A Tamer’s Adventure

Martyn took Amber out to explore the city he lived in. It was more of a date, as they laid the foundations for what they’d do in the future.

While doing so he chose the sub-skill for his “strong mind” skill, viewing the three options there was one that stood out.

[You have chosen "second nature" as your sub-skill.]

[Second nature: through practice and repetition, actions or characteristics will become more instinctive to the mind and body.]

‘This will make casting complex and demanding magic easier and more instantaneous for me.’ Martyn nodded.

“Have you decided on your future monster girls?” Amber asked pulling him out of his thoughts.

“Not really; I want us to have some time together first. I’d like to evolve you and get stronger before we consider it. At least once we reach C or D rank if we come across a decent one.”

She nodded, the corner of her lips curving slightly. “Did you have any other options before choosing me?”

Surprised by the question, he chuckled. "Well, you did have some fierce competition.”

“Oh really? And who did I best?”

“Well, a goblin, slime, and orc.” He summarised why he didn’t go with each.

“You want to be surrounded by women? Well, I’d call you perverse, but any drive is a good one. Though I’m surprised you didn’t get a slime, I assumed many would tame one for their potion-making abilities.” Amber said.

Martyn stopped by a meat vendor and bought two kebabs. He offered them to her, who ate them eagerly, her tail wagging back and forth.

“It’s not that simple, you see. While yes, many would hire or even sponsor Monster Tamers to tame slimes to make potions, you need it to evolve into an alchemy slime. This requires having the slime eat and make potions. But since they aren’t the brightest, they tend to eat everything, so it gets costly. They can also eat potions to evolve but that is more costly.”

“I see, even if you tamed one, it would be too much to evolve one into something useful.” She said as she was eyeing a vendor selling skewers.

"Yep, and don’t even get me started about slime monster girls; they are one of the rarest types and dangerous.”

Amber said nothing, savouring the skewer, but Martyn felt her probing question through their bond.

“They’re broken beyond belief; it took two guilds joined together to take one down, one that gained the abilities of various slime variants thanks to its absorbing ability; it made smile clones with mimicking abilities; and it made an army mimicking various beasts and monsters it had absorbed.”

“A one-man monster girl army,” Amber said.

“Yep, outrageously powerful.”

“So then, are we just going to live as adventurers? Conquer dungeons, complete quests, and get stronger.”

“I guess so. I like to become strong, that's not just the panther-kin inside me but that way we won’t be bothered and live good lives. Of course, if there’s anything you want to do, then let me know.”

Amber nodded. “Alright then, so what are our immediate goals? You have a meeting with Joseph, right? I’m curious about him. Who is he?”

That question made him smile.

“He’s like a mentor, more of a helper. It’s a bit of a long story, though. I’ll try to keep it short. But I still think it’ll be a lot.”

Martyn bought another skewer and two for Amber, considering how quickly she ate. They sat on a bench by the fountain as Martin began.

“My time in the academy here was rough; I got in through a scholarship because I excelled. It was a silver-ranked academy, which was still great, as gold-ranked academies were for nobles and children from rich merchant families.

I worked hard, learning magic and training to meet the requirements for various classes. In my last year, I ran into Damien, the fourth son of a Duke who transferred here. He lorded his position over others, so I avoided him. But at one point, we clashed when he wanted a girl to do something I couldn’t sit with.

I’m no hero, mind you, but I was able to stop him without it being confrontational. “Magic Hand” has become my favourite spell since then; it's simple and effective. I don’t know how, but he found out it was me and then made my last year in the academy hell.

After graduation, I gained my class. It was rare, meaning I’d probably get sponsored by a noble or some other powerful individual, but no offers came. It wasn’t long till I realised he pulled some strings. With the scholarship over, I tried to join any guild that’d accept me, but I didn’t expect his reach to be so large.

And then came Joseph; he was a monster tamer like me. We met as I was leaving after being rejected from the guild. That was until he learned my class and put a word in that did more than whatever Derek’s influence had. He gave me items to perform a summoning, and the rest is history.”

Martyn breathed out a sigh, leaning back on the bench. He left parts of how he had been sleeping outside the city in a tent for two months.

“I’m so sorry,” Amber said, moving to hug him.

“What for? In the end, I found you. Corny, I know, but it’s true.” He said it with warmth.

“I promise I’ll become the strongest of my kind; we’ll be so strong we’ll show that bastard his place someday.”

Martyn kissed her, standing up with a yawn. "I appreciate it and I’ll get strong for you too my valiant knight, but before we dive into the dungeon together, we’re going to train.” He said, getting up, “There are training facilities, but we’re going outside the city.”

Amber stood, following him. “I’m confident my experience is enough to get me a maximum boost in all my stats from levelling up. So I’d like to get your status to twenty or close to it. And I’ll help you train your mana. I’m an expert in that field.”

“I can’t wait.” Amber smiled.

With their adventurer badges, they left the city and centred into the forest. They went past thickets of bushes and other spaces, arriving at an open area. There were cut-up logs and rope everywhere.

There was a pond nearby, bridged by stones. There was a burned-out campfire next to it as well. Amber stopped walking, closing her eyes.

“I smell your scent everywhere.” She looked to him for answers.

“This is where I stayed for a while trying to get into a guild. I camped out here and believe me when I say. It got cold but with some mana and magic, I managed. I ran into a few goblins and a wolf pack before.” He said, scratching his chest, ‘almost died to them too.’

“Now!!” He clapped his hands, “Let’s get to work! I’ll whip you up in no time!”

First was physical exercise; the logs scattered around were used as weights, even the small boulders he collected. For Martyn, he was used to the routine.

Amber, however, had never exercised in her life; he coached her through every step—every pushup, pullup, and squat. There were gyms in the city, but Martyn preferred training out here.

