It has been five hours since they started their trek and Insania is bored out of her mind. She couldn't approach the others cause she's been tasked to guard the rear of the carriage and the others were on different sides of the carriage with a considerable distance from Insania. The only ones not remotely far apart is Lainey, Hetir and the Leader which is fair since they're at the front and the leader was tasked with protecting the fragile magical classes. The tension was considerably high because one must remember they have the average levels of 29-35 and Allan is level 70 traveling inside a level 300 grindspot named Echoing Woods.
'How did they get here from the mercenary kingdom? ' Insania thought. 'Guess I'll just ask them the next time we make camp. Insania can now play for 16 hours and she has spent 6 hours already so she's not that worried that she'll be forced evicted out of the game.
'Bless that update, I'd have been in big trouble if it was the previous 12 hours game-time every day' she thought gratefully. From what she's seen from the map the journey will strain her physical endurance to the limits due to the estimated 3 weeks of solid walking if they wish to get to Atoru kingdom. Though she was bored she didn't relax for even a minute, her eyes scanned every tree, every bush and every rock they passed through expecting a monster to pop out.
Though they've traveled quite the distance she didn't feel that fatigued... That's mostly because of Hetir, she has a Healer spell that increases the stamina of her specified target and she has been spamming it on all of them since they started walking. How she has the mana to cast so many times, Insania had no idea.
Insania scrutinized everyone's position, she's at the rear of the carriage, Lainey, Hetir, Vtss, Oreuq, Juli, Rez and the Leader were in front, Russ was on the left side of the carriage, Mal was on the right and Xerca was scouting their path, nobody else is here with her at the rear which is mainly the leaders doing and a severe tactical oversight in her opinion but she understood that the leader also didn't want any of his members to be within talking distance of Insania, especially the first five.
Insania looked towards Mal on the right side of the carriage with his Tamed Wolf which had a grayish fur coat. The wolf didn't seem that friendly with him which says a lot about his [Taming Mastery] skill. I wonder how I could help him? Insania remembered something that she read when she was at the internet cafe.
Apparently you can access online services by paying coins, it automatically deducts from your pocket and Insania only had 79 gold and 28 silvers left.
She remembered that to access online you had to pay 1 silver for a goodle search, 2 silver to access the Epic of the Gods forums for 10 minutes, 3 silver to post a question or video to the said forums, 5 silver to watch a single video from anywhere, and lastly 10 silver to watch a streaming platform or streamers videos about all the VR Games.
She typed out the name of Wandapet an eccentric Elite Tamer streamer that hails from the Mercenary Kingdom and perhaps the only tier2 Tamer Player... Although her level isn't that high Insania knows that this particular Player has [Taming Mastery(V)].
She is a sensation among the playerbase because she has Two perfectly tamed monsters, one a Red Bald Eagle the size of a pitbull with a level of 31 and the other a large lion sized cobalt blue colored Stag Beetle with a level of 35 both are Uncommon ranked monsters. The two were diligently well trained monsters compared to the one Mal has that looks at it's master with obvious dissent.
Insania clicked on to watch a three hour video of the Wandapet and 10 silver vanished from her pocket.
...
"Hey yo! It's Wandapet here along with my two loyal friends, Moltres and Hercules." She said whilst ruffling the bald eagles feathers and waxing the Stag Beetles carapace.
'Interesting, does she do this every-day? Even while not streaming? Well thinking about it now, monsters here are just oversized animals. I've never actually seen any bipedal monsters yet. Are they that much high leveled?' Insania pondered on this and remembered the classic fantasy genre mobs like goblins, orcs, gnolls, kobolds, ogres, cyclops and many others.
She continued to watch the video as her legs moved along the road. The video didn't encompass her entire vision and was just perfectly placed at the top left side of her sight and when she directs her focus on it she could maximize the screen.
By blinking twice she could revert it back to the top left side.
Insania noticed a pattern at exactly the 2 hour mark. 'Wandapet seems to feed her companions every 13 minutes' Insania looked towards Mal and realized he hasn't fed the poor monster ever since the trip started. She wondered if Mal treated his tamed monster like an expendable tool and the monster could vaguely feel it and protests against him upon every turn.
