A Relatively Powerful Mage

Zhaire hated having his time wasted. The daily routines for training were now led by Major Harper, and he instituted a more standard military physical training routine. It was far too easy, and Zhaire told him as much.

“I know what I’m doing soldier, now get back in line,” He shouted.

“Make me,” Zhaire growled. They stared intensely at each other, neither willing to back down, despite Zhaire physically towering over the older man.

“Major Harper, Zhaire may have a point. Many of his team have conducted training that is far more rigorous. Higher-level individuals also need to push themselves to keep improving their base physique. We need to be more adaptable,” Imri said, trying to diffuse the situation.

“I didn’t fucking ask for your help. Stay out of it,” Zhaire snapped at Imri.

“I’ll take your suggestion under advisement,” The major said to Imri, showing him far more respect than he had for Zhaire, whom he ignored. “For now we will continue with the standard physical training.”

“I’m not fucking wasting my time with someone who is too stuck in their ways. It's not even fucking Earth anymore,” Zhaire shouted, walking away.

He was heated, easily shoving aside the man who tried to stop him from leaving. From the crowd he noticed Imri staring at him, and Zhaire stared back until the mage looked away. That was another thing he was sick of, always being in that man's shadow. No one would tell him what to do, he had earned that right. He would get stronger and surpass him.

Part of Zhaire’s frustration was at his stagnation, having not gained a single level in the last two weeks since the end of the Defend Celestia quest. He had managed to get to level 20 but that was it. He knew he wasn’t the only one thinking this way, the Costa twins were just as impatient. They wanted to rescue groups of people from what remained of Kansas City, hopefully saving enough people to make a difference. The only problem was that it had taken over a month of constant travel for them to reach Celestia, and Zhaire didn’t have a month to waste hiking across sparsely populated plains each way. Fortunately, he had a plan for that.

Throughout the next week, he recruited a unit of twelve, led by himself. People who weren’t content playing pre-integration soldiers, people who wanted to do more. There were three mages, the Costa twins and a newcomer by the name of Una. Una had been one of the notable people who had been liberated from the Chixel, and unlike most of the captives, she had a respectable level given her circumstances at level 7. This was because she had a Shaman class that gave her the ability to heal her fellow captives. The rest were some higher-level soldiers who had fought during the Chixel invasion, with several of them reaching the double digits. The one thing all twelve of them shared was a lack of profession, and Zhaire’s plan would remedy that.

The unit assembled at the edge of Celestia, large packs of supplies for a week-long hunting excursion on each of their backs. Zhaire smiled, pleased that none of them had backed out. In addition, there were almost as many support staff. They had several people designated as porters to return to Celestia with any monster parts they could harvest in the field. On top of that, an enterprising woman named Mariam was intrigued by Zhaire’s plan and had requested to accompany them while not officially joining his unit. As a group, they descended the mountain and onto the plains.

This hunting trip went far better than it had last time. In the weeks since then, they had learned a great deal about the roaming Starseekers and prowling Umbral Tigers, thanks to Emelia's bond with her Starseeker, Orion. Through the duo, they learned the migration patterns of the Starseekers as they went from manastorm to manastorm, eating the seagrass that had just received an influx of mana. The Umbral Tigers were usually following the Starseekers, so if they found a herd at least one Umbral Tiger was likely nearby.

They coordinated with the lookouts on the edge of the plateau, moving towards a storm the moment it was spotted. They arrived and waited, hoping their trap would be successful. It took several tries, but eventually, they managed to intercept a herd of Starseekers. According to Emelia, Orion wasn’t an aberration, and many Starseekers had a docile temperament. They approached openly, palms outstretched with weapons sheathed. They held out clumps of the seagrass, infused with their own mana to bribe the Starseekers. The hybrid rhino-horse creatures regarded them warily but didn’t bolt. Several people within the squad were successfully able to bond, gaining the Beast Tamer profession.

Things were going well until Brad attempted to approach a particularly ornery Starseeker that tried to impale him. He managed to dodge out of the worst of it, but the horn still inflicted a massive gash on his shoulder. Luckily he avoided being trampled, which probably would have crushed every bone in his body. However, the beast’s rampage ended there. It pulled up, confused as its mind was assaulted. Antonio didn’t have the power to fully dominate a high-level creature that undoubtedly had powerful magic defenses, but he could stun it effectively. Zhaire was upon it a moment later, moving with near supernatural speed with his combination of strength and agility. He brought the glaive down in a powerful blow, cleaving through the space between bone plates on its neck. The glaive bit in and tore through arteries, spraying bluish-tinged blood everywhere. Unfortunately, the blow hadn’t been powerful enough to completely decapitate it, though it was inevitable that the blow was fatal. The beast snapped out of its stupor and flailed around, kicking its hooves and swinging its head in an attempt to impale one of them before all its life force was drained. After a few close calls, the beast started to fade, the blood loss too substantial for a prolonged struggle.

