Chapter 27 - Planning
42nd Winter, Month 2, Year 3400
It was almost breakfast time when Lucas got out of the nursery dungeon. Lucas had made many changes to his training schedule.
For Fury, he decided to leave him inside the dungeon most of the time. He would take Fury once in a while for care service to help cure Fury's mental stress of training too much. He even told Katheryn to leave a spot for Fury in the dungeon. Since there was only one dungeon at the time, the spot was limited.
As for himself, Lucas decided to always be prepared at the nursery during the business hours. Even with the help of the machines, Katheryn was not a machine. She needed some rest too and Lucas was more than willing to help her. He could not let his mother get tired like that.
After business hours, Lucas would stay inside the dungeon for training. He would sleep there too before he left in the morning (real-time) to help with the nursery. He also decided to take a nap in the dungeon if he felt too tired working in the nursery because the time difference between the two places was great. He suggested the same thing to Katheryn too.
Lucas went upstairs and he was met with a delicious scent. "Breakfast…" Lucas's mouth was watery. He missed Katheryn's cooking. Katheryn's food was in no way similar to the professional chef but home's cooking was always much more appealing than food bought outside no matter how bad it was.
Due to the time difference in the dungeon, Lucas had been eating roasted food there all the time. He knew how to cook the complicated dish but he did not want to waste his training time because of cooking. Not only that, but his cooking did not taste that great either. So, he would be wasting his time if he started cooking in the dungeon.
Thanks to that, he ate the same thing over and over again for many days in the dungeon. He missed Katheryn's food and was salivating when he smelled breakfast. Lucas got to the dining room and on the table were a few dishes.
There was a clear chicken soup with vegetables like carrots, cabbage, fishcakes, and a few other vegetables. There was white rice. There was also sweet-sour lamb meat.
"… Mom, you cook quite a lot today," said Lucas while he was gulping his saliva. All of them look appetizing. Not only that, but they smelled great too. "Your cooking has improved," said Lucas.
"I learned a few cooking skills that Sery had deduced before. Thanks to those skills, my cooking improves a lot," replied Katheryn with a smile. Hailey had just woken up and she went to the dining room immediately when she smelled something good for breakfast.
"Cooking skills?" Lucas asked. He never thought that Katheryn would learn cooking skills. He also never thought that Sery had deduced non-combat skills too. All the skill books in his room were for combat. Not one of them was something he could use for an everyday matter like cooking and cleaning.
[I just thought that Madam loves cooking so I left many cooking skills in her room] said Sery. Sery did not read Katheryn's mind. It was based on Lucas's memory. From Lucas's memory, Katheryn had shown her love for cooking but she was not great at it. Lucas was oblivious to this but Sery was sharp enough to know that Katheryn loved to cook.
"I do love cooking and these skills are helping me a lot. To tell the truth, I have been wanting to let your dad eat good and tasty food. Even so, I don't have any talent for cooking. Your dad never tasted any good food after we got married," said Katheryn while smiling.
"It is a pity that I get this skill after your dad left us," said Katheryn. She looked sad although she was smiling. The mood became heavy.
"Let's eat," Hailey did not like this heavy mood and decided to break it. She sat on the chair and started filling her plate with rice and the sweet-sour lamb meat. Katheryn and Lucas sat on the chair too and started eating.
After they had their breakfast, Katheryn went to the nursery. In about half an hour, it would be 0800 soon. Lucas decided to clean the dishes. He knew Katheryn was busy with the nursery and decided to help with the dishes. The truth was he did not need to do the dishes. Sery could do it but Lucas insisted on doing something. Hailey, on the other hand, went to the living room and did her usual routines, watching the television.
While Lucas was cleaning the dishes, he had simple conversations with Sery. "Since my next step is to participate in the events and competition, I will need more than one pet, right?" Lucas asked.
[It depends on what you want to participate in. For small events organized by small businesses, one pet is enough. Even so, it still depends on the rules. If the events want more than one pet, you will need more than one] said Sery.
He continued, [When you look at a bigger picture, it is better to have more than one pet. You will be able to participate in a lot of events. Not only that, but they will become a backup when your main pet is down in battle… I mean outside a competition. You must need at least three pets. That is the minimum requirement a tamer need to participate in events and also to survive in the wild]
[Fury is strong but you cannot rely on him all the time. There will be a situation where Fury will be useless] said Sery. Lucas agreed.
He already knew in what situation Fury would be useless. Fury's main weakness was fire and there were a lot of fire element pets around. The fire element monster was common among tamer because the fire was flashy and powerful. Tamers love the fire element.
All tamer that pursued absolute power in fighting would get fire element and thunder element pets. These two elements were well known to have destructive power. Not that the other elements were not destructive but these two elements were destructive from the beginning… they were common elements too, thus, it was easy for tamers to get their hands on them.
"Since I cannot use Tier 2 and above pets, I will need to buy a high potential Tier 1 pet," said Lucas. At the moment, he did not need to worry about money. He could get any pet he wants but was limited to Tier 1 only thanks to his low capture power.
[Let's find S grade potential Tier 1 pets. Those tiers are nothing with the tier breaker. Tier 1 pets are cheap and useless. Even with S potential, no one will want to buy them. We can find them sold in any pet shop for low prices] said Sery.
