Chapter 200 - Coastal Guard (1/2)

He continued to practice his tame beast skills in the area, and he got experience on successfully taming a new beast. Every new beast captured would also give him a bit of taming proficiency. Taming proficiency was something he had never received before. Even in his previous life, he only bought pets that were already tamed and used to maintain and feed them.

This new skill was completely new to him in practice. He had heard that it would be increase in proficiency whenever the beast is fitted with new armor made by the player himself. It would also increase if the beast leveled up under his care or if he manages to successfully heal a crippled pet successfully. This specific feature allowed healers and especially druids to be far more successful than other occupations as tamers.

He continued till it was another one and a half hour left for nightfall. He kept a timer so that he would be reminded to get back to the town and prepare to get to the coast when the members of the Valhalla Raider would retreat. By the time, the timer notified him, he had four pets, three black tongue lizards and one silver scale snakes all of which were in his pet pouch and at low health.

He put the time half an hour early as he only had a map to get to the coastal guard station from the gates of the town and he couldn't use hearthstone to get to the Welog town without reputation. Trying to get through to the station by getting to the beach through the marsh was a lot more dangerous and he could lose his life as he didn't know about the dangers that he could face. He was almost close to level 18 and he wanted to avoid dying if possible.

He quickly made his way through the forest towards the town and didn't aim to kill any beast that interrupted him. He was already at level 17 and with his stats he was faster than any other beast at level 15 or below.

After he came out of the marsh area, he make his way to the coast. The coast was filled with dark brown colored coarse wet sand that spanned for a kilometre. There were a bunch of herbs on the coast and as he was previously informed there were a few players that were moving around wearing the badge of the Valhalla Raiders.

There were a few crabs and lobsters moving across the beach which were all around a meter long and quarter meter high. A large variety of common crabs, lobsters, turtles, etc., would be found in the sea and coasts and most of these could increase their levels up to 100 or so without any special food requirements. Just a lot of common food would slowly increase their level and also their size along with it. So, these were later discovered to be very useful as pets in the waters.

The problem was most of the crabs, lobsters and tortoises cannot swim in waters and are more of a burden than a help in naval battles. Some could swim to flee away, but they don't have decent direction control. They can walk freely on land even under water but not swim. So, they could only be used to fight at the coast or beaches. Sometimes they could be used to explore underwater regions in the game.

He observed them from a distance through his scope in stealth. The players were all retreating from the beasts that they were fighting as they kept looking to the sides. Few of them were on look for anything that the tides might sweep on to the beach. He moved parallel to the coastline in order to reach closer to the area in which the coastal guard station was located.

After 15 minutes or so, he was able to see the coastal guard station on the beach. By that time, the players of the Valhalla Raiders came out of the beach and started to get back to the town. It was dangerous to hunt in the dark and that was much worse at the beach. The tides rise at the beach and comes much deeper on to the land during the nighttime and it would bring the beasts riding on the water. Even standing close to the coast would be considered a danger as a crab could suddenly jump from the water to attack players.

Balthazar could just see a couple of archers from the Valhalla Raiders guild who were in his visible range. They were just looking over the beach casually. They also didn't care as they knew that apart from killing, if they ended up looting anything on the beach, the coastal guard would forcefully take those things back.

Shadow went into stealth and slowly made his way towards the station. The station was a large wooden cottage spanning about 100 square metres. It was actually built at a height of 4 metres above the beach floor balanced on a number of wooden logs and stones. It was built in the centre of the beach so that the corps would be able to easily access the beach and keep a lookout for any monsters that are trying to sneak out onto the land through the mud. It was quite big and would be visible from quite a distance, if not for its camouflage. It was painted in the same color of the mud in the beach. As he came close, he could see the words 'coastal guard' written at its centre.

There were no stairs onto the place, but a few metal ladders descended from the top floor. There was one at the entrance, which could be used by the players. It would always be down except for cases when there were attacks which would make the ladder a liability. As Shadow came close to the ladder, he was hollered by a guard who was at the top.

”Adventurer, state your business,” said the guard who was standing just at the top of the ladder. He wore the uniform of the coastal guard of the five elements empire and badge. The uniform was blueish green in color, a mix of leather and plate armor with a picture of a ship on their sleeves a badge with a circle have five colors and anchor super imposed on it.

”I was sent by the temple to find out about the supplies that failed to reach them,” said Shadow pointing at the badge pinned on his chest.

”Oh! It is better if the lieutenant explains it himself. Come on up,” said the guard indicating him to come up the ladder. Shadow went up the ladder and followed the guard to the office of the lieutenant. It was just past the main hall, where the guards all assembled.

”Boss, this one here is from the temple. He came here for the supplies which we failed to provide the temple,” said the guard as he left Shadow in the office and left.

”Adventurer, I am extremely sorry for the delay in the delivery. I agree that we have promised to send those supplies in exchange for the deacon's services, but these were items that we didn't receive ourselves. We honestly can't provide you with the items and want to request the deacon for an extension of the delivery by a week. I will personally make sure that the supplies would be delivered in time,” said the lieutenant Bloom. He was a typical military NPC with a short crop haircut, shaved beard and moustache.