Chapter 438

Chapter 438

Although there is already a relatively clear future blueprint, in reality, the Night's Watch is still in its infancy, so they haven't had much time to independently operate their own squads.

Overall, the Night's Watch is still entirely under the control of Lancelot and Silem. Even the fifteen practitioners appointed by Lorant as captains of the guard cannot bypass them.

At least at this stage, it is absolutely impossible.

Joe has been hanging around here a lot lately, and naturally, there are practitioners who want to get closer to him, but Joe has coldly rejected every single one of them.

The head butler's standoffish and even icy attitude has drawn quite a bit of criticism from the practitioners.

However, because of this, gradually, no practitioners have tried to get close to Joe anymore.

Therefore, up to now, Joe and the fifteen heads of the 'Blue Star Night's Watch' are merely acquaintances who know each other's names.

Along the way, no matter how curious these people were about the beast companions, they didn't feel comfortable asking the head butler, known for being 'rigid', 'difficult', and 'unapproachable'.

Moreover, these people know that the head butler, who is already thinking of avoiding suspicion, probably wouldn't give them an answer even if they did ask.

It wasn't until they saw the familiar Lancelot that they finally relaxed today. Just as they were about to cut loose with their young leader, they saw the shop owner sitting by the magic bonfire slowly turn his head to look at them.

Instantly, the entire meeting room fell silent.

These leaders are not unfamiliar with Lorant. Each of them was personally vetted by Lorant before being selected.

Because of this, even a group of level eight, nine, or ten formidable warriors feel like students meeting their homeroom teacher when facing this mysterious shop owner.

Their own strength doesn't make this awkwardness any easier.

Not to mention, these fifteen individuals, personally chosen by Lorant to lead Blue Star's strongest combat force, have a rough idea of their shop owner's strength.

Regardless of which of the beast companions that never leave his side possesses such terrifying power, it ultimately belongs to the shop owner.

From this perspective, if we really consider the 'strength gap', it should be the gap between them and Lorant.

After being put in their place a few times, both openly and covertly, each of them genuinely respects Lorant.

When facing Lancelot, they sometimes feel a bit more at ease due to their seniority, skills, and age.

Although they understand that Lancelot's identity is special and they don't have any thoughts of replacing him or testing him, their attitude is not as serious.

But when facing the younger shop owner, they become more obedient. Not to mention joking or anything like that, even their movements become somewhat stiff.

It's probably the difference between facing a class president and a homeroom teacher.

Seeing the shop owner after a long time, the fifteen individuals were momentarily stunned, then uniformly saluted him.

The exclusive beast tamer salute: one hand crossed over the chest, palm flat, the other behind the back, legs crossed, and knees slightly bent.

This is the 'lower salute' of beast tamers, generally used when facing elders, teachers, or superiors.

The maturity of a profession can be seen in all aspects.

Lorant is pretty happy to see the ongoing refinement of beast tamer etiquette. Previously, he didn't pay much attention to this relatively cumbersome part. After impulsively assigning a few etiquette movements from his memory to beast tamers and preparing unique and beautiful ceremonial garb, he didn't pay much more attention to it.

It was only later, when Joe took over this part of the work, that he assembled a team to specifically enhance all facets of the beast tamer profession, resulting in the now more well-rounded and robust beast tamer profession.

"Everyone, long time no see," Lorant smiled and stood up to greet them, helping each of these carefully selected formidable warriors up, and giving them a friendly shoulder bump.

This kind of body language, which is not entirely 'proper' in private but fosters a sense of closeness, undoubtedly made the fifteen people present feel much more at ease.

After everyone greeted Lorant one by one and found comfortable spots in the meeting room, sitting in a circle around the campfire, Lorant turned his gaze to the floating octopuses.

"Everyone, these are the new creature companions that the Blue Star has recently bred and is preparing to launch to the public," Lorant said with a smile, taking a small cage containing a Shadow Cat from the tentacles of a floating octopus.

All eyes were focused on this, each person staring intently at Lorant's movements, afraid they might blink and miss some crucial action.

After all, this was a completely new creature companion!

And in the eyes of the world, even the easiest-to-raise creature companions like Slimes are actually somewhat 'delicate' beings.

