"Twilight, use Darkness"
The field area darkened, enveloping the field with a blanket of shadows.
"Now, from behind, Hypnotic Wave!"
Following the instructions, Twilight appeared out of the darkness behind the opponent, raising its staff to unleash the sleep attack.
Upon emerging, however, it was met face to face with a net of webbing, tying the staff and wrenching it out of its hands, rendering the attack useless.
Then, the opposing spirit beast sent it rolling to the ground with a blast of water before deftly tying it up and ending the battle.
Poppy stood above Twilight, victorious again. It put its hands on its hips in triumph, or at least where it imagined its hips would be if it had them.
In contrast, Twilight put on a frustrated expression, clearly ashamed by the result. It glanced at Kanan, worried that he would be disappointed in it.
This was Twilight's fifth consecutive loss, despite having instruction from Kanan during the battles. However, the squirrel beast had been visibly improving, lasting slightly longer in each battle as the day went on.
Part of the issue was the beast's lack of applicable skills, Kanan mused. At the moment it only knew 4 skills, significantly less than Poppy.
Darkness, which darkened the area and removed the enemy's visibility.
Hypnotic Wave, which put the enemy to sleep.
Telekinesis, which could manipulate objects, though it was still weak.
And Flourish, which could grow or manipulate pre-existing plants.
The synergy of the first two was obvious, and it was the combination that Twilight had used at the cemetery to catch intruders off-guard. However, its effectiveness was severely reduced in competition format, where the other beast was already wary of being attacked.
Telekinesis's main usage at the moment seemed to be controlling Twilight's staff, letting it maneuver agilely when it needed to use all fours, or returning the staff when it was dropped or knocked away. The skill level was still too low to manipulate the opponent in any meaningful capacity.
Flourish was situational. In an outdoor arena like the current one it could be used to make weeds grow to bind the opponent temporarily, but in most cases… Kanan mentally put this one on the shelf for now.
His main priority at the moment was increasing the speed of Twilight's skill activation. With its control-heavy skillset, as long as it could operate faster than the opponents it could theoretically render them incapable of doing anything.
Conversely, however, against a fast and experienced opponent like Poppy, its own lack of speed made it a sitting duck for the former's physical attacks. The moveset was a double edged sword where everything came down to who was more skilled.
Kanan clapped his hands. "Alright guys, let's wrap it up for today. Good work to both of you."
Poppy danced around happily, while Twilight kept its eyes glued to the floor, sulking.
"Twilight, don't be too disappointed. You did a good job, OK? Your performance at the end was much better than when we started. You can't expect to win immediately, Poppy and I have been training for a long time."
Twilight's expression eased slightly at the comforting words, but it remained upset.
Kanan sighed. Having a competitive streak was a good thing for a spirit beast that intended to battle, but he would have to put in some work to regulate its mood. With only two spirit beasts it was hard to avoid comparison and competition between the two.
Thankfully, the next thing on his agenda was something that would probably cheer Twilight up.
"Let's go to the market. It's time to start making Twilight's energy pellets. Can't have it eating junk food forever."
At his words, the little squirrel perked up, causing Kanan to let out a soft chuckle. Why were all of his pet beasts so gluttonous?
Poppy sensed his thoughts and sent him a sideways glance, judging him for his lack of self-awareness.
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"Sold out here too!?" Kanan exclaimed, standing in front of a spirit beast food stall.
Across from him the vendor stood behind the counter, looking exasperated. "That's right. What can we do? It's the Academy's opening season. All the students and even the professors are stocking up on spirit beast food. You're a little unlucky, though. The pellets have been out of stock for days, but you just missed the window to get raw materials. We had to use them all to produce new batches."
Kanan groaned. "Do you know anywhere that will still have them in stock?"
"Well, 'round here the biggest company is Silverlight. You could try your luck there, but I'm sure they're sold out too. Still, they must have some in reserve. Maybe you could get some if you get lucky and talk to the right person."
Silverlight. The name was familiar to Kanan. He had seen their billboards around town while exploring it the past couple weeks. It was a major force within the city.
