9 Same but Different
"Ohohoho! You're back! That was fast, it's not even mid morning yet. Ah, what's wrong?"
Alten shrugged and pointed at the Monsteropedia info panel that is full of question marks.
"Ohohoho, Rainbow Eel and Turtle Snake. Don't worry, I've raised these monsters before. I'll teach you how... but first, time for some Longjing Tea!"
Alten sat down for tea.
"Right, first thing first, you should raise the leftover Psychic Sparrow eggs and Horned Rabbits first before you start on the Rainbow Eels and the Turtle Snakes. Completed Monsteropedia information will enable you to have a higher chance of successfully raising a monster to maturity, as well as giving you more affinity with the monster you're raising. Now let's go turn that Horned Rabbit into eggs with the Eggscavator. Don't forget to bring the Psychic Sparrow eggs."
"Un! Psychic Sparrow and Horned Rabbit first, got it!"
Alten went into the farmhouse and grabbed the chest containing the Psychic Sparrow eggs and dashed towards the Eggscavator. Standing beside it is Thak, holding a large, heavy bag.
"What's that?" asked Alten, his curiosity piqued.
"You'll see. Now open the door and put the MoCap Pearl with the Horned Rabbit into the receptacle. Then close the door."
Alten did as instructed. As soon as he closed the door, a menu appeared in front of the door.
Pik!
Eggscavator v1.5
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Brought to you by Cliffordia Institute of Technomagicry
Horned Rabbit Detected! Proceed with transmutation?
[Yes] [No]
"Now watch."
Thak touched the button for Yes, and the Eggscavator started shaking for a few seconds.
*Ding!*
"Ohohoho! Open it!"
Alten opened the door and saw 6 brown colored eggs inside. He took it out and put it into the chest with the Psychic Sparrow eggs.
"Lucky! 6 eggs this time, ohohoho. Let's go!"
"Ah, wait, let me try it out with these two other monsters."
Alten quickly put in the MoCap Pearl with the Rainbow Eel into the receptacle, got 4 multicolored eggs, then did the same for the Turtle Snakes and got 3 gray eggs.
"Ohohoho, not bad, not bad at all."
"Done, let's go!"
They quickly walked towards the empty monster pen.
"Now, put the Psychic Sparrow eggs into the Air Type pen. Meanwhile, build a small burrow and line the walls with these stone and put the Horned Rabbit eggs in there. Remember to put in only 3."
"Yes sir!"
Alten quickly did as instructed. He put the 2 purple eggs into the Air Type monster pen. The he pick up a shovel and start digging a small hole that angled diagonally in a slight descent in the Earth Type pen. Then he took the bag with the stone and start lining the wall of the hole with the stone and finish by putting in 3 brown eggs at the deepest end. After finishing his task, he walked out of the pen and dusted himself while standing beside Thak.
"Ohohohoho, very well done! Soon you will be a pro at this. Now check your menu."
Alten smiled sheepishly at the compliment and replied "Hehe, thanks! Menu!"
Pik!
Happy Tree Farm AR Menu
Farm Level : 1
Exp: 485/500
Monster Pen : 1 Small Earth-Type (3/3 Horned Rabbit Eggs), 1 Small Air-Type (2/3 Psychic Sparrow Eggs)
Special Tools : Never-Ending Silo - 19,958 Feed (Can store unlimited amount of feed)
Magic Points : 1/10 (Regenerate 1 per day)
Special Skills : World Transfer - 5 MP (Teleport between world)
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Monsteropedia
Curent Monster : Psychic Sparrow, Horned Rabbit, Rainbow Eel(?), Turtle Snake(?)
"Whoa! 15 more exp to level 2 farm! So close, and yet so far... eh wait a minute, earlier I used the Eggscavator, how come I didn't get any exp from it?"
"The Eggscavator is not really part of the farm. It's actually an external tool that I bought several years ago."
"Ahh, so it's like that..."
"Meanwhile, let's go back to the farmhouse and write a letter to Chunyang and ask him to help buy the information stub for Rainbow Eel and Turtle Snake."
They walked towards the farmhouse and reached the porch, when Thak suddenly stopped.
"Ohohoho, Alten, stand back watch this. On winds of fate, Call for speedy might, Neither day nor Night, Nothing shall impede my flight, I summon thee, Mister Who!"
A small summoning circle of magic appears on the floor in front of Thak and pulsed for a few seconds, before disappearing in a flash of light. in place of the summoning circle stood a small white owl. Alten's jaw drops.
"Ohohoho! This is my contracted monster pet, Mister Who. It is a Messenger Owl." said Thak as he pick up and scratched the top of the bird head.
