A new day arrived and Aeron woke up with a jerk. He looked up to gather himself as another nightmare haunted his dreams. Sweat started to pour out of his body as he felt the danger from his dreams, the black silhouette was getting closer and closer to turning around, and Aeron knew, once it turned around fully, something bad will happen, something dangerous and fatal.
‘I really need to level up, I can’t think of anything to do for these nightmares!’
Aeron thought in frustration, he was already used to the scenes he saw in his dreams, but the black silhouette always made him shiver in fear.
“Master? Are you okay?”
Arthur who was near him asked. Arthur could feel the fear and trepidation his master felt, and it frustrated him to no end that he was unable to help his master. Especially when he saw no clue after Aeron asked him to guard at night.
“It’s fine Arthur, just another dream, it’ll go away in the future.”
Aeron said to reassure Arthur, Agila who was also beside him looked at him in concern. Both his pet’s concern touched Aeron as both of them viewed matters in a childish but straightforward way, which was the purest form of concern Aeron could ever find.
“Alright alright, no need to worry, how about we eat?”
Aeron said as he changed the subject to food, Arthur was unconvinced but still played his part. Agila on the other hand had her concern turn to excitement as she heard the word food. If it was before one week ago then her reaction wouldn’t change, but she could now eat meat and not just any ordinary meat, but High-Grade Beast meat. Just the thought of it made her drool a river. Seeing Arthur’s cooperation and Agila’s current expression made Aeron smile.
‘Sure enough, both of you are still too young, well, that’s the case for Agila anyways.’
Aeron thought as a smile formed on his face, Arthur was trying hard to act mature but his act slipped every now and then.
“Unfortunately, we can’t cook the meat, the scent might attract some unwanted company.”
Aeron said, right now, only Agila and the wolves could eat meat, Ursa was still in the midst of his evolution which might take a long time. Aeron didn’t want to speed Ursa’s evolution because it was more complicated, Ursa was evolving into a more humanoid form, as such the changes were more complex. Arthur could also choose to eat raw meat, but he didn’t want to for some reason so Aeron just relented, it was the same for the other monkeys. Aeron sliced apart the meat of the Alpha Lykoi to feed Agila and the wolves, High-Grade Beast meat could survive without a core which was the Alpha Lykoi’s hide turned coat, for about a month or two.
“Here you go Agila.”
Aeron said as he took a big slice of meat and gave it to Agila. Agila’s eyes twinkled at the sight of the meat as she stabbed it with one of her talons before gorging on it. Every now and then, she would look around before pecking and ripping her meat. Aeron observed her actions which always interested him, this was an action usually found on birds of prey, they would always position themselves so that they could still observe the surrounding while eating, at first, Aeron thought this would be lost towards Agila’s growth because she had no mother to teach her, and Aeron didn’t find the need to teach her because there was no reason to be guarded around him and his other pets. But Aeron discovered that Agila acted like this naturally, the passing of genes and memories were much stronger in Gaia. After watching Agila eat for a while, Aeron looked towards the expectant wolves.
“Here Akila.”
Aeron called towards Akila, he was the dominant wolf among the bunch, and also the biggest. Akila walked closer towards Aeron, the other wolves followed. This was their routine when feeding, Akila would be called first while the others followed. Aeron sliced the meat into 5 equal pieces, one for each wolf. What Aeron was doing would outstand any other person in Gaia, since High-Grade Beast meat could be sold for a lot of mana stones, but it was also not possible for Aeron to sell it because he had no explanation about his source, people would first believe Aeron taming a High-Grade Beast than killing one. After all, fighting High-Grade Beast was doable for Professionals with Aura, but killing one was another story altogether.
“Alright, you can eat.”
Aeron said as he also watched the silver wolves eat, he had been learning a lot about wolf behavior watching his silver wolves around. The silver wolves gobbled up the meat as quickly as they could, this was the behavior normal wolves exhibited, meat wasn’t always available, thus eating fast was an action ingrained inside their bodies. The other wolves saw that Akila still had some meat left so they started to approach Akila.
Grrrrr!
Akila growled as the other wolves neared, the nearer they get the more Akila growled. When Fang got closer enough to smell the meat.
Grrarr!
