Chapter 426: Getting Back To The Territory - 1

Ding!

Chain Bond: 30% -> 65%

"Whoa, now that’s some huge boost... What if I just... Zelut... Hmm, let’s go a bit differently this time. I’ll name you Relut Whisk," Leo said, once again pleased with himself for coming up with such a good name.

Naturally, the mice liked the name.

Name: ??? -> Zelut Whisk

Chain Bond: 65% -> 70%

Squeak! Squeak!

It squeaked happily. The other mice watched the interaction, unable to help but think Zelut would be squashed the next instant. But that never happened, as Leo proceeded to issue his first command.

"Zelut, I want you to keep those friends of yours in control. They won’t do any unnecessary actions unless told to."

Zelut, as if understanding the order, stood on its hind legs and looked straight at Leo, determination burning in its tiny eyes, and nodded. Then it ran towards the two cages containing more than 200 or so mice.

At Zelut’s new heavy presence, the other mice suddenly quietened down, after which Zelut made a series of small squeaks to communicate with them. Most seemed to understand, but there were always some fools who were oversmart.

Some mice began squeaking louder in response, shouting back at Zelut from inside the cage. Zelut’s eyes darkened at the sight.

Though Leo couldn’t tell what exactly was being said, he understood the general gist.

"Zelut, you are allowed to use violence on your kind if they don’t obey."

Chu!

The moment Leo said that, Sylrael merged the two cages and restructured them into a cuboid, giving the mice ample space to move across the wooden cage floor. After allowing Zelut to enter, it was sealed shut once again, though Leo and the others could clearly see what was happening inside.

And then it began. Zelut would sometimes speak; if the others agreed, the matter ended there. But if even a single opposing voice was raised, it was met with a sharp slash across the body. Some were outright killed. In less than half an hour, Relut had already established himself as the boss.

Ding!

Frostwhisk Mouse [Zelut Whisk] has acquired the skill: [Swarm Bond] - 40% Low

[Swarm Bond]: A leader skill that allows the user to effectively command their own kind without the need for a proper method of communication. Boosts the morale and stamina of bonded members.

"Skills can be learned even this way?" Leo muttered, glancing towards Shyra and Nyxa, who were still relishing the leader Bison’s corpses. To speed things up, Kaelion had even summoned Singham.

It had been a long time since any of them had acquired new skills. Nyxa could be excused, considering she required baptism. But Shyra’s skillset was quite lacking for a Pseudo 4-star Noble beast. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"I read that the longer a beast takes to naturally acquire a skill, the stronger it is... I just hope my talent doesn’t interfere with that."

The last thing he wanted was for his beasts to acquire only good skills through his [Beastiary Of Souls]. If that were the case, then Leo could only assume it was a trade-off for being able to acquire the skills of other beasts.

---

With the mice under control, they were allowed to leave their cages and return to the Bison’s fur. Most hurried back inside, eager to get out of Leo’s sight, but a few clever ones tried to escape through the ground.

Zelut was faster.

It burrowed through the soil at an astonishing speed, yanked the deserters out, and bit them down using [Frost Nibble], freezing the corpses solid.

Zelut then brought all the corpses before Leo and laid them out like trophies. It stood on its hind legs and—

Chu! Chu!

—squeaked happily.

"Good! You did a great job," Leo praised. As if it had been waiting for those words, Zelut circled him in a delighted dash.

Leo sold the corpses and, as a reward, used the Beast cores to further enhance Zelut’s bloodline. Surprisingly, even its strength rose.

Frostwhisk Mouse (Low 2-star -> Mid 2-star)

- Super Bloodline (32% -> 33%)

- Chain Bond (70% -> 76%)

At that moment, Zelut seemed to realise something.

Bringing traitorous mice corpses would help it gain strength.

An evil glint passed through its eyes as it giggled to itself, casting a side glance toward the Bison’s fur as if searching for potential candidates.

Lily, watching everything from the side, was surprised.

"Leo, you chose a very... good mouse, if I may say so. Perfectly suited for the world we live in," she said.

She didn’t know why, but in recent days, she had begun sensing the spirit of a person or beast in front of her, allowing her to gauge their intent to a great degree. Because of this, she could tell that Zelut was planning to expand its swarm, slowly bringing in the bodies of those who died for a ’noble cause’, old age—and traitors to Leo—to strengthen itself.

After that, Leo turned to Sylrael.

"Alright, now the mouse problem is solved. How do you plan to take these 70 Bisons back to our territory? It’s more than 200 kilometres."

Sylrael thought for a moment before answering.

"Lord, leave it to the three of us. We will escort these Bisons back to our territory within 3 days," she said, hinting that she, Elaris, and Naelith would walk them back.

At that, Kaelion spoke up.

"No need for that. Let’s hire a spatial mage apprentice from the academy to do the job. For 70..."

He took their varying sizes and the distance into account before giving his estimate.

"Around a million AC should do. It will save us quite a bit of time. And since Sylrael handles most of the work in the territory, 1 million is nothing. I’ll pay it... I don’t have anything better to spend it on."

Leo nodded. The sun was already dipping low, and at night, it would become increasingly dangerous to move the cattle through the forest.

As Kaelion rode off toward the academy to bring the spatial mage, Leo took the opportunity to fuse the Frosthide Bison beast cores.

They were all Mortal bloodline, along with some Ordinary beast cores, ranging from High 1-star to High 2-star.

When Leo finished the fusion, he was left with a single core:

Frosthide Bison Beastcore (Low 3-star) - Noble Bloodline (81%)