Monster Breeder

Walking down to the first floor I found May and her familiars waiting patiently for me, shade lazily walked beside me while Razer perched on my shoulder. Even now May's beauty was very eye catching but I was more interested in her familiars at the moment, both of them were top grade familiars that would make anyone envious but what made them stand out is that they weren't native in this region. I don't really care if she acquired them with her own ability or not as connections were a source of power as well. I pulled up the evolution materials for both of her familiars which was definitely going to be pricy but the future potential they could acquire is definitely worth it.

"As your familiars aren't natives to this region their evolution materials are going to be expensive." (Me)

"Money isn't an issue my lord." (May)

"Please just call me Bishop, lets start with your glacier ape; it needs a grade 2 ice monster core and 5g of Bifrost Grass. As for your shadow fiend it needs 5 pounds of shadow beast meat, a shadow pearl, and a grade 3 shadow or darkness monster core depending on what path you wish it to take." (Me)

"Why do I need two different cores?" (May)

"Because the shadow fiend has a branching evolution path; you can either strengthen its ability to control shadows or strengthen its fiend bloodline, be warned that if you strengthen its fiend bloodline it will evolve into a regular fiend." (Me)

"Thank you for explaining my lo… Bishop." (May)

"Good morning everyone." (Frank)

Turning towards frank who was in a lively manner I found that standing behind him was a middle-aged woman with two kids standing beside her, each of them had two suitcases and franks familiars had bags strapped to their bags. The woman was your average housewife which would blend into a crowd perfectly, her hazel hair was tied in a bun and her face held an exhausted expression though her eyes couldn't hide her excitement as she looked inside of her new home. The kids beside her were twins, though they were a boy and girl along with different hair colors they still looked like each other. The son had short grey hair dressed in a school uniform, his sister had hazel hair just like her mother but unlike the boy she was wearing a blue floral dress. Unlike their mother the kids didn't care about their new home instead they were focused on the familiars that filled the room.

"Good morning frank, I take it this is your family?" (Me)

"Yes and no, this is my brother's wife and her children." (Frank)

"Hello I'm Mary, thank you for having us." (Mary)

"I'm Adam!" (Adam)

"And I'm Eve." (Eve)

"Well I'm glad to have you, why don't you two and your mother go upstairs and pick your rooms while I talk to frank here." (Me)

"Okay!" (Adam/Eve)

"Excuse me." (Mary)

As Mary and the kids were going up the stairs frank had a longing expression on his face but I didn't say anything until he came back to reality. I have seen a lot of people with that same expression and I knew that it wasn't my place to say anything unless he took the lead.

"Thanks for having us, I know that having two kids here isn't very practical." (Frank)

"It's fine as long as they keep out of the kennels, I don't want them getting hurt." (Me)

"I'll make sure they understand." (Frank)

"Unlike May here your familiars are locals which is easier to collect their evolution materials, it also gives me the opportunity to find some resources for my own familiars." (Me)

"I'm ready whenever you are." (Frank)

"Frank are you forgetting something?" (Me)

"No, I don't think so." (Frank)

"Hm if that's the case then why are your familiars glaring at you?" (Me)

Frank who finally realized what I meant turned around to find two suit cases being thrown at him, turns out an armadillo is quite smart when it wants to be, and the deer has incredible accuracy when bucking things off its back. Looking at franks haggard expression as if he has been unjustly wronged brought about memories of when I first acquired Shade, familiars are partners and if you think that you can treat them any differently you have another thing coming. though franks familiars are a little frustrated at their treatment it isn't to the point where they hate him, I'm sure frank will understand his familiars sooner rather than later.

