Beast-Tamer: Limitless Evolution
Chapter 40: R&R

Chapter 40: R&R

R&R

Osho recounted his thoughts to everyone, and by the time they finished, they were all left looking thoughtful and sheepish.

"Damn, being told how to handle my beast better than someone who doesn’t have them." Sam scratched her cheek with a wry expression on her face.

Irene, though, looked a bit defiant.

"I understand what you’re saying, but you can’t just expect me to tell Inagi to rush in knowing fully we’ll he’ll get hurt." She retorted.

"Well, you didn’t do that and he got hurt. What’s your point?" He asked flatly and her cheeks flushed as she looked away.

"You know what I mean!" She huffed.

"Hm, I was so focused on preventing Clyde from putting someone in danger with his sound manipulation, that I never considered increasing his proficiency at lower levels." Kurt thought out loud and Osho faced him.

"Sound is a pretty flexible affinity, it isn’t just limited to making loud sounds to disorient or deafening your enemies. I suggest you study it better and train Clyde how to make different low-frequency sounds that could serve as great distractions." He pointed out and Kurt nodded, already taking out a notebook to write some stuff down.

"As for the two of you." Osho stared pointedly at Ellie and Sam, causing the two girls to avert their gazes in embarrassment.

"I know I already said it but I’m pretty disappointed with your performances. Especially you Ellie, just because crystals are rigid doesn’t mean the way you fight must be so straightforward. Your attacks are predictable with no follow-ups whatsoever. You were basically just throwing attacks at the raptor with no plan in mind." Ellie looked down, feeling positively chastened.

"And you. Sam, this isn’t an anime. What’s the point of the stealth if you’re just gonna have Blackie reveal herself in the end? You’re completely defeating the purpose of being sneaky. Next time, the cat stays in the shadows unless she has a reason to come out." The girl nodded weekly under his intense gaze.

When he finished, all of them turned thoughtful. Obviously, he’d given them a lot to think about.

Osho sighed and looked through the window. By now, most of the students had returned. Many had entered the buses while some sat on the grass near the vehicles. Most were uninjured, with most injuries being on their beasts. But even then, the injuries weren’t that bad. The worst he’d seen was a bad gash on the head of a frog beast that hadn’t stopped bleeding yet, so it had gotten some urgent attention.

By the time the 8 hours had elapsed, all the students returned and handed in their notes. Some seemed confident, others looked distraught. In fact, Osho saw some teammates arguing amongst themselves, something about losing the note. Clearly, not everyone had gotten good results.

By now, the sun had well and truly reached the horizon, the sky turning a brilliant orange. However, they couldn’t observe this for too long as the soldiers were already packing up their stuff. They didn’t intend to stay in the wilderness throughout the night.

So, everyone was ushered into the buses, and without wasting time, everything was packed up, and the convoy returned to the Outpost.

There was no incident on the way, and everyone was talking about their experience in the forest. More than a few students revealed that they had to be saved by their teacher in charge, whether due to accidentally antagonizing a beast they couldn’t handle or some other reason that was usually their fault.

Some talked about the beasts they encountered, from a swarm of fist-sized bees that were quite docile unless approached, to a massive insect-like creature that had limbs that resembled the surrounding trees, making it hard to spot. That was the one that injured the frog.

Once they entered the Outpost, they quickly entered the area reserved for them and everyone got off the buses, looking adequately exhausted.

However, their eyes lit up at the smell of food, and they saw that one of the tents was preparing large amounts of food.

They had been given rations during their exercise, but as one could imagine, they were dry and barely had any taste, simply serving to sustain their energy and nothing else. However, what was being prepared smelled delectable.

The teachers organized the now-eager students into lines as the cooks started serving them food at the food tent.

Luckily, there was also food for the beasts, which Osho found good since the small Ziploc bag he’d gotten for Gale had already gotten its contents devoured by the gluttonous avian beast, and it was starting to get irritable due to the lack of food.

Once it was his turn, he was given a tray filled with beef stew and mashed potatoes along with veggies on the side and a carton of milk. The portion sizes were good and it looked appealing, though...

’This is literally just our cafeteria food.’ Osho stared at the food with a deadpan expression. In hindsight, he shouldn’t have been surprised. The cooks were the ones he saw the few times he went to the cafeteria in school. Still, he expected... well something else, not exactly more. Besides, cafeteria food wasn’t bad, it was quite good actually, befitting of the school’s status. Osho preferred his cooking, though.

Once he stepped out of the line, the others came to meet him

"Hey, why don’t we eat in front of my and Sam’s tent? It’s near the front so there’s enough space." Irene offered.

Osho and Ellie shared a look before shrugging in unison, not particularly minding. Kurt just nodded enthusiastically.

They all went to the tent and sat outside on the grass. Their beasts were eating off to the side.

"Phew. We’ve been preparing for it most of our lives, but finally entering the wilderness and experiencing its hardships is a different thing entirely." Kurt said as he started eating.

"Mhm. It’s one thing to hear and another to experience. I don’t think I’ve ever been more tense in my life." Ellie said and everyone nodded in agreement.

"I will say, it’s a bit thrilling in an odd way," Irene added and it gave everyone a pause.

Indeed, while the entire ordeal had been nerve-wracking and scary on multiple occasions, there was an odd thrill that came with it. Evading the senses of monsters that could kill any one of them if they weren’t careful while observing it and collecting information, the faint feeling in the back of your head that the smallest slip-up could get you discovered and result in a life or death battle. It was a strange feeling.

Osho had thought he was the only one who felt that way, but it seemed like he was wrong.

’Is it a good thing, though?" Osho tilted his head as he thought.

He knew that your mindset when doing something as dangerous as traversing the wilderness was an important factor to take note of. If one was constantly paranoid, then chances were that they wouldn’t be able to function properly in a tense situation. At the same time, it was good to be cautious.

In this case, the ’thrill’ they felt could easily turn into recklessness, which could easily screw them over in numerous ways.

In short, just because the feeling was mutual didn’t exactly mean it was a good thing.

"We should probably be careful letting ourselves feel too thrilled. We can’t let it turn into recklessness." The topic of the conversation was starting to change when Osho voiced his thoughts, and everyone looked at him in surprise.

"Well, look who decided to contribute to the conversation," Ellie said with a lazy smile on her face and Osho just shrugged.

"I’m just saying, the thrill isn’t necessarily a good thing." At this, they all sighed with exasperation.

"Ever the practical person, aren’t you?" Kurt asked with amusement twinkling in his eyes and Osho just stared at him before staring at the girls who were watching him with a mix of exasperation and amusement, causing his confusion to grow.

"Did I say something wrong?" He couldn’t help but ask and they all sighed.

"No, nothing wrong. Just... no need to be so uptight all the time, okay?" Ellie said with a mix of amusement and warmth.

Osho was still confused, but he decided not to think too much about it and continued to eat.

Then he felt his spine tingle and turned to see Mrs Jane sitting down cross-legged on one of the buses, and next to her was a dark figure Osho recognized all too well, and they were staring right at him.

"Oh? He noticed us staring?" The figure that was Ellie’s guardian spoke, a hint of amusement in his voice.

"His ability to sense Mana is better than most at his age. Don’t be surprised." Mrs Jane said calmly before asking.

"So, what did your master decide?" She asked and the man faced her.

"Bold of you to assume I’m going to tell you." To this, Mrs Jane just glanced at him calmly and his mouth twitched.

"He wants their relationship to develop further."

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