Lord of the Magical Beasts

Even though the new Magic Hunting Cards still had a few shortcomings, it was a great improvement compared to the first iteration of the Magic Hunting Cards. After instructing the Gnome Elder and Master Aaron to come up with a way to mass produce the new cards, Yang Ling handed five of the new cards to Orlando and got him to send it to Viola, who was tending to the Hunter Association.

As the territory developed in scale, Yang Ling placed most of his attention into planning the larger developmental direction of the territory. He could get Viola to deal with the smaller matters, such as deciding who to give the new Magic Hunting Cards to.

Over this period of time, Viola had managed the Hunter Association well with Goode’s support, having personally participated in the revisions of the institutions within the association. After observing him in secret for some time, Yang Ling felt that the experienced Viola was worth nurturing, and wanted to impart basic Wizard Techniques to him some time later. He was going to promote him to become the second managing elder of the association when the time is right.

After returning to his villa, Yang Ling sat down cross-legged in the middle of the Spirit Gathering Spell Formation. He was going to seize the time to train and solidify his position as a Divine Wizard after making his way a few rounds around the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda. Unexpectedly, he noticed that Yuna was bringing someone along, toiling around near the forest of Arrow Bamboos. Teleporting over to take a look, Yang Ling saw that the person was the Beastman priest Augustus that he had tamed back then.

Yuna happily pounced toward Yang Ling when she saw him, “Brother Yang, it’s great to have Augustus’s help. Look, look at how fast the saplings of the Man-eating Vines are growing after Augustus routed the water of the lake over!”

Yang Ling quickly understood what was going on after Yuna’s explanation.

As it turned out, Augustus had thought that he could not escape death after being severely injured by the experts of the Church at the Black Forest, but had woken up in the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda.

After understanding that this was Yang Ling’s domain space after listening to Yuna’s explanation, Augustus praised the fact that Yang Ling’s abilities were deep beyond comprehension. He was also grateful that Yang Ling had saved his life and willingly labored as he helped Yuna with the matters within the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda.

Over this period of time, under Yuna’s command, the Tarantula King, Evil Eye Tyrant and Flying Dragon King had become laborers, digging ditches at the areas they occupied and drawing the water of the lake toward every corner of the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda.

Even though she did not have to take action personally, she did have to run around the space to correct the actions of the Magical Beasts. She had to prevent them from haphazardly doing things. They would sometimes manically dig into the ground to create small lakes, making her extremely tired! She felt more relaxed now that she had Augustus by her side!

As a Beastman priest, Augustus as far more knowledgeable than Yuna when it came to understanding Magical Beasts. He soon understood the characteristics of the tarantulas, Evil Eyes, Barbaric Bulls and Twin-headed Flying Dragons, and tasked them with reasonable jobs according to their specialties. He instructed the Barbaric Bulls to dig out ditch after ditch, got the spiders to clear off the remnants of mud within the ditches, ordered the Evil Eyes to blast away the giant rocks blocking the way…

This way, the Magical Beasts were far more efficient than they were before, creating intertwining channels of water in just a few days, drawing the water into areas like the forest of Arrow Bamboos, Flying Dragon Valley and the forest of bats, accelerating the creation of the Magical Beast Base.

“That’s right, Augustus, do you have a way to quickly set up a Beast Soul Altar?” It was important that the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda was developed, but Yang Ling paid more attention to the ability of the Beastman priest to set up a Beast Soul Altar.

Beast Soul Altar?

Looking at the massive number of Horned Bee Beasts, tarantulas and Vampire Bats around him, Augustus quickly understood Yang Ling’s intentions, “Sir, there are many benefits to setting up a Beast Soul Altar, but a substantial amount of crystal ores is required. Within such a short span of time, I think…”

After advancing to the level of Divine Temple Priest, every Beastman priest knew of the way to set up a Beast Soul Altar, and in theory, they all have the ability to set up a beginner level Beast Soul Altar. However, setting up a Beast Soul Altar required a large number of premium crystal ores. There was no way an average person could set one up.

Over the millennia, the Beastmen could only set up five Beast Soul Altars even after exhausting all of their resources. Even though he knew that Yang Ling was a leader through Yuna’s explanation, Augustus did not think that he would be able to gather the necessary materials within a short amount of time simply because the amount of premium crystal ores required was too large.

He required a large amount of premium crystal ores?

Yang Ling let out a faint smile. To a Beastman that was permanently situated within the northern highlands of the Tailun Continent, a premium crystal ore might be worth mountains of gold. However, that was not a problem for the Magical Beast Territory. The Five-colored Crystal Vein in the Taildon Valley harbored a massive amount of premium crystal ores. Give enough time, Yang Ling could get as many crystal ores as he needed.

“Augustus, what kind of crystal ores do you need, how many of them do you need, write them all down!” After a pause, Yang Ling continued, “How long do you need to finish the construction if you have all of the necessary crystal ores!”

Augustus’s eyes lit up when he saw how confident Yang Ling was, speaking in excitement, “Sir, I would require a month at the very least!”

Setting up a Beast Soul Altar could be said to be the dream of every Beastman priest, and Augustus was no exception.

With the Beast Soul Altar, not only would they have the chance to summon wild Magical Beasts, there was also a certain probability that they would obtain powerful mutated Magical Beasts. Furthermore, training near the Beast Soul Altar was immensely beneficial to a Beast Soul Priest as it could rapidly boost their abilities.

In his excitement, Augustus fetched over the vellum and pen from Yuna’s hands and wrote down the types of crystal ores he needed, as well as their quantities. He then respectfully handed it over to Yang Ling.

