Chapter 181

Chapter 181

The air in Bokara still carried the lingering scent of blood, as before.

Lorant and Lancelot held the baskets tightly in their arms as they hurried across the fortress's grass field toward Lindbergh's reception room.

Lancelot's mood was indeed low today. It wasn't until Lorant pulled him by the arm to step out of the teleportation array that his confused mind finally comprehended what had just transpired.

He turned his head to look at Lorant, who was in a good mood, and felt a deep sense of emotion. This young man always surprised him far beyond his expectations.

Compared to when he first met Lorant, that helpless boy who had to place all his hopes in others, the Lorant now had already undergone a transformation.

The Holy Light Peafowls continued to sleep, in their first slumber after birth, which is usually difficult to disturb.

As long as they weren't violently grabbed by the neck in an attempt to wake them, the pet beasts could sleep soundly under these conditions.

Even after placing them carefully on the table in Lindbergh's reception hall, the young ones showed no sign of waking.

Lindbergh soon arrived in the reception hall, led by Ed.

The tall, blond knight still had specks of blood on him, and as soon as he entered, he brought a fierce aura with him.

"What’s wrong, Lorant? Ed said you had something important to tell me?"

He had been overseeing a group of eighth-level professionals as they battled several eighth-level beasts on the platform above. He wouldn't have been able to leave if the professionals hadn't already gained the upper hand.

Lorant nodded. "Yes, Uncle Lindbergh, Lancelot and I just came from Aunt Diana's place, and we have something important to discuss with you."

"What is it this time?" Lindbergh sat down and heartily picked up the water cup that Ed, being very attentive, had offered. He downed it in one gulp.

On such a day, drinking a cold beverage with ice was a welcome relief.

Lorant lifted the silk covering the wooden basket, revealing the Holy Light Peafowls sleeping huddled together.

"This is the A-grade pet beast that our pet shop has been focusing on breeding since last year," Lorant began, lying effortlessly. "To breed this pet beast, I conducted thousands of experiments and spent billions of gold coins in materials before finally succeeding."

He exaggerated a bit to set the stage for his upcoming requests.

Lindbergh blinked and understood why he had been called over.

So, this kid was trying to get more money and resources from him again?

"Regardless of the type of pet beast," he said painfully, "the fortress is out of money! You know that, Lorant. We barely managed to scrape together the funds for the Devouring Frogs last time. We really don't have any more! We can’t afford any pet beasts."

His face showed utter refusal, clearly indicating they were out of funds.

Lorant wasn't in a rush. He smiled and refilled Lindbergh's cup with water. "I am aware of the fortress’s situation. But please, let me introduce the pet shop’s prized possession first. You can decide after I finish the introduction."

As before, Lorant briefly described the abilities of the Holy Light Peafowls, highlighting the 'group' ability that even stunned Diana.

Confident of his success, he drank his tea, giving Lindbergh and Ed some time to digest the information.

Lorant didn't believe anyone could refuse the Holy Light Peafowls. No one could!

Weapons could be less advanced, combat-type pet beasts unnecessary, and even spiritual power could be slowly improved.

But life is irreplaceable.

Every day, as he stood on that high platform, Lindbergh's ears would still be filled with the agonized cries of his subordinates.

When a beast pet like this was presented to him, Lindbergh had no reason to let this opportunity slip.

Sure enough, after listening, Lindbergh fell into a thoughtful silence.

As Lorant had anticipated, he was unable to refuse this kind of beast pet.

"What is it that you want?" Lindbergh murmured, struggling to speak. "The fortress cannot produce any more gold coins. But I still have some personal assets that could be considered valuable. The heart's blood of a level-twelve beast, or other materials—whatever you want, I can give it to you."

He racked his brain, trying to remember the list Lorant had given him earlier, to see if there was anything else he could offer.

Beside them, Ed looked away. It was his dereliction of duty to have the general use his personal assets for the fortress, but Ed truly couldn't think of any better solution.

They were truly poor. So poor that both he and Lindbergh had implicitly not asked whether Lorant was planning to sell his prized store possessions.

Because just from Lorant's description, they clearly knew they couldn't afford them.

Even if they sold everything they had, they still couldn't afford them.

However, Lorant wasn't simply trying to coerce Lindbergh into something. He was a merchant, but not just a merchant.

