Old Town Farm

“Isn’t this a farm?” Leo muttered in confusion. Edgar had told him that it was a shop. But, no matter how he looked, it was indeed a farm. There was vast land spread across the horizon. The plot was certainly long, and towards the left was a huge wall which was the border.

There were some common domesticated animals on the plot of land. It was very big, and surrounded by reinforced fences. There was a house situated in the very middle of the huge plot of land. Leo had no idea what it was.

There was a path crafted towards the house by two fences on either side, creating a narrow path for visitors to take. A path which the animals couldn’t come out at.

‘Do you know anything about this place?’ Leo asked internally. But, Aiden was as clueless as him. He had only heard about the place from Aaron and his father before. It seemed that before Silvers rose to their current position, they used to live like farmers in the outskirts.

It seemed their connections with this farm somehow ranged from back in those days.

Leo slowly walked into the place, looking around.

‘I thought they used advanced technology to do farming. But, I don’t see any kind of equipment here.’

[Well, they might be into organic farming. You know people are into that kind of stuff nowadays-nya.]

“Woof! Woof!”

Leo turned his head, and saw a dog barking at him from the other side of the fence. It was under the enclosure.

“I haven’t seen this kind of dog, is it native to Gloria?” Leo asked as he got close to the fence, and stared at the strange dog with orange colored fur and green eyes. It looked like a wolf, but was thinner and smaller than it. It looked a bit demonic honestly.

[Like in hell is it a dog!! It’s a Flame Hound-nya!!!] Aiden roared. It was clear that he was terrified by that thing.

[Run-nya!!]

Leo was clearly not prepared for the situation, but he just followed Aiden’s advice, and turned around.

Suddenly, he felt a shadow leap over his head, and the next instant, the flamed hound landed right in front of Leo blocking his only escape path.

‘Crap! What is it doing here? Did it come here from the wild?’

The chances of that definitely weren’t low. The borders were nearby after all. But, there were rangers around, if anything happened, they would take care of the situation. And, in the last three years, there hasn’t been a single case like this.

“Rarr!” The Flame Hound growled as it looked at Leo. It’s nostrils were breathing out flames as it slowly moved towards Leo.

‘Crap..what now?’ Leo slowly prepared himself for a fight, but he still continued to move back.

[How would I know? It’s not like I have ever been into a real fight with Arora Beast-nya!]

‘Scan him, Arthur..’

[Scanning..]

Name: [Flame Hound]

Lv: [???]

Skill Rank: [???]

Race: [Arora Beast]

Comprehensive Body Assessment: [???]

‘Sh*t..we are dead..’ Leo’s face turned pale when those statues came up in front of him. This thing was strong as hell, at least in comparison to him. He would definitely get his ass kicked if he tried to fight it.

And, that was considering that someone would come to rescue him, if not, a gruesome death might await him.

The Flame Hound looked at Leo, and it’s killing intent couldn’t have been anymore obvious to him. This creature was very territorial in nature. As long as one left it alone, it wouldn’t do you anything. But, if you made it think of you as a threat, then it was time to start remembering your prayers.

The Flame Hound suddenly opened out its mouth, and a red glow began to emerge in it. Leo immediately felt a chill rising up his spine.

“Kyla!”

A voice suddenly rang out, and the Flame Hound’s movement stopped for a second. It then closed its mouth and looked at the man who had emerged from the house.

Leo wiped the sweat off his forehead in relief as well. He then turned his head around to look at this unfamiliar figure who had come out of the house. It was a bald and aged man. He seemed to be around in his 50s or 60s. He was in his working gears, and there was dirt all over his clothes.

The man had actually heard the Flame Hound barking, and hence came out to see what it was all about. And, now he was thankful that he did.

“Are you crazy young man?” The Farmer glared at Leo. “The sign there clearly says what to do, and yet you..”

Leo followed his finger, and there indeed was a sign near the entrance.

No Entry Without Prior Appointments, Violation Would Put You In Physical Threat.

“But, I had an appointment,” Leo frowned as he looked at the farmer, “My father has asked me to come over here. I am sure he had made an appointment about it with you.”

“Who is your father?” The Farmer asked with a frown.

“Edgar Silver..” Leo replied with a complicated look on his face.

“Wait! You are Silver Brat’s son?” The Farmer asked in surprise.

“Yeah..” Leo looked at him.

“Kyla..” The Farmer looked at his pet.

Kyla looked at Leo once again, but still barked at him in hostility.

“This is strange..” The Farmer walked upto Leo while looking at his own pet in surprise.

“What is?” Leo was confused.

“Well, I have known Silvers for a long time. Even though you might not remember, you have been to this place before when you were very little.”

“At that time, Kyla was very fond of you.”

“I even asked her to look out for you today since she was familiar with you. But, she doesn’t seem to recognize you at all.”

“Is it possible that she forgot about me?” Leo asked, looking at him.

“Impossible..”

[Impossible-nya..]

Both the old farmer and Aiden simultaneously spoke.

“Even an ordinary dog wouldn’t forget someone so easily, much less an Arora Beast like Kyla. She is not only very intelligent, but all her senses are terrifyingly strong even when compared to Awakeners.” The Old Farmer was confident in Kyla’s ability, but today really was a strange day.

‘Are you thinking the same thing that I am thinking?’ Leo asked Aiden.

[Probably-nya.]

They could only think the body changed to be the cause of it somehow.

‘But, it doesn’t make sense. We have changed bodies. There should be no difference in us. How in hell did this thing recognize that I wasn’t you? Does it have some kind of psychic abilities?’

[I can’t understand that too-nya.]

It might have made sense if you said that the dog noticed the changes in his body language, behavior or something like that. But, one thing had to be kept in mind. This was not their personal dog. Aiden had barely met him once. And, that too as a kid.

Just what kind of person doesn’t change from their childhood days. Something was definitely odd here. It wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

“Anyway, come inside. I have been waiting for you.” The Old farmer smiled as he invited Leo in.

Kyla too tagged along. But, Leo was still a bit afraid of her.

“I heard from your father that you are here for your beast pet. So, do you have any thing in your mind yet?” He asked.

Leo clearly didn’t have enough time to do proper research on that. He was very lacking for now. “I still am not sure about it. I don’t know much about them..”

“I see. Then how about deciding first whether you want a little one or an egg?”

Arora Beast laid eggs. It was a known fact. But, most people usually took a hatched beast as a first choice. After all, hatching an egg on your own was tough work. There were not only chances of still born but a lot of other complications as well.

And, just like Skills were divided according to the colors. The ability of the Beast’s followed the same pattern. After all, they too used the Arora energy as a medium to bring out their potential.

The Flame Hound which Leo saw earlier was said to be a Red Rank Beast. And, according to its rank, the color of its eggs were red as well.

And, this obviously made Golden egg the most sought one in the market. But, it was almost impossible for things like that to reach the market.

“Let me bring you to the nursery..” The Old Farmer smiled as he saw Leo contemplating about it.

…

This farm house was very big, even more than Leo had initially thought it to be.

“We are here..” The Old farmer spoke as he walked inside a huge room, and Leo followed behind.

The next instant, his eyes immediately widened in surprise.