Chapter 3: Taming an Army

Hiding atop a tree with lush leaves, Yang Ling lay motionless as he watched a small team of Horned Bee Beasts searching for food. Beside him, thirty-six tamed Horned Bee Beasts silently unfolded their black wings. Their sharp fangs reflected cold light. They lifted their tails, ready to strike, just waiting for the order to attack.

After consuming the blood essences of the giant wolf and the python, he noticed in surprise that his wizard abilities had greatly improved. He now could tame ten Horned Bee Beasts with his blood a day, so his efficiency was much greater than it had been in the past. In just a few days, he had successfully tamed dozens of Horned Bee Beasts.

Because of either Yang Ling’s blood essence or the effects of the Wizard’s Pagoda, the thumb-sized Horned Bee Beasts would grow to become the size of a sword hilt after being stored for some time in the Wizard’s Pagoda. At the same time, the fang would grow from each side of their mouths, the horns on their heads would also become sharper, and their battle abilities would become even greater than Horned Bee Beasts in the wild.

Yang Ling had tried it several times, noticing that the Horned Bee Beasts that he tamed were more aggressive than the ones in the wild. When faced with their wild counterparts, they could deal with five to six of them at the same time.

The team of Horned Bee Beasts that came out in search of food had a messy formation. There were about a hundred of them, each slowly flying between the trees in search of food. Some of them flipped over dried branches to see if there were any ants or bugs, others foraged for leaves and sucked on the liquids within, and there were some whizzing around pine trees, searching for the nests of white ants.

Seeing the Horned Bee Beasts in search of food becoming more scattered, Yang Ling seized the opportunity and split his thirty-six tamed Horned Bee Beasts into six groups, six bees per group. Other than leaving one group as his bodyguards, he ordered the rest of the Horned Bee Beasts to attack immediately. They were to launch a sneak attack on their unsuspecting counterparts.

With Yang Ling’s command, thirty ferocious Horned Bee Beasts flew out like lightning. Their first strike succeeded, and they changed targets as soon as they rendered their wild counterparts immobile. At the same time, Yang Ling followed behind quickly. He bit on his index finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the head of each wild Horned Bee Beast.

Over these few days, he accidentally discovered that it was easier to tame injured Horned Bee Beasts. The heavier the injury, the less wizard abilities and blood essence he had to use when taming them. With his current wizard abilities, he could only tame ten healthy Horned Bee Beasts in a day, but after the Horned Bee Beasts were injured, he could tame dozens of them without a problem.

At the same time, he realized that no mattered how injured the Magical Beasts were, they could recover fully after being stored in the Wizard’s Pagoda, as if the thick fog within the Wizard’s Pagoda had healing abilities. But this was only limited to Magical Beasts that had just been tamed. After tamed Magical Beasts were injured, they recovered much more slowly. It was as if one was consuming flu medicine; the initial effects would be great, but any subsequent medicine would have diminished effects.

With the sudden onslaught, the wild Horned Bee Beasts could not react before they became severely injured. A few of them managed to fight back, but they were powerless against the tamed Horned Bee Beasts. They were either bit in two by the powerful jaws or stung by the sharp black horn.

At Yang Ling’s commands, the wild Horned Bee Beasts were wiped out soon after. Other than the thirty or so beasts that had lost their wings or been stung into mush, the rest of them were successfully tamed by Yang Ling and brought into the Wizard’s Pagoda for recovery.

Yang Ling was pale after exhausting a large amount of wizard abilities and blood essence. He heaved a sigh as he quickly left, just in case a large group of wild Horned Bee Beasts noticed his actions. After he retreated far away, he commanded the tamed Horned Bee Beasts to hunt. This way, he could not only enjoy some wild game for dinner, he could also train the cooperation and battle abilities of the Horned Bee Beasts. Occasionally, the bees would also successfully kill a low level Magical Beast for him to feast on its blood essence.

And that was his routine. When he became tired, Yang Ling would instruct the Horned Bee Beasts to hunt, and then he would consume the crystallized blood essence of their prey. After he recovered his energy, he would seek out more Horned Bee Beasts. At night, he would seize the opportunity to practice the mysterious wizard mantra. In the beginning, the wizard powers circulating in his body were faint, but after some time, he could gradually feel a roaring current.

