STRIKER: Independent Beast Tamer

Special Base (4th Zone)

Jeremy Night was in his room. He kept looking at the handheld device. New posts had been uploaded by the members.

He looked through several of the online posts. He saw fully armored Beast Tamers taking the selected candidates into the wilderness.

First, he saw the post where five fully armored Beast Tamers were escorting the male candidates into the wilderness.

Then, he saw the posts where three female Beast Tamers were escorting the female candidates.

These were the final 15 members, and there would be no changes. Jeremy accepted reality. He put away the device first, and then he fell asleep. He wanted to forget about the recruitment for now.

The best way to do that was to sleep. Stella was flapping her six wings inside his mental zone. She wanted to comfort Jeremy Night, but she had no way to do so.

She then decided to urge him to enter the wilderness later. The best healing was to fight against corrupted beasts.

She stopped flapping her wings and rested on the floor.

Wilderness

Boom!

The shockwave from the battle shook the wilderness. The group had traveled deep inside the wilderness, close to the border.

The territory beyond the border was uncharted territory. This was the area where higher-tier beasts could be found in greater numbers.

Currently, the selected candidates had already encountered higher-tier beasts and were fighting them.

Rene and two other Beast Tamers were monitoring the female candidates. The female Beast Tamers and their lifeline beasts were fighting against Tier-7 Corrupted beasts.

The offensive Beast Tamers were fighting individually, while the others fought as a unit alongside support-type Beast Tamers. They were completely dominating the battle.

Rene and her companions were assessing their performance. One purpose of this small test was to verify the candidates’ profile information; another was to inspect the physical condition of both the Beast Tamers and their lifeline beasts.

Once they entered the 3rd Zone, they would not have much free time. The selected candidates would be inducted directly into the forces to fight against the corrupted beasts.

Rene was most impressed with a Tier-6 Beast Tamer who possessed a weapon-type talent.

She was the only Tier-6 Beast Tamer who had made the cut. She was even outperforming some of the Tier-7 Beast Tamers because she had the support of an flying type lifeline beast.

The combination was deadly. Rene was not the only one impressed; the two companions standing beside her were equally pleased. They were glad they had spotted her potential.

Beast Tamers with flying type lifeline beasts were in high demand everywhere, and finding an egg or cub of a flying lifeline beast with a high-grade bloodline was exceedingly difficult.

The rest of the candidates continued to perform well as time went on.

Meanwhile, Ken and his companions were watching the male Beast Tamers fight. They were observing the same details and quickly confirmed that none of the Beast Tamers were injured. Everyone was in peak condition.

At the same time, Ken and the others kept a close eye on their surroundings.

So far, no Tier-8 Corrupted beasts had shown any signs of appearing. As Tier-8 Beast Tamers, their mental power could cover a vast distance. Ken extended his mental senses even further.

It crossed the border. Ken tried to scan some ground in the unknown territory to see if any Tier-8 beasts were hiding. So far, his lifeline beasts had detected nothing.

He remained cautious. Being from the 3rd Zone, he knew that some Tier-8 beasts were entirely capable of concealing their presence.

After some time, Ken withdrew his mental power and shifted his gaze back to the ongoing battle. The selected candidates were clearly dominating; none of them were struggling.

”These recruits are solid. They will last longer in our zone,” one of the Tier-8 Beast Tamers said.

”It’s good that they can fight without armor. It strips away their fear. But once they enter the 3rd Zone, they will need to adapt to wearing full armor suits,” Ken remarked.

To them, the armor was like a second skin.

Hearing this, the others around him nodded in agreement. Just then, one of his companions recalled something and chuckled.

The chuckle drew the attention of the others.

Ken raised an eyebrow and asked, ”What is it?”

His companion wiped the grin off his face and said, ”I was just thinking about the recording. That young man with Tier-4 strength got lucky. Otherwise, the Tier-7 Beast Tamers would have taught him a lesson.”

”Look here the Tier-7 Beast Tamers are tearing through Tier-7 beasts. If that kid were here, he wouldn’t stand a chance,” he added.

The others heard this and laughed along.

”It must have been a fluke. Fortunately, Lord Rosalie didn’t entertain the thought of recruiting him. Otherwise, we would have become a laughingstock,” a middle-aged man chuckled.

Ken chuckled along with them.

...

Elder’s Office

Elder John was unusually quiet. He stopped answering calls and waited for the aircraft to depart from the area. He was also considering paying Jeremy Night a visit tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Elder Leah had seen the online posts as well. She felt bad for Jeremy Night and did not know what to say to the young man. She placed the blame on Elders Sandra and John.

They had entertained the idea that Jeremy Night could be scouted early by the main forces.

Naturally, everyone would prioritize recruiting Tier-6 and Tier-7 Beast Tamers first. Only someone willing to weather fierce criticism would take a chance on a lower-tier recruit.

She doubted that kind of faith could be forged in an initial meeting. Even the special base l elders had needed to observe Jeremy Night for some time before placing their trust in him.

Otherwise, no one would have believed that a young Tier-3 could climb the leaderboard rankings. She knew Jeremy had recently broken through, and his position on the leaderboard was likely to rise even further.

Therefore, an opportunity still existed for Jeremy Night. However, she refused to raise his hopes prematurely. Had she been in Sandra and John’s position, she would have exercised more restraint. She only hoped they would not repeat the mistake.

Elder Carter, on the other hand, was hardly surprised. He remained confident that Jeremy Night would get his chance next year.