On the night before Jack left Thereath, the night after he became a Beastmaster, he had hatched the Therras Beast Egg. Peniel had explained that the tame skill was most effective when the targeted beast was in its infant form.
Taming an adult beast was the hardest. An Archer needed to use bait and cage to trap and capture a live beast that was certain to be hostile. The beast was then given pet food and the Tame Pet skill was used at regular intervals. During this time, the beast might become agitated enough to break out from the cage. Thus multiple cages and baits needed to be prepared. The process was repeated until the beast succumb.
Capturing a beast at its young age was easier, as they had the least ability to resist. The taming process was the same but took less time. This was what Fierce Flame did with her Savage Wind Wolf.
The Archer’s Tame Pet skill, aside from increasing the pet’s HP and Stamina, also increase the success probability in taming the pet. Thus, reducing the time wasted.
Jack’s Tame Pet was already at level 20. He could also use the Runestone of Probability, further increasing the success rate. However, Jack’s Therras Beast was still in its egg form. It had no resistance whatsoever. So, when he used his Tame Pet skill on the egg, he succeeded on the first try.
Cracks appeared on the egg after he received the success notification. An interface appeared asking him to name his pet. Lazy to think up a name, he simply named the pet, Therras. Peniel rolled her eyes when Jack inputted the name.
The egg soon broke and a tiny and cute version of the Therass Beast appeared. Jack used Inspect on it, it was a level 1 special elite Therras Beast.
“Only Special elite? The one I fought before was a Rare Elite. Did I get the short end of the stick?” Jack asked with disappointment.
“It was a baby, what do you expect?” Peniel replied. “If you diligently feed it the best pet food, not only it is sure to be a rare elite, there might even be a chance for it to become a mythical grade when it matures.”
This baby Therass Beast looked around in confusion after coming out of its eggshell. Its sight settled on Jack before it crawled to beside Jack and rubbed itself on Jack’s leg.
“Are you a kitten?” Jack asked. He couldn’t picture this cute little thing turning into that fearsome beast that almost pummeled him to the death inside the Valley of Tempus.
Jack took out a piece of pet food. The baby Therras Beast saw the food and became agitated. It attempted to snatch it from Jack’s hand. Jack pulled the food up out of its reach. The baby Therras Beast stood up with its hind legs, his two forelegs swaying in the air attempting to get the food. It even tried to jump to grab the food.
“You really are like a kitten,” Jack said with a laugh.
“You are the worst beast tamer,” Peniel said.
Jack didn’t tease the baby beast too long, he let go of the pet food and the baby beast immediately gobbled the thing up. After finishing its meal, Jack saw the beast level which was level 1, increase to level 2.
“Small-sized pet is considered mature after reaching level 15. A medium-sized one is considered mature after level 30. That’s why it takes a longer time and why you need more pet food. You can only summon it for combat after it matures.”
“Can I still feed it pet food after it matures?” Jack asked.
“You can. The food will boost its exp points to level up. Other than pet food, it will only receive exp if you summon it during combat. It won’t receive any exp if it is not around when the enemies are killed.”
Jack nodded. The place where they were going, summoning a level 30 beast to fight might be a bit risky. His pet could end up getting killed. He might need to continue relying on pet food even after his beast matured. Luckily, he had followed Peniel’s advice to buy lots of pet food.
During his way to the Jagara Region, Jack had been feeding his pet regularly, allowing it a steady growth.
After entering the first mountain at the edge of the Jagara Region, Jack noticed the place was unusually quiet. The mountain was very large, it was also rocky and had little vegetation. Some hazardous-looking fumes regularly pumped out of the holes in the ground. Jack avoided the fumes, which Peniel said was the right call. One would be afflicted with poison status if one inhaled the fumes.
After a while, he finally saw a red dot on his radar. He went directly to the dot.
