What the hell was that! Just when we thought the coast was clear from wild beasts, we were attacked on the road by a group of bandits! It was the most cliche scene ever. Yet, there was no beautiful babe for me to save, no I had to save my self, as I was the lone victim! The first bandit went for the kill and immediately wished he didn't, as Ari went straight for the kill, I guess training him to hunt the wild beasts quickly left some bad habits, but with one dead, there was no reason to keep the other two alive. We finished them off quickly, but I did have a nasty cut that would surely leave a scar. I should have expected some bullshit like this. It's like the world is trying to create a quest centered around this Ravenaire Guild House. Yet, there was one positive, after this one fight, I achieved level 5! This meant I could form a permanent beast bond.
With the bandit attack, I got behind schedule and only approached the Guild house a quarter to closing. Thank goodness I made it, I thought inwardly. I was waiting for the generic meat head criticism from a random bystander but none came, so I continued to the front desk, where rather than choosing the cute women, I went to the well dressed man, again avoiding some unexpected quest. I approached
"Hi, I am Jason and I'm new to town and the Guild. I was hoping to sell some of my beast cores." I explained.
Well met Jason, I am Nate Allbrook and would be happy to give you an estimate, but first, I will need to register you with the guild. Please state your full name, and occupation.
"I am Jason Adler, and my occupation is Beast Master."
Eric stared at me like I had two heads, and now I was remembering this was not some litrpg for everyone else, and they probably meant like how do I make money.
"Uhh, what I meant was I am a merchant who specializes in Magical Beasts, parts and products, and I waved at my two companions, as Ronin had found a great spot in-between Ari's Ears."
This, seemed to be an actual profession, or at least a believable profession in this world, so Eric got the gist of what I wanted to convey.
He handed me an identification card, with my name and the title: Beast Merchant. Well, that would be good enough.
I exchanged all of my beast cores, expect for the legendary core, from our first battle, this was the rarest, but also the most personal, so I planned to keep it for the time being. In the end I racked in almost 20 gold bringing my total to 21, 45, 200 (Gold, Silver, Bronze). I still hadn't been to the market, so I wasn't sure if I was well off after that first excursion, or if everything cost a couple of gold each.
With no real plan yet, I felt like I still hadn't made any waves since coming here. Therefore, I figured, I could take a quest from the Guild, use this quest to level up to around 10, while finding another monster to tame. Hopefully one with some attack prowess, because as Siya, said I will not be able to rely on Ari forever... I need to get to the bottom of that logic, soon but I'm going to keep putting if off for now. Ronin nor I would have survived without Ari, so whatever Siya has planned better wait until I get a few more magical beast companions.
I made my way over to the quest board, scanning the available options, glancing upon - Spider extermination, hard pass. Next was more of a warning, bandits have started to band together during the war times, the guild has put a bounty out on the so call Bandit King, 100 gold. Right there, that's the world quest, just begging for me to grab, and get some revenge on the ones from earlier, but truth be told, I was not going to sign up to kill bandits, I may have murdered in order to save my life, but this is straight contract killing, bounty hunting dead or alive. I passed on this quest, and found one oddly perfect for me; which was slightly unsettling but could also just be a coincidence. 20 gold - A merchant caravan from the exotic Dryad Animal Kingdom has gone missing on its way to deliver goods to Ravenaire, the guild is searching for clues to the whereabouts, they were last reported 50 miles, north, and should have been here yesterday morning. This seemed to be a fresh quest, and my theory was confirmed when I saw the issue date. I grabbed the quest off the board and made my way towards the counter to meet with Nate, when 5 men deliberately got in my way. Welp, here was the cliche I was expecting, 5 men decide to rough me up a bit, just for Ari to bite off one of their hands in front of an audience, which will result in their party to build up resentment, to later attack. I had read about these scenarios many a times. I need to deflect.
"Look at this newbie adventure here, still a first tier, HAHA!, what did you say your occupation was again? Oh Yeah beast master, as if!"
It honestly wasn't even a good comeback, so I held back my retort, and just kept it simple.
"So what, do you have a problem with that?"
"OF course I do, you have no write calling yourself, who is clearly a novice tamer, some beast master. it is an insult to all those who truly tame magical beasts."
Ahh, now I got it, it seemed my earlier declaration ticked this guy off, and after his comment I could see why. I looked around, and noticed he had a EagleOwl type bird on his shoulder, with a snake wrapped around his arm. This must be the local tamer.
"Let me guess, the title of best beast tamer in the guild is your honor?" I announced.
"Of course it goes to me, Eric Foxfeet but Hey if what you say is true, then I'm just a high tier 3 beast tamer, and what would I know compared to a tier 1 beast master" This got a laugh from the crowd as a whole, as a gathering began to form, as neither one of us were keeping quiet. I decided to go for broker, I had no doubt my team of Ari, and Ronin, speed and vitality through healing could best any two man team out there, Ari was Peak Tier 4, while Ronin and I were just Tier 1, but combined, they almost even out with the others, especially if Ronin continues to ride on top.
"Sure, I could teach you a thing or two, just let me know when you are free" I then shot him a wink.
Yet, this fierce battle never came to fruition, whether or not Foxfeet knew he would lose, would remain a mystery because he had another way to test my skills.
"How about your prove it then, a beast master as yourself, should have no problem taming the Red Raven, it is after all, just a tier 1 beast at the present" from the gasps of the crowd, I could tell this was a tall task, some local legend, yet based off the crowd, the Red Raven was a rare magical beast, one who would be perfect for my growing party, I couldn't help but smile.
"Done, just tell me how to find it"
"That will be easy enough" Smirked Foxfeet, the RedRaven, is perched on this very roof, and he pointed out the window pane, where I saw a small black silhouette, with a shiver of red gleam perturbing where I suspected its eyes were.