Training In The Beast Cages

"Dodge! Dodge the water cannons!"

Inside the beast cage, Lucas held a high-pressure water gun and aimed at the Gentle Dog.

The beat cage was pretty large and had a wide area. It was even larger than their house, so the Gentle Dog hopped around and tried to dodge all the water cannons ejected from the high-pressure water gun used for cleaning the cage.

By doing this, Lucas hoped that the Gentle Dog would be able to learn how to dodge strikes instead of just allowing it to land on itself. That way, when they meet powerful opponents in the future, it just would not rely on brute strength and would be able to utilize its advantages more.

In its Hellhound form, the Gentle Dog was also quite fast and agile. Lucas wanted it to capitalize on the all-around attribute increase so that it could refine its way of fighting and not solely focus on attacking.

"Remember, attacking is not the only form of offense. Dodging and even defending can become a form of offense too if one were to use it properly," Lucas stated as he aimed at the Gentle Dog.

As the Gentle Dog dodged all the incoming strikes, the dirt and feces located around the beast cage were slowly cleaned by the water pressure gun.

Getting familiar with your beast, training them, and bonding with them was also part of being a summoner. There could not only be fighting as it would change the beast's nature or personality, and it might cause them to become problematic in the long run.

Although it may seem like Lucas and the Gentle Dog were just playing around while cleaning the beast cages, there were actually a lot of details that came into play. 

Since the descent of the dungeons a century ago, the humans had already studied and learned much about grimoires and the beasts.

According to some data he had read before, there were even cases of contracted beasts not listening to their summoners if the way they were raised was not right.

As they say, the beasts were not just the summoner's pet or slave; they were partners that they could rely their lives on.

Bonding with them naturally meant that they would be more willing to listen to you.

The Gentle Dog panted heavily as it kept dodging. Its stamina in the Gentle Dog form was nothing compared to its Hellhound Manifestation form.

However, Lucas did not allow it to transform and instead 'trained' with it using the base form.

Lucas thought that since its attributes were multiplied on the Hellhound form, then the higher the attribute in the base form, the higher the attributes multiplied during the Hellhound form as well. 

After thirty minutes, the summoning time limit for the Gentle Dog was up. Lucas chose not to continue and instead decided to take a rest while he recovers some spiritual energy as well.

Since the beast cage cleaning mission has no time limit, it was okay for Lucas to take rest as long as he wanted.

This kind of mission was also not pretty popular with students, as it was kind of gross to clean up the feces of beasts. The smell can be so strong that some might even puke just from a whiff of it.

Lucas thought that even if his mother, with her Squirt Tortoise, would also not accept such a job unless it was the last option.

There were available masks that could isolate the smell, but others would still be unable to stand the sight of beast feces; hence, the mission was rarely accepted, causing the beast cage cleaning mission to have a higher pay. Unless they truly have no other choice, they would obviously not pick such a disgusting mission.

Usually, it was the academy staff that would clean if no student accepted the mission for a set period of time.

As for the beasts that were stored here, they were beasts captured outside the city strongholds. They were weakened and tamed and can be used for a lot of purposes, such as training dummies for the seniors or to collect renewable materials such as beast furs that can be used in various fields in school.

After twenty minutes of resting, Lucas recovered a total of 10 Spiritual Energy, allowing him to summon the Gentle Dog once more with some reserve in case of emergency.

He continued cleaning the beast cage all the while 'training' with the Gentle Dog, refining its ability to dodge and evade incoming attacks with ease.

Three hours later, Lucas finally finished cleaning the beast cage. The gauge that could be seen in the entrance of the cage had also turned green with a 93% labeled right above the gauge meter.

Lucas nodded his head in satisfaction and looked at the beast cage that was thoroughly cleaned by him and the Gentle Dog after more than three hours of hard work.

After memorizing the cage's serial number, Lucas returned to the Mission Hall and logged on the computer once more.

He then entered the serial number of the cage in the mission tab just like what the man earlier had said, and finally pressed enter to submit the mission.

After a while, the mission tab showed a 'verified' message, and 30 Starlight Coins were added to his account.

Lucas smiled in delight and went home as it was already dusk.

Upon arriving home, the face of his worries greeted him on the door.

After assuring them that he was fine, the two of them finally felt at ease.

"Just remember, kid, you don't have to work so hard to prove yourself to us. You've already made us proud long ago. No matter what you accomplish or do not accomplish, it won't change the fact that you are and will always be our loving child."

Lucas smiled and felt warmth hearing his father's words.

The parental love he had not experienced before was here.

He would do anything just to let things stay the way they were right now.

However, their lives were destined not to stay the same with Lucas.

With the system, he was confident in elevating their way of life and perhaps even letting them live in the Inner Cities in the future.

Inner Cities.

Cities that were pretty peaceful and prosperous. It was said that no dungeons could ever descend on those places.

It was said that Gold Star summoners reside there.

A safe haven in such a chaotic world.

A place where everyone desired to live.

…

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

Lucas' world around this time also just revolved around the library, the Mission Hall, and the Beast Gymnasium.

"Wow! Lucas, I must say that you are pretty diligent and efficient. I never heard of a single student cleaning beast cages three days in a row before!"

Ethan, the man whom Lucas had met before in the Beast Gymnasium, stated as he looked at Lucas with a gaze full of admiration.

Having worked as a cage cleaner these past three days, Lucas had also become a little familiar with Ethan.

A senior student in his last year. He was the type of student who doesn't like to battle. He has a Bronze Grade grimoire and has accepted the mission of transferring tamed beasts from one cage to another.

"You flatter me, senior. You're the one I admire the most. You can actually make the beasts here be submissive and easily transfer them to another cage. Senior, you are pretty strong," Lucas replied.

"Haha! It's nothing; it's nothing. It's just that my beast is very suitable for the job; hence, I am able to handle the beasts that are weaker than it."

Lucas nodded his head in understanding.

This senior was indeed a little powerful. Lucas saw them in action before, and he could say that his beasts were indeed suitable for the job. Lucas also saw that this senior was already at Bronze Star, even stronger than Selene, the captain of that squad before.

"It's a pity, though. I hope that you could clean more beast cages, but it seems that it won't happen in the short run, does it?"

Lucas nodded his head in confirmation. Just earlier, he read in the group chat on the school's website that the second-year students could now enter the dungeon as the situation inside was already resolved as the Ember Ant nest has been cleared.

After seeing this announcement and seeing that he had already saved enough Starlight Coins to enter the dungeon, Lucas decided to come to the Beast Gymnasium once more and bade farewell to Ethan, who was very good to him.

"Yes, senior. If I have the time, I will surely help you clean the cages here again!" Lucas stated that he indeed planned to come back again as he was already familiar with the job, it was safe, and it pays a lot of Starlight Coins.

"Good, good! Right, you can let your dog have this. I found this a long time ago and could not find anyone that liked it. Since it's only rotting in my storage room, I think it's better to give it to a well-behaved junior like you," Ethan said as he handed him a brown pouch.

The poor Lucas would not decline such an offer. His first reaction was to take the pouch and then ask the senior what it was.

"Senior, what is this?"