by William Hill
It was only miniscule and probably less than 0.0001% but Jason felt it and the change took also place in the shared amount Artemis gave him and their soul connection.
This made him happy but he cleared his mind and opened the holographic screen of his quantum bracelet.
Requesting his parcel to arrive directly a drone arrived only 20 minutes later with a big parcel below.
Opening the parcel, many items entered his view.
Chapter 39: Preparing for the Hunt!
Looking inside the parcel Jason began to smile.
There were a few long ropes, some yellow potion, a syringe with some green liquid inside, an
miniature cage with a red button on it, a few dozen arrows,an ungraded bow and a weird looking quiver.
Taking out the bow he tried to pull the string.
It was difficult but Jason would be able to pull the string back a few times in a row.
The bow wasn't made by a craftsman master rather an apprentice but it was still fine as long as it did its job and when he purchased the bow it was certified as an ungraded bow able to penetrate three-star wild beast defenses and its price range was 8.000 credits which was fine.
This was more than enough for his plan and looking at the other materials like the ungraded ropes, enlarging miniature cage and the yellow ungraded paralysis potion followed by the green syringe, Jason thought that he was extremely smart.
While the potions were already expensive, the most expensive was the enlarging miniature cage with an equal price to the bow he bought.
The arrows in the parcel were simply made and nothing special so Jason stored them away immediately.
Looking at the other items for some time he stored them away and decided to go to the archery centrum in the city with a shuttle.
Using 10 out of his remaining 12 Credits he entered his shooting range where he could train his archery skills for 2 hours.
It was early in the morning and nobody trained one's archery skill at 2 am which was also the cause for the cheap renting price.
Taking out his bow and arrows Jason had to get a feeling for his bow.
The target was 20 meters away and it shouldn't be a problem for him to hit it.
Or so he thought…
Jason took more than four shots to hit the target for his first time even if it were the outer circles but after that he began to get a feeling for the distance and the amount he had to pull back.
After every five to ten shoots Jason had to stop for a moment to regain some stamina as it was harder to pull the string back each time.
2 hours passed without notice and Jason was notified to leave the shooting range.
It was 4:30 am and Jason wanted to leave for the plains wild zone when he noticed that he couldn't even afford a shuttle right now.
Thinking about a solution Jason thought about the beast corpses he had and he decided to go to the merchant shops which were only a short walk away from the archery centrum.
Walking for 30 minutes, Jason saw a big, luxurious looking skyscraper with a golden koi as a sign.
It was the 'Golden Koi' Shop which mainly purchased beast carcasses to sell certain parts to butchers, artisans,restaurants, craftsmen and so on.
Entering the building through the large automatic front doors Jason was in a huge hall made out of marble and other exquisite materials.
The hall was at least ten meters high and a few hundred square meters in size while four big pillars were situated in a square around the elevator which stood in the middle.
Between each pillar was a reception and a large, weird-looking machine with a big holographic screen in front of it.
Two options could be seen on the holographic screen, one labeled with `Sell` and another one with the label `Purchase`.
Standing in front of the machine, Jason only knew roughly what to do as he had never done something like that before.
Clicking on the sell option another few options appeared with the different ranks of beasts, from wild beast to evolved beast.
Everyday a few thousand beasts carcasses would be sold at the golden koi shop and they invented this weird looking machine for the hunter without much time.
Operated by an AI the price for common beasts was integrated into the data and on rare beasts at the evolved stage could be more expensive than the registered price from the company.
Jason clicked on wild beasts and a message appeared on the beast dealer he called it himself.
It had a different name but Jason didn't like High technology BetraMa(Beast trading Machine) V.3.7.
Inserting the beast carcasses in small groups of five into the big mouth of the machine, they landed on a small table where they were scanned by the AI.
The Holographic screen calculated the credits for each beast and it took around 10 minutes until Jason had inserted every beast carcass
Because it was only 5am the whole hall was empty without any workers as the usual working hours began at 7am and Jason had enough time so he didn't feel pressured by the crowds of humans which were normally inside this main hall.
