Author's Pre-Chapter Note: Hello everyone, apologies for the delays, but we're back on our update schedule.
In regards to my last announcement, I did say I would reveal something special related to my projects that I've been putting off updates for. They were illustrations I've been wanting to show you guys, but I underestimated how much work I needed to put into them. I'm not even close to being done with them, and I doubt I'll be able to work efficiently with the lack of skills I have to pull it off as well as balancing it with my full-time job. This is related to my tier rewards on my subscribestar, so for those of you who have subscribed partially to see them completed, I sincerely apologize for not putting out what I promised.
I still really want to put up these illustrations, however, just not at the pace that I was hoping to fulfill along with story updates. For this reason, I'll be lowering the prices of my subscription tiers to view early-access and exclusive content on my stories. I will also change some of the descriptions to the tier rewards in accordance to this. You guys deserve to view this content at the reasonable price, and I'll make sure to continue working on my illustrations and put them up at my own time. I'll do my best to train my skills more so I can actually meet your expectations.
For those of you who aren't subscribed yet, this is your chance to view some chapters ahead of what's already published at a reduced price. If you wish to read more and give support, please follow the link to my subscribestar at the end of the chapter.
Thank you for your patience and support, and enjoy the chapter.
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{Chris}
"Uh … is it really okay for me to leave the castle and city like this? I only have my dull practice sword to defend myself, after all," I asked hesitantly with said weapon in hand, following Bargamus, or 'Augustus' in public.
"Yer a Tamer, an' us Tamers find our partners out in th' open wild, not in th' safety an' comfort o' th' city's walls," he explained as he led the way through the dense forest, "Omar should understand that much, an' ye got me an' Siggins here in case somethin' goes wrong. If he has a problem with me teachings, he can take it up wit' me."
{Oh, yeah, I'm definitely certain he'll have a problem with one of his kingdom's war enemies walking alone with one of his pawns right now! Just what the fuck is going on?! How did nobody even know this dude was a Demon?! Was he appraised?! Did someone skimp on the background check during his interview?! Where did they even find this guy?! Somebody answer me! I could use some help here!} I screamed in my mind.
I was initially excited to tame my first monster, but as soon as I saw Bargamus' status, that energy was snuffed out immediately. I had been on edge since then, having no idea what I had gotten into, or, more importantly, how I was getting out of it. There was no way I could scream, 'HE'S A DEMON!' right out in the public streets where panic and chaos would run rampant and innocent lives would be threatened. A part of me was scared shitless, but my crazier side was just curious enough to want to wait and see what this guy was planning to do with me.
{Okay, calm down, Chris, calm down,} I told myself mentally, {he doesn't know that you know what he really is, and it doesn't look like he or Siggins noticed that you used [Appraisal] on both of them. Play it cool, play dumb, and don't do anything that could rouse suspicion, or he could very well have his dog eat you alive. Sure, he could use this opportunity to off you and tell Omar that you had an accident before he leaves scot free, but would he go that far just to take out one guy? Why is he even here? Is he with the Demon King's army, or is he a neutral party? A spy gathering intel, or a lone wolf living by his own means? You need to find out what his game is without being too obviously nosy. Let's just start off with some small talk to get things rolling.}
"So—"
"Right, 'tis should be far 'nuff," Bargamus interrupted as we got to a small clearing in the dense forest.
The subtle sounds of rustling greenery and insects were the only thing filling the silence. My face went pale, {Goddammit, you took too long! Where the hell are we?! I'm so dead!}
Bargamus then turned to face me, "Okay, Chris, t' tame a monster and make it what we call a Companion, ye have t' meet certain requirements. One is t' show how yer superior t' them in a fight. Ye gotta weaken 'em, wear 'em down, but don' kill 'em. Yer only displaying yer strength t' them, monsters respect that. 'Tis was how Tamers in the past had t' tame monsters before the [Tame] spell came along an' made things easier fer us, but weakenin' them before castin' th' spell will make th' magic more effective."
I stood there in silence, my mind blank.
"Ye lisnin' there, boy?" he asked.
Bargamus' question startled me, "H-Huh?! Oh, yeah. Show you're superior, wear them down, but don't kill them, then cast [Tame] to make them your Companion. Got it."
{Well, that's about the same as many monster taming games I played, so this is rather easy to remember. I also have the [Appraisal] skill to help me see how close they are to death, too.}
From what I read about it last night, with this skill at LV 3, I can view a target's name, race and sex, age, job, level, stats, skills, spells, and what buffs, debuffs, and ailments it currently has. Those are for people, but with monsters, I could see their species name and some of the description of what they are. If I did the same on an inanimate object, I could see information on a variety of things like what they are, what they do, what can they be used for, how much would they sell in the market, etc. The best part was that it didn't cost me any MP to use, and there was no cooldown time, so I could use it consecutively.