'Ah I see now, you just have to be a decent human being and a responsible pet owner if you want your [Taming Mastery] to level up'
Most players and even non-players cannot remove such idea from their subconscious that the tamed monster they currently have is irreplaceable. 'Wandapet must've known this and treats her current monsters as irreplaceable entities in her life' Insania kept watching her streams and got to the climax of the video... the battles.
...
The trio of Wandapet and her companions wandered through the forest when they stumbled upon a large entity. A monster built like a gorilla but leaner and the less muscular, the monster was a level 40 Rare Cyanback Ape that roared with fury upon encountering the trio. Like a pokemon trainer Wandapet gave crisp instructions in a soft melodic tone instead of the usual commanding tone most Tamers use.
The eagle soared high and the Stag beetle positioned itself at the right corner of the Cyanback Ape. Wandapet despite her small stature is a Tank type Tamer. She pulled out a round shield and a mace from her dimensional storage and took a stance.
"RAAA! " Wandapet roared and activated [Taunting Roar] a skill that all Tankers get to ensure aggro is on them. Like a bull the Cyanback Ape charged Wandapet and they collided with a deafening impact pushing her back three steps as her feet created deep grooves on the ground but she remained firm and poised to take more blows.
"Now! " Wandapet said with gritted teeth and her companions attacked the open back of the Ape... Despite it's name the Cyanback Apes fur is the thinnest at their backs and the Eagle and Beetle struck with precise attacks.
"Back! " when the Ape was about to turn around to wallop the two with it's mighty swing. Wandapet swung her mace upon the monsters head. "[TAUNTING STRIKE!]" She roared like an enraged beast, activating another Tanker favorite skill. "How Dare you even think of attacking my boys! DIEEEEEE!" with a shrilled scream she attacked with endless abaddon. The Cynback Ape, enraged with all the taunts, attacked Wandapet with a powerful right hook and used a skill [Knock Punch]. The attack connected with Wandapet's shield and she flew off the ground.
"Moltres! " without any other command, the eagle flew towards Wandapet and she grabbed the eagle mid-air, then landed gracefully.
The Cyanback Ape broke free from the taunt skills and started pummeling the Stag beetle who was outmatched during the confrontation.
"RAAAA" she used another [Taunting Roar] and dashed towards the monster and launched a tirade of her skillls "[SHIELD BAAASH]!, [Empowered Strike]! [Crushing Blow]! "
[Shield Bash]: Bash a target using a shield that will deal
100% Weapon Defense + (150% STR). Has a 50% chance to inflict [Stun] debuff.
Manacost: 75
Cool-down: 30 seconds
[Empowered Strike]: A powerful swing that can deal 250% weapon damage + (50% STR +50% DEX).
Manacost: 125
Cool-down: 15 seconds
[Crushing Blow]: A Blunt Weapon attack that can deal 300% weapon damage + (100% STR). That has a 40% chance to inflict [Broken Bone] debuff.
Manacost: 200
Cool-down: 25 seconds
The battle turned into a brutal slugfight between a small stature girl and a Gorilla size ape, making it very hard for the eagle to attack.
'This must be why she's got such a high [Taming Mastery], most Tamers would let their monsters tank the blows of strong monsters but this girl looks berserk after the Ape did considerable damage on her Stag Beetle'
"RAAAAA! " Like a Rager she attacked with little regard to the damage she's accumulating from the monsters retaliation blows.
'Does she have the Rager class, [Rage-Strength Mastery]? This doesn't look like a fighting style of a Tank style fighter at all... ' Insania softly muttered. "No wonder she's gained a decent following in the competitive streaming platforms... This girl, she's a natural fighter and at the same time an extreme animal lover."
The fight ended with Wandapet standing tall over her adversary, her trusted companions by her side. She huffed in exhaustion, "I'm glad you're both safe" then added after catching her breath. "And that's all for todays stream! Thank YOU ALL FOR WATCHING! " then the video was no more.
...
8 hour of mindless trekking took a toll on Insania, the quiet is almost unbearable. She needs to have some form of Stimulus if she wants to keep going but that wasn't necessary because Allan announced. "OK let's make camp here, then we'll continue in 8 hours."
They found themselves a nice open space. "Hah" Insania yawned and announced "I'm hitting the hay, Catch y'all later" then she logged out after getting in her sleeping Gear.