Chapter 373

Jacob and Taya have had breakfast, and they’re about to go out and ask the butchers how the work is going.

Apparently, the butchers were beyond stunned that someone managed to kill so many Boar People. And when they heard that Jacob and Taya were just interested in the liver and heart of the Boar People — which were the components used in trap arrays, the ones that carried Mana, and therefore the ones Jacob could use to power his Primordial Spell — Jacob also told them they could keep most of the rest of the material, and that they would just accept some free processing for the rest, and priority when bringing them other monsters. That would stop many other people from getting their own monsters butchered at the camp. But seeing so much free money being thrown at them in the form of crafting materials, all the butchers were more than happy to pull an all-nighter and arrange for the materials to be delivered to Jacob and Taya.

But there was a weird silence around the camp, and Jacob noticed many Hunters and adventurers packing up their things.

“I wonder what’s happening,” Jacob says.

“I don’t know. So many people look like they’re leaving.”

“Oh, that’s gonna be a problem,” Jacob mutters. “We managed to get so many good materials from just one day. A week here, and then the Stone Golem Dungeon, would have been enough, in theory, to contact Liuthkrav.”

“I know,” Taya replies. “But let’s just see what’s happening, for now.”

So they approach one of the adventurers, and they ask, “Hey, do you know what’s happening?”

“Yeah. Yesterday night, guys, the Beast Hall people came here.” The man shook his head.

“The what?”

“The Beast Hall people,” the man says with a frown. “Have you never heard of them?”

Jacob and Taya looked at each other. “What are they?”

“They are the most influential organization. You know, like, they are the ones that usually fight on the front lines against the Primordial Gods. But apparently, Nightmares have stopped forming, and the army has almost completely eradicated them. So now, all the Beastmasters are going back home. And while they were on the way back, they found two extremely powerful signatures. Apparently, there are some beasts that laid eggs in the valley.”

“And what does that mean?” Taya asks.

“Sometimes, very ancient beasts roam the world and lay eggs at random. It appears that two eggs were laid by creatures above Mithril Rank, and that alerted the Beast Hall. Those are their priorities, you know? So now, the Beast Hall is organizing to try and scout these two eggs.”

“They are, like, what? Eggs that—” Jacob’s voice trails off. “I’m not getting this. Like, they want to tame whatever comes out of the eggs?”

“Perhaps. Or sometimes these eggs can be used as extremely, extremely powerful crafting materials, or array materials.”

“Oh,” Jacob says, raising an eyebrow. “Very interesting. Where are these Beastmasters now?”

“They’re on the main square, holding a meeting. But trust me, you don’t want to have anything to do with them. They’re very dangerous people, and they’re part of the military. So if you get killed by one of them, usually nothing happens. No one likes to mess around with them and their damn beasts.”

Jacob and Taya walk to see who these people are. And they find a bunch of men in full plate armor, with gigantic beasts by their side. The men’s armor is dented and scratched. A few pieces are missing. Spots have been patched over with other metal that doesn’t match. The creatures have scars all over, missing large patches of fur. And most of these men are wearing a full helmet. They’re not even showing their faces.

The first impression is very clear. These are dangerous and powerful people.

When Jacob quickly scans them with his Grimoire, he sees that all of them — literally every single one of the fifty-odd people that are in front of him — are at Peak Adamantite Rank. These are not pushovers. They are the real deal.

Jacob’s about to get closer to them when one man in armor puts a hand on his chest, stopping him cold.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“Well, I hear that there is a bit of a mess about some eggs, so I wanted to check out what it was all about.”

“And who are you?” the man asks, looking Jacob up and down. “And where do you think you are? This meeting is for Beastmasters. We ordered everybody else to vacate the premises. We need full control of the valley. And as for this little extermination thing of yours, we’ll take care of it. We don’t need no incompetent Hunter or adventurer with us.”

Jacob examines the man and then turns to Taya.

“We are Mithril Rank Trap Masters,” Taya says with a smile, “and maybe you guys could use that.”

