章 20: Hatching!
Jason tried to distract himself while reading some news about Astrix island as he wanted to research if he still had a chance to enter a high school with his score.
Thinking about his non-existent combat experience or knowledge, he hesitantly opened the federation network.
Jason searched for martial arts instructors and their fees only to find out that it was extremely expensive.
Enrolling in a high school would be cheaper than receiving a few lessons from these instructors but Jason's final exam performance hadn't been good enough to get admitted to a fairly decent one.
He could apply to the concerned authority to get the blindness remark removed from his mark sheet but that wouldn't solve his problem.
Jason was slightly embarrassed to look at his exam results linked to his profile.
'Theoretical Exam 100/100 Points
Practical Exam 34/100 Points
Blood test: Passed, Remark: Blind
Mana Core rank: 2nd Novice -40/100
Soul awakening: ★★ /★★★★★'
His soul-awakening rating was also a bad joke.
The old man had probably been generous because nobody with his soul energy would receive two stars as a rating.
Or, maybe the old man was too astonished about his soul world which had temporarily blurred his mind.
He had around 130,000 Credits left and he had to survive with this money for a certain amount of time until he could start earning on his own.
Hunters were well paid and even hunting wild beasts helped them earn some credits as such beasts infested the areas around cities and endangered them even with their low rank.
Their population was way too large which was also the reason why one-star wild zones were used as training grounds for middle-school students.
The only good thing about these beasts was that their hide, tendons, claws, meat, and so on could be used by poor people.
Average households would never buy clothes made out of wild-ranked beasts as the beast hide wasn't comfortable to wear and didn't look good enough, to begin with.
There were only a few rare beasts with comfortable fur that humans belonging to wealthier households would purchase, which would in return increase the price of such beasts.
Protective garments made out of wild-ranked beasts were also useless as normal grade-1 weapons could slash through them like a hot knife through butter.
Nevertheless, a wild beast carcass could fetch up to 25 Credits if one was extremely lucky, which was already a decent bounty for such weak beasts. Assuming that normal workers earned 1500 Credits per month on average, even without doing anything extraordinary, the price was a good bargain.
A torrent of various thoughts rattled his mind, while he continued to research Martial arts instructors.
In the end, he found an interesting website named Martial Heaven with many martial arts video clips posted online.
Martial Heaven was an online platform that was even approved by the federation.
The website provided online instructions about all kinds of martial art techniques including martial arts using every kind of element.
After creating an account with his ID and inputting his rank and other information, a selection window popped up, where Jason could select the weapon he wanted to use.
If he wanted to, Jason could even include a type of elemental affinity the martial techniques should focus on.
Furthermore, Jason could also refine his selection through a host of other options and criteria through the drop down menu.
Registering at Martial Heaven cost 100 Credits a month which was a fair price because a few hundred free videos were included in his membership.
As he browsed through the videos Jason found that most of them were like tutorials leading to a playlist of pay to watch Videos.
After that, Jason wanted to throw a fit but he was reminded again that most martial arts were uploaded by commoners trying to make some quick cash while sharing their tips and tricks.
While searching through some free videos Jason stumbled upon a whole free playlist provided by the federation about a technique he was already familiar with.
[Azure feisty Ape]
Looking at the first sequence Jason realized that he had remembered everything correctly, but there was a small problem.
Jason couldn´t clearly see the mana flow through the holographic screen.
It felt somewhat blurred and when he tried focusing his eyes on the mana flow, they began to hurt slightly.
There wasn't anything he could do about it so he just binge-watched the videos one after another without focusing his gaze on the mana flow.
Even then Jason had made huge progress by only viewing the instructions made by the middle-aged instructor in front of the camera.
'Seeing that is definitely better than solely surveying the mana flow' Jason thought time flew by as he observed and tried to incorporate the tips and tricks shown by the instructor.
He was still lying on his bed watching and rewatching the instructions about the Azure feisty ape technique when he heard the sound of a crack next to him.
The mana stones that were previously a deep dark blue color turned into a brighter shade of blue and Jason was astonished to see the sheer amount of mana stored inside them.
More than half of the stored mana had been utilized and the egg began to shake violently, while small cracks started to appear on the shell's surface.
Jason´s mood brightened immediately, as he watched the cracks deepen in nervous anticipation.