Sery was right. Tier 1 pets were considered useless to everyone. They were treated as house pets by most people. Those that were cute and beautiful would be popular but those that were ugly were neglected by many people. Heck, they might not even look at them.
Even so, no matter how cute or beautiful they were, they were cheap. Super cheap. One of the reasons was that they were weak Tier 1 monsters. Second, they were common. Too common to be found in every type of dungeon available all around the world.
"I will need a target on what type of pets I want," said Lucas. Fury had no specialization. He did not specialize in anything and learned all the skills randomly. Most of it was Lucas's fault. He did not think of that before he trained Fury. He just went with the flow.
Based on Lucas's conclusion on Fury, Fury was just a common battle pet. He could defend and he could attack. His attack was stronger than others but nothing was exaggerating about Fury's offensive skill. His stats showed that he was not specialized in offense too.
As for defense, Fury's defensive skill was unique but he only had one defensive skill. Fury's defensive stat was the lowest too among all of his stat. So, he could not be said to be a pet specialized in defense.
For support, Fury had Roll which could increase his speed but that was only usable on himself. So, he was not a support specialized pet. Fury could be said to be an all-rounder too based on his skills. He had the offensive skill, defensive skill, support skill, and long-ranged skill.
"First of all, I want a pet that is good at attacking. It is better if the pet is similar to a human for example walking on two legs and having two arms," said Lucas.
[Why?] Sery asked. He was curious as to why Lucas wanted that kind of specific pet. Even so, he figured out the answer immediately and said, [Ah~ You want it to be able to use your skill when you use Synchro. Fury cannot use Fist of the Stone Golem because he has no arms]
"It is a waste to learn that skill but not being able to use it. I may be able to use it against Tier 1 monsters without Synchro but when I am in Synchro mode with Fury against higher Tier monsters in the future, the skill becomes useless. There is no 'will' but with certain, the skill is useless," said Lucas.
Since Fury had no arms, Lucas had no other offensive skills he could learn that Fury could use. Human's offensive skills mostly used arms and legs. Even weapon skills needed either arms or legs. Without any of those, Fury could not use any of Lucas's offensive skills.
"I decide to let Fury be unrestricted. I will let him naturally learn whatever he wants. If the thing he learns is inferior, I will help him to improve it," said Lucas. It was not that he gave up on Fury, he just gave Fury freedom in whatever skills Fury wanted to learn.
"However, for my next pets, I will be strict and focus on what is the best path for them," said Lucas. He was determined.
[What if they don't want to follow your path?] Sery asked. From the tone when Lucas said that, it sounded like Lucas was going to force them to do what he wanted. Sery would not reprimand Lucas if he did that because Lucas was his master but Sery did not like to see Lucas become a tyrant. Lucas did get Sery because of his kindness. So, it would be weird if Lucas suddenly became a tamer who abused his pets.
"I will just ask them what they want to focus on," said Lucas. "Although I don't know if it will work. If nothing works, I will let them be like Fury. Nothing is wrong with that," said Lucas. That was only his plan and it might not work. Going with the flow might not be bad too. Even without any specialization, his pet could become strong too.
[So, how about your next pet? Defense specialist?] Sery asked. Since Lucas wanted an offense-focused pet, the next would be a defense-focused pet.
"No, I need a pet I can ride that is also fast. Traveling by leg used too much time. It is better to have a pet that I can ride for travel," said Lucas, and Sery agreed. Lucas did waste a lot of time traveling from the safe zone to the other zone in the nursery dungeon. He could ask Sery's help to teleport him but it would cost him money. Lucas could not use the nursery's money willy-nilly.
[If you ride a wolf, it will look cool! No! A tiger or lion is cool too but they are not as fast as wolves] Sery suddenly got excited.
"Why are you getting excited??? I am the one that will be riding them," Lucas was confused.
[Well~ If my master looks cool, I will look cool too. I am inside you after all] said Sery. Since he was part of Lucas, when Lucas looked cool, he would look the same too.
"I am planning to get a flying type of pet. A bird or something like that. It is easier to travel by air," said Lucas.
[…] Sery was silent [Birds look cool too though not as cool like the wolf, tiger, and lion] said Sery.
"This is only a plan. Since our target is high potential pets, we may not get what we want," said Lucas. Even for Tier 1 pets, S-grade potential was rare. The A-grade potential was rare too but not as rare as S-grade.
[So, it is possible to get a wolf, tiger, or lion!] Sery got excited once more.
"Hmm? No, even if there is no high potential flying type pet, I will still get it for our ride. Traveling is now my main target. If I can travel fast, I will reduce a lot of time traveling from one place to another thus increasing more of the training time," said Lucas.
[… Let's get a flying wolf or a flying tiger or a flying lion. They are flying-type pets too] Sery suggested.
"You know yourself that those pets are Tier 2. I cannot use Tier 2 pet from the beginning," said Lucas.
[Then! I will create an item that will let us get those pets! A tier limiter or capture power upgrade! I will create them all! Master, level up the system fast, I will let those items available later] Sery was filled with fighting spirit. He was determined to create those items.
"…" Lucas was speechless. 'It is just a pet I need for a ride, no need to get that serious… Also, I can get those wolf, lion, and tiger too though I will mostly use them for battle only' thought Lucas.