He crept to a place where he had a clear view of the red dot. From his hiding place, Jack saw what looked like a very large snake. The rear half of its body was submerged inside the ground. Its body was covered by glistening yellow-brownish scales. Large frills extended from its skull. Its mouth was currently open as it sucked in the fume that shot out from the ground.
Jack used his Inspect.
Poisonous wyrmling (Special Elite monster, Draconic), level 42
HP: 210,000
‘Only one?’ Jack asked in his mind as he observed his radar. There seemed to be no other hostiles in the area.
‘Draconic monsters although strong, tend to be alone. Even their younglings avoided being in a group,’ Peniel explained.
‘Good,’ Jack commented.. ‘What are their characteristic combat style?’
‘Aside from its strength, its main weapon was its poisonous spit and bite. Its venom is very strong. Although its movement speed is not that impressive, the speed by which it shot its half upper body can be shocking. You better be careful once you get into its range. It can burrow like the Grim Sand Drake, but not too deep. A strong hit should be able to force it to come out.’
Jack continued to watch the solitary creature. The fumes at the other holes came out at a random interval, but the one this wyrmling was feeding on was spouting non-stop. Which meant the wyrmling would continue being distracted and stay still.
Jack decided to act. He first drink a new potion that had been available in the shops, Preventive Antidote. It gave the user immunity from poison status in the next three minutes. Utilizing his Silent Step skill, he crept undetected to the wyrmling’s rear.
Seeing the wyrmling still didn’t notice, he approached. His Storm Breaker and magic staff which had turned into Spatha of Light were ready on his two hands.
When he was close enough, Jack activated Adrenaline Rush and then executed Flame Strike. The wyrmling was slammed to the ground. Jack scored a sneak attack bonus and a critical bonus, scoring almost 9,000 damages in that single hit.
Jack didn’t let go of the opportunity when the wyrmling was helpless. He sent twenty-four burst slashes at the downed monster, but halfway, the wyrmling dove inside the ground, disappearing from view. The remaining slashes hit the ground and created gashes.
Jack heard rumbles as the ground below him trembled. He jumped in time before the wyrmling burst out from underneath him. His superhuman jump allowed him to cross a good distance, but the wyrmling noticed his body in the air and made a snap at him. The snapping speed was indeed as Peniel described, shocking. Luckily, Jack had readied a Magic Shield. The wyrmling’s open mouth slammed onto the shield. The impact sent Jack crashing onto the ground.
Before Jack could rise, the wyrmling spat a thick green liquid, hitting Jack’s lower body. Jack received around 700 damages. Since he had taken the Preventive Antidote, he didn’t receive Poison status, but he heard notification that his pant armor had received deteriorating status. Its durability would decrease over time and its current defense value was halved.
The wyrmling made another spit, Jack hurriedly rolled away. He would lose his armors if he let this overgrown snake keep showering him with its saliva.
Jack shot Mana Beam at the wyrmling, its body was nimble enough to duck out of the way, but Jack swung the beam to where the wyrmling was dodging, still hitting it in the end.
Jack shot Mana Bullet and Energy Bolts as he used Charge to get close to the wyrmling. Its body again disappeared into the ground, evading the assault. With his radar and mana sense, Jack knew the position of the wyrmling in the ground. He shot Wind Slash which penetrated deep into the ground, striking the wyrmling. The wyrmling was forced to come out after getting damaged, Jack was already waiting above. His swords danced around the wyrmling’s body.
When the wyrmling burrowed again, Jack used Sword of Light to force it out. He then repeated the process.
After some while, the wyrmling finally fell. Jack received exp points, some coins, mana cores, and one whisp of Draconic Essence. The Draconic Essence automatically went into his body after the wyrmling died.
“Uh, only one? I have to kill one thousand draconic monsters just to level up a single level of this bloodline?” Jack asked, depressed.
“Didn’t I say dragon bloodline is the hardest to level up?” Peniel retorted.
Jack sighed.. He walked over to the next red dot on his radar.
