I'm Just a Beast Tamer

Over the years, as Jiang Zuo’s Spiritual Power had gradually increased, the images he received in his mind had grown much clearer.

The first thing to greet his eyes was a sky swarming with birds.

A Seated Mountain Eagle was already quite large, but it was dwarfed by some of the giant birds in the images, which were several times its size.

Most of the birds looked somewhat familiar to Jiang Zuo, but he couldn’t name them.

Innumerable birds, arriving from all directions, had gathered around a massive fruit tree dozens of meters tall.

The fruit tree was truly wondrous. It seemed to be growing atop a colossal carcass, though Jiang Zuo couldn’t identify what kind of creature it had been.

Judging from the images sent back by the four Seated Mountain Eagles, the creature had been dead for a very long time. Its remains had fused with the earth, leaving only a partial skeleton exposed. A cage of massive ribs jutted up from the ground, encircling the fruit tree.

Moreover, the tree miraculously bore seven different kinds of fruit.

The fruits took many years to mature. After the Seated Mountain Eagles arrived, they had to wait for more than three full years before the fruits finally began to ripen.

As the fruits neared maturity, innumerable birds descended from every corner of the sky.

The massive fruit tree was located on a large island, similar to Fire Mist Island. When the fruit ripened, the entire island became occupied by countless birds.

It wasn’t just Jiang Zuo’s few tamed eagles on the island. There were others that had grown up on Eagle Mountain and some from elsewhere, totaling about a hundred in all.

But amid the innumerable flock, they still seemed exceptionally insignificant.

The crucial point was that, judging by the images, the birds on the Mysterious Island possessed at least Skin Refining-level strength. Among them, the Seated Mountain Eagles were practically at the bottom of the food chain.

At last, the time came for the fruit to ripen.

Innumerable birds swarmed toward the giant fruit tree, each scrambling to be first.

Then, a gruesome battle erupted.

The corpses of innumerable birds rained down from the sky.

Many of the weaker birds had never witnessed such a scene. Most were frozen in place, trembling with fear. They dared only to circle the periphery, not to get any closer.

The Seated Mountain Eagles were among them.

Of the hundred-odd Seated Mountain Eagles, a few did charge forward.

However, the Seated Mountain Eagles’ immense size proved to be a major disadvantage among the avian swarm.

In the images from the four Seated Mountain Eagles, the first few of their kind to charge in were met by a small, unknown red bird. It streaked toward them at astonishing speed, piercing each one with a bloody hole and sending them plummeting from the sky.

After witnessing this, the remaining Seated Mountain Eagles didn’t dare to approach at all.

The five Seated Mountain Eagles Jiang Zuo had raised were far more intelligent than the average of their kind.

They did not act on instinct alone.

But the allure of the fruit on the giant tree was impossible for them to resist.

Finally, sensing that the first wave of the most powerful birds had seemingly claimed the fruits they wanted, the five Seated Mountain Eagles could restrain themselves no longer and flew toward the giant fruit tree in unison.

Even so, they were met with incredibly fierce combat.

If Jiang Zuo hadn’t taught them combat techniques, whether they could pick any fruit would have been purely a matter of luck.

But even so, one of the five Seated Mountain Eagles ran out of luck and was killed on the spot.

The four that returned, however, had each managed to eat a thumb-sized red fruit.

The red fruit was the lowest grade among the seven types of fruit on the giant tree.

The fruits on the tree didn’t necessarily have to be eaten on the spot.

The transmitted images showed some of the more powerful birds carrying the fruit away.

But the Seated Mountain Eagles lacked that kind of strength.

If they hadn’t eaten the fruit on the spot, they never would have made it out.

By the time they flew out, the ground beneath the giant fruit tree was blanketed with the corpses of birds.

After resting for a while on the Mysterious Island, the four Seated Mountain Eagles decided to return to Jiang Zuo.

After eating the red fruit, a piece of information had been imprinted in their minds.

In the future, they could no longer compete for the red fruits, only for higher-level ones.

The red fruit’s effects were potent. Before long, the Seated Mountain Eagles’ wounds had fully healed, and their strength had increased dramatically.

Jiang Zuo carefully inspected the four Seated Mountain Eagles and discovered they had advanced to the Muscle Training realm. Their strength had indeed soared.

’The Mortal Territory is truly something else. To think a place like this exists in the vast ocean. And so many powerful birds within the Mortal Territory, too.’

Jiang Zuo hadn’t expected the Seated Mountain Eagles to be at the bottom of the pecking order on that island.

If not for his Pet Beast combat talent, which made the eagles he raised skilled fighters, they would have been just like the other ordinary Seated Mountain Eagles—powerless to do anything but watch.

Jiang Zuo was reminded of the Ancient Beast Forest that Bu Yuehua had told him about.

’I wonder how many of those birds came from there.’

Judging from the images relayed by the Seated Mountain Eagles, there had been more than ten Grandmaster Level birds.

He couldn’t tell if there were any at the Innate Martial Artist level. Once the scramble began, the scene devolved into utter chaos, and the Seated Mountain Eagles had no attention to spare.

One thing was certain: none of the birds present were Spirit Beasts. Not a single one used Magic; they all engaged in physical combat.

And if only a small fraction of the birds came from the Ancient Beast Forest, it meant there were at least several other such places within the Mortal Territory.

And this was a very strong possibility.

After the struggle for the fruit on the giant tree concluded, the surviving birds scattered in all directions rather than flying off toward a single location.

