The Hero’s Supplier

“Oi Pip, what do you mean?” Rick was flabbergasted at Pip’s sudden comment. He asked, “How can you understand what an Ant is saying!?”

“Fire-ele... How do I know? I can just understand,” Rick heard Pip’s stuttering voice in his mind.He looked from the Ant to Pip a couple of times before finally accepting that it was just one of those things. He asked, "What does it want?"

With Pip acting as the translator, Rick quickly understood what the Fiery Ant was trying to tell. It was pretty straightforward- the Ant was willing to submit to Rick, in exchange of not getting killed.

“What do you think I should do?” Rick asked. His hand still hovering above the Summoning Scroll. The Fiery Ant stood unmoving, casting worried glances at the Scroll sticking on him.

He has spent quite a lot of effort learning the Adhesive-rune from the rune book Gaap had given him. After several failed attempts he was finally able to successfully combine it with the Summoning Scroll. Now he could glue the Summoning Scrolls on anything easily.

But he had already wasted three of these new talismans and wasn’t sure taking the Fiery Ant as another pet would be better than just killing it, and taking its mandibles. He had a lingering fear that it was just a rouse and that the Fiery Ant would one day turn around and try to kill him one day.

“Keep it! Keep it!” Pip squeaked.

“Oh!” Rick replied, surprised at the matter-of-fact tone of Pip’s reply. After a second’s thought, he realized, “You want a friend is it?”

“Ei Mommy! Who wants to be friends with that!”

Mommy? Rick's face twitched at the response. Although Pip would call him Mommy quite often, before he would find it endearing, but now that he knew she was actually a Firebird, it somehow… felt weird.

“Then?”

“He will do what you tell him, won't you Ugly Ant? You can call him, and he will come out like boom” Pip squeaked raising her wings up, “and shock everyone and bam, bam! You will be safe. Keep him, you are quite weak you know.”

“Don’t be a brat,” he said knocking on her head. “You should not call your Mom weak, okay?”

Pip squeaked and ducked inside the jacket swiftly before popping back out onto the floor.

‘He will be a strong asset, but where will I keep him?’ Rick pondered. If he walked around with the Fiery Ant with him, he would basically become a walking target. Then another problem popped up, ‘And what if he comes back to attack me?’

Rick asked Pip about it since she seemed to know quite a bit about it.

“Why would you walk around with him?” she walked up to his leg and pecked at his shin. “I am the best company! Keep him in the Fire Plane.”

Hearing this Rick’s eyes flashed towards the Ant, and he felt as if the monster was giving a slight nod as well.

“And how will he betray you, won’t you just be able to beat him? Mom, you don’t know so much!” she squeaked

Rick nodded his head in agreement, Pip’s words made sense. A moment later realization struck.

“Oi you! How am I supposed to keep him in the Fire-Elemental Plane?” Rick said, knocking her head again. “Forget it, forget it! I will check on the Lemegeton.”

He pulled out the Lemegeton from his pocket, its size rapidly becoming bulkier. Placing it on the ground, he flipped open to a random page.

“Lemegeton, how do I…” Rick stopped. He wasn’t sure what was the right question to even ask here. After a moment’s thought, he said, “How do I put a Fiery Ant into the Fire-Plane?”

As soon as he said the words, several lines of texts appeared,

There are several disciplines involved.

The host has sufficient comprehension.

The various fields are [Fiery Ant], [Beast Tamer], [Soul-contract Seal], [Planar Ecology], and [Planar Summons]

He decided to start with the [Beast Submission],

[Beast Master]

"You may learn a thousand skills in a decade, while I only tamed one. But my Iberian Goat will still defeat you."

- Duke Tigin, the First Great Beast Master

A beast can be made to submit through several means. However, the basic essence remains the same- the beast must be made to respect the Master.

Rick stopped reading after the first sentence.

“Lemegeton, tell me how I can seal this Fiery Ant, place a strong seal and transfer it to my Fire-Plane,” he said. There was no time to read everything in detail in a situation like this. Instead, he made a mental note to read it all later.

The pages of the Lemegeton flipped to a new page as new text appeared on it.

