The Medallion

When he heard Marin, Rocky turned around and asked, "Anything else?"

"Well... Th-thank you!" Marin stammered, an awkward expression on his face.

"Since I just finished the operation, it's too early to tell whether Verdanim is out of danger. Take care of it for the next few days. Don't thank me yet. What if Verdanim relapses? You'd definitely kill me then." Rocky chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Come on! I'm not that unreasonable." Knowing that Rocky said that on purpose, Marin felt wronged and frowned.

With a faint smile, Rocky turned to leave. Though he said nothing, Marin understood what he think of her.

"That annoying guy..." Marin murmured angrily, staring at Rocky's back. But she was glad Rocky had saved Verdanim, even if she didn't know a way to express it with the other emotions at war within her, chief among them being worry.

As Rocky was walking back to his place, he felt that a pair of eyes were staring at him. He turned around abruptly, but there was no one there.

Frowning, he studied the area but saw nothing out of the ordinary. As he turned away, a pair of deer-like eyes flashed in the darkness.

After returning to his room, Rocky shoveled bags of soil to feed the three Dark Heaven Insects. When the Dark Heaven Insects were full, he checked them by the Stroking Evaluation Skill. The examination revealed they were in good health. When he was done, he put them back into the nest. Rocky turned to Uriah and Little Rubygon. "We're all set here. I think it's time for us to go for a little hunt."

They left and headed into the nearby forest. They'd gone a good way when Uriah stopped, spun to the left, and roared.

stroked the beast's head. Ready to send Uriah after whatever bothered

Thinking Uriah was simply in a bad mood, Rocky

Uriah still shot looks over its shoulder. Or it

constant vigilance disturbed Rocky. This was not like Uriah at

spot for a trap. He set a bottle with a drop of magical saliva down in the middle of the space. Satisfied with the trap, Rocky led Uriah and Little Rubygon to a clump of trees and brush that would provide adequate cover. Rocky leaped up

to build its strength or to gain fighting experience.

beasts to such a dangerous place for a hunt. For ordinary spirit manipulators, entering this place meant meeting their death. Rocky cared for none of that. He wanted to push the limits, to make certain he had the best spirit-manipulated beasts, and that his control

of a wild spirit-manipulated beast at the

Understanding the signal, Little Rubygon dashed from the hiding place. In a

was equal to the task. It whipped around and shook itself violently, dislodging Rubygon from its neck. Roaring in defiance, the wild beast faced Rubygon, claws out. Its claws could tear through flesh and bone. Undaunted, Rubygon charged the wild spirit-manipulated beast again. The beast swiped its claw at Rubygon's head. At the last moment, Rubygon ducked under the blow, snatched the wild beast by its upper arm, and shook the beast like a rag doll. The beast yowled. Desperate,

beast's superior strength won out. Though exhausted and badly injured,

and let out a howl of triumph. The cry had barely ended before the beast leaped toward Rubygon. The wild beast was still in midair when a great shadow

beast landed, it took one look at Uriah beside Rubygon and turned tail to flee. Uriah's second flame blast struck the beast as its back turned, setting the

licked Little Rubygon's wounds to

from the tree. He strode past the smoking carcass toward the bottle of magical saliva. The bottle shook before Rocky reached it. Rocky froze. The bottle raised from the ground. With a fearful cry, Rocky leaped after

a roar, Uriah leaped above Rocky and swiped at the bottle. But the bottle spun