Lassie Town, Dakota Dukedom World: 90 days. Returning in the morning, the two had a better look at the property. There were different animals frolicking around. Deer, rabbit, birds of different kinds, etc. A couple crows nearby started making noise as soon as they reached the front gate. Jason wondered if they were a form of alarm system. Soon the front door opens and a woman yells "Off!" which immediately silences them. It was loud to silent in a second. The woman looked like she just got out of bed since she was wearing a pair of pajamas and had long messy blond hair. As she approached the gate, the duo were able to notice her pointy ears. She was an elf; the first female one Jason has seen so far. Reaching the gate, the woman speaks with barely concealed annoyance. "So early in the morning... What do you people want?" Jason responds politely "Good morning, madam. Apologies for disturbing your sleep. I am seeking someone to train me in taming. You came highly recommended by my good friend Sam. So we've traveled quite a bit to meet with you, Miss Deborah." "Hm! Sam, eh? Even if you drop his name, my answer is no. I'm too busy to train anyone, plus it's a hassle. Goodbye." "If you are busy, I can relieve you of a sizable chunk of your work and give you free time. Plus I'm rather quick on the uptake, so training me will be a breeze. Here's a letter from Sam to you. I trust you will be convinced." Says Jason as he hands the letter over. Deborah looks at it, then at Jason's salesman smile, then back at it before sighing and taking it. After 5 minutes of reading, the woman gives Jason an odd look which makes him wonder what Sam put in that letter. "I haven't agreed to anything yet. I'll let you prove yourself. If I'm not satisfied, the deal is off and you leave. Agreed?" "That's fair. Thank you for the opportunity, miss." "Hm." Deborah opens the gate and leads to two into her home. When the interior is revealed, the sight throws the two for a loop. There are animals everywhere in various cages and confinements. Deborah grabs a vaccum cleaner ki tool and hands it to Jason. "You said you can buy me time, right? Vacuum this room for a start." Jason hands the tool to Chanty then performs a series of Hand Gestures before slamming his palm on the ground. This causes all the dirt on the floor to flow to his hand and make a small pile which he takes up into his mindscape. This all happened in seconds and Deborah whistles at it. "Hmmm... Nice. But I'm not done testing you yet, though. Next up is cleaning the cages and removing the litter." Deborah then goes to each cage and does demonstrations. Unsurprisingly Jason picks things up quickly and ends up completing his tasks faster than she does. Deborah doesn't know whether to be happy or not. "Next is feeding. Come on!" Jason overperforms once again, and Deborah eyes are twitching. She soon takes a deep breath before speaking. "Looks like you're the real deal, huh. OK, final test. I'll show you how to get food and bedding for the animals. If you can pull that off too, I'll agree to train you. You'll have to handle all these tasks as the price of my time. Agreed?" "Yup! Agreed. Let's go!" Replied Jason, and all three left through the backyard door. Different animals were frolicking around, and there was a humble garden in the corner. They made their way to a shed nearby and Deborah opened the door to reveal different types of plants, fruits and grain neatly stored. Deborah went about describing each plant, it's purpose, for which animal, and how to harvest them. After that, she grabs some sickles and a... Farming tool that looks like a Grim Reaper Weap- Scythe! before leading the two to edge of the property and further into the wild lands. There she gave explanations and demonstrations, and Jason copied and pasted her work. Soon he took over collections and they were done in no time. When the trio returned to the house, Deborah made her decision. "Very well, you win. I'll train ya..." "Woohoo! Yeah!" Jason rejoices as he highfives Chanty. An hour later, Jason is sitting on a stool in the kitchen facing Deborah who has by now bathed and changed clothes into something more presentable. As for Chanty, she had left for the Guild to find Quests to take care of in the meantime. Deborah proceeds to explain the concept of Taming to Jason first. The first step is to channel ki into one's "Mental Gate" located in the forehead until a 'click' like a door unlocking is felt. Deborah does a demonstration which Jason replicates immediately, so she proceeds to the next step when she brings over a baby