This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

After discovering the specialness of that boulder, Kain had used controlled spiritual creatures to issue a secret signal to Nadia and the others to meet. Enjoy exclusive content from My Virtual Library Empire

Now he was moving swiftly through the ruins, heading toward the designated meeting point at the dilapidated watchtower.

He kept his movements small, suppressing his presence as much as possible. Even though he hadn’t been spotted by the Abyssal creatures, there was no telling if they had hidden scouts lurking about.

The watchtower was nothing more than a crumbling structure of aged stone that once belonged to a long annihilated city-state that stood on the grounds Ishvaran is currently located.

The colourful, once-proud banners of the fortress were long reduced to faded and tattered remnants. Despite its sorry state, it provided them with a secure vantage point over the surrounding area, making it the ideal place to regroup.

As Kain arrived, the others were already waiting for him. Nadia leaned against the watchtower’s crumbling wall, arms crossed, her dark eyes flicking toward him as he approached.

Benji was crouched nearby, idly petting Aura, the Spirit Mouse, who had proven to be invaluable in their reconnaissance efforts so far. Clara and Claudia stood off to the side, deep in a hushed discussion.

The moment Kain stepped into the circle, all eyes turned toward him. After all, he was the one that had requested this meeting.

Kain took a moment to compose his thoughts before explaining what he had found. How had followed a group of what appeared to be smarter Abyssal creatures not far from these ruins. How they had walked behind a massive boulder, but they never came out the other side. They had disappeared. He also explained his complete helplessness in being able to enter the boulder, likely ordinary means of investigation would be fruitless.

Benji’s brows furrowed. “A hidden entrance?”

Nadia’s expression darkened. “The boulder isn’t just hiding the entrance. It’s being guarded.”

Clara exhaled sharply. “That means whatever’s inside is important. Hopefully, it’s not the location of the relic’s core. The last thing we need is them finding it and being able to enter the real world using it.”

Like all relics, historical relics typically have a core, and once it is found then it can fall completely under the control of the one holding the core. Meaning that any entrants to the relic can be forcefully expelled or prevented from leaving. In the case of historical echoes, the ‘time setting’ of the relic can be rewound or fast forwarded to different time points in the overall ‘plot’ of the relic.

All of the relics the Order currently had control of were obtained due to having absolute control over the relic’s core.

Benji rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “If it’s being guarded, brute force isn’t going to work. Although Nadia is a high-level beast-tamer, there’s no guarantee something stronger won’t be in there. We need a way to get in without setting off whatever detection system they have.”

Nadia turned to Benji. “Your Spirit Mouse—how close do you think it can get?”

Benji didn’t hesitate. “Closer than anything else we’ve got. Aura’s ability to go unnoticed is second to none.” He lifted his hand, and the small mouse twitched its nose as if understanding its assignment.

“Then let’s move,” Nadia said, pushing off the wall. “The longer we wait, the more time they have to accomplish whatever it is they are doing inside.”

The group did as they said and moved swiftly away from the ruins, keeping to the shadows.

By the time they reached the boulder, the sun had begun to dip lower in the sky, casting long shadows over the landscape.

Kain crouched low behind a collapsed pillar, scanning the area. The massive rock stood exactly where he had last seen it, unmoving and unassuming. If he hadn’t actually seen the Abyssal creatures vanish into it, he would have assumed it was just another ruin among many.

Benji knelt beside him, cupping Aura in his hands. “It’s up to you now.”

Suddenly Aura began to wheeze, cough and choke as though she were struggling to remove something blocking her throat. The sight was concerning, but seeing that nobody, including her own beast-tamer, stepped forward to help, Kain refrained from ‘helping’ impusively.

Eventually, a massive fur ball was coughed up by Aura.

The ball of fur twitched.

At first, it was only a faint shudder, but then it began convulsing violently, jerking and writhing as if something inside was trying to claw its way out. The tangled mass of golden fur pulsed unnaturally, inflating and deflating like a grotesque lung.

Then, with a wet pop, small limbs burst from its sides—thin and bony at first but rapidly thickening as the fur melted away to reveal skin-like tissue stretching over them.

A tiny head, eerily identical to Aura’s but unsettlingly blank, pushed its way out from the top of the mass. Its beady black eyes blinked once, twice—then the entire thing spasmed as if testing its new form.

With a final, sickening squelch, the grotesque transformation was completed. The newly formed creature, now identical to the original Spirit Mouse, shivered before scurrying up Benji’s arm and settling on his shoulder.

Kain swallowed back his discomfort. “That was… disgusting.”

Benji only shrugged. “You get used to it once you see it a lot of times.”

Noticing Kain’s surprised eyes that he’d have to see that scene frequently, Benji explained. “You didn’t think I’d send my contract inside somewhere so dangerous right? She has many skills to escape detection, but it’s still too risky. What if a high-level creature is in there? Instead, Aura is capable of creating a single split from herself that has her full abilities. In fact, if her true body ever dies, her consciousness will be transferred to the split, and it will become the true body instead. Unfortunately, though, each time the split dies it causes some backlash that may take months to recover from.”

Benji murmured something under his breath, and the duplicate Aura twitched before leaping down onto the rocky ground. She blended seamlessly into the environment, her fur shifting in colour to match the surrounding terrain.

Moreover, even though Kain could physically see the mouse. For some reason, his mind seemed to refuse to acknowledge that it was right in front of him. Had he not been making the extra effort to watch her, or Bea didn’t have a split on her to transfer images back to the rest of them, he would likely have unconsciously ignored her.

Then, without hesitation, she scurried toward the boulder, vanishing into the distorted space where Kain had seen the Abyssal creatures disappear.