Chapter 21: First Wilderness Trip

It was early in the morning, and the sun had yet to rise over the horizon. Ain was already awake, preparing to head out. He checked his gear thoroughly before walking towards the cabinet where the cat’s food was usually kept.

After some thought, Ain decided to leave out the entire bag of food for the cat. Although he expected to return by nightfall, it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared. His supplies also included camping gear and necessities to survive the night. The wilderness survival class had reviewed these topics, so Ain wasn’t lacking in terms of knowledge. He only lacked real experience.

With his preparations complete, Ain finally set out. By the time he reached the periphery of the city, the sky was already bright, and the morning chill had begun to retreat.

During the long commute, Ain had plenty of time to think. He briefly summarized his current progress and strength.

He was presently a Beginner Rank-1 Spirit Tamer, and he had also contracted his first spirit pet. In terms of spells, he could only use three core spells. He had mastered Rank-0 Illumination and Rank-1 Introspect, neither of which were suitable for combat. Only Spirit Impact, his most recent Rank-1 core spell, could be used in combat. He had practiced it sufficiently these past few days. Although he didn’t reach mastery, he was still confident in his execution.

He had also redeemed Haunt, a Rank-1 ghost spell, but he could only learn it after reaching Advanced Rank-1.

Of course, Ain’s real reliance at this stage wasn’t the spells, but his body. His physique was already powerful due to his years of foundational training. Moreover, the recent body tempering training had resulted in a spurt of explosive growth, as if rewarding Ain’s years of effort.

He estimated his physique to be equivalent to an Intermediate Rank-1 Spirit Beast. And this was before Nox’s possession.

As his spirit pet, Nox was naturally part of his combat strength. After using Possession, Ain’s physique would reach the benchmark of an Advanced Rank-1 Spirit Beast. Along with his basic martial arts, his strongest state would be revealed in close combat.

Nox had also learned Phantom Claws, giving it some combat power, and it was available to Ain in the possession state as well.

His only concern was his lack of real combat experience, especially against spirit beasts. His spars throughout his training were against humans, mostly Ms. Livia, his mentor’s assistant. Ain was mostly led around by the nose in those sessions. Thus, this trip would also serve to correct that issue.

These thoughts only occupied a brief portion of the trip. Ain spent the rest of the journey searching for information regarding his missions, such as suitable locations, maps, things to take note of, etc.

When Ain arrived, he felt a sense of déjà vu. It was due to the changes in the infrastructure. Similar to the central region of the city, the infrastructure near the edges was large and wide, with more spirit pets entering his vision as he looked around.

After disembarking from the hoverbus, Ain made his way towards the obvious city entrance. It was easy to discern due to the massive black wall that isolated the city from the wilderness.

According to his knowledge, this city wall didn’t envelop the entire city. It only stretched out in certain regions. After all, if a spirit beast powerful enough to threaten the entire city were to attack, a wall like this wouldn’t offer any resistance. Therefore, the wall was only to guard against weaker spirit beasts.

Due to the tight surveillance, there was no possibility of a spirit beast sneaking in. Any attempts would be thwarted immediately.

Ain continued towards the city gates. If one were to stand atop the city wall, a forest would be visible in the horizon. This was the Duskfield Forest, as well as Ain’s destination today.

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Due to its proximity to the Duskfield Forest, this entrance was conveniently known as the Forest Gate.

Forest Gate saw a large amount of traffic from spirit tamers leaving and entering the city. Shops, restaurants, and various other facilities were abundant in its vicinity.

Ain even spotted an eye-catching white, blue, and yellow building, signifying its identity. This was a branch of the Spirit Tamer Association.

He walked past the building after a brief pause.

‘I’ll explore on my way back. It’s better to finish the missions first,’ Ain mentally decided and headed out of the city.

Although the security was strict and rigid, he made it out in only ten minutes. The efficiency wasn’t low. Ain kept the procedures in mind for the future.

After taking a calming breath, Ain took his first step out of the city in thirteen years. The last time was when he was first brought to the city after he was orphaned. The memories he recovered during the awakening ceremony flashed across his mind, but Ain suppressed the thoughts immediately.

After leaving the city, what greeted his vision was a wide stone path, which branched off into smaller paths further away. Although the paths weren’t crowded, many spirit tamers could still be seen.

Like Ain, most were simply walking or running. But there would also be the occasional terrestrial and aerial vehicles passing by. The aura surrounding the vehicles was stifling as they passed by.

As Ain made his way towards the forest, he occasionally overheard some conversations amongst the nearby spirit tamers.

At this moment, a small team of four spirit tamers was heading in the same direction as Ain. The leader was a thin middle-aged man with a goatee, while the others seemed relatively young. Among them, the youngest seemed only a little older than Ain.

Ain listened in on their conversation.

“A team discovered two more bodies yesterday; their remains were almost unrecognizable.”

“Although it was passed off as a spirit beast attack, we all know what’s really going on.”

“Were they attacked by other spirit tamers? Why doesn’t the Spirit Tamer Association act?”

Hearing the question from their youngest team member, the leader glanced at him before answering.

“What action can they take? It’s difficult to enforce the law out in the wilderness. As long as it’s done discreetly, many things can pass under the radar. It’s a harsh thing to say, but the strong will always prey upon the weak. We formed a team to avoid this misfortune falling on us.”

Hearing the leader’s words, the young spirit tamer was silent. The others didn’t disturb him either. Ain, who was listening in, also quietly contemplated the words.

‘I need to be more careful,’ Ain thought. Although he had thought of this problem as well, it couldn’t be the reason for Ain to hole up in the city. Not when his wallet seemed to have a hole in it too.

Ain quickened his pace slightly, and then broke off into a jog. Not only did he want to reach the forest sooner, but he also wanted to put some distance between himself and the other spirit tamers. Once he entered the forest, it would be even more difficult to secure his surroundings, so it was better to be prepared early.

Instead of following the path into the forest, Ain veered off and entered the forest from a distance.

In the outer region of the forest, the trees weren’t very dense. Sufficient sunlight reached the forest floor. Ain briefly brought up the map on his hololink before confirming his path. He adjusted the position of the dagger on his belt and moved while surveying his surroundings.

His first target was to search for Misty Herbs. The information he found on Cyberspace only showed general regions in the outer periphery of the forest. Ain still needed to manually search these regions.

After moving around for about twenty minutes, Ain spotted a plant with green leaves resembling threads. It was mixed in with some shrubbery and difficult to spot without careful observation.

‘Threadleaf Grass, it’s a Rank-0 spirit herb.’ Ain swiftly identified it before harvesting it. Although this wasn’t his target, he had seen a gathering mission for the Threadleaf Grass. Ain could still submit these for rewards. He counted seven stalks after he finished gathering.

‘This is already 210 star coins.’ After getting his hands on his first harvest, Ain’s determination was strengthened. It was still morning, so Ain continued moving around in the periphery.

Over the next two hours, Ain searched carefully but still failed to find any Misty Herbs. That being the case, the Threadleaf Grass in his bag had increased to 34. Threadleaf Grass was very common, with a short life cycle. That’s why it was reasonably priced at 30 star coins per stalk.

During this time, he encountered a few spirit tamers, but everyone kept a respectable distance from each other. This made it apparent to Ain that it was unlikely for him to find Misty Herbs in this region. If he could obtain this information, others could naturally do so as well.

Thinking of this, Ain brought up the map once again. His second mission was to hunt Horned Wind Rabbits. There were numerous locations marked where the rabbits could be found.

After some deliberation, Ain chose a location that was slightly deeper into the forest. It was close to another location that Ain had marked for Misty Herbs. He decided to try his luck there.