chick. The second step involves connecting one's Mental Gate with that of the creature they wish to tame through direct contact. Doing this with transport a fragment of the consciousness of the Tamer in the form of a Mental Avatar. After reiterating her instructions, Deborah brings the chicks forehead over to meet Jason's. When contact is made, Jason's perspective immediate changes to him slamming through a gate before falling through the air like it was water. Below him was a blank landscape with nothing but a maze; the entrance of which is directly below him, with a door at the other end connected a cube. According to Deborah's teaching, This Maze represents the creature's intelligence and mental development. The older and more intelligent the creature, the larger and more complex the maze becomes. Jason's first goal is make it through the maze as quickly as possible. This is because his Mental Avatar is made of Mental Strength or 'Mind'. Breaking through the chick's Mental Gate cost Jason a fair bit of Mind, plus the water-like atmosphere was constantly sapping Mind from his Avatar. If he wastes too much time, his Mind will deplete to nothing, and force him out of the Chick's head which will result in a backlash of an intense migraine, plus a longer recovery period than if he had cut the link himself. Jason soon lands at the entrance to the maze and takes off running. He had memorized the layout during his descent, and figured out a path before reaching the ground. This would be a barrier of entry for most people trying to Tame. Individuals who have photographic or eidetic memory like Jason and those who are good at memorizing would have an easier time than the average Joe would. After reaching the exit, Jason comes face to face with a 'door'. Looking at it reminded him of those portals in Korean Manhwas that serve as entrances to dungeons. Deborah told him it's like moving through jelly, and that it would drain his Mental Strength (Mind) many times faster. If he fails to get through before his avatar is completely drained, he'll suffer the backlash. He was advised to cut the link before it came to that. However if he manages to get through the door, he'll enter a domain called the Room of Consciousness (ROC). Unsurprisingly Jason gets through the gate, but only by the skin of his teeth. He was currently semi-transparent like a ghost. The fact that he breezed through the maze was what preserved his Mind and gave him the edge. Deborah was expecting him to fail his first try, and she would have been right if he wasn't such an absolute unit. Entering the ROC, Jason looks around. It was a semi-spherical space the size of a house that reminded him a snow globe. To be more precise, it looked like a replica of the interior of Deborah's home, which made sense since the chick only knows of the inside. Outside the Snow Globe was an expanse of nothingness. "No, more like the world ended at the glass of the Snow globe." Jason corrected. At the centre of the ROC was a floating sphere containing what appeared to be the chick in a fetal position. Jason just stood there admiring the whole scene for quite awhile. After he was done feeding his eyes, he walks up to the chick, places a hand on the ball, then begins channeling his very being into it like he would ki. After a short while, he feels a click and his perspective changes. "Woah!" Jason exclaimed. The reason for this was because he was looking at the chick through his eyes, and at himself through the eyes of the chick simultaneously. It was quite the trippy feeling. 'So this is what it's like to control the 6 Paths of Pa-" "So, how'd it go?" Deborah asks interrupting his thought. Jason turns to the bored elf as he thinks of an appropriate response. Telling her he's got it in one is a no go, as he doesn't want to deal with too many questions. So he cancels his link to the chick before settling for the story that he canceled his dive after reaching the door to the Room Of Consciousness (ROC). Deborah is impressed by his report and instructs him to rest his mind before retrying, and to repeat the process till he's successful. She then hands Jason the chick and leaves to go do something out of sight. Jason does as he's told. However instead of making his way through the Maze and Door like last time, he links to the chick's consciousness directly without going through the earlier steps. That's what happens when one makes it all the way to the ROC and completes the final step. The Avatar leaves behind a trail of one's will, which when connected to the floating sphere in the ROC, creates