Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Bargaining with Beast Taming Dad

I communicate with Gussie. [Pick up the pill from his hand.]

Gussie flaps her wings, confused. [What pill? What is a pill?]

[You don’t know what pills are?] Demos looks baffled.

[She lives in the jungle,] I remind him, summoning up all my strength. He smells so annoyed. [Forgot what it was like in the wild?]

[Not all of us are fresh from the jungle with mud in our ears!]

I laugh at my snobby bear friend. He’s definitely the “cool kid” here. The senpai to my kohl. And he never lets me forget it, either. He is a good guy, for all his BBOC (Big Bear on Campus) attitude. However, his humility score, if there is such a thing, is probably zero or even negative.

[She doesn’t know what pills are, or medicines, because the jungle provides all the medicine she will ever need in raw form.]

He huffs. [Says the tiger who is getting to try a special Pearl of Power Pill before I do because YOU need the extra help.]

[Excuse me, but what is a pill? You mean like a drug?] Gussie gets it finally. [Why would you need that? You are a wild creature. Humans and elves need those.]

She just handed me a killer opening. [Tamed beasts do too, and you want to be one of those, don’t you? And by the way, Demos and I escaped the mean poacher because of these pills.]

Gussie squawks. “Pills! Pills!”

Eyes widening, Lamant brushes off a white and blue robe that reminds me of a doctor’s scrubs and lab coat. “She wants pills?”

I direct Gussie. [Grab the pill from his hand. The pinkish-gold pearl. Don’t swallow it, I don’t know what it will do to you.]

[Oh. Of course. I wouldn’t just swallow something unknown. That slingshot stone give me heartburn just last week.]

With this blithe statement, Gussie leaps onto Lamant’s white-and-blue sleeve and plucks the pill from the palm of his hand with the precision of a pair of tweezers or a crane.

“Primal Beast, she’s brilliant,” breathes Lamant.

Gliding and circling, showboating, Gussie flaps toward me. [Open your mouth.]

I stretch my jaws as wide as I possibly can until they ache, and put out my pink tongue. Already, I’m drooling, thinking of dinner. After all, I sang for my supper. Primal Beast, I even sang for Demos’ supper. There must be birdseed and nuts and berries in the kitchen, so I also sang for Gussie’s supper.

[Blaze Charisma Increased by +2.]

HAH! I am winning over Lamant. It’s funny. I thought that he was just this weird dad. But Now I find out that he lost his beast. I wonder what losing a beast does to the head of a beast taming household? Oh, System?

The game system provides information. And it’s not a pretty picture.

A beast taming household like the House of Riddlehoeven needs to have two active beast tamers in the main family unit in order to maintain its standing in the Beast Taming World. otherwise, the entire house and its beasts keep losing points in the game. At least one point every day for the house. That might not sound like much, but over time, it adds up. And with the loss of both Minette’s and Lamant’s beasts, Vedette had to carry everything. Until Kaline found me. And then Lamant and Vedette were Stage Dad and Stage Parent, trying to make sure she wouldn’t lose her beast.

[BLAZE!] Demos and Gussie call out.

I blink, and feel the pearl pill on my tongue. What an idiot I am. I’ve been sitting here for God knows how long with my mouth so wide open that it could catch flies.

GULP. I swallow the pill.

I think I just swallowed an electric generator.

Sparks shoot from my entire body, or at least that’s how it feels. Pearl of Power Pill, Demos called it. My fur crackles. My eyes gleam, and I pracically have high-beam headlights or lasers shooting out of them. Yeehaw!

I bump my nose against Lamont, and he yelps, jumping mack as if he just brushed up against an electric fence. “My word. I think I overcooked this pill.”

I purr, shaking my head. Seems just right. I wonder what this power-up does?

[Pearl of Power Pill Unlocked! 25% boost to energy. +3 to Strength. +2 to Defense. +3 to Magic. +4 to Speed. -1 to Resistance because of greater power output. +2 to Luck.]

[Name: [Blaze]

[Class:

[Novice]

[Race: [Common Tiger]

[Level: 2/10 [XP 25/100 STATUS: Full

[HP: 6/6 [MP: 0/0 [Stamina 100/100

[Strength: 9

[Defense: 10

[Magic: 8

[Resistance: 5

[Speed: 12

[Charisma: 18

[Luck: 8

[Skills: [Bite (Attack Skill] [Pounce (Attack Skill)] [Sprint (Skill)] [Camouflage (Skilll) [Escape Power (Skill) [Telepathy(Skill Not Yet Acquired)]

I roar loud enough to rattle the glass beakers and make the pills shake like maracas. Gussie clings to Lamant, and he places his hand on her puffy crest. “Well done…OH! I’m bonding her!”

Kaline, Vedette, and Tomas all raise their fists excitedly. Ser Maartenwitz is a pencil anxiously scribbling down this great achievement, recording Lamant’s new bonded bird. I guess a bird counts as a beast.

“A parrot counts as a beast, since she is a wild thing,” Ser Maartenwitz echoes my thoughts. “And she has proven that she is even more cunning than these two put together.” He glares over his pad at Demos and me.

In response to the obvious denigration, Demos shrugs. [This poor human gets little enjoyment out of life. Let him have a go at us. He’s a toothless old bear, gumming fish and berries and growling at the cubs who are out having adventures.]

[He does serve the house well.]

Truthfully, I know people like Ser Maartenwitz. I had one in my study group. Pencil thin, lived on coffee and energy drinks, was always at the gym, and could quote court decisions from memory. We suspected he was asexual. Or an alien. Or both.

I rub my nose against Ser Maartenwitz’s bony kneecap and get a shriek. But who cares? The system pops up with another message.

[Side Quest Complete! XP +5

But even better than the increased XP is the joy from Gussie. I have definitely gained a useful ally! And I hear the dinner bell!

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