Part 19: An Exercise in Futility, Part... Wait, What?

2Yr. 4Mo. 3Wk.

So! I headed off to Ryuwn again. I decided to put off the bad news, though, and checked out the library first.

• Ancient Technology: Legend has it that in ancient times people used special methods to strengthen monsters. But the technology used was greatly harmful to the minds and bodies of the monsters - eventually causing them to go mad. This created a series of tragedies, until finally the technology itself was sealed away for good.

Uh. This wouldn't happen to be anything like the training gadgets we've been recovering from ancient stone tablets... would it?

If you may recall, one of the other records mentioned "...some caution that the use of Training Gadgets in place of direct attention has led to a decrease in monsters' bond with their breeders." This appears to be true; while there isn't a huge difference in ages between Chucky, Natsu, and iScream, his Bond is much higher than theirs, presumably because he spent more time using gadget-free training. It may be worth having future monsters do gadget-free training when they're young, to get the Bond boost, and switching them to gadgets when they get old enough to get the big gains.



I also dropped by the local shop to sell off the priceless gems and lumps of silver and crap I've been stumbling across looking for junk.



Sweet Jiminy Christmas, I'm rich.

And then came the shocker of the day... and no, it wasn't having more shit added to my list.



...that... that fucker! He knew who I was all along! This has all been some personality test!



And he wasn't even done fucking with us yet.



I mean, I can understand his logic--if I beat her, who's gonna say I don't deserve it?--but seriously, stop reading The fucking Prince.



Fine. Whatever. Let's get this over with. Chucky launched into a Wild Stomp, but her Pixie dodged; she threw some FairyDust his way, but he blocked it.



Another Wild Stomp drew first blood...



...and just like that, it was over. And I found myself wondering: did Philia throw the fight? Did Karnab tell her to, or did she do it of her own volition? Or should I be looking to Cesare and his saucer stone for the answer here?

Well, the important thing is that I got what I was looking for. Rank C breeder rank, official FIMBA breeder status...



...and Philia wasn't exactly choked up about her loss either. Back to the ranch for us!