Still, he felt like there was something he was forgetting. Silverlight, silverlight…
Coming to a realization, he reached into his spatial bracelet and pulled out a card. It was silver, engraved with a Lazumu running under the sun. A fancy-looking font adorned the bottom, reading "Silverlight Merchant Company."
It was the reward he had gotten from Kenric for helping the Lazumu during the carriage ride into the city. He had completely forgotten about it!
Seeing the card, the vendor's eyes widened. "Is that-"
"Thanks for the advice!" Kanan yelled, cutting him off and running off towards the direction of Silverlight's main building. It was impossible to miss, located in the central area of the commercial district. Two imposing Lazumu statues flanked the doorway, a giant SL emblazoned at the entrance.
Inside, a receptionist politely greeted him.
"Welcome to the Silverlight Merchant Company, what can we help you with today?"
"Hello there. I'm looking for 1st Stage Dark & Grass type materials for spirit beast pellets." Kanan explained.
"I'm afraid we're out of pellet materials for the foreseeable future. You'll have to try coming again next week" the receptionist replied apologetically.
"Ah, I was told if I showed this that you might be able to help me with things." Kanan said, pulling out the card.
The receptionist frowned. Troublesome customers like this appeared occasionally, ones who refused to take no for an answer. "I'm afraid there's nothing we can do -" she started, before her gaze settled on the card.
Her eyes widened. "Oh, you were a VIP, sir! I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you."
She sweated internally. If he was a VIP then why didn't he just say so?! And he was one she didn't recognize, despite working here for 10 years. How was she supposed to know?
On the other side, Kanan was equally surprised. A VIP? Had Kenric actually given him something really amazing? That didn't feel like the level of reward that should be coming out for a simple spirit beast treatment.
What Kanan didn't know was that Kenric was a merchant through and through. His intention wasn't to fairly reward Kanan for his efforts, but to establish a connection between a promising talent that hadn't yet bloomed and the Silverlight Company.
After all, connections were the real strength of a merchant. Especially in a world like this one dominated by powerful beast tamers, having the favor of one was a way to ascend to heaven in one step. There was no better investment.
"So, is it possible to get those materials with this?" Kanan asked, curious.
"Well… no," the receptionist answered, slightly embarrassed. "Not now, anyway. We're truly out of stock. However, as a VIP member, you have the ability to request items and reserve them ahead of time… if you wish, we can have those materials for you as soon as two days from now."
Two days. Kanan thought about Twilight, resting in his spirit beast space. Looks like he would have to put up with human food a little longer. He suspected the little glutton wouldn't mind too much.
"Alright, that works for me. Is there anything else the VIP card can get me?" He inquired further.
"Yes!" Answered the receptionist animatedly. She had been worried that the customer would press further. Two days was really her limit. If he had complained she would've had to escalate it to management, which would look bad for her.
"There are three main benefits. First off, you get a 20% discount on all items." This almost made Kanan gasp in shock. Twenty percent was an enormous amount. That meant that for many cheaper items the merchant company simply wouldn't make a profit off of what he ordered.
"Secondly, you get access to the third floor. Normal customers are only permitted to browse the first and second floors of the building, the third floor is a VIP-exclusive. It houses things like rare spirit beast materials and eggs."
This interested Kanan, though he doubted that he could afford any of it.
"And lastly you have the ability to participate in the bi-annual Silverlight Auction. Normal customers are able to participate in it too, but it requires a hefty entrance fee so it's mostly a VIP exclusive as well. You've probably heard of it, all of the major families and companies attend."
Kanan had not in fact heard of it but he chose to let his ignorance go unnoticed.
"Thank you very much. If you could please place an order for these materials, I'd appreciate it" he said, handing the list of spirit materials he had planned on buying to the receptionist.
"Oh no need for formality with me!" the receptionist countered. "If there's anything else you need just say the word and we're here to assist you."
"I'll be fine for now. I'm going to take a look around before I go."
"Then please enjoy your stay, sir."
The receptionist gave one final bow to Kanan as he entered further in.