章 35: Time´s up
Jason went into the dome again where he took out the five-star corpses to retrieve their incomplete cores before storing the corpses again.
After replenishing his mana, he relaxed for a short time before he entered the wild zone again.
It was only 1 pm and he still had roughly 24 hours left to improve his combat skills, experience and to earn a little pocket money, including cores for Artemis.
While supervising the battle of the youths who were at least a year younger than him, Jason noticed that his combat abilities were already at par with them, but still not good enough.
His familiarity with the dagger was already decent while his innate combat ability was definitely above average.
However, some things could only be learned through practical experience.
Thus, Jason decided to hunt larger two-star wild beast groups in order to improve his observance ability by another notch, even if it was already above average.
Fighting against ten two-star wild beasts would be more difficult than fighting a small group of four-star wild beasts or a single five-star wild beast, except for their overwhelming strength.
Jason had to be careful during his fights with either faction.
*
Hours passed and he sustained only some small cuts after being overwhelmed by numerous beasts, but he prevented receiving serious injuries by forming small layers of mana around the spots of his body that were attacked.
It was almost dark when he returned to his tent where Jason went through his daily routine including the Heaven's Hell technique.
He was quite happy as he had accomplished his designated task faster than he had expected.
After writing a short message to Greg he went into his sleeping bag and fell into a dreamless sleep.
--
Before the first ray of sunlight reached the plains, Jason was woken up by an overwhelming feeling of happiness when he felt something fluffy on his face.
Knowing that it was Artemis, he immediately opened his eyes and cuddled with her for a few minutes before he stood up.
Her injury had been completely healed which made Jason happy.
Furthermore, sensing the constant increase of mana within her blood, Jason began to ponder if he should feed her some more incomplete beast cores or not.
He had many left but he wasn't sure when he would be able to enter the wild zone again to farm more and there was a small problem.
He had only around 20,000 credits left and many beast corpses to sell but with Artemis' insatiable hunger, Jason would need to have a talk with Greg later.
Greg had informed him that school would start in around two weeks and Jason wasn't sure how long their trip to the designated city would last.
Jason knew that they had to travel for quite some time to reach the A-grade city because the route avoided dangerous magic beast zones.
The time they needed to travel from their C-grade city to Cyro would be at least 4 days with a decent vehicle.
Maybe Jason could enter the wild zone for the remaining 10 days to hunt three and four-star beasts for their cores.
Thinking about his shortage of credits or more likely lack of incomplete cores, Jason entered the soul world to complete his Heaven's Hell training. He then went into the plains' wild zone with Artemis circling above him.
Around 11 am, Jason had returned to the dome again to dismantle his tent and stored it in his quantum bracelet.
He then ordered a shuttle to take him to the Fler family mansion anticipating his meeting with Greg and his parents while trying to think of how to make a good second impression. His first impression had been rather disastrous in front of Greg's parents and he hoped to not repeat the same mistake again.
It would take around 40 minutes for him to reach his destination. Instead of worrying over Greg's family, he decided to practice the Heaven's Hell technique again as his soul energy was already replenished.
The pain after practicing the Heaven's Hell technique was still horrifying but somehow Jason had gotten used to it over the last two weeks.
As the shuttle arrived at the address Greg told him, Jason noticed that he had entered the noble district. It was directly next to the central area, where the government's headquarters, big conglomerates, the Beast Pagoda, and large shopping centers were situated.
He saw huge yards lined with many exotic plants and flowers in neat rows all around the district, causing Jason to feel astonished, as he could see mana radiating from some of these plants.
Overall one could say that the yard radiated dense mana that was even better than the mana outside the dome within the one-star wild zone.
The noble district wasn't even remotely comparable to the outer areas of the city. The Fler family's front yard had probably more than enough space to construct a few skyscrapers on it where tens of thousand tenants could comfortably reside.
He looked around at the grandeur in awe and spotted a three-story tall mansion in the center of the plot, built with white marble and many other exquisite materials.
Calculating the prices of the materials and the cost for the plot including the unknown plants, Jason's heart ached.
For normal people, it wasn't even possible to purchase a plot in C-grade cities.
