TL: xLordFifth
ED:
“Great! Four of them! Four! Blaugrunn, help me out! But gently, just enough to make them faint, not too strong.”
[Kyuu!]
Uncertain when the fear would dissipate, Leeha wanted to ensure their capture.
He stealthily pulled out an electric shocker from his bag, enhanced with a bit of Blaugrunn’s mana to increase its voltage.
“Sorry, this will knock you out quickly, so it won’t hurt.”
“Kuiiit!”
“Haah!”
[Kyuu!]Zzzt zzzt zzzt!
After a brief flash of blue electric sparks, the four puols – creatures resembling a blend of horse and pig – collapsed onto the grass.
“Jellypong! Tie up all their legs tightly. Don’t let go until I say so.”
[Mong Mong…]
Baiting, paralyzing, knocking out, and now capturing – only then could Leeha wipe the sweat from his brow. Not that he was actually sweating.
“The meat was really tasty and gave a lot of experience, but who knew capturing them would take 24 hours. Right?”
Leeha smiled wryly, looking at the four puols sprawled on the ground.
Then, he turned to his ‘family’.
[Kyuu!]
[Mong, Mong, Mong.]
“Kuoong!”
The sight of three different ‘species’ racing for the meat on the plate was quite a spectacle.
“You guys… you just ate and you’re at it again?”
But Leeha wasn’t petty enough to fuss over their eating.
After all, Blaugrunn and Koma needed to eat well to grow strong.
“Anyway, I don’t need all four puols. Let’s see… I’ll keep the one that looks the nicest, and the other three –”
Leeha clicked his pistols – the Needle Gun and Hummingbird – loading them with steel ball bullets.
“Still, they’ll die because they’re knocked out, so don’t hold it against me.”
Bang!
“Kuot, squeeel!”
The collapsed puols began to twitch their noses and open their eyes, waking up from fainting due to the delicious smell – these creatures had instincts not unlike the other three species.
“Oh, they’re waking up!”
“Growl!”
[Kyuu! Kyuu!]
Leeha, Koma, and Blaugrunn all turned their heads toward the puol.
Around them lay the butchered carcasses of their peers, blood dripping… The puol quickly realized the source of the ‘delicious smell’ and panicked.
“Kwiiiiit! Kwiiit- kwiiit-”
“Ah, be quiet. Koma, Blaugrunn, keep eating.”
“Grrr!”
[Kyuu!]
Without needing to be told, the two creatures continued eating, unperturbed. Leeha chuckled and slowly approached the fallen puol. The creature tried to struggle, but with its legs tied by Jellypong, it was hardly effective. Every movement scraped the ground beneath it.
‘Definitely strong and heavy. It might be cowardly, but if it decided to ram, human players would struggle to stay unharmed.’
Even in a herd, the puols seemed to run away at the mere sight of Leeha. However, judging them as harmless would be premature.
‘Buffaloes and elephants are herbivores but physically strong… Wait, these aren’t even herbivores, are they?’
The puols had been attracted by the smell of meat. Omnivorous like pigs, Leeha thought as he pulled out a piece of jerky from his bag and tossed it to the puol.
“Kuiiit! Kuiiit…”
“Wow, it actually caught and ate that.”
Tied up by Jellypong but still wriggling to catch and eat what Leeha threw, the puol’s determination was impressive!
Leeha marveled as it munched away like a motor.
“Kuiiit!”
“Tastes better than you thought, right? Creatures of the New Continent wouldn’t have smoked and salted jerky like this…”
They would only have eaten natural foods. Even the gorilla paleos live almost primitively. The puol quickly devoured the jerky, already looking at Leeha with sparkling eyes, wanting more.
“If you stick with me, you can eat even tastier things. You understand, right?”
“Kuiiit! Kuiiit, Kuiiit!”
“Hmm, seems food alone won’t do.”
Leeha opened his bag again.
Swoosh, he pulled out various vegetables and fruits.
He had bought them in the gorilla paleos’ city for cooking, but hadn’t used them yet.
“Kuiiit…”
But the puol grimaced at the sight of the fruits and vegetables.
“What? Even though they seem to be based on horses, they dislike fruits?”
Leeha was puzzled. He had been sure it would eat them.
“Well, there’s another way. The magic sauce that even a crying child would eat raw vegetables with!”
Clang, clang!
Leeha rummaged through his bag again.
Suddenly, he felt a bit gloomy, realizing that his bag, supposedly for a Musketeer and one of the Three Musketeers, seemed to carry more cooking tools than weapons.
“Simple but stimulating.”
He mixed mayonnaise and ketchup, adding a tiny bit of balsamic vinegar he carried in a small jar instead of pickles. Then he finely chopped various vegetables. Making sure not to add too much water, he stirred them thoroughly, creating a dressing!
Though the ingredients were a bit different, what Leeha now had in his mini bowl was undoubtedly a dressing.
