A Tamer’s Adventure

A new day a new Martyn, he rose doing his daily exercise and agility training, and with a quick shower, he dawned plebian clothes, just a simple baggy white shirt attached to brown trousers with a belt, and boots.

He grabbed a sack filled with only his coin purse and a notebook.

The taste of his meal from yesterday lingered in his mouth. “I need to buy more bread and bacon.”

Heading down, the diner was busy as usual in the mornings. He found an empty seat as a waitress walked over to him.

“Morning Lisa, just the usual for me.” He smiled.

Lisa, a regular human blonde with brown eyes, nodded. “Sure thing, so what’s your plan for today? Young Tamer~” She said it with a grin.

“Eh, I’m heading to the library. I need to find information on a monster I’m planning to tame.”

Martyn felt some prying eyes turn to him, but he thought nothing of it; it was just plain curiosity. Since he was one of a thousand monster tamers in the city.

“Ooh, what are you thinking of taming—a giant wolf or maybe an eagle mount? Just please don’t let it be a goblin.” She said shaking in disgust.

“It’s a secret. Sorry.”

Lisa pouted and left to tend to others. Not long after, she came back with his breakfast.

With a plate of bacon, eggs, a slice of toad, and herbal tea, Martyn’s tail wagged, enjoying his meal. He was quick with it and soon left, leaving a couple of bronze coins as a tip.

The city library wasn’t overly grand, but it was large and guarded. As he walked to the brick building, he showed the guards his slip, and they let him in.

Knowledge was an accessible tool in this world; anyone could gain access to the library with a slip, either from a guild, a teacher, or a high enough person. Only information deemed too dangerous or valuable was removed from the public’s reach.

Walking in brought back memories from his time in the academy: ‘It’s only been three months since I graduated.’

Walking to the reception, he showed him his card. The man punched it and let him in.

Four floors were filled with thick books with staircases that spiralled inward to the next floor, each floor having a study area for staying visitors.

Martyn had been here before, and he knew where to go, so ascending to the second floor, he searched through the biology section, finding a book on monsters, specifically kobolds, and a book on his class.

With his titles, the information came easily to him, so he focused on learning the requirements for evolution.

‘It all depends on the Kobold. But at most, I’d need to defeat a boss monster with it and have it eat the core. That's the most general one for others that had to face certain beasts or learn certain skills.’

Evolution was simple enough; as he read further, he found a page on variants. Various races had variants, often a result of a change in environment; some variants provided benefits and others did not.

Kobold variants were easy to spot; depending on the common appearance one encountered in the wild or dungeon, variants had different pigments.

One fact that made Martyn smile was that it was easy to discern with the appraisal skill as variants would have the bloodline of whatever ancestor running through them appear as a title, making it easier to differentiate between a real variant and a false one.

‘Kobolds in the dungeon have red scales, fire dragon descent, okay... Wait a minute, fuck!’

A memory surfaced of the one time he went into the dungeon and faced kobolds. He came across a white variant once. The fight dragged on longer than he wished, but ultimately he got it in a trap and killed it.

The variant, Martyn hungrily flipped through the pages, was a Lunar Kobold, very rare and powerful as they held an affinity for space and light magic and grew stronger under the moonlight.

Martyn took a deep breath. His hair stood on end, his panther tail lashing heavy against the wooden ground of the second floor.

“Fuck me. Urh, I can’t believe this.”

It was the past; he had to let go, but he couldn’t if only he had gained his class earlier. With a bittersweet look, he read more about the variants and their abilities.

"Alright, let’s just move on to the requirements to tame a Kobold,” he whispered.

This section interested him because, like other monster races, they’d want to be beaten in an equal fight, but before, he’d have to use the bonding skill to show his intent. And the monster would choose how to respond.

Most would fight to the death, but those who took the time and prepared themselves were willing to bond if you met their requirements.

A passage of text had him in place, however: ‘Like some monster races, when female kobolds lose in a fight with a monster tamer, they present themselves to be sexually dominated by the male victor. But once the bond is formed, it is not a requirement, but if they wish for it, then it’s up to the tamer to respond.’

Martyn then went to read on skills tamed Kobolds developed and felt pleased that a variety of options were available to him. Pleased, he noted down the variants in his notebook and possible skills and went to leave the library.

Returning to the inn, he put on his reinforced gear and his sword, an iron scimitar. In his sack were two potions and antidotes, rations, and a light stone.

"Right, it needs to be an even fight,” he said, looking at the sword. ‘Most of them use spears or stone weapons; I guess I should downgrade.’

