Progenitor System - Chapter 7 Dealing With Idiocy And Meeting Old Acquaintances

“Excuse me?” I stayed calm, my voice emotionless while he all but seethed with repressed hate and anger. I did not know the cause, nor did I care. This child was actively threatening Saga with his eyes. He was still a child however and I would sooner not dislocate every bone in his arms and legs for a day or two.

“You heard me, peasant! You will remove that filthy beast from my presence or I will have it killed!” I closed my eyes slowly, taking in a deep breath and letting it out in a slow steady action, calming. This was someone that could never be reasoned with and I could handle it any number of ways. I could simply beat him senseless. It could backfire horribly but I’d feel better about it. I could disable him, temporarily or permanently, but that would ensure he tried to kill me constantly. The fact he called me a peasant implied he was something akin to nobility or just a trumped-up idiot. Either would be annoying. I could also be an adult and walk away, he could rave and haw about how he cowed me and it would cost me nothing. It would also allow the Guild Master to learn about the issue in time. This led to the president of him seeing me as weak, however, that I couldn’t allow.

I would need to instill enough fear into him that he was just shy of the unpredictableness of true fear yet close enough he would never stab me in the back. That would be difficult, regardless I would not be staying in this room. The stables would do, I’d be alone and able to test several things with the System when the monthly reset occurred.

I opened my eyes and glared at the child. I made no moves, I simply glare at him while standing calmly. Saga, ever the perspective pup caught on and she stood directly behind me, her hackles rising while she bared her fangs. I could only tell that because he head, thanks to her size was slightly ahead of me and drool was hitting the floor. I could actually imagine the scene, and it made me want to shiver in fear as well.

The idiot paused, looking at me before stuttering out something that was still filled with bluster. I cut him off. “You will never threaten my Lupine again. If you speak one more word, insult my Lupine just once more, and I will ensure your life is a living hell. You would be amazed at every a Beast User can do.”

“Y-y-you d-dare to threaten me! Do you know who I am!” his voice rose an octave and his stutter went away. I stayed calm, keeping my voice low and making sure nothing I did would make Saga think I was allowing her to rip the kid apart.

“I do not care who you are. You are a child, you are nothing. Your father, if he is powerful, earned that power and whatever respect he may hold. That does not equate to you earning a single iota of it. I will say it again, threaten my Lupine and I will ensure you never pass these selections or have a moment’s peace while in these walls. I am going to walk out now, you will stay there and remember what I have said.”

I took a step back, pressing my back into Saga’s chest and forcing her to take a step back when she realized what I was doing. When she did realize it fully she stopped whatever she was doing, picked up her lamb that had fallen, and stepped into the hallway. I shut the door before I allowed Saga the opening to rush in without me in the way. I saw the boy fall on his ass, fear in his eyes. I could only hope I didn’t push it too far, time would tell. I did not want to harm the kid, but he wasn’t threatening me. He was threatening Saga. I could deal with threats to my person but I was very attached to my animals, or Creatures in this case.

I passed a few of the other kids, all male, on our way out. They stood in their doorways watching us leave, curiosity evident in their gazes. I ignored them and left the building entirely. I pressed a palm to my face and groaned silently. I had allowed my emotions to ensure I had an enemy, regardless of him being a kid, rather than finding another situation. I had never been good when dealing with shit like that. I always went with the tried and true method of attacking first.

Removing my hand I sighed and hoped it would end there. I doubted it would, but I could hope. I looked around the courtyard for the stables and found them at the other end of the field. It was what you might expect from an open-air stable. The structure was actually empty for the most part. What I saw was Umbyr, a kind of horse that emitted body heat as a furnace would. I only knew that because the last time I was in town I had asked mother about the coal black creatures with red eyes. She’d been so happy I’d said anything she never thought to question why I was only interested in the Creatures.

Aside from them, there was another creature that may as well have been a Minotaur. Male, judging by the swinging genitals, and battle-scarred. Could this be that ‘Sab’ individuals Creature? I had thought they might be intelligent to some degree but that might prove a bit too hopeful. If the way he was mindlessly shoving grain into his cow muzzle and chewing with dull and listless eyes was anything to go by.

It could just as easily deal with his int stat, but something told me this was the norm for Beast Users Creatures. I doubted many treated them well at all. Perhaps they even intentionally broke their minds to ensure compliance. If that was the case then I would likely kill Sab in the near future. For now, I would give him the benefit of the doubt, however. No need to make plans like that without properly obtaining knowledge about the situation.

