Chapter 4 Civilization

Bishop POV

The boy and I separated almost immediately; he stayed in the camp while I was shoved into a box with no windows, the only opening was the air holes in the top of it. this box was the same as the one I came to the island in however this one was double in size allowing Shade to join me. As it would be a long trip, I decided to send Shade directly into the bathroom as I didn't want to get stuck in here with a moody familiar especially one that had no qualms hitting its owner.

The box was already filled with provisions and a can to do my business but I ignored both as the system gave me better conditions. The ride went on for about ten hours before finally stopping, I brought Shade back from the bathroom which made her a little upset but she calmed herself quickly seeing that we finally stopped. We hit the ground and the door opened but when we stepped outside of the box there was no sign of anyone, instead there was a bag and a note.

"Walk north, Money should help."

Looking inside of the bag I found that it was filled to the brim with gold plated sticks, these sticks were credits which this world used as currency. The bag had about three hundred credits inside of it which would put me off for a while but I still needed to reach civilization to use it, the forest that I found myself in wasn't as gloomy or dark as the one on the island. The forest that I was in was lush and had non-hostile creatures scurrying around, birds were chirping in the trees while deer of different varieties ran away from us as soon as they say us. Shade who was standing by my side looked at these foreign creatures with increased curiosity, back on the island she would be attack constantly by the surrounding creatures but now nothing dared to attack her.

Patting her head as I tried to find a way to get my baring's; the note said go north however they didn't give me a compass and the sun is blocked by the tree canopy, the trees themselves were the spitting image of the redwood forest with roots lining the ground. What made these trees different was the fact that they were purple in color, when I checked with the system, I was happy to find out that they weren't poisonous and it was just the pigment of the bark. I spent a hundred credits in the system shop to by a compass feature which appeared within my vision just like the compass in Skyrim, the compass swiveled back and forth as I turned until I reach north.

After finding the right direction I turned to Shade which was staring at a squirrel that got a little too curious, even in the trees it wasn't safe as a single vine appeared out of no where smacking it away. The squirrel lived but it was definitely injured, shaking my head at this scene I began to lecture Shade about the do's and don'ts within the city, in the end she gave her signature huff before I climbed onto her. The surroundings blurred passed as we made it through the brush, as we continued forward, I started to hear shouting and metal against metal or something similar. I pulled Shade towards the noise which we found very quickly; it was a party of three that was hunting an armored rhino that had the ability to turn into a ball and roll over their prey. The sound of metal on metal was one of the team members using a sword on the rhino's armor as a last-ditch effort to save his comrades, as the rhino started rolling at the group, I patted Shades head which gave it the go ahead.

Vines shot out from every direction restraining the rhino but in seconds those thick vines were torn apart allowing the rhino to continue to forward another foot or so. I could feel that Shade was surprised as this was the first creature that could actually resist her upgraded vines, though the vines didn't hold the rhino the poison that was attached to it almost immediately took effect. The rhino swerved barely avoiding the group, when it stopped rolling it began to wobble in a drunken state, Shade taking this chance she produced vines beneath the rhino which punctured its soft underbelly sadly though it wasn't a lethal blow.

The hide on its stomach was extremely thick even without armor so when the vines tried to pierce it, they only entered about an inch though it did flood the rhino with a lot more poison. As if on instinct the rhino rolled up into a ball but refused to move, seeing that it wasn't a threat anymore I took this opportunity to analyze it.

[Armored armadillo

Tier: 2

Gender: Male

Potential: Low

Type: Earth

Skills: Iron Stomach, Roll LV 3]

How the hell can you call that thing an armadillo especially after seeing the massive horn on its snout, if you looked close enough you could even see dried blood on it! what worried me the most was the fact that it was a tier 2 monster, were the people on the island just weak or was this creature special?

"We're saved!" (???)

Turning away from the armadillo I spotted a burly man dressed in leather armor and a sword hanging from his waist approach Shade and me. When he entered ten ft Shade immediately tensed but I patted her head then jumped off, once on the ground I approached the man myself as he would get attacked if he got any closer to Shade. As I approached, I found that on his shoulder was a brown lizard that stared at me with beady yellow eyes, what made it different than other lizards was the fact that it had webbing running down its side.

[Gliding Gecko

Tier: 1

Gender: Male

Potential: Great

Type: Wind

Skills: Glide LV 2, Danger Sense LV 1]

Behind the man was another that was the spitting image of him but with brown hair that was tied in a pony tail. Beside him was a deer with one of its horns broken off, the deer's horns weren't made of bone like the deer from early instead they were made directly out of clear jade.