I had been making a habit of using [Appraisal] on everything I saw and everyone that caught my eye—I would've done the same with Bargamus at first sight, too, but Siggins grabbed too much of my attention for me to remember until later. After I tested it on Siggins and Bargamus on the way over, I can surprisingly view everything the description described despite them being so much stronger than me. Hell, with just Siggins' level and LP, Morgan might have some difficulty taking him on his own in a fight, let alone two-on-one with the odds against the knight captain. That aside, if I need to weaken a monster enough to be able to tame it, then having my [Appraisal] skill will be a good indicator for how close they are to dying.
Bargamus then held a hand up, "Once ye weaken 'em enough, ye gotta get close an' make contact. Then, ye activate yer [Tame] spell by pourin' yer MP inter th' monster. Don' let yer guard down, though, 'cause they may resist an' fight back with newfound strength. Th' key is t' keep pumpin' MP inter them 'til they submit, and then they'll come te respect ya as their master. Th' higher yer [Tame] spell is, th' higher ta effectiveness, especially on stronger monsters."
"R-Right, I read that in the spell's description too," I pointed out before I got lost in my thoughts, {Wait a minute, he's actually providing some decent information on this Tamer Job thing. Is he serious about teaching—no! Don't let your guard down, Chris! He's probably aiming for just that!}
"It may sound simple, but it's a whole 'nother story once ye get in th' middle o' th' action, an' gettin' tha' first hand experience is th' best way fer ye t' learn an' improve," Bargamus continued, "If ye got any questions, now's th' time t' ask 'em."
I paused for a moment, {Well, since he's offering …} "Would it be easier to tame a Monster if they were under an ailment like *Sleep* or *Paralyze*? Are there places on a Monster's body that makes using the [Tame] spell more efficient? Are all monsters hostile? I heard we all have a level cap of 100, do Monsters also have—"
"S-Slow down, boy! One at a time!" Bargamus interrupted in a fluster.
"S-Sorry, it's a bit of a habit of mine."
{A habit I didn't think I'd run afoul of again on another world,} I finished.
Bargamus sighed, "Well … it ain't bad te ask questions, but be careful of who it is yer askin', boy. Ye don' know if they may target ye fer askin' too much, ye hear?"
I nodded in response, {Oh, I know that much already. I didn't ask Omar or his kids any questions for that very reason. Wait, why's he giving that kind of advice to me, anyway? Shouldn't we be … enemies or something?}
Bargamus then tried to answer my questions in order, and it went like this. Ailments can make Monsters more susceptible to be tamed, but they gotta be conscious to do it, so *Paralyze*, *Stun*, *Fear*, *Blind*, *Confuse*, and *Hex* ailments could work. *Poison*, *Burn*, and *Curse* technically also worked, but were too risky since the Monster would likely die because of them, whether or not you're successful with the taming.
The *Charm* Ailment is the most effective of them all. Bargamus knew a Tamer who used it and the Monsters always became friendly immediately after a few MP was used to tame them. {As expected, charm-related skills are very effective in this world, which makes that bitch of a princess far more of a threat than I thought,} I concluded. Though my Charm stat is really low, it looked like some of the job-related skills I was given, namely [Monster Charmer] and [Monster Charm Boost (High)], could help make up for what I lacked in that department. {Compared to humans, animals can be so much easier to get along with, for sure.}
As for what area on a Monster's body the [Tame] spell is most effective on, from what Bargamus had noticed, the closer you are to their head, the better. Nor are all Monsters hostile and liable to attack you on sight, but those that aren't are uncommon and the least likely to live for very long.
For level caps, everyone in this world, Monsters, Humans, and others have the same level cap of 100. What differentiates Monsters from Humans and other sapient beings, though, is the ability to evolve at certain levels. Through evolution, Monsters can grow into improved forms that possess increased stats, skills, and spells. Some Monsters' evolutions can branch out to very different species from their base form depending on what skills and magic they're able to use. It's almost impossible to tell how long some stronger Monsters will have to spend leveling before they reach their tiers and evolve. In contrast, weaker Monsters usually take far less time to get to their first evolution or two.
Monsters, like us, can also get stronger by training their bodies and skills. Doing this will accumulate 'experience' (EXP), and gathering enough of that will allow one to level up, which increases the stats associated with the activities used to level up. The kind of training one does, and leveling up, will also net one Skill Points (SP) to use on learning new skills and spells. I can confirm all this to be true after performing magic experiments last night. This is the safer way to get stronger, but it takes a long time to reach higher levels this way, which brings us to our alternative: battling.
