"How are the first-timers doing so far?" General Sanchez asked one of the teachers acting as paramedics to monitor every student's location.
"Not bad, but many are afraid of venturing further into the forest, and many have lingered not too far from the entrance and are huddled together with other students and seem to be treating this like a camping trip.
"So there were actually students who ventured out further to find Mythias? That's quite a surprise. Usually, that only happens during the second day.
"Yes. Eight of them are out in the deeper part of the forest and seem to be doing their own things right now. Should I keep monitoring those students?"
"Yes. Unlike those who have yet to venture out, those students are more likely to do something dangerous, so it is better to look out for them in case they fire the SOS signal."
General Sanchez sips on his coffee and grins. "I am looking forward to what their performance will be once this is over."
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Miche has not personally handled Mythias before, but he has read various articles related to them and has seen one in the neighborhood once in a while. One might think that Mythias and Animals are the same thing, but there is one key difference between Mythias and regular animals. Regular animals cannot harness any sort of magic power or use any special abilities like Berserk or mutation, unlike Mythias, which are capable of doing those things.
And considering how big Mythias are compared to regular animals, one can say that Mythias are just a hybrid evolution of various animals that underwent some kind of change that allowed them to become one, though it is still debated whether that was true or not. Some became regular beasts, some gained powers. That's all there is to it.
With the shelter ready, Miche made his fire as well to keep himself warm for the night and to also deter anyone who was thinking of taking his spot. But he doubts many decided to push further from the entrance. If there was anyone who did it, they might have gone in the other direction. In the meantime, Miche continued to study things related to tamers and Mythia to ensure that he would be ready to tame any Mythia he might get later on while waiting for the sun to set. Using the guide, he skimmed through various articles and looked through various information that he might find useful later on.
As he continues reading the guide, he learned that Tamers can tame a lot of Mythias on their own, but the usual limit that Tamers put on themselves is 10 Mythias, as handling more than that number is going to get harder and expensive. He has seen things that are related to Mythias, and he can only say that to become a tamer, they needed to have money as well. Thankfully, academies like the Black Fang Academy give some free starter things for starting tamers before shoving them some jobs where they can earn money themselves.
Tamers who also have no Mythia can fight and tame a wild Mythia by using weapons. It's like fighting monsters, but it is more focused on keeping them alive if they want to tame them. Depending on various Mythia, they might be docile enough to accept a human as a master, or they might be tough enough to demand the human to prove they are worthy to be tamed by the said human, that said, as long as the Tamer does not decided to handle more than they can chew, beginning Mythias would be the first step to become a full fledge Mythia.
"Very interesting. And depending on how well one has been doing with a Mythia, one can even raise a weak Mythia into a beast as long as one has the resources, money, and time to take care of them. Just like animals, if one trains them, they become intelligent and can do tricks. Doubt Mythias can be considered as parlor tricks, though."
Closing the article to his phone, Miche peeked outside the small cave and noticed that the sun was starting to set, and the darkness began to creep through the place. He barely heard anyone nearby, and if there were a few sounds, they are already gone by now, which means they have already moved out of the way. It is time for him to hunt.
Miche doesn't have a preference on what kind of Mythia he was looking for; he is ready to take any Mythia that comes his way. It doesn't matter if it is strong or not, as long as it is a Mythia and he can tame it, then that is all that matters. Thankfully, the general specifically said that the forest itself is home to Mythias, which means that he would have no difficulty finding one himself.
Nighttime is dark in the forest, and the moon's light is covered by the thick trees, making it hard to rely on natural light. But Miche doesn't need to rely on it. Before the night fully covers the area, Miche memorized the surroundings and everything that is currently present around as he is confident about his memory. He didn't want to use a torch as that would just scare the Mythias away. Of course, he is ready to have a light source lit up if needed, but for now, he will proceed without one, keeping the unlit torch on his belt ready in case he needs to swing it up and the lighter to light up the torch.
Relying on his ears, he made sure to listen to the surroundings and detect any Mythia nearby. It is hard considering that the Forest has various sounds present, but he trusts his gut on this and continues to walk while also waiting to see which enemies might be lurking. Can't afford to get mauled by something in the dark.
As he was navigating the forest using the memorized paths, he heard a low cry. Very close enough to be called a growl. It was faint and seemed to be far from his location, but he could tell that there was something.