One would need to have to be nobility or earn glory points, which were equivalent to humanity's achievements in order to receive the permission to purchase land or larger property.
While Jason admired the gigantic yard and the luxurious-looking mansion, the doors were opened by a young girl with long brown hair who was probably slightly older than him.
She looked at him with a slightly cold face which surprised Jason a little.
Wearing a white summer dress, she looked incredibly beautiful but Jason knew who she was.
It was Greg´s sister Malia and Jason sensed that she didn't like him as she avoided eye contact with him while trying to look unruffled by his presence.
He wasn't sure why she avoided him but she slowly approached him, gesturing that he should follow her.
She didn't even greet him with a 'hello' and Jason thought back at the time of Greg's soul-awakening when she had to step back with a terrified expression after looking into his eyes from a very close distance.
`Nevermind...maybe she is shy or something like that.` Jason didn't worry about it and he disregarded any ill-intention, as he wasn't aware of the shock he had given Malia.
Jason's senses hadn't betrayed him as Malia was truly scared to look into his eyes.
She remembered clearly how intimidated she had been to look into his deep, cold golden eyes. Malia was scared to get devoured if she dared to look into them once again.
But even so, she was too prideful to say something like that out loud, so she had to keep a calm expression in front of him.
Jason followed Malia quietly and both of them didn't exchange even a single word which caused an awkward silence around them.
However, after entering the mansion, he was way too fascinated by the opulence which could be seen right from the exquisite furniture to the plush interiors of the mansion. The magnificence all around made him temporarily forget the air of awkwardness around Malia and her fear.
They kept walking for some time until he saw a familiar youth sitting on a couch inside a huge living room.
The whole living room was probably a few times bigger than a basketball court and Jason wondered why someone needed so much space.
Seeing Jason, Greg jumped up in delight as he walked towards him with steady but brisk steps.
Jason noticed that Greg's muscles had become more toned and were more noticeable while he had also gained at least a few centimeters in height.
One could say that Greg was already a walking bodybuilder and his clothes did an abysmal job of hiding his well-built physique that made Jason feel a bit jealous as he still looked skinny compared to Greg..
The two greeted each other with a firm handshake. Jason also scanned Greg´s mana core, only to get shocked by what he saw.
Not only had his rank increased from the 2nd Adept rank to the 3rd Adept rank within a few weeks, but his mana core size had increased noticeably.
Greg was still at the lower levels of the Adept rank and not an Intermediate Adept but with the amplification from his soulbond, he would probably be at par with an average 4th Adept rank.
That would be a great achievement and Jason felt happy for Greg.
He estimated that the bull calf would have grown up to be a low evolved beast by now and shared around 5%-10% of its strength, if not more.
As such, it was only natural that Greg´s mana core would also grow.
Evolved ranked beasts were comparable to human expert ranks and 5%-10% was already comparable to at least one or more likely two adept levels.
Taking another glance at Greg´s mana core, it was more likely that Greg had received a 10%+ share which caused Jason to nod approvingly, as Greg´s soul gave him a good quote.
But it was still not comparable to his own 33% shared amount, he received from his still incomplete soul world.
Greg saw Jason´s golden eyes shining under the soft lights of the mansion.
Jason said, "Congratulations," which made Greg smile lightly.
Loosening up their handshake, Greg looked directly into Jason's eyes. Malia, who saw this, tensed up subconsciously, thinking about the worst-case scenario which didn´t happen.
Suddenly, Greg noticed a white fluffy ball on Jason's shoulder that suddenly began to move.
Opening her eyes, Artemis´ black button-like eyes gazed at Greg who stepped back in surprise.
クリエイターの想い 
HideousGrain
HideousGrain If you like my nove, add it to your library ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ
章 36: Artemis´ Pride
Calming down, Greg gave Artemis a quick once over, before his gaze returned back to Jason rather confused.
"Jason, is this your soulbond? A snowflake owl…? Isn't that a bit too weak??…" Somehow Greg felt disappointed.
He had hoped that Jason would at least find a good one-star wild beast to form a contract with. Snowflake owls were weak in their overall combat strength, while their speed was exceptionally fast.
