5.1

He looked up as a long blue limb lifted up as the hanging shade, and Rittan emerged from the hut. The Voithos spotted him straight away, given his position in front of the camp.

“Good morning, August,” Rittan said as he moved out of the way of the door to let Kalter exit. “What are you doing?”

“Morning,” August said, scratching his cheek. “I’m recruiting the first member of my shore defence force.”

“You caught one?” Kalter murmured.

“I used the twine I made last night to lasso it,” August offered. “Not the best tool, though—a net would have been about a thousand times more effective. Something for the future, maybe.”

Rittan approached before crouching down and petting Ladybug when the creature intercepted him.

“A shore defence force?” Rittan said, sounding curious.

“Something I was thinking about last night,” August admitted. “I’m able to tame these things, so getting a few of them on our side puts another layer between us and the lake.”

“It doesn’t look very happy,” Rittan said.

“It’s tied up and unable to move,” August said dryly. “Would you be happy like this?”

“It’s not the first time I’ve been in that position,” Rittan admitted, “I had some very particular clients.”

“Dude,” August snorted.

“Why are you touching it?” Kalter said.

August wondered if this would be another point of contention between them.

“That’s just how it works.” August said, “I’m guessing it functions by putting my Mana inside the monster? I don’t really know more than that.”

“You used it on that one,” Kalter said, gesturing at Ladybug.

“Ladybug is attracted to sources of mana, so she was friendly before I did anything,” August said, “I’m not sure what the effect of this taming technique actually is—this is kind of a test run.”

“What do you expect will happen once you’re finished?” Rittan asked.

August dumped the Mana he’d accumulated into the [Mitikos], bringing it up to [24/30].

“We’ll find out in about five minutes,” August sighed, “Honestly? I have a feeling it’s going to suddenly become friendly. The technique is called [Tame], so I expect it will, at the very minimum, convince a monster to work with me. It would be completely useless if it did anything less than that.”

“Can it be used on other targets?” Kalter said, an edge to her voice.

“I don’t know,” August said, glancing up at her. “I wouldn’t be comfortable using something like this on anything that resembled a person if that’s what you’re getting at.”

“Not even an enemy?” Kalter pressed, staring him down.

“If this does convince a monster to be friendly, that implies that I’m messing with its mind,” August said, turning his gaze back down to the monster. “I’m willing to use something like that against an unthinking creature, but that’s the limit. Using it against something that is capable of higher-level thought would be enslavement.”

“Some would argue that it still is,” Rittan said, sounding a bit hesitant to voice the thought. “Even if the target is unable to comprehend what is happening.”

“That’s because it is enslavement,” Kalter said. “It’s simply a matter of deciding what constitutes an acceptable target.”

Kalter didn’t sound like she disagreed with using it against monsters per se, but there was a hint of a threat there, should he ever attempt more than that.

“You know,” August said. “Humans learned how to tame creatures thousands of years ago. Thinking about it now, I don’t think there’s much difference between that and what I’m doing now.”

“I think twisting the mind of a creature is worlds apart from taming a beast by hand,” Kalter frowned.

August wasn’t as sure about that as he had been.

“Is it, though?” August said, frowning. “If you convince a creature to be your friend with food, affection, and time, is that really any different from convincing it with Mana?”

“Isn’t the distinction about the creature’s ability to refuse?” Rittan wondered. “There is no way for a monster to say no to this method.”

Kalter opened her mouth to respond before she cut herself off. August took the moment to flesh out his thought process.

“Taming a creature the normal way requires several things; an understanding of what they want, knowledge of how they respond to different stimulus, and then a strategy for how to use that information to get what we want.” August said slowly, “Gaians, Humans and Voithos are clearly intelligent on a level that a simple creature can’t exactly comprehend. To them, there is no difference between using Mana or weaponising their biological drives against them—because they don’t understand either.”

“The method doesn’t matter because they cannot refuse their own instincts,” Kalter murmured.

“Exactly—we are pulling on levers inside of the creature’s mind, and they aren’t able to understand the process,” August admitted, “Food, affection, Mana, or force—the only difference is the name of the tool used to manipulate the levers.”

“Even if they were manipulated—If the being is treated well, and it lives a life of contentment,” Rittan murmured, watching Ladybug. “Can it truly be a bad thing?”

“Of course it can,” Kalter said, voice low. “Not all beings are treated equally, Rittan, and not all masters are good—you know this.”

August remained silent after that, realising that his divergence had moved into far more sensitive territory. Ladybug butted up against Rittan’s hand, reminding him that he was supposed to be petting her. Rittan smiled at the monster.

“Then we should aim to be better than those who mistreated us,” Rittan said, meeting her gaze.

“They commit atrocities against us, and we have to be better?” Kalter said, looking away. “No thanks, I can settle for revenge,”

Rittan sighed, and August attempted to crawl out of the pit he’d unknowingly pulled them all into.

“Moment of truth,” August said, placing his hand on the trapped monster’s back. “[Tame].”

August watched the progress bar rapidly fill until it reached the maximum cap of [30/30]. The spiked limb that had been slowly wearing away at the branch stopped before retracting back into the shell. August waited for a minute to see if it would emerge, and when it remained where it was, he called on [Analysis].

Level 3

Healthy

MP – 3/3

EXP – 64/300

*

ATTACK – 10

M. ATTACK – 5

P. DEFENSE – 100

M. DEFENSE – 100

DURABILITY – 11

Pyrrhic – Ignores pain.

Variation M9728912, designation ‘Mitikos.’ Amphibious carnivore. Territorial. Cannibalistic. Female subjects are known to eat their own children. Primarily resides in bodies of water but will retreat to land when injured. Mitikos are highly aggressive but prefer to target members of their own species. They are covered in a durable exterior that grows thicker with age and can retract their entire body inside their abdomen, emerging only when hungry or during territorial disputes.

“Well, that’s gross,” August said, scrunching his nose up.

“What happened?” Kalter demanded.

“I used the other technique, the one that gives me information about them—the female [Mitikos] eat their own children,” August admitted, “It says they come out onto land when they’re injured, and they tend to only target their own kind.”

“Doesn’t that mean the large one we saw was injured?” Rittan frowned.

“Yeah,” August nodded, “Which means it was fighting something big enough to injure it in the first place. There’s our confirmation—there’s definitely more than one big one in the lake.”

“A troublesome creature,” Rittan said. “This one has stopped its assault on the branch—why is that?”

“Not sure, but we better find out now—I’m going to free it,” August said, “Might want to back up for a minute.”

The two Voithos stepped back to allow him some space, and August carefully took hold of the twine and struggled to untighten the knot. Eventually, he managed it, lifting it up and putting it into his inventory. He took hold of the branch in front of it, and then after a moment of hesitation, he pulled it out. The [Mitikos] remained where it was, balled up inside of its shell.

“Wake up?” August tried, rapping a knuckle on its shell.

The monster shivered before it began to emerge from its shell; August stepped back as it abruptly tripled in size.