The shell burst open, only to reveal a small puffed-up owl chick with small beady and black eyes, looking at Jason curiously.
After shaking off the remaining eggshells it looked at the mana stones before it toddled towards Jason as fast as it could, throwing itself into his embrace.
Jason felt the owl chick´s happiness within himself as they shared each other's emotions, turning him even happier than he had been.
Holding the fist-sized chick, Jason remembered that he had to give it a name.
'Is it a boy or a girl??' Jason wasn't sure which gender the owl cub belonged to as a thought was transmitted into his mind, telling him that the owl chick was a female.
Thinking about a few female names, he shared it with the little owl, but Jason felt that she would reject each of them.
If he had to be honest, his naming sense was horrible, probably even worse than the worst name generator humanity had.
After pondering over the possible names for a long time, Jason's head began to hurt slightly and he subconsciously entered the soul world inside his mind.
He saw a small feeble string struggling to stay strong between the snowflake owl's soul print as Jason saw an illusionary forest, moon, and a cloaked archer hunting something.
Connecting all the images in his head together, a single word appeared in his mind 'Artemis'.
Jason was unsure of what was going on in his small soul world or how he could think of such a name. Though the small owl chick chirped delightedly and Jason felt that she liked this name.
"So, it's Artemis." Jason thought as he smiled lovingly at his soulbond.
The color she radiated was not as feeble as earlier and much stronger which made Jason even happier but he was still unable to decipher the color somehow.
It felt as if it was an alien color, a mixture of every known color to him but also somehow not.
Luckily, Jason found out about the mana deficit and Professor Gray's theory was also valid so Jason had no reason to be sad.
It was only afternoon, but Jason felt extremely exhausted after trying to memorize the techniques in the video. His whole body ached and his eyes began to droop as he drifted towards sleep while holding Artemis in his hand.
クリエイターの想い 
HideousGrain
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章 21: Practicing Martial arts
It was early in the morning and the first ray of sunlight entered his new apartment through the windowpane when a black-haired youth holding a small owl chick woke up.
He rubbed his dreamy eyes with his empty hand when he noticed something was in his other hand.
As he recalled the events of the day before, Jason knew that it was his soulbond Artemis.
Smiling happily, he looked at the sleeping owl.
Jason wasn't sure when she had fallen asleep next to him but there was something particular in his room that had changed overnight and this change surprised him a lot.
The mana stones that had been shining feebly the day before were now indistinguishable from regular stones.
There was not the slightest trace of mana left inside them and Jason activated his eye, only to see that the radiating color of Artemis seemed to be stronger than the day before.
Jason didn't notice any difference based on the outer appearance,, but her white plumage was shining brightly.
If one was to compare Artemis with a normal snowflake owl chick, her small size was the only noticeable difference.
Jason wasn't sure how exactly evolutions or mutations worked, but he trusted his eyes which told him that Artemis was a treasure.
The only thing he had to find out was how to extract the potential out of her.
He had already come up with a theory in his mind.
Jason had even read some theories about evolutions from beast creators and the development of mutations so there were more than enough things for him to try out.
But to test most theories, Jason needed more credits as they were expensive and as if that was not enough, they seemed to be extremely dangerous, so Jason had to prepare himself.
Hunting beasts was considered as one of the top-paid jobs and becoming a Hunter would have solved most of Jason's problems.
However, first, he had to prepare himself mentally and physically.
Considering his combat strength right now, fighting a one-star wild beast after some martial arts practice wouldn't be that difficult, maybe even hunting two-star wild beasts might be possible.
The most important things he had to do now were to train his body, treat his malnutrition by eating more and having a healthy diet, raise Artemis, and practice martial arts.
Two out of the four things on his to-do list were relatively easy and could be solved without any problems.
Eating well and training his body would be easy while he was still unsure about Artemis's mutation or what she would have to eat.
To improve his martial arts prowess, Jason decided to memorize the Azure feisty Ape technique and learn it, until he reached the techniques' limit.
He wasn't sure if he could ask Greg to spar with him, but after a second thought, he decided against it. Greg was at the 2nd Adept stage ranked with a non-elemental soulbond that would most likely increase his physique tremendously.
Jason wouldn't be able to handle a single blow and it would be impossible to figure out the flaws in his technique after being knocked out with a single hit.
