Way of the Knights

Chapter 34: Beast Domesticating Center

As the group proceed to enter the facility, they saw just how massive the size of the Beast Domesticating Center truly was. It won’t be an understatement to call this a sheltered forest at this point. The group heard groans and cries of beasts that was located inside, the saw many security doors, glass windows that are as tough as metals, and different types of beast so far.

“Before we proceed, we would like to ask everyone to please go through our Protective Measures. Each of you will be given a set of clothes that is specialized to keep the beasts calm with your presence. While this might be a redundant action since most of beasts here are caged in captivity, it will still be of help just in case an emergency happens.” Maddock explained as he lead them to a separate room.

As they entered, the staff immediately moved. They handed out suits to the group and led them to the changing areas. The suit was a black overall along with some military vests and shorts. There was a faint smell of wood in them which is not really pleasant but doesn’t smell bad either.

“Sap of a Kind Treant, mostly likely taken from a 50 year old juvenile. Man, Professor really is capable.” Raven said as he switched his clothing.

‘Treants’ are a common existence in the areas around the Final Haven Empire. They were previously just some normal trees who were then injecting with tons of demonic beast blood and managed to condense a beast core. They are inherently wise but completely immobile. They only way for them to attack is by controlling vines and tree branches to catch their prey.

‘Kind Treants’ are mostly pacifist, they won’t kill anything unless they a solid reason to do so and would do it in a peaceful manner. They are the wisest bunch and animals and demonic beasts alike loved to gather around them. This is due to the simple reason that wherever these Kind Treants were, the environment would surely be calm, which is thanks to the natural properties of their sap mixed onto the air.

Chief Director Maddock was the one discovered this at a tender age of 10. If this wasn’t a testimony of his talents, then how about taming a bunch of demonic tigers at the age of 13? Perhaps, only him in this kingdom would be able to pull off such miracles.

One the students were done changing to their new clothing, they all gathered as a group and Maddock then began the tour inside the facility.

“Reeenk!”

The students were suddenly startled as they heard a screech from a distance. Suddenly, a silhouette of something flew and landed on the director’s shoulders.

“Monkey?” One of the students blurted out once they got the better view of the thing.

“Oh! Hello Piri. How’s your patrol?” Maddock smiled and asked the monkey. The beast screeched and similarly smiled at him. The director laughed and patted the monkey’s head, he took out a peanut butter jar on his spatial ring and gave it to the beast.

“Everyone, meet Piri. She is a Four-Armed Spider Monkey, within a few months she will be celebrating her 3rd birthday. Piri, say hi to the students.”

“Ho! Hohaaa! Ho!” Piri waver her free arms and smiled at the students, some saw that her front teeth were stained with peanut butter and laughed.

“Four-Armed Spider Monkey huh. She might look incredibly adorable since she’s tamed but once she bares her fangs, not even a Knight will be able to stop her.” Raven murmured as he gazed at Piri.

Some people managed to hear what he said and immediately, their faces went under a drastic change. They can’t help to glance at the monkey warily now. Of course, Raven wasn’t really planning on scaring them and merely said the truth. Maddock on the other hand managed to hear what he said but showed no changes in his expression. Instead he silently thought: ‘Oh? This is new. It looks like someone is knowledgable. How rare.’

The group once again started to move and the director then began introducing one demonic beast after another and even told them their habits, how to distinguish them, and what are their weaknesses.

“This is a Red-eyed Predator Mantis. These creatures liked shuffling between shrubs and trees soundlessly and with an incredible speed. Their senses are incredibly sharp, they could smell blood from at least 20 meters away. These ones that we have are just new born, their current strength is about Mid-rank Muscle Strengthening Realm, but if you encounter them outside, then they could kill a Soldier Realm cultivator if he/she isn’t careful.”

This introduction drew gasps from the students, one random student asked: “Isn’t that too high of a jump?”

“Oh that is nothing.” Jackson, who were guiding the students for quite sometime now, suddenly interjected. “While they are weak in terms of frontal assault, remember that, that isn’t the way they hunt for food. They are natural born assassins, and in the wilderness fairness is non-existent. It is to hunt for food to the be hunted as food. If one isn’t careful enough, then death will claim them before they could realize it.”

His voice was grim and his words were solemn. No one could refute his words since he is a Lair Hunting Knight who’s job is to deal with the dangers outside of the kingdom.

“Ugly as it might sound fellas but Sir Jackson is correct.” Maddock added. “While I’m not sure on how many have fallen to their claws, I bet that it is still a lot. This is why we are trying to do our best to tame them without lessening their bestial instincts. I know that this dangerous but our goal in the end of the day is to ensure thing kingdom, our home’s safety. So do us adults a favor and grow up to become splendid Knights in the future okay?”

Maddock smiled warmly as he gazed at the children. His words struck a deep chord in their hearts that set their feelings ablaze. They nodded and the tour continued.

“Evil-Eyed Lions. A territorial bunch. They are easy to recognize because of their eye colors. Their left eye being black and their right eye being red. Compared to other lion species, the manes on their necks aren’t as thick, but the unique thing about it is that their manes can transform into sharp spikes as a defensive measure.”

“War Apes. Has black fur, enormous body size and hairless chests. These fellas are a noisy bunch. Before they start fighting, they will smack their chests multiple times which will sound like war drums. The more angry they get the louder and the more intense the sound they produce. In the end, these guys could shatter a man sized boulder in just a punch.”

“Mirage Hawks. One of the most dangerous aerial predators. They are able to merge with their surroundings giving them incredible stealth. Their beaks and claws could pierce boulders with ease and they are able to make a silent assault. These species are mostly seen close to bodies of waters. They have a strange liking to seafood and usually make their nest near them. They usually don’t attack unless the perpetrator is incredibly noisy. They hate noisy places.”

One after another, Maddock introduced more domesticated beasts in the facility, the students were learning at the same time enjoying the experience. Watching beasts behind glass panels unnerved them at the beginning since they doubted the durability of them. But this was all soon answered when they met a problem child.

Bam!

Neat their location, a beast suddenly ram itself against the glass panel, but instead of breaking it, the beasts was the one who was injured instead. It didn’t even manage to leave a scratch nor dent on the glass panel either. As the commotion was quite loud, many students looked over and saw what was happening.

“Oh! It seems that Hopper is too active again.” Maddock sighed and smiled ruefully.

“Hopper?” One random student asked.

The director nodded and said: “Yes, Hopper. He is a year and a half old Black Panther, a rare breed of beasts. Deadly assassins I will add. Because of their color, they tend to hunt during night time when the visibility is incredibly low. Their eyes could see heat signals, they could hear everything around 10 meter of them, they could also smell blood in a similar radius. Hopper is a problem child. He’s been way too naughty within the past week and honestly, I don’t understand why he’s acting like so.”

Maddock didn’t bother to hide his incompetencies to the children. He might be a genius but he wasn’t omnipotent, he had been trying to come up with a solution to fix Hopper’s naughty attitude for a while now but the panther made him helpless.

Bam!

Hopper slammed into the glass panel once more, he groaned and glared at the the group. He then started to scratch the glass panel using his paws like a cat would with a hard surface, but Hopper wasn’t using his claws. Everyone stared and wondered what’s wrong.

It was then that Raven suddenly stepped forward and said: “I think Hopper wants to meet you Sir Jackson.”