In comparison to other one-star wild beasts, they were probably the weakest without even considering their non-existent potential.
Jason understood Greg´s concern and was about to open his mouth to clarify the situation to him, when Artemis suddenly cried, visibly outraged, as she flapped her wings violently.
How dare this small fellow antagonize her strength and beauty(?)….
"Calm down Artemis...He doesn't mean it like that." Jason tried to pacify Artemis and it took him a few minutes before she relaxed and perched herself back on his shoulder.
Greg didn't care about Artemis' outrage but Malia who was standing quietly behind noticed something, which shocked her.
She couldn't help but ask curiously "Can she understand human language? That's not possible for one-star wild beasts!! Is her brain somehow mutated or something similar?"
Walking closer to the two youths, she even momentarily forgot to be wary of Jason as curiosity took the better of her.
Her family members were well-known beast merchants and they had also caught some beasts for other nobles in order to gain their favors, large sums of credits, or rare items, and it was important to know what kind of beasts were rare.
Furthermore, it was necessary to figure out ways to detect advantageous and adverse mutations of beasts in the wilderness with the help of the smallest details.
Potential was everything in this business and catching a beast with more potential would give them more credits, increasing their bounty.
While her parents were really good at finding potential beasts, she wasn't as good as her parents.
Malia was only 16 years old and was still learning a lot about beasts.
There was more than enough time for her to catch up with her parent's knowledge and seeing Jason´s soulbond, she was bound to grow curious.
Jason was astonished and looked at Artemis asking himself if she had learned human language.
But that shouldn't be the case as there weren't enough instances where Jason had talked to someone in her presence.
Artemis looked at Jason knowingly as she transmitted through the soulbond that she could understand the rough meaning of everything said because of their connection.
Without Jason hearing the conversation, she wouldn't understand anything at all
Turning his head to Malia, he answered her question while looking into her big brown eyes.
"She can't understand human language. Through our shared connection, she can comprehend the meaning of Greg´s words."
Malia tensed up for a second when their eyes met but she noticed that his eyes weren't intimidating this time.
This caused her tension to loosen up slightly and she looked a little bit longer into Jason's eyes that looked somewhat gentle and full of warmth now.
`Beautiful`
Blushing, she turned away her head slightly and continued questioning in a shy voice.
"But she is still very intelligent and underwent an advantageous mutation, right?"
Jason was standing between Malia and Greg and the siblings looked at him with eager and hopeful eyes.
Malia was curious and the red color of her cheeks receded slowly to her normally fair skin as she looked eagerly at him while Greg also grew curious after listening to their conversation.
Looking at Greg, he began to defend Artemis with confidence, saying,
"First of all… Greg, you might be right about normal snowflake owls, but Artemis is special and not weak, okay?
Your control over mana should be precise enough to sense the strength of wild beasts and novice ranks, or am I wrong?
Shouldn't that be the first thing to do when you meet someone new?
And with that, you should have already known that Artemis is a two-star wild beast!"
Jason felt proud and at the same time like a teacher because neither Malia nor Greg had scanned Artemis' mana fluctuations. Both were sure about her being a weak one-star wild beast so they hadn't bothered to check her rank.
Both were instantly embarrassed because their parents had lectured them about the same thing before.
'Never underestimate anyone… never forget to find out who the person opposite you is and how strong he/she is...knowledge is power….never let your guard down when you are with people you don't trust 100%...and so on.'
But that was not the shocking part.
What confused them the most was Jason's last sentence. Both the siblings immediately released some of their mana in order to scan Artemis thoroughly.
"Huh? How?"
"Unbelievable"
They hadn't been so shocked to be proved wrong in their lives until now. Sensing Artemis mana fluctuations at the two-star wild beast rank caused both of them to look at Jason with their mouths wide open.
In his opinion, both looked extremely foolish, causing him to smile lightly.
Jason felt Artemis's confidence soar and her pride overwhelmed his feeling as his facial features mirrored her feeling of pride.
It was the first time for Jason to be influenced by the emotions of his soulbond.
With pride it was fine, but what if this would happen with bloodlust or lust?
Jason wasn't sure how he could handle it, though it was definitely something nice to share positive emotions.