That seems to give pause to the man, who ponders for a moment and then says, “I will speak to the captain. Oftentimes, ancient beasts leave natural traps around their future offspring, so that nobody can take it away while they’re not present. But we are missing a Mithril Rank Trap Master this time. Everybody’s very excited about the possibility to tame an ancient beast, or even just to get a fossilized egg.”

“What’s a fossilized egg?” Jacob asks.

“A fossilized egg is a non-fertilized egg. It still contains all the nutrients and the power that would have been required to grow an ancient beast, and it’s an invaluable crafting material. Mithril Rank fighters often pay a fortune for it, because you can use its power to evolve one of your Mithril Rank Skills.”

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“Oh, wow,” Jacob says. “That sounds like these things contain a lot of power.”

And then Jacob turns to Taya, staring meaningfully at her. If these things are enough to upgrade a Mithril Rank Skill, they’re definitely gonna be enough for what Jacob and Taya need them for. Or at the very least, a—

The man, whose name is revealed to be Breslav, brings them to the captain, Saveliy.

Saveliy is a man wearing a black armor that looks like it’s about to fall apart. He doesn’t have his helmet on, and he was just in the middle of explaining to some other Beastmasters the geography of this valley, and where the eggs would most likely be, when Breslav brings Jacob and Taya to him.

“Who are these two? Breslav, I’ve ordered the place to be evacuated. I don’t want any amateurs here. These eggs will attract all the other monsters in the valley soon. We have to find them as fast as we can. We can’t babysit these two.”

“Captain, these are John and Talia.”

Jacob had told Breslav their names, but Breslav had purposefully avoided using their last names.

“What family are you two from? And what are you doing in my camp?”

“Uh, Captain, we are Mithril Rank Trap Masters,” Jacob explains quickly. “And me and my, uh…” Jacob looks at Taya, at a loss for words.

“Your…?” Taya offers the question with a smirk.

“Partner.” Jacob coughs. “My fellow adventurer and partner are looking for more work. Um, we would like to assist.”

“Only Beastmasters are allowed to participate in our operations. We don’t allow anybody who has not fought Nightmares directly in our ranks. And especially if you’re not able to pass our test.”

“Well, I have fought many Nightmares. Matter of fact—” Jacob says with a smile.

“Have you?”

Before Jacob can reply, he feels an aura surround him. And the captain, Saveliy, stands up.

“You have killed thousands of Nightmares, kid. Who the hell are you?”

“Well, we are rogues, in a sense. We aren’t really affiliated with anybody. We just care about the safety of the population. So sometimes we travel and offer our services, uh, to keep people safe,” Jacob explains.

It is, in a way, not even a lie. And it’s the best explanation he has for Captain Saveliy.

The man takes a beat and looks Jacob and Taya up and down. He is a handsome, rough-looking, middle-aged man.

“Breslav, bring them to the cages. We caught some Adamantite Rank beasts on the way. If you can pass the test, I will take you in for this mission as temporary members of the Beastmasters. You will have to go to the Hall to get the full qualification, though.”

“That’s great,” Jacob smiles.

And the captain said, “You two might be prodigies at traps, but a Beastmaster’s life is much tougher than that. We focus on fighting alongside monsters that we tame. But they’re still monsters. Yet you have to learn how to treat them as if they were your brother or sister. You fight alongside them, and little by little, they lose their savage nature. And oftentimes, right before they’re about to fully become a non-monster creature, they get killed. Ancient Beastmaster lore says it’s Karma. The God of Monsters doesn’t let its creatures become good in the battle between good and evil.”

“The God of Monsters, you say? Asmodeus?” Jacob asks.

“Indeed. All monsters have a contract with their master, and nobody can break it. Not even the most powerful Beastmaster.”

Jacob turns to Taya and says, “Well, how about we give it a good try?”

“Breslav,” Captain Saveliy snaps. “Make sure they don’t die. This kid has killed many Nightmares, more than some of our men. He doesn’t deserve to die like a dog in a cage. Keep an eye on them.”

