Aeron had been a decent climber when he was young in the past, but that was when he was a teenager. This time he observed that his climbing skills were much better as he proceeded to naturally find foot holds through the journey up the tree.
"This must be one of the effects of Arthur's skill"
Aeron murmured as he continued to climb at a very quick manner. This was unheard of to Tamers who had tamed Martial Monkeys according to his memories, so he thought it must have something to do with Arthur's skill having the words Golden Monkey King in it. Of course, at this point, Aeron hadn't realized that his learning speed with his martial arts were already abnormal in comparison to normal people. Aeron squinted as he pushed away some branches and leaves when he got to the top.
"Beautiful"
Aeron said as he looked around, the sun was shining above and the forest looked beautiful, the wind brushed through his face as he closed his eyes enjoying the fresh air. When he looked at these trees from below especially those in the Endless Forest, he had to admit that they were scary and creepy. The unknown had always been a fearful thing or place, the trees had always hindered the sunlight and knowing this world breeds different sorts of monsters made it even for scary.
"Kii!"
Arthur called Aeron, pointing at the tree in the center of the forest, it looked very far but it was visibly bigger than the other trees. Even the trees surrounding it or the trees near the center of the forest were much bigger than the normal trees.
"There must be a strong beast living there huh, we'll have to keep away from that for now"
Aeron said, wasn't it always like that, an impressively large tree would always be guarded or inhabited by a strong beast.
Screeech!
"Hide!"
Aeron suddenly heard an eagle call; he had thought the Grey Eagle had already gone away, but it seemed to have gone back. Aeron quickly had his pets hide as the Grey Eagle appeared on the western part of the forest. After observing for a bit, he had 5 brown monkeys watch over the tree tops to see any movement.
"Let's go"
Aeron said to Arthur as they went down, Spirit was gone so he didn't have any mount as of the moment, Ursa could go fast but the burden of such speed was too much for it to become a proper mount in the plains, it would be a different story if Ursa was a Mid-Grade Beast. If Ursa became a Mid-Grade Beast, then it would be able to regenerate its missing limb as well as improve its strength, speed, and stamina.
'I still have the silver wolves, but it's still probably 2 to 3 weeks before they recover fully'
Aeron thought, if he didn't have a mount then he would not dare and go out of the forest, especially knowing that the Grey Eagle was resting in this forest. He probably needs to stay here for a bit more time.
"I'll just have to train while staying here"
Aeron didn't know when the Gray Eagle would leave, but he didn't lack any food in this place so food wasn't a problem, water was a necessity, but in this world, he didn't really need to drink much because there were fruits that contain more water in them.
"I might as well train and get used to my new strength"
Aeron said as he clenched his fist, he could feel like he was three time stronger than when he came into this world. This was the strength gain of a Tamer, Mages were weaker on this aspect but their gains were more on the mana side, Warriors gain about twice what the Tamer gains in strength, Archers and Assassins were twice faster than a Tamer. Tamers were the most balanced profession, to the point where they became the benchmark for other Professions when comparing power gains. If there were a field that Tamers were much better at then that would be the soul aspect, but that was not to say that the other professions have weak souls.
"Arthur, have the other monkeys patrol the surrounding, and have them collect materials as well, if there are invaders then have Ursa take them out"
Aeron ordered, he only had one spear and bow right now when he went out, all the other weapons were probably fell on the ground when he unsummoned the monkeys.
"Ki ki!"
Richie suddenly appeared; Arthur relayed the information.
"Those hyenas again"
Aeron didn't know much about hyena type beasts, but there were hyenas in his past life and he knew that although hyenas were ugly beasts, had laugh like cries, and short hind legs which made them much slower, hyenas were not to be underestimated. Ability wise, Hyenas can't beat wolves, but there were a lot of them, and their jaw strength were even stronger than lions.
"Alright, let's go see it"
Aeron said as he climbed on Ursa's shoulder before Richie guided them to the hyenas.
hahahhahahaha
"Stop"
Aeron said as he heard the unique hyena calls. He unsummoned Ursa as he quickly climbed up a tree before jumping from tree to tree, he was in no way fast, but this way he didn't have to run away from the hyenas.