[Name: Jaded spear deer

Tier: 1

Gender: Female

Type: Earth/Nature

Potential: average

Skills: Pierce LV 1, Dash LV 1, Enhanced Smell]

The last individual was a very thick man who looked to be around my age, by his side was a boar that snorted constantly but it refused to move from its position. The pig was blue in color with green eyes, what drew my attention the most was the fact that it had bone spikes lining its back, the spikes looked like the could pierce flesh easily if given the chance.

[Name: Balled Bone Boar

Gender: Male

Tier: 1

Type: Earth

Potential: Amazing

Skills: dig LV 1, puncture LV 1, Iron Stomach, Gluttony LV 5]

When I saw the last skill I could only feel pity for the owner but when I stared at the fat man who was beside the boar that pity vanished instantly. The fat man was eating a protein bar while his partner was bleeding out beside him! How could you even think of food at a time like this? shaking my head I once again turned to the approaching figure who was smirking like a fool.

"Thank you for saving us, that beast nearly got us!" (Burly Man)

"I was just passing through; anyway, mind telling me why it was so strong, I've been through these woods for a while now but it was the only creature that could be considered strong." (Me)

"A nomad huh; well that beast is the lord of these parts, you can find a lord in every direction but here he is king, the patrols leave him be because he is usually docile and never attacks trainers." (Burly Man)

"Until now that is." (Me)

"I forgot to introduce myself; my name is Frank, the one on the ground is Bill, and beside him is my useless son Rei." (Frank)

"Nice to meet you Frank, you can call me Bishop if you want." (Me)

"Nah I'll stick with lad for now, no use remembering every strangers name when I might never see them again." (Frank)

"Whatever floats your boat." (Me)

"That's an amazing timber wolf you got there, never seen one control vines before." (Frank)

"Thank you, though she's not a timber wolf." (Me)

"I would think I'd know what a timber wolf looks like, but I won' argue with my savior." (Frank)

"On another note what's going to happen to our local lord?" (Me)

"He has crossed the line this time, I'm heading back to the city to report the attack, there should be a subjugation squad put together soon enough." (Frank)

"I mean what are you going to do with the carcass, it's dead as a doornail." (Me)

"What?" (Frank)

"Look at the grass." (Me)

Frank turned around to see that the grass surrounding the armadillo turned crimson however you could see a light green mixed in which was the poison that got injected when it was pierced. It would have survived the wounds themselves if it stayed in the ball without a doubt however the amount of poison that entered its body was too much to handle even for a monster like that. Frank who was still afraid of the armadillo grabbed limb from a tree then approached the carcass before poking it, this scene lasted for more than five minutes and would have lasted long if not for the fact that Bill called for Frank to hurry up. Frank paused as he looked at the corpse in awe but also greed though both emotions quickly vanished, he threw the stick to the side before approaching me.

"I have to get my brother to a clinic; I leave the corpse to you." (Frank)

"That's generous of you." (Me)

"Not so, you owe me a drink." (Frank)

Given how everything went I would saw that it went pretty well; I mean I learned that the forest has a strict hierarchy and that Shade and I need to train more, Shade is in the tier 2 range however without the poison she would have struggled considerably against the armadillo. Turning to Shade which was silent up until now I could see the ambition within her eyes just like when we first me, in our time together I found that she wants to be the strongest creature around.

Rubbing her head to calm her down as I thought up another training plan I turned once again to the giant corpse that was still bleeding. Now that its dead the forest will be thrown into chaos until a new monster takes its place though that isn't my problem, I have no responsibility to the people around here. The only reason why I save the group of trainers was because I was curious about the creature they were fighting. I moved forward towards the corpse but when I got near it the system responded in an unexpected way.

[Creature has several beneficial properties; do you wish to consume the corpse to improve Shade?]

'How does that work exactly?'

[By forgoing the corpse entirely, you can enhance Shades defenses as well as give her the skill 'iron stomach']

'Can I have the core at least?'

[Yes, it gives no additional benefits to Shade]

'Then do it.'

As soon as I agreed to the systems request the corpse before me turned into particles that floated in the air. After the entire creature was converted into particles the entire clearing was filled with brown light, Shade who never seen anything like this before tried to smack one of the particles only to have it disappear within her paw. A chain reaction followed after the first particle disappeared, the particles condensed into one area before shooting towards Shade who immediately tried to avoid it, though no matter how fast she ran she couldn't outrun it. finally, after five minutes she ran to me, she hid behind me as if I could actually hide her enormous self, as I stared at her I could only think of chomper from 'one piece'. The cloud of particles shot towards me but when they hit me, they passed harmlessly through me and into Shade, when the last of the particles disappeared there was no change to Shades appears, when I looked at Shade's reaction, I found that she had no idea what was going on.