Breslav nods eagerly, and removes his helmet as well now, to Taya and Jacob. Jacob notices that Breslav is way younger than he would have given him credit for. He’s easily not older than twenty-five, but there are many scars over his face, and part of his nose is gone.

“So, I’m very sorry,” Jacob says apologetically. “Could I ask more about Beastmasters? We are from the countryside, and we don’t really know much about you guys. And I mean this with the utmost respect. I just… I’m very ignorant.”

Breslav, luckily, doesn’t seem to take offense to the question, and nods, saying, “Beastmasters are the shock troops against Primordial Gods. We dive first, and because our beasts are expendable in the eyes of the army, we are the ones who scout passages.”

“Not just a few scouts?”

Breslav shakes his head. “There can be a thousand Nightmares waiting around every corner. If you send a lone scout, the chances he’s coming back are extremely slim. They send us instead. We travel in cohorts of fifty, and we can join up with other cohorts. But our companions are usually too large to gather more than fifty of us in a Primordial Dungeon side by side. We scout and retreat alongside our companions if the Dungeon is too tough. We’re also on the first line once the army knows enough to launch an offensive. It’s always better to lose a monster than a human,” Breslav says, with clearly a hint of bitterness in his voice. “But when you spend enough time feeding your creatures — those we call monsters — when you nurse them back to health from a grievous wound, staying up all night, you develop a bond with them. It’s not easy to let them die for you. Many Beastmasters die in order to protect their creature. And the irony is that if the Beastmaster dies and the bond is strong enough, your companion will go rampaging against the enemies and die as well. You can say it’s a miserable fate to be a Beastmaster — or at least many say so. But our job saves thousands of lives, and allows us to work with creatures that anybody else would consider a monster. And you find out things about this world you never even imagined before.”

“I see.” Jacob nods slowly.

And then they’re brought to some cages. There are two enormous lizard-like monsters in them. Each is taller than ten feet and has an Early Adamantite Rank aura.

“Your job is going to be very simple, but almost impossible. So tell me if you want to give up. The captain is a fair man. But to tame a monster, you have to subdue it and feed it this.”

Jacob looks at the large biscuit that Breslav took out of his Interspatial Ring.

“These are specially made by experts at the Beast Hall. They let the monster know that you’re its master, as if you are the alpha of its pack. And it allows you to develop a bond with them.”

“A bond?” Jacob asks.

Breslav splits a piece off the giant biscuit, and puts the large piece in Jacob’s right hand and the small piece in Jacob’s left hand.

“One is for the monster,” Breslav says, pointing at the big piece. “The other is for you. You two will be linked. A telepathic connection will be formed, such that you will be able to feel what your creature feels and know what it knows. You will also, in time, be able to give it orders. But,” Breslav sighs, “we don’t allow anyone below Adamantite in our ranks. It’s a job too dangerous. You two are too weak. And I don’t mean this to say you’re not talented. You’re both very young. And clearly, it’s not going to be long till either of you has crossed into Adamantite Rank. But for now, this is essentially an impossible feat. You’re not going to die under my watch, but you’re also not going to be able to tame these beasts. These are drake horses. They’re ferocious. And their mandibles can snap even an Intermediate Adamantite warrior in two. But most importantly, they’re fast. They have wings, even though they’re hidden most of the time. And so they are flying mounts. We have all the Beastmasters who want to join our unit attempt to tame one first. That’s why we travel with a few of them. In case we lose people and we have to recruit from other cohorts.”

Then Breslav smiles. “It’s quite an honor to join under the command of Captain Saveliy.”

Jacob looks at the biscuit, then at the giant drake horse. And nods.

“It will be an honor to join,” he says.

And then he sees that Taya has already walked toward her cage, after getting her biscuit from Breslav.

Jacob watches, because, to be completely honest, he doesn’t really have a good plan about how to tame his own creature. The Grimoire tells him the flaws of it, but what is he going to do? Just beat it half to death and force-feed it the biscuit?

And so he watches Taya, hoping to copy her homework.