The tome's cover glowed. Pages flipped open on their own, stopping on a spread illuminated with golden script.
[BEAST TAMER - CLASS SKILLS]
[Starter Skill: Tame Beast (Active)]
[MP Cost: 50]
[Cooldown: None]
[Effect: Attempt to form a permanent bond with a defeated creature. Target must be at 10% HP or below. Success rate: (40% base) + (Charisma × 2%) + (Luck × 1%). Failed attempts do not consume MP.]
[Current Success Rate vs. Level 5: 205%]
[Current Success Rate vs. Level 10: 155%]
[Current Success Rate vs. Level 15: 105%]
[Current Success Rate vs. Level 20: 55%]
The percentages scaled down as target level increased. Even with seventy Charisma, a Level 20 creature was a coin flip.
Riri's gaze tracked to the next entry.
[Level 5 Skill: Shared Senses (Active/Toggle)]
[MP Cost: 10/minute]
[Effect: See, hear, and smell through a bonded creature's perspective. Can switch between multiple tamed creatures. Host body remains vulnerable while active.]
[Level 10 Skill: Pack Tactics (Passive)]
[Effect: Tamed creatures within 100 feet of each other gain +25% Attack and Defense.]
Reconnaissance. Coordinated damage buffs. The class was built for multi-creature synergy.
[Level 15 Skill: Summon/Dismiss (Active)]
[MP Cost: 20 per creature]
[Effect: Instantly summon bonded creatures to your location or dismiss them to a pocket dimension. Dismissed creatures do not consume active companion slots and remain in stasis.]
[Level 20 Skill: Beast Fusion (Active)]
[MP Cost: 200]
[Cooldown: 24 hours]
[Effect: Temporarily merge two bonded creatures into a single enhanced form. Duration: 10 minutes. Merged creature gains combined HP pools and abilities.]
The skill tree continued down the page—Level 25, 30, 35—but the text blurred into illegibility beyond Level 20. Locked behind progression gates.
Riri closed the tome. The weight of it felt different now—not just a book, but a blueprint for an entirely new combat style.
She'd spent five days perfecting solo knife work. Choke points, environmental kills, stamina management. All of that was about to become secondary.
Now she needed creatures.
Strong ones. Fast ones. Ideally something with utility beyond raw damage.
Her mind catalogued the dungeons she'd cleared. Corrupted Transit had only offered rats—fast but fragile, decent for swarm tactics but nothing exceptional. The second dungeon, Flooded Archives, had skeletal scribes and water elementals. Third dungeon, Collapsed Mine, featured rock golems and cave bats.
None of those screamed "optimal first tame."
System #2's interface pulsed helpfully.
[May I make a suggestion?]
"Go ahead."
[The Training Dungeon rotation updates every three days. Tomorrow's roster includes 'Hollow Grove'—a forest-themed E-Rank dungeon. Enemy types: Dire Wolves, Shadow Foxes, and Thorn Serpents. All Level 3-7 range.]
[Dire Wolves are classified as 'mount-capable' creatures with high Strength and Constitution. Shadow Foxes have natural stealth abilities and high Agility. Thorn Serpents can inflict poison and have ranged attacks.]
[With your current Charisma, you have a 205% success rate on anything Level 5 or below, and 155% on Level 6-7 targets. You could theoretically walk out with three high-quality companions in a single run.]
Riri pulled up the dungeon schedule. System #2 was right—Hollow Grove unlocked at 6 AM tomorrow, seven hours from now.
Wolves meant mobility and tanking potential. Foxes meant scouting and evasion. Serpents meant crowd control.
A balanced team composition. Classic MMO logic applied to a death game.
She glanced at her MP bar. 600/600. Tame Beast cost fifty MP per attempt. She could try twelve times before running dry, and failed attempts refunded the cost.
"What's the dungeon's clear record?"
[Hollow Grove - Current Records:]
[Fastest Clear: 4 hours, 12 minutes - Party of 5]
[Highest Rank: A-Rank - Party of 4]
[Solo Clears: 3 total, all C-Rank or lower, average time 6+ hours]
[Recommended Party Size: 3-5 Players]
[Warning: Dire Wolf packs coordinate ambush tactics. Shadow Foxes disable traps and create illusions. Thorn Serpents have 40-foot attack range.]
Three solo clears, none above C-Rank. The dungeon was designed to punish lone Players—pack hunters, stealth ambushers, ranged threats. Everything that made solo knife work a nightmare.
But Riri wasn't going in to clear it the normal way.
She was going shopping.
Her fingers drummed against the tome's leather cover. A hundred Agility meant she could outrun anything Level 7 or below. Sixty-seven Intelligence meant she'd spot ambush patterns before they triggered. Seventy Charisma meant even a Level 10 target had better-than-even odds of submitting.
She didn't need to kill the bosses. Just injure the right creatures, drop them to critical HP, and claim them.
"What's the Boss encounter?"
[Hollow Grove Boss: Alpha Direwolf - Level 10 - ELITE]
[HP: 800/800]
[Abilities: Pack Leader's Howl (buffs all wolves), Savage Leap, Rending Bite]
[Note: Defeating the Alpha causes all remaining wolves in the dungeon to flee or submit.]
Level 10. Her taming success rate against it was 155%—guaranteed, with margin for error.
And if defeating it made the other wolves submit...