Akila suddenly bit and held Fang’s snout before letting go and continuing to eat. Fang went away and the other silver wolves didn’t go nearer. Aeron understood that the growls and biting Akila showed were just the way the wolves communicated, especially the biting part, or the muzzle grab, even dogs did these actions, thus Aeron didn’t do anything to stop it. What Aeron was curious about was who the omega was, but it seems like his silver wolves didn’t have an omega.
“Alright, that’s done.”
Aeron said as he stood up and walked towards the fruits, he picked one up and started eating.
“Mhmmm, still delicious!”
Aeron said as he bit on a golden fruit, this wasn’t like the golden fruit Arthur gave him in the past, that one looked like an apple, this one was more elongated, but just the same, they were both delicious. Golden fruits were rare, but such a vast forest made it possible for Aeron to eat some every now and then.
“Arthur, have the black monkeys start scouting, we’re leaving after an hour.”
Aeron said as he walked towards the unconscious woman, he began squeezing the temporary cores to feed the woman. She was truly a strong woman, even now, there were already visible changes on her wounds from what she looked like yesterday.
‘I need to level up before she wakes up, otherwise, I won’t have any other way to hide Arthur from her.’
Aeron thought, he pinched the last temporary core as he started to get ready for another day of hunting. Yesterday had been a painful yet fruitful endeavor, today he hoped to find another Mid-Grade Wolf, but while the wolves hid, he could still continue hunting other beasts.
“Oh right..”
Aeron went towards Agila’s nest and picked up the still sleeping turtle Terra. It opened its mouth wide and stretched its legs as it was woken up by Aeron’s actions.
“Hahaha!”
Aeron laughed at seeing the human-like action that Terra portrayed, none of the other turtles did so, but he just thought Terra as a weird and unique animal, there were also cats that acted like dogs in his past world, and ducks who acted like roosters. So a turtle mimicking him yawn and stretch wasn’t weird but cute.
“Here you go.”
Aeron said as he placed a fruit in front of Terra, the other turtles also got their share before Aeron left to hunt.
“Alright Arthur, we went east yesterday, today let’s go west. Also, have Alexander and Caesar lead 5 monkeys each to help in scouting. Just have them in the treetops and never let them approach the wolves, when they see a pack, just have them contact the black monkeys to look further if the wolf pack has any Mid-Grade wolf.”
Aeron said as they departed, the other monkeys could just act like normal monkeys and hide in the treetops, the wolves won’t notice anything out of place so it wasn’t really an issue, but Aeron was still afraid that the brown monkeys’ presence would scare away the wolves since each of them were Mid-Grade Beasts. So he just instructed them to cooperate with the black monkeys, this way the search would be faster.
The whole hunt went smoothly, unfortunately, there were no wolf packs with Mid-Grade Wolves in them. There were packs of Low-Grade Wolves which Aeron also hunted. The afternoon hunt also went without a hitch, Vine Snakes in particular were easy prey.
In the City of Una.
“Young Master, the wolves have returned but there’s no sight of High-Grade Wolves yet.”
A shadowy figure appeared beside Gerard.
“Have you found anything about the wolf king yet?”
Gerard asked, the wolves returning was a sign, but since there were no High-Grade Wolves with the returning group, then there is a reason for him to get worried. If he isn’t wrong then the wolves they were currently seeing were just scouts, the real threat was still unseen.
“Unfortunately, we still don’t have any clue about the wolf king’s whereabouts.”
The shadowy figure said.
“Well, it’s not your fault, I won’t send any of you deeper into the Endless Forest, I know you all want to do so and give me more information, but it’s way too dangerous.”
Gerard said as he saw the reluctance withing the person’s voice, they have been asking him to let them go deeper into the Endless Forest to investigate further, but he was adamant about not sacrificing his people.
“Yes Young Master, we understand.”
The shadowy figure disappeared as he finished saying his sentence. After his disappearance, some shadows in the room also moved and disappeared.
“Brock, how’s the training going?”
Gerard asked Brock, the training was already in the last phase.
“It’s going very well young master, the other people are already well versed in coordination.”
Brock answered with confidence. His answer made Gerard smile, Gerard nodded in response.
“How about you Sam? How are the mages doing?”
Gerard asked Sam who was standing opposite of Brock, this was an important point in their preparations.
