Beneath the illustration, there was a pile of white text descriptions.

　　【Race】: Snowfield Dog

　　【Attribute】: Not Awakened

　　【Race Level】: Intermediate Extraordinary

　　【Growth Level】: Level 1

　　【Skills】: None

　　"It's just like a game card." Ryan Clark looked at the image and information appearing on the black card, feeling even more puzzled about its origin.

　　So who exactly created this thing, and for what purpose?

　　But compared to these questions, what concerned Ryan Clark more was that the series of prompts he saw when he first got the black card had all disappeared, replaced by a mysterious countdown floating before his retina.

　　【Novice Trial Secret Realm Teleportation Countdown: 59:59】

　　Ryan Clark was silent, not surprised at the arrival of this 59:59 countdown.

　　That poster must have failed at this stage, right?

　　After the novice task, sure enough, it's the novice trial, just as he expected.

　　"Mr. Harris, come out."

　　"Woof—" With the black card in hand, Ryan Clark focused his thoughts and summoned Mr. Harris from it once again.

　　On the floor, a huge circular summoning array appeared first. Then, as the light from the array burst and faded, Mr. Harris, now a full size larger than before, appeared on top of it.

　　Through this whole process, Mr. Harris was utterly dumbfounded, spinning around wildly as soon as he came out, examining his now larger self, a bit confused about the changes that had happened to him.

　　He could clearly feel that he had become stronger—his strength, vision, sense of smell, all had improved. Most importantly, his appetite seemed to have increased as well.

　　He was extremely hungry at the moment. After circling twice, his stomach started growling... so he looked pitifully at Ryan Clark again.

　　"Let's eat first, there's still plenty of time," said Ryan Clark.

　　They were about to enter a dangerous place, so it was indeed necessary to let Mr. Harris eat and drink his fill first.

　　Ryan Clark immediately went to prepare food, getting Mr. Harris's dog food ready.

　　Pig's feet, minced meat, chopped vegetables, meat and vegetable soup...

　　Today's menu was pretty simple, mainly because there wasn't time to make anything complicated.

　　"Woof!" Before eating, Mr. Harris let out an excited bark, then plunged his head into the food bowl.

　　While Mr. Harris was gobbling down his food, Ryan Clark observed him. Previously, Mr. Harris could only be considered a medium-sized dog, but now his size was comparable to a large dog.

　　No wonder the pet cats he saw before were so big—after being strengthened, pets clearly became much more robust!

　　Good!

　　"My strength has increased too."

　　"But it seems like I haven't grown any taller."

　　Then, while Mr. Harris was eating, Ryan Clark first weighed himself, then measured his height, and finally went to his room to take out a one-handed sword and gave it a few swings, feeling it was much easier to handle.

　　Ryan Clark's family was actually quite well-off.

　　His parents were both well-known zoologists.

　　The privileged family background not only made Ryan Clark interested in all kinds of animals, but also allowed him to have many other hobbies.

　　For example, like most teenagers, Ryan Clark was interested in swords and firearms. His parents were very supportive of his various interests, so when he was a child, Ryan Clark was even sent to a famous kendo dojo to learn swordsmanship. During vacations, he even went to Hawaii with his dad and learned shooting there.

　　These hobbies, which seemed useless before, now turned out to be somewhat useful. Since he was about to be teleported to the "trial secret realm," maybe he could bring a weapon for self-defense.

　　In the past, although Mr. Harris was fierce, Ryan Clark with a weapon could easily subdue him.

　　But now, he could vaguely sense that after the contract strengthening, Mr. Harris's combat power had already surpassed the concept of an "ordinary dog," enough to rival fierce beasts like lions and tigers—he was now an extraordinary breed.

　　In comparison, although he himself had also been strengthened, the degree was not as great as his pet's. The main new ability he gained was simply stronger control over Mr. Harris.

　　In this situation, having a handy weapon for self-defense became very important. After all, he couldn't rely entirely on his pet. The only question was whether weapons could be teleported along with him.

　　"And this... I'll bring it too." Ryan Clark put down his custom-made iron-cutting sword, opened a drawer, and took out an accessory.

　　It was a pendant—a small white antler, shaped like a broken deer antler, strung on a cord, looking rather old.

　　It was said to be a family heirloom amulet from his mother's side, passed down through generations. As something left by his mother, Ryan Clark clearly regarded it as a spiritual keepsake.

　　Thinking of his parents, Ryan Clark felt a wave of sorrow. The two of them had died abroad while investigating an undiscovered rare beast, attacked and killed, their bodies never found, leaving behind only a recording of their screams as they were torn apart...

　　Ryan Clark never believed his parents had really died like that, and always wanted to go to that rainforest himself to search for them. Back then, when Lauren Bennett heard Ryan Clark say he was interested in hunting, she thought he was planning to go into the wild again. But as Ryan Clark said, if he really went to such a dangerous place, how could he rely on just Mr. Harris as a hunting dog? Wouldn't that be sending himself to his death? Wouldn't it be better to use his money to hire a professional team?

　　But now...