Chapter 248: Beast Soul Altar

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After pressing his index finger onto the forehead of the Minotaur and reciting the Wizard Mantra, Yang Ling felt the Wizard Power and mental energy well out of his body like the tide. He lost his mental energy rapidly, as if he had encountered a bottomless hole, or a powerful magnet that was used specifically for absorbing mental energy.

What was even worse was that that the monster did not undergo any changes after absorbing a large amount of Wizard Power and mental energy. No symbols appeared around his body!

Could it be that there’s no way to tame this monster?

There was only a slim chance that he would be successful in taming a humanoid intelligent being. Even though he was mentally prepared for this, Yang Ling did not expect that taming this Minotaur would be this difficult!

When he did the experiments with the slaves in the past, they did not manically absorb the Wizard Power and mental energy like this monster did even if he was unable to tame them.

Yang Ling shook his head as he looked at the Minotaur with only a breath left. However, just as he was about to forcefully stop the taming process, the Minotaur suddenly let out a dull groan. A faint symbol appeared from the mark at the center of its brows before disappearing in the blink of an eye.

That’s weird, could it be that this monster’s mental energy was stronger than mine?

Yang Ling was incredibly confused after recovering from his surprise. According to the explanation of the stele on the Wizard Mantra used to tame creatures, such a phenomenon would only occur if the other party’s mental energy was greater than that of the caster’s.

It was hard to predict the outcome of forcefully taming a being with a greater mental energy than himself. If he succeeded, he would obtain a powerful aide. However, he would be devoured by the spell if he unfortunately failed. He would feel a splitting headache at the very least, or suffer heavy injuries and die on the spot.

Just what are these monsters, why would they have such massive amounts of mental energy?

Looking at the dying monster with the bull’s head by his feet, then looking at the bloody scene of the battle around him, Yang Ling became incredibly hesitant. Being able to face off against the elite exploration team of the Church and make them suffer heavy casualties already showed how powerful the abilities of these monsters were!

Powerful physical capabilities, an immense amount of mental energy, mysterious identities…

After a moment’s deliberation, Yang Ling could not bear to miss such a great opportunity. Successfully taming an aide that had an even larger amount of mental energy than he did would definitely bring about immense benefits. He would not have been willing to take such a risk if the other party was of sound mind; However, the other party was at his dying breath, his consciousness scattered. He could take advantage of this chance.

After coming to a decision, Yang Ling set up a simple Spirit Gathering Spell Formation with a pile of Magical Beast Essence Crystals, then took out all of the Magical Beast Blood Orbs he had in his Space Ring, completing all of the preparations. He then took a deep breath and increased the speed of his taming, consuming the Magical Beast Blood Orbs to replenish his expended Wizard Power and mental energy from time to time.

Ah…

The dying Minotaur could not help but let out a groan at the instant he absorbed a substantial amount of energy, his limbs convulsing. He seemed to be regaining his consciousness after obtaining the energy!

He might as well go all out!

Under the effects of the Spirit Gathering Spell Formation, with the Magical Beast Blood Orbs replenishing his energy, Yang Ling did not hesitate to pour out the Wizard Power and mental energy in his body. With a sufficient reserve of energy backing him, Yang Ling was confident that he would be able to stop and escape to safety even if any accidents happened.

With all of his effort, a reaction finally occurred on the body of the monster. His pale face slowly regained color, his dilated pupils gradually contracting, his eyeballs occasionally moving slowly…

There’s just one step left!

Yang Ling was elated as he saw the slowly recovering Minotaur. He then once again increased the speed of the subjugation, his massive amounts of Wizard Power and mental energy pouring out without reservation.

The transformation of the Minotaur became more and more obvious after absorbing a substantial amount of energy. Soon, a strange scene ensued!

After a crisp ring rang out, the crystal skull on the tip of the Minotaur’s snake-shaped staff released a ball of radiant silver light. Following that, mysterious symbols appeared around the skull. Under the glow of the crystal skull, symbols gradually appeared on the body of the Minotaur.

“Hmph, get in here!”

At the cusp of his success, Yang Ling swallowed a handful of Magical Beast Blood Orbs and recited the last of the Wizard Mantra after letting out a low grunt. In that instant, the symbols on the body of the Minotaur turned quickly before disappearing into thin air together with the crystal skull.

After successfully taming the Minotaur, Yang Ling did not dare be tardy despite his fatigue, leaving the area quickly. The strange fragrance released by the nine eerie trees had gotten increasingly thicker, and his mental energy as well as his sensing radius had become weaker. As a precaution, it was best for him to leave the area as soon as possible.

After leaving the deathly Black Forest far behind and ascertaining that there was no danger around him, Yang Ling stopped on a small hill. He summoned the Magical Beast army to protect himself, then sat down cross-legged to rest. He slowly understood what had transpired in the forest through the memories of the Minotaur.

As it turned out, the creatures he saw in the Black Forest were not monsters, nor were they the aborigines of the Black Forest. Instead, they were Beastmen that had come from the northern regions of the Tailun Continent. After receiving the news that there were relics that contained Divine Weapons sealed by the Holy Dragon in the Terras Forest, they made their way over from faraway lands and camped within the forest, searching for the location of the relics of the giant dragon.

