The confrontation (1)

Gasping for breath, August pounded the treadmill at the training center, sweat pouring down his body as he completed his daily workout quest. Reflecting on yesterday's battle against the beasts, he lamented his lack of experience and the numerous mistakes he made.

'I was too inexperienced' he admitted to himself. 'I could have avoided those dangerous situations'

'I should have realized that the beasts are sensitive to mana' he mused, 'and I should have fired my gun when the little snow devil was casting its ability and I shouldn't have been so absorbed in looting without ensuring the surrounding area was safe'

He glanced at the room where Aurora was honing her abilities, and he opened her info panel.

[Name: Aurora]

Species: Blizzard Serpent

Rank: 1 (Middle)

Bloodline: B-

Elements: Ice, Mist

Abilities: Devour B1, Ice Spike F2, Mist Veil E1, Elemental Bite E1

Status: Good

Synergy Level: 18/100 ([Link])]

Bam! Bam! Aurora trained with her abilities, striking every moving target with precision. Three ice spikes floated above her, her mastery over the ice spike ability increasing by 1. Now, she could control two more ice spikes, and their power had upgraded, making them faster and deadlier.

Their synergy increased by an additional 3 percent, the rapid progression hinting at the influence of the System Beast Space. Such accelerated growth was far from typical. Most ordinary beast tamers never reached the final stages of synergy with their beasts in their lifetimes.

[Inventory]

Rank 1 (peak) Beast core x1, Rank 1 (initial) beast core x2, Shadowstrike blade, snow horned hare horn x1, snow wolf fangs x2, cold resistance charm x1 ]

He realized he had forgotten to sell his gains at the task center yesterday. 'Oh well,' he thought, 'I'll sell them today.'

[Ding! You have completed your daily quest.]

[Reward: 50 SP]

'With today's reward, I have accumulated 245 SP in total. At this rate, I can't even afford anything worthwhile from the shop. I need to find a different way to earn more SP.'

'Hm, perhaps I should purchase some alchemy recipes from the shop? But as a novice alchemist, I can't brew any high-ranking potions, and I lack a certification in alchemy.'

'Let's see if I can buy the next tier of alchemy knowledge,' August contemplated internally, wondering if he could acquire the next level of expertise in alchemy.

[Shop]

Knowledge: *Alchemy [Tier II]*

"Hm? It's grayed out. Why is that?" August asked the system, puzzled.

[It is because the host has not completely mastered the [Tier I] knowledge of alchemy.]

"Why is that? I have the complete [Tier I] knowledge of alchemy. Isn't it considered as completely mastered?"

[No, it's not. The host possesses knowledge acquired from the system but lacks the understanding of its practical applications to maximize its efficacy.]

"So, after I achieve 100% alchemy mastery, I will unlock the next tier?"

[Yes.]

'Hm, I have to use alchemy more often to reach 100% mastery,' August mused, realizing the need for more practice to unlock further knowledge.

'Let's see about the rune language' August thought. He had some basic knowledge about the rune language, which his father used to teach him when he was with them. It became a hobby for him to learn the rune language.

His father, a renowned rune explorer, was an ordinary individual without the ability to sense mana. Despite this limitation, he fearlessly ventured into dangerous ruins, leveraging his knowledge to uncover the secrets of lost civilizations. However, his fate remained shrouded in mystery following his disappearance in a secret portal, though the portal's true nature remained unconfirmed.

[ Knowledge: Rune smithing [tier I] -1000SP ]

"It's the same price as the alchemy knowledge," August thought as he touched his necklace.

The necklace, bestowed upon both him and his sister by their father, was discovered within an ancient ruin. August's necklace bore the symbol of the sun, while his sister's took the form of a crescent moon.

Although he had previously used the inspect function on it, all he received was an "unknown" response, leaving him uncertain about the necklace's purpose.

"Can I obtain information about my father's whereabouts or what happened to him?" August finally mustered the courage to ask the system, though he had been hesitant to broach the subject.

[Sorry, the system can only provide information about subjects and topics, but not about specific individuals or items.]

He knew he wouldn't receive any answer, but he had to ask for confirmation.

He had to become stronger to gain access to information about his father's last visit from the association; he needed to achieve a higher rank. Currently, he was only at the bronze level.

"Aurora, let's go," he called for Aurora as she climbed up his body and rested around his neck.

As he was leaving, he spotted a boy walking towards him. It was Leopold, accompanied by his two lackeys.

"Shit, what a bad day to encounter him here," August muttered under his breath. Out of the three association training centers and private training centers in the city, Leopold had to come to the one where August was training.

"Let's avoid him," August decided, not wanting to get into trouble.

As August attempted to sneak away, Leopold spotted him. "What is trash like you doing here?" Leopold sneered.

Ignoring the insult, August continued to walk away, trying to leave the confrontation behind.

Enraged by being ignored, Leopold shouted, "This must be why your father left you! Why would a person raise a trash son? Oh, he was trash himself!" Leopold's laughter echoed mockingly.

August halted in his tracks, his fists clenched at his sides. He despised it when someone mocked his family. They could ridicule him all they wanted, but his family was off-limits.

Clenching his fists tightly, August approached Leopold. "Take that back," he demanded, his gaze cold as he stared down Leopold.

"If I don't, what would you do? Are you going to call your mama?" Leopold taunted, his lackeys joining in the laughter.

Without hesitation, August's fist connected with Leopold's face with lightning speed, sending him crashing to the floor.

"Boss!" the lackeys called out in alarm.

"You bastard, you're dead now!" Leopold shouted, opening his beast space.

From the beast space emerged a creature—a hybrid of a cheetah's body and a skeletal head with two horns. Green gas seeped from the sockets of its skull, while a thick black mane flowed from its head to its back, giving it a terrifying appearance.

[ Ghastly Mane Cheetah ]

Rank: 1 (middle)

Bloodline: C+

Elements: Poison, Dark

Ability: Venomous Breath D1, Toxic swipe E3,

Status: average ]