He did need money for his underground research tower and to develop the territory he was about to acquire.

But truthfully, money wasn't that important to him anymore. At this point, Lorant had the right to say that money was meaningless to him.

"General Lindbergh, it's this way," Lorant continued, "Regarding the Holy Light Peacocks, just like the Devouring Frogs, I don't plan to sell them externally."

"Both of them will only be available for rent from the beast pet shop."

"I understand more or less the situation the fortress is in right now."

Ed couldn't help but nod, a look of understanding on his face.

Lorant went on, "To be honest, the current description of the Holy Light Peacocks' abilities is just my expected value. How much of their given abilities these young ones can actually exhibit remains to be seen, and we'll only know once they wake up."

"But I can clearly say that every time these young ones are used, it will definitely cost more than the Devouring Frogs!"

"At the very least, it will start at several hundred gold coins!"

"However, I understand the difficulties the fortress is facing. I brought them here when they were less than a day old, and it wasn't for the money."

Lindbergh looked up at this young man and nodded in agreement. "I understand. I've seen all the good work the beast pet shop has done."

He wasn't just saying this casually. Whether it was the beast pet slimes or the cottonwood ranch the beast pet shop had been working on recently, he had seen it all. He also knew about the large batch of donated supplies the Knight Regiment had received during the winter.

So he naturally understood that this young man was kind-hearted, and even the occasional small cunning couldn't hide this nature.

"Moreover, this time, we have fourteen Holy Light Peacocks," Lorant continued. "This is a considerable number, and I believe it's more than what this fortress can handle alone. Cooperation with other fortresses is necessary."

Lindbergh nodded. Although he had personal motives, in this situation, he could still tell right from wrong.

He could handle receiving the Devouring Frogs, a beast pet that was more of a luxury. But if he tried to take the life-saving Holy Light Peacocks all for himself, Lindbergh would have to seriously consider whether he'd be beaten down by others.

"Of course, the terms of cooperation can wait," Lorant said with a smile. "The priority now is to properly experiment with these young ones and see just how much they can do."

Mo'er had been staying in the fortress this entire week and had now become quite accustomed to life there.

......

He dragged a table over and sat among the Devouring Frogs, stroking the head of Hanh Han beside him while thinking about what he should have for lunch.

The communal meals in the fortress were truly unbearable for anyone.

Especially since he was just an ordinary person, there were times when he couldn't even bite through the half-cooked meat chunks.

After enduring two days of this, Mor started cooking his own food in secret with Thomas's squad.

Their only task was to take care of these big guys every day, and compared to others, they lived as leisurely as a group of gentlemen.

"Decided! Let's have stewed meat for lunch today!" Mor decided after tapping his forehead. Then he shouted to the knight squad patrolling nearby, "Thomas! Come here!"

Thomas rolled his eyes and walked over helplessly, leaving the squad. "What's up?"

"Get the guy in your squad who's good at stewing meat to stop patrolling," Mor proposed. "I'll get a beast; how about he cooks it for us?"

Thomas looked around nervously. "Keep your voice down, don't let the chefs hear, or they might spike our grilled meat with poison!"

"Not interested? Fine, I'll go by myself!" Mor rolled his eyes and made as if to leave. In his mind, whether the chefs poisoned the food or not didn't make much of a difference to him.

"Hold on!" Thomas quickly grabbed him. "I didn't say we weren't eating! Eat, eat, eat, just wait, I'll get him."

Mor saw Thomas yelling and calling out, then got up and leisurely walked out with Hanh Han.

During his time in Pokara, besides taking care of the Devouring Frogs, Mor had also found something for Hanh Han to do.

Although he was just an ordinary person, and Hanh Han was just a Glassy Ice Flame Dog with limited learning ability and a relaxed demeanor, the trust and rapport of their teamwork were irreplaceable.

Moreover, Mor was resourceful. He consistently secured second place in the knight courses at the beast pet shop and was ranked in the upper-middle of the class, so he actually looked forward to combat.

After some combat training, Mor and Hanh Han could easily defeat a Level 6 beast.

It should be noted that Hanh Han was far from mature, and on its own, it wasn't a match for a Level 6 beast.

Together, Mor and Hanh Han produced an effect greater than the sum of their individual abilities.

