Chapter 20

  With my new Pride Cub acquired, that is, the apparently normal colored ones, and my special alternate color version tucked away in my storage pouch, I continued my scan of my new surroundings. In the distance of the massive grassy field were occasional trees, as well as large boulders. If this were Earth, I’d figure those boulders and everything here had been deposited by avalanches or glaciers from the mounts a long time ago. In this strange world of Mutopia though, who knew what science actually mattered or made sense. For all I knew, some Mun had carried that boulder over here, set it down, and just carried on with its life.

  Here and there, I saw patches of tall grass moving. As I skimmed them, my Tamer’s gauntlet told me they were once again more Pride Cubs. With my level 14 Pride Cub acquired and at 21 of 69 life thanks to a refresher, I was ready to keep training. I switched my Gearow, who’d grown to level 16, out for my Springer, hoping to get the metal snake to level 16 next, while I worked to level my Pride Cub. Thankfully, because of how slowly my Cogberus leveled, it still had a long way to go before it hit level 18. Though, I still needed to be careful about grinding out too many levels here and now. Especially with just over a week of travel to go before I reached my destination.

  My eyes slowed their scan as I noticed a head poking above the grass. The creature was just tall enough that it’s head, and ears, could poke above the waist high grass. As I looked at it, I noted the horse-like features almost immediately. What’s more though, the patterning on it told me one thing, and one thing only. I grinned as I quickly bee-lined towards the creature. It had a white coat covered in stripes. Normally, Zebras had black stripes. But this creature, called a Gembra Foal, had purple stripes… that reminded me of amethyst. As its ears flicked this way and that, and its gaze focused on me, my breath nearly caught in my mouth.

  Not only were the stripes most definitely made from gemstone, but its eyes, similar to the eyes of the Pride Cubs, were made of a stone as well. The Gembra Foal’s eyes were amethyst, just like its stripes, and my breath caught in my chest over how stunning the creature was. Immediately, I knew I wanted it as a Mun, and I didn’t even have to hesitate to begin a battle with the level 13 Mun.

  Needless to say… the poor Mun was quickly turned into a crystal, without the chance to attack back, and I landed myself my sixth Mun to my growing team. My recently resummoned Springer found himself turned back into a crystal, probably two battles away from becoming level 16, in favor of my level 13 Gembra Foal. The adorable little creature let out an excited Winnie as it was summoned and tossed its head this way and that, the coarse hair on its fledging mane barely moving. Before I knew it, my right hand was on its neck, running up and down, marveling at the soft skin and the strange contrast between skin and stone. The creature was warm to touch, and the amethyst, this close, seemed to absorb the sunlight, glowing faintly with its own inner light.

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  Opting to immediately test out my new Mun, because, why not, and of course, because my Pride Cub needed to level as well, I set about searching for an easy target as I continued, forever forward, moving towards my destination. A part of me… felt somewhat stupid as I walked and pulled up my map. The area I was traversing was called the Gemstone Plains. Which… again, very on the nose, explained why these Mun were all part gemstone. I wondered if that meant turning their crystals in to the Mun Center would grant me gemstones? Were these Mun needed to make the special augmenting stones or amplifiers that my Tamer’s Gauntlet would use to strengthen my Mun? Or, at the very least, could they be sold for a high value, to help buy more refreshers and various other supplies?

  I pondered these thoughts as I continued on, sending my Cogberus ahead to attack unsuspecting Muns. First we ambushed another level 14 Pride Cub. Cogberus’s triple bite did a massive chunk of damage, and my own Pride Cub, which attacked first, sunk its fangs in deep, removing another healthy bit of life from the Pride Cub and making it falter. The creature yowled and staggered when it tried to attack, having taken nearly 90 percent of its life before it could attack.

  Interestingly, that seemed to be its entire move, telling me that potentially, you could stagger or disrupt or flinch or something like it Muns if you hit them hard enough. I wasn’t going to question it, as it meant I got the chance to see my newest Mun in action.

  I looked through its three available moves quickly, before making a selection. Stomp seemed self-explanatory, as did tackle. But it’s third move, crystal beam, had me intrigued. I chose it, and watched as the amethyst stripes glowed even brighter, as if charging up power. Then, from its eyes, two beams of purplish light blasted forward, colliding with the Pride Cub. It’s remaining health ticked away, and it returned to its base crystal form. As I picked up the gem, adding it to my growing collection of Mun crystals, I smiled.

  If there was one aspect about monster taming games that I enjoyed, on top of just capturing new creatures and seeing their evolutions, it was learning about all the different types of skills and abilities, and seeing the different moves in action. And while I’d played plenty, none could quite hold a candle to what I was getting to experience live right now. It was one thing to see an attack animated on a screen. But another to witness, in real time, a creature channeling sunlight through the gems on its body to create an actual beam of light powerful enough to defeat an enemy.

  A new spark of excitement filled me as I took note of my Muns, checking their experience levels as I kept moving across the Gemstone Plains towards Silver Springs. There was no doubt my Pride Cub would hit level 15 before my Cogberus hit level 18, but I wasn’t sure if I could say the same thing about my Gembra. It would be close, but, it may be worth the risk. Especially since I ultimately wanted all of my team at level 18 for the Keeper battle. And, pending any really cool Muns, as far as I was concerned, the six I had right now, would be my team for that fateful battle.

  Smiling, I started to hum as I walked through the grass, Cogberus, my Pride Cub, and my Gembra all sticking close, smiling in their own ways, as they added barks and meows and neighs along with the tune. The weather was gorgeous, my mood high, and quite frankly, I was at peace. Something that, if I were being honest, I hadn’t been in a long, long time. How was it that in a strange world I felt more at home with myself than I ever had on Earth?