“Do try not to get lost, the building is rather large.”

“Thanks for letting me know.”

I couldn’t help the sarcastic smile that found itself plastered across my face a moment later, but luckily for me, Matthew wasn’t looking at me.

Anyways, it seemed we were heading towards the stalls in the back of the building that I’d previously found myself passing by on the way out with Jasper. I hadn’t really paid any attention to the monsters that were there given I was in a hurry, but now that we’re heading back I’ve got plenty of opportunity.

It’s a few minutes to reach the back of the building, but given there’s no interruption this time, time practically flies! In what feels like just about a matter of seconds, we’ve arrived in, not quite the pens that I’d seen, but a slightly different locale.

Suppose I won’t get to take a look at those monsters. Oh well.

“What sort of budget are you working with here?” Matthew asked absentmindedly as his eyes drifted across the dozen or so different rooms in range of view.

“Let’s say about what you’ve paid me for my work so far. So about… two silver.”

“Hmm… not too much, but I suppose that’s enough for a few monsters at a discount. The selection might be somewhat lacking, though.”

“That’s fine.”

I was planning to just go find some wild monsters anyways. They might not be priorly trained, but I’m sure I could manage. One extra monster at the start couldn’t hurt though.

—

A very common throughline with all of these monsters being offered up as a choice, was that they were… not actually all that strong. Like, to the point where I’d rather just go out solo and get my own monsters. I mean, it’d be rude to just go out and say that, this was a show of good will after all, but still.

A few shrub monster, things, specifically called Resiala Forest Shrublings, all of whom had base stat lines of about nine in total. I had twenty at level one. Yikes. Oh yeah, speaking of that, unmentioned feature of the class, you can actually check the stats and skills of monsters that you try to tame. Neat enough, but I had bigger fish to fry.

I mean, seriously though, three vitality, five intelligence, and literally one strength? Really? I mean, I guess they had a lot of mana, but that was a SUB, stat. What purpose did it serve if they didn’t even have any skills to use that mana on…? They had precisely one skill, to be exact, that being [Mana Transfer] which did exactly what it said it did. It gave its target the casters mana. However, I have very little need for extra mana, so what’s the point!? Not to mention that they absolutely would not be able to keep up with me in a fight, with ZERO agility. It ain’t happenin!

After those three, whom were all together so they were actually a package deal as Matthew had informed me a moment later, (that still did not sway my opinion even a little bit, that was just a waste of three slots instead of one at that point.) we moved onto a few younger monsters. At this point, I was starting to see a pattern to the monsters that resided in this part of the game.

Resiala Forest Elk calf, Resiala Forest Boar farrow, Resiala Forest Bear cub, the last of those three actually being somewhat tempting, but that wasn’t the point.

What, that they all happen to be from the “Resiala Forest”? No, not that. It’s that all of them seem to have some tie to the wilderness in general. Like, every monster I’ve seen with a location attached to its name has been some sort of animal, or nature spirit. I mean it is a starter area I suppose, so a more simplistic motif makes sense. Just a curious observation I had.

Now, thinking about it, what exactly is the ideal monster that I’m looking for here? Some sort of animal that matches what I’m looking for in a prospective partner?

One that can keep up with me, like fifteen agility at a minimum. Or one that doesn’t need to keep up with me and can attack from a distance for big damage. A tanker was somewhat tempting, that being the bear cub with sixteen vitality and eight strength, but their measly t w o agility really left me asking, what exactly is the point? I guess I can de-summon and re-summon them all I want, but if they’re a stereotypical tanker they’re going to be taking damage. And that means that once I de-summon them, that they’d be off the battlefield for a long time.

Maybe I’d have a use for this in the future to like, soak up big attacks for some of my squishier monsters? But right now, it seems like a pointless investment to get a meat shield for early game attacks. I’d just be lowering my overall grind speed since they’d be desummoned, healing, a lot of the time. And when they’re summoned, cutting my overall experience gain in half. I want DPS, straight up damage. A monster that can invalidate the experience penalty by just doubling the speed of the grind. And for that, I need an attacker who can keep up with me, or otherwise deal a huge amount of damage in one fell swoop.

