Chapter 14: Plans for the Future

The first thing Ain wanted to investigate was communication.

Although Ain couldn’t understand the meaning of its “Wooo…” sounds, he could more or less decipher its intent. He knew this was due to their contract.

He wanted to see the extent to which Nox could understand him. So Ain started out by giving it a few simple commands and even tried to hold a conversation later.

While he did that, the cat stared at Nox’s gaseous body with curiosity. It jumped up a few times, trying to touch it.

Amidst their conversation, Nox occasionally turned to look at the cat with the same curiosity.

After a few minutes, Ain concluded that Nox’s intelligence was very high. It could understand Ain and convey its own thoughts. It only lacked some general knowledge to hold a proper conversation.

For example, when Ain asked it to bring a pen from the table, Nox was momentarily stunned before conveying to Ain that it didn’t know what a pen and a table were. It was capable of recognizing its shortcomings.

Nox and the cat were both Rank-0 but there was a large difference in their cognitive abilities. After some thought, Ain could only attribute it to the difference in their quality. The cat’s quality was only Common whereas Nox’s was Ancient. This was a difference of three evolutions.

Ain had seen his mentor’s spirit pet, Flo, talk before. Although he was unaware of its rank or quality, he knew that most high-rank spirit pets could talk. He just didn’t know at what threshold that became a possibility.

While he was contemplating, he didn’t fail to notice the two little fellows' curious looks towards each other. So, Ain decided to introduce them.

“Nox, this is the cat. Cat, this is my spirit pet, Nox.” If there were others around, they might’ve laughed at Ain’s introduction.

After saying so, Ain was unsure whether the cat understood him, but Nox quickly flew closer to the cat upon the introduction.

“Wooo….” After getting close, it immediately phased through the cat, appearing behind it. The cat was stunned for a second before swiftly turning around.

Thus began a game of tag. Nox flew around the room, occasionally passing through the cat while the cat tried to grab Nox with its paws.

Although Ain wasn’t finished with his investigation, he decided to let them be. Looking at the cat chasing after Nox, a few ideas were already swimming inside Ain’s mind.

After they were done playing, Ain would use Scan on Nox. He was curious to see its information.

He then took out the spell book for Introspect that he received from his mentor. This was a Rank-1 core spell, so it would take longer to study and practice than Illumination.

Next, he retrieved the spirit master inheritance book. He was also very curious about the contents. But Ain set it aside for now.

On his way home, Ain had already equipped the new hololink. It looked like a thin silver bracelet, and its exquisite and slender design fit snugly on his wrist.

He had also briefly investigated his upgraded Cyberspace access.

The 3-star access made many new features available to Ain. But the most significant was still the availability of higher levels of information. He could now access certain forums, where information wasn’t as watered down as it was for the 2-star access. After a brief look, he knew that the spirit tamers on these forums had higher ranks.

Many new markets and shops had also become available. Most shops in the 2-star access were limited to Duskfield City. But the 3-star access allowed him to browse the entire Emerald Garden.

Dawnstar Federation was established on the Dawnstar Archipelago. The Emerald Garden was one of the continent-sized islands that comprised the Dawnstar Archipelago. Whereas Duskfield City was one of the numerous cities scattered on the Emerald Garden.

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Furthermore, Cyberspace transmission was finally available to him. He needed to visit the transmission hub to investigate some things soon.

After tallying his recent gains, Ain moved on to business and thought, ‘I need to know how to feed Nox.’

But before even searching for any specific foods, he needed to know if Ink Revenants could even eat normally.

His mentor had mentioned that Ink Revenants were almost identical to Dark Specters. He estimated that he would be unable to find information on Ink Revenants, so he searched for information on Dark Specters instead.

After some research, Ain turned to look at Nox, who had at one point settled near his shoulder, glancing at his hololink. The cat was similarly lying on the bed beside him.

‘Most ghost-attribute spirit pets don’t eat normal food. Rather, they prefer to absorb energy from ghost attribute resources.’

Ain had looked up some of the prices for ghost-attribute resources. Needless to say, Ain couldn’t afford anything. The constantly proliferating expenses weighed down on him.

