Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons

Chapter 862 - Taming the Fifth Year - The Board - 4

Orion was preparing to receive Selphira with the methodical calm of someone who had planned every aspect of confrontation during months of careful preparation.

Heʼd obtained several messages during the last hour, birds arriving at regular intervals with updates about Selphiraʼs groupʼs advancement as they approached Goldcrest territory. Everything was unfolding exactly as heʼd anticipated, perfect timing confirming his predictions about how they would react had been accurate.

Message at hour 0: Selphira and Arturo departed with 35 companions. Speed approximately 80 kilometers per hour.

Message at hour 1: Group passed checkpoint 1... Still 37 members. No additional forces detected.

Message at hour 2: Approaching outer perimeter of Goldcrest territory. Maintaining ʼcautiousʼ pace.

Every update confirmed the pattern. Small group, cautious approach and no big military backup because none more could be spared.

Everything according to plan.

Getting dressed was the most tedious part now…

Not because there were complicated preparations, quite the opposite. There was simplicity to it that felt almost anticlimactic given the magnitude of what was about to occur.

There were no armors to put on, no standardized weapons to prepare.

This wasnʼt a conflict where metal and steel would determine the outcome. In this world, beasts dominated combat through physical superiority exceeding anything a human forge could create. Armors were dead weight limiting mobility without providing significant protection against claws and fangs of creatures, especially those of Silver or Gold rank.

Wearing armor against a Gold-rank beast was like wearing paper against a sword. It gave false confidence without actual protection. Worse, it sometimes slowed you down.

Beasts were much harder than most human constructions. Their scales, their hides, their spiritual reinforcement made conventional weapons nearly useless beyond Bronze rank.

That was why serious tamers wore thick but flexible clothing optimized for movement rather than protection. Speed and positioning mattered. Armor didnʼt.

Selphira used a spear, that was true, but it wasnʼt like Renʼs initiative, not a conventionally forged weapon.

It was a manifestation of her power, of her control over elemental ice.

And although she maintained that physical spear stored within one of her beastʼs storage space, since it was an object sheʼd been injecting mana into for years until the material had completely saturated and become a natural extension of her will, that was an exception proving the rule.

The spear was elemental tool first and physical object second, power derived from the tamer wielding it rather than from some third party who had forged it.

Thatʼs how it was for all serious tamers. Beasts were their primary weapons and armor, and any physical implements were tertiary at best.

Orion finished verifying his beasts had strong bonds and energy flowing without obstructions.

Two beasts currently… Gold rank.

They werenʼt natural beasts anymore. Not entirely... The alterations were subtle, maybe 5-10% deviation from baseline, but that deviation made them significantly more compatible with the technology he was about to use.

Before leaving the preparation area completely, Orion took a moment to hide his most important papers and books.

They were documents heʼd obtained from families of his faction that had been closer to original Goldcrests and to Yinoʼs leadership during years back when Yino still operated with complete autonomy.

Those groups had obtained significant information and corrupt technology that most of todayʼs rebel faction didnʼt even know existed, knowledge jealously guarded by those whoʼd discovered it first.

Some were copies, some were originals that had been smuggled out during Yinoʼs collapse... Some were notes compiled from interviews with survivors whoʼd worked directly with the Brain during its operational period.

Each one represented years of research. Decades, in some cases. Knowledge that couldnʼt be replaced if lost.

He placed them in locations throughout the compound that only he knew.

It was thanks to those documents that Orion had been able to attempt some of his most risky experimentations.

The corruption Jin had used during his confrontation with Ren, for example, had been direct development of techniques described in texts coming from Yinoʼs research and the corrupt cores. Not simply random corrupt energy but controlled application of specific principles.

Jinʼs corruption had operated at maybe 30% efficiency. Weak... But functional enough to demonstrate the concept.

With more time, more refinement, more test subjects to work with, Orion could have pushed that to 60-70% efficiency in power buff without the secondary effects. Maybe higher. The theoretical ceiling was perhaps 100% before the corruption became too dense for human consciousness to maintain control.

And other experiments heʼd conducted over the years had taught him fundamental things about how mana and corruption interacted.

Heʼd learned the limits of what the human body could tolerate. Had discovered breaking points where transformation became irreversible. Had mapped territories of knowledge remaining completely unexplored by conventional researchers operating under ethical restrictions.

All volunteers, technically, though ”volunteer” became questionable concept when you were offering power to desperate people with nothing to lose.

But despite all that, he remained convinced of something that seemed to contradict his research direction: crystals used by oneself remained superior in terms of stability and reliability.

Corrupt technology provided power and capabilities that normal cultivation would take years to reach, but it came with costs not always apparent until it was too late to reverse the damage.

Maybe it was part of what others might call his ”Yano pride”... that deep conviction that his cityʼs purist culture had intrinsic value that shouldnʼt be completely discarded in favor of tempting shortcuts.

Yano had lasted centuries.

There had to be wisdom in there… Wisdom that shouldnʼt be thrown away just because something faster existed.

It was precisely why heʼd been opportunist rather than fully allying with the more radical anti-Yano faction. He didnʼt hate his city or the culture that had formed who he was.

He just wanted to improve them ”his way”, evolve traditions rather than destroy them and replace them with foreign systems that hadnʼt been properly tested.

Reform, not revolution. Though the distinction was admittedly subtle when you were currently holding another cityʼs military commander hostage in pursuit of more ancient technology.

Donʼt buy next one too fast pls, need to leave for a small urgency, will be back soon and finish translation...