“First-grade fire element crystal ores, eighteen thousand; First-grade water element crystal ores, eighteen thousand; Premium earth element crystal ores, nine thousand…”

Even though he had mentally prepared himself, Yang Ling could not help but be shocked when he saw the number of crystal ores written on the piece of vellum. The amount of premium crystal ores he needed to create a Beast Soul Altar far exceeded the yield of an ordinary crystal mine. Even an ordinary empire might not be able to afford it, much less a leader. It was no wonder that the Beastmen could only set up five Beast Soul Altars over the millennia even after exhausting all their resources.

“Augustus, I will give you the required crystal ores in a few months time, make the necessary preparations until then!” After keeping the piece of vellum, Yang Ling gently stroked Yuna’s long dark hair, then left quickly after leaving Augustus with a few instructions.

Even though he required a substantial amount of crystal ores, it was not impossible to gather all the necessary materials within a few months if he increased the intensity of the excavation at the Five-colored Crystal Vein. Even though he was still not sure of just how many crystal ores the Five-colored Crystal Vein contained, Yang Ling believed that the amount of crystal ores he could excavate from the mine would be enough to set up a Beast Soul Altar. The only problem lies in how he could secretly increase the intensity of the excavation at the Five-colored Crystal Vein.

The Five-colored Crystal Vein was the Magical Beast Territory’s greatest secret. The outcome would be disastrous if external factions got to know about it. If that happened, even the Dark Association might become their enemies as they attempt to claim the rare crystal mine as their own, much less the Troop Association, Church, Banto Empire and Rossi Empire.

It looks like I have to hunt for a few space element Magical Beasts or find the Fantasy Crystal and set up a Magical Teleportation Formation between the Taildon Valley and the Wissen Castle as soon as possible!

Yang Ling quickly thought of a way to solve the problem after exiting the space of the Wizard’s Pagoda. Unexpectedly, he had not had the time to consider the specific details when the sound of a rowdy mob came from outside his door.

“Sir, something bad happened, Sir…”

“Sir, Sir…”

…

The voices of the crowd became more and more urgent, as if they had encountered something that requires immediate attention. In his surprise, Yang Ling teleported outside to have a look, only to see that everyone from Goode, the Gnome Elder, Master Aaron and Viola were present, with a large group of people behind them.

Viola stepped forward with large strides after seeing Yang Ling’s figure, “Sir, I handed the new Magic Hunting Cards to a few three-star hunters after receiving them. I did not expect that just two hours later, an accident happened to the hunter Kermtin. He has lost his mind. His hands had turned into a pair of wolf claws and could instantly shoot out terrifying wind daggers. He is killing everyone he sees!”

Viola spoke as he instructed a few hunters to drag forward the delirious Kermtin, looking at Yang Ling anxiously. After the accident, he had nearly been torn to shreds by Kermtin who had lost his mind. He had tied him up at the risk of his life.

His hands became a pair of wolf claws?

Yang Ling remained silent in his doubt, closely examining the hunter Kermtin who has been securely tied up. Indeed, he noticed that his hands were unique. His hands were covered in dark long fur, his fingers curled, looking similar to that of a Wind Wolf’s claw.

The claw of a Wind Wolf?

He had a thought as he looked closely at Kermtin’s mutated hands, “Viola, what was the war pet that Kermtin tamed?”

“Sir, it is a mature Wind Wolf!” Viola knew the condition of the partner who had went on adventures with him in the past very well. He paused to take a breath before continuing, “After the accident happened, we had thought that an accident had happened to the war pet inside Viola’s card. But strangely, no one was able to summon the Wind Wolf inside the card no matter how hard we tried. We do not know what is going on!”

Viola was very confused when he thought about Kermtin’s strange card. Both the first and second iterations of the Magic Hunting Card did not allow the war pets to identify their masters. As long as a person had enough mental energy, they would be able to summon someone else’s war pet if they had their card in hand. But for some reason, Kermtin’s card was unique, and they had been unable to summon the Wind Wolf in the card no matter how hard they tried.

They’re unable to summon the Wind Wolf inside the card?

In his doubt, Yang Ling got Viola to tell him about every detail in the story. The latter did not dare be tardy, recalling as he voiced out what had happened, not missing a single detail.

As it turned out, Kermtin was a rarely seen three-star hunter, and was Viola’s partner for many years. Even though he was very experienced in hunting and had exceptional physical prowess, he was born without an affinity with magic. He did not have any Magical Energy in his body and had been unable to use the Magic Hunting Cards.

He was elated when he received the second iteration of the Magic Hunting Card that did not require its user to have any Magical Energy. He would store the Wind Wolf he had tamed for many years, then summon it, then store it into the card again… He was wildly in love with the card. Unintentionally, he carelessly got scratched by the sharp claws of the Wind Wolf, dying his card and clothes a blood red.

As an experienced hunter, Kermtin carried along a medicine on him that could stop the bleeding, and the wound clotted soon after he applied the medicine. Thus, both Viola or Kermtin himself did not pay too much attention to the light wound.

They did not expect that an accident would happen this soon!

After changing his clothes, Kermtin had wanted to drink a few glasses of alcohol to celebrate obtaining a rare Magic Hunting Card, but he fell to the ground after just taking a few sips of alcohol. After letting out a few pathetic cries, his hands transformed to look like claws, then jumped up like a lunatic, killing every person he saw as he released bolts of strange wind daggers.

Dyed red by blood?

Could a deep transformation have happened to the Magic Hunting Cards after the Magical Spell Formation was sketched onto them, and the cards would automatically recognize its master when exposed to blood?

Looking at Kermtin’s blood covered Magic Hunting Card, Yang Ling had a thought. He immediately sat down on the ground in doubt, cross-legged, his massive amount of mental energy welling out as he closely examined the changes to the Magic Hunting Card.