Jason was still relatively uncomfortable with huge crowds of people but he became better with small groups thanks to Greg and Malia.
He was comfortable with them and Greg was also the one who told Jason that he could enter some shops before the regular opening hours to sell his carcasses.
Looking at the list of beasts he noticed that there were more beasts carcasses than he thought.
153x ★★ Wild beasts corpse→ 3 Credits/carcass
67x ★★★ Wild beasts corpse→ 7 Credits/carcass
24x ★★★★ Wild beasts corpse→ 14 Credits/carcass
4x ★★★★★ Wild beasts corpse→ 21 Credits/carcass
1x ★★★★★ (Wind)Elemental mutated black horned bull corpse→ 100 Credits
Putting his arm with the quantum bracelet inside the opening port on the holographic screen appeared a message again.
[Transaction of 1448 Credits can be done immediately.
Execute transaction? `Yes/No`]
Jason was astonished but clicked yes and he got a notification on his bracelet that the transaction was done.
He had never thought that he had hunted so many beasts but thinking about it, he hunted inside the plains wild zone for over three weeks around 12 hours a day.
Thinking about his loot he took a look at his spatial storage and how many Beast cores he had left.
There were no two and three-star cores, only a few four-star cores left behind while even the five star cores were used up.
Pondering if he should already purchase Beast cores, Jason decided to wait until the evening after looking if his plan worked or not.
Calling a shuttle with his new fortune Jason was in front of the plains wild zone less than an hour later.
Looking at his messenger he hoped that Greg or Malia messaged him about their parents' homecoming but there was nothing.
Jason hoped that their parents would be home soon as he had to partly rely on them to execute his plan without exposing his secret but it didn't matter at the moment.
Entering the plains wild zone with the first sunlight he was expectant.
With a bow in one hand and the quiver with the dagger secured at his belt while the dagger was inside a ugly looking scabbard, Jason strolled around the wild zone.
The quiver was filled with his arrows and they were coated with the paralysis potion.
This paralysing potion wasn't strong but effective against weak wild beasts and Jason bought it exactly for this reason.
Hours passed and Jason hasn´t hunted a single beast until he sighted something in the afternoon.
A grin appeared on Jason´s face
`Found you`
Chapter 40: Lucky catch
Jason looked at a large pack of two-star scaled wolves and smiled brightly.
The pack had at least 15 scaled wolves but Jason only looked at a certain wolf which was larger compared to its brethren.
Its scales looked tougher and they shined brighter but the most important fact was the color the scaled wolf radiated.
While its brethren didn´t even radiate a color this one wolf, in particular, radiated a light-grey color and Jason knew from his own experience in the beast pagoda that this light-grey meant its potential was at the evolved rank.
Jason had never imagined that he would find such a treasure in a one-star wild zone.
Smiling from ear to ear, Jason took out an arrow and 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 we're able to pierce through the scales slightly but this would be enough as his arrows were coated in the paralysis potion he purchased previously.
Jason was not a good archer as today was his first time to even hold a bow but after he noticed that his eyes remembered roughly the height he had to take to hit a target 20 meters away, he became confident.
The pack of scaled wolves hadn't noticed Jason until now and it was time for him to get closer.
Luckily there were some bushes that were quite helpful for him to prevent him from getting detected before he even took action and Jason slowly approached the pack of wolves which were eating some beast corpses or something like that.
Hiding behind the closest bush to the wolf pack Jason had to decide which wolf to attack first and he made up his mind after a short moment before he pulled back the bowstring with the coated arrow already laid on.
*surr*
A whir could be heard and the big wolf with the light-grey mana radiating felt a sting at its shoulder before it felt his body almost instantly numbing.
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 he was even detected by the other wolves.
11 scaled wolves were still able to fight and they stormed at Jason with bloodthirsty eyes as this unknown enemy had attacked their brethren.
They didn't know what was going on with their brethren but it wasn't anything good so they are naturally enraged.
Without thinking they stormed at Jason who´s quiver and bow vanished into thin air.
Taking out his dagger, there was already coated in a yellow liquid that dropped out of the scabbard.
