Spirit Taming

Chapter 488: Tame Or Hatch?

"Did we scare them all off?" Maria was looking at the rock mite that she had just poisoned. It was unable to move its body since it was too numb to even feel how it was moving. This left it in an odd twitching state. However, this state of a fellow mite had seemed to scare away the other rock mites.

"I would be afraid too if I saw one of my friends doing that." Clark moved over and finished off the rock mite before it could start processing the plumbing poison. Maria didn't mind at all since she knew that Clark had an easier time dispatching them than she did. She disliked getting closer to them with her daggers.

"I just think it would be better if we fought somewhere I could use my bow. But you always drag me in to caves and dungeons that are smaller." Maria also had a few things to say about the places she and Clark had explored recently.

"I promise that the next dungeon I get caught up in or hyper focused with will have some open spaces. I want to see you show off your archery too." Many of the group forgot that Maria was much better at archery than with her daggers.

It was worth saying that she had definitely strengthened her dagger skills in the single training session here in terra city though. Maria had been focusing on it more and more to catch that skill up to her archery. If things were a perfect world, Maria would have made sure both archery and dagger skills were perfectly matching before she did anything else.

The world wasn't perfect though. Right this moment the three of them were moving through a cave where comparing her archery to dagger skills would be foolish. The cave limited where she could fire her arrows. Too many twists, turns, stalagmites, and stalactites.

"Less mites is a good sign. There may be some groups digging out the fallen rocks to make it back to the dungeon. Clearing rock falls is very dangerous but there are experts." hearing Purple mention experts like this was surprising.

"I thought that there would be some set of experts for digging caves or navigating them. But for digging out cave ins?" Clark's surprise didn't appear to be anything new to Purple.

"Many visitors find it surprising. They are the same people that look for trapped people in cave ins as well. They do more than just dig or just rescue. They cover it all." This made a lot more sense. All the skills someone would need to rescue someone from a cave in could also be used to remove the cave in entirely.

While the three pondered this for a moment while walking, the air started to shift slightly. "That should mean there is a cross section coming up. We are leaving anything close to the main caverns." Purple gave a calm warning. He had also lowered his voice. It was interesting to notice how he walked so quietly in the cave with his larger body.

Naturally, Clark and Maria let Purple take the lead as the one with the most experiences in caves. But from the way he walked, Clark could easily learn how Purple was balancing his weight on the balls of his feet. That single point of pressure reduced the large slap of boots on stone. He also moved in ways that avoided puddles or dust piles.

The last two ways of movement proved more about how good Purple's vision was in the dim light that came with the cave. Since small crystals glowed here and there with very small amounts of energy, there would always be some form of faint light in a cave.

The thing was, that purple was able to see the puddles and little piles of dust. He saw them well enough that he knew how they might shift or cause sounds. Experience was key here. "The split tunnel is there. That top tunnel leads up and will most likely be a palace for bats to roost. The tunnel sloping down is where we will go."

With the warning from Purple, Clark used the system analysis in to the darkness. After just a moment he was able to make out a slight glimmer of red eyes well up in to the top cave.

'Red fruit bat- uncommon

Known for eating wild red colored fruits, the red fruit bat often gets confused for the brutal vampire bats often known to hang around vampires. The red fruit bat can eat up to a hundred small red fruits when it is in a growth cycle. This causes them to always seek out places where they will grow a lot during the rainy season.

Naturally, the red fruit bat gains a red color along its furry ears and body because of the food it eats. It is rarely seen during the day and will often leave in the safety of the night due to the red color standing out.

The red fruit bat avoids fighting at all costs. They will group in large numbers to scare away larger beasts with loud screeching and many red eyes. Some people will befriend large colonies and safely sleep or pass through them.'

Clark noticed that there was more he could read about the red fruit bat in the analysis. But he had already gained a general knowledge about them. The rest was how to grow them the best during their growth cycle which naturally happened once a year when the temperature had risen and rain began to fall instead of snow.

It would help for other things later, there had to be something that hunted the red fruit bats if there were so many around.

The sloping cave that they had decided to go down appeared to have a decent dribble of water coming from the sides of the cave and the ceilings. The added sounds of dripping helped disguise Maria and Clark's steps. They were still learning by watching Purple so they would naturally make more sounds while they moved.

"The jade worm will live in pools of water with vibrant green algae. We just need to get to wherever this water flows." Clark made a point to tell Purple of their goal. He also knew that they would find more than just cave water pools if they went down. They would be fools to believe that only one kind of beast would be around a pool of water in a large cave system.

"Are we taming one from the wild? Or finding an egg?" This was not exactly what Maria and Clark had considered. Purple had caught them off guard. The question was very important though.

If Maria tried to tame a jade worm, then she would have to put a lot more focus on the situation around it. She had to make it trust her more and be willing to form a bond. This could take a lot of energy and effort which left a tamer at risk.

This entire option was dangerous. The same danger came during hatching an egg of any beast bit that could be avoided in taking the egg to a safe place or having many more guards within an area. There were plenty of factors but hatching an egg was normally the safer of the two options. Every tamer knew this and agreed.

"There could be more dangers around if we don't find an egg. We might be trying the harder option while potentially finding tougher to fight beasts." Part of Clark liked the idea of just finding a beast and taming it. That would be easier to get done quickly. But the risk and all the noise made could leave Maria in harms way.

Therefore, he lingered on egg hunting for longer with all three of them being able to fight at the drop of a hat.

"I would rather raise it from an egg. We will bond much better that way." Maria made it clear to both of them what she wanted. At the end of the day, that would be the best method for all of this. A stronger bond is much more important for a tamer and a beast in general.

" I agree. I have seen the same thing in the academy." Purple recalled many people with multiple beasts. Those that he saw as tougher sparring partners always had beasts from eggs as their second beast.

"Then we will be looking for more than a pond. A smaller, more hidden little cave pool with a good spot to hide eggs safely from predators. One that the jade moths won't be hunted in either." This was the new challenge that Clark had decided to focus on. It would leave him with a better chance to test his skills. The analysis and other factors would bring him to their goal or not.

"I am limited in my knowledge of this beast. I do not doubt our battle strength though." Purple was more willing to be the defender. This was training for him as well as it was for Clark and Maria.