Chapter Ninety-Two: A Stir of the Heart, Please Vote

“It is formidable, yes, but that was already a thing of centuries past.”

The one who answered Xu Wen was the beast-tamer shopkeeper, who had turned to face him. In his eyes lay a deep desolation, along with a trace of mockery. His voice was bleak, almost helpless.

“Several hundred years ago, the Dark Empire was wildly ambitious and sought to unite Soul Continent. You must have heard of the records from that dark age, young friend?”

Xu Wen nodded.

“At that time, the profession of beast tamer stood shoulder to shoulder with the more popular paths of swordsmen and mages. Some beast-tamer clans even raised dozens of high-level nine-star contracted beasts. Their strength came astonishingly close to that of the seven elemental factions of Soul Continent. In that era, the glory of beast tamers was unlike anything seen before or since.”

Such a thrilling tale, spoken in the shopkeeper’s low voice, made Xu Wen’s own mood sink as he glanced around at the silent expressions of the others nearby. If there had once been such splendor, why had it come to this?

He listened quietly as the beast-tamer shopkeeper continued.

“Regrettably, the strongest beast tamers back then were nearly all recruited by the noble houses and power groups of the great empires. They guarded their secret arts jealously, unlike the other professions, which openly exchanged insights and kept advancing. As a result, when the war with the Dark Empire erupted, the vast majority of powerful beast tamers had no time to pass their skills to their heirs. The flames of war brought by the Dark Empire raged for many years, and the surviving beast tamers gave little thought to inheritance. In this way, the elite of the beast-tamer world were almost completely wiped out in that era...”

“All of them?” Xu Wen was stunned into silence by this shocking revelation.

The other man nodded and gave a long, mournful sigh.

“In that battle, the Dark Empire used a highly vicious powder. As long as any contracted beast of a beast tamer was injured, it would quickly turn into an undead creature within a very short time. The experts of the many nations could not stop the line of defense from being torn apart by the undead horde... almost all of them died in battle. After that, it became rare for the profession of beast tamer to produce truly outstanding figures. Now and then, an exceptional talent would appear, but compared with the strong of that age, they still fell far short. Meanwhile, the other professions revived thanks to the many documents, records, and practical insights left behind!”

“Many people say that it was because of the Dark Empire that beast tamers declined to this day. But we beast tamers know in our hearts... it was the selfishness of the older generation that caused all the secret arts and taming methods to be lost. They are the ones who brought about the present decline of the beast-tamer profession!”

The four people on his back seemed to be descendants of beast-tamer families, for at those words they all merely nodded in silence.

Only then did Xu Wen learn from the shopkeeper how arduous the road of a beast tamer truly was. In many ways, the trials exceeded those of other professions. One had to be responsible not only for oneself, but also achieve a rare kind of divided attention, sometimes twofold, sometimes even threefold, training both oneself and one’s contracted beasts at the same time. In the later stages, when one had more than one contracted beast, the strain on attention became even greater. Without the secret formulas of beast tamers, it was extremely difficult to catch up in a short time with the progress of other professions of the same generation. Even the bottlenecks came in pairs, or even triplets...

The strongest beast tamer on Soul Continent at present was said to be a powerhouse from the Blood Alliance, and even he was only at low-level eight-star. He was already one hundred and thirty-seven years old, and had made no further progress since! As for the Greencloud Empire, it did not even possess a single eight-star beast tamer!

A five-star beast tamer like the shopkeeper was already qualified to oversee a trading house. If it had been any other profession, at five-star and at his age, he would long ago have been cast into the monster forests to fend for himself in cultivation.

Xu Wen listened with a sigh.

Unconsciously, he thought of some information about beast tamers from the game world. With his old gift for never forgetting what he had seen, formula after formula for pills quickly rose in his mind.

He remembered that the beast-tamer profession relied on medicinal pills in many respects.

In the later stages, some powerful beast tamers who wanted to replace their contracted beasts, or train better young beasts, needed large quantities of Beast Spirit Pills and Army Ration Pills...

The most commonly used was the Beast Spirit Pill, refined from the monster core of a beast of the same element. It could slightly increase the strength of a young beast. The Army Ration Pill could restore stamina and relieve hunger. With these, along with several other kinds of pills and frequent combat, a young beast could grow rapidly in a short period of time.

“Too bad I don’t have any medicinal materials on me.”

Xu Wen’s heart stirred with interest. He casually probed the matter out of the others, and learned that Beast Spirit Pills, Army Ration Pills, and the like were indeed still being sold, but only a very small number of families possessed them, and even then they still clung to the old traditions, refusing to make them public. In addition, some of the pills once used by contracted beasts of beast tamers—such as Berserk Pills, Beast Soul Pills, and the rather important Pet Feed—had either been lost entirely or hidden away as family secrets.

The first could briefly send a contracted beast into a berserk combat state and slightly raise its fighting power. The Beast Soul Pill could help a contracted beast enter a state of self-cultivation more quickly while resting. As for the final feed, there were many varieties, most of them used to balance conflicts between contracted beasts and to deepen the intimacy between beast and tamer.

A thought flashed through Xu Wen’s mind.

He actually had these three pill formulas memorized. As long as he could obtain the ingredients, he would be able to refine them. But if word of that ever spread, it would likely cause a considerable uproar in the world of beast tamers, and make him a target for recruitment by many families and organizations.

That would be troublesome...

The thoughtful look on Xu Wen’s face, seen by the five people, was mistaken for regret over the decline of the beast-tamer profession, and it quietly won him their goodwill.

The journey passed in pleasant conversation.

It was not until they reached their destination that the Cat Owl descended into the crowded city of Xuan City and landed in a larger courtyard, where everyone finally disembarked.

“Little brother, let us meet again if fate allows.”

Xu Wen nodded. He watched the three men and one woman leave the flying-beast station, then turned to the beast-tamer shopkeeper, who was feeding the Cat Owl. In the courtyard, there were quite a few beast tamers and Cat Owls dressed just like him.

“Don’t worry, young friend. I’ll make the arrangements for you right away...” The shopkeeper noticed Xu Wen’s gaze and, thinking he was anxious, hurried to reassure him.

“Please, take care of it first. I’m not in a rush to leave.”

Xu Wen had a thought of his own. He was planning to temporarily tame a flying beast. A Cat Owl was much faster than a horse, and it also spared him many needless detours, making travel far more convenient.

It would be very useful before reaching the eight-star great mage level. Even after reaching eight-star, he could not always rely on burning through his mental power just to travel...

“Uncle, how long have you had this Cat Owl?”

“I got it when I was eight years old. You tell me how long that’s been.” The shopkeeper smiled as he stroked the Cat Owl’s feathers, his movements gentle, as if caring for his own child.

Xu Wen could not help but inwardly start. That meant three or four decades at least?

After hesitating for a long while, Xu Wen finally asked, “Uncle, is there anywhere in Xuan City that sells monster eggs and young beasts?”

The shopkeeper’s hand paused in mid-stroke over the Cat Owl. He turned his face with mechanical slowness, studied Xu Wen from head to toe for a long moment, and only then said, “Although you’re not too old yet, with your aptitude you are certain to become a very fine mage in the future... Beast taming will become a burden to you. I advise you to focus on a single path in your cultivation.”