Jason only bought the liquid-proof scabbard for this scenario as there was 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 high in the sky, Jason felt confident.
Using a small amount of mana to enhance 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 was dried out but these three minutes would be more than enough to kill 11 two-star wild beasts with the help of Artemis.
While Jason spun around the group of two-star scaled wolves, he inflicted small injuries that 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 was finished quickly while Artemis finished off each of the scaled wolves without leaving any of them alive even if 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 alive.
Artemis noticed his hesitation and transmitted an image of him getting pounced by one of these wolves once they regained control over their body.
It was clear what she meant.
These wolves wouldn't leave Jason alive and be grateful for him letting them survive either.
Rather it would end up the other way around and they would attack him to avenge their brethren or maybe to follow their wild instincts.
Thinking about getting backstabbed by the ones he left alive Jason shuttered before he regained his focus.
Looking at the scaled wolf in front of him the larger scaled wolf replied his gaze with wrath and rage which Jason to sigh as he took out a green syringe.
Inside the syringe was a sleeping solution and he injected it into the wolf which was still unable to move freely.
Jason had still around half of his mana reserves left and he wasn't scared about getting attacked as he was relatively close to the dome and even if some beast attacked him, the potent paralysis potion was even slightly useful against four-star wild beasts.
They would still be able to move but a feeling of numbness would hinder their movements slightly.
Waiting for the sleeping solution to kick in, Jason took care of every scaled wolf corpse and finally the scaled wolf was tired and fell asleep.
This sleeping solution was potent and would last a few hours even for 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.
Using some mana to reinforce himself his steps got steadier and 30 minutes later he reached the dome.
Before going through the dome he had to use the enlarging miniature cage he bought.
Lying 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 rattle noises, Jason saw the miniature cage enlarging and it looked somehow extremely satisfying.
Inserting some wild beast cores to recharge the cage he put the scaled wolf inside.
Luckily the cage had some wheels below, otherwise, Jason wouldn't be able to move around the cage and Jason entered the dome without it attacking the scaled wolf inside the cage.
It was only fortunate that Jason 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 many people's gaze on him.
While waiting for the special shuttle he heard 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 Hayball…"
"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 onlooking people 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 left the onlookers alone.
While the shuttle was bringing him to the city, Jason looked if he got a message from Greg or Malia.
Both had messaged him while their messages were different the main points were the same.
While Malia´s messages were rather 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: `They rejected me?`
Looking back at his catch he tired his best to think positively `At least I can do some business with them!`
Chapter 41: Gut feeling
It was 5 pm when Jason arrived in front of the Fler-mansion and he had to call Greg as he couldn't lift the beast cage alone.
Artemis was curled up on Jason's shoulder and it looked like a fluffy ball was placed there, while they waited for Greg, who was confused why he had to come outside before he spotted a large cage next to Jason that waved at him.
He noticed the scaled wolf inside the cage but somehow this confused him even more
"Hey Jason, what are you doing here with this scaled wolf??"
Jason predicted Greg´s confusion and said smiling mischievously
"Hey Greg, to be honest, I´m not doing anything special with this scaled wolf. I only want to sell it to your parents, nothing else. Can you please help me bring the cage inside without killing the wolf?"
Greg was rather dull and liked to fight more than brooding over something.
As such he didn't like to think too complicated and simply nodded.
"I can bring the cage inside, no problem."
Lifting the cage as if it was nothing special, Greg walked inside and left Jason who sighed and followed suit.
In the end, Jason was again in the living room like the day before but now there were two cages, one cage which was his own with the sleeping scaled wolf inside while the other cage was at least five meters high and 8 meters in width and length.
Inside this gigantic cage was a large green eagle with a length of around 3 meters inside.
From its mana core, Jason noticed that the mana was a good amount larger than Malia´s, and activating his Mana eyes, he saw a green color he had seen once before, while Jason was also able to spot a completed mana core with one liquefied mana drop inside the core
`Is that a magical beast?`
The cage the eagle was inside was empowered by mana stones and Jason noticed mana flowing throughout the whole cage, reinforcing its toughness.