Lord of the Magical Beasts

“Yuna, I have a serious lack of tacticians by my side. From tomorrow on, you should go help Goode and deal with some of the matters of the territory.” said Yang Ling.

Yuna was intelligent, but intelligence alone was not enough to deal with more complicated matters. Clearly, setting her up to learn from the experienced Goode for a period of time was the best choice.

Yuna nearly dropped the tea she was holding when she heard Yang Ling say this. She had never expected Yang Ling to reveal their relationship that soon, nor did she expect him to make her a tactician and participate in the various aspects of the territory’s development like Goode did.

“Brother Yang, I…” Looking at Yang Ling’s bright smile, Yuna was a little hesitant as she continued, “I’ve never been a tactician, I’m worried that…”

“There’s nothing to worry about. There’s no way you can make too big of a mistake as long as you are prepared and can weigh the pros and cons of a situation!” He gently stroked Yuna’s shiny black hair. Yang Ling smiled and said, “It’s alright if you don’t want to. I’ll conduct an open recruitment in town tomorrow and get a few beautiful tacticians to slowly discuss the development of the territory!”

“Don’t you dare!” Yuna huffed, and pinched him. Then she happily went to fetch a bottle of high quality rum.

Even though she was very surprised and a little worried that she would not be up to the task, she had quickly come to her senses. Participating in the development of the territory would not only help Yang Ling relieve a great deal of pressure, she could also take care of her clansmen in the territory to a certain extent. This was a great thing for the Beastmen. She believed that the Fox Elder would be elated when he heard the news.

Even though Yuna’s actions had been subtle, Alice, who was sitting at some distance, did notice her actions. Alice felt a sour tinge in her nose as she saw the blissful Yuna, and she almost cried.

“Brother Yang, my tummy’s a little uncomfortable, I’ll take my leave first!” After taking out the last plate of roasted meat from within her basket, Alice spoke as she put the lid on her basket, about to leave.

Yang Ling saw Alice’s red-rimmed eyes and her unhappy expression, and he could tell that something was off. But he couldn’t place it in the moment, so he said, “En, go, you must take care of your health. You can come look for me when you are feeling better. I’ll teach you some self-defense!”

On the Tailun Continent, one had to start learning Battle Energy or magic spells while they were still young. Even though Alice was young, she had passed the optimal age for learning magic spells or Battle Energy. After putting some thought into it, Yang Ling felt that it was best for her to learn Wizard Techniques from him as a means of self defense. Even if she would not be able to tame a large horde of Magical Beasts, being able to tame a few Horned Bee Beasts to protect herself was not a bad option.

Teach me self-defense? Alice’s mood lifted instantly, and she set her basket down and ran to Yang Ling. She began to massage his shoulders in gratitude. She had been convinced that he would forget about her now that he had Yuna. To Alice, status was unimportant. Her joy came from being able to be with Yang Ling every day.

Yang Ling, for his part, was surprised that her ailment was so quickly cured. He shook his head, and smiled at the girl. He never did know what women were thinking.

After that, Yang Ling took the time to train after instructing Goode to send men out to search for traces of the Vampire Bats. Yuna ran around the territory with Goode, negotiating and forging relationships with the merchants, while little Alice began learning the most basic Wizard Techniques from Yang Ling.

Yang Ling had expected Alice to be able to rapidly become a Blood Wizard with his help. He had thought that she would at least be able to tame one or two Horned Bee Beasts to protect herself, if not Withered Tree Warriors. But after working hard for three days, he had no choice but to give up on helping her learn Wizard Techniques.

Even though her body had stored a good amount of the Wizard Power Yang Ling had introduced into her body, for some reason, Alice was still unable to tame Magical Beasts with her blood. The method of cultivation was correct, and her incantation was perfect, but there were no visible effects.

“Brother Yang, am I dumb?”

After another failure, looking at the motionless Horned Bee Beast Yang Ling had tied to the floor, then seeing the disappointed Yang Ling next to her, tears ran freely down Alice’s face.

“This… This is the most powerful Summoning Magic on the continent. It is normal that you cannot master it in such a short time.” Yang Ling secretly heaved a sigh as he looked at the girl wailing, but soon found an excuse to console her.

Yang Ling did not know why Alice could not tame Magical Beasts for the time being. With his help, he could clearly sense that there was a good amount of Wizard Power in her body, but he could not understand why she could not tame Magical Beasts no matter how hard he tried.

Could it be because she did not have the Wizard’s Pagoda?

Yang Ling recalled the first time he tamed a Horned Bee Beast, remembering the strange domain of the Wizard’s Pagoda. When he had first arrived at the Terras Forest, his Wizard Power had been weaker than what Alice had right now. He barely had a shred of Wizard Power then. The only explanation for his ability to tame Magical Beasts was the Wizard’s Pagoda.

