First Actual Combat

Today, Hadrian didn't plan to teach skills. He plans to put it on hold first.

After all, if he continues teaching skills thoughtlessly, it might be bad for him and there might be side effects. Not to mention, he should continue first to build the foundation of his beast so as not to damage its source.

That's why he was standing right now in front of the building of Beast Master Association's branch in Nightbourne City.

The Beast Master Association was a government that supervised the things and rules related to the beast-taming domain.

They are the ones responsible for maintaining the order related to beasts such as the restrictions on beast masters and their beasts can't attack civilians, otherwise, they will be treated as criminals.

They are also responsible for tracking and monitoring the number of beast masters. After all, it's related to the stability of the country. That's why the Beast Master Association has a certification of beast masters to ensure that no one would illegally own a beast that may or may not be used for some other shady purposes.

Likewise, they oversee the allocations of resources related to beast taming. Such as evolution materials, magical plants, beasts eggs, magical beasts and many more.

Correspondingly, they are connected to the departments across the country as long as they are related to beast-taming. One of them is the unit that Hadrian met already before, the Allied Force.

The establishment of the Beast Master Association was high-end compared to some famous skyscrapers on Earth. It's enormous and perhaps the width it seized is comparable to some small subdivision.

There was even a platinum crescent moon insignia above the gate of the Beast Master Association.

After entering the establishment, Hadrian was welcomed by a staff. The staff is a man wearing a standard black long sleeve with a white crescent moon emblem on its sleeve.

"Greetings, Sir. How can I help you?" The man asked Hadrian with a polite smile.

"I want to apply for a Beast Taming license." Hadrian spoke.

Beast Taming license is one of the way of the country to monitor beast tamers in the country. After all, if your pet beast becomes unruly and disrupt the order of the society, you will be responsible. Not only that, it is also to ensure that no one will own a beast illegally.

If you got caught summoning a beast outside and you haven't licensed it yet, it will be considered owning a beast illegally and you will be detained.

On the other hand, it's actually easy to apply for Beast Taming license. You only have to apply for Origin Stone and drop your blood on it and circulate your mana oasis on it. This way, it will be easy for the association to identify how many beasts you have, their rank and race type. Of course, if you have a mutant beast or an unusual beast, the association will only be able to identify its rank and attribute. The information regarding their skills will be unknown because those beasts of mutant category are unknown after all. The information that association only has are those beasts that have been existing for a long period of time and has already been researched.

The Origin Stone is magical. It is made up of Mana Stone soaked in a blood of Spirit-type beasts of General-Rank. After that, an artificial intelligence chip will be injected onto it.

After registering for a license, Hadrian headed to another hallway. This hallway led to another lobby.

The lobby is huge with a lot of benches and sofa placed carefully. There are also huge screens on display for people to watch. The screen showcase the duel happening. Beside the huge screen is a small screen showcasing the information of the beasts having a duel.

[ Beast: Thorn Rock Lizard

Rank: Novice Tier IV

Race Type: Uncommon

Attributes: Earth

Skills: Rock Burst (Intermediate) Earth Spikes (Intermediate) Earth Shield (Intermediate) ]

[ Beast: Flame Badger

Rank: Novice Tier IV

Race Type: Exotic

Attributes: Flame

Skills: Fireworks (Intermediate) Flame Claw (Intermediate) Blazing Body (Advance) ]

At the huge screen, the somewhat large Thorn Rock Lizard hit the land and huge earth spikes sprout hit the Flame Badger. The Flame Badger are somewhat slow to dodge because of injuries and the strain of using advance skills, it fell. The outcome has been decided.

Murmurs spread among the people watching inside the lobby.

"As expected, the Thorn Rock Lizard won."

"It can't be helped, it's proficiency of using Rock Burst is high not to mention its physical strength is already high enough."

"Yeah, although the Flame Badger can increase its physical capabilities through Blazing Body, it can't be compared to Thorn Rock Lizard that has dragon blood and it also has similar skills, the Rock Burst..."

