Supreme BeastTamer: I Can Copy and Upgrade Skills 10x!

"Greetings, members of the Cromwell Barony. I am Kron, an envoy from the great Duke Felix Armstrong. I bring a proposal of great importance, one that could change the fate of your town and the entire region."

That line piqued everyone's attention to the point they were able to look past the slight forced arrogance in Kron's voice.

"The Duke invites your lord, Baron Cromwell, to participate in the inter-town tournament. As you know, the grand tournament is a competition where the children below 18 of each town will compete, and the winning town will receive 50% of all other towns' resources for the next five years.

"The Duke believes that your barony has great potential and would be a valuable addition to this esteemed gathering."

Kron finished reading and bowed just slightly.

"I await your response, noble lords and ladies—"

"That bastard! It's because of the appearance of the dimensional rift, isn't it? That competition has been forgotten for years. Why bring it up now?" Nathan sneered.

He could already see through the plans of that snake called Felix. He knew very well that the Cromwell Barony didn't have lots of promising kids like his own, so he decided to host the competition just when the dimensional rift had appeared.

In simple words, he hosted this competition because he was guaranteed to win.

Nathan balled his fist. He glanced at everyone present; he would like to accept the challenge so bad because even the Armstrong Duchy had a dimensional rift… they could get a lot of resources from there.

But at the same time, he knew he had to stop being greedy.

They all looked at each other, and a silent agreement was made.

Nathan opened his mouth and—

"We…"

While the meeting was going on, Nox had just finished his quest.

[You have received +10 XP]

"It would take a long time before I level up if I want to go this route. Either I need to hunt more monsters or a quest would be good."

"Nox! Nox!" A kid around the same age as Nox came running to the back field where Nox was currently training Thirteen and Fluffington. Quickly sending Thirteen to the taming space, Nox stared at the boy.

"Huh? What's it, Matt? Why are you breathing like this?" he asked. The boy was one of his close friends and a member of the Hen Thiefs.

"I-it's Rab, my brother. He's in trouble."

"Calm down. What happened?"

"We were just playing like usual until Rab bumped into this kid. We even apologized, but he still went ahead and hit Rab on the head."

Nox's eyes narrowed. "Take me to the place." Rab was one of his close friends, and Nox didn't like anyone close to him getting hurt. Since it was probably a fellow town kid, he was hoping to resolve the issue fast before it escalated more than it should.

However, when he arrived, the scene was beyond his expectations.

A large crowd of adults and children had gathered in the marketplace. The place was so chaotic and filled with noise that Nox had to push his way through.

"What's happening here?" Nox asked a girl. He was still a bit far from the front, and his relatively small height only made matters worse.

"It's Rab. He got into a fight with another boy. After injuring Rab, the adults tried to stop him, but… but he beat up everybody. Even Grandma Percy was pushed to the ground."

Grandma Percy was an old candy seller in the town, and all the kids loved her because of the discounts she gave them.

"She tried to stop the fight, and this kid pushed her. Who is he?" Nox thought to himself as he pushed through the crowd, and soon he came to the front.

There, he could see Rab, a bald-headed boy on the ground with a broken nose. He was not the only one on the ground; some adults could also be seen lying, all bloody. The crowd looked fearful at the cause of all this.

...A white-haired boy.

There was a red, oily substance staining his luxurious white clothing.

"I have never seen him before. Is he new, or is he from somewhere else?" Because he didn't know about the visitors, Nox had no idea who this boy was.

'And how was he so strong to beat up grown-up women… has he somehow awakened his class?'

'Regardless, I need to speak to him.'

But before he could step forward, a wrinkled old hand held him. He looked up only to see old Grandma Percy with a hunched back and a kind face.

"Grandma Percy."

"Little Nox, I think you should call your grandpa to deal with this situation instead… there is something strange about that kid."

"Wait, let me talk to him." Nox said as he reassured the old woman and began to stride forward.

"Hey you, stop there!" he shouted, and the white-haired kid stopped and looked at the newcomer. He had beautiful black eyes and hair with red streaks.

"Hmm, and who are you?" The white-haired kid regarded Nox with a gaze as if he was staring at an insect.

"It was a mistake, and he already apologized. Why go this far? I don't like others harming those close to me, but because he was in the wrong, I'd let it slide. But if you contin—"

"If not, what?" The white-haired boy chuckled and kicked Rab in the stomach, lifting him up and slamming him to the side, unconscious.

"I'm doing nothing wrong here… I'm just a master trying to discipline his slaves," the boy stated with a derisive smirk that made Nox want to smack it off his face.

"You bastard, did you just call us your slaves?" A big vein throbbed in Nox's temple, and his eyes bulged as he lunged at the white-haired boy. He had tried the civilized approach, but since that was futile, he would have to use his fists.

With the increase in strength he had gotten from using Shadow Oblivion, he was pretty confident he could put up a decent fight against the boy.

'Beside, I'm also level three now.'

'Father told me to test the kids here, and I'm quite disappointed. Not even the adults could face me in a fight, but would this boy be any different?' Hendrix, The white-haired boy thought as he appraised Nox.