To make good use of this ideal training opportunity, in addition to the twice-daily empowerment of the Devouring Frogs, Mor would always arrange some time to hunt with Hanh Han.

The guards at the small gate of the fortress were long familiar with the young man with a special status in the fortress.

He and his Glassy Ice Flame Dog had provided a lot of help to the battlefield below.

It wasn't that a Level 6 practitioner could make a big difference during the beast tide, but most of the combat power here consisted of practitioners below Level 6, so a Level 6 beast was already a formidable opponent.

If they could have someone who could stably hunt Level 6 beasts, why wouldn't they welcome it?

Mor and Hanh Han left the fortress and carefully moved along the outer wall.

Along the way, he could see injured people being carried back to the fortress. At first, Mor would be startled by the sight, but over time, he became somewhat accustomed to it.

Here, death and blood accompanied every swing of the blade.

After a while, he reached the huge bastion ahead, where a small opening had been made in the lower section of the tall, thick wall.

Without the bastion, the magic barrier from the Black Forest took its place.

Thanks to this wall, the practitioners here could catch their breath.

Unfortunately, in the face of such a beast tide, the magic walls' illusion barely lasted a few minutes.

Sure enough, in less than five minutes, a flood of strange beasts poured in through the small doorway.

The magic wall closed accordingly, allowing the beasts to rush in, roaring and charging in.

The professionals stationed around quickly chose their beasts, led them aside, and began fighting.

At the same time, the magic wall reappeared, sealing the area again for about three to five minutes.

Mo'er also selected a large, sixth-level beast called the 'Steel Giant Beak Duck,' which had a beak almost as big as its body. He directed Huanhuan to quickly lead the beast away.

This was not the first time Huanhuan had done this, and it was very skilled. It swished its tail, sending a huge fireball to crash onto the beast's face, drawing its attention, then ran to the side.

For Huanhuan, handling such a beast wasn’t a major issue, but injuries were inevitable.

Huanhuan wagged its tail and dragged the already dead beast back, while Mo'er followed closely, his heart aching as he watched the blood droplets seep from the little creature's shoulder.

This was not the first time Huanhuan had been injured, and though Mo'er felt distressed, he knew it was inevitable.

Just like how Silem always boasted about how, during training with Little Eight, he had been lurking in the Black Forest for a week, wreaking havoc.

Although Mo'er didn’t fully believe it, he knew that at least half of it was probably true.

For example, how many times Little Eight had been injured during practice fights.

Lorant had also told them that training a Glassy Ice Flame Dog for battle inevitably involved injuries. To make them powerful battle beasts, they couldn’t be kept in a greenhouse, nurtured by gentle winds and fine rain.

Mo'er looked at the wound on the little one’s shoulder, wondering if a kind-hearted priest would come to treat Huanhuan during the break, as had happened before.

If not, he would have to take Huanhuan back to the outpost for help.

When Lorant and Lancelot descended with a Holy Light Peafowl, they saw Mo'er stroking Huanhuan with concern as the latter lay on the ground as if nothing had happened.

Behind the Devouring Frogs, a team of knights was setting up a rack to light a fire, seemingly preparing to cook.

"Mo'er? What are you doing?" Lorant looked at the scene, puzzled.

Mo'er looked up in surprise and ran over, delighted, with Huanhuan wagging its tail following behind, affectionately rubbing against Lorant's legs.

"Brother? What brings you here?"

Lorant immediately noticed Huanhuan's fur matted with blood and frowned slightly. "Did you go to the frontline?"

Noticing that Lorant's tone was a bit off, possibly angry, Mo'er shrank back, looking at him cautiously. "Um, I just went there, passed by, and accidentally..."

Lorant looked calmly at his younger brother, who was trying to lie, until Mo'er, stammering, lowered his head in guilt.

"Sorry, brother..."

Lorant sighed. "It's not that I don’t want you to train with Huanhuan, but given the current situation, it’s not appropriate. Normally, it’s fine, but now, if Huanhuan or you get injured, aren’t you just adding trouble for the rescuers?

"Should they save you or the other critically injured people?"

After lightly reprimanding Mo'er, Lorant then changed his tone. "But since it’s already happened, train well. After this beast tide is over, I want to see you and Huanhuan able to enter the Black Forest on your own."

