NOVEL WEB Chapter 7: Beastmaster
As Kent walked through the gate and passed through a deep corridor, a large screen appeared before him, and everything suddenly changed.
It was an expansive plaza, surrounded by various shops and bustling with people in masks, moving back and forth.
Kent wandered around for a while and finally entered a hall, where many Beast Masters gathered, each exuding a distinct aura to show that they were not to be underestimated.
Kent looked up at the giant screen in front of him, which displayed a variety of task information.
"Collect ten Tri-color Grass, reward: 30,000 credits."
"Collect 100 Giant Lizard Beast teeth, reward: 100,000 credits."
"Gather all 20 materials for forging a high-level Dragon Slaying Sword, reward: 4 million credits."
Kent's face twitched under his mask. This was indeed a place to earn credits quickly, but the key was to have the ability.
There were three large screens in the hall. The screen in front of him mostly displayed tasks related to collection and trading, with thousands of entries filling the screen.
To his left, however, was a screen displaying information on mercenary groups.
In the vast Micro-light City, with over a million Beast Masters, besides those recruited and trained by major forces, there were also many independent Beast Masters, similar to solo players in a game. This led to the formation of mercenary groups—some as small as three to five members, others as large as hundreds or even thousands.
Kent glanced at it for a while and noticed that a third of the entries were related to recruiting mercenaries, while the rest were group formations to tackle more challenging tasks.
On the right side of the screen, the content changed again, mostly related to Beast Tamers.
"Recruiting a Level 1 Beast Tamer to care for the Purple Blood Grass for ten days, reward: 1,000 credits."
"A Silver-level 25 Flame Poisonous Snake is severely injured, recruiting a Beast Tamer for treatment, fee: 15,000 credits."
"A Silver-level 29 Wild Brawn Bull wants to evolve to Gold-level 30, reward: 60,000 credits. Nutrients and evolution fluids are provided."
Kent was stunned as he read. The rewards for Beast Tamers were quite high, almost comparable to the alchemists in fantasy novels.
He thought for a moment, and remembered that Beast Tamers were professionals responsible for solving problems related to contracted beasts, including care, treatment, upgrading, evolution, training, and cultivation.
"It seems I can do this too."
Kent's eyes lit up. He possessed the Divine Beast Evolution System, which allowed him to instantly view all the information about any beast, including their weaknesses, illnesses, and solutions to their ailments.
To test this, he decided to try a task involving the evolution of a bronze-level beast.
"Hello, I'd like to take the task from the 28th slot in Zone C, Row 3," Kent said directly to the staff.
The staff glanced at the code on his mask, logged it, and swiped a crystal card before typing a few keys. The task on the screen immediately locked and turned gray.
"You need to pay a 100-credit deposit. The deposit will not be refunded if the task fails."
Kent felt a pang in his chest. His identity bracelet had only 130 credits left, but he gritted his teeth and paid the deposit.
The staff gestured to a woman wearing a cat mask.
"Take this Beast Master to perform the task."
The woman nodded and led Kent through a door.
Once again, everything changed, and they entered a massive plaza with thousands of steel cages, most of them containing various beasts.
Noticing the confusion in Kent's eyes, the woman explained, "The tasks in Zone C mostly involve solving problems with beasts. Some require on-site service, but others are here because the beast owners either don't have time or don't want their identities exposed, so they leave their beasts here. Once someone completes the task, the beast's owner will immediately take them back."
"Got it," Kent said, understanding now.
Soon, they arrived at a steel cage containing a massive silver-white cow nearly three meters tall, lounging comfortably, its long tail swishing lazily.
"This is the Silver-Jewel Cow. Mr. Eight God, you need to evolve it from Bronze to Silver within three days. The beast's owner has provided three bottles of mid-level nutrient fluid and one bottle of mid-level evolution fluid," the woman explained while signaling to the guards, who immediately took the required fluids from their space bags.
After Kent took the fluids, the woman added, "If the task fails, any consumed items will be your responsibility to replenish, and the deposit will not be refunded."
"Of course," Kent nodded, showing no concern.
The woman gave a slight bow and, as she left, subtly shook her head. Though Kent wore a mask, her experience working in the black market allowed her to read people well. It was obvious to her that Kent was a novice.
As a beginner, taking on an evolution task for the first time was a sign of overconfidence. Even Level 2 and Level 3 Beast Tamers would hesitate to guarantee success for such a task.
"Well, this has nothing to do with me. If he's willing, I won't stop him. I just have to do my job," she thought to herself. She actually wanted to offer some advice to Kent, given his polite demeanor, but decided not to.
"Mr. Eight God," she turned back and said.
"Is there something else?"
Kent had already activated his system and was examining the Silver-Jewel Cow. Immediately, data appeared before his eyes.
Beast Name: Silver-Jewel Cow.
Beast Level: 27.
Beast Rank: Bronze.
Beast Age: 4 years.
Abilities: 1. Produces large amounts of milk; 2. 15% chance of producing high-quality milk; 3. Anger Charge.
Weaknesses: 1. Prolonged exposure to moonlight has weakened its body, causing low-energy milk production; 2. No chance to exercise, resulting in a subhealthy body.
Experience Bar: 6408/15,000.
Experience Pool: 6408.
Notes: The contracted Silver-Jewel Cow has reached its evolution bottleneck but cannot evolve due to improper guidance. The system allows the host to perform the Divine Beast Evolution, costing either 10 drops of the host's blood or 100 drops of the host's beast's blood.
The woman noticed Kent's calm demeanor and hurriedly said, "Mr. Eight God, I can tell you are a novice Beast Tamer. This is an evolution task, and I know I have no right to give advice, but I want to remind you that many Level 2 and Level 3 Beast Tamers are not always confident about completing such tasks within three days."
Kent looked at her in surprise, then smiled lightly and said, "You're right, I should be cautious, but I don't think this will be difficult for me."
As soon as he finished speaking, Kent used the system's ability. Since Garfield wasn't around, he decided to use 10 drops of his own blood.
"Open your mouth."
The Silver-Jewel Cow, which had previously ignored him, stood up and opened its mouth to accept the bottle of evolution fluid Kent tossed.
The bottle snapped open as it bit into it, swallowing the evolution fluid.
The experience pool surged, increasing from 6408 to 16,408, and Kent immediately pressed "Evolve," consuming 10,000 experience points.
"Now, it's time to witness the miracle," Kent gestured to the woman, inviting her to watch.
Initially unimpressed, the woman soon gasped in shock as the Silver-Jewel Cow's body erupted in a bright white light, its aura unmistakably reaching Silver rank.
"This can't be… That was too easy!" she exclaimed, her eyes wide with disbelief.
Such a simple and direct method had successfully evolved a beast that had been stuck at its bottleneck for so long. It felt like a game, impossible to believe.
"It's always this simple," Kent said lightly. "Well, the task is done. The extra three bottles of nutrient fluid should belong to me now."
The woman, snapping back to her senses, couldn't help but feel that the mysterious image she had briefly formed of Kent was completely shattered. She chuckled awkwardly, "Yes, it's yours, Mr. Eight God. However, I'll need to find someone to verify the evolution to make sure it's truly successful. This is too hard to believe."
"That's fine, I'll wait here," Kent replied casually.