a direct link between Jason and the Chick. With the link made, Jason sets the chick down to roam around freely, while he looks through both their eyes simultaneously. He was currently in the first of the 3 Stages of taming called The Observation Stage. The other 2 being the Coersion Stage and Domination Stage respectively. "OCD. Pfft! What are the chances?" In the Observation Stage, all Jason can do is passively receive the chick's senses. Right now, all he was getting was sight. He'll unlock the other senses automatically as time passes. "Hehe! Soon I'll break through the Eyeball Stage of the Observation Realm, and enter the Nostril Stage." The Coersion Stage involves influencing the pets behaviour where it feels similar to a 'thought in the back of their mind', a 'gut feeling' or an 'epiphany' from the creature's perspective. They still have full control of their faculties and can move by themselves, but the Tamer can still influence them to some degree. The Domination Stage consists of taking over the creature's body completely and controlling it as if it's one's own body. This costs quite a bit of Mind to pull off, and has a high failure rate if the connection between Tamer and Tamed isn't strong enough. As time passes, Jason's Mental Strength had drained by quite a bit, so he made sure to cut the link before he reached his limit. After a redo, Jason was pleased to learn that he lasted a bit longer. A normal person would be displeased at this rate of growth because they have to be meditating through it all to maintain focus, and not be able to do anything else, however Jason was a unique case, and could do other stuff in the meantime. That was another reason why Taming was such a niche profession. You had to spend so much time training that you didn't have much time for other things, plus it was virtually impossible to combine taming with any martial training because you'd be spreading yourself too thin and end up mediocre in both. It was either all taming or no taming at all. Jason remembered the Wyvern Trio saying that their Sect has specialist tamers who's whole job is to tame and train the baby wyverns to make them easier for their assigned riders to control. That was all they did. Nothing else. They had very little combat skill, and were employed by the Sect. This had Jason wondering about Deborah. She had no backing from a Sect, plus she ran this place by herself. "How does she do it all and also find time to train in taming?" Jason keeps up his training while doing his regular ki meditation inorder to maximize his time. Noon roles around and Deborah returns to the kitchen. Seeing him in a meditative pose, she assumes he has formed a link with the chick, and does a silent whistle. 'Damn! Guess he's not all talk. A day nowhere near enough for me to get this far, and here he is doing it in a few hours.' She takes a seat intending to wait for him to finish his session, but Jason stops meditating right away to save her the wait. "Not bad for your first time, kid. Guess you're as good as you say you are. Got any questions?" Questions indeed. Jason needed some advice on what creature he should tame, so he asked about that. "It's not that tough of a choice. Since you'll be traveling alot, it's best you get something that flies. You can't go wrong with any species of Eagle. They grow fast, they can take down prey larger than them, carry prey heavier than them, and are great for scouting and tracking as they give you a birdeye view. Heck! They can even catch fish." Advised Deborah. "So, where do I get me an eagle?" "Go check the guild if there's a quest for that. Folks hire others to help them capture all kinds of Hazard Beast young'uns. If you don't see what you're looking for, then put up a quest yourself and someone with info will tell you were to find it, and maybe give you a hand too." "I see. I'll do just that. Thanks for the info, Deborah." "Yeah, yeah. Anyway, keep training with that Lil guy I gave you. After you unlock all the senses, come back and I'll give you pointers on the Coercion Stage. Now off you go, mister." Deborah waves him off. Jason give a casual salute before exiting Deborahs home. He walks down the street with the little chick tweeting in his hand. "Chanty shouldn't be back until evening, so I'll explore the town while grinding my Mental Strength." Lassie Town was very similar to Tatter Town as they were both quite agricultural. A key difference was that different kinds of little critters were running around the place. The animals weren't dangerous, plus they wore collars, so he knew they had