When I got home, I went straight to my room quickly to mend my clothes. Although I was not that proficient in sewing, I at least knew of the basics. The threads ended up being clearly visible and the cloth got tightened up due to my rough handy work. It was still better than having gaping holes.

After stitching, I went straight to read my newly bought books. I dove right into my bed with the Beastiary in hand. I opened it and noticed that there were three sections. The first section was for common beasts which were the ones we might encounter in our quests soon.

There were different kinds of beasts. Technically, beasts were just like animals except that they were far stronger and more dangerous. Due to their nature, they were readily hunted. That was the reason why there were many quests to take them down at the guild.

I actually had not really fought a normal beast yet that was why I was curious about them. The Beastiary not only had rough illustrations of them, there were also details about their habitats and abilities. I just scanned it quickly since I did not think I could remember everything in one go.

The next section was for the Beastkins, those that had resemblance with Humans. The reason why Beastkins could be used as familiars was because the seal used to make them obey was activated via language. Unlike the Beastkin, beasts did not have the capacity to understand words.

I browsed the Beastkin section to search for details regarding Ovis’ race. After flipping a few pages, I arrived at the page where there were details about the Sheepkin.

According to the book, Sheepkins had great balance and wide field of view. Their physical abilities were almost equivalent to that of a normal Human therefore they were not as suitable for combat as the other races. I witnessed Ovis’ sense of balance firsthand when she climbed a cliff to get some herbs so I deemed the first statement to be accurate. I was not too sure about the latter though.

Every time I sparred with her, I make sure to focus or else she might render me unconscious. I could feel the power behind her strikes and I was sure an average female Human did not have that amount of strength. She was also able to make a tree fall with a single strike which was a feat that even I was not able to do.

I became unsure of whether she was but a mere Sheepkin.

I left those thoughts aside then went for the third section which was about mystical beasts. I was surprised to see that there were only three entries. There was not much of a description and there were no illustrations either.

The mystical beasts were the Discord Turtle, Abyss Tiger, and Terror Hawk. All that were written was that these beasts were quite huge and one would know that they were mystical beasts upon first glance. It was also noted that if they were sighted, one must run without looking back.

The Chaos Worm was not included. It might be because it just appeared recently. I took the initiative to write it down so the book would not look incomplete to me.

After scanning through the Beastiary, I grabbed the other book to learn more about magic. I did not have the slightest interest with magic before since I did not have any affinity to any elements. Since I already had a familiar that uses magic and also because most tamers use it, I should be well informed as well.

Unlike the Beastiary, the book looked plainer since there were no illustrations at all. There were a total of six sections divided into the different elements namely fire, water, air, earth, light, and dark. Each element was divided into three levels which were basic, intermediate, and advanced.

Details about the spells, their effects, as well as the chants were written in detail. I browsed them for about a while to get a basic grasp of the specialty of each element.

Fire focused on increasing strength and offensive spells. Water was for honing magic power and field control. Wind was for agility and mobility. Earth was for defense and obstruction. Light was mainly for healing. Lastly, dark was for distracting and immobilization.

Although those fields were the focus of each element, there were still a variety of spells that goes beyond their specialty. That much was true especially on the advanced class. For instance, even light magic had offensive spells like Holy Ray. It would be really neat if Ovis could use it one day.

The only problem was that it was an advanced spell and it would probably need a lot of magic. That said, it would be a huge problem since Ovis had a very limited magic reservoir.

“Um… Master?” Ovis called from the other side of the door.

“What is it?” I replied while I was still busy reading.

“It’s already t-time to… A-are you not going to eat d-dinner yet?”

“It’s that late already?”

I quickly closed my book before I stood up then gazed at the window. It was already dark! I did not realize that I was studying for so long.

“Sorry Ovis, I got too absorbed in reading.” I got out of my room.

Ovis was sitting on the chair by the table with food prepared.

“R-reading what, master?” She tilted her head.

“I just bought a book about beasts and magic. I just thought it is best to be informed.” I sat on my chair so I could eat my dinner.

“I-I see.”

“I can let you borrow it when I’m done.”

“R-really? I can?”

“Sure, but can you read?”

“A b-bit…”

“That’s great then. I thought Beastkins were not too proficient into reading and stuff.”

“Y-yeah… A f-fellow Beastkin taught us children how to read before I was c-captured…”

“I’m sorry.” The words escaped from my mouth.

“M-master?”

I did not know why I said that but I just felt in my guts that I had to. Out of embarrassment for my actions, I quickly gulped my food. After I was finished, I stood up and went to my room.