"lor… Bishop why don't we buy the resources from the market, it would be quicker and safer." (May)

"There are two reasons; first of is quality, most breeders hire mercenaries to collect their materials however very few know how to collect materials without damaging them. The second reason is there would be a paper trail, its fine if you want to purchase supplies however when it comes to evolution materials it is best to gather them yourself unless you want every tom d.i.c.k and harry to know how to evolve familiars." (Me)

"Frank I've got this you go and help Mr. Bishop, make sure you earn your stay or you'll be sleeping with the kids for the rest of your life." (Mary)

"Yes Dear!" (Frank)

"Now that everyone's ready let's get going, don't want the misses getting angry." (Me)

Franks face turned sour immediately after hearing my joke, it probably was in pour taste but May was smirking so I guess it wasn't that bad. I sent Shade and Razer into the system as both of them has attitude problems, Shade still had her kill circle and Razer was just a d.i.c.k. If Razer thought it could get away with it, he would do it, he antagonized Shade throughout our training sessions and when it was dinner time, he would steal her food. What was even more annoying was the fact that he didn't eat meat like Shade, unlike falcons back on earth steel falcons ate fruit and other sweet foods, the only time a steel falcon eats meat is when its trying to evolve. If it wasn't for the fact that Razer had incredible potential, I would have switched it out with something else.

When leaving the city, we had to go through inspection which became quite heated when one of the guards on duty tried to get a little hand's on when it came to May. I was going to act but the Shadow Fiend handled it splendidly, turns out it is very protective of its master, if not for May's timely intervention the fiend would have killed the guard. I don't know if it was the glare from his supervisor or the fact that the Shadow Fiend was next to him but the guard in charge of May's inspection immediately let her pass. Once outside of the city and away from any bystander I released my familiars, Razer flew up into the sky while Shade just stared at it with contempt. Petting her I pulled up the evolutionary paths for our familiars, given they were my employee's I filtered the normal evolution paths out.

[Name: Wolfbane

Rank: 2 elite

Evolution pathway- Elite: 0/3 pounds of tier 3 plant/beast meat, 0/1 Shadow hemlock, 0/1 tier 3 beast core, 0/1 tier 3 plant core, 0/1 tier 3 poison core]

[Name: Razer

Rank: 2

Evolution Pathway-Elite: 0/1 Steel core fruit, 0/1 Howling fruit, 0/1 tier 3 Wind core, 0/1 tier 3 Steel Core]

[Name: Spear Deer

Rank: 2

Evolution Pathway-Elite: 0/1 Green Jade Crystal, 0/1 Tier 3 nature core, 0/1 tier 3 earth core]

[Name: Soft-shelled armadillo

Rank: 2

Evolution pathway Elite: 0/1 Mollibus ore, 0/3 brood root, 0/1 tier 3 earth core]

Given the list of materials for each familiar I could find all of the materials for franks familiars and the cores for my own familiars in the surround areas however the ore and plants needed for my familiars will be a bit tricky to find around here but its just inconvenient at this point. Thanks to the system I was directed fairly quickly to the evolution material however there was a slight issue that I needed to address before I went any further.

"Frank northwest of us is a pair of tier 3 iron rhino's, please go scout ahead and if you can then please eliminate at least one." (Me)

"What about May?" (Frank)

"We have our own familiars to worry about, if you find yourself at a disadvantage retreat back to the city." (Me)

"Okay, happy hunting." (Frank)

I watched as frank ran off into the brush leaving May and me standing in the dense forest alone, sighing at the fact that Frank didn't see the obvious signs in front of him means he needs to train even more from now on. In my life both on earth and this planet I have experienced many situations which have put me in a deadly situation, thanks to that I could pick up on subtle things which would be oblivious to the normal person. Turning to May which was following close behind me, it was time to deal with the viper.

"Now that we are alone, I will give you a bit of advice; while working under me you will be part of my family and I don't care what your past is, you have a choice to make. Live for the future or die for the past." (Me)

"Bishop, May I need you here!" (Frank)

As I heard the frantic call from Frank, I rushed towards Franks location with May close behind me, as we went further into the dense jungle, we passed the iron rhino's territory and towards a part of the forest that I haven't explored as of yet. The closer we got towards Frank the more I could make out a raspy cry for help, this cry for help sounded strange to me and when I got to Frank, I found out why. In front of us was a large lake and in the center of it was a single individual wearing muddy leather armor, one of his arms is missing and his face was completely drained of any color. The injured individual was half submerged with no land near him with severe injuries and yet whatever attacked him didn't kill him. The familiars that traveled with us immediately stopped at the brush line refusing to go any further towards the large lake.