Opening his mouth to ask something, he turned to Malia.
"Your name was Malia, right? I hope you don't mind me calling you by your name. Now, to get back to your question about her having an advantageous mutation.
It's pretty obvious that she underwent a mutation or at least that she isn't an ordinary snowflake owl, but to be honest, she was labeled as an adverse mutated snowflake owl with a high chance of being born with a disease like blindness and so on which was the reason she wasn't noticed by others."
"But as you can see she is healthy and even stronger than normal snowflake owls as her problem was fortunately rather easily solved." `Except her gluttony` Jason sighed inwardly.
Greg listened to Jason quietly, thinking about something, while Malia was deep in thoughts scanning through Artemis as if she was a memory stick.
It made Artemis feel uncomfortable and she hid behind Jason.
Malia averted her gaze when she noticed that Jason had finished his speech.
Jason had called her by her first name which she didn't notice at first.
During the mana outbreak, many cultures appeared and vanished, while some traditions were mixed with others.
And one of society's unlisted laws was to speak politely to prodigies and nobles, which included calling someone by the family name.
After she finished her deep thoughts, she only began to truly understand that a man, except her brother, and father had called her by her first name which hadn't happened since her soul awakening and she was about to get angry when their eyes met.
Her rage subsided and she couldn't even think about becoming angry and she immediately changed her thoughts back to Artemis as a thought entered her mind.
`Well...it's fine…but wait!.`
"Why did you pick an adversely mutated one-star beast? I saw your soul awakening and your chances to get another beast with your soul energy were minuscule in the short term.
You might be lucky but wasn't that too risky?"
She was way too confused about the weird but good-looking youth in front of her, causing her to ask straightforwardly.
Greg had the same thought and he also exclaimed loudly, after hearing his sister talking about that.
"Yeah!! Why did you pick an adverse labeled beast as your soulbond?? Wasn't that too naive??"
He roared letting out his pent-up frustration.
"GREG!! You should be the last person to say something like that! Haven't I already talked about that with you!! You're the most foolish in our whole family…"
The rage just burst out of Malia as she noticed her brother talking about naivety while he himself had picked a verified weaker beast as his soulbond just because Jason told him so.
Luckily, the non-elemental bull calf had a hidden and sealed bloodline of a lesser minotaur race which was a strong bipedal beast.
Malia and her parents didn't believe that Jason knew about that and only thought of this as a lucky encounter, as they scolded Greg a lot.
Greg began to pout which looked extremely ugly and Jason thought that he would begin to sob any moment when Greg suddenly shouted,
"How can you say that?!?!? TAURUS IS MUCH BETTER THAN YOUR FIRST SOULBOND...YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS!!!!"
"GREG!!!" Malia turned red from rage.
Jason thought it was funny to see the siblings clashing with each other and it took them quite a while before they calmed down...
Malia and Greg had completely forgotten about Jason´s existence.
When they saw him smiling happily at them they felt embarrassed.
It had been a long time since he had been happy while being with others except for Artemis.
Thinking about the last time he had been with others, Jason noticed that he never had a friend except his mother.
`Are they my friends?`
Scratching his head awkwardly, Jason was also slightly embarrassed.
However, it would be more embarrassing if he asked them if they were his friends now so he avoided this question.
Jason didn't know what to say right now and the whole situation was awkward.
Clearing his throat, he asked "Where are your parents? I have to show them that I've accomplished my task."
He tried to change the topic with this and technically it was the only reason for him to come to the mansion.
Somehow they had been talking about random topics since the beginning, forgetting to talk about the main subject.
Malia regained her senses before Greg and sat up with a straight back before saying in all seriousness.
"They´re outside, catching a certain magical beast, but I'm not sure when they´ll be back.
My mom gave me the responsibility to look after your task.
I am only supposed to report your rank including soulbond and so on to them."
Before Jason could say anything else, Malia looked into his eyes, without being scared anymore, and asked seriously.
"Can you show me the five five-star corpses or the awakened beast corpse, please? My mom asked me to record everything to review it for herself."
クリエイターの想い
HideousGrain
HideousGrain
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