Before heading to the dungeon, he stopped at the blacksmith. Walking in, an orc man’s back greeted him. “Welcome to “Sharp Minds.” How can I help you today?” he said, turning around.

“Oh, I’ve seen you here before, Monster Tamer, right with the rare skill? I guess Joseph’s not with you,” he said, sorting his display of swords.

“Yep, that’s me; I don’t know where he is, though I’m assuming he's on a quest. I was hoping to rent a stone scimitar, if you have one.’

“Hm, I might, but what for? You have that on your waist?” He pointed to his sword.

“Taming a Kobold requires an even fight, and they use stone weapons.”

“Ah, so you’ve finally decided on your first bond. Good choice... You're aiming to evolve her into a monster girl, aren’t you?” The orc said he was moving to the back.

Martyn gave a surprised look as the orc continued rummaging.

"Oh, relax; I’ve seen it before since you can’t tame monster girls the natural way and have some morals about owning a sex slave. Plus, you're a beast-kin; I’m guessing you can’t keep yourself together on the count of whatever mental skill you're trying to develop.”

“It does make me curious, though some just stop after learning the skill, so for most, it is one year, but how long have you been holding out for?” He returned, raising a brow, and placed the stone scimitar on the counter.

Martyn proudly puffed his chest. “Almost three years now; the skill’s at level 4.”

“Damn, three years... I’m impressed. Here, this isn’t worth renting, so just take it. But be careful when entering the dungeon; remember, it’s alive and likes to challenge folks for what they’re after. So you better be ready when it does.” He said.

Martyn took his words to heart, bidding the man farewell. The orc chuckled while watching him leave.

“I feel sorry for the poor thing; wow, three years of no pleasurable release dam that’s rough.”

The dungeon was located outside the city, only an hour’s walk away, for good reason too, as to close with the chance of a dungeon break, it’d be disastrous.

Along the way, he passed caravans, vendors, and other adventurers like himself. Only sharing nods and a few pleasantries.

The dungeon looked like a tower, which stood ten metres tall, but it was only for appearance; the dungeon itself was underground. No one knew why the tower existed, but no one questioned it.

After passing the guards, he walked into the empty room. The only source of attention was a large blue crystal that pulsed eerily. Of course, there was an entrance that led you down the floors, but for instant transport, the crystal was made by pressing his palm and injecting mana, and with his intent, he vanished from space.

[You have entered the Burrowing Deep Dungeon: Floor 5/16]

Landing with a hard thud, Martyn opened his eyes. The fifth floor was as far as he could currently go; this and the sixth were for E-ranked adventures like himself.

He found himself in a luminous cavern, the theme of this dungeon. To sum up, this was an A-ranked dungeon with sixteen floors, the rank being the limit of the strongest being in the dungeon, the boss.

For this dungeon, every three floors were for specific adventurer ranks (1-3(F) 4-6(E) 7-9(D) 10-12(C) 13-15(B) 16-(A)), and to enter the next floor, you had to beat the mini-boss of the current floor to be able to descend to the next.

Leaving was simple; you could go up the natural way by climbing up the floors or using an escape crystal, which Martyn had.

‘F-ranked floors have Kobolds, but they’d be too weak; although here I have more to worry about besides Kobolds, it’ll be better to have a strong one by my side.’

His hair stood on end, and Martyn rolled to the side as spouts of acid struck the floor, sizzling. He looked in that direction, seeing the monster. A quick appraisal gave him all he needed.

[Male Rock Lizard Level 2]

He didn’t care to look at its attributes or skills; he brandished his sword as the monster hissed and spat another ball of acid. Martyn raised his hand, a blue mist terminating, forming a barrier.

He charged at the monster as it ran on the walls; more mana left him, condensing into spheres beside him, and he flew off towards the lizard.

It hissed once more and leapt off the wall, the mana balls exploding where they were. Its hull expanded as it spewed a vast wall of acid.

Martyn drew his blade back as it shimmered with light. He swung up, slicing through the acid wall. A trickle landed on his shirt, but he kicked off a blue mist trailing from his feet.

He met the monster in mid-air as it curled, hardening its rocky exterior. Taking a sharp breath, his mana condensed by his palm twisting at a rapid pace, he thrust it forward, unleashing his mana arrow point blank.

The rock lizard crashed into the ground, crying in pain as the arrow drilled through its shell, killing it.

[+8 Exp]

Landing softly, he looked at the corpse; it turned to smoke, revealing nothing besides its blood. ‘Can’t stand still for too long.’

He walked down a tunnel, a sword on his shoulder alert. Immediately, he turned, a thick coating of mana covering his scimitar as he swung at the wall.