Riri's mind mapped the strategy in seconds. Enter dungeon. Avoid unnecessary fights. Locate Alpha. Kite it down to 10% HP using superior Agility. Tame it. Use the submission effect to cherry-pick two more companions from the pacified swarm.
Three high-quality tames in one run. Maximum efficiency.
She checked the time—11:47 PM. Six hours and thirteen minutes until Hollow Grove unlocked.
Not enough time to sleep properly. Too much time to sit here doing nothing.
Riri stood, crossed to the floor-to-ceiling windows. The city sprawled below, lights glittering in the dark. Somewhere down there, three hundred thousand Players were grinding stats, forming parties, buying gear from the System Shop.
How many of them had hidden classes? How many had even heard of Beast Tamer?
System #2's interface drifted closer, particles swirling in what might have been concern.
[You should rest. Tomorrow's going to be intense, and your Intelligence upgrade means your brain is processing at 39% higher efficiency, which increases mental fatigue accumulation by—]
"I'll rest after." Riri pulled up her inventory. "Show me what gear I can afford."
[Current Credits: 26,541]
The System Shop interface materialized—a cascading menu of equipment organized by rank and type.
[WEAPONS - E to A Rank available]
[ARMOR - E to S Rank available]
[CONSUMABLES - All ranks available]
[ACCESSORIES - E to A Rank available]
[SKILLS - Limited selection, D to B Rank]
Twenty-six thousand credits. Three dungeon clears plus the S-Rank completion bonuses, all tripled. Most Level 5 Players were probably sitting at eight or nine thousand.
Riri filtered the armor section first. Beast Tamer wasn't a frontline class—she needed mobility and utility over raw defense.
[Shadow-Weave Tactical Set (Rare - Full Set)]
[Cost: 12,000 Credits]
[Set Bonus: +15 Agility, +10 Constitution, Passive: Reduced noise from movement]
[Components: Jacket, Pants, Boots, Gloves]
Twelve thousand for a full set. Expensive, but the Agility boost would push her to 115, and reduced noise meant better positioning during taming attempts.
She scrolled further.
[Beast Handler's Charm (Uncommon - Accessory)]
[Cost: 3,500 Credits]
[Effect: +5 Charisma, Tamed creatures recover HP 20% faster]
[Ring slot]
Seventy-five Charisma with the ring equipped. Higher success rates against Level 15+ targets.
[Stamina Recovery Band (Rare - Accessory)]
[Cost: 4,200 Credits]
[Effect: +20% Stamina regeneration, -10% Stamina cost for all physical actions]
[Bracelet slot]
[Hunter's Eyes (Uncommon - Consumable)]
[Cost: 800 Credits per dose, 5-pack available for 3,500 Credits]
[Effect: Grants enhanced vision for 2 hours - enemy HP bars visible at 200 feet, weak points highlighted]
[Duration: 2 hours per dose]
Riri calculated quickly. Shadow-Weave Set plus Beast Handler's Charm plus Stamina Band plus Hunter's Eyes five-pack came to 23,200 credits. That left 3,341 for emergency consumables.
She added everything to cart, then filtered consumables.
[Health Potion (Greater) x10 - 2,000 Credits]
[Mana Potion (Greater) x5 - 1,500 Credits]
Cart total: 26,700. Fifty-nine credits over budget.
She removed one Greater Mana Potion. New total: 26,400.
Close enough. The System would auto-deduct.
[Confirm purchase?]
Riri tapped YES.
Golden light flared. Items materialized on the sectional beside her—the Shadow-Weave set folded in neat blacks and grays, ring and bracelet in velvet boxes, potion vials clinking softly, five doses of Hunter's Eyes in sealed ampules.
[Transaction complete! Remaining Credits: 141]
[New Combat Power: 2,847 (equipment bonuses applied)]
She picked up the tactical jacket. The fabric was lighter than her old gear, almost weightless, but when she flexed it between her hands the material didn't give.
Riri stripped off the sleep shirt and pulled on the new gear piece by piece. Pants first—they fit like a second skin, flexible at the joints, reinforced at the knees and thighs. Jacket next, settling across her shoulders with barely any weight. Boots that laced to mid-calf, soles designed for silent movement. Gloves that left her fingers free but protected her palms and wrists.
The Beast Handler's Charm slid onto her right ring finger. Warmth spread up her arm—the Charisma boost registering immediately.
The Stamina Recovery Band clicked around her left wrist. Her breathing steadied, deepened, like her lungs had found an extra gear.
She caught her reflection in the dark window glass. Black on black tactical gear, hood down, silken hair falling past her shoulders. The contrast was still there—delicate face, lethal outfit—but now the gear actually matched her capabilities.
Riri pulled up her Status one final time before attempting sleep.
[Riri Lee - Level 5]
[Class: Beast Tamer (Unique - SSS)]
[HP: 244/244]
[MP: 670/670]
[Stamina: 193/193]
[Combat Power: 2,847]
Strength: 32
Agility: 115
Constitution: 43
Intelligence: 67
Wisdom: 20
Charisma: 75
Luck: 25
[Unallocated Stat Points: 0]
[Active Companions: 0/3]
[Bonded Creatures: 0/12]
Six hours until Hollow Grove unlocked.
Riri set a mental alarm through the System interface and lay down on the sectional, still fully geared.
Tomorrow, she'd stop hunting alone.