Aeron remembered something within the original’s future plans, there was a hidden task he could get which would give him territory in the Pioneer City, but he had to be at least level 2 with a pet mount to be able to qualify.
“From now on your name will be Richie,” he said to the monkey beside him.
“Ki ki!” the monkey seemed to like it, although he didn’t understand the monkey, he could still feel what the monkey meant or felt, and right now it felt happy. Aeron observed Richie as they walked, if his memory served him right then all his pets were Mid-Grade Beasts. Each grade was incomparable to the other.
According to Aeron’s new memories, beasts were divided between 3 Grades, Low-Grade, Mid-Grade, and High-Grade Beasts. Low-Grade beasts were beasts’ level 0-5; these beasts usually have no abilities that augment mana.
Mid-Grade Beasts were beasts that could augment mana but were still far weaker than High-Grade Beasts but also far stronger than Low-Grade Beasts, the most popular of these beasts were infant beasts.
High-Grade Beasts were beasts level 6 and above, these beasts were further divided into 3 categories, Demon, Magic, and Mythical Beasts. Demon Beasts fuse their cores to a certain part of their body strengthening its entirety, these beasts were highly dependent on their physical abilities. Magic Beasts mainly focus on strengthening their cores, unlike Demon Beasts they have superior magical abilities, these beasts might not be stronger in terms of body strength but their magic power far outstrips the other. Mythical Beasts are beasts that both prioritize physical as well as magical strength, this didn’t that mean they were inferior to Demon and Magic beasts in both areas, otherwise, they wouldn’t be called Mythical Beasts, the truth is that Mythical Beasts could defeat both in these aspects, the most well-known Mythical Beasts were the Dragons. High-Grade Beasts were in general, a lot stronger than humans of the same level and stage.
After traversing about 10 kilometers he finally saw the huge walls which represented the City of Isa, even Titans would think twice before messing with the City of Isa, there was a rumor that the Governor of Isa was a very powerful necromancer, he had even made a Titan one of his undead.
This according to Baron Ironbull the founder of the Ironbull Family even he, a Transcendent Tamer would think twice before offending the Governor. In one of the beast tides when the City was just established, the Governor already had an undead Titan fighting for him, sweeping through the beasts with ease. There was also a time where another Titan threatened the City, the Governor fought for days with it, fortunately, the wall was already finished, and after 1 month of fighting the Titan beast finally fell, and became an addition to the Governor’s power. This was the fearsome aspect of Necromancers. Just like Tamers, they would only have a limited amount of undead they could raise, but unlike Tamers they only needed sufficient mana to do so.
Their home was not in the city though, it was outside the City, inside Baron Ironbull’s fief. Which was about 20 kilometers away west from the City, this walk only took about an hour or so, this was the normal walking speed for most people.
He arrived at the Irontail Village where his family was situated, he had already passed by a bunch of his peers, and ignored the increasing sneers on their faces, they must have already heard about him choosing the Tamer class. With a none Tamer mother and his father’s Grade-4 affinity, they had already decided he too was a Grade-4. Of course, they could only sneer at him secretly, if the Baron knew, he would never tolerate such actions.
These were just desperate people; they knew being a Tamer was an extreme choice for others but they had to follow through even if they didn’t want too. They were not as brave as his father, they have seen their parents become mediocre existence for failing to even attempt taming High-Grade Beasts, this would, after all, lead to death upon failure.
The glory of the family was not truly important for the Baron, but to his descendants who basked in his light as the only Transcendent Tamer in the City, it was a hard thing to give up. Coupled with the high probability of getting Grade 2 or sometimes even Grade 1 affinity in the Tamer Profession which made it a norm in the family, they would even do their best to find Tamers as their wives. But of the thousands of members in the Family, there were only about 50 who had braved danger and succeeded in Taming High-Grade Beasts.
For Grade 1 or 2 talents they would even have training camps organized by the best Tamers in the family. In there, there were even rumors of infant beasts as rewards to those that showed prospects.
