"Moo..."
"Mehh?"
"Moooo."
"Five more minutes..."
"Moo!," Minos cried as he reached out and grabbed Jordie's nose. Moments later, Jordie woke up as he quickly recovered his breathing. Baby minotaur strength is no joke, especially when it came to noses.
"Bwah!," Jordie exclaimed, "Did you really have to try and suffocate me?"
"Moo!," Minos replied cutely.
"Geez...hey, where'd the khalkotauroi cow go?,"Jordie asked as he began to look around, "Oh there she is."
When Jordie had fallen asleep, the last thing he recalled was laying against the khalkotauroi cow's back. She had apparently woken up before either Jordie or Minos, and was now munching away on some extra toasty grass.
"Hmmm. I guess we should say goodbye before we go on our way, right little guy?"
"Moo?"
Jordie placed Minos into his pack and proceeded to get up, smacking away any dirt and grass that might've clung to his clothes as he slept. With that out of the way, Jordie walked over to the khalkotauroi cow to say his goodbyes.
"Hey!"
"Moo?"
The khalkotauroi cow stopped her grazing as she lifted her head to stare at Jordie. Now that she wasn't trying to kill him nor feeding Minos, Jordie could finally take in just how freaking huge she was. Her horns could quite easily pierce his torso.
"Damn I keep forgetting how big y'all can get," Jordie muttered before switching to a loud voice, "I just wanted to say thanks for the milk and feeding Minos."
"Moo," she replied with a nod.
"But now we gotta go, bye!"
Jordie gave the khalkotauroi cow a quick bow before turning and walking away, however, he didn't expect the khalkotauroi cow to stop him from going by biting on his sleeve.
"Moo."
"What?"
Jordie turned to face the cow once more, who at this point had now began to lay in front of him, face first.
"What are you-"
[The khalkotauroi is awaiting for the host to establish a contract with it,] the System interjected, [Due to the nature of the host's first contract, the System will now provide a step by step guide on how to do so now.]
"Huh...you wanna come along with us?"
"Moo," the khalkotauroi cow nodded.
"Very well then."
Jordie listened to the System intently as it instructed Jordie on how to establish a tamer contract.
Using the khalkotauroi cow's horn to cut open a finger, he proceeded to draw the "Runes of Binding" onto her forehead. Once that was done, he drew a similar set onto his own forehead.
[Now channel your mana into the runes.]
"Okay then," Jordie said as he closed his eyes and began to focus. Moments later, he felt a bond forming with the khalkotauroi cow in front of him.
[Congratulations, the host has established a contract with the Khalkotauroi Cow. Please refer to her status at your earliest possible convenience.]
He could feel her feelings and understand some of her thoughts better...as well as see some of her memories.
"Oh...that's why you were so willing to help...," Jordie said with a sympathetic smile.
The khalkotauroi cow could now feel and understand Jordie better too, so she just let out a small moo as she lowered her head in sad remembrance.
"Hey it's okay," Jordie said as he began to comfort the khalkotauroi cow, "You're with us now. And we promise we won't go anywhere."
Feeling the truth in his words, the khalkotauroi cow let out a single tear...moments before using her head to lift Jordie up off the ground and onto her back. Once he was firmly on there, she began to run westward.
[Activating shock absorber for baby Minos.]
"Hey! Whoa! Where you going?!"
"Moo!"
"What do you mean 'my kind'?"
_________________________________________________
In a little village in the middle of nowhere, a spear-wielding tamer and his partner were lazily guarding the entrance.
"Just another lazy day, eh amigo?," George asked his partner as he chewed on a cinnamon stick.
"Mmrroaa," his partner, a Tusked Panda, replied while munching on a bucket of fish and Golden Bamboo.
"Yeah...not that I mind," George said as he proceeded to kick up his feet and cover his face with a hat.
On the very edge of the Rainbow Plains and about three days journey from a place called Jade Spire City, was a little village called Golden Bamboo village.
This village was a quaint little place located in an E-class danger zone, famous for two things: the namesake Golden Bamboo and Panda monsters.
Golden bamboo was about as useful as normal bamboo, but it had a lovely gold-like luster to it. However, it's shoots were way tastier than normal bamboo shoots and Panda-type monsters absolutely loved the stuff.
Golden Bamboo village was absolutely crawling with Panda-type monsters due to the place cultivating Golden Bamboo.
From F-grade Steel-Boned Pandas to D-grade Scarlet Flame Pandas, one could find all sorts of fluffy, adorable Panda-type monsters here.
In essence, if one wanted to spend their eyes in relative peace and quiet, surrounded by adorable fuzzy monsters, Golden Bamboo village was a nice place to set up shop.
"Huh? What's that?"
George got back to his feet as heard an unusual rumbling sound in the distance. Looking outward, he saw what appeared to be an unusual cloud of dust rushing towards him.
It took a bit of time, but he eventually realized that the cause of the dust cloud was a massive khalkotauroi rushing towards him!
"Ah hell! Duros! Finish your food and come on," George exclaimed as he grabbed his spear and took on a fighting stance, "We got paychecks to earn!"
"Mrooah!"
The Tusked Panda proceeded to the dump the rest of his food down his gullet and toss the bucket to the side. Wiping his mouth, the panda monster took on a fighting stance alongside his partner.
While the two of them were rather lazy when it came to day-to-day activities, they still took their jobs of fighting off wild monsters rather seriously.
As the two stood ready for battle, the khalkotauroi cow started getting closer and closer, and they could see that the monstrous cow was a lot bigger than they thought.
George could feel the nervousness in his partner as the khalkotauroi cow got closer, but he stood firm, ready to counter when the cow got within striking distance.
However, just as they were ready to counter, the khalkotauroi cow suddenly stopped.
"Huh?"
And watched as a young man got launched off of it's back, his face colliding with the ground.
"What?," George said as he looked to Duros for a possible explanation. The Tusked Panda just sorta shrugged in response.
"I swear, if this becomes a running gag, I'm going to see if I can sue god or whoever sent me here," Jordie grumbled in the dirt.
"Uhh...you okay partner?," George asked the disheveled young man. He didn't know who this guy was, but the fact that he was riding a khalkotauroi meant that this guy probably had some backing or at least surprisingly strong.
Jordie got up from his position on the ground and began to smack off the dust that was now stuck in his armor.
"I'm fine, I'm fin- *GROWL*", he began to say. However, the sound of his stomach interrupted him.
"Actually, do you know where a guy and his monsters could get a bite to eat?"
"Monsters?"
"Moo!," Minos cried as he poked his head out of Jordie's backpack.
"Monsters," Jordie confirmed.