Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution
Chapter 33: Jordan Outpost II

Chapter 33: Jordan Outpost II

Jordan Outpost II

Osho eventually turned his attention to the three other items, the pouch, the giggles, and the whistle.

Opening the pouch, he was surprised to see it filled with a strange powder.

"Concealment powder?" I mumbled, and he felt Ellie nod beside him.

"It should be." She mumbled.

The powder was a dark grey and had no odor. As its name implies, the powder had the property of concealing whoever applied it on themselves. Beasts had incredible senses. What the powder did was reduce the scent of an individual to a negligible level. Moreover, it served to help dampen the Mana that people unconsciously released, making it hard to detect someone by their Mana signature. It had no smell or taste either, so it was considered a key item whenever one wanted to brave the wilderness

Turning his attention to the other items, he looked at the whistle and stared at it for a moment, trying to remember what it did.

"That... is the deafening whistle, right?" Ellie’s words rang a bell, and Osho nodded.

"Yeah, I think so." He answered as he recalled what the whistle did.

As mentioned previously, beasts had incredible senses. So much so that they were capable of hearing at different frequencies, which humans couldn’t quite catch, at least, not at a lower level. It’s reasons like this that one would often see a beast detect something even though there seemed to be no sound indicating that thing was there in the first place.

This whistle did exactly as its name implied. If one found themselves in a tight situation, they were to blow it with all their might. It would release a powerful sound at a frequency that wouldn’t affect the person that blew it but for the beasts? Well, the official comparison was that it was no different from someone having several megaphones blasting into their ear at point blank.

The only issue was that this affected the beasts of the user as well, so it was recommended that the Tamer who intended to use it put their beast into their beast space first before using it.

"Them giving us this before we even have our beasts’ spaces isn’t very comfortable to me," Ellie spoke with clear dissatisfaction, and Osho nodded. Then he paused.

"Speaking of, why don’t you have a beast space yet?" It was a genuine question. There was no rank that was required before one could get a beast space. It’s just that the higher one’s rank, the easier it would be.

Ellie’s family definitely had the means to make her time procuring a beast space easy. So, the fact that she didn’t have one yet was certainly intriguing.

To this, Ellie just stuck her tongue out at him but didn’t reply. Seeing he wasn’t going to get an answer, he just sighed and looked at the final items, which were the goggles.

They looked like standard goggles, but the strap was surprisingly durable, and the frame and glass seemed intricately crafted.

Osho brought them to his eyes without fastening them and was surprised.

"Oh! These are cool." He exclaimed. As soon as he brought it to his eyes, a digital interface appeared in his vision.

It instructed him to press the side of the goggles, and he saw numerous settings he could pick with just his eyes. Night vision mode and thermal vision mode were available. Moreover, he saw that he could zoom in and out of things with stunning clarity.

Even more, he saw that he could connect the goggles with his watch, and that allowed him to see the map without having to look at his watch. It didn’t seem capable of monitoring his vitals, though, but that was fine.

All in all, he was satisfied with everything he’d seen. Then he paused and looked at Ellie suspiciously.

"... What?" The girl shrank a bit under his gaze.

"... Your father is a significant sponsor of our school, right?" He asked slowly.

"Uh... yeah? What does that have to do with anything?" She answered casually, or at least, she tried to, but the small head of sweat on her forehead and the way she avoided his gaze said that she was anything but.

"As far as I’m aware, none of the previous set of students have received such... extravagant treatment when it came to their pre-entrance exam training. In fact, this entire situation, from the buses to the suits, to even reserving such a large private space within the Jordan Outpost, where even a simple apartment is hard to come by, is something that has never happened. So, how convenient is it that the one that happens to have the only child of the Hemsworth family, which is one of the most powerful in the Citadel, just happens to receive such treatment when the funds of the Bright Spark Academy have been declining recently? Hmm?" At this point, Ellie had stopped hugging Osho and stepped back a bit.

"Y-Yeah... crazy coincidence... hehe, I wonder why..." She mumbled and looked around for a path of escape, but Osho was already blocking the tent entrance with his arms folded.

"Well?" He asked and Ellie looked left and right before sighing.

"Ugh, fine. You’re right. I convinced my dad to increase the school’s budget so that we could have this outing and be adequately prepared." She admitted and Osho raised a brow.

"Why?" He asked. He wasn’t mad, actually, he was grateful. Sure it was a bit dangerous, but the experience was far more valuable than any conventional training. He was just a bit unhappy at how she played dumb as spoke like she didn’t know why this was happening, like when she asked why they didn’t just simulate combat within the school.

’Then again, that’s a bit hypocritical on your part, considering that you’re hiding some things from her yourself.’ The thought snapped him out of his unhappiness and he sighed

"Well, it’s alright I suppose." He mumbled and his stance relaxed.

Seeing his irritation fade, Ellie let out a relieved sigh. She didn’t know why, but seeing him unhappy with her made her chest feel tight in a strange way, and she didn’t like it.

All this time, Gale and Sugil had been staring at each other. At first, Osho thought it was hostility or curiosity, but when he felt their bond, he realized that Gale felt... nothing.

’... Are they seriously just staring at each other without a thought in their heads?’ The prospect was far more amusing than Osho would like to admit, then again, they were both babies. Forget complex thoughts, just thinking, in general, in general was a hard task for them, and they usually only reserved it for when they were fighting or being fed.

The two of them chatted for a while more before Mrs Jane’s voice sounded through the camp.

"Alright, everyone, gather up, and bring your gear with you." She ordered.

’I really want to learn how to do that.’ Osho thought. He knew she was just amplifying her voice with Mana, but oddly enough, Osho found it easier to manipulate wind instead of pure Mana, at least, outside his body. He had no idea how enhancement worked, and he wanted to learn, especially now, considering their location.

Everyone filed out of their tents and arranged themselves near the buses, much like how they were when they arrived.

The only difference was that now, each of them had a sheathed knife and a punch by their sides as well as a watch on their wrist and a pair of goggles, though some already had them over their eyes while some just had them around their necks, like Osho, and their whistles worn around their necks like necklaces.

Osho still carried the side bag from before, deciding it was worth having some additional space.

Once everyone was in place, Mrs Jane started speaking.

"We will be heading out now. There is a designated spot where our first exercise will take place. But before that, you will all be put into teams of five. Now, I want to say you can choose for yourselves, but can I trust you to pick people based on usefulness and not just familiarity? Moreover, will you make a ruckus while choosing teammates?" There was a clear challenge in her tone, but everyone here feared her, so no one tried to defy her.

"Good, you have ten minutes." As soon as she said that, everyone closest to Osho and Ellie turned to them. It was so abrupt and simultaneous that Osho felt a chill run down his spine.

’Ah, I remember that I don’t like people.’ He sighed inwardly and Gale sensed his agitation, hence, the bird’s wings flapped in accordance to his emotions. Luckily, he didn’t blow away everyone in the vicinity.

Still, he’d much rather not be the subject of so much attention, which is why he was happy Ellie was with him.

"Alright people, stop staring." She said calmly and the people reluctantly averted their gazes.