Mo'er nodded obediently, though he didn’t fully understand why his brother had changed his stance on the training. Still, he knew it was best to follow orders.

While Lorant was speaking, the beautiful sacred light peacock in his arms was listening attentively to his words.

It was unclear whether this little one understood, but it nodded along seriously.

After lecturing his brother, Lorant finally headed towards the infirmary.

Following him were Lancelot, Ed, and a mage Mo'er had never seen before.

Mo'er thought for a moment, then turned and hurriedly followed the group, eager to see what was going on.

As for Hanhan, it had already been patted on the head by Lorant and obediently followed him.

The infirmary was enormous, as wide as the houses on one side of the fortress and so long that it occupied a remarkable one-tenth of that area.

Lorant roughly estimated that it was at least the size of two soccer fields.

Entering through the main door, besides the wounded lying all over the floor, the sight was daunting.

When Lorant came in, an exhausted young priest with dark circles under his eyes gestured without looking up: "Go to the back, don’t block the entrance, and keep quiet; someone will come over when they’re free."

While speaking, the priest didn’t stop his work, continuously casting holy healing spells to repair the abdomen of a warrior slumped in a chair, which had been torn open across.

The number of severely wounded at the main entrance was the greatest.

After being placed there, these people couldn’t move, and there weren’t enough hands to properly attend to them, so they could only lie there waiting for the priests' aid.

The farther inside, the more people there were who were not seriously injured and could still walk by themselves.

However, their condition wasn’t necessarily significantly better.

Even professionals with enhanced physiques would be weakened for days by prolonged, unstoppable bleeding.

Seeing this, Ed took the lead: "Follow me."

He nimbly stepped over the wounded scattered on the floor and led everyone to a relatively central area of the infirmary.

This was Lorant’s specific request; before knowing the strength of the sacred light peacock’s abilities, he needed ample space to assess these little ones’ abilities.

By the time they arrived, most of the surrounding wounded were those who could still move on their own.

As members of the fortress, they had grown familiar with Ed over time, even if they didn’t know everyone.

After all, he handled the registration and empowerment; who wouldn’t want to get on his good side?

"Mr. Ed, why are you here?"

"Are you looking for someone, Mr. Ed?"

"Hey? Why is little Mo’er here as well?"

"Wait, isn’t this..."

"Shopkeeper!"

"Shopkeeper, when will we get the Wind-breaking Horse?"

The people around seemed to be in relatively high spirits, still able to speak, which put Lorant in a good mood as he chatted with them for a few words.

"Everyone who can move, please try to gather closer to us." Ed dragged over a chair, stood on it to be more visible, and shouted.

Lorant had activated an air bubble around himself, enveloping the Holy Light Peafowl within. The purified air made them both feel more comfortable.

However, the Holy Light Peafowl didn’t seem to pay much heed to these external matters. Ever since entering the medical room, it had become serious.

Lorant could clearly feel that the little one in his arms wasn’t looking around but was instead fixing its gaze on the wounded.

"Little guy, what's wrong?" Lorant placed the Holy Light Peafowl on a table that Mo'er had brought over, so it could stand eye-to-eye with him, and looked at it with great concern.

Though still an undeniable youngling, the Holy Light Peafowl had already grown nearly as large as the ordinary peafowl that Lorant remembered.

It rubbed against Lorant’s hand seriously as he stroked its head. While it lacked the communication abilities of a Ghost Spider, the Holy Light Peafowl’s intelligence was indeed quite high.

Baby, acting as a translator between them, said, "It says there are many injured people here!"

"It’s asking if it can use its abilities to help them."

Lorant gently stroked the little one’s head. "Of course." The innate nature of a healing beast became evident—when they saw others injured, they instinctively wanted to help.

Such saintly behavior was particularly fitting for a Holy Light Peafowl.

Soon, under Ed’s direction, the bewildered wounded gathered around them.

They formed a tight circle around the pair.

Lorant gently stroked the little one’s back. "Alright, little one, go ahead as you wish. Let me see how far your healing light can reach."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Holy Light Peafowl beside him straightened up upon receiving the command. It shook its feathers, and its tail feathers, like a waterfall, swept over the edge of the table and dangled.

Behind it, a sacred peafowl phantom, identical to it but over two meters tall, materialized in the air.

Immediately after, the crest of the phantom glowed with a luminous white light.