Lord of the Magical Beasts

Chapter 53: Sapling of the Tree of Life

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

A large amount of Magical Beast Blood Essence and energy was needed to create Wizard Amulets. After some deliberation, Yang Ling decided to assign the task of regularly going to Spider Valley to collect Essence Crystals and Blood Essences of Magical Beasts to his trusted aide Argus.

Over the days of observation, Yang Ling noticed that Argus was intelligent and knew what he should and shouldn’t say despite his young age. Even though his battle abilities were below average, only reaching the stage of a mid level Swordsman, he was very loyal. Argus was very grateful to Yang Ling for saving him. It was definitely worth Yang Ling’s time to nurture Argus.

Perhaps I should allocate some time to researching the Battle Energy and spells of this world?

Thinking back to the books on Battle Energy and spells within his Space Ring, Yang Ling started to come up with a plan. Even though he did not understand the exact nature of Battle Energy and spells, it was clear that they were rather powerful. Yang Ling’s energy was limited, which would make it difficult for him to study the Wizard Mantra, Battle Energy, and spells at the same time, but it would definitely be beneficial for him to better understand them.

In order to stand his ground in this foreign world, he needed something more than just a powerful army of Magical Beasts; a strong group of human guards was also a must.

After all, the Magical Beast army was not omnipotent. There were many times where a human would be required to solve a problem. Yang Ling could not send the Tarantula King or an Evil Eye when he needed to negotiate business with a group of merchants.

The Wizard Mantra was the ability Yang Ling could rely on the most. He had not mentioned this even to Alice and Sofia, much less Argus. The Wizard Mantra, along with his background, was his greatest secret. Even if he wanted to talk about it, it would be difficult for him to explain it clearly within a short span of time.

The Wizard Mantra couldn’t be passed down or revealed. That meant that the only way to strengthen Argus and the others under his command was through the Battle Energy and spells of this world. Yang Ling decided that when he had time, he was going to look into the manuals in his Space Ring with Goode, Sofia, and the rest.

After he came to a decision, Yang Ling quickly announced that he was going to set up a team of personal guards with Argus as the leader. In order to keep it confidential, the rest of the ten members would be picked from the barbarians. Compared to ordinary human fighters, Yang Ling had more faith in the bloodthirsty, violent barbarians.

After completing his preparations, Yang Ling led his personal guards toward Spider Valley under the guise of going out for a hunt. Along the way, seeing the edge of the Terras Forest drifting further and further away from them, Argus and the rest became increasingly nervous. Only Yang Ling felt relaxed and at home.

Perhaps I should tame a few flying Magical Beasts to ferry Argus and the rest?

Argus and the barbarians were not slow. But in Yang Ling’s eyes, their speed was not much faster than a snail’s.

“Sir, according to the information provided by the scouts, there is a Spider Valley in front of us. We have to go around it!”

After traversing the forest for about a day, seeing Yang Ling continue walking forward, Argus quickly gave him a reminder. A spider was not scary on its own, but against tens of thousands of spiders, even a Great Swordsman might have no choice but to go around the valley, much less a mere Swordsman like him.

“It’s alright, we’ll have roasted spiders for dinner today!” Yang Ling gave a mysterious smile when he looked at the nervous Argus and the barbarians.

Roasted spiders?

Argus and the rest of the group turned to stone. They had heard of roasted wild boars and even roasted Eber Eagles, but they had never heard of anyone who would roast spiders. Disregarding the problem of actually capturing the spiders, it was a question if the poisonous spiders were edible or not.

“Sir, spiders are edible?” Argus asked gently after a moment’s hesitation. He knew that Yang Ling’s abilities were deep beyond comprehension. Yang Ling might not have any problems capturing a few spiders within Spider Valley, but were the disgusting, poisonous spiders really edible?

“Of course! Roasted, steamed, boiled, there are many ways of eating them. They are definitely a delicacy, very high in demand in the faraway desert countries!” Originally, Yang Ling had just meant it as a joke, but after seeing the shock of Argus and the group of barbarians, he decided to continue lying to them.