Just like the factions of the Church and Dark Association, they set their sights to the few notorious, perilous lands within the forest after spending a month without any leads. They split their group into a few teams to explore the area, but engaged in a gruesome conflict with the Church even before they found the relics of the giant dragon.

The enmity between the Beastmen and the Church could be traced back to the period of the Great Battle of the Gods and Demons. Under the lead of the Church, the army of the humans forced the Beastmen out of the rich plains and into the desolate icy wastelands that was the northern highlands. They also fought off the countless retaliations by the Beastmen. Because of this, the Beastmen hated the Church to the core!

At the same time, the Church has always seen the Beastmen as barbaric cultists, turning a blind eye to the killing of Beastmen within the human-populated empires, sometimes even aiding the humans. Countless Beastmen were burned on a stake by the judges of the Church every year!

Having encountered each other along the way, the two parties had refused to back down. In order to reach the deepest regions of the Black Forest first, the two parties had exercised a certain level of restraint, their conflicts mainly erupting between small groups of troops or their scouts.

After rushing to the empty piece of land at the deepest region of the forest, the two parties finally engaged in a large scale conflict over a mysterious jade monument surrounded by the nine eerie trees, even though they did not find the relics of the giant dragon.

After an agitated battle, the Beastmen suffered a complete defeat, and while the group of the Church also paid a heavy price, they gained the eventual victory with their numbers advantage and their premium weapons. The Red-robed Cardinal had left the place quickly with the last two of his guards through a Teleportation Scroll, together with the mysterious jade monument.

The name of the Minotaur he tamed was Augustus and he was a Beastman priest following the army. Even though he did not know the common spells to cast fireballs or icicles, he could grant the Beastman warriors with auras like Bloodthirsty Frenzy or Acceleration Spells. His usefulness did not pale in comparison to that of a Spellcaster in a large-scale battle.

According to his memories, Beastmen priests were split into levels from Wind Whisperer Priests, Soul Priests, Staff Priests, Divine Temple Priests and Beast Soul Priests, their abilities stronger with every level. Every level was also split into beginner, mid and high levels. In the eyes of an ordinary person, the warriors under a Bloodthirsty Frenzy might seem to be the main forces of an army of Beastmen, but in reality, the priests of the various levels were the main reason as to why the human army had not been able to completely eradicate the Beastmen in the thousands of years that had passed.

It could be said that the Beastmen race would have long been completely eradicated by the army of the humans led by the Church during the ancient times if not for the efforts of the many priests. If not for their top notch priests holding their ground and instilling fear into the powerful fighters of the Church, the Beastmen would not have been able to stay even in the harsh northern highlands. They would no longer have a land they could call their own.

Other than casting various strengthening auras on the many warriors, high-level Beastman priests also had a unique ability. They could create a Beast Soul Altar using mysterious techniques and through that summon Magical Beasts from the wilderness. After cultivating that technique to a certain level, they could also use the Beast Soul Altar to induce irreversible changes to the Magical Beasts. There was a certain possibility that they could obtain a Magical Beast that had a mutated appearance, but extremely powerful abilities.

Beast Soul Altar?

Cause Magical Beasts to mutate and through that, obtain Magical Beasts with extremely powerful abilities?

After understanding the abilities of high-level Beastman priests, Yang Ling had a thought as he remembered the strange monster with four pairs of wings, a bull’s head and a snake’s body that he had seen back in the Black Forest.

The Terras Forest spanned tens of thousands of miles, with no one really knowing the true area of the primordial forest, as well as just how many Magical Beasts there were in the forest. He would be able to obtain many low-level magical Beasts and assemble a massive Magical Beast army, be it by taking action personally or purchasing them from the Hunter Association.

However, as he came into contact with different factions with the development of his territory, he needed the battle capabilities of his Magical Beast army to become stronger. He might be able to deal with the threat of a Sword Saint or a Magical Tutor with his large number of Horned Bee Beasts or Vampire Bats; However, the low-level Magical Beasts would not amount to a sizeable threat no matter how many of them there were when he was facing a sage level expert.

Since that was the case, he needed to tame a large number of high-level Magical Beast or increase the overall abilities of his various Magical Beasts and encourage them to evolve within a short span of time if he wanted to quickly increase the power level of his Magical Beast army!

In the past, he could only make the low-level Magical Beasts evolve by feeding them the Water from the Spring of Life or Essence Crystals of the same Magical Beasts. That not only wasted a substantial amount of Water of the Spring of Life and Magical Beast Essence Crystals, the pace of evolution would also stagnate when they reached a certain level. The higher their level, the more difficult it became to get them to evolve.

However, there might be a way to break through this bottleneck limiting the increase of his Magical Beast army’s battle capabilities now that he had the Beast Soul Altar. Perhaps, fusing two Horned Bee Beasts, or a Horned Bee Beast and a Vampire Bat, might create a powerful Magical Beast!

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