Chapter Ninety-One: Beast Tamer

"Tickets, please."

A sharp, crisp whistle burst from the middle-aged proprietor’s lips, and the cat-eagle, more than ten feet tall, immediately stopped eating. Its enormous wings suddenly spread wide without warning.

Whoosh!

Dust billowed through the courtyard as though a gale of force five had just swept past.

Before the dust could reach Xu Wen, it was halted by a faint elemental barrier. He stared curiously at the cat-eagle, which had suddenly become so heroic and imposing. Its upright stance had now changed into a gliding posture, and its two massive wings looked like forged metal—steady, immovable, and full of extraordinary majesty.

"Please, aboard. We’re ready to depart."

The middle-aged proprietor also shed his outer robe at this point, revealing a close-fitting white outfit beneath. A bamboo whistle hung from his chest, making him look every bit the beast tamer he was.

The three men and one woman beside him treated the tamer-proprietor with great respect. They nodded, stepped onto the wooden rack beside the cat-eagle, and slowly made their way onto its back to sit down.

Xu Wen looked around with fresh curiosity for a moment before stepping onto the cat-eagle’s back himself.

As if walking on level ground.

The cat-eagle’s back was broader and steadier than he had imagined.

"First time riding a cat-eagle? Heh, it shakes a little at the beginning, but once it’s in the air it’s very smooth. Crouch down first, yes, like that..."

Xu Wen took a tether from the beast tamer’s hand. Following the example of the other four, he pressed a hand against one side of the cat-eagle’s body and crouched halfway down.

Six tethers were fastened around the cat-eagle’s neck. The beast tamer-proprietor sat in front; after handing one to each passenger, he nodded and said, "Then let’s set off."

With a clear eagle cry, the great wings began to flap slowly and heavily.

Although it was carrying over a thousand catties of weight, the cat-eagle’s takeoff carried none of the least heaviness. With just two beats of its wings, the courtyard beneath their eyes shrank rapidly into the distance.

Aside from the instant of takeoff, which felt a little like an elevator dropping, there was no discomfort at all.

Xu Wen could only marvel inwardly.

If such technology were brought to Earth, the shipping companies would probably have to make every employee qualify as a beast tamer. Although the cat-eagle could carry only a small number of passengers, it could rise into the air anytime, anywhere, and it did not consume refined oil. As long as more fruit was grown, it could be fed without trouble. Having one on hand would be enough.

What was most astonishing was that flying this way not only lacked any oppressive feeling, it was extremely stable as well. The wind was not even that strong... and one could enjoy the scenery of mountains and rivers below at any time.

"Beast tamers are truly remarkable," Xu Wen said in admiration without realizing it.

His words reached the ears of the four men and women beside him. They first froze, then looked over.

"Little brother, you just said beast tamers are remarkable? Why is that?"

Xu Wen’s polite manner had already eased the poor impression left on them by Lu Yuan. One of the adventurers turned back on his own initiative and started a conversation.

"Being able to fly freely in the sky—I think that sounds fun."

Xu Wen could not explain the matter in modern terms, nor could he talk about the preciousness of energy or the aviation revolution brought about by cat-eagles, so he casually gave a rather innocent reason.

"Fun?"

The adventurers all fell silent at once. The four of them were beast tamers themselves, and when they had heard Xu Wen’s praise, they had hoped to hear this youth’s thoughts on the increasingly declining profession of beast tamers. They had not expected such an answer, and could not help feeling disappointed and amused.

The beast tamer-proprietor riding in the front had naturally heard the conversation behind him as well. He smiled but did not turn around. What could one expect from a child? Could he really be expected to offer any particularly heartening insight?

Xu Wen looked at the four people in front of him and suddenly noticed that the female adventurer had a silver whistle hanging from her chest, looking much like the bamboo whistle on the proprietor’s chest. His heart moved, and he asked her, "Sister, are you a beast tamer?"

From his understanding of the game, the beast tamer profession was not weak at all. In the rankings of the past, there had once been several beast tamers who became very famous. Although they could not contend with a perverse undead archmage like him, they had a great advantage over swordfighters or mages of the same rank.

That was because the beast tamer profession was essentially a disguised advancement path. A player could cultivate battle aura or magic while also training several contracted magical beasts. Depending on the beasts’ abilities, different ones could be chosen to fight in coordination, producing excellent combat results.

"You could tell?" The female beast tamer smiled faintly. She glanced at the silver whistle on her chest and nodded in acknowledgment, then asked in return, "And you, little brother? What profession do you cultivate?"

"Mage. Fire mage."

Xu Wen did not mind being called "little brother" and answered honestly with selective numbness. Then he asked, "What rank are you, sister? And what summoned beast do you have?"

"My summoned beast? It’s not very high-ranked, and it’s still small."

The female beast tamer’s face reddened slightly, as though she very much wanted to avoid the topic. But when she saw the boy’s expectant gaze, she could not help wavering. She turned to ask whether it would be all right to summon it on the cat-eagle’s back.

One of the six seats was empty, and the proprietor nodded, saying there was no problem. As a beast tamer himself, he was also curious about the beast-taming situations of the younger generation behind him.

The summoning of a contract beast was very different from undead summoning.

It was a feeling connected by blood, requiring no chant at all. With nothing more than a simple thought, the beast tamer could directly open a spiritual space and bring the beast forth before everyone.

What surprised Xu Wen a little, however, was that the contract beast the female beast tamer summoned was actually a tiny white infant beast, perched against her ample chest. Its pair of round red eyes swept lazily around once before it arrogantly laid its head back down on the soft flesh, rubbing against it languidly and then going still, its soft body rising and falling only slightly.

Asleep?

Xu Wen was a little stunned. He had not expected the female beast tamer’s contract beast to be so adorable, and it did not look remotely like it had any fighting ability.

"A guardian cleric beast? Not bad... probably has two-star strength?"

The proprietor’s voice came from the front, easing the female beast tamer’s embarrassment. She turned back in delight. "Yes. It only reached two-star third tier the day before yesterday. It can use holy healing and exorcism now."

"Mm, not bad. The guardian cleric beast is still quite useful. Once it reaches three stars, many adventurer teams or mercenary groups will be scrambling to recruit you."

The proprietor’s words of encouragement sounded more like consolation to Xu Wen...

The guardian cleric beast was the kind of contract beast that passively protected its master. In team battles, it could serve as a healer, a logistics support beast, the equivalent of a medical worker in this world.

Put nicely, many teams would fight over you. Put bluntly, this kind of combination could only survive for long by depending on a powerful team.

With a weak contract beast and the female beast tamer’s own strength at only the middle of the three-star mage rank, she was no match even for someone like Senior Sister Snow, who was a high-middle three-star mage.

Xu Wen offered a word of encouragement as well.

The female beast tamer knew exactly what her strength and talent were. Sensing Xu Wen’s kindness, she forced a smile, stroked the little contract beast on her chest, and said to him, "You don’t need to comfort me, little brother. I understand the decline of beast tamers. It’s just that my family has inherited this type of contract beast for generations, and I don’t want to abandon it... I also want to take advantage of my youth to see more of the outside world, and later find someone I can rely on and settle down with. As for you, little brother, to have achieved first-tier three-star strength at such a young age, you’ll surely become an extraordinary adventurer in the future!"

Looking at the female beast tamer’s lonely yet resilient smile, Xu Wen fell silent for a long moment. In the end, he could not help himself and asked, "Isn’t the beast tamer profession supposed to be very strong?"