As a beast-tamer’s strength increases, as does the range that they can sense spiritual creatures suitable for contract.
When Kain had first awakened an affinity, he had to practically be on top of the dead egg before he was able to sense it.
When he had been hunting for his second contract the effective range that he could sense was between 3 and 5 miles, depending on several factors such as his level of concentration, if he used any spiritual power to boost the range, and the terrain, since some environments can interfere with the ability to detect using spiritual power.
Kain is now only a short distance from condensing his third star and can probably push his range up to 7, or even 8, miles. However, once he officially condenses his third star and upgrades to orange spiritual power, he believes that his range should be extended to around maybe 10 miles…
‘Did she just say 15 miles? Does her detection range exceed mine by so much?’
Kain was anxious. He wasn’t talking out of his ass when he told Soren that he believed that he should be ranked first. He still, deep down, has always believed that considering his placement in the entrance exam that it was his rightful place and that Serena bumped him down and cost him a substantial portion of his System reward unfairly.
However, the top 5 colleges aren’t really known to give into nepotism or pressure for powerful families. Why would they so confidently say that her true ranking is above him when she hadn’t even taken the same test.
‘Unless…has she already broken through to a higher level?’
Kain’s heart began to pound hard at the realization. It’s not impossible…since she had awoken independently it would mean that she’d have formed a contract and began increasing her spiritual power at an earlier date than the rest of her same-aged peers across the empire.
‘But 15 miles is absurd. It’s not even the range of a new 3-star beast-tamer, but rather one who’d been at the level for a while. Maybe she’d using a skill that can greatly boost the detection range?’
Kain made a desperate wish in his heart that this was the case. Otherwise, his previous estimations of her strength had been greatly off.
‘The only contract that she’d been using is also only at red-grade. Is it perhaps not her initial or even second contract, but her third contract and has the lowest level so she’s taking this beast tide as a training opportunity for it?’
He took a deep breath to calm down. There was still around a month and a half until the first re-ranking. He had a shot at reaching 3-stars, evolving Bea, and getting her to orange-grade by then.
‘I’m going to have to work overtime in the next month. Hopefully we get rewarded with some credits for our performance during this beast tide.’
“Since it doesn’t attack at a long-range and appears next to its target, do you think you’d be able to warn us when it appears so that we can in turn attack it back or move away to safety?” Ezra questioned her.
Serena hesitated to respond, “It’s unlikely. The moment between when it appears and then launches an attack is practically instantaneous, by the time I even notify you all it may have already launched the attack and moved away.”
“No matter. Is there any other information you could provide for us? Based on who it chose to attack, I am currently guessing that it is only a yellow-grade creature, can you confirm this?”
Serena slowly nodded to Ezra question. The third and fourth years all breathed a sigh of relief. After all, most of them had contracts above yellow-grade. Even if they had a few that didn’t upgrade yet to green-grade, those ones can just attack from the wall while the others were still able to leave the city wall. Any enemy that they had some knowledge about was much less terrifying.
However, unlike the relieved expressions of his seniors, Kain felt like throwing up. Considering that even with great risk and difficulty one can only maintain a bond with a spiritual creature up to one grade higher, beast-tamers could also only sense a spiritual creature up to one grade higher.
Serena had just confirmed for Kain that she was at least a 3-star beast-tamer with orange spiritual power. Maybe by the re-ranking she’d be already at 4-stars!
‘No! No way! That’d just be too abnormal! When has there ever been a 4-star first-year?!’
“Only contracts at green-grade and above will be allowed beyond the city walls. All other contracts should continue attacking using long-range attacks from on top of the wall.
However, even when beyond the walls, we will now keep our contracts at a closer distance to one another so that we can support one another in unforeseen circumstances.” Ezra said, before leading the third and fourth years, whose contracts all met that condition, beyond the city walls.
The atmosphere on the walls was still tense, although they had some information on the unforeseen enemy. Especially since the sudden attack and killing of several contracts served as a bloody reminder that the battle situation could drastically change at any time.
The moments passed slowly as the sun dipped lower in the sky, casting long shadows across the land. Kain, despite being limited in his range of activity, was more vigorous in his killing of spiritual creatures. Even if he couldn’t obtain the materials for school credits or money, he has managed to obtain a large amount of GP.
With Serena’s likely 3-star status hanging over his head, he was more desperate than ever to increase his strength. Therefore, he needed as much GP as possible in the case that something he needs appears in the System Shop and to upgrade the System.
The beast tide raged on, with each passing minute, especially after noticing the reduction in contracts sent beyond the walls, the creatures grew bolder and more aggressive.
Previously, the melee contracts had kept majority of the beast tide at a slight distance from the walls, but after majority of them had been ordered to withdraw, the wild creatures in the beast had been more often able to actually reach the walls.
Thankfully the city walls were incredibly resilient and show no signs of damage, but the vibrations from their attacks still cause some of the newer guards and students to get motion sickness. The entire city felt like it was in an ending earthquake.
Kain almost lost his balance as he lunged forward to stab a flying yellow-grade spiritual creature attacking Kairos in the head. They had been partnering together to kill majority of the yellow-grade spiritual creatures that approached them. Not wanting to lose any more money, Kain had a Vespirae guard throw the corpse of the wall into the direction of the city.
Although majority of their kills were lost, he and Kairos had managed to keep 4 yellow-grade corpses since the day started. All of which had been flying creatures that got close to the city walls.