6 Test Pt. 3

While the Tamer's Club was having a meeting to decide on possible new members, John rushed to his room ignoring the questions from Mike about the test as he locked the door behind him and opened the secret bookcase to grab the 8th volume of the Encyclopedia of Monsters and Beasts. Flipping to the proper page he read, "To tame a Fire Viper quickly and safely you need to approach it with either the meat of a higher level fire element monster, or a more evolved fire element monster core. Eating the higher level meat will increase it's chances of leveling up quickly, whereas eating the more evolved core will increase it's potential and make evolving easier. After eating, the viper will fall into a state of stasis lowering it's ability to fight off the use of a soul binding contract. Even then, it'll be a difficult contract for most novices to bind a monster with such potential unless you've trained your soul strength."

Thinking for a moment, he put the 8th volume away and pulled out the 1st volume, flipping to the page that describes monster evolution. "All monsters start out as a 10th ranked monster or minion. Every three ranks of strength is a massive upgrade in strength. 9th-7th ranked monsters are called low, medium, and high lieutenant. 6th-4rd ranked monsters are called bosses, low to high once again. 3rd ranked monsters are called legendary monsters and are incredibly strong. 2nd ranked monsters are called World Bosses, and should be avoided at all costs. 1st ranked monsters are called Gods'. They are the strongest beings on this planet, with only a few humans and beasts being able to match them. Finally, there are aberrations known as Elites that appear every now and then. They show powers far above their actual ranking. The most well known Elite is the Skyfall Phoenix, a legendary bird that can fight equally with some god ranked existences."

John frowned as he put the book away and took out his phone, checking his bank account. "The fire viper was just born and hasn't evolved yet so it's currently a minion or 10th ranked monster, I can probably get away with a low to mid tier lieutenant fire core." Checking how many credits he had, he opened up a web browser and navigated to the Hunter's Guild webpage. You could buy cores from anywhere, but John would only buy from the Hunter's Guild despite their higher prices because the quality was guaranteed. Looking at the price for a mid-tier lieutenant fire core it cost 1,200 credits compared to just 600 for a low-tier.

"Damn, I need more money."

Hearing Mike bang on his door, he sighed and answered the door.

"Why'd you blow by like that?" Mike asked

"I needed to check on something, now I need to figure out how to make a couple hundred credits in a few hours." John said, still trying to think.

"Woah, go back a moment. What are you buying?" Mike asked.

"Mid-lieutenant fire core, I need it to tame the monster I chose." John said absently as he took out his phone trying to figure out who he could talk into giving him some money.

"Does that mean you passed?"

"Kinda, I was told to meet back up in the morning to go out into the forest again."

"Damn, I knew you were something special! I heard that only 16 people got the opportunity to come back tomorrow." Mike said as he pulled out his phone and sent his dad a message. "How much do you have?"

Raising his head from his phone, John raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well I just asked my dad and he said he has several cores that meet your specifications."

"1,000 credits, hunters' guild was selling for 1,200."

Mike sent a message and nodded, "My dad will send one over just give me 800 after you check that it out."

"Really?" John asked, looking up from his phone in surprise.

"Yeah, that's what the hunter's guild pays their hunter's for that level of core, then they resell at a major mark up after giving it their stamp of approval. If the core my dad sends over isn't right you can send it back, no hard feelings."

"Thanks man, you just saved me. There was no way I wanted to beg for more money."

Mike grinned, "So, tell me everything while we wait."

At that moment, John's stomach started growling, so they decided to head to the cafeteria where he told Mike about his day in the forest, then Mike talked about trying to join the Hunter's club.

"Wait, there's a test to join the Hunter's Club too? I thought they took anyone." John asked in surprise.

"It's not as exclusive as the Tamer's Club, but they don't take many freshmen. None of the major clubs do, they don't want to waste their time teaching noobs when they're on the clock to graduate themselves." Mike said.

"So what was the test?"

"Ever heard of Hunter's Paradise?" Mike asked, and seeing John shake his head he went on, "It's a VR Game that was made by the Hunter's Guild. They spent a ton of time to capture monsters alive and scan their physical characteristics into the game perfectly. It also scans your body, so in the game you get a really good simulation of what it's like to hunt in a danger zone. The school has a dedicated server for the Hunter's Club, so they used it as the first trial. They had several hundred of us join at a time and we had to hunt 15 different kinds of beasts, collect the material, and escape without dying. The 2nd trial is tomorrow, I have to sneak through a dangerzone and kill a monster in a single hit before taking the loot and sneaking back out. If any monsters notice my presence then I fail."

John's eyes where huge by that point, "That sounds like so much fun, after I tame my viper I'm going to check that out."

Mike nodded in agreement, "You should! A lot of people in the Tamer's Club join the Hunter's Club too."

Just as they finished eating, a drone flew in and dropped a package into Mike's arms. "Let's head up and check it out." He said, and the two of them walked out of the room.

Back in John's room, they opened the box and were surprised to find 4 cores along with a message. "Use whatever you need too, can pay me back later." It was signed Mike Compton Sr.

"Holy Shit!" John said as he looked at the cores and his jaw dropped. "One of these is a high-level lieutenant core just on the verge of breaking through to boss level this has to be worth at least 4,000 credits."

Grabbing the case from John's arms, Mike looked at the cores and grimaced. "He always forgets that I'm in high school instead of being a rookie hunter. To him, these are just chump change that he had laying in the bottom of his inventory waiting to get rid of."

Pulling out his phone, he checked in with his dad and nodded. "He says its alright if you have to use them all as far as he's concerned."

"Tell him that it's much appreciated, with this I'm almost assured of taming the viper." Pulling out his phone, John sent his dad a txt.

'Hey dad, I passed the first test and now I need a contract.'

'Congrats! Don't worry about the contract I'll have some sent over right away. We're proud of you!'

"Alright, so 800 credits for now and then I'll pay off the rest when we can start hunting." John said as he transferred the 800 credits to Mike.

The two of them spent another hour going over hunting and taming strategies. Mike had never been interested in taming before, but as John told him about the chameleon he saw earlier today he started thinking. "Wait, so you're saying that a highly evolved chameleon can use it's abilities on their master so they both disappear?"

"Yep, I would've totally picked a chameleon if I found one that could evolve to become a boss. They're one of the most sought after monsters, especially for hunter's who specialize in sneaking and sniping." John said, dreaming about all the monsters he wanted to tame in the future.

"Damn, I might have to study taming some if there are monsters like that too." Mike said.

"I'm surprised your dad didn't tell you about them, he seems to be pretty successful."

Mike snorted, "My dad doesn't respect most tamer's, says that besides a few who know what they're doing they'd all die in anything but the lowest-level danger zone."