owners. Jason had a hunch they were quite a few other tamers in town. Soon he reaches the Guild, then looks upon the Quest Wall. He unfortunately doesn't find what he's looking for. So as per Deborah's suggestion, he put up a Quest for an Eaglet sale or capture. While that was being processed, he also checked if Sam sent mail. "Oh? It was only on a whim. I wasn't expecting there to actually be one." Quickly reading the overly formal letter, Jason learns Sam is done with his business in Tatter Town, and is on his way over to rendezvous with them at Lassie Town. By the math, he should arrive in 9 days. "Ah... My favourite elf is coming soon. I sure have missed the guy. He's walking into the mother of all bear hugs when he gets here. His reaction will be hilarious. Hehehe...". Finished with his business, Jason exits the Guild and makes his way to the Inn. Unsure of how to kill time, he decides to meditate for the rest of the afternoon in his room. Halfway to the Inn, the chick begins crying loudly, and it takes only a moment for Jason to realise that it must be hungry. "Sorry little guy, we've been training all morning and you must be starving." Finding an unocuppied bench beside the road to sit on, Jason materializes a smoked piece of meat before cutting out tiny pieces he feeds to the chick who eats greedily. After stuffing the bird to the brim, Jason continues on his way to the Inn. When he gets there however, his eyes widen in shock and wonder as he looks upon the now sleeping chick in his hand. "No... Effing... Way... Are you for real?!" Rushing to book a room, Jason gently places the bird somewhere comfortable as he steps back and looks upon the sleeping creature with awe. "So I can use my Lucid Realm when the chick's asleep, huh. And we're both sharing the space. Little guy must be confused as all heck in there." Jason wasn't sure of the implications of this, so he would just go with the flow and see what he learns. So he sits his main body down to cultivate, while the him in the Lucid Realm does his thing. Lucid Realm Jason thought for a moment before deciding to turn the little chick into it's adult form. It was quite the colorful little thing Jason thinks he might have seen before on some nature channel, but can't remember. Ironic. Colorful, sharp beak, and the size of a chicken was description enough. The little guy was waddling around in its new body for awhile before Jason willed it to fly. It 'took off' with Jason hot on its tail. "Looks like I have complete control of this Space." The two dreamers flew around for awhile until Jason had another bright idea, and decided to turn the bird into a Harpy. This transforms everywhere but it's wings and feet into human form. "Ahh... So it's a female, huh." "Keee! Keee! Keee!" Sounded the now harpy as she inspects her new body. " "Hello kiki, how do you like your new look?" "Keee!" Sounded kiki as she examines her bosom. Which is immediately covered by a t-shirt, and her crotch covered by Jean shorts both of which Jason materializes. "Let's not get distracted now. Hey Kiki, Do you understand what I'm saying?" Jason calls out to her. "Keee!" Kiki responds while flapping her wings excitedly. 'Not sure what that means, but I'll verify.' "Kiki, nod if you understand me." "Keee! Keee! Keee!" The harpy nods energetically. 'Hmm?' "Kiki, spin around." "Keee!" She spins. "Kiki, backflip." "Keee!" She flips. "... Kiki, make an ahegao face." "Keeh!" She ahegaos. "WTF?!" Jason exclaims in shock. 'That's a fricking chick! It knows nothing compared to an adult bird, and even that's not much knowledge. So how the hell does it understand everything I'm saying? Are our minds linked that strongly? Is it because we're in a my Lucid Realm? What in blazes is going on here?!' Jason wonders aggressively while Kiki is off playing by herself. He initially thought that Kiki was a figment of his imagination he created in his Lucid Realm, however the fact she gives off the same feeling as that sphere in her Room of Consciousness made him believe otherwise. "Wait. Is it possible that I converted the ROC into my Lucid Realm?" Jason ponders the interesting possibility for a moment before stopping and taking note of his own person. "Interesting. I wasn't paying attention so didn't notice my body here is still my Avatar of Consciousness. My guess might actually be true." To test this out, he looks to Kiki and calls her over, to which she obeys. "I'm going to try something out real quick. Pleases hold still." Jason explains as he places a hand on her head, and begins channeling his very being into her like