Translator: Exodus Tales
Editor: Exodus Tales
Translated by Mianbao
Edited by RED
The dry and cold weather in autumn made every bit of sunlight seem so precious and warm.
Standing above the sparkling surface of the lake on a wooden elevated bridge that extended into the water, Zhu Minglang looked down from the edge with a serious expression at the speedy blue spotted fish demon spirits in the water, then shifted his gaze to the little crocodile dragon who was laying at his side, so tired it was about to die.
A group of grouper demon spirits wagged their tails, splashing water at the little crocodile dragon in mockery.
-These damned blue spotted fish demons…-
They were very fast, and far more agile than the wild groupers found in the rivers and lakes. There were quite a few of them, and were within reach. For some unknown reason, however, every time the little crocodile dragon jumped at them, they would dodge him with incredible coordination. The little crocodile dragon hadn’t caught a single one thus far.
After swimming in the fast flowing water for the whole afternoon, they hadn’t managed to capture a single blue spotted fish demon. It was no wonder no one accepted this mission. It was much more difficult than it looked!
“Don’t mind, don’t mind. It’s just that our method isn’t optimal. I’ll go study these blue spotted fish demons when we get back. We’ll come back for them tomorrow!” Zhu Minglang consoled the little crocodile dragon.
The little crocodile dragon was dejected. He probably didn’t expect to be so useless that even these blue spotted fish demons could mock him…
If that was the case, when could it stand proudly next to that Waterfall Flood Dragon?
——
That night, Zhu Minglang locked the doors as usual and departed for the Dragon Storage Hall.
The spirits stored in the Dragon Storage Hall actually possessed extraordinary attributes, and were slightly different from wild beasts. In addition, most of them had only recently hatched, or were still in their infancy. They were very suitable to be tamed and nurtured, making them the best choices for those who aspired to be a dragon tamer.
However, even after being carefully picked, their chances of dragonizing were still very small.
As the spirits in the Dragon Storage Hall gradually grew older and no one was willing to adopt them, most of them were released into the wild.
Tonight, Zhu Minglang was going to help Old Mister He release some oversized, destructive, and aggressive spirits. They couldn’t possibly feed those spirits for their whole lives for no reason, could they?
After working for half the night, Zhu Minglang realized setting the spirits free wasn’t an easy job. After all, most of them were aggressive; they had hurt or bitten other spiritlings to death in the Dragon Storage Hall…
“Keep watch until dawn, and you may return then. There’s a resonance bell over there. Don’t ring it unless the spiritlings are carrying out a mass prison break. Sleep is very important for old people like me. One interruption might result in poor sleep for a whole month! The large silkworms you want are at the back of the hall. You can take however many we were sent. Not many spiritlings eat them; I don’t even know who sent these low quality worms here to pad the amount of feed,” Old Mister He instructed Zhu Minglang.
“I understand. Please go rest, Old Mister!” Zhu Minglang nodded.
“There must be however many spiritlings present when I come back; not one less,” Old Mister He said.
“Please rest assured. Not a single one of them will go missing, even if I go missing,” Zhu Minglang promised.
——
According to Old Mister He’s instructions, Zhu Minglang had to patrol one round every hour, preventing some spirits with weaselly habits from stealing the spiritling eggs. He was afraid there might be some accidents and thus patrolled more diligently.
Looking around, Zhu Minglang happened to notice a pond that was home to a group of spotted blue fish demon spiritlings.
-Isn’t the Academy acting a little too perfunctorily, catching a few spotted blue fish spiritlings to make up the numbers!?-
These spotted blue fish spiritlings were slightly different. The markings on their bodies were brighter, and they had long fish whiskers at a very young.age
“I see. When they gather in a bunch, they use the movements of their whiskers to notify their companions of an enemy attack. That way, the other spotted blue fish demon spirits can avoid the little crocodile dragon’s ambush in advance!” Zhu Minglang exclaimed after observing them for some time.
“Looking purely at speed, the spotted blue fish demons are much faster, too. Heiya needs to train up at the waterfall’s vortex, first to get used to the water’s resistance, and two, to increase his speed!”
