Special Event

Reality snapped back into focus and John rushed to his new monster pulling out healing potions and antidotes. "Sorry about that big guy." John said as he ordered the croc to open it's mouth. "I know it'll take you a long time to forgive me but I promise that this will be a partnership that'll benefit us both." John poured three antidotes into the croc's mouth before waiting a minute and pouring one of the healing potions in.

"Snakey, come over here." John ordered, and laughed as Snakey gingerly approached the Ground Crocodile hissing a tentative greeting. It was obvious that Snakey had realized just how strong the Ground Crocodile is and was slightly afraid of it.

"Don't be worried." John said as he picked Snakey up and placed her around his neck. "Trust me, in future you'll be at least as strong as him."

Hearing that, the Ground Crocodile huffed in disbelief. Smiling, John patted him on the head while marveling at how much like a rock the croc felt in his mind. "Don't worry, we'll all be incredibly strong."

The healing potion started to take effect then, the wounds on the croc's back slowly closing as it coughed up purple and black blood that corroded the floor out from under him.

While all this was going on, John had returned to the spider and carefully cracked open its skull to dig out it's monster core. To his surprise it was a Rank 7 Poison attributed core. After examining it for a moment he noticed how Snakey was eyeing the core with greed. "You want?" John asked, and laughed as he got back an emphatic yes from Snakey.

The better a Tamer's rapport with his monsters the easier it is for the two to understand each other. John had gotten lucky and captured Snakey not long after her birth. Combined with treating her extremely well, by this point she saw John as family and so their rapport was incredibly high. To reach this level with the Ground Crocodile would take a lot of work, but John knew that it would be worth the hassle.

John tossed the core at an angle and smiled as Snakey swallowed it whole before falling onto his shoulders limply.

"Congratulations on surviving for 2 hours!" Mr. Parker's voice echoed through the Dragon's Nest painfully.

"OUCH!" John yelled as he covered his ears and wished someone other than Mr. Parker could talk. Amplifying his high-pitched squeak to such levels was worse than nails on a chalkboard. His new Ground Crocodile used it's ability and dove below ground. Through their bond, John could feel his relief as his hears sank below the ground and decided to begin the process of building up a rapport. He sent through his own feelings of jealousy and continued agony as he was forced to listen to Mr. Parker's speech. The smug feeling that the croc returned made John smile in triumph. It was just a matter of time before it forgot all about John shooting it's soul.

"The Special Event starts now!" Mr. Parker's voice continued even as John was going through all of those thoughts. "The reason the Principal created the Dragon's Nest and kept the dragon alive was to force it to copulate with several monsters in the forest. Your task will be to find and gather as many dragon eggs as possible. You have 4 hours to gather eggs, after which everyone remaining will be teleported out. Credits will be awarded for each Dragon Egg you find and the top 3 performers will receive a special prize!"

Mr. Parker's voice continued to echo for a moment even after he finished talking and John winced as he checked his ears for any blood. "Luckily I didn't rupture an eardrum." He muttered as he sent an image of dragon eggs to the Ground Crocodile.

Instantly, the Ground Crocodile sent back a fuzzy image of a massive hole reaching deep into the ground. On the edges of the hole thousands upon thousands of eggs rested, waiting for the right conditions to be born. Looking at them closely, John saw that these eggs were the result of the dragon mating with every imaginable species of monster in the forest. It was no wonder that the school wanted these, John wanted some of them for himself!

"Do you know how to get some?" John asked.

The Ground Crocodile nodded as it surfaced from the ground, sending John a feeling of gluttony. Apparently, the Ground Crocodile had been sneaking in and eating the eggs of the Dragon.

"I need as many of them as I can get." John sent back, "I'll buy you a Rank 7 Metal Core if you help me win the trial." John said, remembering the Metal Rhino that the group had killed on the trip to the Dragon's Nest. John could've just ordered the croc to fetch as many eggs as possible but one of the most powerful tricks to gaining rapport was to treat your monsters like equals. Also, while Ground Crocodiles are mainly earth element monsters John had read that it was possible for them to undergo a mutation and gain the metal element under the proper conditions.

Sending it's agreement to John, the croc sank deep enough below the ground that it didn't cause it to shake as he moved. After the Man-eating Spider's death, the mana reinforcing the web disappeared and John was able to cut it away with ease. With one last glance back at the room where he'd come closer than death than he thought possible, John started to run down another corridor leaving it behind.

After a few minutes, John realized that he hadn't run into any monsters. The Ground Crocodile was leading him through side tunnels and uninhabited regions so he wouldn't have to fight any monsters and they could get to the dragon eggs as quickly as possible.

The tunnels slowly widened as they continued, moving towards the center of the nest. Taking a final turn half an hour later, hot air blew through the area and John saw a massive chasm at the end of the corridor ahead. The croc told John to find a place to hide and let him retrieve the eggs. Apparently, the dragon liked to patrol this area of it's nest and could appear at any time.

Looking around, John found a small tunnel just big enough for him to crawl through in the side of the tunnel. Activating Illusory Swap, he summoned his doppleganger and sent him through. It wasn't a long tunnel, only 30 feet before it widened up and turned into a room. John gasped in surprise when he saw Steven laying unconscious on the floor. His dreads had been burnt off and his clothes turned to ash. The dimensional bag had survived, but it was obvious that Steven was hanging on by a thread.

Diving into the tunnel, John crawled through it as fast as he could. Pulling out another of his precious healing potions, John was starting to worry that he hadn't packed enough of them. At this rate he was going to run out before the trial was over!

"Here you go." John said as he carefully pried open Steven's lips and poured the potion down his throat.

Looking around carefully, John ordered his croc to destroy the entrance to the tunnel, leaving only a small hole for air to get through and waited as Steven began convulsing, his burnt skin falling off his body completely leaving only muscle behind.

John stared at Steven in amazement thinking, 'That's gotta hurt!'