A Tamer’s Adventure

Wooden weapons clashed, and a shield blocked the thick blade of a great sword. Amber groaned, stepping back to maintain her balance as her opponent, an orc warrior, swung down again. He was relentless with his attacks.

She blocked again but was sent back a distance as she regained her balance. A shadow cast over her as the orc was already on his downswing, and Amber’s eyes widened as the blade came down.

The ground cracked beneath her, but her body didn’t fall. “This again.” The orc grumbled as his sword went through Amber.

Her body had become the translucent shape of water. Grinning, she glanced down at the sword embedded in the ground. She came out of her hydration state and thrust her spear at the orc’s body.

He cursed, letting go of his wooden blade, and stepped back. He was now on the defensive, avoiding her spear jabs. And when the opportunity presented itself, he closed the distance and went to grapple.

But feeling the sudden weight at his feet as she grabbed him with her tail, he fell on his back and tried to recover quickly, only to meet her spear in the face. They stopped right there; it was Amber's victory, one of many as she was sparring against a seasoned knight.

“Not bad. That’s your fourth win.” He grinned, stabbing his sword into the ground.

“Yeah, out of six losses.”

"True, but you’ve done well in the past two weeks. And that skill of yours too—it’s hard to harm a body made of literal water unless you use fire or ice magic.”

Amber nodded in agreement. Hydration was a great skill and made her combat abilities soar. Her eyes went past the other adventurers, knights, and combat classes sparring against one another to improve their skills for Martyn.

His wooden scimitar glided off his opponent’s spear, using the curve of his blade, and swung at his chest. The spearman bent backwards with a flip-avoiding motion.

He charged at Martyn, unleashing a series of piercing attacks and horizontal slashes. Martyn did the best with his agility, avoiding them by a hair. The spearman had the advantage, something Martyn did not, but that meant nothing.

With a grin, he jumped back and calmed his heart. With spatial awareness, he charged, and so did the spearman.

Martyn vanished from space entirely, turning into a stream of light the size of a fist only for a second before appearing within the spearman’s personal space with his scimitar at his neck.

“Crap. I lost.” The spearman said this, signalling his victory.

“That was great.” Martyn grinned.

“Hah, yeah, and I thought I had you too. That blink spell is such a cheat.” The man sighed.

Martyn chuckled, wiping beads of sweat from his shirt. He looked to Amber to see that she was also done with her sparing. The two left the arena, changing into their common clothes and leaving.

For the past two weeks since Derek and his father’s fate was decided, they have been visiting this arena and training facility to spar against various people. Everyone here was either a warrior class or had a combat skill they wanted to level up.

It gave them a great deal of experience fighting against several different opponents, broadening their experience and combat abilities.

Their routine began with their physical training outside the city, followed by the arena, which took them into the afternoon and would be concluded by clearing the dungeon.

Afterwards, they practised their magic, with Amber trying to learn a new spell to advance her magic so she could meet the requirements to evolve and Martyn trying to learn a space spell.

Amber had yet to learn a new spell but did master her most recent spell, hydrification, which turned her body into water, allowing whatever attacks to pass through her, essentially making it hard to physically damage her.

It was a surprise she revealed when facing the boss of the eighth floor, another Greater Kobold warrior. She let him stab her, which panicked Martyn at first before he noticed her skill as she sliced its head off.

He was happy at first, then chastised her for scaring him like that.

As for Martyn, he learned his first space spell, Blink, a week ago; it allowed him to vanish from the current plane of existence and travel forward as a spear of light in whatever direction he wished.

The force of the direction travelled is applied to him once he comes out of that state, which Martyn uses to add weight to his attacks and improve his combat abilities. It was also a great way of transportation and was recommended to be learned before attempting teleportation.

Martyn set a later date, as his current goal was to learn the spatial rendering spell. The last bit from the memory of the space mage, when he learned spatial awareness, honed in on cutting space, something he wanted to learn.

Following their routine, Amber’s agility and psyche increased by one point; for Martyn, only his strength increased. He had also gained the space magic skill on account of learning the blink spell.

Normally, they’d go to the dungeon to gain more experience, but as of today, they had other plans. It was the beginning of the ninth month of the year and two months since taming Amber. Which meant it was time for his check-up.

“So we’re going to meet up with Joseph?” Amber asked.