Winning battles against other Monsters and people give more EXP than one would through training alone. They could earn enough EXP to make multiple level-ups depending on their performance and the power difference between them and their opponent. Humans, Demons, and other sapient races level up similarly in this regard.
What makes Monsters different from us, however, is their ability to learn and grow stronger by eating certain foods. This includes stuff like poisoned mushrooms or medicinal herbs as well as other Monsters, or even people. If they do this enough, they can learn certain skills and unlock special evolutions related to them. Monsters could even speed up their growth by consuming Monsters or people stronger than them, raising their stats at speeds people could only dream about.
Though the thought of a Monster consuming human flesh was grotesque to me, it still brought up an interesting question I had to ask, "So, if consuming poisoned herbs will help a Monster evolve into something poison-related, would eating Humans help them evolve into something Human-like?"
Bargamus blinked in surprise, looking uncertain to answer for a moment. He even looked at Siggins to see what his thoughts were. They likely had more conversations with each other than I was aware of due to one of the effects of the [Companion Bond] skill, which allows a Tamer and their Companion to communicate telepathically. Something else I learned of as I went over the details of my skills last night.
"Well, I haven' seen one meself, but I've 'eard stories of a hero summoned by 'tis kingdom's previous king bein' able t' pull it off," he said before looking up and stroking his beard in thought, "Even without them bein' tamed, seein' these Monsters out in th' wild was very rare, and they were said t' be as smart as th' residents of Lanka like Humans and Demons. That hero, with the help of his [Monster Appraisal] skill, was able t' see his Companion's new species name in their status, which was Xeno. Aside from a few exceptions like Goblins and Orcs, any strong Monsters that closely resemble humans more than others, we generally call them Xenos."
"Xenos, huh …"
Hearing of another Tamer summoned from my world by a previous king was rather concerning, but I had already decided to duck out of this war. I wouldn't be interfering anymore with this corrupted kingdom's conspiracies. Still, I had the [Companion Growth Boost (High)] skill and [Companion Training] at LV 4. If I increased the latter's proficiency level to the max, combined with the former, I could likely evolve my Companion fast enough to make them into Xenos. Since I have [Skill Point Conversion], I just need to rack up enough points to make it possible.
{Which means, I could move on from my one-sided crush on Rachel and create a Monster-girl harem, instead,} I thought, as something stretched across my face.
"Uh, Chris, me boy? Yer smile there's creepin' me out," Bargamus commented.
Even Siggins whined and huddled into Bargamus' side in fright.
Hearing that comment shook the daydream out of my head, "Oh, sorry. Anyway, I think I got what I needed to know for now."
{Hey, wait a minute!} I thought as I reconsidered Bargamus' reaction, {I'm the weak low-leveled human! You're a demon close to the level cap with a giant wolf at your side! I should be the one trembling in the knees here!}
"R-Right, then. Fer t'day, ye be goin' out t' find a Monster and tame it t' be yer Companion. Siggins n' I will follow from a far enough distance t' not scare any potentials away, but close enough t' jump in in case of trouble. 'Tis yer 'nitiation t' becomin' a great Tamer, an' ye won' be goin' back t' the castle until ye tame one. Got it?" Bargamus asked me.
"Yes, sir."
With our plan set, I moved on ahead into the dense forest, keeping an eye out for any potential Monster Companions while Bargamus and Siggins followed. I don't get it!, I screamed in my head as I walked, {Why isn't he taking this chance to off me?! Is he still waiting for me to let my guard down?! He's 80+ levels ahead of me, has a fucking axe for a weapon, and has a Wolf Monster that's more than twice my size! I only have a practice sword and a few low level offensive spells to defend myself with! He could take me out at any time! So, why isn't he?!} Those questions and more ran through my mind as I walked ahead.
I didn't realize how much time had passed until I heard my stomach growling. Looking up, I saw that the sky was already turning a little yellow. {Did time really pass that quickly? I didn't even have lunch,} I thought, {If I'm really not allowed to go back to the castle to eat some food until I get a Companion, forget the Demon and his wolf, I might starve to death first. Let's just try and tame the first Monster I see and—}
"Grrrrrroooowl."
"… That didn't sound like Siggins, or my stomach," I said before quickly heading to the direction where I heard the noise.
It sounded like a beast or two was about to feast on its latest prey. When I got close enough to see the figures, I adjusted my glasses and squinted my eyes while activating [Appraisal]. There were three healthy red wolf-like Monsters called Bloodhounds. They were all at LV 3 and had more Strength and Speed than me, but not by too much, while their Vitality was lower than mine. The wolves were surrounding a petite green Goblin, cornered against a tree.
