Chapter 157: Trained

Despite how crazy it was, Filmos was left with no choice but to follow the Lady Commander. As if he even had a chance to leave in the first place.

Not just that, but really, he had to prove that he wouldn’t turn into a criminal? Why would he even turn into one?

Or unless... all tamers who had bought beasts from the infamous Beast Shop in Suran City turned into criminals eventually?

Well, that certainly wasn’t the case for him. He only wanted to uplift his life, despite how tragically unfunny it had turned out. Becoming a wanted criminal of all things... What terrible luck it was.

And just as Filmos thought he might get a lucky break, the Lady Commander locked him inside a specialized cell.

It wasn’t a standard prison cell, but a simulated chamber where they promised him he would be "safe."

Depending on what "safe" meant to these people, he still didn’t know where they actually came from. All he knew was that they sounded reasonable, and since they could easily kill him, he should just follow whatever they said.

Not that they were ordering him to do suspicious things yet. It was still far better than ending up dead by their hands just because they assumed he would turn into a criminal.

"Tough luck, kid. Huh."

Filmos spun around toward his back, having assumed he was completely alone in this specialized facility that imitated a wild foliage environment. But he knew well that it wasn’t a real forest, considering they had walked through a heavy metal door to enter.

Lying on a single bed beneath a thick tree he hadn’t noticed earlier, a young man of the exact same age rested with his eyes covered by a massive green leaf.

"Who are you?" Filmos asked, his voice hesitant.

"The name is Trillo. Nice to meet you."

The young man stood up from his bed, brushing leaves off his pants, and offered his right hand.

Filmos reached out and shook it. "Filmos from Hibiscus. Are you... in a similar situation as mine?"

Trillo shrugged casually. "Depends on what your situation is. If you’re a criminal, then no, I’m not in the same situation as yours."

Filmos was momentarily lost for words, completely unable to give a proper reply.

"Wait, really... You’re a criminal?" Trillo asked, raising a scarred eyebrow in sudden suspicion.

"No!" Filmos immediately denied, waving his hands frantically. "I am not! It was just a massive misunderstanding. Anyway, where are we? What kind of facility is this?"

"Uh... this? You might want to take mental notes, because there are a lot of things this place can do. But at the center of it all, this is a specialized training facility for tamers who bought creatures from that infamous Beast Shop."

"Oh..."

Filmos started wondering why no authority had ever shut that business down before. Why of all times, just as he was starting to feel he could secure a better future, did his life turn upside down simply because he bought a beast from that exact shop?

"So... you bought a beast from that shop in Suran too?" Filmos asked.

Trillo nodded, his rough palm tracing the soft fabric of his bed as he sat back down. "Yep."

"Uh... where can I get a bed like that? Yours just appeared out of nowhere."

"Well... it’s one of my beast’s unique passive skills. I won’t spoil what kind of beast it is, but you could get the gist of it if you have a wild imagination."

Filmos could only nod along as Trillo spoke rapidly and aggressively, as if he were constantly chasing the breath between his own words.

"You’ll get one soon. Just wait a bit," Trillo assured him.

And just as Trillo promised, Filmos finally received the bed he was hoping for.

In a wild foliage environment, no normal person would expect a clean, comfortable bed to be placed right in the open. But as Trillo explained, the facility could shift its simulated environment at will, so the bizarre sight of a bed in a artificial forest was the absolute least of Filmos’s worries.

In the days that passed, Filmos finally learned the true reason he was being kept here: he was being trained for a crucial covert mission.

The Lady Commander ran a strict program of absorbing individuals she intercepted during her other operations. Those who had unwittingly bought beasts from the Beast Shop in Suran were brought here without a choice, subjected to brutal daily training that honed not only their combat wits, but also their absolute tactical discipline.

And Filmos absorbed every lesson thoroughly. He finally understood what it truly meant to be a proper tamer for oneself, and how a tamer’s power should ultimately benefit society rather than selfish personal interests.

It turned out there weren’t just the two of them in this place either. Other tamers were constantly being deployed out on active field operations.

Filmos endured the grueling training inside the wild foliage simulation for a full month before the room shifted into a harsh, freezing snowy environment. The facility ran non-stop simulations of violent beast attacks, natural calamities, and extreme survival challenges designed to push the tamers to their absolute limits.

When two full months of zero connection to the outside world finally passed, Nair, the executive assistant to the Lady Commander, who also served as the Deputy Commander, paid a direct visit to their training sector.

This was Filmos’s very first close look at Nair, and to be completely honest, he could feel an intensely terrifying aura radiating from them.

"Filmos and Trillo, you are up for a mission," Nair announced, their voice echoing coldly through the chamber.

Filmos felt a sudden surge of adrenaline spark through his body, feeling truly alive for the first time after two months of endless, grueling training. Without even realizing it, the psychological discipline instilled in him had carved a deep, burning desire to deliver flawless results. Trillo shared the exact same resolute expression.

Nair locked eyes with the two young tamers and revealed the objective.

"Your mission is simple... put down the Beast Shop in Suran once and for all."