4 Test Pt. 1

The next morning, John groaned as the alarm in his room went off. Jerking awake, the 11th volume of the Encyclopedia of Monster's and Beast's falling to the floor from it's spot on his chest. Glaring blearily at the clock, he realized that he'd fallen asleep while reading yet again.

"Great." John grumbled to himself as he picked up the book and put it up before making his way to get the cleaned up. While he had a room to himself, he had to share the bathroom with 9 other rooms. Thankfully, everyone else was still sleeping as he'd set the alarm for 5 in the morning as usual.

Changed, John went back to the room and cleaned it up. Ever since he'd been stuck Gallandwell Forest when he was 9 he'd developed several phobias and weird habits. One of the most noticeable, other than his hatred of bunnies, was that his room suddenly became the cleanest in the house almost over night. The shrinks said it was due to his need to control everything he could and having a clean room with everything in it's place made him feel safer. In reality, John just found it easier to meditate in a room that didn't stink of smelly socks and didn't have random toy's sticking into his ass every time he sat down.

Anyway, after getting cleaned up and straightening out his room, John settled down to meditate after setting an alarm to make sure he didn't miss the test. Even though he didn't have a cultivation method, he still meditated every day as soul strength is one of the most important factors when signing a soul contract.

A few hours later, he was downstairs hiding in a corner of the packed room as he listened to people talking and waited for the test to begin. To his right, a pompous looking guy was bragging to his sycophant's, "My sister is in the Tamer's Club, so I'll get in easy!"

"Boss!" One of them said, gazing at him in a manner that made John's skin crawl. No man should look at another man that way... "I heard they almost never take freshmen, how are we supposed to get in?"

The pompous one snorted in disgust, "Of course you won't get in, only those with connections can get in!"

*SNORT* A girl sitting on the floor playing Tamer Sim 101 nearly coughed up her water as she took a drink and looked up from her game to glare at the idiot bragging about getting in. "I bet he doesn't pass the first test!"

Nodding in agreement, John slid down the wall while pulling out his own phone and saying, "Agreed."

Glancing over at John's character as he wandered around the prairie the girl couldn't help saying. "Why are you ignoring all the single horned rabbits? Look that one has a tri-colored horn, it might be able to evolve."

"I'll never tame a rabbit of any kind!" John said vehemently as he piloted his character to a rocky area trying to find a snake or salamander, "They are the evil!"

"What?!?" The girl asked in confusion, "Rabbits are almost always a tamer's first monster."

"So? That doesn't mean it's a requirement to tame one."

The girl shrugged as she returned her attention to her own screen. Since she'd gone the traditional route she was already several levels further along than John, but he didn't care. Most people become Tamer's to get wealthy and gain strength, John's objective was different, he wanted companions.

About half an hour later, John had finally found a baby cobra. It was tiny, not even a foot long and it's hood barely distinguishable. Zooming the screen in, he noticed that there were tiny nubs on the cobra's back. Hissing in surprise he said, "Baby Flying Cobra?!?!"

The girl sitting next to him nearly dropped her phone in shock at his words, turning to look at his screen in surprise. "Lucky bastard!"

Before I could try to tame the cobra, the squeaky voice of Donovan Parker shouted over the crowd of over a hundred people that was milling around the area. "Attention!"

"Damn!" John cursed as the cobra on his screen bolted, hiding in the rocks. "I'll be back!" He said before saving the location on the map and shutting the program down.

"The test will start now, follow me." Parker floated past the students, heading outside as they followed along behind him. "For the test you will head into the forest with a Senior member of the Taming Club as a supervisor, there the Senior will ask you questions while you hunt for a low level monster to tame."

As he floated along, a group of over a hundred older students walked out of another building and joined us. "Pair up!" Parker's voice squeaked so high pitched that John winced as he covered his ears.

"Damn mouse." One of the older students grumbled as he walked up to John and held out his hand. "I'm Sam."

"John."

They shook hands before breaking off from the group and delving into the trees. At the border of the barrier, Sam pulled out a gun-blade and grinned mischievously at the look of pure horror John had on his face as his legs shook a bit and he had to force himself to gulp.

"First time in a danger zone?" He asked.