The change might have been unnoticeable when it came to Shade however when I saw the ground in which Shade was standing on, I could help but look surprised. She sank into the ground a good two to three inches before stopping, Shade followed my gaze to the ground and when she saw the impressions, she slowly raised one paw then placed it forward gently. When the paw touched the ground it once again sank into the soft soil, I guess the extra defenses caused Shade's weight to increase by a lot, when I get into the city, I should probably run some tests on her.

Since the show was over, I turned around to stare at the spot that the corpse used to be; in the middle of a bloody circle there was a brown crystal that was twice the size of the mandrake that I hunted on the island. I had no idea what I was going to do with this crystal but it was better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it.

[Name: Elite Earth Core]

When I picked up the core its name flash; I knew there were two evolutions possible so the title of the core didn't surprise me, though I was still curious on why I didn't see any elite type monsters on the island. The thought continued to circulate through my mind but in the end I had no answer for it, I climbed onto Shade who continued north until we finally arrived at our destination. The city boarder which was surrounded by a wall of stone, above the steel gates was a single monster which perched on a piece of wood. As soon as it saw our approach it flew into a window next to it followed by several guards appearing with wolf type monsters which were covered in red hair.

As we approached the intimidating wolves that were going to greet us shrunk back behind their owners at the sight of Shade. The soldiers which were so confident began to get antsy however one soldier stood out from the rest, it was a old man which was dressed in iron armor, by his side was another wolf however this one had grey streaks mixed into its red pelt. After getting a bit closer I finally analyzed the wolves which were still cowering, though the old one just stood planted by the old mans side refusing to cower even though it knew Shade was superior.

[Name: Blaze Wolf

Gender: Male

Tier: 2

Type: Blaze/Beast

Potential: Average

Skills: Fire Fang LV 5, Enhanced Senses LV 3, Scout LV 2]

The old blaze wolf definitely had some experience under it, most of the creatures I've seen hadn't had a skill level past four unless you count the gluttony skill the boar had. The other wolves though only had fire fang at level one as well as enhanced senses at level one, sadly though unless you could evolve a creature its life span was quite limited, as I looked at the old wolf, I knew that I might have a year or two at the most. Shade stopped in front of the wall of soldiers ready to strike at a moment's notice but I jumped off and approached before she acted, in my mind I made a mental note to train her a bit more harshly when it came to social skills.

Seeing the interaction between Shade and me the old man who was silent up until now cracked a smile before giving a heart laugh which made the guards who were on edge to jump in fright. The wolves that were cowering in the back just moved back even further trying to escape the gaze of Shade who was getting a bit impatient.

"Looks like you have your hands full with that one lad!" (Old Man)

"Oh, you have no idea, anyway I should introduce myself; my name is Bishop a traveling monster breeder, though I'm not licenses yet." (Me)

"Quite a difficult profession that one, though by the looks of your beasty you won't have a problem with that." (Old Man)

"I only contracted Shade a fortnight ago." (Me)

"Then that's even more impressive, such talent at such a young age." (Old Man)

"I have to ask is there a reason why I have such a grand welcoming party?" (Me)

"A few fellow trainers came by saying that the lord of the forest attacked their party and a traveler killed it, I thought your beast was its replacement." (Old Man)

"You don't have to worry about that, Shade is too lazy to…" (Me) *Whack*

"God Dammit Shade!" (Me)

Before I could finish my sentence an arm sized vine came out of no where hitting my in the head again knocking me to the ground. The old man gave out another hearty laugh once again while Shade was grabbing an apple from a nearby tree, as I looked at her, I saw that there was no remorse at all.

"That's it I'm cutting down on your play time!" *Whack*

"Stop doing that!" (Me)

Shade and I passed the gates while the old man laughed silently as he watched us from a distance, the guards familiars began to relax and bark at their owners as we moved further away from them. Before getting to any populated areas I immediately moved to a side alleyway and sent Shade into the training center. She would attack anyone that got close to her which was quite a problem within a bustling city; when I do bring her back to reality it will look like I summoned her, normal trainers have a connection to their familiars to begin with and they have the ability to teleport them to their side at a moments notice so there shouldn't be any problems with this set up. I made sure to get the system to feed shade as well as give her her bath time; now that my troublesome partner was out of the way I exited the alleyway and headed further into the city, it didn't take long for me to find myself surrounded by people and familiars each varying from appearances and personalities.

My objective wasn't anything special; in this world there are several professions available for monster trainers, on of which is a monster breeder. A monster breeder is a person who dedicates his or her life in the pursuit of evolving familiars, the thing is that every familiar is different and the evolutionary process is different as well. Take Shade for example; she needed meat from a higher tier creature as well as a monster core to evolve, while the head overseer needed a variety of plants to evolve his beetle, very few trainers take this route as the risk outweighs the reward but for those that succeed the benefits are quite extensive. To prove that you have the ability to become a trainer to begin with there was only one place to go and that is the Guild, this is where my life will really begin!