“Yep, their party has a house not far from here; it’s just for a check, though, but I’d like to ask about some skills.”

“Mn, what kind of monsters has he tamed?”

Martyn chuckled. “I think it’s best to ask him that yourself.”

It wasn’t long before they arrived at their base of operation, a mansion. They didn’t go into the building but instead went to the back, which held a sizable garden and a small pond by a tree.

And sitting beneath it at a table was Joseph, who grinned at seeing them walk over.

"Well, call me impressed; you’ve grown, mister Space Mage,” Joseph smirked, his crimson eyes observing the two of them.

Martyn chuckled, taking a seat, and Amber did too.

“Yeah, a lot has happened.”

“I can tell, so how are you both doing so far?”

“Pretty well,” Amber said, “we never properly met; it’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“Pleasures all mine, little lady; you’ve made a good choice for a first partner—resilient, fast recovery, overall impressive.” Joseph nodded.

“We’re doing better now that all the shit’s behind us; by the way, where are the others?” Martyn asked, looking into the house.

Joseph explained how the others were out on personal business. Amber, looking at the back of the building, spotted two large animal huts. But they were empty.

Joseph met her gaze with an excited look. “You want to meet my partners?”

Amber nodded out of curiosity. Joseph snapped his fingers as a pool of blood emerged from the pond. Amber stared intently as, out of it, leapt two blood-red creatures.

They howled, standing as tall as them on all fours, “Meet my partners, crimson fangs; they’re a blood wolf evolution, and the sweetest pups you’ll ever meet, isn’t that right?”

Joseph stood with his arms open. The two blood wolves came to him, smothering him with dog-like affection, their tails wagging. “Who’s a good boy? Yes, you are. Oh, and you’re also a good boy!” He said.

“They’re brothers,” he said, scratching beneath their chins. “You won’t find these on this continent; you will, but they’re a rare sight here.”

“They’re native to the Grey Lands; it’s the continent for vampires and any vitality-draining races,” Martyn added.

Joseph beckoned her to come to greet his wolves. Amber was unsure, but a comforting nudge from Martyn made her rise.

“These guys are big,” she gulped as one brought its head down to level and gently rubbed its red fur. She giggled before cratching beneath its chin, at which point the other wolf nudged it aside, wanting the same treatment.

"True, but they can grow bigger; it’s a skill of theirs,” Joseph said proudly. “Why don’t you go play with them while I chat with Martyn here? It’ll bore you, I can promise that. It’s just tamer stuff.”

Amber nodded and went to the other side of the road, with the two red wolves in tow, jumping around her to gain her attention.

Sitting back down, Joseph faced Martyn. “So do you have any questions, or is this going to be a short check-up?”

Martyn leaned forward. “I have a few questions about the “monstrous talent skill.” I know it’s passive, but...”

Martyn stopped as Joseph raised his palm.

“I know where this is going; it’s unknown how it levels up; it just does; some say it in tandem with the “soulbond” skill, but once it reaches level five, you can actively choose which skills to copy from your tames; the only issue is that it’ll demand experience in exchange for doing so.”

Martyn nodded, pleased with the answer. He wasn’t sure how long it would take, but once he could, he’d gain all the skills he could from Amber.

“Next, I’m not sure about what my second Tame should be; I want it to evolve into a monster girl; I don’t want another Kobold, as with the variety, I have more options of skills to learn. Thoughts?”

“Hm, well, my biassed opinion is for you to head over to the Grey Continent and get yourself a vampiric monster and evolve it into a vampire or a human-like being; you’ll get blood and instant regeneration skills that are worth it; you’ll be near unkillable and can heal relentlessly.”

“And what about a non-biassed opinion?”

"Well, if it’s the variety you want, then I suggest getting yourself a goblin. They can learn a variety of skills. Yes, I know a female goblin is rare but not impossible to find, and if you do, then it’ll no doubt be special.

The only reason it would survive for so long as part of a tribe instead of being a birthing pod would be because it’s valuable enough for the tribe to keep it around, meaning it’ll be either a variant or have unique potential. Remember the goblin champion that came through the city? She was a dual affinity warrior.”

Martyn nodded. Now that training a female goblin was a possibility, he had the money and, with no threats, the time to put in the proper resources.