I took a stall with Saga two stalls away from the Minotaur with an empty stall on either side of us. The stables reeked of animals and it made me relax almost instantly. Perhaps the farm had grown on me if just something that smelled like it caused this sort of bodily reaction. I could accept this though. The stall was clean with fresh hay on the ground and a trough with water. I’d find whoever ran this place or speak with the person put in charge of me in the morning about food for Saga. I had her on a very special eating program and I wouldn’t allow someone to fuck that up. Her weight had to remain consistent.

“I guess this will be our home for a time girl.” I mumbled to her while she entered the stall and circled once before laying down and placing her ‘baby’ against the wall beside her and gave it an affectionate lick before turning to look at me. She cocked her head to the side and allowed one pointed ear to droop while she looked at me. Likely wondering why I wasn’t sitting with her. Ah, to be that simple and need only that much must be nice. I chuckled and used her massive body as a pillow, content in the warmth she provided and took out the notebook from my rucksack. It was far too dark to write in it now but I sat it underneath her ‘baby’ where I knew it would be safe.

The spare clothing went on a bench in the stall as well. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. It wasn’t much, but I could live with this simple affair. I removed the little Horror from my pocket and saw that it was actively moving around in my hand, looking this way and that curiously. “You may hunt insects around the area, be back by dawn,” I said, testing the understanding skill I had Improved it with as I sat her on the ground. She moved a few legs uncertainty, still a baby after all, before doing the strangest of things. She seemed to nod her head by dipping her body down low. I would have studied the motion more but she took off under the stall door and was gone. I narrowed my eyes and decided I’d address the issue tomorrow night. For now, my tired body demanded sleep, and I happily gave in to it.

I woke up slowly, a gentle and consistent nudging being the cause. I was more exhausted than I thought. Normally I would wake up instantly in situations like this. The consistent nudging was the little Centipede, my Swift Horror, crawling up my body toward my head. It was, interesting, to see it stop moving when she thought she would wake me. Two tiny steps, freeze, two more, freeze. The fact she had a large number of legs made it all the more amusing. “What are you doing?” I spoke softly, concerned startling her would force an instinctive bite.

She froze and looked up at me almost guiltily. Was she bigger? She seemed bigger and yet didn’t. I had to admit I had little experience with a created Creature that was an active predator so it was new. I pulled up her stat page to figure it out, my curiosity killing me.

{Swift Horror – Matriarch

Level – 2

Female

Str – 3

End – 3

Spd – 6

Int – 3

Trait P – Speedy

Trait C – Limited, Single Birth

Skill – Basic Understanding

Improvement Success Chance – 87%

Description – Common insect found world wide. Bred with an increased speed these Creatures are both swift and silent. A stalking predator. May be Improved immensely.

She did get stronger. It was only a single level but that also increased her Spd by one. Her Improvement Chance increased as well. That helped supplement my theory that the younger they were, the better, as well as their levels, mattered. I smiled and put my hand out toward her slowly.

She moved toward it and placed her head against the bottom of my palm a moment before moving toward my pocket. She seemed to believe that was her home now. I chuckled a bit and felt content.

I yawned, wondering at the time and saw that the sun was just peeking over the horizon. She had indeed come back at dawn, smart girl. Saga woke up with my yawn and let out a massive one of her own, shaking her head with the motion before turning to regard me. I knew that look, she had to piss.

I got up and scratched her ears before she got up to join me, stretching slowly as she did. Exiting the stall I looked toward the Minotaur again and saw that the muscular Creature was curled into a ball on his hoofs sleeping. I would find out what the deal was with him sometime today, tomorrow at the latest.

A gently nudge against my shoulder with a snout let me know Saga wasn’t fond of the delay. I took her out of the Stables and she went about her business around the back of the building. I followed, making sure she didn’t do anything she shouldn’t and earned a glare when she had to take a shit as well. Such an expressive Lupine. Always good for a chuckle.

Her business done we went back to the stall and washed my face with the water from the trough before Saga dove in to get her fill of water. I debated changing clothes as well but chose against it. The clothing I wore now wasn’t that grody yet and fresh linens weren’t exactly easy to come by at the moment, being a poor child and all that. I had no doubt that would be rectified by an overbearing parent in the near future. For now, though I would stretch things out. Besides, the blood stains on my pants would serve as a message as well. Psychological warfare at the start.