“Forget I said anything, goodnight.”

I said before I closed the door, leaving Ovis dazed

 

The next day came and we did our usual routine. The only difference was that it was the day where we would be setting out for our first E ranked quest. Although the guild said that we were qualified to do so, I was still feeling doubtful of our capabilities.

Not only was I beaten pretty badly last exam, I also witnessed the presence of a mystical beast with my own two eyes. I knew that those things do not happen every day but it was still possible for me to get unlucky again.

Before we went to the guild, we dropped by the magic shop so Ovis could learn some new magic. Since she also had a medium affinity with earth magic, I spent half a silver to have her learn Stoneskin. It was a basic earth type spell which hardens one’s body.

I thought that it would still be hard for her to use it in combat. At the same time, having more options could help in a pinch. Spending more money did a blow to my financial status though. That was why we really needed to get back to work.

We headed to the guild to undertake a quest.

“Oh Mest, how may I help you today?” Miss Mathi greeted me with her usual smile.

“Hi Miss Mathi, I am here to take a quest.”

“Feel free to browse on the bulletin board in the E class section. Unlike F ranked, we do not experience any shortage on higher ranked quests.”

“I see, I’ll take a look then.”

I went to where she directed me to search for a suitable quest I could undertake. There were letters written at the top part of the board signifying the rank of the quests posted. There were really lots of quests available, Miss Mathi was not joking.

On the E ranked alone, there were a total of twelve quests. I read each one and I was unable to decide which to take. The rewards ranges from one to three silvers, all of them had the involvement with beasts.

There were jobs for gathering materials in a beast infested area, escorting a caravan to fend of attacking beasts, as well as guard duty. I would love to take the quest with the highest reward but that might also mean exposing ourselves to a higher amount of risk.

“Hey Mest guy! Having trouble in getting a quest?” A guy suddenly went closer to me then put his arm on my shoulder.

It was the trouble maker Kai was talking about, Dusty. I better be careful around him.

“Well yeah, it is my first one after all.” I faked a smile.

”Yeah? How about you take this job then? Its reward is quite great for an E ranked quest!” Dusty held a quest poster in front of me.

The quest had an illustration of a round beast that resembled a rat with a huge tail. I read it and it involved taking out beasts called Ratichi worth five silvers.

That was a lot of reward, it was almost the equivalent of all of the money I had on me. It proved to be very tempting but the fact that he went out of his way to recommend it to me was suspicious.

In the first place, I believe that the quest should be posted at the board. The fact that he had it was inappropriate since he was already a C rank.

I wanted to refuse but I was also wary of what he would plot next if I did. Maybe there would not be a problem if I become extra cautious. If I could do this without any mishaps then maybe he would stop bugging me.

“I’ll do this then, thanks for the assistance.” I took the poster from him.

“Sure, anytime Mest guy.” He tapped my shoulder before he disengaged from me then went back to his seat.

“Hey Miss Mathi, do you think I can accomplish this one?”

I showed the paper in hand to Miss Mathi in hopes that she could let me know if it was not an official quest. She fixed her glasses and looked at it carefully.

“I think that will be too easy for you.”

“Really?”

“Ratichi are pretty weak for a beast but they can be a real pest as well. Defeating a bunch or two won’t be any trouble for any E ranked tamers.”

“If that is the case, why does it have higher a reward compared to the other quests?”

“Not only that guard quests takes a day or two from a tamer’s time, the location of the quest is also a bit far from the city. All of those factors including the difficulty of the quest itself were accounted for the compensation.”

“I see, I’ll be taking this then.”

“But I’ll have to warn you about something, you better steel your resolve.”

“What? I thought the quest should be easy?”

“The beast itself is weak but they are really hard to kill.”

“Weak but hard to kill? How?”

“I mean just look at this!” Miss Mathi picked up the poster and showed it to me. “Just look at this guy, he looks so adorable! You’ll need a stone cold heart to be able to watch this little guy bleed to death!”

“I guess it is?” I am not really sure what looked cute though.

“Right? So you better be careful! If you have a hard time, maybe some booze will do the trick!”

“Thanks for the advice, Miss Mathi. I’ll be going now.”

I awkwardly left the guild. I did not know that the ever composed and cool lady could be so enthusiastic when talking about beasts. I wondered if she spoke from experience or was it only because she had a penchant for adorable beasts.

That aside, I decided to be careful. I did not know what Dusty had in mind but I was sure that he did not introduce the quest to me with the intention of helping. I just hoped that I would get through it smoothly.

Five silvers, here I go!