“Thousand Island! Sweet and sour.”
Leeha dipped a fruit into the dressing.
The slightly thick dressing dripped from the fruit… and the puol’s nose twitched in response.
“Kuiiit!”
“Bastard, just a moment ago you wouldn’t eat this – fussy, aren’t you?”
Leeha grinned and threw a fruit piece coated in dressing.
The puol crunched it loudly, an astonishing display of voraciousness.
Continuing with the jerky and fruit onslaught, Leeha slowly closed the distance, ensuring the puol stayed relaxed.
One step, then another. By the time he could stroke its mane, he had already given it a fair amount of food.
“Purr-r-r-r, Phoong!”
The puol didn’t make pig noises, but snorted and twitched every time Leeha touched it.
‘Taming is harder than I thought. If it were as easy as just feeding them, Tamers or Druids wouldn’t have such a hard job.’
Even while feeding, one must consider the creature’s diet and habitat, offering them something new yet tasty. Despite trying various foods from the Old Continent’s dressing to the New Continent’s meats, taming still felt distant to Leeha.
‘Now I’m out of food, damn… Can’t give up, I’ve spent 24 hours on this! Maybe I should just release it. If it runs, my familiarity will surely increase. After all, just tying it up and feeding it doesn’t guarantee obedience.’
“Kuiiit! Kuiiit!”
As Leeha stepped back, the puol began to panic again. Once released, it would surely try to escape. Leeha had to make a choice. Should he gamble on securing this ‘mount’ after investing 24 hours?
“If only I could ride Koma longer, but the duration is too short.”
“Grr?”
“No, no, eat up.”
The Fire Bear, called by name, looked at Leeha but immediately resumed devouring the puol’s meat upon being told to continue. Finally, Leeha made his decision.
If it failed, he would just have to run on foot!
“Jellypong! Release it.”
[Mong…]
Sssrrrrkk!
As the restraints were removed, the puol flapped and stood up.
Each time it handled the meat, its impressive muscularity and density were evident.
‘Doesn’t suit a pig face, but well…’
The puol didn’t run away immediately. But for every step Leeha took, it took one back, maintaining distance.
“Here, this is the last piece of jerky. Please!”
Whooosh!
Leeha threw a small piece of jerky.
The puol’s nostrils flared, and before you knew it, it was chewing the jerky.
Even after swallowing it, the puol didn’t approach Leeha, who sighed and turned away.
“I’ve been beaten. Go, just go. Damn, all this time wasted. If only –”
[Mong, mong…!]
Hearing Jellypong’s distressed (?) sound, Leeha quickly turned his head, only to witness an astonishing scene.
“-Huh? What- what’s happening?”
The puol was licking Jellypong.
Every time its long tongue licked over Jellypong, the creature made sounds of laughter or perhaps screams, going “Mong, meow!”
“What are you doing?”
But what it was doing no longer seemed important, as an alarm went off in Leeha’s mind.
[Achievement: Hoping for Friendship-puol (B-)]
Congratulations! You have successfully tamed a puol, the wind’s child running through the great plains of the New Continent Erika. Not all puols will follow you, but those who have received your complete trust and love over a long period will follow you for a certain time.
Reward: Agility +10, Strength +3, Pet: Nameless puol
You are the third registrant of the [Hoping for Friendship-puol] achievement.
The first three registrants of the achievement will be recorded in the Hall of Fame, and an additional 200% of the existing effect will be applied.
Effects: Agility +20, Strength +6
[You do not belong to the animal affinity profession group.]
[Loyalty duration is reduced by 30%.]
[Pet’s stats are reduced by 20%.]
“What? It’s tamed?”
Long time, complete trust, and love? The phrasing in the achievement alone indicated the difficulty of taming.
Although it was only a B- grade achievement, it required a lot of time and effort.
“I get that, but why did it follow me now?”
Lick, lick, lick…
[Mong, mong…!]
Could it be because of this? Leeha looked incredulously at the puol licking Jellypong.
‘Licking Jellypong? Jellypong’s new taste, that pig, and my friendship suddenly 100%? Ah, aha!’
Unusual? Was that even the right word for this? Leeha then remembered. What Jellypong was. What the puol was licking wasn’t just a simple item or a creature resembling a slime.
“The essence made from the Sea God’s essence! Damn, of course! That’s mine!”
It was what Kijung had once thought about but never dared to try – the ‘Essence of the Water Spirit’ that he got from Drake and earned an achievement for drinking.
Even water spirits have their hierarchies!
If the essence of a Sea God’s son was powerful, what about Jellypong, made from the essence of the Sea God himself, the highest among water spirits and Drake’s father?
“You naughty – pig! You’re not supposed to drink that! Jellypong, come here!”
Swoosh!
Jellypong quickly attached itself to Leeha’s chest, transforming into a vest. The puol, missing Jellypong it was busily licking, looked somewhat disappointed, but only for a moment.
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