Weakest Beast Tamer Gets All SSS Dragons novel Chapter 862

Chapter 862: Chapter 862 - Taming the Fifth Year - The Board - 4

Orion was preparing to receive Selphira with the methodical calm of someone who had planned every aspect of confrontation during months of careful preparation.

He’d received several messages during the last hour, birds arriving at regular intervals with updates about Selphira’s group’s progress as they approached Goldcrest territory. Everything was unfolding exactly as he’d anticipated, perfect timing confirming his predictions about how they would react had been accurate.

Message at hour 0: Selphira and Arturo departed with 35 companions. Speed approximately 80 kilometers per hour.

Message at hour 1: Group passed checkpoint 1... Still 37 members. No additional forces detected. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Message at hour 2: Approaching outer perimeter of Goldcrest territory. Maintaining ’cautious’ pace.

Every update confirmed the pattern. Small group, cautious approach and no big military backup because none more could be spared.

Everything according to plan.

Getting dressed was the most tedious part now...

Not because there were complicated preparations, quite the opposite. There was simplicity to it that felt almost anticlimactic given the magnitude of what was about to occur.

There were no armors to put on, no conventional weapons to prepare.

This wasn’t a conflict where metal and steel would determine the outcome. In this world, beasts dominated combat through physical superiority exceeding anything a human forge could create. Armors were dead weight limiting mobility without providing significant protection against claws and fangs of creatures, especially those of Silver or Gold rank.

Wearing armor against a Gold-rank beast was like wearing paper against a sword. It gave false confidence without actual protection. Worse, it sometimes slowed you down.

Beasts were much harder than most human constructions. Their scales, their hides, their spiritual reinforcement made conventional weapons nearly useless beyond Bronze rank.

That was why serious tamers wore thick but flexible clothing optimized for movement rather than protection. Speed and positioning mattered. Armor didn’t.

Selphira used a spear, that was true, but it wasn’t like Ren’s initiative, not a conventionally forged weapon.

It was a manifestation of her power, of her control over elemental ice.

And although she maintained that physical spear stored within one of her beast’s storage space, since it was an object she’d been injecting mana into for years until the material had completely saturated and become a natural extension of her will, that was an exception proving the rule.

The spear was elemental tool first and physical object second, power derived from the tamer wielding it rather than from some third party who had forged it.

That’s how it was for all serious tamers. Beasts were their primary weapons and armor, and any physical implements were tertiary at best.

Orion finished verifying his beasts had strong bonds and energy flowing without obstructions.

Two beasts currently... Gold rank.

They weren’t natural beasts anymore. Not entirely... The modifications were subtle, maybe 5-10% deviation from baseline, but that deviation made them significantly more compatible with the technology he was about to use.

He’d learned the limits of what the human body could tolerate. Had discovered breaking points where transformation became irreversible. Had mapped territories of knowledge remaining completely unexplored by conventional researchers operating under ethical restrictions.

All volunteers, technically, though "volunteer" became questionable concept when you were offering power to desperate people with nothing to lose.

But despite all that, he remained convinced of something that seemed to contradict his research direction: crystals used by oneself remained superior in terms of stability and reliability.

Corrupt technology provided power and capabilities that normal cultivation would take years to reach, but it came with costs not always apparent until it was too late to reverse the damage.

Maybe it was part of what others might call his "Yano pride"... that deep conviction that his city’s purist culture had intrinsic value that shouldn’t be completely discarded in favor of tempting shortcuts.

Yano had lasted centuries.

There had to be wisdom in there... Wisdom that shouldn’t be thrown away just because something faster existed.

It was precisely why he’d been opportunist rather than fully allying with the more radical anti-Yano faction. He didn’t hate his city or the culture that had formed who he was.

He just wanted to improve them "his way", evolve traditions rather than destroy them and replace them with foreign systems that hadn’t been properly tested.

Reform, not revolution. Though the distinction was admittedly subtle when you were currently holding another city’s military commander hostage in pursuit of more ancient technology.