The Ironbull family was a force to be reckoned with, in reality, they could even try to establish a city of their own, but Baron Ironbull knew of the complexity of this matter, unlike the Governor who could even kill a Titan, he was far inferior thus he decided not to be like the other Governors who only wish to try their luck in establishing a city. He had to wait, maybe after having more Transcendent in the family then he would decide to attempt such feats. This feat was after all something every human dreamed of, not only would it grant power and resources for the governor, it would also be a big contribution to Humanity, Humanity was after all only a small power in Gaia.
Many races in this world could destroy the humans, but since the Humans were able to raise God level Professionals, Humanity was finally able to carve their place in Gaia. God level Professionals were like tactical nukes of the past, if the other races were to mess with Humanity below a certain line, then they would incur the retaliation of God Level Professionals.
“I’m home.”
Aeron said in a loud voice as he entered the house, this was not something he usually did, but the original did so without fail.
“Sweety.”
He heard a soft voice call to him, it was his new mother, long black hair that fell down to her waist, with a fair complexion and a tall stature, his father was a lucky man indeed.
“Mother.”
He approached his mother then took her already outstretched hand, tapping it lightly on his forehead. This was also one of the things he found pleasant in this world, although most people didn’t bother to learn their native language, they still tried to preserve some of their cultures.
“Your father’s inside, dinner is almost ready.”
His mother smiled gently, he could feel the love his mother felt for him, although it made him feel a bit guilty. Since the original already died before he took over the body, and the memory of his original family was already scant and hazy, he had already decided to treat this new family with sincerity.
He followed his mother’s steps while looking around the house, it was a simple house made of compressed earth, there was some simple wooden furniture here and there but there was only a small amount of them, which made the house feel a bit empty. Truth be told, some families don’t even have any of this furniture, lumber was very valuable even if they were surrounded by forests and jungles full of ancient and aged trees, they couldn’t cut more than a small amount.
Cutting trees needed a high level professional to do, the trees around them were very thick and hard, the trees also regenerated the damaged areas after some time. When a tree dies or is cut down, they leave behind a wood essence, its size and diameter is dependent on the tree’s age. See, wood essence is considered the essence of the tree or its corpse, it has a core within it, and only with the core would it survive, the rest of the tree would slowly disappear to oblivion.
Other common essences were vine essence and rock or ore essence, these were the same with wood essence, when a vine dies a vine essence remains, as for rock or ore essence as long as they were picked off the earth where they were found their growth would stop as is.
He had also observed that almost everyone he had seen around here or the city were wearing vine weaved clothes, vine essence was the most common material to create clothing, of course, they were a bit thicker but they actually felt comfortable, maybe it was because these vines had small cores and mana courses through them.
Everyone also knew how to process these essences, all you had to do was make changes in the material, say cutting the vine into small strips without damaging the core, you then inject your mana inside the material for a day or two, the duration depends on the size of the core. This process was basically tricking the core into thinking that the form it was changed into, was its normal form or undamaged form. This process was called Training, although it also had its limits like making complex shapes or forms, or even making hollow points or holes on the materials.
He remembered an experiment he saw online of a plant that would close its open leaves when exposed to stimuli, what happened was that they would make the plant fall from a table for a fixed interval every day. Every time it fell, it would close its leaves, but after some time the plant stopped closing its leaves anymore. This was probably the same concept they applied with these essence materials.
“Good that your home, your things are already inside your room,” his father said after he went inside the dining area, he looked a lot like his father, skin like copper although he was lighter, black hair, and height at about 1.80 or 1.90 meters, his eyes were from his mother though, a very rare amber color.
“Thank you father,” He said, whilst also taking his father’s hand then tapping it to his forehead.
He sat down then the family had a hearty dinner, he was very surprised to see High-Grade Beast meat on the table, only the wealthy would have these sorts of food. His parents must have hunted one for him, defeating a High-Grade Beast was easier than killing it, and even when they found High-Grade Beasts, they would usually just let them be while recording the area where it was found. These beasts would become targets to be tamed by the other Family Members.