By now some of the stable workers should be up and moving, hell they all should be. In my last life, I was up at dawn whenever able and felt everyone should be. That hasn’t changed in this life at all. It was frustrating to see no one actually up and moving. More so when something as dangerous as this ‘Tide’ thing was going on.

I rolled up the long sleeves of the shirt I received last night and found several of the supplies around the stables and just went to work cleaning out the Umbyr stalls, removing the feces and piling it up where the compost heap was behind the stables followed by replacing all of the straw and hay in their stables for bedding and food. The water troughs were a bit more complicated but I had Saga help me with that. Her size and predatory nature kept the Umbyr from doing anything too dangerous with an unknown in the area. They disliked it but left us alone to empty the troughs. I had to have Saga pick the half-empty troughs up with her mouth and carefully carry them out before tilted them to the side. I could carry them myself after that. Replacing them on the holding platform I could turn on the water spigot and give them fresh water. I didn’t see anything like oats for them and imagined something like that was more of a treat than a needed feeding.

I replaced the hay for the empty stalls as well and then it came to the Minotaur. He was awake now, absently munching the bedding of his stall into cud. I frowned, wondering how I would go about this one. The other stalls had taken maybe an hour, two? This one was the home of something that was incredibly large and likely dangerous if provoked.

It regarded me with those dim and dead eyes while just chewing away. It let me get a better look at the massive Creature. He was indeed scarred from head to toe, the tip of his right horn was chipped and his skin was as black as his cow hide. I pulled up the stat page on him, just to get some sort of idea what I was dealing with.

{Minotaur

Level – 15

Male

Str – 8

End – 9

Spd – 3

Int – 1 (restrained)

Skill – Charge, Gore

Description – A powerful and rare specimen of hybridization techniques. Minotaurs are amazing shock-and-awe troops that rely on their brute strength. Often enslaved to make controlling them easier.}

Jesus, he was a monster. Level fifteen and massive stats in Str and End. He had an addition that proved odd. His Int was one, but only because it was restrained? I looked at his collar and saw it had runic writing on it. Could the Minotaur actually be enslaved? Anger was the tamest emotion I had going through me at the moment so I stuck with that for a few moments before calming down. Regardless of anything else I did not want this giant of a Creature, or Saga, picking up on my emotions and decided to attack each other, for their own respective reasons.

“Saga, stay,” I said, earning me a little whine while she eyed the big Minotaur warily. She’d listen though, I knew she would. I opened the gate slowly and entered the stall. He stopped chewing a moment and looked at me before going back to chewing. I looked around and realized the Minotaur was actively just eating everything he could. His water trough was empty as was the food trough which resulted in him eating his bedding. What the fuck? I turned the water spigot on and filled that trough first before moving back to the stall gate and pulling the replacement food and bedding in. There was little difference, likey for situations like that, so I placed the course material on the ground and the softer, finer in the food trough.

A whistle sounded out somewhere in the stable and I turned toward it, slowly so I didn’t startle the Minotaur, just in case. I saw a middle-aged man and a young woman that was fifteen. Both had vibrant red hair and pointed cat ears on their heads. I also happened to know them both, they worked part-time at the farm when times were tough. The man was Derek, the young woman was Saddie and a royal pain in my ass.

“You should get out of that stall, Crispin. That big beast has a temper if he sees you near his food when he finishes what’s in his mouth.” Derek kept his voice calm and soothing while moving toward me, nothing out of the ordinary. I resisted the urge to laugh at him.

He had done much the same when he first started working on the farm when I was four and he caught me in the Lupine enclosures alone. I had managed to sneak away from mother at the time and he had spoken in the same calming, slow voice to help distract the Lupine from me and let me live. At least that’s what he likely believed. I’d been making those Lupine my friends at the time. They were already tame-ish, dominating them was easier than it would normally have been as well.

I still left the stall and went over toward the man with Saga in tow while the Minotaur started mindlessly eating the food and drinking a few handfuls of water. I was even about to greet Derek when a red blur went right by me and slammed into Saga with a squeal. Oh no, not again. Even her father had the same look on his face.

I turned around to see a nimble and overly energetic cat-girl, tabby origins based on their hair, climbing on top of Saga and saying how beautiful she was and how she needed to become her pet instead of a stinky boy. “I blame you for her misconception on men and Creatures Derek.”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me levelly. “When you have a daughter as adorable as my Saddie, not possible mind you, you will understand.”

“That was contradictory.” he shrugged at me while watching his daughter try to bribe a very confused Saga away from her ‘stinky’ master. “When did you two start here? I did your chores by the way.”

