Chapter 250

Chapter 250

"While Lancelot wasn't skilled at creating plans, he had considerable experience managing them as a count overseeing his territory's affairs."

Lorant propped his chin up, looking satisfied, and gave a slight nod in agreement. On his way over, he had casually glanced through Taya's plan and noticed many areas that needed changes, which was why he had lazily handed it over to Lancelot.

"You're right, so what good suggestions do you have?" Lorant, with his bright, shimmering eyes, was ready to push this work entirely onto Lancelot.

"First of all, we need to further refine the classification of these beast pets." Over the past few days, Lancelot had become quite familiar with the Lightwing Butterflies.

Different Lightwing Butterflies had different abilities; some targeted specific skills, some focused on basic abilities, and others on particular elements. The variety was dizzying.

However, in the eyes of the mages, these Lightwing Butterflies could be further subdivided. After the Beast Tower team left, Kimberly and others had been working on this task.

After returning, Lancelot had occasionally gone to check on their progress and even helped with some detailed experiments during his free time.

Of course, the knight was quite engrossed in it.

Who wouldn't like the beautiful, agile, and powerful Lightwing Butterflies?

"Next, we need to create a strict breeding plan for the caretakers of Lightwing Butterflies and refine their courses according to the detailed classification of these butterflies," Lancelot said without hesitation.

Lorant twitched his lips. He knew, of course, that such detailed classification would make the curriculum planning for Beast Tamers more precise.

But the workload involved couldn't be summed up in a simple sentence.

After subdividing, the courses would require significantly more resources and personnel.

The most important thing would be to train a sufficient number of instructors who could handle the theoretical courses for Beast Tamers.

"Alright, since you've mentioned it, could you please come up with a detailed plan?" Lorant said with a sly smile. Since Lancelot had made the suggestion, it was only right that he was the one to execute it. "We can try it out on some students at the Knight Academy first. If it's suitable, we'll officially promote it."

At the very least, he needed to come up with a reasonable training plan first, right?

The usually lazy shopkeeper made a move to slip away.

Lancelot, quick to react, grabbed the shopkeeper's wrist. "Shopkeeper, you can't just leave all this to me and ignore it."

"You are the teacher at the Knight Academy. I'm just your assistant." Lancelot's icy blue eyes stared directly at Lorant, and for a moment, Lorant clearly saw a hint of hurt in them, which ultimately led to him giving up helplessly and slumping back into his seat.

Lancelot wasn't trying to make Lorant do anything. He was more than happy to take on some of the work that Lorant disliked. He just wanted Lorant to stay a little longer. As long as Lorant was in front of him, Lancelot felt a deep sense of calm in his heart.

Just having him in his sight gave him the reassuring feeling of guarding his entire world.

Caught red-handed, Lorant felt a bit uneasy at first. But after sitting there for a while, he realized that Lancelot was genuinely focused on the clauses in his hands and was constantly scribbling something on a piece of paper. It seemed like he had no intention of sharing the workload, so Lorant relaxed.

Reclining in the plush sofa chair, he pulled out an unfinished travelogue from his bracelet space and, in the quiet room where only the sound of Lancelot's pen scratching paper filled the air, soon fell asleep under the warm sun.

The sunlight passed through the glass ceiling, reflected off the wings of several Lightwing Butterflies, and turned into fragmented colored spots, sprinkling onto the young man's fine eyelashes. The teenager had shed his youthful appearance and was now glowing with a layer of light. The knight looked up and couldn't help but smile.

Perfect.

Gabriel and the others had returned from the Pokara mountain pass quite some time ago.

After all, they were Knight Academy students, and Lorant couldn't expect them to stay there indefinitely.

So, the employees of the beast pet shop would rotate every once in a while. There were always new students eager to go there.

It wasn't that Lorant didn't want to send his now numerous employees to replace them. It was just that these employees were a bit overwhelmed.

