Along the wall, at the back, was a large television plastered to the wall, and there was fifteen humans in the room, all looking up at the screen, paying attention to the television where a man in a suit was reading out the charges "Jack Davis, and the mercenaries accompanying him, ambushed one of our allies, the Sherot, on the 29th of November. His intention was to capture a Sherotling, and he killed it's parents, trying to sneak it to our home planet, Hanet. He wanted to use force to force the Sherotling to initiate a contract, breaking the alliance agreement that all people that enter the planet from the portal in Hanet are required to abide by, established by the races of the Sherot, Kretret, and Goxuboon, and the City Guardian of Brouis city. A thorough investigation has revealed that he came through the portal with the specific intention to grab a Sherotling by force." On the screen, an image of a high powered shock collar, capable of harming stage 1 lifeforms flashed on the screen, along with a pair of cuffs capable of restraining stage 1 lifeforms, and wing clips. The messages he had exchanged with his elder sister were shown afterwards. "It has been judged that these people are to be executed. "
The video feed cut to five people tied up to posts, with a person in a military uniform was standing in front of them all. The blonde young man tied to a post in the middle was angrily shouting out "Their not humans. They are beasts. Why should I be killed? So what if kill some and force a child to initiate a contract? They are not humans. They are nothing before the hum....."
The man in the uniform waved his hand, and red light flashed from it. A moment later, the head of the man, Jack Davis, that was tied to the log shouting rolled to the ground. The other four men started pleading for their lives. "It wasn't our idea! We are just mercenaries tasked with protecting and following his orders! Spare us!"
The man in the military uniform waved his hand four more times, and in four red flashes of light, four more heads rolled. The feed cut back to the man in a suit, with a backdrop of a forest behind him. "If one breaks the rules, even if they are merely 'following orders' they will be punished, and possibly killed. In this scenario, Jack Davis did not have the strength to kill the Sherotling's parents without the aide of the mercenaries, and that he has been found to have ties to the extremist group 'H-Supreme.' A military officer aiding Jack Davis was killed when military police tried to capture him, and his elder sister, Yara Davis, a member of the Hunters Association, has vanished. The investigation has revealed that she too, has been shown to have ties with 'H-Supreme', and any information that leads to her capture or kill will be rewarded with 20 AGP."
Jamie glanced towards the ambassadors, at the golden bird perched at the rock, with 'Sherot' written on table in front of it, at the snake in the pool, with the scaly, blue snake in the pool, with 'Kretret' written on the table in front of it, and the humanoid with green skin, with 'Goxuboon' written on the table in front of it, and noticed that they were watching the television intently. He looked back at the screen, and saw images of two Sherot's with a light grey beak, underside and tail feathers on the screen.
"The high priestess of the Sherot's, Peaceflow, and her daughter, Clara, are missing, and have been missing since the Gredidine's attack on one of their cities, after the high priestess objected to venturing through the portal, and attacking the native race on the other side, us. Any information that leads to their discovery, or leading them safely back to the Sherot will be rewarded."
Ivan snapped his fingers, drawing the attention of the group to him. "Lets grab what we need from here, and let's go."
Ivan led the way to the room table labeled maps, and grabbed a paper displaying continent they were on, the border display of the areas they were allowed to hunt, and city markers. Everyone else proceeded to do the same. Then he proceeded to lead everyone over to the table marked lifeforms, and grabbed a bunch of paper held together with one staple. Everyone proceeded to do the same. Then he finally led the way over to the area labeled 'Casualty and Hostility updates,' taking a seat and looking through the information stored on the touchpad. The members of the Hunters Association, Nicholas and Amelia, proceeded to do the same, while Lennox and Taylor looked over Ivan's shoulder. All of them frowned as they read through the information stored on the touchpad.
"Hmmm, this could be a problem."
Amelia crossed her legs, glancing at Nicholas. "Indeed. Casualties and disappearances in the hostile zone have been steadily increasing. The claw and bite marks on some of the bodies match that of the Gredidine."
Ivan looked up from the touchpad. "Do you think that a large force of Gredidine could be preparing to attack back?"