"No," John squeaked, nearly as high pitched as Parker, "I snuck into Gallandwell Forest when I was 9, it was an... interesting experience."

"Holy shit!" Sam said, "How the hell are you still alive?"

"CCTV cameras caught me sneaking past the barrier and they sent out a search party. Took them three days to find me. Just, give me a moment."

Taking a deep breath, John closed his eyes to calm his heart then took a step past the barrier and he was in Gallandwell Forest again for the first time in over 6 years. The idea of being in the forest turned out to be much scarier than actually being inside of it. Opening his eyes he looked around as his face calmed and he realized for the first time that he was no longer that weak 9 year old. He was a cultivator now, and this was where he belonged.

"Alright, some ground rules." Sam said as he joined John on the other side of the barrier, noticing that he looked better. "The 5 kilometers around the barrier are warded so only low-level monsters can enter, however every now and then a low-level monster will evolve or level up which is why I'm here with you since the school doesn't trust you lot who haven't even begun training yet to handle yourselves. We're going to walk around within that 5 kilometer zone until you find a suitable low-level monster while I ask you questions, after you answer enough questions correctly I'll get a notice from headquarters saying that you can attempt to tame the monster. We have until it gets dark, or you mess up enough questions that I get the message that you failed. If you don't manage to tame a low-level monster, but answer all the questions correctly then you'll get the chance to come back out here tomorrow with me again."

John nodded in understanding, "According to all the accounts I've read it usually takes 3-4 days to tame a low-level monster the first time."

Sam nodded, "Yep, which is why we're gonna take our time. There's no rush school, doesn't start until next week you have until then to find a suitable monster and tame it so long as you answer the questions correctly. Now, I'm pretty familiar with this area what kind of monster are you interested in?"

"I don't care as long as it's not a rabbit." John said, noticing the peculiar look on Sam's face he continued, "My first trip here I was surrounded and attacked by rabbits, I don't like them much anymore."

Nodding in understanding, Sam looked around for a bit before saying, "Let's go north, there's a rocky slope there that reptilian monsters like to sunbathe on."

The two walked in silence for a couple of minutes, avoiding a group of nearly 20 horned rabbits as they hopped by in what looked like a battle formation. "Alright, first question." Sam said, keeping his eyes on the forest around him, "What kind of monsters did we just pass?"

"Single Horned Rabbits, 20 of them. 5 of them had dual color horns meaning they had accumulated enough mana to level up but were holding off. 19 with white fur, 1 with white fur and gold trimming meaning that it had already gone through an evolution cycle and is currently a lieutenant level monster."

"Good, explain the evolution cycle." Sam asked, keeping his eyes focused on the forest around them.

"Some monsters possess an innate ability to become stronger without increasing their level. Instead, they use the mana they gather to refine their core, increasing it's ability to hold mana without increasing it's size. Normal monster cores are a dull grey color, as a monster evolves the core slowly becomes clearer until as a boss level monster it is perfectly clear, almost see-through. Legendary monster core's turn silver, with exceedingly strong legendary monster core's turning gold.

"What's the difference between a beast and a monster?" Sam asked, as he nodded that the answer was correct.

"When breaking through to what humans call the foundational realm, the vast majority of non-sentient creatures create a monster core, to hold their energy. However, a very small percentage instead awaken ancestral memories and slowly become sentient. A monster, no matter how strong, will never gain sentience, however after reaching a certain level of power they can destroy their cultivation and start over as a beast. This is incredibly rare."

"What are the legal ramifications for tamers?" Same continued as he used his gun-blade to chop through thick undergrowth and a barrier of energy appeared around his neck killing the mosquito that was about to bite down on him.

"Beasts are considered fully sentient beings, and have been fully integrated into society. Taming one is considered to be slavery, punishable by death or worse. However, tamers can enter into contract of equals with a beast, although it is rare. Monsters who reach a certain level of strength can re-cultivate as a beast, and it is illegal to stop them from doing so. Instead, their masters must release them from their contract. Most contracts of equals come from a monster turning into a beast, and not wanting to leave their former master so they form a new contract."

"Good." Sam said as he cut through a final vine and the two of them had left the overgrown part of the forest and began walking up a steep hill. "Keep an eye out, if you see a monster you might want to tame we'll stop and observe it for a while."