{1500cp to purchase card.}
Alaric stared at the glowing card for a while before deciding to purchase it.
_dinggggg_
The card was bought and with it the ability Alaric needed to summon a beast for himself.
[The beast summoning card is now under your possession.]
[The current cost to summon a beast is 3000cp.]
[A random beast will be summoned.]
'Now looking at this system, I can't help but think it's similar to those gacha games I see kids playing back in my former world. Hmm, If the increase of my rank raises the possibilities of the beast I can summon, what is the highest I can increase the rank of this card with my current cp?' he asked.
[The beast taming card can be upgraded from bronze to gold with 7800cp.]
'What is the highest rank?'
[Grand master, before that, Diamond, and before, Gold.]
'Upgrade it'.
[The beast taming card has been upgraded to a Gold rank card.]
'Good, now summon.'
Alaric clicked on the icon.
The small magical door opened up in the middle, lots of energy pouring out from within that made Alaric need to place his hand in front of him to reduce the pressure.
Without any warning, the door that had opened out of nowhere suddenly closed.
[Congratulations on your first summon.]
[Summon: A ranger guard wolf (A rank.)
Name: Arthur
Abilities: Thunderbolts.
Loyalty: 100.]
[Card for your summon is available.]
The voice of the system echoed in Alaric's eyes, though his face was still lowered to the ground as an attempt to stop the earlier pressure from pushing against his face.
In the same position, Alaric caught the sight of the beast he had summoned. It's two big front paws were covered in white majestic fur.
Slowly raising his head, he began to see the full body of the monster.
It was a huge wolf, five feet tall and about 9 ft in length. Covered in white clean fur and having blue mystical eyes, this wolf was towering in front of Alaric like a giant.
"It worked." Alaric blurted out.
Up until this point he had been calm about everything, even when he got trapped in the game, he still made sure to keep his cool; it was one of the trainings he underwent as a soldier.
But this...
This was a giant wolf! No difference from the werewolves he saw in movies.
Looking at the wolf while still seated down, Alaric could barely tell what he should do next.
Arthur was already panting and wiggling it tail, excited to see his master.
[Arthur would like you to pet it.]
'Pet it? Like a dog? Damn, I don't think I can forgive myself if I see this monster as a dog... Can I?' said Alaric as he chuckled nervously.
He later stole himself and placed his hand on the head of the wolf. His hand sunk into the soft fur as he began to pet.
Arthur had its eyes closed, enjoying its master's warn hand rubbing on its head in a slow and gentle manner.
[Arthur enjoys your petting.]
[You have been rewarded with 20,000 Cp.]
[You have five new additional cards.]
The notifications popped up in front of him.
Alaric...didn't give two shits about them.
Not because he didn't care about the rewards, no, it was because he kept petting the head of the wolf and feeling the softness. An idea sparked in his mind.
He smiled.
"About damn time... I know just how to fix this wine problem."
×××××
The next day-
Alaric was standing outside the Montclair mansion, where he could get a good view of the forest near the estate.
On his shoulder, was the small form of Arthur. After Alaric upgraded the bronze ranger guard wolf, to a silver guard wolf, a new ability followed, which allowed the wolf to change its size and also communicate with its master.
The expanse of the town in front of Alaric looked almost disappointing. Deep down, he knew there were multiple ways he could improve the Barony, but right now, his attention was somewhere else.
"My lord, i apologize, I wasn't able to be at your side, I didn't expect you to be responsible enough to wake up early, not to actually dress appropriately."
Ava had arrived, standing a few distance behind him.
Alaric couldn't help but make a weird expression, he knew well that Ava was either attacking him on purpose, or she was completely oblivious.
"Ava, correct me if I'm wrong, but there should be monsters somewhere in that forest, right?" He asked, pointing at the distance.
Ava turned to the forest, "Yes, I do use them to train every once in a while. Why does lord Alaric care about that? There are no degenerates there."
"Oh I'm not going there to look for degenerates, if there are monsters, then there's a chance goblins are there too."
"Goblins? Yes, they are the majority." Ava replied.
"Then as my knight, I order you to help me track down these goblins, I have a few problems that need to be solved, but only when I get to see some goblins." Alaric voiced out boldly, a smug almost forming on his face.
"No."
Alaric's soul cracked.
"What do you mean no?!" He yelled.
"Have you forgotten? The Baron Nuak soldiers took the forest from us. We are not allowed to go in there without paying them taxes. And since we are not exactly financially stable, we can't afford to take a risk like that." That was Ava's explanation.
Alaric sighed before looking to the side, "I forgot about that."
The Baron Nuak was the neighbouring Barony that happened to be one of the places Alaric's father had issues with.
Unlike the rest that was due to debts, Nuak wanted the rights to the mining ground in the Montclair barony. In his defence, Rashin had no knowledge and infrastructure to manage it, thus Nuak wanted to help, but when Rashin Montclair refused...Nuak made an enemy of him.
At first it started with forcefully taking the women of the montclair Barony to his place, and then slow attacks, that eventually led to him claiming the forest.
'Meaning, it shouldn't be long before he decides to take the barony full on. He's smart, he's putting fear in the heart of his enemy before he strikes. He knows we can't win, quite the man.'
Alaric sighed, "Ava, do you trust me?".
"No."
"You could at least pretend! Geez," with his hand on his waist, Alaric pointed at her, "I'm going to sneak into the forest and carry out my mission... It's your choice to come with me if you like, but you're not stopping me from doing this".
Ava was quiet for a while, "My duty is to remain by your side, I have no objection if you want to make a stupid move".
"Wow, you're not even hiding it anymore." Alaric's finger lowered.
...
[A\N: If you enjoy the story, please vote for the book.]