"One, two, three, four, and five"
Aeron counted the number of hyenas; Hyenas were pack animals. Since he never found them before then they were probably from the western part of the forest. Even thought there were five hyenas, they were probably just scouts, which means this was a big pack.
"I just hope their alpha is not what I think it is"
Aeron murmured, the bigger the pack was, the stronger the alpha is. If he had to stay in the forest the he needed to rest on the ground, resting on trees was too much for him. Resting on the ground means he had to kill these hyenas otherwise it would be too dangerous.
"Arthur shoot the one in the middle"
Aeron whispered, the middle was slightly bigger than the rest while it had a swirling like spots on its body, if Aeron's guess was right then this one was a Mid-Grade Beast. Arthur quickly summoned a mana arrow before coating it with golden liquid.
Sweeeee
Arthur released the arrow, but as the arrow was released, the middle hyena's ears moved, it suddenly looked on Aeron's direction, then took a deep breathe before a sonic bullet emerged from its mouth hitting the golden arrow in between, cancelling the two projectiles.
"[Sonic Bullet], quick surround them, don't let any escape"
Aeron ordered, he didn't have any info about hyenas in the memories of the original, so he didn't know much about their skills, but the skill it used was a skill possessed by the sonic bird or a similar skill to it.
"Kiiiii!!"
Arthur screamed as the monkeys surrounded the 5 hyenas.
Boooom!
Ursa landed on the ground as it was summoned by Aeron.
"Ursa attack them!"
Aeron ordered.
Groaaar!
Hhahahahhahah
Aeron felt strange as the hyena laughed like it was crazed, this was probably a skill as the 5 hyenas eyes reddened, and all of them pounced at Ursa.
"Ursa dodge it"
Aeron said as he thought 'Berserk!'. Berserk was never a skill, so it must mean that the Mid-Grade Hyena had a unique skill or it was an innate skill for Hyenas. Their speed and strength increased dramatically as they entered a berserk state. Ursa immediately dodged by backing away using [Accelerated Strike].
Crunch!
It was a good thing Ursa did so, as a part of a tree beside it was bitten by one of the hyena's.
"Arthur shoot the bigger one! Silver Monkeys go fight them! But be careful"
Aeron ordered as he saw four hyenas chase after Ursa, the Mid-Grade Hyena stayed in place as it. The four hyenas were berserk and chased the target nearest to them except for the other hyenas, but the Mid-Grade one was in berserk mode but sober.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
You could hear projectiles hitting each other as Arthur fired arrows after arrows while the Mid-Grade Hyena fired [Sonic Bullets] to counter.
"Kill them!"
Aeron ordered Ursa and the silver monkeys. The four hyenas took a bit of time to finish off as they would snap back with a skill like [Accelerated Strike], using it with their bites. But afterwards the silver monkeys and Ursa were able to finish them off. This would've been faster had Aeron not ordered them to be careful. Aeron didn't want to see his pets get injured or killed as much as possible, even though he could heal and revive them.
"Kiii!"
Arthur put down its bow then jumped through trees dodging the hyena's attacks, the Mid-Grade Hyena continued to release a barrage of attacks, its attack was not weak either as each [Sonic Bullet] would etch deep holes on the trees. It had identified Arthur as the most dangerous threat, adding to the fact that it was in its berserk state, although sober it still has effects on its decisions.
"Kii!"
Arthur smashed the golden staff on the hyena's head, but before it could hit the hyena, the hyena bit the golden staff before swerving its head to smash Arthur into the ground, but Arthur had already dropped the staff.
"Kiii!"
Arthur jumped on the hyena's back then started to pummel its back.
Bang! Bang!
Each hit were heavy strikes as the Hyena whimpered in pain, but it still wasn't finished. The hyena rolled on the ground causing Arthur to jump back, it stood up then started to fire its skill on Arthur trying to keep Arthur away from it.
Arthur had to back away as the hyena was too near for Arthur to dodge its attacks, but the damage has been done so Arthur proceeded to harass it with arrows. The hyena took a serious damage from Arthur's attack so it shouldn't take long before it falls.
Hahahahah
The Mid-Grade Hyena made its last cry as it struggled to stand, it was already punctured by a number of Arthur's arrows as it started to weaken, it slumped down still breathing but barely alive.