The Goblin was female, barely a few months old, and only at LV 1. Her stats weren't any better than an average human citizen of Lanka, according to Omar's explanation yesterday. She was about the size of a small human child, like a kindergartner or grade schooler, and she trembled in fear like one, too. What made this scene really concerning was not only did she just have a pelt skirt for 'protection,' but she was gravely injured and on the verge of death, as shown by how little LP she had left.
The smart play here was to let the three Bloodhounds feast on the Goblin. That way they'd be distracted enough for me to sneak up and take out one, maybe two of them at once, before I face against the strongest of their pack and attempt to tame it. Heck, I used that exact strategy in a monster taming game once. Not gonna lie, if all this was a game and I was sitting safely behind a screen, I'd probably do it again.
But that was if I was just playing a game. {This is no game, I thought, These Monsters are living creatures surviving in a do-or-die world. Joining together to feed on one prey is just as much of the natural order here as it is on Earth. However, One, I'm making a Monster girl harem, Two, none of those dogs are female, and Three, ganging up on someone who's already so weak is just plain unfair.
{I may not be this corrupted kingdom's hero, let alone a hero at all. I definitely wouldn't stand a chance against Bargamus and Siggins right now as I am, but I could at least help someone in their time of need!} I screamed in my head as I readied my practice sword, pointed it at the closest target, and rushed in. Raising my weapon overhead with both hands, I ambushed the first Bloodhound from behind by attacking him square on his head. It was a blunt weapon, as we were in too much of a rush to get me a proper, sharp, sword before leaving the city. I had figured this would be an easy Monster taming exercise and I could make do with what I had. Boy, am I kicking myself at how wrong I was right now.
At least the practice sword was made of steel, and I could see with [Appraisal] that my attack did considerable damage. Moreover, the Bloodhound I had hit was the strongest of his pack. This meant his packmates spun around in shock at his outcry, allowing me to rush past them in that moment of confusion. Spinning around myself, I took a defensive stance next to the gravely-injured female Goblin.
"Hey … you okay, little girl?" I asked while keeping my eyes on our enemies.
I could barely see Bargamus' and Siggins' silhouettes in the distance observing the scene.
"You all right, there?!" one of the two Bloodhound followers asked their leader.
Despite them making growling beast noises, just like with Siggins, I was able to understand them with the [World Language Comprehension] skill.
The leader shook himself and turned his attention to me with a growling snarl, "What the hell are you doing here, weak Human?"
"W-Why Human here?" the Goblin girl croaked in confusion.
Her way of speaking was different from what I heard, which consisted of 'gi's' and 'ga's', but I imagined that was how her Goblin language was spoken. I doubted her Intelligence stat had anything to do with her speech patterns, but her comprehension could be another story. {How can I explain this in small words to a being with low intelligence?}
I thought quickly before turning my gaze in the Goblin's direction, looking right into her large, beady black eyes with a hand on my chest, "Human ... have offer ... for Goblin. Human ... save Goblin ... Goblin … belong to Human. Human care for Goblin ... Goblin work for Human. Goblin accept?"
"Human care … for Goblin?" she asked while pointing her finger at herself.
She didn't seem phased by the fact that I was able to communicate with her, which no doubt saved us valuable time Though I had to wonder if her lack of surprise was a good or bad thing.
I quickly nodded, "Yes. Will Goblin accept Human's offer?"
"… Yes. Goblin takes Human's offer!" she exclaimed with slight desperation.
"We have a deal," I confirmed before I squatted down to look her in the eye and placed my hand on the Goblin's head of black hair, "[Tame]."
With the spell started, I began pouring my MP into her being, right on the noggin.
{{Taming successful. Goblin * has become your Companion. Please give a name to—}}
{Don't have time for that now!}
"[Heal!]" I interrupted, casting [Heal] on my new Goblin Companion.
From what I practiced last night, casting this spell at LV 2 was enough to close even her most severe wounds and fully recover her LP bar. The Goblin also regained some color I didn't know was lost before. This gave her look a healthier shade of green, making her more invigorated than earlier, but we weren't out of the woods yet.
I stood in front of my Goblin and readied my weapon, "Stay behind me and wait for my signal. We're going to win this first battle as Tamer and Companion!"
"Yes, Human!" she replied.
Right now, we need to survive this first battle. Whatever Bargamus was expecting of me, I wasn't going to let this chance slip by. I was going to show him how much I'm willing to fight, no matter how much stronger my opponent was, even if it was him.
Also, there was no way I'd let this chance to power up and get ahead of my other classmates pass me by, either.