This Beast-Tamer is a Little Strange

"Are we allowed to accept more than one mission though?" Elias asked.

"Yes. Students can accept up to 3 missions concurrently"

"Ahh!" They couldn't help but scream after receiving a response from a disembodied voice. They had thought the previous time was a standard introduction message played for all students, not that the voice could actually respond to their questions. Kain though, already used to having a disembodied voice in his head, didn't react.

"G-Great!" Aiden then continued to read through the missions with the others.

"That one! It'll give us 33 points each and it doesn't look as difficult as most Silver missions. It also takes place in the Stormclaw Mountains which are less than an hour walk from the village with the Desolaphid mission.

The only difficult thing would be that the Pterix we need to hunt will require battling at high altitudes, but several of us—Me, Aiden, and Leonara—all have contracts that can fly." Addison shouted.

The mission required hunting a group of Tempest Pterix, a gold-quality avian dual attribute wind and lighting spiritual creature that would reach yellow-grade in adulthood. It commands powerful wind and lightning attacks, making aerial combat essential, otherwise they'd just be helpless targets on the ground as they were bombed with lightning strikes.

Kain agreed. After all, he also had a contract—well, a secondary one—that can fly.

Confirming that they accepted both missions everyone began to leave. Except for Kain… he was curious about what the solo missions looked like.

"Greetings Student. It is detected that there is only one individual in the vicinity. Therefore, only missions suitable for one individual will be shown."

Kain immediately went to the icon for Black missions. Surprisingly they weren't listed among the Gold missions as they were outside. After clicking on the icon he was brought to the questionnaire he had heard about.

"Question 1. Please state your year?"

"First year…"

"2. What is the identity and spiritual power level of your contracts?"

"Both contracts are red-grade. I prefer not to disclose their species…"

There was a pause, as though its AI was not used to having a student refuse to answer a question.

"3. What are the attributes of your contracts?"

"My first is dual water and mental. My second has a wind attribute"

Kain decided to just answer the questions as though Queen were his actual contract and not Eve. After all, Eve only can exert her effects through Queen.

"4. Do you have any moral objections to performing assassinations?"

"Not really. As long as they deserve it I guess."

"5. You answered that you have a contract with mental attributes. Does it possess any skills to allow the extraction of information from a target?"

"That'd be cool. But no"

…

After answering more than 30 questions, Kain was beginning to get fed up. He already felt like whatever this test was, he'd very clearly already failed it since he could only answer 'no' to most questions.

"37. If given a target for assassination would you be able to discretely complete the mission without the use of poisons?"

Well, Bea isn't poison, so…"Yes"

"38. If given a target for assassination that required no evidence of bodily harm or poison be found in or on the target's body, would you be able to complete the mission?"

"Yes"

This time there was a much longer pause after Kain answered the question.

"A suitable mission has been assigned. Expected reward: 350 credits"

"Wait what?!" Kain didn't actually think he'd be suitable for a mission. Not to mention one so valuable.

"This mission has stringent requirements on secrecy and the manner of death. Absolutely no physical evidence of foul play such as wounds or poison can be detected. However, due to the target's identity those above 3-stars will have difficulty interacting with the target. It is imperative that the target's death look as natural as possible, even when examined by a 6-star beast tamer.

Therefore, in order to assess your ability to successfully meet these requirements, a test will be held."

'Ahhh…it's those last 2 questions that allowed me to get this mission. It must be rare for anyone, regardless of strength level to have a method of assassination not involving poisons or physical injury. Even most mental attribute skills are more focused on causing hallucinations and manipulating the mind, not capable of killing. At least not until the spiritual creature is above green-grade.

Therefore, it must be difficult to find anyone at 3-star or below capable of getting close to the target and killing him undetected.'

The next moment a cage was elevated form the floor. It contained an ordinary mouse, not even of Black-iron quality barely any spiritual power. However, wrapped around its neck was a collar with several gems exuding green-grade spiritual power.

'That collar around its neck is probably worth ten times more than everything I own combined…'

Curious about the purpose of the collar, Kain took his spear out and tried to give a tentative jab in its direction—only to be blown back by a huge force until his back hit the wall.

"Please note that no physical or poisonous attacks will work. It is encouraged that the student only use the methods you plan to use to complete the mission"

"You could have mentioned that from the start…" Kain said, while rubbing the bruise at the back of his head.

Kain then sent a Bea covered fog in the mouse's direction. In less than three seconds it was dead, completely unable to mount any amount of resistance with no spiritual power.

The cage then disappeared back into the floor. Likely examining the mouse to see if the method of death is acceptable.

"Test successful. Do you accept the mission?"

"Yes"

Immediately after Kain's reply, the details of the mission appeared on the screen.

"Target: Aric Nightsbane"

"Oh hell no! Absolutely not!"

"Please note that due to their sensitive nature, once the details of a Black mission have been shown you are obligated to complete it. Failure to do so will result in severe repercussions, including detainment for an indefinite period of time and/or expulsion from the college. It is strongly encouraged that you successfully complete this mission."