The Scrap Tamer

Reid watched as the lab transformed before his eyes, the circular platforms sinking into the floor alongside the work desks and the walls around the moved backwards.

A few seconds later, Reid and his forged-beasts were standing in a completely white room, with no wall in sight.

[Welcome to the simulation room] Evo spoke up but this time, instead of inside Reid's head, her voice came from all around.

[The simulation room is designed to replicate any environment or scenario you desire,] Evo explained, [It can mimic real-world terrain, hostile battlegrounds, or even abstract training fields tailored to your needs.]

Reid nodded slowly. "Alright, let's start simple. Show me a basic combat simulation. Something to test our new abilities."

A screen popped up before him, with options to select the type of battle field and enemies, including their ranks and numbers.

He scrolled through the battle field options and ended up selecting an open field before scrolling to the options of enemies he wanted to face.

Finalizing his selections, the holographic screen flickered and disappeared. The white room then started transforming into Reid's selected arena.

An open field appeared before him. He could even feel the wind gently kissing his skin and the sky above was as blue as can be.

Overall, it was a peaceful scene, one which was soon broken by the rumbling of the ground.

Looking ahead, Reid spotted a dust cloud approaching them at high speeds.

Summoning the sword Master Garrick made him, Reid took a battle stance before saying, "alright, let's see how much stronger I've become."

The approaching wave of primals consisted of silver, gold and platinum tiers in different numbers since Reid wanted to see how he would fare against each rank.

But it seemed that Beel had other plans, because before Reid could make his move, the gluttonous fly had already moved forward with a delighted screech.

"Mine!" It declared before activating [Hive].

Beel's body ballooned for a second before swarms of smaller flies identical to its form started detaching themselves from him and rushed towards the approaching wave of primals.

Before the primals could even register the attack, all the smaller versions simultaneously activated [Perfect Consume], their mouths expanding into gaping maws that devoured the entire wave in an instant.

"Tasty!" Beel said with a satisfied look on its face as the last primal disappeared into its clone's mouth before they merged back with it.

Reid blinked.

"That was... fast," he muttered, lowering his sword slightly. "I was hoping for a warm-up."

Beel hurried back in excitement before stopping in front of Reid, "how did I do, papa?" It asked.

Reid just sighed and smiled before replying, "Yeah, you did great, Beel. A little overeager, but I can't deny the results."

Beel smiled happily, clearly proud of itself. "I told you I got stronger after evolving! I could eat a whole army now!"

"I believe you," Reid chuckled, ruffling the top of Beel's head. "But next time, let me at least swing my sword once."

"Evo, respawn the primals again, but this time the siege should be filled with platinum tiers."

[Are you sure?] Evo asked.

"Yeah," he nodded, "at least then I'll be sure Beel won't eat them all in one go."

[Alright] Evo answered.

The ground soon started rumbling again and before they could react, they were surrounded by a massive wave of platinum tier primals.

Beel hovered next to Reid, eyes wide with excitement. "Can I—?"

"No," Reid cut it off with a raised hand, smirking. "This wave's mine."

The sword in his hand shimmered faintly, runes along its blade as he ran his soul power through it.

He could've injected his void energy within the blade since it felt more potent than his soul power but he hadn't figured out how to freely move it around.

Since it didn't exactly come naturally to him.. for now at least.

Reid inhaled and exhaled slowly.

Then he moved.

He vanished from his spot in an instant using [Skip] which he copied from Rusty.

In a blink, he reappeared behind the first primal, a boar with crystal like tusks.

Reid drove his blade clean through its spine. The primal screeched, but the sound was cut short as Reid twisted the blade and sliced straight through its core.

The primal collapsed into multiple pixels but Reid was not interested in seeing the results as he used [skip] to appear behind the next primal.

Within the first minute, ten platinum tier primals had been taken down as if they were nothing but lower ranked.

"Squeak!" Rusty let out before transforming into its battle form and joining in on the fun.

Nyx, Axie and Atlas followed soon after with Beel staying behind, a pout on its face as Reid had ordered it to stay back since it already had its fun.

At this point the battle, if you could call it that, was extremely one sided with the primals being slaughtered as if they were nothing but lower ranked.

It was less of a battle and more of a massacre.

Beel sulked at the edge of the field, arms crossed and eyes twitching as its siblings tore through enemies. "this is all just wasted food ," it mumbled.

Which was strange since this was nothing but a simulation and the primals should also taste like nothing.

A couple of minutes later, the field was completely silent as the last primal fell by Reid's blade.

The primals dissipated into pixels as Reid stood there, his sword gripped tightly.

This was....to easy.

Reid didn't understand why, but the fight just now felt.... unfulfilling.

At first he yearned to be strong and now? He wanted an opponent that would push him.

"Evo," Reid called out, "what else can the simulation room do?"

[The simulation room can recreate past opponents, or even generate hypothetical enemies based on your current power level]

There was a pause, as if Evo was gauging his intent.

[Would you like to recreate a past battle, or face an optimized enemy? One designed specifically to push your limits?]

Reid paused and thought about it for a moment.

An opponent who he had faced before? One that made him feel hopeless.

One he couldn't dream to face.

"Evo, I want you to simulate Malrath."