Hadrian knew these things, after all, he's already seen a lot of beasts duel at television and online. There are a lot of factors that determine the chances of winning in a duel between two beasts. Physical strength, mana volume, skills set and skill proficiency. In this case, although Thorn Rock Lizard is just an uncommon beast, its physical strength and skill proficiency exceed the other party.

Paying no heed to this, Hadrian queue at the line. Although the lobby seems lively, there are only few people lining up to duel. Most people are only here to watch the fun.

After registering at the queue line and submitting his details, Hadrian waits for his turn at a bench.

Two duels occured again. Hadrian learned a lot about those duels. Watching it live than replay is more fulfilling. Although it seems long, the two duels only took for about fifteen minutes and it's Hadrian's turn.

And before he entered the door that leads to the arena, he saw the screen light up that showcase the next duel.

Mirage Owl vs. Wind Breaker Leopard

[ Beast: Mirage Owl

Rank: Novice Tier V

Race Type: Exotic

Attributes: Light

Skills: Fleeting Phantoms (Intermediate) Flickering (Intermediate) Piercing Feathers (Intermediate) Moonlight Sheen (Intermediate) ]

[ Beast: Wind Breaker Leopard

Rank: Novice Tier V

Race Type: Exptic

Attributes: Wind

Skills: Wind Blades (Intermediate) Wind Spiral (Intermediate) Wind Breaking Sword Array (Advance) ]

As Hadrian entered the arena, murmurs spread again in crowd inside the lobby.

"Who do you think will win?"

"The Wind Breaker Leopard, althought both are exotic-type beasts, the Mirage Owl doesn't have advance skills."

"Yeah, not to mention, flying beasts are restrained by wind element so the Mirage Owl doesn't have much advantage here."

Upon entering the arena, Hadrian is welcomed by a light that cast long shadows across the Beast Taming Association's newbie arena.

He stood at the side. With a thought, transparent ripple occured beside him and a magnificent owl flew out of it. Its feathers of bronze and white shimmered with an otherworldly iridescence, catching the sunlight in a kaleidoscope of colors.

Deimos, unlike most owls, held its head high, its large, intelligent eyes surveying the arena with an almost regal composure.

Across the arena stood Eirik, a stocky youth with a confident smirk. Coiled around his legs, a sleek Wind Breaker Leopard vibrated with anticipation. Its fur shimmered a pale blue, crackling faintly with the subtle currents of wind magic it constantly generated.

The Wind Breaker Leopard, an exotic-type and highly sought-after beast, was a clear favorite amongst the small audience gathered at the lobby to witness the duel. Especially the teenagers.

The referee, a woman with a bearing as imposing as the braid that coiled around her arm like a muscular serpent, raised her hand. "Begin!"

Eirik wasted no time. With a flick of his wrist, he activated his wind-strengthening talent. A visible surge of energy flowed from him into the Wind Breaker Leopard, who let out a guttural roar. Its fur bristled, and the wind whipping around it intensified into a miniature cyclone.

"Wind Spiral!" Eirik commanded, and the leopard spun with incredible speed, forming a swirling vortex of wind around itself. Dust swirled across the arena floor, momentarily obscuring Deimos from view. Eirik intended to wear down his opponent with a relentless assault. "Continuous Wind Blades."

Hadrian remained calm. He knows what the person opposite is thinking and if he were in the same position too, he would think the same. After all, a Mirage Owl is actually more suitable in sneak attacks in narrow terrains because of its set of skills. Unlike the Wind Breaker Leopard who is a wind element. As long as there's enough space that it can move in, it can exert a huge amount of strength with its abilities. Although it would also seem like that Mirage Owl has enough advantage as a flying beast, it is still somewhat restrained by the other at the opposite side because of the Wind element.

However, Hadrian still has advantages that the others do not know. It's the diverse skill set that Deimos has. Not only that, because of continuous use of Skills Archive, the Mirage Owl's skills has reached another realm of proficiency.

In the midst of swirling winds, only a few noticed that Deimos launched itself into the air, a white blur of iridescent feathers. The intermediate skill—Flickering.

Just as the wind vortex dissipated, Deimos used Flicker and again appeared at another place in the air, completely avoiding the other party's skills.

Eirik cursed, his strategy momentarily thwarted. But he's still calm after all, with the use of wind blades, sooner or later the other party will be exhausted.