“It’s going well in my opinion young master, as you might know, the spell I’m teaching them can only be used by people like me, but the method I have devised could let them unleash the power of the spell without having multiple high affinities on the three elements. But the training might still need a month or two to be stable enough in battle.”
Sam explained, the Mages were powerful ranged units in battle, and also one of the most complex profession in Gaia. But there was a common attribute towards Mages, most of them were the intellectual types, but this didn’t mean there weren’t instinctual types in the Mages fold, they were rare but most of them were powerful and erratic, they had no fixed set of style that most Mages followed. There was another word which they were dubbed as, Sorcerer.
“I understand, that’s already quick enough for me.”
Gerard said as he acknowledged Sam’s effort, the training regarding Warriors, Archers, and Assassins were very different compared to Mages.
“Alexis, how about your part? Have you found any Tamers with good potential?”
Gerard asked Alexis this time, Alexis was trying his hardest not to be noticed.
“Uhm… Well… I have been going around looking for Tamers with potential, but uhm.. I haven’t found any.”
Alexis said as he scratched his head while showing a silly look on his face, it wasn’t that he wasn’t searching or he was slacking, but looking for Tamers with potential wasn’t just about their affinity, affinity did play a part of it, but more importantly, it was about attitude. If a person was too timid, then beasts wouldn’t want to have such a master, Low-Grade Beasts might not have any choice, but Higher-Grade Beasts weren’t the same. Tamers that couldn’t tame or have at least 5 High-Grade Beast while in the Mortal Stage wouldn’t have any chance of transcending, this meant that taming High-Grade Beasts in the Earth Stage wouldn’t change the Tamer’s fate.
“It’s fine, I understand, having you and my little brother is enough, but if you could find someone else, then that would be better.”
Gerard said with a smile, the Ironbull Family was truly a marvel on the list of Tamer Families as they were able to produce 50 Tamers who had tamed High-Grade Beasts, this didn’t mean all those Tamers could Tame 5 High-Grade Beasts while they were in the Mortal Stage, but all of them had the potential to do so.
“Young Master, why do you think that Aeron has the same potential as Alexis?”
Sam suddenly asked, it had to be said that Aeron was actually impressive already being able to survive near the Endless Forest and what was more, was that he was able to speed up his leveling at a terrifying pace with just his ability to kill multiple beasts. They didn’t see him in action but his pace was already a big clue whether he had any ability or not.
“Hehe”
Gerard chuckled at Sam’s question.
“Alexis.”
Gerard suddenly asked.
“Yes Young Master.”
Alexis answered, he didn’t know why but it seemed like Gerard had a lot of confidence regarding Aeron.
“You’ve already tamed the Ivory Rhino and faced it in the soul battlefield, let me ask you, if it were you in the past, would you be able to promise without any doubt or hesitation, whether you’ll be able to tame a High-Grade Beast or not?”
Gerard suddenly asked.
“No”
Alexis wanted to answer yes, but the scene of the Ivory Rhino’s soul in the soul battlefield truly terrified him, it was many times larger and much more powerful than his soul, if it wasn’t for another reason, he wouldn’t be able to tame such a beautiful creature, and the Ivory Rhino was already considered a tame and gentle beast.
“But Aeron has not yet seen the terror of a High-Grade Beast’s soul.”
Alexis quickly followed.
“Oh, but you do know that he comes from a Tamer Family right?”
Gerard replied, even though one has never eaten pork, at least one has seen pigs run. Aeron was a member of a proper Tamer Family, thus, his knowledge of the dangers of taming High-Grade Beasts was probably enough for him to recognize the risks, yet when he promised Gerard he would be able to tame a High-Grade Beast when he reached level 6, there was no doubt nor hesitation in his actions, especially his eyes.
“But let’s just say it’s my instinct.”
Gerard said as he smiled.
************Deep inside the Endless Forest*************
A dark wolf with purple strands of fur was curled like a ball lying flat on the forest floor, its body would spasm erratically, and it would whimper in pain, but its eyes were filled with fervent determination. Another dark wolf stood proudly in front of the smaller wolf, its eyes weren’t filled with warmth at its suffering pup, but with coldness instead, it suddenly reared its head and howled into the sky.
HOWL!!!
