The Doctor's Beast Tamer System: Apocalyptic Survival

Ch 2 Honey And Bear

BOOM!

BOOM!

The ground beneath Bast’s feet trembled. Behind the chest-high thicket, old oak trees snapped and collapsed like dry twigs.

From the shadows of the crushed foliage, the monster stepped out.

Bast’s breath caught in his throat. That exact second convinced him that this world he had stranded in was vastly different—and far deadlier than his old one.

Before him towered a ferocious beast whose base form resembled a bear.

However, calling it a "bear" felt like a massive understatement. It stood nearly three meters tall, just crawling on all fours. Terrifying muscles bulged beneath pitch-black fur clumped with dried blood.

What truly turned Bast’s knees to jelly was a pair of curved fangs, as long as an adult’s arm, jutting from its lower jaw—exactly like a sabertooth tiger—paired with incredibly long, razor-sharp black claws.

Thick drool dripped from the crevices of its massive snout, hissing softly as it hit the grass. The monster’s glowing red eyes locked directly onto the taro leaf bundle Bast clutched tightly to his chest. The honey had lured it out!

ROAAAARRR!

The monster’s roar exploded like thunder, creating a shockwave that stripped the leaves off the trees.

The beast heaved its massive body forward and Bast’s survival instinct took over He spun around and pushed his legs to their absolute limit, sprinting through the forest.

His Tamer System flashed red in the corner of his vision. However, Bast didn't even need to look at the numbers on the screen to know the bitter truth; he had absolutely zero points left!

Let alone taming a beast this strong, his remaining points probably weren't even enough to make the bear sneeze.

Run and live. That was the only option he could choose right now. However, even running wasn't simple. Once again, his feet weren't used to the uneven terrain—and his new body completely rejected extreme physical activity.

"Why is this body... such absolute trash?! YOU DAMN BRAT, YOU'RE SO WEAK!" Bast cursed his new body’s alcoholic lungs.

In his past life, he wasn't an athlete, but he stayed perfectly healthy and never walked less than ten thousand steps a day. Now? He hadn't even sprinted for a minute dodging tree roots, and his lungs already felt like they were asking for early retirement.

Just a little more! Sunlight! The edge of the forest!

The silhouette of the meadow and the giant wooden walls—his village’s fortress—appeared through the gaps in the trees. Hope began to bloom; maybe he could ask for help.

Bast burst through the final bush and instantly saw his sister still sitting on the rock. The girl jumped to her feet, her face deathly pale.

"Myra! RUN!" Bast screamed, his voice cracking.

Without waiting for his sister to process the information, Bast grabbed Myra’s arm and forcibly dragged her to run toward the village.

A mere two seconds later, the forest canopy behind them exploded. The saber-toothed bear leaped out, landing right on the rock. Myra had just sat on it, smashing it to pieces.

"AGHHH!" Myra shrieked hysterically. Her legs nearly gave out, but Bast’s violent pull forced her to keep moving.

They sprinted across the open meadow, which felt like a stretch of hell because it offered absolutely nowhere to hide.

The village’s wooden fortress gates drew closer, but the thundering claws of the bear behind them grew deafening. The monster’s shadow began to blanket their backs.

'I'm going to die... die again!' Bast thought in despair. He felt absolutely certain his lifespan in this new body would end any second now.

Unexpectedly, however, Myra suddenly yanked her hand, breaking free from Bast’s grip. Instead of continuing to run straight for the gate's opening, the girl took a sharp turn toward a support pillar on the outer edge of the fortress gates.

"DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!" Bast assumed his sister had suddenly given up on life.

But that wasn't the case. At the top of that pillar hung a rusty iron bell. Myra leaped, grabbed the dangling iron chain, and pulled it down with her entire body weight.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

The ringing sound pierced the air. At the exact same time, the giant bear swung its sword-sharp claws right at Bast’s back. Bast threw his body forward, rolling across the dusty dirt, letting the claws merely tear the air a few inches above his head.

The loud ringing of the bell distracted the bear. Its massive head whipped around in confusion, searching for the source of the obnoxious noise.

An opening!

Bast forced himself up, snatched Myra away from the bell pillar, and dragged her as he barged through the half-open fortress gates.

Chaos erupted from behind the village’s wooden walls. The guards' shouts echoed back and forth.

The very next second, thick, yellowish-gray smoke billowed out from several stone chimneys atop the fortress walls.

The wind blew the smoke directly out the gates, carrying an incredibly pungent stench—a mixture of sulfur, animal dung, and god-knows-what toxic substance.

The giant bear, just preparing to breach the gates, slammed on the brakes. It sniffed the air, then sneezed so violently its jaw trembled.

Its sharp sense of smell actually became its fatal weakness. The monster absolutely loathed the scent of the village’s defensive smoke.

Growling in anger and frustration, it struck the ground once more with its claws, creating a small crater, before finally turning around and running back into the darkness of the forest.

"Ohhh..." Bast, who had glanced back, immediately dropped to the dirt. As soon as the deadly creature was out of the way, he went totally limp.

