Battle Commander Soul ranked above the Servant-class soul — and nature followed the law of the jungle. The Gloom Wolf Beast had to hold its ground against the Battle Commander Soul's pressure, or its own soul would be consumed, leaving behind nothing but a hollow shell.

Mo Fan stood vigil at its side, his expression as grave as a father pacing outside a delivery room.

**Aroo!! Aroo!!!!!**

The Gloom Wolf Beast howled without pause, each cry a testament to how fiercely its soul was being contested. Its fangs bared wide, it clenched its jaw so hard the teeth seemed ready to crack; when it howled, the sound was torn from somewhere deep and raw.

The ordeal lasted only about five minutes — but Mo Fan knew those five minutes must have felt like a lifetime to the Gloom Wolf Beast.

In the end, it held on.

The Gloom Wolf Beast had always been stubborn. It never let Mo Fan use Magical Energy to tend its wounds, because healing on its own strengthened the self-regeneration capacity of wolf-type creatures.

For a Servant-class creature, that improvement was admittedly small — but the fact that the Gloom Wolf Beast insisted on it said everything about its iron constitution.

The soul shaping had utterly wrung the Gloom Wolf Beast dry.

Anything involving the soul worked that way — no matter how powerful the body, the soul's suffering would reduce it to mush.

But the enhancement had to press on.

Body strengthening was far gentler by comparison. The heart and bone powder were simply swallowed, replenishing the stamina and vitality the Gloom Wolf Beast had burned through.

**Aroo~~~~~!!!!**

After a brief rest, the Gloom Wolf Beast called out to Mo Fan.

"Ready to break through?" Mo Fan asked.

The Gloom Wolf Beast nodded.

"Good — strike while the iron's hot."

At last, the crucial advancement. With all three enhancements complete, the optimal moment to break through was while the effects were still at full potency — and the Gloom Wolf Beast wasn't about to let that window pass.

All Mo Fan had to do was channel every last drop of his Magical Energy into the Gloom Wolf Beast. After that, everything rested with the beast.

The Gloom Wolf Beast stood at the center of the training room, still reeking faintly of sweat. Its long dark-blue fur hung limply, and its body wasn't as steady as usual — but its gaze was unwavering.

**AROO!!!!!!!**

It raised its head, long muzzle pointing skyward.

The roar echoed through the training room as a torrential, blood-red gale erupted from somewhere deep in its wild nature, whipping its fur into a frenzy.

Mo Fan had witnessed this scene once before — beside an abandoned construction site, where a One-Eyed Demon Wolf had been attempting to advance into a Three-Eyed Demon Wolf. The sheer force of the beast's aura had made breathing feel like a struggle.

Familiar as the sight was, the aura the Gloom Wolf Beast was now releasing struck Mo Fan as far more powerful than that One-Eyed Demon Wolf had ever managed.

That made sense. The One-Eyed Demon Wolf had only stolen a small amount of the Earth Sacred Spring — which had probably only strengthened its soul while leaving everything else untouched.

**Woooo!!!!**

The Gloom Wolf Beast let out a second roar.

This time, an even fiercer wave of energy surged forward — a swell hiding behind the first wave's crest — powerful enough to force even Mo Fan, an Intermediate-Level Mage, to stumble back several steps.

Sand and debris flew wildly, filling the air with murk. Through the haze, one could just make out a vortex taking shape, swirling around the Gloom Wolf Beast as it stood proudly at the center.

*This aura... is it happening?* Mo Fan shielded his eyes with one hand, a surge of quiet elation rising in his chest.