Disregarding this thought, Jason watched the video clips of the Azure feisty Ape technique while he waited for Artemis to wake up.
But when she wouldn't wake up even hours later, Jason got worried so he shook her slightly.
She had been off to a dreamland and woke up with a bad temper on being disturbed from her peaceful sleep. Jason smiled apologetically at her and felt sorry for her.
Artemis understood Jason's feelings because of the connection between them but she was still tired.
Jason was confused as newborns would normally be more active and he got more worried thinking about the possible illness she could have.
Artemis transmitted one of her memories which displayed her absorbing the remaining mana inside the Mana stones and her falling asleep afterward.
Jason was astonished to see this memory.
It wasn't common for wild-ranked beasts to be so intelligent and to be even able to transmit memories to someone else was an astonishing feat.
After sensing that everything was okay with Artemis, Jason calmed down slightly.
He could also sense that Artemis was satiated as if she had eaten a whole titan pig alone, reassuring him that his worries about her hunger were unnecessary.
Artemis was still sleepy but before she fell asleep a small white magic circle appeared below her, as she went inside Jason, appearing inside his soul world.
Within the soul world, Artemis fell asleep peacefully.
Jason stood up from his bed, walking around the apartment thinking about Artemis's weird behavior.
It was weird but he felt that everything was based on the mana stones and Jason had a premonition.
He hoped his assumption was false, otherwise, he would have to face some financial problems.
'Please don't let her mutation be stimulated by mana or even worse a solely pure mana digestion...'
She wasn't even a one-star wild beast at the moment and had consumed three mana stones in their entirety, that three human experts could have easily stored inside them which was worth 150,000 credits.
Moreover, she had hatched less than a day ago.
Jason wasn't sure how long she would sleep to digest these three small mana stones but there weren't many credits left in his bank account!
At most, Jason would be able to purchase two mana stones.
He sincerely hoped that Artemis would be able to eat other things and require smaller amounts of mana.
Jason would even buy higher-graded Beast meat to satiate Artemis but right now Jason was too frightened by the worst-case scenario.
Feeling depressed, Jason had to think of a way to earn more money, and the most efficient way for him to do so would be hunting.
As such, Jason decided to diligently learn and master the Azure feisty Ape technique, before he would continue doing anything else.
He moved away some furniture to make some space for him to train.
Looking at one video at a time, he repeated the same moves done by the Instructor over and over again.
As he continued to practice the few sequences the videos provided, Jason realized that he was making some mistakes because it felt different than the first sequence, where he had seen the instructor with his mana flow back at school.
Trying to find his flaws Jason started to record his practice.
After each sequence, he looked at the recordings only to find out that his movements were completely misplaced.
Figuring out the flaws after rewatching everything multiple times, Jason tried to fix them slowly.
In the evening when the sun went down, Jason slumped to the ground soaking in sweat and was barely able to move his sore body. Though he was bone-tired, a satisfied expression blossomed on his face.
His stomach growled and he immediately ordered something to eat and mentioned his new apartment as the delivery address after he noticed that he hadn't eaten anything over the whole day.
He had completely memorized how the Azure feisty Ape technique should look and comparing his moves with his memories made it easy to pick out the flaws.
But Jason wasn't aware of the fact that his excellent eyesight played a huge role in finding the flaws as some of them were only marginal and difficult to spot.
Even the marginal flaws played a big role in the big picture.
In the end, Jason learned the technique better and more efficiently than others.
The only small problem he had with the second sequence was to reconstruct the perfect mana flow but his extraordinary senses, mana control, and accuracy were actually very helpful here.
Three days passed without much change and Jason had been within his apartment the whole time.
Artemis was still sleeping inside the soul world but the connections between both of them were still strong, lively and it felt like it strengthened and grew deeper with every passing day
Jason felt that Artemis was fine so he didn't worry much about her.
He focused on the Azure feisty Ape martial technique and after memorizing and practicing the first three sequences to a certain extent Jason noticed that the instructor began to use different compatible weapons with the technique.
There had only been a small modification from the normal techniques but unpleasantly it was connected to a different Playlist of videos which would cost credits.
But Jason was delighted as he was scared to face wild beasts armed with razor-sharp claws and teeth only with bare fists and the fee credits he had to pay was nothing compared to the importance Jason gave to his own life.
クリエイターの想い
HideousGrain
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