Arena Chapter 148

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Chapter 148 – Beast (Part 3)

The nest was easy to find.

As we made our way up the cliff side we could see enormous nests scattered here and there.

They had no natural enemy to speak of so that must be why they just left their nests out in the open like this.

As soon as we got close to a cl.u.s.ter of nests, the rake eagles became a lot fiercer.

"Beeeeeek!!"

"Beeek-!!"

But they were unable to approach the whirlwind encircling us.

When we approached to one of the nests, two specific eagles especially begin to scream even louder.

"They must be the owners of this nest."

Said Cha Ji-hye.

"I think so."

In the nest were four eggs similar in size to Cha Ji-hye's head.

Those two rake eagles must be their parents.

"Sylph, go catch those two birds. Capture them but make sure they don't get hurt.

-Meow!

Sylph went off like the wind.

The wind Sylph made surrounded the two male and female couple rake eagles.

"Beeeek!"

The birds violently resisted and several times they were even able to rip through the wind. Suffice to show they are the best birds of prey.

But their opponent wasn't easy.

To birds that ride on the wind, Sylph, the spirit of wind, was as much their natural enemy as any.

Sylph started to carry out the tactical plan I relayed to her through our mind connection.

We made it so that through adjusting the flow of the wind, the rake eagles would be unable to sustain their flight.

Shall we say it's like needing to step on the ground to jump but we've removed the ground from under them?

Eventually the male and female pair who had resisted so fiercely landed on the ground.

I figured this was the best time to tame them and I shouted towards the two birds.

"Animal taming!"

Is this how I use this?

But the rake eagles continued to stubbornly resist.

'Is it not getting through?'

I was curious why the skill wasn't working.

"Don't you think you should show superiority in order to train them?"

"Should I?"

Based to her advice, I decided to completely subdue them.

I spread the Divine Protection of the Wind and a gust of wind from my fist hit one of the birds hard.

"Bbaaaek!"

The bird's neck turned forcefully to the side.

I beat the two rake eagles like this for quite some time.

Every time they tried to flounder and fly away, I had Sylph bring them back down, and I beat them some more.

After beating them a long time and causing them to be exhausted, I tried the animal taming again.

Just then, the birds stopped resisting.

"Lay down."

I tried giving an order. Then……

The two birds, their bodies measuring at 120 cm long, just tipped over onto their sides.

'Whoa.'

At that moment I knew that the animal taming had worked.

"Walk this way."

The pair of rake eagles jaunted over towards me.

I extended my hand and began to pet one of their heads and they gently accepted. This one is larger than the other, this must be the male.

Cha Ji-hye carelessly approaches the female to tried and pet it and receives a fierce rejection.

Cha Ji-hye hurriedly stepped back when the bird snapped its beak at her.

"You cannot harm people without my permission."

I gave them a firm warning.

Animal taming intermediate level 5. Where basic communication and commands could be understood and followed.

Cha Ji-hye tried again and this time the female rake eagle didn't resist.

I could see a hint of satisfaction in Cha Ji-hye's eyes.

She just likes all animals I guess.

"This is your nest, right?"

I asked as I pointed towards the nest and two rake eagles nodded their heads.

Then that means these four eggs are this pair's babies.

'If I take these babies that aren't born yet too then that's 6 of them.'

Through the animal taming intermediate level 5, I could tame up to 10 animals

It means the animal training wouldn't work on animals if I already had 10 tamed.

"I'll have to look for rake eagles with two eggs now."

"You are very kind."

"Ahaha, it's sad to separate a family."

For now the first eagles I trained I called number one and number two.

"Number one and number two."

Cha Ji-hye almost sounded disappointed in me.

"Oh, sorry. My naming sense isn't very……"

"Nothing to apologize for."

"But still, sorry."

"I think you have no need to apologize to me but if you feel you must I will drive on our way back to Deport harbor."

"Sure."

Anyway, the eggs that haven't hatched yet I decided to name numbers 3 through 6. I'll name them according to when they're born.

I had Sylph scout the nests on the cliff side and we found a nest with two eggs.

In the same manner I trained the pair of male and female and I took their eggs.

To the new family, a male, a female, and two eggs, I named them in order from 7 to 10.

Like that, I had acc.u.mulated a total of ten birds.

Among them, six not yet born, I'm thinking of raising them slowly throughout the exams.

For the rake eagles mating season is nearly the same as egg hatching season.

The mothers of the Zelkova village saw the 6 eggs I brought back and said they think they'll all hatch within the month.

So we decided to stay with the elves on Brown Mountain at least until they were born.

Cha Ji-hye spent most of her time playing with the rake eagles I trained.

But even that got monotonous and we spent time playing tag with the elves among the trees.

"Is it true this is a training method that you introduced to them?"

"Yes. Actually I just taught them to play with the little elves but the effect was good so it got adopted as a training method."

