The Manticore

They were interrupted as a deafening roar, similar to that of a lion, shook the foliage all around them. The ground started to shake in intervals, a clear indication of something running closer.

Then, the creature emerged. It was indeed a lion; yet, it was almost as tall as the trees towering the jungle. A spiked tail similar to a scorpion swung wildly and dripped with green venom, while a pair of bat-like wings created gusts of powerful wind with each flap.

[Manticore]

[Rank: B]

[Intelligence: Medium]

[Details: The recreation of a mythical monster known to hunt humans. Some accounts detail them as having the face of a man, no wings, or even a spiked tail more similar to that of a lizard than a scorpion. It was theorized that it was a creature derived from the Sphinx considering their similar appearance.]

[Taming chance: 10% - it is able to recognize those with more strength and capable of following simple commands. However, caution is still advised.]

"Well, would you look at that, this is our first opponent? Q still loves going all out in her simulations as usual. So, would you like to try taming it, or should we kill it for points?" Henrietta asked, her right hand already turning into a mess of claws and eyes.

Her question was answered, however, with a battle cry.

"Hyaaaaah!"

A thin-looking man with golden brown hair slammed down his greatsword from above, attacking the creature's tail. A sharp sound, similar to metal colliding on metal, rang out as the manticore's tail swung to deflect the blow.

ROAR!

It let out an earth-splitting roar again, pushing both Charles and the mysterious man a few steps back. Its wings started to flap frantically, creating sharp winds that slashed some of the tree bark.

"Hey man, why are you standing there? Help me a bit!" the man said while dashing forward, aiming for the beast.

"Well, I think for now it's better to attack," Charles said, and Henrietta nodded in agreement. She dashed forward, meeting the manticore head-on, and a shockwave ran through the ground, forming cracks and displacing all the trees around them.

At the same time, the man had managed to land onto the distracted beast's back. He stabbed his greatsword into its neck, causing spurts of fresh blood to run down the creature's neck.

Henrietta laughed and said, "You look awesome, yet beyond pathetic. You hear this, Q? I suggest you-"

Her right claw was already a mess of flesh and eyes resembling a limb, but as her grin grew manic, so did the claw, with the eyes atop it starting to blink with life. Reddish veins bloomed from in between the eyes as her claw pushed the beast back.

"-actually make something stronger-"

Henrietta clenched her claws, and loud cracks could be heard from the creature's face.

"-than this waste of time!"

The manticore flapped its wings in frantic successions, trying to get away and whipping winds every which way, forcing Charles to dodge the stray attacks.

SCREECH!

The massive creature screeched in pain and anger as the man lopped off one of the creature's wing, sending it tumbling down and trampled underneath its own claws. Henrietta used the chance and transformed her left hand as well, turning it into a mess of claws before goring what was left from the creature.

Her claws went through the manticore like it was butter, and then the creature stopped moving.

[50 points has been awarded from the rank-B creature!]

[Joint effort has been detected, and the points has been split accordingly]

[You received 25 points!]

[Shop option has been unlocked!]

[Stats and Skills option has been unlocked!}

Henrietta immediately jumped back to Charles' side, and she eyed the man as he descended down from the beast's back.

"Didn't expect to see someone else this quick, who are you, and what class and weapon?" The man asked, "Here's mine just in case."

He showed the tree-like sigil on the back of his hand, and a notification appeared in front of Charles' eyes.

[Dylan Sietras]

[Class: Basic Warrior]

[Strength: 25 (D)]

[Endurance: 19 (D-)]

[Agility: 22 (D)]

Charles stayed silent for a bit, debating to himself whether he should trust this man who called himself Dylan. His stare was as if he was trying to find some kind of weakness, something that could be a dead giveaway to his intentions.

Even though Dylan was neither tall nor has an imposing physique, the way he carried himself was measured, as if he was acting for a play where he had to present the best possible version of himself. He raised his eyebrow, a silent question and a prompt for him to answer.

"It should be fine," Charles muttered to himself and raised the arm with the sigil as well, prompting a notification to appear.

[Name: Charles Thiterith]

[Class: Basic Beast Tamer]

[Strength: 15 (D-)]

[Endurance: 10 (E)]

[Agility: 10 (E)]

"Beast Tamer, huh…" Dylan looked at Henrietta, then back at him. Unbeknownst to Charles, a notification appeared in front of his eyes.

[Low-Class Scan Activated]

[Scanning…]

[Henrietta – Beast of ????]

[Details: ???]

[Stats: ???]

"Going by the class name, probably you can do something to these monsters, hm?" Dylan said, "Then, why are you keeping silent the whole time?"

"Well, you interrupted me," Charles replied, deciding to take the safe option for now. "Rather than that, did you see the notification? What was that about?"

"The points, or-"

"The unlocks, I mean."

"Ah, I see, so that was your first points," Dylan sighed. "Just try to open it."

Charles did as he was told and decided to select the [Skills and Stats] options first. Almost immediately, a sprawling diagram, branching out into different menus, appeared in front of his eyes.

[Strength: 15 (+) (-)]

[Endurance: 10 (+) (-)]

[Agility: 10 (+) (-)]

The rest were a mess of various skills with different names, each starting from a few and branching into a lot of different paths. A quick check revealed the later skills to cost upwards in a few thousand points, and thus, he decided to check the earlier skills.

A drop down menu at the right corner has the option to sort the skills, and thus, he decided to select the [Basic Skills]

Most of the sprawling tree disappeared, leaving a few options at the starting spots.

[Low-Class Scan – 10 points]

[Low-Class Charm – 10 points]

[Low Class Support - Dismantle – 25 points]

[Low-Class Offense Boost – 10 points]

[Low-Class Endurance Boost – 10 points]

[Low-Class Agility Boost – 10 points]

"Trust me, take Dismantle," Before Charles could look at the details, Henrietta suddenly spoke up.