Just when I thought I would finally tame my first pet...
With disappointment fully etched on his features, the youth trudged home.
But after some moments, he became lively again—after all, there was still something to look forward to.
When he reached home, he freshened up and had a nice meal before entering his father's study.
The house was so quiet, since his little sister had gone to play with her friends.
As he entered the study, it seemed eerily quiet.
All the towers of bookshelves were empty. Remembering how the association officials had come to raid and ransack his home two years ago after his father's disappearance, Rheo grimaced and trudged lightly to the set of computers.
When he booted up the computers, only the games and other software icons he had downloaded stared back at him.
Every document his father had about monsters had been wiped out.
He placed his hand on the keyboard and started typing away.
"For starters, I will play a video game."
"Pocket Monsters!!"
His voice echoed in the spacious study.
After winning and losing a few battles, Rheo leaned back in the relaxing leather chair and stretched.
"Rheo, this isn't the time to be playing around. What about the truth you want to unravel? You must tame powerful monsters, contract them as your pet, and become the most powerful monster ranger," his mind whispered to him.
"Okay!!"
He inhaled and exhaled, sat upright suddenly, and started typing away.
Rheo entered an online community, Pet Evolvers.
Now he could create an account and register as a member.
He looked at the talent mark with a satisfied expression.
To become a member of any prominent monster-taming community, group, channel, or forum, one of the registration requirements was to have a talent mark—a sign of a successful contract with one's pet.
These online communities were created by pet streamers who monetized traffic by posting monster gene formulas for the lowest-tier evolution of one's pet.
Those who didn't have money to hire a monster breeder would often rush to these kinds of communities.
"Verify your Talent Mark."
The AI voice echoed at the last step of the online registration.
Allowing the site to access the computer's camera, it took a picture of Rheo's right hand.
"Done."
As Rheo finished registering, he entered the formula section immediately.
He searched for dual types, praying to see the combination of Earth and Electric.
After searching for some minutes, he couldn't find this dual combination.
"Is Earth and Electric combination rare?"
All he saw were Electric and Fire dual types, Water and Earth dual types, Ghost, Shadow and Fire multi-types, and many others.
"Why??"
He had looked forward to this, only to meet disappointment.
"If only this system could show me monster gene formulas. That would have been perfect. I would become an OP breeder."
"But why didn't Dad evolve Raizen before giving it to me? Tier three is the lowest tier of all Electric-type monsters."
After some moments of sulking, Rheo decided to opt for uni-type formulas.
"Perhaps I should cultivate fire element in Raizen."
Rheo entered the uni-type formulas section. There were many formulas posted.
Fire Type Cultivation Formula
Iron grade, Tier-one evolution.
Monster type requirement: Earth, Electric, Ghost, Water, Shadow, Fur, Steel, Dark, Martial, Fairy, Venom, Wind.
Ingredients needed:
2gm of Fire chili powder
1gm of Flamescale Salamander's scale powder
2 pints of Flame-tail Crocodile's magma blood
Preparation:
Mix the two different powders together.
Dilute the 2 pints of Flame-tail Crocodile's magma blood with 500 grams of water. Let the steam settle for ten minutes, then add the powder mixtures.
Let everything boil for five minutes. (Caution: Self-boiling mixture—don't boil to avoid risk of explosion!)
During the time when the sun is at the highest peak in the sky, give your pet the mixture to drink.
A twitch appeared at the corner of Rheo's lips.
That phrase: "at the highest peak of the sky"—wasn't that just hinting that an explosion was about to occur?
He went to the comment section to see if he could get the idea of the total cost, and if it wasn't there, he would just have to ask.
"Ten Earth coins, not bad."
"I guess my only option is to cultivate a new element for Raizen."
Rheo relaxed back in the chair.
According to his knowledge about monster evolution, a tamer could use an other-type evolution formula to cultivate a new element in a monster.
If a tamer cultivated only one element of a dual-type monster, there might be an imbalance of energy, with many negative effects.
The youngster wasn't really disappointed with this—after all, by cultivating the fire element, the Thunderbird would also become a Firebird.
"That sounds OP!"
However, he knew the funds required for a higher-tier evolution could multiply tenfold after a successful evolution. Which meant, to evolve Raizen into Tier-Two Fire Type, the ten Earth coins could increase to a hundred Earth coins.
Rheo scratched his head, thinking about how to get funds. A light headache was already surging up his temples.
"I need to rest. The Monster Breeder Exam is in the next two days."
"But first, let's see what else I can do with this system, aside from monster information."
"I am a player. A player is supposed to have a profile, right?"
Rheo stood up from the chair and moved to the center of the spacious study.
"Player's profile... hmm... settings, log in."
"How the heck does this system even work?"
He was hoping it would bring up all his details. Wasn't that how video games worked? When a person registered as a player, they should be able to check their information.
The youth's head was spiraling with multiple thoughts. He sucked in a cold breath.
"Let me call Raizen into my soul void."
Even before he could say the word, a faint sound echoed in his mind.
Here! Here, here I am.
He stumbled back. "Cool, our minds are indeed connected. I just need to think about what I want to do."
Rheo called out the bird. A sudden gust of wind blew past his face as Raizen's wings flared up in front of him, as if it had just landed from a flight.
"Can the system also work on mere wish? I don't know the magic research Father had dabbled with to create this system, but I feel there's more to it than monster information."
Let's go outside. I found a lair, I found a lair!
Raizen's voice resounded in his mind.
"Did it just say it found a lair?"
Rheo realized his mind wanted to tilt toward the fact that the bird's words were getting better.
Perhaps it was because of their ability to read each other's minds.
"It seemed it is learning fast."
He looked at the bird. It was about as tall as his waist.
The bird flew up and hovered in front of him, its eyes sparkling with anticipation. Such a free bird.
"I get you, but you're still weak. I have to evolve you before you're ready for combat."
Raizen is a strong pet! He can handle a few Wild-grade Muscle Rats!
The bird started protesting.
"A Wild-grade?"
The corner of Rheo's mouth twitched in fear. Even for Muscle Rat monsters—same size as Earth's rats from the pre-mutation era—these rats could easily lift a boulder without breaking a sweat.
A bead of sweat trickled down his cheek.
Muscle Rats had broken many records of Earth's heavyweight champions time without number.