Reign of the Hunters
Chapter 97: Tamed! Epic Tier Monster!

Ye Ci stood up.

She steadied herself on the boulder, watching Garrison, who laid motionless on the ground, with a calm expression. Garrison stared back at Ye Ci with its golden one and a half eyes. Ye Ci unslung her crossbow and took aim at Garrison. She, however, was unable to pull the trigger.

Garrison was not acting how a monster normally would. The overly extraordinary eyes gave Ye Ci an indescribable feeling.

Right at that moment, Ye Ci even felt that the thing that laid before her was not a monster, but a hero who once reigned over the battlefield and was now calmly waiting for its ultimate ending– death.

At such a moment, Ye Ci really had such an impression. She was not sure if she was ill, or was simply too immersed in the game. She had detected a hint of human emotion from Garrison.

Since ancient times, heroes and beauties shared the same fate. They would never live to see the day their hair turns white. (1)

At this very moment, Garrison gave Ye Ci the vibe of the sorrow of a hero who was past his prime.

In the end, Ye Ci lowered her crossbow and mumbled, “Even if this is an Epic-tier monster, the items that it drops will get outdated eventually. But, an Epic-tier pet might not be the same.” With that, she jumped down from the boulder and walked towards Garrison that was staring at her with its cold eyes, until she was within the range of Light of Enticement.

She began to cast Light of Enticement, and a red halo appeared on Garrison’s head. The casting time for Light of Enticement was 12 seconds, and was also affected by level penalty. Not only was Garrison 19 levels higher than Ye Ci, it was an Epic Monster as well. The success rate of capturing it as a pet was quite low.

Light of Enticement consumed 20% of a Hunter’s total mana points each time it was cast. It meant that one could continuously cast the skill 5 times. Ye Ci had never had to worry about mana consumption due to her Strength Conservation passive ability. It was different in this situation, as Light of Enticement would not deal damage to its target, which meant that there were no damage points that could be converted into mana.

Due to the level penalty, Ye Ci could not tame Garrison even after exhausting her mana. Ever since Ye Ci had obtained the Strength Conservation skill book, she never brought any mana potions with her. That was why the only thing she could do was sit still and wait before continuing after exhausting her mana pool.

After countless failed attempts, Ye Ci was on the verge of falling asleep. As expected of an Epic Monster, Garrison, with its high defence and high HP, was able to survive the burning debuff in the Burning Crevice that would have been fatal to a normal monster.

“Being my pet is pretty good, at least I won’t mistreat you. I’ll feed you well, and you even get to fight alongside me. Don’t you like to fight? Aren’t you a violent one? Just come with me. If you die here today, it’s not worth it.” The boredom and her drowsiness drove Ye Ci to talk to Garrison in an attempt to stay awake. She was not even sure if it understood her anyways. She was just looking for something fun to do so that she would not be bored.

It was something weird, but after listening to Ye Ci’s words, Garrison narrowed his cold eyes that had been staring at Ye Ci.

It went unnoticed by Ye Ci, who yawned and continued speaking, “They say that a bad life is better than a good death. Look at yourself, you’re an Epic-tier monster. If you die here just like that, don’t you think that it’s not worth it? Epic-tier, which is a high grade. I know, I know. You don’t want to be my pet. If it was me, I wouldn’t want to do that either. I’m the king in the wild, I’ll kill whoever gets in my way. But have you thought about something? The players’ level will grow as well. Sooner or later they will defeat you. Even if you don’t die today, you will die the next time you come across somebody else. I know that Epic-tier monsters only appear once. If you die here and now, it’s game over. It’s better to come with me. If you come with me, as long as the game does not go bankrupt, you can still show off your might to the world, how good is that…?”

With that, Ye Ci let out another yawn. She was too sleepy. There was 4 seconds left until the Light of Enticement could be cast, and her mana would be depleted again after that. It seemed that she would need to wait for her mana to regenerate again.

After spending so much time, Ye Ci’s mood began to grow sour. She swore to herself that she would not give up until this big guy was burned to death or was tamed by her. She wanted results, or all her efforts would be wasted…

Garrison’s eyes closed slowly, and it exhaled through its huge nose, its consciousness appearing to be dissipating…

A dazzling golden light suddenly appeared around Half-eyed Garrison, and a system notification rang out: “You’ve successfully tamed Half-eyed Garrison as your pet.“

Perhaps it was due to her countless failed attempts, Ye Ci failed to react to her sudden success. After a short pause, she cried out in surprise, and immediately called out her pets’ status window. Sure enough, other than Ol’ Three, there was another pet in her pet column. It was the the black-skinned golden eye Garrison.