And when we fought with the undead army, the elves saw sure benefits from it.

"I'll do it too."

"Will you be alright?"

"Of course. Physically I'm better off with my physical strength buff superior level 1 than anyone here."

"Alright then."

We took off our synthetic muscle suits and joined in on the adult game of tag trainings.

Cha Ji-hye, even with her being physically superior to everyone on Brown Mountain, was cooked porridge at tag.*

(TN: Got owned.)

I think because of the unique landscape of moving among trees and the movements and balance that the elves are adept at, she simply wasn't able to adapt.

And me?

Physical strength buff intermediate level 5.

Reflex master.

Dynamic visual acuity master.

What else was there to say?

And through the superior spirit summons plus the power of nature being so dense here, my physical ability nearly surpa.s.sed that of Cha Ji-hye's.

No one could catch me and because of that, unlike Cha Ji-hye, I wasn't it once.

Cha Ji-hye must've gotten frustrated because day or night she was training on the Tree of Life.

That must've had had an effect because about half a month into it, the frequency of her being it was significantly lower.

Of course it was only possible because she had the physical ability of physical strength buff superior level 1.

Like that, a month pa.s.sed by and just as the mothers predicted, the eggs hatched.

From 3 to 6, then 9 and 10, they were born all in a row.

Babies, without much resistance, were easy to tame.

Like that, I hit the limit of 10 with the animal taming intermediate level 5.

But the only problem is that the 6 babies couldn't fly and were limp and lethargic.

"How long will it take for them to grow enough to fly?"

At my question, the eldest mother replied.

"After hatching, it should be about a month before they're able to practice flying."

"Hm……"

I pondered for a moment.

Just like this I could put all 10 birds into the virtual s.p.a.ce and return to the Deport harbor.

But getting there wouldn't take half a month.

And that's only because we stepped on it all day in the MSM-2 supercar, at an unbelievable speed.

'The babies could grow during that half month, seems like a waste of that time to just have them in the virtual s.p.a.ce.'

If the babies could fly, I wouldn't have to put them in the virtual s.p.a.ce. I could just make them fly and follow us.

Then that way even on the way back, the birds would grow.

I voiced my thoughts to Cha Ji-hye.

"What do you think about staying a while longer until the babies can fly?"

"Then let's do that."

So we decided to stay a little longer at Brown Mountain.

While spending time with the elves, the two sets of rake parents hunted exhaustingly.

The six babies were barely able to walk but every time the parents came back with food they ran like a horde of starving ghosts were coming after them and devoured everything. They ate as if they were fighting. It almost felt scary.

'Thank goodness I got the animal taming skill.'

I heard that the rake eagle babies, with food on the line, would even fight to the death with each other.

It was gooseb.u.mps inducing. I think they said that the parents, unperturbed, would feed the dead baby to the living ones?

Thankfully with the animal training intermediate level 1 I could order to the parents and babies and maintain order.

The two sets of parents, without differentiating which baby was theirs, brought their hunts to share with all six babies.

And the six babies didn't fight with each other as they ate. Of course they did compete with each other on eating speed.

And then when just over a week had pa.s.sed the babies started to flap their wings and tried to fly up.

Seeing this, the two parent sets began teaching their babies how to fly.

'Must be from the growth promotion skill.'

Grown acceleration mastery, attained through the synthesis skill.

This skill exponentially sped the growth process and let the animals I've tamed grow up to 3 times beyond their species' limit.

Thanks to that skill the babies have grown up faster.

Because of that growth, they needed more food.

The two parent sets, having to teach them to fly and fetching food, were busy as h.e.l.l.

I sighed and gave an order.

"Focus on teaching them to fly. I will get you the food. And babies, work hard on your flying practice."

"Beek!"

"Beek!"

"Beeeek!"

The rake eagles replied to say they understand.

I had Sylph hunt and start bringing them their prey.

The male elves that were scouting also found a forest east of the village and gifted it to us.

As the prey was being delivered in abundance, the 10 rake eagles had an explosive growth spurt.

Why 10?

-Growth acceleration (synthesis skill): accelerate the growth speed of the animal you are raising. The acceleration of growth differs according to level.

*Master: grow up to 3 times the limit. Applies to animals that have completely matured as well.

That part.

Because of the effect that applies to animals that have completely matured.

The two parent sets that are already adults ate plenty and grew too.

According to the skill, the rake eagles will grow three times to the average rake eagle size. If they grow that much they would practically be monster sized.

When one month had pa.s.sed, the babies got to the level of being able to fly freely.

Thanks to them diligently following my order to practice hard.

"We'll be on our way now."

"You're going to visit again, right?"

Asked the eldest mother with a sad face. I smiled and nodded.

"Yes, if you miss me you can always reach me on the radio."

"Alright. Take care on your journey."

"Will do."

We set on the road again.

Above the supercar racing towards the Deport harbor, ten rake eagles gracefully flew with us.