“Come on, one more!”

Amber was currently squatting with a large round rock in hand. She strained her legs, pushing her up before dipping back down again.

He put her through the same training he went through that earned him his muscularity skill; so following the same exercises, she should gain a similar skill after two or three weeks of consistency.

‘I’m also curious about her story; I’ll ask about it after.’

Amber put in the effort—everything he said she took seriously—to achieve his dream but also for her pursuit of power. It was a simple drive for Kobold kind to reach the strength of their gods the dragons.

Soon after, they changed routines and started working on their hand-to-hand combat skills.

Something she asked about when they first began, so for this she was truly attentive, resulting in the level of her focused mind skill increasing. He showed her how to throw a punch, dodge, disarm someone, and even use her tail when doing so.

Their close contact had given Martyn reason to tease, punishing her when she failed with a crisp smack to the butt making her yelp, but when succeeding kissed her deeply.

Still, she pouted from the slap to the butt, which Martyn found cute.

As she followed his moments, she spoke, “How are we going to train my magic? Do you have any elemental magic?”

“No, I tested for no elemental affinity; for you, I was just going to have us use the library and have you register in the water mage tower.”

On that topic, Martyn hummed, ‘Could I have an affinity now? Considering affinity is tied to the soul, and I had absorbed a washed soul, would it still count?’

Martyn decided to make a stop at a magic shop.

The training continued for some time. Afterwards, the two sat down facing one another on the cool grassy floor, Amber's chest heaving recovering from the intense training.

Both were shirtless not wanting to get their shirts stained. Amber gazed over at Martyn, taking in his musculature and emerald eyes shining brightly. A few scars covered his firm muscles, but nothing that seemed from a deep wound.

“Hello?”

“Hm? Ah, sorry, what was that?”

“I said I’m going to use my Monster Tamer skill to link our senses through the bond while we refine our mana to help you advance.”

The two took deep breaths and began to refine their mana. While they did so, he activated his skill. A pang of surprise rang through their bond, but it soon vanished.

Martyn felt it as if he were in her place, eyes closed, breathing and refining her mana. “Focus on how I’m refining my mana. Try and imitate it and improve on it.”

She nodded, focusing on Martyn’s sense of how the mana stirred within him, and Martyn also learned from her. Since she originated from the dungeon, the mana worked on her more efficiently and focusing on that, he tried to replicate it.

In silence, they shared their senses and improved their control of mana.

[Through practice, your mana core has increased in level.]

He stopped, feeling his capacity increase by another 18 points; he felt surprised by Amber as well, as she stopped her mana from increasing. He felt it through their shared sense, but more than just mana increased.

“My Arcana increased, and my mana core skill too,” Amber said excitedly.

“Congratulations.” His voice was flat.

"Oh, is someone jealous their Arcana didn’t increase?”

“I didn’t say anything. My mana’s still larger than yours.”

“Maybe not for long.”

“Hmr… Let’s get back to it.”

And so they kept at it, refining their mana and controlling their energy. Mana was one’s control over the mystical energy; in status, it was how much they had in their body. Arcana, or ambient mana, was the name of the mystical energy, but when refined and condensed into a vessel, it's called mana.

The mana containment skill had a long line of evolutions, with each level increasing the amount of refined arcana or mana the body can contain. It is a skill everyone was born with, and through training, it can be increased.

Martyn didn’t get his arcana to increase sadly, and Amber knowingly teased him about it: “We’ll save the sparring for next time. Our first goal is to get you a strong body.”

Like clockwork, they got back to physical training, taking short breaks in between, and then back to mana control and capacity.

Amber’s strength and arcana had increased by one; she felt so proud of herself that she leapt on him, kissing him.

“Please stay like this when you get closer to twenty because it gets harder to improve attributes with training when you become superhumanly strong.”

He said, tightening his hold on her, “Do you have to ruin my mood?” Amber pouted, poking his cheek.

“Of course not,” he faked shock, only being betrayed by his tail flicking back and forth.

“Uh-huh.”

They got back into routine, as time rolled by. Soon enough, Martyn decided to call it a day early and left, putting on their shirts.

The way back to the city was peaceful and calm; caravans passed. But that was short-lived as laughter erupted from ahead.

“Fuck.” Martyn instinctively frowned.

It was Derek, followed by two other adventurers around the same age: “I can’t believe you tamed a Kobold. Oh, Damien’s going to love this. What couldn't you handle being a virgin? You fucked the first thing you saw. And such an ugly thing too.”

The two next to him snickered. Martyn’s blood only boiled.

“Martyn,” Amber held his hand, “it’s okay.”

"Oh, and she talks too, what a nice voice,” he said, walking forward. “Hang on she’s a unique one huh.”

“She’d sell for something nice.” One of his lackeys spoke up, grinning, his eyes wandering over Amber.

“Wonder how she feels.” Damien reached his hand out.

At that point, he had enough. On instinct, Martyn's hand grasped Damien's tightly, “hands off.”

The two adventurers’s hands went to their weapons, and Derek chuckled, “Heh, let go.” He acted calm, trying to pull his palm away, the grip on him increasing.

Martyn took a deep breath. Amber was silent, not sure what to do or say. “Damien’s not here to protect you; you know that, right? He doesn’t care about an ant like you. Neither do these two, there with you 'cause you have some coin.”

His grip increased. "F-fucker, let go of me!”

Martyn obliged, and he pushed Derek to the ground. The blonde glared back, holding his arm. He glared at the two adventures who looked to be around the same age as him; ‘they’re just leeching off him.’

“Move,” Martyn ordered, walking past them. Amber quickly followed behind.

“You’re dead! You bastard!” Derek barked, clutching his fractured hand, “Fuck!”

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