This isn’t Earth! Where am I going to find a Wizard’s Pagoda? Furthermore, even if I have the ability to return to Earth, where am I going to find a Wizard’s Pagoda?

Yang Ling did not have a solution even after thinking about it for some time. Even now, he was unclear of what exactly the mysterious Wizard’s Pagoda was. There was no way he could replicate it.

If she cannot tame Magical Beasts like a Blood Wizard, is there a possibility that she could train in some sidelined poison technique?

Yang Ling thought up this alternative self defense course while he was perusing the growing collection of books in his Space Ring. He saw Flowing Venom’s notes on poison techniques, and decided that maybe he could teach Alice to cultivate them instead, with his guidance. Poison techniques trained to the extreme would also possess terrifying power. Even though she could not become as powerful as the assassin Flowing Venom, she would at least have the ability to defend herself.

After coming to a decision, Yang Ling and Alice began learning the most basic poison technique together.

The poison technique recorded on the stele focused on training the body of the caster. The caster was to test the poison with their bodies, increasing their resistance to poison bit by bit. Its power might not be obvious at the beginning, but after training the technique to a high level, he would able to develop poisons that could corrode the souls of his enemies, as well as control the souls of the poisoned using his mental energy.

Unlike the poison techniques recorded on the stele, the notes Flowing Venom left behind placed an emphasis on large amounts of experimentation, enriching one’s experience by creating poisons of various kinds. Even though one could quickly get into the poison techniques of considerable power, the resistance of the caster’s body to poison was weak. If the caster were to accidentally consume the lethal poison, they would be no different from an average person if they did not consume an antidote in time.

But according to the explanation in the book, the situation would be completely different if one made it to sage level through their poison techniques. They would not only be able to activate the poison of their victims using mental energy, their resistance to poison would also become unprecedentedly strong. This was similar to the poison techniques recorded on the stele.

After understanding the strengths and flaws of the two methods, Yang Ling decided to train both at the same time. He would learn from the notes left behind by Flowing Venom during the day, and the poison techniques recorded on the stele at night.

There were a large number of materials and ready-made poisons within Flowing Venom’s Space Ring. This was a huge convenience to their training, as they did not have to spend time searching for various rare materials.

Of course, they did have to prepare the more commonly used ingredients. But with Goode and Yuna’s help, the two of them did not have to worry too much. The townspeople would quickly deliver the ingredients to them as long as they posted a notice that they were going to purchase the ingredients at a high price.

Siberian Gut Severing Plant…

Merrakh Poison Mushrooms…

Garbat Beastmen Embryos…

…

According to the explanation in the books, Alice had meticulously created a poison called Mandala. At the start, Yang Ling had been worried that she would not dare to take action. Who would have expected her to not back down after understanding the power of poison techniques? She was stronger than he had given her credit for.

The poisonous qualities of the Mandala were shocking. If accidentally consumed, it was rumored that even a giant dragon would become numb and have difficulty breathing, much less an ordinary Magical Beast. If they did not consume an antidote in six hours, their muscles would turn rigid and they would suffocate to death.

The Mandala was the most common poison technique Flowing Venom used when he was alive. Even though it was not difficult to create, it required many rare ingredients. The Siberian Gut Severing Plant, Merrakh Poison Mushrooms, and the Garbat Beastmen Embryos were all ingredients that an average person would never have heard of in their lives.

“Brother Yang, we need too many ingredients to create three hundred Mandalas. We do have reserves of the Merrakh Poison Mushrooms and Garbat Beastmen Embryos, but we are severely lacking on the Siberian Gut Severing Plant. What do we do?”

After using the last of the Siberian Gut Severing Plant, Alice shook her head in frustration as she searched Flowing Venom’s Space Ring. She needed a lot of Siberian Gut Severing Grass to create the Mandala. Even though there were reserves within Flowing Venom’s Space Ring, it was far from enough.

After opening his eyes and taking a deep breath, Yang Ling said, “Toss all of the ingredients in. I’ll think of a way if it is really not enough!”

Over those two days, Yang Ling had taken the time to cultivate the poison techniques recorded on the stele after guiding Alice on how to follow Flowing Venom’s training notes to create poison. Even though progress at the start was slow, it was imperative that he trained the poison techniques recorded on the stele as it could gradually boost the poison resistance in his body.

The Mandala was the best choice he had to deal with the powerful Twin-legged Flying Dragon. If he allotted two Mandalas to each Twin-legged Flying Dragon, he would need at least three hundred Mandalas as insurance. Even though the Siberian Gut Severing Plant was rare, he could purchase them at a high price. He believed that the townspeople and soldiers would value the crystal coins and quickly go search for them in the Wilderness of Siberia.