STRIKER: Independent Beast Tamer

4th Zone - Special Base

The following day,

2nd-year student Rick returned to the base. He was tired and slightly injured. It was dangerous to spend the night in the wilderness.

He had encountered higher-tier beasts and had a tough battle. Though he killed the beasts, he suffered injuries as well. The higher-tier beasts here were rampant.

It wasn’t a wilderness outside the city; it was just a base built in the wilderness. If not for the many Tier-8 auras in the base, the higher-tier beasts would have targeted them.

Rick went to the medical ward to treat his injuries. He couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to the target. He had stayed up all night, but there was no sign of the target.

It was as if the target didn’t do the mission at all. His eyes flashed with a gleam. After arriving at the facility, he underwent treatment. There were some minor injuries, but he would return to his peak in a couple of days.

20 minutes later,

He returned to his room. He immediately contacted his connections at the mission desk. He wanted to know whether the target had returned or not.

Then he learned that Jeremy Night didn’t do the mission. He had been ambushed by corrupted beasts midway, so he returned without completing it.

Rick was dumbfounded. He didn’t expect such a twist.

”Lucky kid. The ambush saved your life. Otherwise, you would have died by my hands,” Rick said to himself.

Buzz!

Not long after, he got a call from Elder Carter. Rick then shared the details. He had done everything right, but the kid just got luckier.

Elder Carter heard everything. Even he was surprised, but he didn’t think too much about it. The casualty rates of STRIKERs are high to begin with for this exact reason.

They didn’t have combat-type lifeline beasts. They could only rely on themselves. Carter thought that the young man was able to escape because of his ability to fight across Tiers.

He then snorted and didn’t blame Rick, but he told Rick to plan better next time.

”If possible, kill the young man midway before he goes deeper into the wilderness,” Carter said.

”Okay,” Rick replied.

Meanwhile,

Jeremy Night was in his room, doing his morning routine. He had lied to Elder John yesterday; he was completely fine.

He wondered whether the enemy had returned to the base or not. He had successfully escaped this time, but he didn’t know about the coming days.

As long as he didn’t come across any Beast Tamers in the wilderness, he would be safe. He decided not to trust anyone in this base.

After finishing his morning routine, he entered the practice room. The door behind him shut automatically. He turned on the switch.

Natural energy flowed out from the inlet and began to fill the room. He walked to the middle and sat cross-legged on the ground.

Challenges were appearing in the base. He could not waste time. He had to reach Tier-4 quicker. He closed his eyes and began to run the inner breathing method.

The natural energy entered his body. He guided the energy inside as per the pathways mentioned in the inner healing method.

Slowly, the greedy cells in his body awakened and started to absorb the natural energy.

Buzz!

Not long after, the unknown beast egg showed cooperation. The natural energy entered the unknown beast eggshell as well.

Jeremy Night was happy. He could clearly see the difference. The unknown beast egg was active during each session here. He knew it was because of the natural energy environment.

He had thought the top 3 zones were superior, but the 4th zone brought him a surprise. Surely, the growth of the unknown beast egg would be faster here.

Maybe if he had been born in the top four zones, the unknown beast egg would have hatched by now. His heart filled with relief and happiness.

At least he got some good news by coming to the base. For the unknown beast’s sake, he had to survive here.

With this new motivation, he repeated the practice.

2 hours later,

After getting ready, he left the building and went towards the administration building. On the way, he came across Elder Leah.

Both of them stopped. Elder Leah began to observe him. She had heard Jeremy Night was ambushed last night, but she found that the kid was doing alright.

”Kid, what happened to you?” she asked.

”Elder Leah,” Jeremy muttered.

He could guess what this was about, but he couldn’t tell her the truth.

”I heard you were ambushed by beasts,” she said.

”How did you know?” Jeremy Night uttered in surprise.

”Kid, the whole base knows the news about you. You are being watched by people. Don’t you think they would dig into the matter?” Leah said.

Jeremy shook his head before telling her a fake story.

”Alright, you can do the same mission if no one else has selected it. If not, you can select some other mission. But be careful; the beasts here are cunning,” Leah advised before leaving.

Jeremy Night collected his thoughts. He took a deep breath before heading toward the administration building. Once he arrived at the place, his gaze swept across the area.

He noticed a considerable crowd. He then came to the mission desk. This time, Elder Smith was there. Upon seeing Jeremy Night, he showed a genuine smile.

He then began to observe Jeremy’s body. Seeing that there was no sign of injury, he was relieved and surprised.

”Jeremy Night, I looked up the mission list. Someone has selected your mission already. Do some other mission this time,” he said.

Hearing that, Jeremy Night immediately thought of the enemy. Then he shook his head before accepting the device. He slowly went through the missions.

Seeing that, Elder Smith smiled and didn’t say anything. However, there was a pair of eyes watching Jeremy Night. They were sharing information with Elder Carter.

There were also friends of Captain Rick present, and they were sending messages to him as well.