Huge aoe isn’t going to be an early game ability, that’s for certain. So that second option is basically off the table. Maybe huge single target damage from a magic caster or something similar, but I think I might’ve picked a bad starting location on that front. The closest thing I’ve seen to that end would be the shrublings, but they don’t even have any skills to put their mana stat of thirteen towards, besides mana transfer, which wouldn’t even be useful to me.

The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

So, that leaves me with the first of those two options. Find a monster that can keep up with me speed-wise.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh? Finally have a choice in mind?”

“I was hoping you might be able to narrow the search down a little.” I smile, very, slightly. It’s not a fake smile, it is genuine, but unfortunately that just makes it look like an annoyed smile.

“...I… see. Well, what sort of monster are you looking for?”

Tilting my head thoughtfully, I raise a finger a moment later. “Something like a lynx? A monster that can move quickly, preferably. Anything with an agility stat of fifteen or higher?”

“...Oh, I apologize. We don’t generally raise monsters like that. People are usually looking for more physically capable assistance.”

“I see…”

Well, kind of made sense in the context of the game world, I suppose? What was the one instance of monsters outside that I’d seen by now again? A few wolves pulling a carriage? I imagine that’s what most people would purchase monsters for, physical labor or something similar. So of course a place that sells monsters for a living, wouldn’t raise monsters that people don’t usually buy…

Wait, what the heck were shrublings for then?

Eh, didn’t really matter.

“Well, then I have one other monster in mind.”

“Hm?”

“What about Jasper?”

“...Pardon?”

“You know, Resiala Forest Lynx, Jasper, monster I was watching earlier?”

“No, no, I heard you. Just… you do understand why she hasn’t been sold, yes? Despite being significantly stronger than the average monsters we tend to have on hand?”

“Because she doesn’t listen to people?”

“Exactly. She’s almost unwilling to follow orders. I understand that she didn’t exactly give you a hard time, but I fear you may be underestimating just how unruly she can be.”

“Maybe… but they are exactly what I’m looking for in a monster at the moment. They’re faster than most other monsters here, right?”

“Well, yes, of course. She’s level seven, after all.”

…Wait wha?

“Level seven?”

“Yes, she had a master before coming to stay with us.”

No, that wasn’t what I was particularly surprised about… her level isn’t shocking, it’s just that… they’re making direct mention OF their level… as an NPC? I guess I mentioned agility earlier and they didn’t bat an eye, but the stats in game are just another part of daily life for these people? Well, alright. That’s not necessarily a common design choice, but I can vibe with it.

“I see. Well, I guess this is more of a question of, would you be willing to sell them for two silver? Because I think I can work my way past any difficulties as long as they’re not outright unwilling to listen to me in any way.”

Matthew went quiet for a few seconds, seemingly thinking it over. “I… suppose so. We’re likely never going to sell her otherwise, and while she is mostly tolerated by the staff here, it is an unnecessary expense to keep them. For two silver, I’d be willing to part with her.”

“Alright then!” I clapped and spun around, facing back towards the hall. “What are we waiting for then?”

“Wait a moment.” Matthew said with a hint of annoyance, probably at my flippant tone despite his warnings. “However, given her disobedience, I’ll leave you with an offer. Should she prove to be too much to handle, you may return her at any given time.”

“I appreciate the offer.” I nod without turning around, smiling knowing damn well I had absolutely no intention of taking that offer. A, level, seven, monster? Hell they don’t even need to consider listening to me, as long as they’re killing stuff that’s fine by me!

This is an early game area, level seven should be veritably dunking on the competition if a hundred fifty is the level cap! Even if we’re just off doing our separate things that should still be a good rate of experience farming. And if they don’t hunt on their own without incentive, I can still just reserve them for bigger fights until I eventually end up replacing them with a stronger monster if need be.

This is gonna be great!