There were also some fruits and mana rice, the fruits were very tasty although not as tasty as the golden fruit. Mana rice was the staple food in this world, unlike normal rice, the grains of mana rice were the size of potatoes, it was white and soft, the taste wasn’t much but the more you eat the better it tasted. Both fruit and mana rice have pseudo cores, these were temporary cores, it would supply mana but it wouldn’t regenerate the damaged or eaten areas, these cores were also edible.
“Sweety, we have a gift for you” his mother smilingly said, they led him to the backyard.
Neigh!
when they got nearer, he suddenly heard a neigh.
‘A Horse!’ he thought, Horses were level 5 beasts Low-Grade Beast, they were one step away from becoming Mid-Grade Beasts, but unlike other beasts, they could be tamed by humans as mounts without the [Tame] skill, these beasts were also very rare and only a handful of people had them.
“Wow!” he exclaimed when he finally saw the Horse, it was almost 2.5m tall, the horse was pitch black, and it was very well built. Even though he wasn’t a horse enthusiast, he knew this was a high-quality steed. He turned around to look at his parents, they must have paid a very heavy price for this. As though able to read his thoughts his father spoke.
“Don’t think too much into it, we only owe the Governor a favor, and he also gave a task when he heard about your plan to go to the Pioneer City, the Governor also said that if you finish the task, the favor would be voided and there would even be rewards for you” his father explained, though he didn’t tell him that the favor was an absolute deployment, which means that the Governor could give them risky tasks which they wouldn’t be able to reject.
“Oh, what task father?” he asked, there was probably more details about that favor, but aimless speculation wouldn’t get him anywhere.
“An escort task, once you go to the Pioneer City, you’ll have to observe news of a girl coming out of the Endless Forest, she would probably be carrying a long sword with her, when you see her, show her this badge then escort her back to the City of Isa”
His father said, his father was confident this mission wasn’t hard, since the girl was able to explore the Endless Forest then she would probably be a powerful Professional. Afterward, his father gave him a small badge, it was probably made from some ore essence, it was shiny black with a sword and scythe carved on it.
“I will make sure to finish this task father, mother,” he said seriously, he even planned to enter the forest if he was strong enough.
“Un” his parents nodded.
“huff!”
His attention was dragged back to the Horse, it looked at him and he seemed to have seen a glint of intelligence inside its eyes, although he thought nothing of it. He had already seen a bunch of monkeys that could understand his orders. He also noticed the saddle on its back.
‘Demon beast leather!’ he thought.
As for how he knew about it, only demon beasts or mythical beasts would leave behind parts of its body, mythical beasts would normally be a Transcendent level, so only demon beasts would be the possible choice. The reins were made with vines, but this one was a rope vine, this was also very rare, unlike normal vines, rope vines were color brown and are far sturdier than normal vines.
“From now on, I’ll call you Spirit!” he named the horse after thinking for a bit, that was when he remembered a certain movie about horses, the horse wasn’t black but he liked that movie a lot.
Neigh
The horse neighed then prodded him with its head, it seemed to like the name. It suddenly made him think that maybe names held some significance, just like in that slime anime he watched, but he didn’t notice any drain on his mana so he didn’t bother thinking deeper into it. The day ended just like that, the morning after, Aeron woke up to the tweeting of the birds, unlike in his hometown, there were no roosters here, so only those birds could be heard.
Yawn!
Aeron rose with a yawn, he had fallen multiple times yesterday and only gave up after he was able to ride properly even if it was just a trot. If it was the original Aeron then it wouldn’t even take him an hour to learn to ride. Good thing his parents just attributed it to a bad affinity in riding or something of the like.
He didn’t have to wash up after sleeping or even before, this world was a very clean world. Because of the rules of mana, excrements such as sweat would just disappear after some time.
‘These rules of mana really make it convenient when speaking about hygiene but it also hampers the creativity of humans’ he thought.
Even making houses using the earth was a careful process utilizing the Mages [Earth Manipulation], and just like Training, after the earth is raised for a certain height, they had to supply it with mana.
“Good morning mother!”, he called; he would be leaving today.