Most of the current employees at the beast pet shop are subordinates of Lorant. Ninety-five percent are ordinary people, while only one or two have started on the path of knighthood.

These one or two individuals only awakened their talents after arriving at the beast pet shop.

Although the status of subordinates is not as high as that of followers, Lorant still places great importance on the few people he has under his command, so he has provided them with good entry-level instructors.

Lorant doesn’t expect to find a genius like Natalie, a golden legend, every time, so he values these talented practitioners immensely. Each of his subordinates will become a part of his strength in the future.

However, for now, the formal employees of the beast pet shop are still unarmed ordinary people. Lorant tried to rotate them there, but merely being in the fortress, the howls of the beasts outside were enough to make them tremble with fear.

This deep-seated fear of the beasts can't be overcome quickly, so Lorant abandoned this plan and instead rotated the knight students.

As for Mo'er, he has adapted quite well there. Ever since the situation at the beast fortress stabilized, Lorant no longer has to worry about whether Mo'er will be uncomfortable or not eat well.

If he really misses home, Mo'er can also directly teleport back to the beast pet shop for dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Overall, Mo'er is living quite comfortably.

Especially since the beast tide has entered the hunting phase, he has been taking his Glassy Ice Flame Dog, Huanhuan, back and forth in the hunting grounds quite a bit.

Though Huanhuan isn’t fully grown, it’s already nearly as strong as a level six beast.

As a Glassy Ice Flame Dog that Lorant has high hopes for, it has gradually begun to show its talents.

When compared to other Glassy Ice Flame Dogs of the same batch, although there isn’t much difference in appearance, its temperament is completely different.

Huanhuan exudes a steady, reliable, and calm demeanor that the others lack.

So Lorant is not worried about Mo'er’s safety. With the military guards and such a Glassy Ice Flame Dog by his side, Mo'er won’t do anything too reckless.

After visiting the hunting grounds, Natalie became incredibly envious, constantly hinting to Lorant that she wanted to join Mo'er at the Pokara mountain pass and assist at the beast pet shop.

In reality, she just wanted to freely fight beasts like Mo'er.

Lorant had long seen through her little thoughts, so he flatly refused.

This genius girl has now officially become a first-level knight.

Such talent, even within the knight college, would be considered top-tier, and she has likely been approached by various large organizations or families.

However, in Lorant’s eyes, this is not the full extent of Natalie’s talent.

She still has a great deal of potential yet to be revealed.

Natalie had previously lived in an orphanage, and her body was quite weak. Even with Lorant’s dietary adjustments over time, she still couldn’t be considered a very healthy child.

In this condition, her current achievements mean that Natalie’s talent far exceeds what is currently displayed.

Even Lancelot marvels at her talent.

“The knight college is never short of geniuses,” the white-haired knight once commented, “but a monster like Natalie will still be the brightest star among geniuses.”

This made Lorant very happy, like finding a world-renowned gem on the road, a surprise no less than a double strike from a C-grade beast.

Even Lorant had to admit that his luck was exceptionally good.

So he pays even more attention to this young follower of his. According to Lancelot, the top priority for Natalie now is to build a solid foundation. Once her foundation is stable, they can then consider practical combat skills and the like.

Despite the once-timid girl persistently following him and begging, Lorant didn’t give in to her requests.

Here, after Gabriel returned to the school from the mountain pass, he was welcomed by countless classmates.

Everyone wanted to hear him recount the stories that unfolded at the Pokara mountain pass.

They yearned to hear him describe the grand beast tide and the epic charge that stirred their hearts.

Although the pet shop did not deliberately conceal information about all its pets and even hosted a highly publicized exhibition,

pets like the Holy Light Peacock and the Devouring Frog, which worked on the front lines, had never actually been to the exhibition site, so they remained mythical creatures in most people's eyes, existing only in illustrated guides.

Of course, those professional hunters who participated in the encirclement at the Pokara mountain pass had naturally seen these wondrous pets.

