Spirit Taming

For the scene in front of them, Clark and the others handled it well. Many merchants were already leaving. It appeared that Doc had already gathered the students and condensed the carriages.

"Can we get more inf-"

"No, get moving!" Doc pushed them in to a carriage where they found some of their other classmates looking worried.

"Did you hear anything new?" one of their classmates was curious. Doc had only told them so much.

"Nothing. We were relaxing and we had Doc at the door." Isa waited to see what the others had heard.

"Well, we heard that there have been risks for a dungeon outbreak for a while because fewer tamers were going out to clear the smaller dungeons. They wanted more pay for the same job because it was easier for them to place bets here and there in the coliseum battles."

"I heard it was a dungeon that couldn’t be easily cleared because of the environment inside."

"No, it’s the fact that the dungeon is too powerful and has a super powerful beast in charge of it that hates humans."

"A lot of theories but at the end of the day, there is a beast wave or tide or whatever you want to call it. The dungeon broke. We are getting him so we don’t get in the way." Clark silenced the ramblings of the others. He knew the risks of being near a dungeon break. Even the weakest beasts in mass could cause great damages.

The carriages had been attached together with different beasts pulling them. Clark had tried to get a look but had missed them in the chaos. What he understood though, was that they were powerful beasts. The carriages were moving much faster through the streets of Star City.

After just a few minutes, they had cleared the gates and were departing from the line of merchants leaving to get to the next nearest city or hideout. Doc finally came in and left things to a carriage driver he had hired.

"Now, I have said this to the other two carriages. There was a dungeon break. The dungeon was the swamp fly dungeon. It released many of the swamp fly beasts that can be used as bait or food. Unfortunately, they smell and tamers lied about clearing it. They have already been put in to jail cells. It was not soon enough though." Doc looked troubled. He had family in Star City.

"There are many groups moving to clean up the mess but it is safer to leave. However, we may run in to some of the beasts that escaped. The smaller swamp flies are not dangerous to us unless in a swarm. The larger plague flies are what we need to worry about. They consume swamp flies and create toxic hazes to kill prey which are later used for food for their larvae."

This made all of the students’ skin crawl. They didn’t want to imagine terrible beasts like this. They didn’t even sound worth taming, let alone researching.

"Star city should be safe. The Lord and four guardians of the city have beasts that could single handedly destroy that dungeon. Where the danger lies, is with the fact that the beasts are in the wilds now. Until the wilds adapt or are cleared, we will be leaving the area."

This was the greatest danger of a dungeon break. The beasts that were not dealt with in even the smallest break, could populate the wilderness. Those beasts would be a plague all on their own. It would kill off natural plants, beasts, and most people that went through the area. It could completely change or wipe out a wilderness area.

"Just stay here and we will be back sooner than it took us to get here. I have hired a professional with beasts well above what we have before. And do not! Leave this carriage or even open the doors." Everyone wanted to ask why. However, the moment they tried, Doc had slammed the door and the carriages were moving.

They weren’t just moving through. The carriages seemed to be pulled along at an incredible pace. One that made everyone feel a little sick in comparison to the speed that carriage was supposed to be moving. No one could even risk opening their mouths to speak for fear that they would be biting their tongues.

A few hours after they had left, the carriages came to a shuddering stop. No one dared move until they heard Doc’s voice shouting outside. "Listen up, we have made it outside and are stopped at a common merchant safe point. There are others resting here. You must be respectful and ready to move. We will rest for four hours."

While Doc spoke with the few other merchant caravans, Clark finally got a view of the beast that were pulling the carriages.

’Stampede stallion- rare

The stampede stallion is a beast that is known for charging through anything due to its speed. It has very tough skin due to the earth energy it has absorbed. This is also the reason they can move through various terrains without issue.

The stampede stallions got their names due to the great temper they have. Even the smallest irritant can push them in to a dangerous stampede that could flatten a small forest. They are very strong which makes them ideal workers. This is why professional carriage drivers often train them when they have the experience to use them.’

"I am going to record the stampede stallions. I have not seen them in real life." Ella knew they were very expensive to hire. This alone made them rare to see even with the fact that they were rare to encounter in the wild already.

"I don’t feel well, I will be laying down." Isa knew that rest was what her body needed. It also needed solid ground that was not shaking side to side. This left Maria and Clark as the only two that appeared to have some stability.

"So, do you want to tell us more?" Clark caught Doc as soon as he could. He wanted the details that he didn’t tell them earlier. The details that Clark and Maria both knew that Doc was hiding from the other students.

"The dungeons around Star city have been rough lately. Even our city is like that. But Nova academy has more powerful instructors willing to handle the dungeons with or without students. Star academy has no such deal with Star City. That means they rely heavily on the willingness of tamers."

"My sister does not leave because of her research and students. But that city is not safe now. She will be fighting the beasts on the front lines. Yes, they will fix things. No, travel will be impossible for at least four months." Doc was very unhappy with the timing. He wanted to bring the class together to meet the headmaster of Star Academy on their last day. It was an important meeting to go through for any visiting academy. It was respectful.

"That means that every student in Star academy will have more battle experience by the time it comes to multiple academy tournaments. It also means that their beasts will be tougher to beat..." Since Clark had already been told that the Star city beast tamers would be able to handle the dangers, he focused on the benefits that they got from this. The silver lining was tougher students and tamers overall for Star City. they had a new advantage.

"They will have real beast fighting experiences. That means they are ten steps ahead of most of the students at Nova academy since we only do things with professors around." Maria found the answer as well. She was worried because she had seen some tough opponents in the coliseum. Those were just the pens that showed themselves, there were plenty that hid away when another academy visited.

"That is a positive that comes from this. There will also be the beasts nurtured with materials from stronger beasts. A broken dungeon will also bring whatever was taken from it. The items and materials left behind by the beasts are there for the easy taking." Doc explained the fact that a broken dungeon could be a large boon for a city.

Some beasts abandoned the dungeon while others would use it as a nest. Most that left it would leave behind what humans found valuable. The beasts had no need for whatever items formed within a dungeon. Most of the time the materials were not even useful for the beasts within the dungeon.

"We aren’t safe here are we?" Clark looked at the fearful expressions around them. The merchants were ready for anything to attack at any moment.

"No. Not at all. This is just the best spot to stop. These people stopped here know that some of us will die if a swarm attacks. That means there is safety in numbers. Some of us escape while others fail to do so. That’s why we rest for four hours and leave." Doc walked away. He had reached the end of what he wanted to say. He had to be serious and make sure every student was safe.