Looking at the scene from the screens, Mark let out a sigh, "too bad that these guns were missing auto-lock and autoload features. But then again, it is a bit expensive to use. I wasted about 300 gold coins on these fools."
Controlling the left machine gun, Mark carefully aimed at the crawling He Bojing and just clicked on the trigger once.
The machine fired one round and pierced the forehead of the target from the sideways.
The adventurer captain of the team finally became a corpse.
Meanwhile, the Frosty Roc reached the giant turtle, which went into hiding in its shell.
The giant bird started attacking the beast with its talons. The shell was unfortunately too tough even for the frosty Roc.
Mark didn't help out his summon to check out his prowess.
Little did he expect the Frosty Roc would get angry just after being failed once. It immediately unleashed a skill, reducing his ether points by 3000. Meanwhile, its attack strength behind the skill reached an advanced stage of the 5-circle realm.
As it flapped its wings rapidly, a gust of cool winds generated from the wings and hit the giant turtle.
It continued for thirty seconds. By the time it ended, the entire pond was frozen in ice. As for the giant turtle, it was encased in an iceberg.
A scream that heavily resembled a hiss escaped from the iceberg, which cracked a bit as the beast struggled to get free. Unlike his Absolute freezing, it doesn't have any barrier and the temperature inside the iceberg was also as cold as -100 degrees Celsius. If it is a human, he would have already been dead by now.
Mark drove the Panzer to the edge of the pond and got out from it. He doesn't know whether it was listening to him or not but he tried to communicate with it. "If you can hear me, then, close your eyes for five seconds."
He didn't receive any response from the giant turtle. The latter was just busy breaking out of the ice by a blast of a concentrated water beam from its mouth.
"I guess I have to wait." Mark raised his hand and transmitted his thoughts to the Roc. The beast went into standby mode, waited for two whole minutes until the iceberg is broken and the turtle partially freed itself and is now crawling forward to get out of it completely.
Mark then spoke as loud as he can, "I have a proposal for you. Form a contract with me and become my mount for one hour. After that, I will release you not from the contract but will also help you to return to your native land. Do you accept?"
The giant turtle blow out the air and hissed at him in response.
Mark's face darkened, "I guess I wasted time and ether points for nothing."
He stared at the Roc and checked its details, especially at the skills. His eyes lit up when he read its third skill.
"Roc, use Glacial Thorn field." He went for the big attack.
5000 more ether points are deducted and the frosty roc unleashed another skill. With a 50% boost, its intelligence stat temporarily increased to 6.4, almost reaching the intermediate stage of the Upper Elite realm (6-circle).
Before the giant turtle got out completely, suddenly, giant icy thorns, each about 2m-3m in size, pierced its shell from all the sides.
"Hsssaaa"
The turtle screamed in pain while not being able to move.
Mark decided to form the contract forcefully.
He took out an intermediate-grade scroll and placed it on the ground, following the system's instructions to forcefully tame the monster.
As he poured ether energy into the scroll, the sealing mark glowed in darkness and shot a rope of purple-colored energy towards Mark.
Mark caught it and threw it towards the turtle.
Upon being launched, the rope turned into a concentrated energy beam and hit the monster's nose, precisely.
In just five to six seconds, a holographic screen appeared before Mark with a notification.
*Ding! The Shimmerwood Turtle successfully resisted the Spirit Beast Contract. You failed.
*Ding! System's Advice: Either reduce its willpower by causing more damage or convince it through goodwill.
The energy beam disappeared along with the sealing mark.
"Damn…" Mark gritted his teeth and turned around. He dismissed the Panzer and the Frosty Roc and rushed back to the Battle Tank.
As he climbed down the ladder, Alina looked at him, "do you need my help, Big brother?"
"No, I will take your help at the overlord. This one is mine. Either I will force it to become my mount for sure or kill it." He unlocked the turret's entrance and climbed the tank to get into the rear chamber.
He took the controls of the 120mm smoothbore cannon and aimed at the spot that is a few feet away from the beast so that it won't die. An ice thorn is there at that spot.
*Ding! The target has been locked.
Mark clicked on the trigger and launched the heat projectile. Weirdly, the system could control its path like a guided missile.
*boom*
A large explosion occurred on the frozen pond, melting down all the ice and turning the giant turtle into a bloody figure.
Mark got out of the tank and checked its status. When he found that it was alive, he rushed forward and once again, activated the Spirit Beast Contract.
This time, the process only took 2 seconds.
*Ding! You successfully formed a contract with Shimmerwood Turtle.
*Ding! Congratulations on taming a Spirit Beast for the first time. You received 100 credits as a reward.
*Ding! Congratulations on taming a 5-circle spirit beast. You received 500 credits as a reward.
*Ding! The grade is detected as a Fierce Beast. You completed the hidden quest.
*Ding! You unlocked Radically Invasive Projectile (R.I.P) 9mm ammo. Check out the gallery for details.
*Ding! The Spirit Beast was in dire status. It was placed in the Familiars' inventory for recovery. The beast cannot be summoned for the next 24 hours.
"Aha! I can place them in my pet slots." Mark slapped his forehead in realization when he read the last notification. "I thought it would be like others. Thankfully, it didn't agree back then. Or else, I would have freed it unnecessarily. Wait a second…"
Suddenly, something clicked inside his mind and Mark talked with the system, "say, do these beasts I captured in the wild also consume my ether points?"
The system readily gave him the answer and a surprising one at that.
*Ding! No ether points are needed to summon them or let them use their skills.
*Ding! In case, the host misunderstands something, let me clarify about the Spirit Beast Contracts.
*Ding! As the host is still a summoner, not a beast tamer, the host cannot store them in Familiars' inventory for free. Based on the beast's realm, the host will be charged a rental amount. The Shimmerwood turtle will cost 5 gold coins each day.
*Ding! Only during the dire status, the mounts or the contracted Spirit beasts can rest in the familiars' inventory for free.
"35 gold coins per week, man, that's robbery." Letting out a sigh, Mark opened the gallery, deciding to think about it later.