Perhaps if one or two things are not to their liking, these little ones will start to protest in their own way, either silently or audibly.

Lorant, however, had no such concerns. He quickly opened the cage and, before anyone could react, reached his hand inside.

The eyes of the Night's Watch members immediately widened.

The next second, the mysterious creature, whose true appearance was hard to discern, emitted a soft meow from inside the cage.

In an instant, Lorant felt as if visible expressions of astonishment had popped up above the heads of the people around him.

The expressions of surprise on these formidable warriors were hard to hide.

The 'mysterious creature' was casually held in Lorant's hand and pulled out of the cage.

The mysterious creature immediately relaxed, wrapping its long tail around Lorant's arm several times, and with a pair of bright yellow eyes, it purred and pawed at his arm affectionately.

Lorant felt the little one's discomfort and cradled it in his arms, gently stroking its soft black fur.

Lorant stroked the little one's head, and when the kitten in his arms purred and exposed its belly asking for a rub, he held the Shadow Cat under its armpits and lifted the innocent-looking kitten up.

The Shadow Cat's body immediately drooped like a soft liquid or a Slime, the little black cat facing the strangers, blinking innocently.

Then the little one realized its situation, and seeing the surprised expressions on the faces of the people in front of it, it even rolled its eyes in a surprisingly human-like way!

Perhaps it didn't quite like the aura of these people, or maybe it was disgusted by their dumbfounded, almost drooling expressions, the little Shadow Cat turned its head away in disdain, unwilling to look at them.

Then, with an extremely haughty and proud demeanor, it closed its eyes and turned itself back into a shadowy form, shrinking back to Lorant's hand.

It even wrapped its tail around Lorant's wrist a few more times, ensuring he couldn't lift it up unnoticed.

The Shadow Cat naturally has the ability to manipulate shadows, and when needed, these innate little assassins can completely hide themselves in the darkness, even with just a tiny bit of shadow, allowing these little ones to completely conceal themselves.

This is also their strength; wherever there is shadow, no matter how narrow, the Shadow Cat can find room to maneuver.

In front of strangers, these little ones are not as timid and shy as Xiao Lan; their current behavior is entirely due to the Shadow Cat's extremely haughty and proud demeanor, avoiding contact with those it doesn't like.

The little one's body language clearly reveals its thoughts.

Of course, if one were to force contact, there's a good chance these little ones, whose temper is not the best among creature companions, might immediately puff up and leave deep scratches on one's face, as Silem and Mike have already experienced such harsh lessons.

But even if the Shadow Cat's personality were a hundred times more difficult, it wouldn't be a problem for Lorant, who is naturally beloved by all creature companions.

"This little one has been named the Shadow Cat," Lorant said, lifting the little one, who was hiding its head in his palm with closed eyes, to show it off, and then, without forcing it, placed it back on his lap, softly stroking its sleek fur.

"For detailed information, everyone can take a look at this," Lorant said, waving his hand back, and Qiao promptly stepped forward, understanding the cue, distributing the newly created creature companion ability charts to the fifteen attendees.

"The Shadow Cat is still a completely new creature companion, with limited numbers, and I'm also concerned about their ability to adapt to the battles here, so I wanted everyone to take a look at their situation,"

The production of the pet guides at the pet shop has now been entrusted to a group of highly skilled and experienced mages who specialize in this area.

For newly introduced pets such as the Shadowstrike Cat and the Dream Jellyfish, Lorant has already documented their basic information in the pet guides, and countless mages have begun mass-producing them.

There are many types of pet guides. In addition to the relatively refined ones placed in pet shops across various cities, which can store magical images and even interact like the genuine guides in Lorant's hands, Lorant has also commissioned a large number of inexpensive leaflets, printed using new techniques, similar to the ones Joe currently holds.

These leaflets are freely available in the pet shops for any customer to take, regardless of whether they make a purchase at the Blue Star Pet Shop, as a keepsake.

Just like in the early days of Blue Star, Lorant has always insisted on making these inexpensive leaflets with the cheapest leaf paper.

Perhaps now, with improved printing techniques, the content has become clearer and more concise, and the cost has become even lower without the involvement of magic, but the rough edges and slightly yellowish hue of the paper remain, lending it a distinctive charm.