“We’re here master,” Arthur said as Aeron hopped off his back.
Aeron was starting to get used to becoming dizzy after riding Arthur’s back, this would change when he levels up, but until then he’ll just have to endure it. Aeron looked down and saw the third pack resting. He summoned enough monkeys and started to set up a surprise attack.
Of course, Aeron along with his pets could just attack the wolves head-on, but Aeron wanted a quick fight, some wolves might escape while the battle protracted. He already saw that this bunch of wolves were part of a greater pack, if the true alpha came then he would be in very big trouble, but he was still determined to level up before leaving. This was the reason why he wanted to attack the wolves and leave no survivors. The pack wouldn’t care if it lost a group of wolves somewhere in the forest, but once they knew that it was a coordinated attack, then they would surely send a High-Grade Beast to retaliate.
Arthur started to go near the Mid-Grade Wolf unnoticed, the other monkeys were already preparing their bows and picked their individual targets. Aeron sent the signal and Arthur started the attack, neutralizing the Mid-Grade Wolf while Aeron went for the finish, the monkeys also started to bombard the remaining wolves leaving no wolf alive.
“Back now!” Aeron said as Arthur carried him.
Arthur did not forget to order the other monkeys to carry back the Mid-Grade Wolf’s corpse. This time around, Aeron handled the foreign mana better, there was still a huge amount of pain, but he was already getting used to it. Aeron opened his eyes as he discovered himself covered in sweat.
“At this rate, it should take me about 6 more days before I reach the peak of level 5!” Aeron said in excitement.
He had been tired of being too vulnerable against High-Grade Beasts. Although he wouldn’t be able to beat a High-Grade Beast when he reached level 6, he would at least not be as defenseless.
Aeron looked around and saw that it was already starting to get dark, the purification process took longer than expected. He went around feeding his pets and the unconscious woman, he didn’t eat because he already felt full. He meditated for a bit before going to sleep, it was to stabilize his mind as earlier in the day had been a bad experience.
Early in the morning after Aeron was done with his morning routine, they started their hunt anew. This time, the same number of wolves entered the forest. None of the wolf packs hunted but were instead roaming around the forest where their kin was last spotted, the wolves had developed a sort of long-lasting scent marks, there were no High-Grade Wolf in each pack, but a Mid-Grade Wolf could leave a scent mark infused with mana enough to last a week. Aeron waited until each pack was a safe distance away from each other before mounting his attack. The first ambush went well and none of the wolves escaped, Arthur brought Aeron back to the base to start the purification process.
The second pack suffered the same situation as the second pack yesterday, and Arthur now had another wolf, it had the same silver fur as the previous Mid-Grade Wolves Arthur subdued. Aeron thought there might be a chance for black or normal grey wolves to appear after being subdued by Arthur.
“Your name shall be Fera,” Aeron said.
He then unsummoned Fera and continued the hunt, they were heading towards the third pack of wolves. But this time, another hunter was there first. The area was engulfed by a white mist, Aeron couldn’t see anything in the mist, but he could hear whimpers and growls from inside the mist.
“Arthur, do you see anything?” Aeron asked.
He could only ask Arthur because the situation was too bizarre, he tried thinking of any beast which had the same ability but a number of beasts popped up of his mind, what was scary was that most of them were High-Grade Beast.
“I can’t see through it master, but I don’t feel any High-Grade Beast in the vicinity,” Arthur answered.
Aeron was relieved when he heard Arthur’s reply. He could now narrow the list to Mid-Grade Beast who had abilities related to mist. Most of the Mid-Grade Beasts Aeron thought of were of water descent, but they were in the middle of the forest, and right now, Aeron could only think of two who fit the bill, the first one was the Misty Crane, the other was…
A beast suddenly emerged from the covers of the mist, it was dragging the Mid-Grade Wolf that was almost as big as Akila who was almost 3 meters tall up a tree. The beast was the same size as the Mid-Grade Wolf, its fur was creamy white while it had patterns that were shaped like a cloud, its eyes were green and fierce. Its eyes suddenly narrowed to slits as it noticed Aeron’s and Arthur’s presence.
“Cloud Leopard!” Aeron exclaimed.
