Beast Tamer

Cindy told Roger that the Beast Tamer was named Rachel.

Rachel had once been a resident of Dragon Tooth Village.

But because of her eccentric temperament, she had left the village at a very young age and lived alone in the gravel fields to the south.

Later, something happened.

Rachel mysteriously disappeared for several months.

When she returned, a group of snarling Flying Dragon Beasts had appeared at her side.

Those Flying Dragon Beasts obeyed only her commands.

From then on, she became the most respected person on Yellowstone Island.

Rachel lived in seclusion and was not good with words, but she was extremely kind at heart.

She knew the Great Wetland like the back of her hand and was willing to use the Flying Dragon Beasts' impressive carrying capacity to help others.

Many Adventurers had ridden Rachel's Flying Dragon Express.

Of course, the Flying Dragon Express was not free.

Cindy hinted to Roger:

Rachel's task might be even more troublesome than her own commission.

Even so.

Roger still wanted to speak with the Beast Tamer himself and see whether she could take him across the wetland.

Roger's destination was Gem City.

Before setting out, he had asked Terry for advice about the route.

Terry had drawn him a rough map.

It was not difficult to see from the map that the Great Wetland was the greatest obstacle between Tongma Town and Gem City.

According to Terry.

Roger only needed to travel south through the wetland to reach a place called Paramount Manor.

That was Terry's hometown.

It was also a human settlement that was very friendly toward outsiders.

Paramount Manor was only a step away from Gem City.

It had abundant resources and beautiful land.

But at the same time, as Magic Abundance increased, so did the number and strength of monsters.

The farther south one went, the more dangerous it became.

This was common knowledge throughout Mystra.

For Roger, Gem City was not actually an especially urgent destination.

His reason for leaving Tongma Town was to seek out stronger monsters and a more complete human civilization.

Compared with the former, Roger actually cared more about the latter.

He was quite curious about this world's background.

Especially after learning that this might be a game world, that curiosity had become even more important.

Only places with more complete inheritances were likely to preserve information about history, culture, and the world's overall structure.

Up to now.

Roger's understanding of Mystra was limited to the legend of the Heavenly God destroying the world, as told by the elders of Tongma Town.

Considering that even an outrageous description like "Nineteenth Ring Spells" could appear in mythology.

Roger remained skeptical about the truth of those myths.

After all, that was power approaching level 190!...

That afternoon.

Roger crossed Yellowstone Island, avoided several groups of ill-intentioned refugees, and successfully found the Beast Tamer's residence.

Unfortunately, Rachel was not home.

The Flying Dragon Beasts Cindy had mentioned were nowhere to be seen either.

However, the scattered droppings between the gravel piles made it clear that some draconic creatures did indeed live here.

"Cindy wasn't lying."

Roger nodded inwardly.

Before coming, the Dragonkin Priest had already told him:

Rachel had taken her Flying Dragon Beasts deep into the wetlands to forage and was expected to return in two or three days.

The many traces at the scene confirmed this as well.

Even so, Roger still had no intention of accepting Cindy's commission.

Over the next few days.

He found a safe spot between Dragon Tooth Village and the Beast Tamer's residence and set up camp.

Apart from waiting for Rachel to return, he did not remain idle.

The monster resources around Yellowstone Island were exceptionally abundant.

Many of them were species he had never seen in the northern wetlands.

Roger hunted these moving "attributes" full of anticipation, hoping to find a top-tier one.

To improve his hunting efficiency.

He even specially invited a villager from Dragon Tooth Village to serve as his guide.

On the afternoon of the third day.

In the wetland, where aquatic grass grew wildly.

Several dried earthworms were gently broken apart and tossed into the water, sending up several ripples.

Two fish spotted them immediately and swam over to compete for the food.

Unfortunately, before they could eat more than a couple of bites, a fat strange fish with long whiskers on its face shoved them aside.

The strange fish lashed its tail and viciously drove the two fish away, then began enjoying the bait scattered across the water by itself.

Just then, a thin black shadow suddenly stabbed over.

Pfft! A spray of water leaped high into the air, and the strange fish was pierced straight through.

With that movement, the hunter who had been disguised as a reed finally revealed his true form.

"As expected of Lord Roger—what incredible hand speed!"

Eric, with reeds atop his head and dried earthworms in his hands, praised him from the bottom of his heart.

Roger, meanwhile, remained expressionless as usual.

He casually raised Eric's fishing spear and skillfully removed the strange fish from it.

"You killed 1 Multi-Bearded Ball Fish"

"You gained 2 XP"

"Your strong-light resistance has increased slightly"

Seeing this attribute, Roger could not help raising an eyebrow.

This was the best attribute he had seen in three days.

Strong-light resistance probably referred to the eyes' ability to resist suddenly intensified light.

This attribute was useful.

For example, it could provide good resistance against a mage's "Dazzle Spell."

But slaughtering Multi-Bearded Ball Fish on a large scale just for this attribute offered extremely poor value.

"Let's go somewhere else."

Roger's tone remained calm.

Eric froze for a moment before nodding. "Okay."

"The next monster is the Lei Ze Whale. That thing looks a little like a crocodile..."

As he led the way, Eric gave a detailed introduction to the monster's characteristics.

Over the past three days, with Eric leading him, Roger had more or less killed every monster around Yellowstone Island.

There were more than thirty species in total, large and small.

Not a single one had a useful attribute! This made Roger begin to question his life.

He had even started pondering the ultimate question of whether encountering the Magic Explosion Frog had already used up all his luck for this lifetime.

Of course, there had been some good news.

At least over these three days, through Eric and his younger sister, Jon, he had successfully learned the ins and outs of Dragon Tooth Village.

Despite Eric's thick beard and his constant boasts about being the strongest hunter in Dragon Tooth Village.

The truth was, this kid was only twenty years old...

In terms of experience, he was more knowledgeable than Jon, who was practically a blank sheet of paper.

But in front of a seasoned operator like Roger, once the floodgates of conversation were opened, he was no different from running around naked.

From him, Roger learned that Dragon Tooth Village had a long history and was a human settlement that had existed since the Great Cataclysm.

The key point was that, unlike other human settlements, Dragon Tooth Village had its own faith! Every winter, they held a grand festival to express their reverence and submission to the supreme existence they worshipped.

What was rather strange was.

No matter how Roger tested him, neither Eric nor Jon was willing to reveal what kind of existence their faith was directed toward.

The other people in the village also kept silent about it.

But considering the village's name and the profession of its leader, Roger already had a guess in mind.

As they set out toward the Lei Ze Beast's habitat, Eric was preparing to lead Roger around the dangerous puddle ahead.

Just then, a fierce wind suddenly rang out above their heads.

Eric did not even look up before saying with a grin:

"Big Sis Rachel is back..."

In fact, he did not need to remind Roger.

Roger had noticed the Flying Dragons that had suddenly swept across the wetland at low altitude long ago.

He had even noticed that on the back of the first Flying Dragon Beast to pass overhead was a petite figure crouched very low.

"This flying posture... is a little strange."

As he thought this, his pupils suddenly contracted—

He saw that several of the Flying Dragon Beasts behind it had arrows embedded in their underbellies! They were bleeding as they flew!