A month or so later, Yang Ling gradually adapted to the jungle. He had tamed more than two thousand Horned Bee Beasts, and he gradually stopped frequenting the hive of the Horned Bee Beasts.

It was not that he wanted to accumulate good karma, but that the Horned Bee Beasts had become more cautious. There were not many small teams of Horned Bee Beasts flying around anymore, much less individual bees. The rest of the Horned Bee Beasts either stayed in their nest or swarmed out in armies. There was no way for him to strike anymore.

After obtaining a sufficient defensive ability, Yang Ling started to make his way to the outer circles of the forest. He wanted to someday make his way out of this ten thousand mile wide Terras Forest. He sent many Horned Bee Beasts out as scouts on his journey and avoided Magical Beasts he could not defeat. When he occasionally saw a wild beast that he could easily defeat, he would command his Horned Bee Beasts to launch multiple attacks.

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This day, after journeying for several hours, Yang Ling stopped by a small lake. He wanted to take a quick rest before continuing on his journey. According to the memories of the Horned Bee Beasts, he would be able to make his way out of the primordial Terras Forest if he walked westward.

A group of small white rabbits were playing near the lake, their lychee-sized eyes scanning Yang Ling. But Yang Ling had lost interest in them. After all, no matter how delicious their meat was, one could only eat so much of it before getting tired of it. This was the same logic that would explain why a man would cheat despite having married a pretty wife.

“Kill…”

Just as Yang Ling was about to squat and wash his face, he heard the sounds of a massacre coming from far away. As low level Magical Beasts, Horned Bee Beasts could use simple, local language. After receiving their memories, Yang Ling had quickly learned this relatively simple language.

After silently arriving at the scene, Yang Ling hid in the top of a tree with thick leaves. Not far away was a small mountain village. A group of warriors dressed in black clothes were riding flying beasts, manically attacking a group of flustered elves with sharp ears.

The warriors in black were riding two different kinds of flying beast. Other than a few calf-sized gryphons, the rest were riding black and white condors.

According to the memories of the Horned Bee Beasts, the condors had considerable speed, but they lacked offensive capabilities and were low level flying Magical Beasts. Gryphons, on the other hand, were terrifying. They were not only speedy, but they also had immense power. The elves would be crushed into a mush with just a pounce.

With their powerful charging capabilities, the warriors in black roared as they lifted their bloody battle blades. At the same time, an elder elf leading the resistance gave a signal, and the elves launched arrows at the warriors. Every flying green arrow brought down a warrior in black. The lightning-like speed and terrifying accuracy caught the warriors in black off guard. The victors of the battle seemed to be undecided.

A battle between races?

Yang Ling shook his head. He released all two thousand of his bloodthirsty Horned Bee Beasts. Save for a hundred that he sent to scout the surroundings, he kept the rest of them around him, just in case of a sudden attack.

Suddenly, Yang Ling had a glint in his eyes. He saw a black-haired teen elf girl come out from behind the elder. She was slender, her hair long and flowy. Her white dress accentuated her beauty.

After muttering for a moment with a green staff in her hand, she released a dark halo from her palm. Everywhere the dark halo passed, the black warriors’ movements became sluggish, as if they were under a curse. It was as if they were swimming in super glue. They were picked off by the accurate arrows of the elves.

“Quick, capture that elf priest!” A young man that looked like the leader issued an angry command after losing a few warriors. Quickly, a group of elite warriors in black charged swiftly toward the beautiful lady.

Seeing the warriors in black charge toward her with bloodlust, the long-haired lady nervously took several steps back. She once again chanted as she held her dark green staff. Quickly, a ripple appeared in the air, and following that came the sounds of wood cracking. The tall trees around them had become Withered Tree Giants, several meters tall.

Under the command of the long-haired beauty, the Withered Tree Giants advanced toward the warriors in black with heavy steps. They swung hard with their bathtub sized clubs, crushing the warriors in black into mush along with their rides.

Demonic arts, illusions?

Yang Ling rubbed his eyes, unable to believe that he had just seen tall trees become Withered Tree Giants.