Amelia shook her head. "Doubtful, but not impossible. While the casualties are increasing, the attacks are still too small scale. They should have the numbers left to mount a larger offensive. That, or they would hide their forces, and bide their time, launching an all out attack when fully prepared. This should be a couple of groups launching the raids, perhaps egging other Gredidine to join them. Or, it could simply be that humans are running into Gredidine more frequently to capture beasts, and are being killed as they defend themselves."
"What do you recommend?"
Amelia put the touchpad down on the table. "You search for beasts near the hostile border, near one of the outposts. It should be safe there, and if we need to flee, we minimize the distance to travel."
Ivan nodded, and put down the touchpad. "We will do what you say. Let's go to the quarters we have registered, and put our luggage away. We then need unpack the truck of gear we will need for the hunt and storing the beasts in the grounds we have rented, and memorize the lifeforms, list, and what we can attack. We will hunt tomorrow."
>>>>
Jamie lay back on the white bed in his room, rubbing his head, and the stapled piece of papers lying on the bed next to him, the smell of shampoo lingering in the air. He had thought that he wouldn't need to cram again after finishing highshool, but it turned out that wasn't the case. Getting up, he started doing some stretches, and started doing some fist exercises.
Since reaching Martial Warrior stage 1 with the pill Lance had given him, there was a very noticeable increase in strength and speed. Even now, he still hadn't fully gotten used to the power. He had also gained a new skill, the ability to conjure a ball of light, exploding it in a burst of light. While he could use it for offensive purposes, the advantage lies in the utility of temporarily blinding people that were looking at it.
He and Eve had started experimenting, trying to get Eve to send energy she actively purified through the bond to Jamie, and they were marginally successful. Ironically enough, the process of sending energy through the bond cost energy, which greatly reduced the energy Jamie received, and they hadn't yet worked out how to direct it to a specific area. Still, what was received was better then nothing.
As Jamie was throwing punches in his room, and Blackwing and Eve were huddled up in a corner of the room, the doorbell rang. Jamie stopped his light exercise, and made his way to the door, opening it to reveal Emily, wearing a light pink singlet, and black shorts, her long pink hair let down. She grinned at Jamie.
"Have you eaten yet?"
Jamie shook his head. "Not yet."
"Then let's go. There selling Gredidine burgers here."
Jamie eyes widened briefly. "Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"Just wait a moment."
Jamie sent a message to Eve, and the stream of energy flowing towards her slowly halted. She got up, and made her way over to Jamie, licking his and Emily's hands, then looking at the 2 Tailed Tiger behind Emily, sniffing the air in it's direction.
"Alright, lets go."
>>>>
They sat in a eatery, near the apartment area, sitting across from each other on a table that could seat four people, munching on their burgers. Emily nibbled on her burger as Jamie took a large bite of his. After chewing the burger, he put it down, and looked at her.
"It's not bad. It's a bit chewy, but it's nice and sweat."
"Right? It's quite enjoyable. When I heard that they were selling the burgers here, I expected something that would ruin my appetite."
Jamie gave a wry smile. "Yet you dragged me here?"
Emily grinned. "Of course. I was curious how it tastes like, and misery likes company."
"Awesome. Eve, remind me not to accept Emily's invitation to eat again."
"Heeeey. Thanks to me, you got to enjoy this delicious Gredidine burger."
Jamie grinned. "And I am grateful for that. But, I think it's best to quit while I am ahead. I've heard of some of the awful experiences that some people can have trying new creature meat."
"Ohh yea? Like what."
"Like Momo meat. Sometimes, the meat from that creature can melt your tongue, and affect your mind."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously. I asked about taking some of the carcasses back from my trip in Bulagd, and I was warned about it. I looked it up online later, the cases can be quite gruesome."
Emily shivered "Yikes. I might need to rethink eating different exotic food."
"In the restaurants it should be fine, you just need to think carefully about it when eating some random meat from a creature you kill."
"So why did you end up wanting to take back Momo meat."
"Save money. I'm running out of the meat I use to feed Blackwing and Eve, and they eat a lot."
Emily snorted. "Tightass."
The two talked for an hour, before making their way back to their rooms. After memorizing the map and the various creature habits, Jamie spent the rest of the night gathering energy, before going to sleep, filled with the anticipation of capturing beasts tomorrow.