“Saw that, and about a week ago. Before we came these stables were a mess. No one mucked them out or cared for the Creatures. What are you doing here?”

“I’m living in that stall with Saga. Do you have food for carnivores? She hasn’t been fed yet.” It always baffled me that I spoke more with Derek than anyone else on the farm. Perhaps because he was so closely related to Creatures, genetically speaking?

“We have some meat in the cold locker, I’ll find more later. You need to stay away from that Minotaur though. He really does have a temper and he is Sab’s war-beast.”

‘War-beast’ was a term used for anything actively thrown into conflicts against nations or against overwhelming odds. They were meant to be fodder, expendable and meant for little else. I frowned at Derek and he shrugged again. This was the norm for the world and whether he liked it or not he needed to feed himself and his daughter. It did more or less cement the fact I would be harming the other Beast User though. First I’d need to find a way to take the Minotaur from him legally and remove that fucking collar. I had a plan, kind of, it would depend on how the first day of this training went. Regardless of how it went, I would have little in the way of friends after everything was said and done.

“Can you make sure Saga is fed then, Derek? I joined the Guild last night and want to know what they plan to have me do today.”

“Sure thing, Saddie will make sure nothing happens to her. I’ll speak with the Guild Master about what we can do with your living arrangements as well.”

“No need,” I told him, I was fine with how things were. “Just help me find spare clothing tomorrow and I’ll be fine. I enjoy sleeping with Saga.”

He looked at me but nodded his head. I liked Derek, he understood my desire to stay with my Creatures. Saddie yelled out at me. “Stinky! Tell Saga we can play already!” I sighed, the girl went at her own pace and her father doted on her like no other. I told Saga she would stay with Saddie and listen to her. That led to them running around the stables and earning odd looks from the people leaving the other buildings. Not every day you see an attractive teen riding a five-foot Lupine and whooping after all.

I spent the next four or five minutes catching up with Derek while watching the people stumble out and freeze when they realized Saddie was riding Saga. It was nice, honestly. All nice things must come to an end however and it was time to get out onto the field where the other kids around my age were gathering and several older men, likely the D-rank Adventurers were sorting them, calling out names.

When I got there I saw the boy who had threatened Saga, he was sneering still but not at me. In fact, he went out of his way to avoid looking at me. Good, he’d likely come at me somehow regardless of my attempts but at least I knew it was coming. He stood beside two other boys, both sneering like he was. Perhaps they were some form of Nobility. Didn’t think this town was large enough for that yet. I shrugged it off and looked at the other children. Minus myself and the three idiots, there were sixteen others. Four of them were young girls. Not shocking, few women would likely want to rush off into the unknown. It tended to be young men because we were genetically predisposed to violence. It’s one reason I felt women were the more intelligent gender, as well as the stronger. Perhaps not physically, minus childbirth, but certainly in other aspects.

We were called to attention a moment later. I had ignored the curious gazes of the other children, as well as a half-hearted attempt at friendship from a young freckled boy with a mop of brown hair. “Gather up kiddies, today we see what you all are made of. We even have a newbie,” he pointed at me, “Crispin is the kids’ name. He’s a Beast User.”

One of the sneering idiots called out “Beast Lover.” It earned a smattering of giggles and I sighed. Children were amoral monsters. The leading Instructor, or so I assumed, was a black-haired man with one eye. The part of his face with the missing eye was a mass of scar tissue. I doubt anyone else noticed it, beyond him being frightening looking for children, but that guy had been through some nasty shit.

“Right, get the giggles out because today we are going to see what weapons you are most adept in and train you so you know that the pointy end doesn’t face you.” Two other men who were the same age grunting and shook their wrists. I was wondering what the hell they were doing when a slew of wooden weapons came flying out and I was pretty sure my jaw almost hit the ground. What the hell was that? The weapons themselves were staves, long swords, short swords, bastard swords, two-handed axes, hatchets, scimitars, bows. You name it, it was there. Well, it wasn’t what I wanted but it would work all the same.

I called out to the leading instructor. “Instructor, what do you want me to do if I am ‘adept’ at all of these weapons?”

He looked at me, raising a brow and smirking. “That isn’t for you to decide kid, we decide it when you fight us.” I nodded at him, which made him frown. “Alright, since you claim to be adept at them all you can spar with me first. Get that staff there and make ready.” He sounded impatient, which should make this easier. He’d underestimate me and make useless movements.
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