This was a very rare Mid-Grade Beast. As for how rare it was, even Arthur who was a High-Grade Beast wasn’t able to spot it immediately when he was patrolling the territory. It was currently climbing up a tree while carrying a beast just as big as it was which was a testament to its strength. This was a very well rounded beast, it had excellent speed, strength, and even good stamina, if it had any weak attribute, then it would be its magic affinity.
Cloud Leopards were believed to be related to the Magic Beast, Water Leopard, which was known for its water magic. Some Tamers who managed to tame a Cloud Leopard said that the Cloud Leopard’s innate skill wasn’t an active skill that produced mist, instead, it was the same skill that Water Leopards possessed which was [Water Manipulation], unfortunately, the Cloud Leopard’s talent didn’t lie under magic which limited its ability in using [Water Manipulation]. But that didn’t stop the Cloud Leopard from utilizing the skill as Cloud Leopards were known for to application of the skill. The first skill was the [Mist] skill, it was as its name implies, creating mist from the water vapors in the air.
Although the Rules of Mana stipulated that anything without mana would disappear, the atmosphere in Gaia still had mana, this was the reason why air still existed, water also took mana from its surrounding which is mostly from the ground, while the ground takes mana directly from Gaia’s core. When a material without a core disintegrates into dust, it wouldn’t necessarily disappear, instead, it would turn into small particles that were small enough for the mana flowing in Gaia to support its existence, these particles will then be absorbed by its surroundings, otherwise, it’ll just flow with the air.
The second skill developed by Cloud Leopards was [Water Coating], this was an even more ingenious application of the [Water Manipulation] skill, they would use the water vapors around them to create a thin coating which could bend the light around them and would almost render them invisible.
The Cloud Leopard glared at Aeron’s direction but when it sensed Arthur’s presence, it hastily dropped the Mid-Grade Wolf corpse it was carrying then started to disappear, but unlike the Golden Eyed Snake’s [Cloaking] skill which fully hid its existence, the Cloud Leopard would still leave a distortion from where it stood.
“Arthur, catch it!” Aeron said.
Cloud Leopards were very fast, if Aeron didn’t have Arthur then there would be no chance of catching the Cloud Leopard, unfortunately for the Cloud Leopard, Arthur was now a High-Grade Beast. Arthur quickly chased after the Cloud Leopard, if it was a normal tree that Arthur leapt from, then the tree would’ve been crushed.
Bang!
The loud noise alarmed the Cloud Leopard as well as the wolves on the ground, the mist was still there but it was slowly vanishing, the mana supplying the mist started to dwindle when the Cloud Leopard escaped. Aeron quickly summoned the other monkeys and ordered them to get rid of the wolves, none of them were permitted to escape.
“Encircle them!”Aeron shouted as the monkeys moved to encircle the wolves, the mist started to thin out and when the wolves became visible, it was quickly struck by an arrow.
Howl!
The wolves were alarmed and started howling in distress, probably calling for their allies. It was a pity they were the only pack left alive. The wolves could only whimper as they were showered with arrows from all directions, there were only 20 wolves to begin with, thus, the barrage of arrows ended shortly. The ground was littered with fallen wolves, the Mid-Grade Wolf was right under a tree, its throat was missing a huge chunk of meat that was probably from the Cloud Leopard’s work. Aeron was now getting used to seeing the bloody scene, but it still made him uncomfortable, but there was nothing he could do about it, it was a good thing that the Low-Grade Wolf corpses would start to disappear after a short amount of time.
Aeron suddenly felt Arthur send him a mental signal, he brought the other monkeys with him as he went towards Arthur’s position. He arrived at the scene and saw Arthur standing a distance away from the Cloud Leopard that was pinned down by Arthur’s copy.
“Good job Arthur!” Aeron praised.
He was actually worried about how Arthur would treat the Cloud Leopard as he did not say any specifics other than to capture it. Aeron wasted no time as he walked towards the Cloud Leopard. From up close, Aeron noticed the Cloud Leopards green eyes which were staring back at him.
“[Tame]”
Aeron activated the [Tame] skill as his eyes turned blue and a soul string connected both him and the Cloud Leopard. He opened his eyes and a distance from him was the Cloud Leopard’s soul, this was Aeron’s first fight with a Mid-Grade Beast’s soul. It was a good thing that the soul battlefield only honored the individual’s soul strength as Aeron’s soul was more than twice the size of the Cloud Leopard’s soul.
