‘Is this overcooked?’

Felix questioned himself as he stared at a giant block of charcoal. It was the second day of the exam and he hasn’t seen anyone yet. Though he had heard a lot of fighting, some were closer to his location than others

This morning he went out and killed a giant boar monster for its meat. Taking it back home to his tunnel, he skinned it and threw some of the parts that he didn’t know the use for. Leaving with just a slab of meat that he soon roasted, using the power of one of his fodder monsters.

Well, he indeed did roast it, just maybe a bit too much, because it soon went from a red fleshy meat to a giant block of charcoal. A burnt smell lingered inside the tunnel.

‘Hmm, maybe this is what they mean when they say, giving texture and crunch to a food.’

Convincing himself of that, Felix, immediately took a bite into the block of charcoal. Munching on the food, all he could taste was sulfur, as if it was a reflex of his body, Felix immediately spat out the food, and he washed his tongue and mouth with water.

…

On the internet, Felix had already become a meme. Everything he did was unique and eye-drawing compared to some of the other contestants. So there was a lot of discussion about him.

“What the hell, did he just bite into that?”

“LOL! He’s trying to kill himself before the other contestants can get to him.”

“So this is what they mean by geniuses of the Western Continent.”

“All I can say is that our country might be doomed if he is considered the future of the country.”

It was not only people online commentating but there were a lot of people staring at Felix through the screens. Especially his grandfather, who was so angry, that he almost had a heart attack from his high blood pressure.

…

Ignoring Felix, there were a lot of battles going on in the forest.

A greenish and brown hound was chasing after a girl. The hound’s eye sockets were empty as what replaced the eyeballs were greenish flames. Its fur was haphazardly placed around its body, as most of its surface was exposed bones.

Especially on the side of its belly, all that one could see was a rib cage and several rotting organs. As the zombie hound chased after the girl, in its mouth was a gigantic bone. Its canines gripping heavily onto the bone.

“Give up.”

“You have no chance of running away.”

A voice condescendingly mocked the fleeing party. The girl as if knowing that the voice was right, stopped running away. Her face was one of anxiousness. As a figure soon made itself known from the shadow.

It was Blake!

He was panting heavily. His physical condition was not as great as the other party mainly because he didn’t have a lot of contracted monsters compared to her. He was poor, so where would he be able to get so many monsters from?

The hound circled Blake, baring its teeth at the woman. The honest-looking Blake owned an undead monster.

Undead monsters were very rare, as the conditions for them to be born were strict and sometimes just required a lot of luck. Not only that, to contract an undead monster was hard too, as they held nothing but hatred and envy for the living. So it required a lot of luck and special chances to be able to contract one.

Especially in the Western Continent, where undead were seen as filth, and would immediately be killed by any Monster Tamers on sight. However, this was mainly caused by a misunderstanding between one of the guardians on the Western Continent and one of the guardians on the Northern Continent’s dislike for each other.

Blake commanded the hound to attack. Seeing as she had no willingness to surrender.

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“Scotch, get her!”

The hound threw the bone in its mouth at the woman. Who promptly dodged the attack. She was very athletic and nimble, as she summoned one of her monsters. An iguana-like creature. Its dorsal crests were a rainbow color, eyes that stared in opposite directions, dewlap hung low enough to touch the ground, and its height was bigger than the hound.

“Hmph, I didn’t want to fight you, but since you forced me to, you’ll pay the price for your arrogance!”

The woman coldly stated.

But all she received was a smirk from Blake. Near the area that the bone was thrown at, loud noises could be heard coming from the ground. A fist smashed open the ground, and it was soon followed by many other attacks. What came up from the ground was a crowd of rotten flesh and bones!

In each different species, some were more decomposed than others, while some were just bones. But the most striking part about them was the green fire that was burning inside their eyes. Staring at the woman and the iguana in hatred and envy.

These were monsters that had been killed during the battle, either because they were hunted by Monster Tamers, died from battles with other monsters, or were monsters under Monster Tamers and died during the battle.

They let out a loud screeching roar that strikes at the soul of everyone who heard it. Their roar was a soul-based attack, as they actually couldn’t produce any sound considering that they were bones.

That wasn’t the end of it, as Blake activated his talent. The bones on the undead grew thicker as the flames in their eyes turned a dark shade of purple. Their hatred had been multiplied! This was Blake’s talent, Berserk.

It could forcibly increase the strength of his targets but at the risk of making them lose their mind. Well with undead, they didn’t have minds in the first place, so it was just an increase in their strength.

The undead roared as they swarmed the woman and the iguana. Who stared dumbfoundedly at the swarm of zombies. She was desperately trying to fight over the swarm, as the tail of the iguana swept the first horde of undead, breaking some of their bones. But they soon got back up, not only that the second horde of undead clung onto the tail and were attacking it.

The iguana was only able to destroy a few pieces of undead before being swarmed by them. Seeing the hopeless situation she gave up.

“I give up!”

As she was soon teleported back into the venue with her monster.

…

“Hmm, that contestant with the Grave Digging Hound, is pretty good.”

“What was his name again?”

A man in a suit asked a worker. He was the representative sent by a university to scout for some talents. It was not only him that was asking this question as multiple other attendees, were curious and wanted to recruit him.

“His name is Blake, sir.”

“Thank you.”

Grave Digging Hounds were born from hounds that liked to dig up trash and sometimes corpses to scourge for food. After their death, their resentment sometimes allowed them to be reborn as undead.

Many had already speculated the reason why Blake had been able to contract it. He was probably the owner of the hound before it became an undead. As an undead monster wouldn’t randomly contract with a Monster Tamer for no reason.

“If he could evolve the Grave Digging Hound into a Tomb Raising Hound, he would truly rise among his peers.”

Many people nodded in agreement with the man’s statement. Hence why they desperately wanted to recruit him before others could. It was simply an investment in his future. This was the reason why so many people attended the exam, they could scout and recruit many talents that were hidden before.

…

It was not only Blake that was shining in the exam.

In the sky was a figure that was declaring its sovereignty of the sky. It had fleshy wings with brown bronze-like scales, an ugly beard, and a hideous reptile face. Its lizard-like eyes were staring at the ground in contempt.

It had no forearms as its wings were its forearms. But it had two strong hind legs with a club-like tail. A figure was gripping its two horns as if she were the owner of the monster.

It was Katrina, and her monster was a Bronze Wyvern!

Wyverns were the mixed offsprings of western pureblooded dragons and snake monsters. Many dragons were disdainful of these mixed-blooded offsprings, but their lascivious nature, usually caused them to mate with many species. Creating many monsters with dragon bloodlines that roamed. Wyverns were one of the mixed offsprings with the purest dragon bloodline.

This was the reason why many people paid attention to her in the venue. It was well known that her monster was a wyvern. She was a celebrity who always promoted herself and her wyvern in many magazines and online stunts.

Anyone who saw the wyvern in the sky immediately fled. They were not looking for a thrashing for no reason. Katrina wasn’t also interested in fighting these fodders, she was looking for Katsuro. If she could beat up Katsuro, she would become even more famous.

As for Katsuro, he was currently surrounded by an infernal hell.

There were many burnt corpses around him. As he calmly stood in the sea of fire. He looked like an immortal descended from the heavens, untainted by the mortal world.

“How pitifully weak.”

Katsuro felt immense contempt for the people around him. Treating them like trash, and they had the right to do so. As he was simply just a cut above the rest. It didn’t take long for, the number of participants to dwindle from 1000 to less than 600 in just one day.

The fighting was cruel, but only those tempered in the flames of battles were considered a genius.