Not all of the birds left, either. A significant number chose to remain on the island.

This included quite a few Seated Mountain Eagles.

"You came back to find me because you want to become stronger, right?"

Jiang Zuo looked at the Seated Mountain Eagles.

Having witnessed a much wider world on that Mysterious Island, they had all developed a fierce desire to grow stronger.

And the only one they could think of that could help them was Jiang Zuo.

"In that case, I can teach you the Blood God Skill. Your Cultivation of the Blood God Skill won’t be too fast, but your lifespans are not short, so it’s still worth a try."

Jiang Zuo said after a moment’s thought.

He had long considered teaching the Seated Mountain Eagles the Blood God Skill, but it would have been pointless if they flew away and never returned, practicing for only a year or two.

So Jiang Zuo hadn’t wasted time doing it.

Now that the Seated Mountain Eagles wanted to learn, and Jiang Zuo had some free time, he figured he might as well teach them.

Besides, while they didn’t have the same advantages as Great Black, their own conditions weren’t bad either.

After all, Jiang Zuo currently had the purple Jade Stone.

Since he planned on making them stronger, Jiang Zuo intended to do it right and wouldn’t be stingy.

’The purple Jade Stone is a treasure, to be sure, but that’s only by the standards of the Mortal Territory.’

’In the Cultivation Realm, it might not be anything special.’

’Besides, now that I know Fire Mist Island produces them, it won’t be hard to get more once I’m strong enough.’

’That fruit tree on the Mysterious Island is undoubtedly a treasure.’

’But its fruit only seems to attract birds.’

Jiang Zuo didn’t yet know if it would be effective on humans or other Pet Beasts.

Jiang Zuo also had no data on how often the tree bore fruit.

With so many unknowns, Jiang Zuo wouldn’t rashly venture to the Mysterious Island, no matter what ideas he had.

The safest approach was to make these Seated Mountain Eagles stronger so they could fight for and bring back some of the fruit.

Then, Jiang Zuo could make a more informed decision.

...

After so many years of raising Seated Mountain Eagles, his Battle talent was only a few dozen points away from LV3.

Jiang Zuo went ahead and spent some Beast Taming Reputation to level it up.

He glanced at his LV2 Mutation talent, whose experience bar had barely moved, and decided to level it up to LV3 as well.

’The chance for this Mutation skill to trigger is low, but it needs to be leveled up regardless.’

For years, Jiang Zuo had the Seated Mountain Eagles equip the Mutation Talent instead of the Longevity talent, precisely because he wanted to see what this skill could do.

But the probability for a low-level Mutation Talent was truly abysmal.

Now that he had earned plenty of Beast Taming Reputation, Jiang Zuo figured he’d just level it up directly, so he wouldn’t have to look at the embarrassing stats anymore.

—Battle LV3 (0/5000): Universal Talent. When equipped, a Pet Beast becomes adept at learning and comprehending combat techniques, knows how to leverage its physical advantages in a fight, and its combat effectiveness is significantly improved.

—Mutation LV3 (0/5000): Universal Talent. During a Pet Beast’s growth, there is a small chance for it to naturally mutate. With the right external conditional bonuses, this chance will receive an additional boost.

The LV3 Battle and Mutation talents both showed considerable changes.

Jiang Zuo’s spirits lifted as he read them.

The Mutation Talent, in particular, now seemed to offer some room for manipulation.

Not long after Great Black advanced to become an Inner Breath Grandmaster, the Underwater Breathing Technique also successfully completed its Cultivation in the advancement slot.

With the advancement slot now free, Jiang Zuo pulled each of the four Seated Mountain Eagles into it one by one. He guided them in learning the Blood God Skill and simultaneously updated their talents.

It was possible to use the advancement slot to update the talents of Pet Beasts Jiang Zuo had personally raised, but he couldn’t just pull in a wild creature and grant it his Beast Taming Talents.

After all four Seated Mountain Eagles learned the Blood God Skill, they also began to enter their breeding season.

The four Seated Mountain Eagles consisted of two males and two females, a perfect two pairs.

As they had just begun their Cultivation of the Blood God Skill, Jiang Zuo had an idea.

Normally, a female Seated Mountain Eagle would lay at least two eggs after fertilization, sometimes even three.

So Jiang Zuo taught them to deliberately guide their body’s vital energy and blood, concentrating all the energy that would have gone into producing two or three eggs into just a single one.

Moreover, before the eggs were laid, Jiang Zuo would help them guide their vital energy and blood each day, concentrating it on the eggs gestating within their bodies.

The ultimate goal was to produce a Pet Beast Egg brimming with potent Life Force.

After Jiang Zuo explained the benefits of this approach, the Seated Mountain Eagles readily accepted, believing the method would be a great boon to their entire species.

Two months later, the two female Seated Mountain Eagles each laid an egg that was double the size of an ordinary one.

The four Seated Mountain Eagles grew excited upon seeing these two eggs.

They could all vaguely sense that the offspring hatched from these two eggs would be anything but ordinary.

Jiang Zuo didn’t stop there. He also placed the two Seated Mountain Eagle eggs next to the purple Jade Stone for the eagles to incubate.

Then, a month and a half later, two little Seated Mountain Eagles broke out of their shells, one after the other.

The moment they hatched, just like Xiaoqing had, they immediately began to struggle and eat their own eggshells.

Needless to say, they were more than double the size of an ordinary, newly hatched eaglet.