The fortress where the Beast Tamers were stationed had now become a star attraction among the hunting grounds.

Almost all freelance adventurers, even if they couldn't stay long-term at the fortress, would spontaneously choose to visit it during their free time, as if it were a tourist destination.

These visits were primarily to catch a glimpse of the Holy Light Peacock and the Devouring Frog.

If they could experience the abilities of these two pets, it would be even better.

Of course, this was also closely related to the fact that the fortress offered the best meals among all the fortresses.

Professionals are capable of enduring hardships, but that doesn't mean they enjoy them. With delicious feasts, sweet drinks, magical enhancements during battles, and healing for both body and soul after battles, why would they choose to suffer alone in other fortresses?

However, the number of adventurers who could participate in the encirclement was limited. For the majority of professionals or ordinary people, their impressions of these two pets still came from the thin promotional guide provided by the pet shop.

This included the students of the Knight Academy, who were incredibly curious to get firsthand information from Gabriel and others who had personally witnessed these pets.

Gabriel was entirely open to sharing, and whenever someone asked, he was more than willing to recount his heroic moments in the Lopulo Mountains, where he bravely defeated several Level 9 beasts.

Then these visitors would have to patiently sit through this obviously heavily modified and absurd adventure story before they could get any satisfying information about the familiars from a satisfied Gabriel, and finally leave with satisfaction.

Sure, the process wasn’t ideal, but in the end, everyone left happy.

The students who received the new familiar information were also filled with nostalgia, hoping their familiar classes would come back soon.

They knew that recently, Lorant had given the upperclassmen a special class.

That session was entirely practical, lasting two days and one night out in the wilderness of Kamuk.

This left the rest of the Knight Academy students green with envy.

Every student, aspiring to be a knight, wanted a chance at that kind of hands-on experience. Learning about familiars was always fascinating, but there was no comparison between the excitement of theory classes and hands-on training!

Unfortunately, for some reason, Lorant only conducted one practical session for the senior students and then completely put any follow-ups on hold.

The other students waited anxiously, practically straining their eyes for any sign of progress, but nothing happened.

Worse, without the exciting fieldwork, even the regular familiar classes were put on hold for weeks.

These students realized it had been ages since they last worked with their familiars.

"I will convey everyone's thoughts to my brother, I really will! I promise!" Silem sincerely looked at those familiar faces blocking her usual path to class, and before they could even say anything, she began a series of well-rehearsed lines.

Standing next to her, Simon shook his head helplessly and also explained along with Silem.

"It's true. Silem has already spoken to Lorant. Lorant said that after the beast pet shop is less busy, he will arrange classes for everyone."

Simon, who often accompanied Silem, had become quite adept at reciting these excuses.

The two of them were like two well-rehearsed script readers. As soon as they saw those familiar faces, they automatically started "playing" their lines.

During this time, since the students couldn’t wait for the beast pet training class, they naturally thought of the young master of the beast pet shop.

They didn’t resort to extreme measures, but every day, they would wait for Silem on his way to and from class, quietly but insistently asking when the beast pet training class would start again.

At first, Silem tried to dodge them by walking faster, but after some time, he realized that as a first-level knight, he could never evade these fourth and fifth-level senior students. So, he gradually got used to it.

What was he supposed to do?

His older brother was too busy to even remember such things.

What could he do about it? Was he supposed to teach the seniors himself?

Teach what? How to clean up after the mischievous Glassy Ice Flame Dogs? Or how to handle those troublesome, demon-like juvenile ones?

Silem, who only had experience with Glassy Ice Flame Dogs, felt hopeless.

It all felt so unrealistic...

So now, Silem had resigned himself to the situation.

When asked, he would say he had already nagged his brother about it, but the outcome was anyone’s guess.

As they walked back, they explained to the people around them, taking the usual route. After just a few words, they were surprised to find that, unlike before, there seemed to be fewer people around.