"Keep dodging, Deimos!" Hadrian called out, his voice steady despite the growing pressure of relentless attacks of the other party.

Deimos banked sharply, leaving a trail of shimmering afterimages as it weaved through the powerful gusts of wind blades continually unleashed by the Wind Breaker Leopard.

The crowd at lobby watched in tense silence, captivated by the elegant dance of evasion displayed by the Mirage Owl. Just when it seemed Deimos could hold off the relentless assault no longer, Hadrian saw his opening. The Wind Breaker Leopard, momentarily distracted by the flurry of illusory feathers Deimos conjured with its Feather Dance, slowed slightly.

"Now!" Hadrian spoke.

Deimos, with a burst of speed fueled by Flickering, zipped past the disoriented Wind Breaker Leopard. A flurry of feathers erupted from its wings, sharp and deadly.

Some people at the audience especially girls grimaced as several feathers pierced the leopard's flank, drawing sharp cries of pain from the Wind Breaker Leopard.

Eirik, his face contorted in irritation, roared, "Wind Breaking Sword Array!" With a surge of mana, a circle of numerous sword figures made up of wind materialized above Deimos. However, the strain of using an advanced skill so early in the novice stage acted. This is one the advantages that Hadrian knows.

On the lobby, similar discussions are occuring.

"It seems this duel will end early. The Wind Breaking Sword Array is one of the most highly-explosive skill among advance skills."

"It depends, after all, from what I can see the Mirage Owl's proficiency of using Flickering is high."

"Yeah, that's why the other party used the Wind Breaking Sword Array in the first place because the other party keeps dodging."

"Not to mention, advance skills are not so easy to use in the early stages. It's still unknown what will be the outcome."

The audience that is discussing once again focused on the duel at the screen.

On the arena, Hadrian is having an inner thoughts.

Advance skill are undoubtedly more powerful. But that's in the later growth stages of the beast. Continually using advance skills are prone to danger and strainful. And it can be seen from how the Wind Breaking Sword Array of the Wind Breaking Leopard formed.

That's why Hadrian haven't taught yet Advance Skills to Deimos. After all, using Advance Skills so early is not conducive to battle. Hadrian wants to be stable. Even now, just the continuous use of intermediate skills is enough to put a strain on Deimos. What's more if it's those advance and superb skills.

However, although the Wind Breaking Sword Array is hard to cast, the Wind Breaker Leopard at the opposite grounds still stood firmly with the skills forming. Not only that, the Wind-Strengthening talent of Eirik is enough for the Wind Breaker Leopard to form its skills and even strengthen it to an extent. That's why Hadrian can't be careless.

But still, just the late formation of the advance skills is enough for Hadrian to seized the opportunity. Not to mention, the other party is injured. "Resurgence!" he called. A soft, ethereal blue light enveloped Deimos, revitalizing its drained energy.

Seeing this, some observant people at the crowd murmured.

"Resurgence? Isn't that a spirit-attribute skill? A Mirage Owl can master it?"

On the arena, with a powerful beat of its wings, Deimos launched itself upwards, just as the Wind Breaking Sword Array slammed onto the empty ground where it stood a moment before.

From its new position high above the arena, Deimos focused its will. A single, glistening feather detached itself from its wing and shot downwards, imbued with the power of Piercing Feather. It struck the Wind Breaker Leopard true, bypassing its defenses and finding a vital spot.

The leopard let out a final, ear-splitting shriek before collapsing onto the ground weakly.

Eirik, not knowing where he went wrong, stood there dazely. He still can't comprehend why he lost.

The referee, raise the flag with her arms and declared Hadrian the winner.

Hearing this, Hadrian clenched his hands in happiness. At the same time, Deimos flew back to Hadrian and perched his arm.

"Hoot!~" Deimos hooted happily at Hadrian celebrating its victory.

Hadrian smiled at Deimos and stroked its head. Both the man and beast reveled in their victory.

Although Hadrian thinks the other party's carelessness and the unknown skills that Deimos shouldn't have played a huge role in this duel, Hadrian can't still help but be happy. After all, this is their first battle!