"Ursa, finish it off"
Crunch
Ursa bit the hyena's neck with an audible snap, this should speed up Ursa's growth. Aeron had relegated the last hits to Ursa as Arthur seemed to need at least a High-Grade Beast to push its growth. Arthur seemed to be in a bottleneck of sorts, this means that its mana capacity was already filled, but it was still too young so it needed more stimulus than other beasts.
"Sigh, where can we find a High-Grade Beast willing to sacrifice itself for you?"
"Ki?"
Aeron asked Arthur, which was met with a confused look. Aeron laughed a bit before petting Arthur's head which it enjoyed. They took the Mid-Grade Hyena corpse back to his temporary base, Aeron wasn't sure if this one already developed a base core, if it did, then it was good. Base on its skin patterns, this one should be a demon beast which developed its skin which was a common path for demon beasts, but if it didn't have a base core then better luck next time.
Aeron started his training session; he had some monkey guard different areas in the southern forest while the Richie led the black team to watch over the western forest to observe any signs of the Grey Eagle.
"Sigh"
Aeron sighed; he was starting his meditation when thoughts of Spirit entered his mind.
"I hope your safe out there bud"
Aeron murmured as he closed his eyes again and started meditating. His state wasn't the best right now but he still did enough for the day. He had always found it hard to maintain certain practices in the past, like exercising and studying, it was already a miracle that he was able to continue on with this environment.
'I'm quite lucky to have a number of pets huh'
Aeron thought after he woke from his meditation, unlike other people who needs to party up with friends, families, or even to strangers, Aeron could have a small army designated to different tasks which allows him to train in peace and security. After his training Aeron decided to sleep early, Ursa had already slept way before he started to train, it had to process the mana it gained from killing a Mid-Grade Beast.
"Kiii Kiii!"
Arthur woke Aeron up.
"What is it?"
Aeron asked as he shook his head to wake himself up, judging by the urgency of Arthur's voice there must be some sort of problem. Arthur relayed the information reported by the patrolling monkeys.
"There are more hyenas?"
Aeron asked to which Arthur nodded.
'It seems we'll be busy today'
Aeron thought, he was not really that scared as he had a 30 something Mid-Grade Beasts army but he didn't want them to fight while disregarding their safety. Of course, he'd only do this if possible, it was still reassuring to be able to revive them even in death, problem was the mana drain might kill him if too many pets die at one time.
'Right now, I could probably support about 3 pets for revival, and 2 more if I use my remaining mana stones'
Aeron thought as the topic of death broached his mind, in theory he could support a revival using [Nurture] skill endlessly if he had a large amount of mana stone, in fact using mana stones could accelerate revival and healing to about a half of the real duration, its only half because using too much would not just burden the Tamers body, it could also cause problems to the pets healing.
"Arthur have the monkeys go and confirm the enemy numbers"
Aeron ordered. The monkeys quickly went up the trees and returned after about 10 minutes.
"Three groups of five hyenas"
Aeron thought for a bit, it seemed like the alpha of this pack wanted to find the first group, so it sent 15 hyenas which should've been enough if the enemy wasn't Aeron.
"Alright we'll divide in three groups, Lancelot and Percival, you two lead a team of five monkeys, Gwaine, Elyan, you two lead another team, Alexander, lead another team to scout and serve as backup, Richie, you lead your team and assassinate the enemy whenever you can, the rest will be led by me"
Aeron ordered, truth be told, Aeron could've swarmed each group, but he considered the number of the enemies, while each group of hyena had one Mid-Grade Beast, his monkeys were all Mid-Grade Beast, and with the silver monkeys leading the other groups and Richie with his team hiding in the darkness waiting to strike, there shouldn't be any problem, adding Alexander's team as scouts to give a warning if there were enemy reinforcement, then Aeron could effectively have a sort of hands on group training.
Individually his monkeys were strong, but there was always strength in numbers, this had already been proven in his past life. Training them to work in teams was also not a bad thing, if they were able to develop a more fluid teamwork then they would be able to tackle higher leveled opponents in the future.
"Let's go!"
Aeron said as he and the monkeys vanished in three different directions.