Following the faint cry, he soon found the source of the cry. A wounded dog. Miche recognized the pattern of the dog's body, and he could tell that it wasn't an animal but a Mythia. Scanning the database, it was revealed that the injured mutt was a regular Wild dog. It is a Mythia, but pretty much ordinary and not that strong.
It is alone, but it is badly injured in its legs, and one of its eyes seems to be crushed. One might say that this Wild Dog is about to die. However, for Miche, a Mythia is a Mythia, and even if it has a wound, it isn't fatal enough to die. It will die if he doesn't do anything and leaves it to its fate, but since he doesn't care about it, he decides to slowly approach it.
The Wild Dog quickly began to show its fangs, as if ready to defend itself against him. According to the taming tips, if the Mythia is showing aggression, one should not answer with aggression but instead, show it that you are not there to cause any harm and you are not going to fight.
Putting up his hands in the air, he approached the wild dog once more.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I am just here to help out with your wound. Don't be scared."
Although the Wild Dog continues to bare its fangs at him, it didn't attack him and just let him go close. It seems to be ready to bite anytime Miche comes closer, but he made sure to get himself ready to dodge in case the dog pulls that kind of trick.
Since the Wild Dog cannot run away, Miche decided to light up his torch and put it nearby to light up the surroundings a little bit. Thanks to the little light the torch is giving, he soon found why the Wild Dog is in pain.
The hind leg is injured, from the looks of it, it got mauled by something similar, perhaps another Wild Dog, but there is also a probability it was a different Mythia that attacked it. One thing is for sure: this Wild Dog will suffer blood loss if it continues to have its leg go untreated.
It is still struggling to move since its legs are bleeding, but it is ready to fight if it shows something that would make the Wild Dog think it is a dangerous guy.
"Don't worry, little fella, here have some food. It will calm you down. It might not be the best alternative for fresh meat, but it should do for now," Miche then slowly pulls out a little dried jerky from his pocket and throws it near the Wild Dog. It might taste like meat, but compared to real meat, the jerky is more like chewing gum with the flavor of meat.
Detecting that it was food, the Wild dog smelled the jerky a few times before it took a little bite and started eating. It swallowed the jerky quickly like it was being starved. Perhaps it has been hungry for quite some time, especially with its injuries, but Miche doesn't know.
As the Wild Dog started eating, Miche pulls out the Mythia medicine that was included in the survival bag. It was a medicine used for Mythias that are ready to be used in case the Mythia that the students have tamed got injured in the process while they are taming it. It is a surefire way to heal the injuries of any Mythia in quick succession. Opening and rubbing the wound of the Wild dog using the medicine, the wound that was so bad on the leg started to close, and the wound that was supposed to be bleeding started to close. The medicine was so good that Miche couldn't believe seeing the process of healing it did on the severe wound that disappeared in a flash.
The Wild Dog seems to have noticed its wounds on the leg have vanished, and tried to stand. Seeing that its injury is gone and it can now move freely again, the Wild Dog is elated.
Realizing that Miche was just trying to help, the mutt approached him and seemed to be thankful. Miche smiled and got a bit closer to the Wild Dog and started treating the rest of its injuries one by one. Most of the injuries have healed and closed up, but only one injury remains, and that is the one that is currently on the Wild dog's eye. Miche tried using the medicine, but the medicine couldn't even heal it.
"So it cannot heal the injury on this guy's eye, huh? Perhaps it was an old one, and the medicine cannot heal any old, existing wounds that healed up on their own and made some scars."
While Miche was trying to handle on how to heal the eye of the Wild Dog, he didn't realize that the Wild Dog itself suddenly imprinted itself to Miche and before Miche can react, a soft light appeared on the body of the Wild Dog and Miche's hand, slowly crawling around and stopping after it coils itself around his arm and the Wild Dog's body.
He has seen this in the video article before. This process is what everyone does to a Mythia: taming. Seeing it in real life instead of the videos was something else, but he wasn't expecting to experience it like that. After all, he has yet to begin the training process in the first place.
"W-what? Did I just tame the Wild Dog without realizing it?"
Sure, he plans to tame it after showing goodwill and helping it out, but before he could even finish his task of restoring the Wild Dog back to perfect health, he managed to tame the Wild Dog and is now an official Mythia of Miche. He was unprepared for it, and he wasn't even the one who initiated the taming process. Did he just luck out?
Before he could celebrate, the usual voice from before echoed inside his head as soon as his hands held the Wild Dog.
"[Tamed target detected. Would you like to implant stat points in the target? You have 2 stat points available.]"