Chapter 4: The Forbidden Mountains

On top of a thick tree branch, Damian is hiding as he watches a Battle Beast drink water from the nearby river.

" That's a Mad Horn Deer " Damian identified the battle beast. " Spirit inspection " spirit energy started to gather in Damian's eyes, he used the inspection technique from the golden page to learn more about the Mad Horn Deer, though he can identify its rank from the knowledge he learned from the book, using the inspection technique will enable him to have a deeper understanding.

" Low class, peak tier 1 and from its spirit energy this battle beast has learned three skills already... Such a shame if only it is a middle class, I might take interest " Damian said as he shook his head, before he leaves he took out his black dagger and put a cross mark on the tree, that way he can come back if he has a use for this battle beast.

A month has already passed since the last assessment, and now all fifty kids have reached the novice rank and most of them are low level, while the first kids who reached novice rank managed to increase their level, Layla and Gerald are now both at the middle level, while Gen Lang and the other three are at peak low level, it won't be long before they reach the middle level, while Gerald has reached a high level, on the other hand, Kane and Damian have both reach the peck of high-level novice and is on the verge of a breakthrough they only need the second book of the Grey Spirit Meditation technique. And now all fifty new recruits of the Miller City Shadow Hall are roaming the forbidden mountains to look for battle beasts to bond with and find resources that can help increase their strength. The forbidden mountains is not just home to a myriad of battle beast but as well as different resources that can increase the strength of battle beast and beast masters, that is why they are given six months to train inside the forbidden mountains and after six months those who survive will then go to Miller City to be an official member of the Shadow Hall, the six months inside the Forbidden Mountains is the final test given by the shadow hall.

...

" Captain, how many kids do you think so survive this time? " A black-clothed young man asked Garu.

" In the history of our Shadow Hall, after six months of training inside the forbidden mountains less than twenty returns and based on the strengths of the kids and if there is no accident, there should be more than twenty " Garu said with a smile on his, he is clearly satisfied with this batch of recruits.

...

Inside the forbidden mountains, Damian is now inside a small cave, it is already nighttime, and a lot of battle beasts hunt in the night which is why it is not smart to roam the mountains n the dark.

Damian found this cave and decided that this will be his home for the next six months.

The other kids also started to look for suitable places to spend the night, since they are all trained in the art of assassination, making a camp in any kind of terrain or environment is also a skill they all learned.

Morning came and Damain is starting to get ready to start his day. On the other parts of the mountain there black-clothed men wearing black cloth masks are carrying dead bodies, it is the corpse of the kids who failed to look for a safe place last night and is killed by nocturnal battle beast, some of them are missing body parts, three new recruits already died during the first night.

While Damian has no idea that there are already casualties he proceeded to go on his little adventure.

After a few hours of roaming around near his cave, he found the tracks of a battle beast, he followed the tracks and it leads him to a habitat of a wolf species battle beast, he approach the habitat without making a sound to avoid disturbing the battle beast.

" A fire cat! " Damian said in excitement. Because battle beasts with elemental attributes are rare because most battle beasts in these forbidden mountains are pure beasts.

" Low class, tier 3, this one is mature already, that's not good " Damian frowned when he discovered that the fire cat is already mature, using his inspection technique.

For a novice like him, young battle beasts or cubs are the most optimal to make a bond with since it still doesn't have a strong mentality that can refuse them plus they can control the development and growth of the battle beast which is why for beast masters every time they bond with a new battle beast they always look for a cub or a youngling.

" Let's see if it has any cubs " Damian approached slowly, but there are no cubs, when he was about to leave he saw something beside the fire cat.

" Scorch flower! " Damian identified the orange-colored flower, this flower can help a battle beast strengthen their fire attribute and for those with no attribute might be able to comprehend a fire attribute skill if they use it, it is a valuable flower.

Seeing the flower Damian already decided to take it.

He hid himself in a bush two meters away from the sleeping fire cat, he is not scared since he is already a high-level novice his body is quite strong and with his dagger skills he has a chance to survive, he cannot wait for the fire cat to leave and hunt since it is a nocturnal and hunts in the night.

After a few minutes of preparing his mentality, he crawled towards the flower beside the fire cat, when he was just a few feet away from the scorch flower he can feel the heat radiating from it and the fire cat's breath is also hot that is why Damian is now drench in sweat, but when he was about to grab the flower the fire cat's eyes open.

* Growl * the fire cat woke up and it immediately threw an attack towards Damian.

" Shit! " He took out his dagger to block the attack but he was thrown away from the force of the fire cat's attack.

He failed to grab the flower, but he is reluctant to leave without it. He brandished his dagger and stabbed at the fire cat, the fire cat is an agile battle beast which is why it easily dodged Damian's attack.

" I know that you are agile but so am I " Damian turned mid-air and he used the nearby tree to boost himself, he kicked at the tree and attacked the fire cat mid-air.

" Screeeee! " The fire cat is now angry that Damain landed an attack.

The fire cat didn't attach k immediately I stead it stood straight and opened its mouth.

" Not good! " Damian already knows what the fire cat is about to do. A ball of fire the size of a grown man's head flew towards Damian.

Damian dodged but after dodging one fireball another came flying straight towards him, the fire cat is now bombarding him with fireballs.

" You leave me with no choice " Damian said angrily, he made a sign with his hand.

" Soul chains " grey colored translucent chains bind the fire cat, it starts to struggle to free from the chains but the fire cat cannot break it, while the fire cat is trying to escape from the soul chains Damian went to grab the Scorch flower, when the fire cat saw him it used its film strength to break free bad the soul chain shattered, when the chains were broken by the fire cat Damian is already running away from the fire cat, the fire cat tried to chase him but he was quite fast and the fire cat is out of energy after using quite several fireballs and using his strength to break free from the soul chain, and eventually Damian got away.

He immediately returned to his cave.

" A single use of soul chain almost drains all my spirit energy," Damian said as he sat down in a lotus position, he is now about to meditate to replenish his spirit energy, he placed the Scorch Flower inside his medicine pouch, and then he proceeded to meditate for the rest of the night.

...

Kane is sitting in front of a fire eating a lump of roasted meat with a corpse of a boar beside him, but the dead boar is not a normal boar, it is a Charging Boar a low-class battle beast, Kane is eating a battle-beast for dinner if other kids saw him they will definitely die in anger, while they are all struggle to find a suitable battle beast for them, this Kane is eating a decent battle beast.

For Kane a low-class battle beast such as a Charging Bull is not worthy of him, he won't bond with a battle beast of the low and middle class only a high-class battle beast is worthy of him bonding with.

Layla and Gerald are both sitting on top of a thick tree branch, the two became close after they meet with Garu in his room with Damian and the others, when it was just the two of them dismissed earlier than the rest. The two of them decided to team up to increase their chances of bonding with a good battle beast.

Dante is similar to Damian and Kane he decided to roam the forbidden mountains alone.

Gen and Lany along with the other three kids who passed the first assessment decided to team up.

The other kids formed a group to increase their chances of bonding with a good battle beast and increase their survival as well and because of that the forbidden mountains started to have different camps of novice beast masters.