"I'm alive... my heart is still beating..." he muttered hoarsely.

Bast lay flat on his back in the dusty dirt, regulating his ragged breathing while staring at the sky. In his hands, he still gripped the honey bundle tightly; it hadn't suffered a single scratch.

Myra slumped down next to Bast, her face smeared with dust and tears of relief.

Bast could only stare—glancing over as several village guards ran out carrying spears, preparing to close the fortress gates made of whole, solid tree trunks.

Bast watched them shut the thick doors tightly. One more thing embedded itself in his mind. If he didn't quickly find a way to gather points and tame a strong protector, his life in this new body wouldn't even last until the end of the month.

However, before Bast could even catch his breath, a massive shadow lunged from the crowd of villagers.

"BAST! YOU BASTARD!"

A rough hand grabbed Bast by the collar, hauling him up so violently his toes barely touched the dirt.

A middle-aged man with a hard face, a thick beard, and arm muscles hardened by manual labor glared at him with eyes blazing with fury. Jarek—the father of this body he possessed.

"You wanted to sell your own sister to the border city?! Huh?!" Jarek roared, raising a fist the size of a rock, ready to smash Bast’s face. "I'll just kill you myself rather than let you shame this family!"

"Jarek, don't! You'll actually kill him!" A woman in shabby clothes pushed her way forward, crying hysterically. Elara, his mother.

She beat against Jarek’s chest to make him release his grip, then turned to look at Bast, her face streaming with tears.

"Bast! You used to be my favorite child! Why are you like this?! Gambling, drinking, and now you want to drag your own sister off to sell her?!"

Elara truly screamed out her sorrow, her voice drawing even more villagers to gather around the gates.

A wrinkled old man leaning on a wooden cane—Elder Orek—stepped forward, tapping his cane on the ground with a face full of disgust.

"Just let him go, Jarek. Beating him to death is a waste of effort. This boy is truly a useless excuse for a man," Elder Orek sneered loudly.

"Tell him to go down to the fields and help his father; he complains about back pain. Tell him to join the hunting party; he hides in the barn out of fear. Only brave enough to target his own little sister? What an absolute small-fry loser."

The other villagers started chiming in mercilessly.

"Scum of society!"

"A total burden!"

"Just throw him back outside the gates to feed the bear!"

Receiving a hail of insults from all directions, Bast could only stay completely silent. He bowed his head. Not because he regretted his actions, but because he was desperately holding himself back from joining in on the cursing.

Everything they said was one hundred percent true. The original Bast was indeed a bastard. His reputation sat lower than animal dung. Now, it was his responsibility to repair his reputation—he needed a positive one to earn points!

A task that felt about as impossible as flying to the moon. But he had to do it.

Bast swallowed hard, looking at Myra, who still sat hugging her knees on the ground, sobbing. A few village women tried to calm her, but her tears kept flowing.

"Father, Mother... Elder Orek..." Bast raised a hand. "I know I was wrong. My insane thoughts have evaporated. I'm truly sorry."

"Sorry?!" Myra screeched, pelting her fury. "You forcefully dragged me into the forest! If it wasn't for that bear earlier, you definitely would have sold me! Your apology won't make up for anything!"

"She's right! Absolute bullshit!" Jarek chimed in, still clenching his fists.

Bast sighed. Time to show off, or he'd just keep catching flak.

"I know my words are worthless. Because of that..." Bast slowly placed the taro leaf bundle he had been clutching tightly onto his lap.

"I risked my life in the forest to find this as atonement for my sins against Myra."

With slow, dramatic movements fitting an antique dealer, Bast peeled back the layers of taro leaves one by one.

Instantly, an incredibly rich, sweet aroma wafted into the air, quickly overpowering the stench of sulfur smoke from outside the gates.

The crowd that had just been loudly cursing Bast suddenly went dead silent.

Jarek’s eyes bulged, nearly popping out of their sockets. Elara’s crying stopped instantly, her tears practically sucked back in. Elder Orek’s mouth gaped wide open, putting his row of toothless gums on full display.

Sitting right on top of those taro leaves lay a chunk of honeycomb dripping with thick, glowing golden liquid.

Honey.

In this harsh and semi-backward village, honey held a value far higher than gold. Their only sources of sweetness were wild fruits, which often tasted ordinary or downright bland.

Pure forest honey? That was a tantalizing, ultra-rare luxury. Besides being difficult to find, the foraging process often demanded a toll paid in blood—as he had just proven.

Bast smiled in satisfaction, patting his chest. He showed off just a little as he watched dozens of eyes stare at the bundle in his hands, completely hypnotized. "This is top-quality honey. This is a present for you Myra, as I promised earlier.

But Bast's happy smile didn't last even three seconds.

Suddenly a young villager stepped forward, jabbed a trembling finger at Bast and cried out, his voice rising high with accusation.

"H-he definitely stole it! There's no way a coward like him dared to enter the forest! He must have robbed that honey from another hunter!"

Bast snorted and rolled his eyes. The original Bast’s reputation truly proved nearly impossible to salvage; even when he actually did something good, people still assumed the worst.