"Wow! You know magic Thak?!!"
"Ohohoho! No, not really. This is actually a special skill that all monster tamer has. I will teach you how to use this skill later, but first, we must send the letter to Chunyang, and this is the fastest way to do it."
They went into the house and Thak starts writing the letter. When he finished writing the letter, he rolled it up and tied it to the Messenger Owl. Thak stared into the owl's eyes for a few moment, then the owl nodded and fly out of an opened window.
"What happened just now?"
"Ohohoho! One of the Messenger Owl's skill is to establish a psychic link to transfer the image of the recipient of the intended message. Another skill it has is to sense the location of anyone it has ever been in contact with. This combination makes it perfect as a messenger or delivery runner."
"While we wait for Chunyang's reply, let's get you familiarize with the monster tamer occupation. And we will need some good ole Longjing tea for that, ohohoho!"
Thak starts preparing the tea with Alten's help. Once done they went outside to the porch to drink it leisurely.
"Now, first thing first. one does not simply contracts the first monster one sees. You need to build affinity with it first, or you will find your face gets eaten in a heart beat. There are two ways to build affinity. The first is to simply spend time with the monster, feeding and caring for it. The other is to use a special item like magical food or equipment that will make the monster happy. Different monster has different taste, so it's mostly a hit and miss."
"Hmm hmm, I see..."
"Once you have built enough affinity with the monster, there will come a time when the monster is mentally and empathically bonded to you. What that means is that the monster will seems to understand your thoughts and take action based on it, and feels the same feeling like fear or anger as you do... essentially becoming like an extension of yourself."
"Whoa! For real?! Amazing!"
"At this time, you can then create your own unique Litany of Summoning to seal the contract between you and the monster. Depending on the class and power of the monster, it may be as short as a single line, or as long as several paragraph of verses. With the contract sealed, the Litany of Summoning can summon monsters from anywhere in the world to your side."
"Ouhh... I see," said Alten, while his mind is screaming 'I am the bone of my sword, Unlimited Bladeworks, hur hur'.
"Erm, so you can summon the contracted monster anytime? Even when they're eating, sleeping, or humping other monster? Erm, especially when they're humping, will you like, accidentally summon two of them? 2 for 1? What if the monster was taking a shit, isn't it inconvenient for them? Or will the monster be able to reject or delay the summoning request until it has done it's duty?"
"Ahem", Thak cleared his throat awkwardly while scratching his chin.
"I think it's best we leave the technicalities of the summoning to another expert at a later date."
They sat and drank the tea in awkward silence for a while.
"Ahem, also, since you are bound to your contracted monster physically and mentally, any injury that they suffer will rebound back to you. The greater the injury the greater the rebound, so don't go running around contracting every monster you see."
"Ah! Got it!"
A couple of hours later the messenger owl came back with the spatial ring tied to its legs.
"Ohohohoho! He sure work fast."
Thak activated the spatial ring and a bag appeared on the table. Inside is a few parchment: A Rainbow Eel stub, a Turtle Snake stub, a couple of pink eggs, and a parchment with the picture of a Winged Pig on it.
"He's giving it for free again? he sure likes to give out free stuff..."
"Ohohoho, whats wrong?"
"Well, I don't really like it when given free stuff. The first time it happen I was given a free farm which I then had to work like a dog on it. Next I was given free money and had to work even harder than a dog to try and repay it. And the second time I was given free money, I had to live every day worried about death threats and nightmares about waking up to find certain parts of my body missing... so yeah."
"Ohohoho! Don't worry about it, I trust Chunyang. He may be a shrewd businessman, but he will never take advantage of people."
"Oh... ok."
"Anyways, take a look at these parchment."
Ding! *Monster Updated*
Ding! *Monster Updated*
Ding! *Monster Added*
Ding! *Congratulations! Farm is now Level 2*
"Whoa! Level 2? For real?! Menu!"
Pik!
Happy Tree Farm AR Menu
Farm Level : 2
Exp: 515/2000
Monster Pen : 2 Small Earth-Type (0/3 Monsters), 1 Small Earth-Type (3/3 Horned Rabbit Eggs), 1 Small Air-Type (2/3 Psychic Sparrow Eggs)
Special Tools : Never-Ending Silo - 19,958 Feed (Can store unlimited amount of feed)
Magic Points : 6/15 (Regenerate 2 per day)
Special Skills : World Transfer - 5 MP (Teleport between world)
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Monsteropedia
Curent Monster : Psychic Sparrow, Horned Rabbit, Rainbow Eel, Turtle Snake, Winged Pig
Happy Tree Farm is now level 2!