I immediately told May to stay with the familiars as I approached Frank at the shore, while approaching I searched for any other signs that indicated that something was wrong but beyond the individual in the center of the lake everything was quiet. I'm not talking about peaceful quiet; I'm talking about dead quiet, in a forest animals and birds alike flock towards water sources and this lake was extremely large so I should be seeing life everywhere and yet there's nothing. Looking back at the lake I found that no matter how far I looked there were no fish or even ripples in the water where they should be moving. Frank which was at the shore line was trying to calm the injured man, promising to save him but before Frank could move any closer to the water, I grabbed the back of his collar and pull him away from it.

"What are you doing we have to save him!?" (Frank)

"If you want to save a dead man be my guest but do it on your own time, as your employer I have a responsibility to get you back to your family and that's what I'm going to do." (Me)

"Fine I don't need your help!" (Frank)

"Shade." (Me)

Shade which still refused to approach the lake immediately used her vines and restrained Frank before he could move forward. I made sure that Frank was tied to his Deer which made him furious but I ignored his ranting as I grabbed a rock from the border of the lake and forest. Before continuing with my experiment, I turned to May and Frank to give one final warning.

"Be prepared to run, I have no idea what this lake holds but I know its nothing good." (Me)

May nodded in complacence but Frank told me to go f.u.c.k myself, sighing at his attitude I turned towards the lake. The injured man was still crying for help completely oblivious of the change in our attitude, I tightened my grip on the pebble in my hand before skipping it across the water. The calm water of the lake which was silent a moment ago became a raging tide, the injured man was pulled under the water. Within the tide I could see hundreds if not thousands of creatures moving under the water, these creatures were completely black with yellow reptile eyes, coming from their slick black bodies were two clawed arms that pulled themselves forward and a tail with a barbed end. the familiars behind me were shrieking at the unknown creatures as they climbed out of the lake, turning around I climbed onto shade in addition to grabbing May. The familiars and humans alike charged towards the city with the lake creatures following close behind us, while charging forward I read the system messages as soon as I saw the creatures from the lake.

[Name: Eel Demon

Rank: 4

Details: A monster among monsters, these creatures live mostly in water however they can also live on land. They are an invasive species that will consume any and all life within their territory, once they run out of food they will cannibalize until the territory recovers then the cycle repeats. Be aware that they have habit of capturing prey of a single species then using it as bait to draw in more prey]

[Emergency Mission: Eel Demon Tide

Details: A Tide of one of the most vicious and sadistic creatures known to man has occurred within the surround area, there is no chance to fight back so you must escape before you become dinner for the tide

Rewards: ???]

While reading the system messages I kept my focus on my surroundings the entire time so I know that this situation wasn't advantageous for us at all. Shade who was carrying May and me was also using her vines to restrain the closest Eel Demons and pushing the other familiars forward causing her to slow down. Immediately making a call I immediately switched places with May and began to give suppressive fire to slow down the Eels even further, my handgun which fired a concentrated blast of mana didn't phase the Eels even the slightest. Once the Eels got hit by a shot of concentrated mana it would just get back up again and charge forward, to make matters worse was the fact that the city was closing their gates as we were approaching.

Just as we were about to enter the city gates one of the Eels cut us off from the side, it was aiming for May which was focused on making it through the front gates. I pushed her head downwards causing my arm to be in the direct path of the Eels mouth, I could feel its razer sharp teeth digging into my arm before I hit the ground. Pain shot through my being from both my arm and leg; as I recovered from the fall I saw the Eel that attacked me rushing away with its prize as blood poured out of my wound and onto the ground.