STRIKER: Independent Beast Tamer

Special Base (4th Zone)

In the meeting hall, the elders were all surprised by the decision. They didn’t expect Elder Sandra to make such a serious decision. 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

If they went to City A, they would miss the recruitment opportunity.

The four members looked at each other. They didn’t want to miss out on the opportunity. It was because of the heavily built man that everything had changed.

Then the four members began to plead. They didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get selected by the Beast Taming Association.

Unlike other Beast Taming forces, the Beast Taming Association was different. It was a big organization with many resources. The chances of them getting hired by the organization were high.

It didn’t take long for the elders to voice their support. Some of the elders had taught these four when they were in their first year.

They felt the punishment was too strict. All four of them had been here for the last three years. They had entered the special base when they were Tier-5 Beast Tamers.

Now they were all Tier-7 Beast Tamers. It was time for them to set their sights on better opportunities.

Elder Sandra sighed. She looked toward Elder John, but he maintained a neutral expression. He had made his stance clear.

Elder Sandra said, ”Okay, you will wait until the recruitment is over. If you are not selected, then you will have to enter the wilderness in City A.”

Hearing that, the four members heaved a sigh of relief. The elders felt relieved as well. But Elder John felt a slight disappointment. Still, he was not that surprised.

If the elders started going against her decision, she would have to listen to them. Some of the elders were backed by influential families. He could tell they would be ready to apply pressure from that side.

The meeting ended. The elders dispersed and went back to their offices. Having avoided immediate punishment, all four members began heading back to their rooms.

...

Room – Post-noon

Jeremy entered the practice room. He shut the door and moved toward the console. He turned on the switches. Natural energy began to flow out from the inlet.

The pure, rich natural energy spread across the room. It didn’t take long for the space to be filled with dense white mist. Jeremy moved to the middle of the room.

He sat cross-legged on the ground. Then he closed his eyes and began to circulate the inner healing method. The natural energy drifted toward him.

When the energy entered his body, he guided it along the pathways. His cells became active and began to digest the natural energy.

Buzz!

Stella became active. She started absorbing the natural energy through her wings. All six of her wings were absorbing the natural energy.

Time passed.

When evening came, he exited the practice room and took a bath. After coming out, he put on fresh clothes. Twenty minutes later, he left the room again.

He headed toward the training facility, hoping no one would stop him this time. On the way, he came across other members who were taken aback to see him.

They had seen what happened earlier. They averted their gazes and walked away.

Jeremy ignored them and reached the entrance of the training facility. He walked inside directly. He spotted different people, who merely glanced at him for a second before returning to their business.

Among them were second- and third-year students who knew about the meeting with the four members.

The four members had been punished, but their punishment would begin only after the Beast Taming Association’s recruitment.

Jeremy saw many closed doors and finally found an available room at the far end. His eyes flickered. He walked over to the last room and stepped inside.

After shutting the door, he relaxed.

”Stella, I’m going to spend time here practicing,” Jeremy told her.

[I want to come out.]

she told him.

Hearing that, Jeremy Night had an idea. He summoned her outside.

Boom!

A massive beast appeared before him. Her size alone filled the entire room.

Jeremy Night was shocked. He knew he couldn’t train inside the room like this.

”Can you shrink in size?” he asked.

Hearing that, she said, ”I will try to reduce my size.”

With that, Stella tried to shrink. Her massive frame began to compress until her size was reduced to less than a meter.

His gaze fell on her bluish-white color. It looked beautiful.

[Now what?]

He heard her voice, and his mouth curved into a smile.

”Let’s try this: I will try to evade your attacks, so try to touch me. Start from your basic strength and work up to full strength,” he told her.

Stella understood. But her movements were fast even without relying on her speed ability, so she was curious about how Jeremy Night planned to evade her touch.

[Let’s do this, but you will fail. The room is enclosed, and you won’t have much space to move around.]

Jeremy heard Stella’s voice, and a bright smile appeared on his face.

Swoosh!

He backed away, stopping close to the door.

Stella understood that it was time to give chase. Intrigued, she charged at Jeremy Night.

On the other hand, Jeremy Night didn’t plan to use his vision ability; he was going to rely on his own natural abilities. He watched Stella rush toward him.

Instead of looking at her as a lifeline beast, he began viewing her as an opponent. The sense of crisis kicked in, and the world around him seemed to slow down.

Swoosh!

One of her wings was about to touch him, but he sidestepped at the last moment. The movement was sudden, and Stella swept right past the spot he had just occupied.

She hadn’t put in much effort, yet her bare minimum speed should have been enough to tag him.

Seeing that he had evaded her touch successfully, she wondered whether he had used an ability. But she knew it wasn’t one of her shared abilities, including vision sharing; otherwise, she would have felt it.

She figured Jeremy must have used his own innate talent against her. She lunged after him once more.

Swoosh!

Jeremy watched her approach again. He knew she wasn’t taking it seriously at all, yet he still needed to push his own talent just to evade her.

In a flash, she appeared before him once more, his senses heightened to the limit.

Swoosh!

He watched her wings close in, and just before they could touch him, he shifted sideways and evaded the strike.