Lucky catch

Jason looked at a large pack of two-star scaled wolves and smiled brightly.

The pack consisted of at least 15 scaled wolves but Jason's eyes only sought a certain wolf that was larger compared to its brethren.

It stood out from the pack owing to its scales that looked tougher and had a bright shimmer but the most important fact was the color that the scaled wolf radiated.

No other wolf except the larger wolf radiated a color which told Jason that the wolf was unique. It radiated a light-grey color. Jason knew from his past experience with Artemis while she had still been in the egg, back in the beast pagoda, that the wolf's light-grey color meant its potential was at the evolved rank.

Jason had never imagined that he would come across such a treasure in a one-star wild zone.

Smiling from ear to ear, Jason took out an arrow from his quiver as it was now time to hunt a large group of scaled wolves!

He knew that his bow would only be able to shoot arrows that could slightly pierce through the scales, but this would be enough as the tip of his arrows were coated with the paralysis potion, he had purchased previously.

Jason was not a good archer as he was still learning to hold a bow properly. He was still skeptical of his aim as he had only practiced for 2 hours in the dead of the night. However, when he noticed that his eyes roughly remembered the height and the angle he had to take to hit a target 20 meters away, he grew confident.

The pack of scaled wolves hadn't noticed Jason until now and he slowly but steadily inched closer to them.

Luckily there were some bushes that served as a perfect cover to prevent him from getting detected before he even took any action. Jason slowly approached the pack of wolves that was busy feasting on some beast corpses or something similar.

As he hid behind the closest bush to the wolf pack, Jason had to decide which wolf to attack first. He made up his mind after a short moment before he pulled back the bowstring with the coated arrow already nocked and ready to fly.

*surr*

A woosh could be heard and the big wolf radiating the light-grey mana felt a sting at its shoulder before its body grew numb in a matter of seconds.

Luckily, these wolves were only two-star wild beasts and the paralysis potion was potent enough to numb the stronger wolf for a certain amount of time.

Jason didn't stop after shooting his first arrow and he shot another three arrows before the other wolves noticed that something was amiss.

The remaining 11 scaled wolves were unharmed and they stormed at Jason with bloodthirsty eyes as this unknown enemy had attacked their pack members.

They weren't sure what he had done to the other wolves, but to see them collapse on the ground one after the other was disturbing enough.

Without thinking it through, they stormed at Jason whose quiver and bow vanished into thin air.

Immediately, he retrieved his dagger, which was already coated in a yellow liquid, drops of which fell out of the scabbard.

Jason had bought the liquid-proof scabbard for just this type of scenario. He was well aware that there would be no time for him to coat his dagger during the fight and he didn't want to waste too much of his potion.

With his dagger in his hand and a two-star Artemis keeping a watch over him from the sky, Jason felt confident.

Using a small amount of mana to strengthen his lower body, he increased his speed to a certain extent.

It was marginal and without a movement technique this enhancement was extremely restricted, but it was still better than nothing.

He could maintain this for around three minutes until his mana would be used up, but these three minutes would be more than enough for him to kill 11 two-star wild beasts with the help of Artemis.

While Jason spun around the group of two-star scaled wolves, slashing at them, he inflicted small injuries with the dagger. Those were enough for the potent paralysis potion to activate and numb his opponents, Artemis finished off the paralyzed wolves before distracting the surviving wolves.

Jason was only slightly slower than the scaled wolves but he was more flexible and had it much easier to make use of his body.

Being bipedal was also advantageous and the whole battle finished rather quickly, while Artemis put the scaled wolves to their deaths as they were unable to defend themselves which surprised Jason slightly.

He didn't think that Artemis was so cruel and Jason wanted to let them live.

Artemis noticed his hesitation and transmitted an image of him getting pounded by one of these wolves once they would regain control over their body.

It was clear what she meant.

These wolves wouldn't leave Jason alive or be grateful for him letting them survive either.

Rather, it would end up the other way round and they would attack him to avenge their brethren or maybe follow their wild instincts.

Thinking about getting backstabbed by the ones he wished to leave alive, horrified Jason and he reeled in shock before he regained his focus.

Looking at the corpse of a scaled wolf lying in front of Jason enraged the larger scaled wolf. Its features contorted with wrath and rage which merely caused Jason to sigh as he took out a green syringe.

The syringe consisted of a sleeping solution and he injected it into the wolf which was still unable to move freely.

Jason still had around half of his mana reserves left and he wasn't scared about getting attacked as he was relatively close to the dome. Even if some beast were to attack him, the potent paralysis potion would prove to be slightly useful against four-star wild beasts.

Though they would still be able to move, a feeling of numbness would hinder their movements slightly, giving him crucial seconds to run away.

Waiting for the sleeping solution to kick in, Jason took care of every scaled wolf corpse, and finally the scaled wolf grew tired and fell asleep.

This sleeping solution was potent and would be effective on five-star wild beasts so Jason wasn't scared about getting attacked by the scaled wolf.

Lifting up the large wolf body wasn't easy but once its body was laid over Jason´s shoulder it was much easier for him to move.

He used some mana to reinforce himself and his steps got steadier, helping him reach the dome 30 minutes later.

Before going through the dome he had to use the enlarging miniature cage he bought.

Laying down the sleeping scaled wolf, he took out the miniature cage and pressed the red button before throwing the cage slightly in front of him.

*clatter**clatter**clatter*

After some loud rattling noises, Jason saw the miniature cage enlarge and it was satisfying to look at as the small cage transformed into a massive one.

He then inserted some wild beast cores to recharge the cage and put the scaled wolf inside.

Luckily the cage had some wheels attached below, otherwise, Jason wouldn't be able to move the cage around freely. He pushed the cage like a trolley and entered the dome with the scaled wolf inside the cage.

It was only fortunate that Jason had bought this cage as it was a necessity for beast merchants and hunters who tried their luck with catching some beasts.

Seeing these cages around one star wild zones wasn't common, and Jason attracted a lot of attention which made him feel uncomfortable.

Jason didn't mind others' opinions but he still couldn't handle several pairs of eyes staring at him.

While waiting for the special shuttle, he overheard many people talking about him.

"Isn't that a scaled wolf inside the cage? Such a waste of time and credits…"

"Finding a wild beast with potential is like searching for a needle in a haystack…"

"Does he think beasts with high potential are commonly found like candy in a candy shop???"

"Poor fellow...maybe he is desperate for money and thinks living wild beasts are worth a lot…"

"Shouldn't someone enlighten him about his misunderstanding... It's too sad.."

People were talking about him and most of them were youths while only a few middle-aged bodyguards were looking at him with conflicted thoughts.

They were also naive but not as much as the black-haired youth in front of them.

Jason tried his best to ignore the onlookers who seemed to pity him and he rejoiced when the large shuttle that looked almost like a pick-up arrived.

A metal arm lifted the cage into its loading area and Jason was finally glad to leave the horde of people on their own.

While the shuttle was taking him to the city, Jason checked through his phone if he had received a message from Greg or Malia.

Both had messaged him, and while their messages were different, the main points were the same.

While Malia´s messages were indicative of bad news, Greg asked him to come to their mansion as soon as possible while sugar-coating the reason with some nice words.

Jason forced a smile and thought: 'Have they rejected me?'

Looking back at his catch, he tried his best to think positively, 'At least I can do some business with them!'