“Surrender!” Aeron said as he pressured the Cloud Leopard’s soul to submission, but his intimidation did not work.
Graawr!
The Cloud Leopard growled at Aeron before rushing towards him, it was a brave effort but the difference between their souls was too big. As the Cloud Leopard charged and lunged at Aeron’s soul, Aeron countered with a simple punch.
Boom!
The punch landed and blew away the Cloud Leopard’s soul, it staggered to a stop as it stubbornly rushed him again.
“Sigh” Aeron sighed as he delivered another attack blasting the Cloud Leopard’s soul again.
Aeron knew that some beasts would stubbornly attack and refused to surrender, oftentimes, these types of beasts died from their souls being too injured. The Cloud Leopard charged and charged again, Aeron also attacked every single time, and on the tenth clash, the Cloud Leopard could not stand again.
“Stop this, I swear I will never mistreat you, I’ll help you get stronger as long as you help me too.” Aeron said.
This time with his skill [Whisperer], the Cloud Leopard looked at Aeron for a long time, just when Aeron thought that there was no hope, he felt a soul connection form between him and the Cloud Leopard.
“Thanks,” Aeron said as his soul left from the soul battlefield.
Outside, Arthur was observing his master and the Cloud Leopard, the other monkeys were sent to guard the surrounding as disturbing a taming process would damage the Tamer’s soul as well as the opposing beast, not only that, the opposing beast would enter a berserk mode attacking whoever was near enough.
Arthur saw Aeron open his eyes and nod towards him, Arthur returned a nod as his copy slowly and carefully released the Cloud Leopard. The Cloud Leopard slowly stood up before staring at Aeron. The Cloud Leopard suddenly started walking towards Aeron. Arthur walked in front of Aeron but was waved off, the Cloud Leopard gazed towards Arthur before looking back at Aeron.
“I will help you get stronger, I promise,” Aeron said as he activated his skill [Bestowal].
The Cloud Leopard was surprised as it felt another skill bloom inside it, skills might not have a description for humans and would only have some sort of guidance towards its usage, but to beasts, they were clear as day. Each skill that a beast acquires were fully comprehended by them. As such, when the Cloud Leopard understood its new skill, it felt jubilant, the skill gave it the potential that it yearned for. The Cloud Leopard quickly approached Aeron as it rubbed its head on Aeron’s body. The Cloud Leopard was huge standing at 3 meters in height, but its fur was smooth and cool which Aeron enjoyed.
“Your welcome,” Aeron smiled towards the Cloud Leopard.
He didn’t know why it suddenly dropped all hostility when he gave it the [Lesser Level Up (Anomalous)] skill, but this was still a good start which he liked. There would be a time in the future to ask the Cloud Leopard why, especially, when it evolves into a High-Grade Beast and could communicate with his [Whisperer] skill properly.
“Now what should I name you?” Aeron said as he rubbed the Cloud Leopard’s head, the cool feeling he got from its fur was truly refreshing. Aeron contemplated for a possible name.
“I’ll think of a good name later, let’s return for now.” Aeron said as he could not think of a good enough name, as if on cue, the Cloud Leopard suddenly sat in front of Aeron.
“You want me to ride you?” Aeron asked and the Cloud Leopard nodded.
Aeron was stunned, cat type beasts were very prideful and would seldom allow having anyone ride them, of course, under the Tamer’s orders the pet would not be able to say no, but would still display its dissatisfaction, something Aeron did not want to face. But this prideful creature in front of him was offering to be his mount.
‘I really need to know what happened and why it would do something like this for a skill,’ Aeron thought.
Aeron started to think of possible causes, but the only reason he could think of was revenge. Aeron didn’t think much about it, for now, whatever it was, now that it was Aeron’s pet, it would still be his responsibility to help it get through its problem.
“Alright then,” Aeron said as he climbed on the Cloud Leopard’s back.
If it was in the past then Aeron probably would not be able to balance himself well on an unsaddled beast, but through his skill, [Micro-Control (Muscle)] he was able to improve his balance to an incredible point. The Cloud Leopard stood up before looking towards Arthur.
“Let’s go back.”