Simon, with his sharp ears, overheard a few people walking briskly past, seemingly talking about some course announcement.

He and Silem exchanged glances and headed towards the campus bulletin board.

By the time they got there, quite a few people had already gathered in front of it.

As first-level knights, their physical condition was basically at the bottom of the college.

By the time they pushed through the crowd and finally reached the bulletin board, they were drenched in sweat.

"Boss, no, teacher finally remembers us again!" Gabriel said with great emotion to his companion next to him, "I thought he had forgotten that he was our teacher!"

"Tell me about it! It feels like the last beast pet training class was ages ago, and I’m starting to forget what it’s like to visit the shop." His companion said with a nostalgic expression.

"Do you think the shop owner is planning to give us a practical class too?" A girl with a high ponytail on one side said excitedly, "Like the one before!" Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

The beast pet class for the graduating class had now become the envy of the entire academy.

As knights, no one didn’t want to go through such a trial with their beast pet.

In their daily lives, they did have enough time to take their beast pets to the Black Forest for some bonding, but the opportunity to compete with other 'Beast Tamers' was rare.

Only in such competitions could they gauge their true skill level against their peers.

And thus, prepare their training accordingly.

"Don’t get your hopes up." As soon as Silem squeezed in, he heard a familiar voice say.

Green, who had arrived early and was standing at the front of the bulletin board, shook his head and refuted, "Didn’t the beast pet shop already announce it before? The next batch of graduating Glassy Ice Flame Dogs, their owners can choose whether to participate in the Glassy Ice Flame Dog graduation ceremony."

"If they sign up, they and the Glassy Ice Flame Dogs will go on a wilderness adventure together."

"If only a few Beast Tamers hadn't signed up, the pet shop already has enough staff to handle the graduation ceremony," Green sighed, sounding somewhat regretful.

Clearly, he had done his research thoroughly. His Glassy Ice Flame Dog was one of the first batch to 'graduate,' and he had already brought it back. What disappointed him most was missing out on his beloved pet's graduation ceremony.

While the pet shop had thoughtfully saved some impressive footage of the Glassy Ice Flame Dogs, with some of the most exciting moments featured in the final commemorative booklet.

Green had already spent several weeks in the Black Forest bonding with his Glassy Ice Flame Dog.

But regrets are always regrets, leaving an irreparable void.

So, upon learning that the owners of the new batch of Glassy Ice Flame Dogs would have the opportunity to participate in their pet's graduation ceremony, Green was so envious, it felt like bubbles were forming inside him.

Everyone present looked in the direction of the voice and saw that it was Green, who not only owned a Glassy Ice Flame Dog but also had close ties with Silem. Given his connection, his information was likely accurate.

Thus, everyone sighed regretfully.

However, their attention quickly shifted to the announcement about the beast pet class, and they began discussing it.

Silem and Simon exchanged glances, and Silem decided to ask his brother what was going on when he got home tonight.

Meanwhile, Lorant wasn't planning to keep any secrets.

He was busy preparing for today's family banquet.

Today was 'First Cold Festival,' the second Sunday after the beginning of winter, a day when families would gather together to eat meat and prepare their bodies for the upcoming cold winter.

This was also the first First Cold Festival since Lorant had reunited with his aunt's family, so he naturally placed great importance on it.

It had been a long time since his family had all been together.

Coincidentally, Mo'er had been less busy lately, and Doris could take a couple of days off due to the holiday and return to the beast pet shop to rest. So, Lorant had come up with the idea of a reunion hot pot feast.

Additionally, it was now early winter.

Who doesn't love hot pot in the winter?

Lorant thought, his mouth watering.

Thus, before the First Cold Festival arrived, he had already instructed his butler and head maid to start preparing today's hot pot feast.

Two large pots, crafted from a health-beneficial metal by a skilled craftsman, were divided into two sections by a thin partition in the middle.

A classic yin-yang hot pot was ready.