If the Fiery Ant has already submitted, the next step is to make a Contract with it. There are several types of contracts that can be established including Parental-Soul Contract, Partnership- Soul Contract, Soul-Branding Contract, Familiar Contract, etc.

Since the Fiery Ant has submitted to the Host after being defeated, it is recommended that a Soul-Branding Contract is made. The second option would be a Familiar Contract.

A Soul-Branding Contract places the life of the creature at the hands of the tamer. It is only possible after a Beast has lost all resistance. On the other hand, several many beasts refuse to enter into a Soul-Branding Contract even at the face of death. Under such circumstances, a Familiar Contract can be resorted to. A Familiar Contract would enable the tamer to enter into a form of an Employment contract.

“I will be able to kill him with just a thought with the Soul-Branding Contract!” he winced upon realization. This was too much power to be placed on anyone. But he decided and asked the grimoire, “How do I place to enter the Soul-Branding Contract.”

The grimoire gave a very brief description of the steps, leaving out all the auxiliary information.

He looked up at the Fiery Ant and spoke, “Pip, ask him to walk towards me slowly.”

Pip translated to the beast and slowly the Ant walked closer to him.

Rick with his right hand reached out towards the Ant and placed his palm on its exoskeleton. The Ant knew what Rick wanted. Soon after he touched, Rick felt a warm pulsating life force come into contact with his palm- Rick instinctively knew, it was the Fiery Ant.

Rick immediately circulated a lair of his mana around the unseen soul and engraved his insignia- the Signet onto it.

“Kre-kre kre kre kre kre…” the Fiery Ant shrieked. Then suddenly Rick heard a shrill voice in his head. It sounded like when metal rubbed against another, but to his surprise, he could understand it.

“Did… Did he…it just say hurt?” Rick looked at Pip surprised. Pip nodded her pudgy head yes. Keeping his hand on the Ant’s body he consoled, “Just a bit longer and we will be done.”

‘Is it a he or a she?’ he thought in a brief moment of distraction.

Finally, an hour later it was done!

Although there was no notification for it, Rick knew it immediately. It was a whole new feeling. It was as if he could suddenly feel everything happening around him all of a sudden- from a different perspective. If he wished for, he could feel, see and smell what the Ant did!

“Master… Kre… kre…Thanks you,” the Ant’s metallic voice rang in his head. Rick looked at the red-Ant bowing his head.

Ding! Ding!

A series of notifications rang.

[Congratulations!]

[You have tamed a Fiery Ant]

[Proficiency of Beast Master has increased]

[Beast Master (Practitioner): 3%]

[Please name your new Familiar.]

“Oh! I skipped Apprentice rank and jumped directly from Novice to Practitioner. I wonder which is higher, Practitioner or Veteran” he said. The ranking system of these things was up in the air, and he could only guess an order to the lot.

“Master. Name… Kre…” the Ant said.

“Oh ya. You will be a great Ant. So, your name will be Grant,” Rick said confidently.

Ding

[Congratulations!]

[Your familiar has been named “Grant”]

“Thanks to Master… Kre” Grant bowed again.

“Now for the final bit,” Rick could not deny that having the Soul Branding on Grant did give him a sense of security. He said, “I will keep you in the Fire-plane for now. I will summon you when I need you later, okay?”

“Yes,” Grant said nodding his head. By now Grant was sitting by his side, uncaring of the Summoning Scroll stuck by his side.

“Lemegeton, how do I send a tamed Fiery Ant to my Fire Plane?” Rick asked. Looking at the docile demeanour of Grant he was satisfied.

New lines appeared on the page describing the process. With his finger on the page, he quickly absorbed the steps.

“Oh, it’s so simple. Grant stand up. Ready?” he watched the Ant get back up and make a motion that he could only construe as being a yes. Everything was working out fine for a change. Rick reached out with his hand and touched Grant. Suddenly a thought popped in his find and he smacked Gant on his head, “What do you mean yes? Won't you get killed if I keep you in the Fire-plane? Fuck how did you miss that, dumbass grimoire!”

Rick swore his heart out and sat back down.

“Oi Lemegeton, won’t a Fiery Ant die if it in a Fire-Elemental Plane?”

A word appeared at the bottom of the page.

Yes