he would ki. In no time, there's a sudden change is perspective. He was now seeing through the chick's eyes. However Jason realizes this time was different. Why? Because he just stood up using the chick's body. Not only that, but he also had access to all of her senses. "I have full control of Kiki?! But shouldn't that be in the final stage? How did I skip all the way to there?" Jason continues to ponder on this as he gets used to the chick's body. He later decides it best to save these questions for Deborah tomorrow. Fast forward to dusk, and Chanty arrives at the Diner portion of the Inn where a waiting Jason waves her over. They order food, and update each other on their day. Chanty was off scouting the surrounding forests, while unaliving anything that dared attack her. She explained that there were a few tamed animals running around. They wore collars to distinguish them from regular wildlife, despite that, she had a few close calls and almost left some people a pet short. She was glad the Guild gave her a head's up. Jason on the other hand explained the Taming training, the letter from Sam, and the Quest he put up. He didn't bring up his shenanigans with Kiki because it was too fantastical and game breaking. It would force him to explain alot more than he would like, and he'd rather keep those things to himself. Just before concluding their dinner date, Chanty expressed her intention to spar with him again. "I do not wish for my skills to dull by only fighting mere beasts. Besides, as Teacher and Pupil, regular sparring comes with the territory. We haven't had the opportunity till now, so I intend to seize it. What say you, Jason?" "Sure. I don't mind, late morning to early afternoon tomorrow after a session with Deborah sound good?" Offered Jason. "Very much so. I look forward to seeing your progress, pupil" And with that, the two settle in for the night. DAY 91: After breakfast, Chanty escorts Jason to Deborah's place once again. She had no plans for the day, so she decided to tag along. When they got to their destination, Jason knocks on the elf woman's door and waits. Quite awhile later, Deborah answers with a confused look. "Da heck?! Why are you back so quickly? No way you've gotten past the first stage in less than a day." "Good morning to you too, Ms Deborah. No, it's nothing as impossible as that, I just happened to have tonnes of questions I need your guidance on." Replied Jason, who got a raised eyebrow in response. "Oh really... Fine by me, I guess. You know your fee, come in and do your thing." Answers Deborah as she opens the door for the two. An hour later, Chanty is petting a baby otter in the corner of the house while Jason and Deborah are having their sit-down. "So, what you wanna ask, kid?" Inquires Deborah as she sits casually. "Well, first I'm curious as to what happens if you're linked to your pet when it falls asleep." Deborah raises a brow at that before responding. "If that happens, the Tamer would fall asleep as well, which causes them to lose concentration and leads to the severing of the link. It'll give them the mother of all headaches just like with the other cases. Why'd you ask?" "I was just curious, is all. The chick got sleepy after I fed it, so I wanted to make sure it was safe." Replied Jason. "That's fair, I should have warned you about that. Since we're on the topic, try your best to make sure the creature you're Taming doesn't get knocked unconscious or killed while you're linked, or the backlash will be just as bad if not worse." "Good to know. Now another question: is there a shortcut to controlling one's pet?" Deborah had to think about that one for a bit. "... Hmmm. Well, if you have a whole lot of Mental Strength, you can brute force it and control the critter's body. Problem is, that breaks the mind and leaves it in a catatonic state." "Is there a way for someone who doesn't have an overwhelming amount of Mental Strength to pull it off? Like a walkaround or backdoor, or something?" "Nope. No shortcuts for you, buddy. Taming is pretty rigid. Just keep at what you're doing. Any more questions?" Jason thinks for a moment before asking. "What do you know about Mind Break?" Hearing the question causes Deborah's face to immediately turn serious. Her reply sounded frosty. "Why do you ask, kid?" Jason notices her change in tone. It makes sense to him, as it's a generally sensitive topic. "You mentioned that if someone brute forces their pet, they'll break their mind. Is it possible to tame such a pet? Also, is that, and 'Mind Break' people suffer from the same thing, or different?" "To