With the fight over, Zhaire checked on Brad. The wound was bad, but not fatal. Una did her best to heal the injury, though she didn’t have as much effective healing capability as Emelia. Still, she did a good enough job and gained a level for the effort. The rest of the injury would heal on its own thanks to one of Caroline's healing potions, though they gave him one of the longer-lasting but weaker potions since he was in no immediate peril.

Of the three people who had managed to form bonds, two remained. The third bond had broken when they had slain the Starseeker. Fortunately, the one who had formed the bond still kept his skills and levels, though he said he felt fatigue and a sense of loss from losing his bonded companion. Zhaire was certain that the negative side effects of losing a bonded companion would be far worse if a longtime companion was killed. Still, he would worry about that when it came up.

Zhaire had the two who bonded with Starseekers send them out of sight. He wasn’t sure how they would react to their kin being tamed or butchered, but he imagined it wouldn’t be positive. While it was regrettable to slay such a majestic creature, this was an important secondary objective. Caroline had speculated that she could make another powerful elixir from a piece of the horn, along with various other parts of the horse-like creature. The bone shaper also wanted an intact horn to create a spear. Zhaire was more interested in the elixirs, wanting to secure three of them, one for each of his mages. Antonio and Veronica could easily handle the heritage rank up now, being level 15 and 16 respectively. The rest of the unit would take elixirs from either the Umbral Tiger or the Drake, depending on their preference, though none had done so, yet.

They repeated this process several more times, taking more than the week he had allotted, though they still had plenty of supplies thanks to the killed Starseeker. They managed to bond with between one and three Seekers at each encounter.

Mariam, who had accompanied them, was also interested in taming Starseekers, albeit at a much larger scale. She was effectively looking to open a stable and begin breeding and training the majestic beasts for widespread use. She had gained the Hostler profession, which was similar to the Beast Tamer, albeit geared to be more subtle but able to affect a much larger population. In exchange for Zhaire helping her get established, she had promised to provide him with another tamed Starseeker at a later date.

On the third encounter, Zhaire finally bonded with one of the most massive Starseekers he had seen. He also slew one other Starseeker who had attacked his team member. Unfortunately, this soldier hadn’t been as lucky as Brad, getting impaled through the gut and trampled. The man, Corey was his name, was dead the moment the creature stepped on him, crushing his body to a pulp in an instant. Zhaire had felt no sense of remorse when he killed that particular Starseeker.

Zhaire Reeves has gained the profession Beast Tamer (1F)

New Achievement Earned

Powerful Taming 3: Tame a beast with a greater level than your own, 1 rank/level difference.

.1% to all primary stats/rank.

Zhaire Reeves has reached level 21 in Frenzied Berserker (2F)

Zhaire Reeves has reached level 21 in Human (1E)

Zhaire Reeves has reached level 2 in Beast Tamer (1F)

Primary Stats

Strength 166 (+1)

Agility 139 (+1)

Constitution 150 (+2)

Intelligence 93 (+1)

Willpower 124 (+1)

Charisma 103 (+1)

Secondary Stats

HP 305 (+10)

FP 236 (+7)

MP 119 (+2)

Attack Efficiency 309 (+5)

While there was some discussion about taming extra Starseekers as beasts of burden, they all had an instinctive understanding of what their new abilities could do. While it was possible to bond with more than one, it became exponentially more difficult with each bonded companion. Many of them had struggled to bond with their first, so a second was out of the question at this point.

Unfortunately, Corey wasn’t the only casualty. Another man, Ethan, was killed when an Umbral Tiger ambushed him, having stalked them since they had disturbed its intended prey. Veronica had gotten revenge, caving the umbral beast's head in with an excessive amount of force, popping the entire head of it like a pimple. She had drained her entire mana in the spell, and despite the beast obviously being dead she started stabbing at the creature with her knife, screaming all the while. Zhaire eventually had to drag her away, kicking and screaming as tears streamed down her face.

Fortunately, that was their last mishap, and they managed to get all ten members of the squad bonded to Starseekers. As they were bonded, each Starseeker was given a name, and they continued with the naming convention Emelia had started, naming each of them after a star or constellation. Zhaire had gone for the biggest of the Starseekers he could tame and had the largest among their unit, so he named his Betelgeuse after one of the largest known stars. Brad's unfortunate companion was named Big Dipper, and Zhaire wondered which of the pair was actually more intelligent. In addition to naming their Starseeker mounts, there was also a discussion about what to call their unit. While there was a theme of space names, none seemed fitting. Something about being called the Cosmic Knights, or the Galactic Knights seemed cheesy.

“What are we really fighting for?” Zhaire asked.

“For money and women,” Brad said, instantly getting hateful glares from the unit's three women.

“To get stronger,” Eric, the unit's scout, said.

“To help people,” Una said.

“To reclaim a home for humanity,” Antonio said.

“To reclaim Earth,” Veronica added.

“Knights of Earth Reclamation,” Zhaire said with a nod. “All in favor?” Everyone nodded in assent and the name became official.