Seeing Yang Ling walk forward on his Unicorn with large steps as he spoke, Argus could only lead his warriors and follow closely behind him. They heaved a sigh of relief when they approached the Spider Valley. The entrance of the valley was silent, without the horde of spiders they had imagined. Unexpectedly, spiders of various sizes swarmed out like the tide following Yang Ling’s whistle.

“Protect Sir Yang Ling, quick!” Seeing the horde of spiders, seeing the calf-sized Spider King, Argus felt his skin crawl. He drew his sharp sword and instructed the barbarians to defend Yang Ling.

“Haha, don’t be nervous, this is my spider army!” After a pause, Yang Ling jumped off the Unicorn and said, “They are also your partners in battle. In the future, you are going to have to interact more with this spider army!”

Sir Yang Ling’s spider army?

Seeing the calf-sized Tarantula King sprawled obediently before Yang Ling, then looking at the spiders covering the surrounding area, Argus and the rest wondered if they were dreaming. They could not come to their senses for the longest time.

How terrifying is this Ancient Summoner?

Argus was immensely shocked when he saw the horde of tarantulas. The barbarians that followed them here looked at each other, thinking that they were lucky for not having come into conflict with Yang Ling back at their tribe. Otherwise, the outcome would have been disastrous if Yang Ling had commanded the tide of spiders to swarm them.

At Yang Ling’s instruction, the Tarantula King raised its hairy claw and scratched the bodies of the warriors, giving them a unique greeting. While Argus and the rest of the guards felt their skin crawl, they could finally believe that the horde of spiders before them was indeed under Yang Ling’s control.

After resting in the Spider Valley for about four hours, Yang Ling and his group returned to the town with over thirty low level Magical Beast Essence Crystals and over a hundred bottles of Magical Beast Blood Essence. The corpses of the Magical Beasts were largely given to the spider army as a reward.

After that, Argus would lead the personal guards to collect Magical Beast Essence Crystals and Blood Essence at Spider Valley once every three days. They would sometimes even bring back some fresh wild game. Because of Yang Ling’s order for confidentiality, no one knew where they hunted, and even more so, no one knew that Yang Ling had a massive spider army within Terras Forest.

With a continuous source of Essence Crystals and Magical Beast Blood Essences, Yang Ling created a large number of Wizard Amulets. His speed of cultivation also increased. At the same time, Sofia also got very busy. She not only had to maintain communications between Yang Ling and the elf tribe, she also had to take part in managing the Evening Primrose Bar and even the operations of the refinery. But she felt that it was worth it no matter how tiring it was if she could be of help to Yang Ling. She was as happy as a carefree Bugu Bird.

This day, after returning to Wissen Town from the elf tribe, Sofia joyfully went to look for Yang Ling who was testing the powers of his Wizard Amulets. “Brother Yang, guess what goodies I’ve brought for you this time?”

“Hmm, so fragrant, you brought me a fragrant beauty!” Yang Ling gave a foolish act, taking in a deep breath beside Sofia. Perhaps it was due to having grown up in the forest and having a diet of various plants, female elves all had a faint refreshing scent surrounding them.

Hearing Yang Ling call her a fragrant beauty, Sofia blushed in shyness. But her heart felt a sense of sweetness, sweeter than when she ate a full can of pollen. “Brother Yang, look, what is this?”

Sofia pulled open the cover of the flower basket as she spoke, carefully taking out a small sapling. “Brother Yang, this is a sapling of the Tree of Life that our tribe has successfully nurtured over the past few years. Grandfather said to give it to you as a gift. You have to take care of it well!”

After Sofia explained a little more, Yang Ling understood how precious of a treasure the sapling was to the elf tribe. They might not even be able to nurture one in multiple decades. The sapling could evolve from a Tree of Life to an Ancient Tree of War, then to an Ancient Tree of Intelligence and Ancient Tree of Wind. When it was evolved to a high level, it could not only protect the tribes in the forest, it could also secrete Water from the Spring of Life. It was the source of power for the forest elves.