Beastly Matters

Edrick's murderous activities had started like most serial killers: By carrying out acts of unnecessary cruelty against animals. But as he grew up, he realised that this was not something that he found fulfilling or interesting at all... He liked a challenge when partaking in this hobby of his. And it was not challenging at all to target lesser creatures that did not know any better and couldn’t even defend themselves, even when they knew what was coming.

Nowadays, he quite liked pets. Now, living in a world with beings that went beyond mundane animals. He was naturally very much interested in them.

Although Deormann was basically a pet to him, the fact that the sasquatch had been born from his seed gave him a somewhat special status, a little different from a pet at least… Oswulf, though, was purely a pet... A very fluffy, cute one at that.

Typically, when Anoteros decided to place a crest on someone or something, he would either first condition them to want to serve him or place them in a state of strong infatuation and love. The crest would basically freeze that strong instance of emotion and intensify it, maintaining and nurturing it.

This was exactly why Yin had been so willing to follow his plans concerning Shu’s domination. She had received a crest in a moment of intense gratification, whilst her mind was clouded with great affection for Edrick.

Further intensifying this made her most malleable and agreeable. Now, there was no going back for her, just like there was no going back for anyone bearing his crests at this point. His wives, in particular, had all loved him greatly without them. However, the real deal lay with the lower-tiered crests.

In the case of Oswulf, the red wolf had not exactly been very inclined to serve anyone. Fortunately, a pet crest was far more restrictive than others. Also, Anoteros did save her life, which engraved the understanding and natural sensation of gratitude into her.

After a lot of scratches and petting, she had become a most amicable big dog... One that was very easy to train. Edrick had even started the construction of a wing specifically for pets like her–The first wing of many within his residence, most certainly.

Anoteros was quite fond of the red wolf. Not only was she simply a very good companion to have, but she was strong and had a lot of potential to get stronger… However, to truly maximise the strength of a beast, you needed at least one beast taming technique.

The Elt scion could probably find one himself, but he had access to Wenxiong–A member of the clan and an expert in beast taming.

The balding man was very happy about hearing from Edrick so quickly. It was probably rare for him to meet someone who shared his ‘tastes’, and he was thus very happy to be able to share his interest with a young member of his clan, of all people.

“Ah… So you are really interested in beast taming, aren’t you? I did want to reach out when I heard that you brought back a large beast, but I figured that it might have been a gift for one of your wives… Say, I heard it was a Greater Vulpine Hound… Those are quite majestic beasts, and they are quite rare, at that!” said the balding ancestor whilst fervently rubbing his rough moustache.

“I was indeed told that this was the name of the species. I am not quite familiar with the specificities, though” replied Edrick.

“Heh… Greater Vulpine Hounds are pretty versatile. They are both strong and smart, so you can easily teach them cultivation techniques. They can also pretty easily master spells naturally if exposed to high amounts of energy. They can figure things out on their own… But with proper training and guidance? They can turn into real menaces. I knew a guy who had tamed one back in the day. He slaughtered an entire clan with it. Really good stuff” Wenwiong reminisced. That man and his beast had perished since then, but it was still a good memory.

The moustached man grinned and leaned forward.

“So… Male or female? Did you give it a name?”

“Oswulf, she’s a female”

“Nice, canines always get very affectionate with their masters, you lucked out!”

“Say, Ancestor, may I hear about your own beast? I have heard that you only have one despite your reputation as a beast tamer… It must be quite something in that case, right?” asked Anoteros.

“Princess is indeed a real wonder of nature”

‘Princess? That’s the name of his Bloodbath Hyena?’ Edrick found the name to be quite cutesy for a creature who had most definitely slaughtered hundreds, if not thousands, of people.

“Hold on, I can summon her anytime-” Wenxiong didn’t even do any particular motion, and in a puff of black smoke, a hyena popped out of thin air, sitting right beside him.

He instantly petted her between her ears.

“Thanks to my mastery of beast taming techniques, Princess gained the ability to modify her size at will, but in truth, she was born with greatly beneficial gigantism. In her natural state, she is easily taller than an elephant” he casually mentioned.

This fact alone was enough to put Princess in the category for seriously dangerous beasts, especially since she wasn’t just a regular hyena… Bloodbath Hyenas got their name because of their extreme strength and violent outbursts. It was to the point that the hyenas of this species were solitary by sheer force of the fact that they couldn’t help but tear apart anything around them.

So one with such severe, yet purely beneficial gigantism would be an absolute menace.

But of course, she was Wenxiong’s beast, so she had surely cultivated several high-level cultivation techniques suited for her specifically. She had also been treated to exceptional meals that would have reinforced her physique and granted many others boons… And that was probably only scratching the surface.

Yet, right now, Princess looked like a most well-mannered pet.

She didn’t look like a spotted hyena. Instead, she much more closely resembled a brown hyena with a long coat of fur.

Edrick would pet her, but he would like to keep his hand attached to his body... He would rather not test whether she was kind to strangers in the presence of her master.

“She can actually speak, but you won’t be hearing her… She’s a bit shy and only speaks to me through our connection”

“Is that so?”

Princess vanished into another cloud of black smoke.

“Let me take you somewhere! It won’t have good cultivation techniques or resources–At least, nothing better than what I have in my stash... But I get the feeling that you aren’t like me. You don’t want to only have one pet at your disposal, do you? You strike me as the kind to have several… And I know a good place where we might just find some nice beasts for you to take home”

“Mmh… Where could this place be? I do not think my research into the surroundings revealed anything to me just yet…” said Edrick. He had put Shu toward preparing business stuff, so his maid hadn’t yet had the occasion to use her talents in information gathering about the surroundings of the Elt clan.

“It’s not too far…”