answer your first question, yes its possible to tame a pet that has its mind broken. In fact, its the easiest way, because their Mental Gate is wide open, the thick atmosphere is non-existent, the maze is a rubble, the Door has lost its barrier, and the Room of Consciousness is in ruins. All you have to do is walk directly in, and touch the floating sphere to have complete control. The reason it's so easy is because the creature is basically in a coma. Yeah, it's the shortcut you're looking for, but I'm strongly against you doing that. I'm sure you can guess why." Jason didn't need to think too deeply about that. "I'm guessing because it's unethical." She nods to his answer. "Bingo. Even if Tamers control animals and Hazard Beasts, they're still pets and companions at the end of the day. Turning them into an empty husk and using them as a meat puppet is all kinds of fucked up. Besides, at least a pet tamed properly can still take care of itself. You're asking for more problems if you take this path." Deborah says pationately. "Fair point..." Jason wasn't an animal lover to the point of saying a pet is a member of the family Iike some weirdos and cat ladies do, but he drew the line at abuse of this level. "Yeah, but shit gets worse. There are some folks out there who are so fucked in the head that they'd take little kids, shatter their minds and then do all kinds of messed up shit to them. Folks call them "Human Puppeteers", and they give Tamers a bad name. Heck it's so bad that a lot of folks get all kinds of antsy about you being around their kids if they learn you're a Tamer. I don't blame them, but its still so fucked up. They make you feel like you're some creep, and I hate it!" Jason didn't know how to respond for a short while. Deborah's words were rather illuminating, all things considered. She then excuses herself to pour a cup of juice for herself and downs it as if it's beer. "OK! Before I answer your second question, let me rephrase 'breaking the mind' into 'mind shatter', to avoid confusion with 'mind break'. First off, they're not the same. Mind Shatter happens when you brute force your way into a pet's or person's mind and fry it in the process. Mind Break on the other hand is caused by psychological trauma which only affects the 4 races as far as I know. Another difference is that the maze is destroyed in a case of 'mind shatter', but remains intact when it comes to 'mind break'. So one still has to traverse it inorder to reach the Room of Consciousness, but it's still much easier." "So I'm guessing someone with Mind Break would be a preferred target for 'Shattering' since their minds are already damaged to such a degree." Jason points out. "Actually, no. A Shatter is done from the... You know, I don't wanna tell you how it's done. Just know those with Mind Breaks can't have their Minds Chattered, and leave it at that. " Deborah replies. "Fair enough... Hey. Is there any way to cure people of Mind Break?" Deborah raises a questioning brow at his inquiry. "Why are you so interested in this topic, kid?" Jason tries to ease her concern. "Well, you see, my partner and I saved a bunch of women from a Bandit camp some time ago. You can guess the rest. The whole thing has been messing with my head since then. That's why I'm curious." "Damnit. I get it now. Sorry kid, but I'm not an expert on that side of things. What I do know, is that its really fucking hard to treat, and folks who recover are really fucking rare. It's basically a death sentence." "I see... Well, for my last question, why do you cuss so much?" "Fuck you, kid. This is my house, and I'll talk however the hell 8 want." "Easy there, I don't have a problem with it. I'm just curious, cuz you're the 3rd elf I've ever met, and the other 2 speak with more... class. I thought that's just how elves talked till you threw me for a loop." "Ohhh? I'm guessing Sam's one of the 2 you mentioned. You're talking like it isn't obvious why. Are you saying you don't know Sam's background?" Jason scratches his head in embarrassment at the question. "He doesn't know anything about my background either. So..." "You don't look like you have any background, so what's there to know?" "Ouch!.." "Am I wrong, kid?" "No, but it still stings." "I don't give a fuck. Sam's background is between you and him anyway. You that curious, then ask the guy. So are we done here? It'll be noon soon, and I want to eat my lunch in peace." "Yeah. That'll be all for now, really appreciate the feedback." "Yeah yeah sure sure, now git."

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