—–
Doing the necessary preparations would make the actual work much easier. The next morning, Zhu Minglang wasn’t in a hurry to pit the little crocodile dragon against the fish demon spirits. Instead, he brought Heiya to the waterfall vortex they were swept into not long ago.
After two days of feeding, the little crocodile dragon had grown to about a meter and twenty centimeters long. Its physique was obviously much stronger than before.
Using the strong resistance and suction of the waterfall vortex to train its body was a very good training method.
“Our goal today is to not get swept down…”
As a safety precaution, Zhu Minglang found a long rope and tied it around the little crocodile dragon. If it couldn’t withstand the force of the water, it could rely on the rope to get to safety.
—
The little crocodile dragon did very well. It swam at the mouth of the waterfall for the whole afternoon, and didn’t get swept down by the strong water current. This kind of training method helped toughen the hide it had recently grown.
On the third day, Zhu Minglang still didn’t bring the little crocodile dragon to go find the fish demons.
After eating a large basket full of food, the little crocodile dragon grew another size larger. Zhu Minglang increased the difficulty of Heiya’s training today. Not only did he require the little crocodile to not be swept away by the waterfall’s current, he even asked it to swim up against the current, and free from the underwater current at the fastest speed possible.
“Very good! You accomplished your mission today as well! You don’t need a safety rope anymore. Have more food tomorrow morning. We’ll try doing ambush attacks while in the current’s strong resistance!”
—
Zhu Minglang stood guard for another night, and obtained two more baskets of large silkworms.
However, the little crocodile dragon had already grown to a meter and fifty centimeters in these last few days. Before long, it would grow to the size of an adult human, and the food it required would also increase from one basket to two!
Zhu Minglang started feeling his head ache.
This ad hoc job of his was becoming insufficient to feed the little crocodile dragon. He had to find other jobs…
——
On the seventh day, the little crocodile dragon finally managed to execute a pounce attack in the strong water current. As such, Zhu Minglang and the little crocodile went to the wooden bridge at the lake confidently once more…
The lake was clear. The fish demons were indeed overflowing. They weren’t even staying around the underwater rocks anymore. They would often be swaying their tails and whiskers right on the water’s surface.
“Attack!” Zhu Minglang pointed, like he was commanding a huge army.
The little crocodile spirit’s black figure dove into the lake, and bit at one plump spotted blue fish demon at thrice the speed of before.
The spotted blue fish demon jumped from fright, trying to dodge in a panic.
At the same time, the other spotted blue fish demons also reacted, scattering like water ripples before the little crocodile dragon could come near them.
The little crocodile dragon was much stronger than before. However, chasing the spotted blue fish demons was like chasing after its own shadow. Every time, just as it was about to reach them, they would retreat to safety!
“Heiya, scatter them, then chase at one that’s alone!” Zhu Minglang called out.
After hearing his order, the little crocodile spirit immediately changed to a different method of attack. It no longer tried to directly jump at them. Instead, it used its body to scatter the spotted blue fish demons’ ripple formation, forcing some of them to panic…
Indeed, a young spotted blue fish demon showed an opening. It was pushed away and isolated from the group. Without the other spotted blue fish demons warning it of the direction of attack with their whiskers, it could only swim around in a daze!
“Ao!!”
The crocodile’s teeth came biting down, cleanly catching the panicking spotted blue fish demon!
Black teeth clamped tightly on the slippery fish demon. The little crocodile dragon jumped out from the water excitedly, tossing its trophy high up, out of the water, towards Zhu Minglang on the wooden bridge to show the results of its hunting!
“Haha, we did it!” Zhu Minglang laughed cheerfully.
Although he had slain old demon spirits and eradicated great demons in the past, for some reason, hunting a small little spotted blue fish demon left him so excited…
Perhaps it was due to a change in him. After a long period of darkness, a tiny ray of light had lit up hope within him.
When a person had things to look forward to, even if it was only a tiny change, their emotions would surge!