Thinking of this, he wasn’t disheartened. Now that he had contracted a spirit pet, some new avenues for income had also become available.

In the Dawnstar Federation, cities were surrounded by wilderness. Although technology and Cyberspace had simplified communication, the large distance between cities was unavoidable. Spirit beasts occupied the mountains, rivers, and even the skies.

As a Rank-1 Spirit Tamer, Ain could venture outside the city to hunt or gather resources. The Spirit Tamer Association also offered missions to spirit tamers for considerable rewards.

Although Ain had another plan brewing, he wanted to solve his urgent needs as soon as possible. He only had 2,000 star coins left after the few expenses recently. Even the most common ghost-attribute resources cost more than that.

Now that he was a Rank-1 Spirit Tamer, the Green Pig meat was no longer sufficient, and Rank-1 meat was more costly.

After deliberating his expenses, he turned his thoughts to the spirit academy.

Now that he had reached Rank-1 and contracted a spirit pet, he could claim a Rank-1 core spell and a ring spell from the academy.

He hadn’t investigated Nox’s skills yet, but his mentor did mention one of its skills. It would be the core of his combat system for the foreseeable future.

He also needed to increase Nox’s rank. It was Rank-0 at the moment. As a Beginner Rank-1 Spirit Tamer, all his spirit pets could also reach the same rank.

The class competition was also three weeks later. Ain wasn’t worried about it due to his lead on his classmates.

Thinking up to here, He realized that he had a lot on his plate. And this was excluding his intention to study the spirit master inheritance and pass the spirit master assessment.

To increase efficiency, Ain decided to set a rough schedule until the class competition.

Over this period of time, he would continue his spirit tamer training as usual.

He would study and practice Introspect, as well as any new spells he received during this time. After some more research, Nox’s training would begin as well.

By the next weekend, Ain wanted to have some combat ability so that he could accept a mission from the Spirit Tamer Association.

After receiving the rewards, he would purchase Rank-1 meat and the relevant resources for Nox.

This would resolve his urgent need for money, then he would consider whether to study the spirit master inheritance.

With a plan in mind, Ain immediately felt invigorated. The sadness in his heart from his mentor’s departure had also started to fade.

Glancing at the setting sun, Ain beckoned Nox to his front. He wanted to scan it to check its parameters.

“Stay still.” Ain’s gentle voice sounded as his hand passed through Nox’s body. Then he activated one of his innate talent's abilities, Scan.

As soon as he activated his ability, Ain felt a drain on his spirit energy. He noted in passing that the drain was greater than the time he used Scan on the cat.

Information started to appear in Ain’s mind. With his enhanced cognitive abilities, he quickly summarized the legible data while ignoring the incomprehensible bits.

After some practice these few days, Ain had realized that there would always be incomprehensible bits of information mixed in when he used Scan. He called them noise.

[Species: Ink Revenant]

[Attribute: Ghost]

[Rank: Rank-0]

[Quality: ??? | Max Quality: ???]

[Attribute Traces: Ghost 98.538%, Fire 0.162%]

The information he received was similar to what he knew, but Scan was unable to discern its quality. Ain could only attribute it to his low rank.

He then moved onto the attribute traces. Unlike the time with the cat, Ain only looked for attribute traces whose value was greater than 0.1%. This meant that any attribute that comprised less than 0.1% of Nox’s spirit energy was excluded.

Any information that he deliberately focused on would increase his spirit energy consumption. Ain had no use for a complete list of attribute traces at the moment, so he opted to conserve his spirit energy.

He also realized that if he was unfocused during the scan, most of what he obtained would be noise.

It was too late in the day for Ain to investigate more, so he allowed Nox to play with the cat while he started his spirit tamer training.

Ain sat on the bed with his back straight as he slowly sank into meditation. Since he had already condensed his spirit ring, Ain was currently a Beginner Rank-1 Spirit Tamer.

In order to reach Intermediate Rank-1, he needed to polish and strengthen his spirit core before attempting to brand the spirit ring onto the spirit core. Once the branding was initiated, he would reach Intermediate Rank-1.