“Not only that, but they can also learn the tinkering skill, something only specific to their race, one that blacksmiths and dwarves envy. If you can get your hands on that, then aside from the space mage community, that’d be another corner of the world that you can stand in.

The only reason no one goes after a goblin is because they're ugly, but that’s just because they know nothing about nutrition and hygiene and just eat whatever they can. It’s usually why they’re born with an iron gut.”

Those were some decent points and reasons Martyn agreed with, but for one, he didn’t want to bring one into the city, and for another, where could he find one? As if reading his mind, Joseph continued. But he didn’t forget about his biased opinion.

“You’re planning to raise Amber’s stats before evolving her up, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then take a quest; you’re a D-rank party, so there should be a few goblin extermination quests. It’ll drag you away from the city, of course, but you can train while you're away and search among the goblins while you're away.”

It all sounded good except, “Even if I got one, I don’t know how to evolve it into a goblin champion. There was nothing about that in the library. The best it reached was an ogre from a hobgoblin.”

At that, Joseph nodded, an idea coming to mind.

"Well, are you planning on taming one?”

As a goblin waifu, his otherworldly knowledge played a part in making the idea pleasing to him. So Martyn gave a resolute nod.

“Alright, I’m confident the library in the city won’t have anything on it, but I have a few connections to get you a more detailed book on goblin evolutions; just come by when you’ve tamed one and have the money it’ll cost you.”

“Alright then. I guess that’s fair; nothing is free.”

“Good timing too,” Joseph smirked, “they’re done playing.” He said this as he saw Amber sitting on the grassy floor, leaning back on the resting crimson wolves.

Sensing they were done, she yawned, sitting up, and the wolves rose as well to follow her.

“Is that us done?” Amber asked.

“Yep, it was nice having you guys here. Feel free to stop by. We’re taking a break from adventuring for the rest of the year, with winter coming in the next month and all that. We planned to make this our holiday. I’m sure my sister would love you, Amber.”

“We’ll stop by whenever we can. Thank you, Joseph.” Martyn smiled.

“Think nothing of it,” the man chuckled sheepishly.

With that, Amber and Martyn left, heading over to the guild. Along the way, he told her everything that they discussed.

“So my sister’s going to be a goblin girl?”

“Yeah, what are your thoughts on it?”

“Well, I don’t mind. That tinkering skill must be great if it’s envied so much. I guess I’m more anticipating what the future’s going to be like. We’ll be gone for some time.”

Together, they walked into the guild, moving to the mission board. Each quest held a red letter stamp on it, signifying the rank required.

“I found one,” Amber said, pulling away a sheet.

Martyn read its contents; the quest was to help clear an active nest of goblins that’s been stealing crops and farm animals from a small village.

The travel distance was roughly three days, the price was only twenty silvers, and the guild suggested a party of two or more to take on this mission. It wasn’t D-ranked because of the threat but because of the difficulty of the quest.

The farmer was tired of killing goblins, so he wanted someone to go in and clear the nest, as he didn’t have enough energy to do so.

“We won’t gain much experience, but it’ll be worth it if we can find a good goblin.”

Agreeing, the two went to the counter, taking on the quest.

“There’s a caravan leaving tomorrow that can drop you off close to the village. It saves a day’s worth of travel.” The elf receptionist told them.

Thanking him, they left and headed to the caravan, preparing for tomorrow’s journey. After informing the driver, he agreed to give them a lift for protection, even though his journey was a peaceful one.

With a mode of transport set, they purchased camping supplies and the necessary equipment for the possible week they’d be gone.

They stopped by Jorn, informing the Orcsmith of the quest they took and why, earning a teasing grin from the man. They bought spare equipment and anything else they needed and returned to the inn.

Since they would be gone for a week or more, they informed Lisa, who informed the owner, and since they already paid for the new month, all was fine. So with everything prepared for their departure, they went to their room calling it early.

As Martyn closed the door to the room, he turned to meet an already naked Amber sprawled across the bed.

“We have all evening and night to ourselves,” she cooed, trailing her hands up past her smooth, dark blue thighs to her silky white belly and up to her chest.

Martyn chuckled, their love and lust for each other rising as he also stripped. Amber sat up as Martyn leaned forward, locking lips with her and gently pushing her down.

Before they’d get their new member, Amber wanted every bit of his focus to only be her, as their moment grew into a long and sensual love-making session.

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