It left a crack and a dying hiss as another rock lizard fell. Earning him four experience points. Martyn continued, soon entering another small space.

Limunous and with a pool of water by the side but making him guarded was the group of Kobolds standing with stone spears drawn.

[Male Kobold level 3] [Male Kobold level 1] [Male Kobold level 1]

Damn shame they had to die, but the fight was that simple; immediately, the leader shouted as one in the back drew its arrow and fired.

Martyn was agile enough to dodge while charging at him. He launched mana arrows at them, forcing them to separate. The leader, holding a stone sword, charged at him, swinging.

He parried his blow, delivering a kick to its stomach, as another with a spear came behind, thrusting at Martyn's face. He dodged by bending backwards into a flip as another arrow flew by.

The leader recovered, and they squared off, ‘Archer first.’ Martyn fired mana arrows at the warriors who moved out and at the archer, who also avoided them.

Unaware of the ball of mana floating above them, he exchanged blows with the two warriors, grunting as the swordsman put more weight into his attacks.

The archer got ready to fire, and it was then that Martynr released his mental grip. The leader, sensing the danger, turned with a shout, but the mana ball over the archer descended, exploding his head.

Quickly, a force pulled the spear Kobold’s weapon away with a magic hand; it could only yelp in surprise before Martyn’s scimitar met its throat.

The leader, now having regained their senses, let out a cry: ‘A rage skill?’ Martyn thought, feeling his hair stand on end. He too met the ferocity, but with it being driven by rage and no skill, he only had to pour mana into his scimitar to match the weight of his blows.

He kept at it as the kobold grew more tired; it let out one more cry, going for a horizontal slash, but it missed its swing, having more force than necessary, as if a force pushed him from behind. And he was beheaded with a clean cut.

"Phew, that was good.” Martyn wiped the bead of sweat from his face. Gaining sixteen experience points.

Pulling up his status, he checked his mana, barely scratching two-thirds of it. ‘This is good.’

He looked at the corpses as they disappeared—no loot and the weapons weren’t impressive, though he did take the bowstring.

He continued to dive further, encountering more rock lizards than he’d like and Kobolds.

A few female Kobolds appeared, but they didn’t shine enough in his eye to be considered taming. He kept at it, fighting monsters, and in one fight with a rock lizard, he got a drop.

[Rock scale]

It was, as the title said, a finger-sized scale made of rock, best for arrows. He took it and moved on. He had also found some monster core drops too.

He had gained roughly two hundred hours of experience and had come across no unique Kobolds.

But it was just a start. He had encountered a few scrapes and cut skin acid constantly; luckily, he wasn’t stabbed. But Martyn’s body was tiring; he would’ve kept continuing, but he knew his limits and didn’t want to level up yet.

Luckily, he hadn’t encountered the boss of this dungeon and found a runner that led up, so he took it back to the top.

As he made it to the entrance, he let out a breath he didn’t know he held. It was short-lived, however.

“Martyn, you’re still alive!?” Laughter bellowed from the trio standing by the crystal.

‘Fucking hell, Damien,’ Martyn didn’t want to talk to them and briskly made his way to leave.

The leader who called to him firmly grabbed his shoulder and asked, “Where are you going, old friend?”

“Don’t call me that,” he answered, forcing himself out of his grip.

The young man with blond hair and dark eyes snickered, “Still can’t find a monster to tame? Here, can you settle a bet? You’re still a virgin, right? Derek, and I’ve got a lot of money on you,” he said to his friend. The two chuckled at his attempt at a joke.

Martyn said nothing, not antagonising, and left.

“Still think you’re hot shit?” He spoke loudly, “Ha! serves you right, you one tame wonder.”

Those were the last words Martyn heard as he left: ‘fucking asshole,’ he cursed, unpleasant memories surfacing in his mind.

‘I’m sure they’re the reason I didn’t get any sponsors—he and fucking Derek that Duke child prick.’

He tried to keep his thoughts under control and went to the guild to hand in the cores, earning himself one silver. This would be his routine: twice a week, he’d dive into the dungeon, trying to find a suitable bond, and the other days, as usual, he would do menial gathering quests that sent him outside the city.

With aid from his appraisal skill, he gathered more high-quality herbs, and his dungeon diving earned him five silvers per week. All this worked to increase his cooking, biology, and appraisal skills.

He wasn’t sure how long he’d keep going, but he agreed after a month or two that he’d change his approach because he was getting too close to levelling up.

‘I’d like to get my stats close to 20 before that happens.’

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