Name: Tyrannosaurus Rex

Owner: Gongzi You

Level: 1

HP: 1100/19320

Stamina: 14000/14000

Abilities: Taunt, Speed Up, Tearing Bite, Tail Whip, Stampede, Tremor

Attributes: Intelligent, Loyal, Blood-Thirsty, Violent, Keen

Special Ability: Combat Steed

Loyalty: 1

Damn, as expected of an Epic-tier monster! It could even be used as a steed. A normal steed couldn’t be used in a battle, and players would need to dismount in a fight. But this Epic-tier Monster allowed players to ride it into battle, how could it not be overpowered?

Dammit, as expected of an Epic-tier monster! It had nearly 20,000 HP even at lvl 1! Ye Ci’s HP was nowhere near Garrison’s, and she was already lvl 29. It was… Embarrassing.

As Ye Ci took a glance at her pet’s Loyalty, she couldn’t resist the urge to curse. Dammit! As expected of an Epic-tier monster! Even an Elite or Sub-Elite monster would have 10 points of Loyalty by default. But this guy only had 1 point of Loyalty.

It meant that if either Garrison or Ye Ci died at that moment, Garrison would immediately escape…

Speaking of the HP, when Ye Ci noticed that it had only a very low percentage of its HP left, she had immediately attempted to heal Garrison with Pet Heal. But her mana was basically almost exhausted, and it got depleted after she healed Garrison to the point where it had 3000 HP. The only thing she could do was to take out some bandages to dress Garrison’s wound at the back of its legs. She had observed its condition when she was casting Light of Enticement. There was a deep gash at the joint of the back of Garrison’s right leg, which might be the reason it was crippled.

Ye Ci bandaged Garrison’s wound while pouring the last of her Health Potions into its mouth. She was lucky that Garrison’s size shrunk after it was tamed, or Ye Ci’s bandages would not be enough to bandage even one of its toes.

Garrison stared coldly at Ye Ci with its one and a half eyes throughout the entire process, not showing even a hint of intimacy. Ye Ci sighed, Epic-tier monsters were just so difficult to serve.

After her hard work, Ye Ci once again cast Pet Healing on Garrison when her mana was replenished. Ye Ci was able to completely heal Garrison with repeated attempts. She was so tired that she sat beside Garrison, leaning against it for support while gasping for air. Ye Ci’s stamina was already nearly depleted. She took out some roasted meat and ate the one with the lower grade, while feeding a high grade roasted quail to Garrison.

If her assumption was correct, a T-rex was as picky as a panther. A T-rex would not eat anything like a bear or a tortoise type pet. It only eats meat, especially those that were cooked.

Garrison chewed on the roasted quail. Satisfied with the taste, it nudged Ye Ci with its head, indicating with a hint of pampered arrogance that it wanted more.

Ye Ci let out a sigh. Such was an Epic-tier monster. She must serve it as best as she could. Ye Ci fed a few more pieces of roasted quail to Garrison, and its mood improved. It let out a satisfied burp, and Ye Ci received a system notification: “Your pet is very satisfied with your treatment, Loyalty increased to 5.”

Satisfied… Ye Ci was puzzled. She had the urge to tell this guy, ‘Please give me more good ratings, please.’

Then again, the fact that Ye Ci had tamed an Epic-tier monster was very satisfying. The next task at hand was to leave the place. But before that, another more important thing in Ye Ci’s mind was to name give Garrison a name. After all, the name Garrison was generated by the system. Since it was now her pet, it must go by her rules.

“Do you want to name your pet?”

“Yes.”

“Please name your pet.”

“Ol’ Four.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Naming successful.”

Ye Ci was satisfied when Garrison was renamed as Ol’ Four. That’s what she called a family. She was number one, the eldest, while Ol’ Three was the third, and Ol’ Four was naturally the fourth. As for Ol’ Two(2)… That name was too unclean, and Ye Ci decided that she would never use it in this lifetime.

When a pet was crippled, it was different from a player’s crippled state. If a player was crippled, he or she must be treated by a specific NPC in a major city. But when a pet was crippled, it could be healed by its owner. As Ye Ci stood up, Ol’ Four stood up shakily as well.

Although Ye Ci could ride on Ol’ Four, she gave up after staring at its 5 points of Loyalty. What if she angered it after riding on it and it ran away? Who would she cry about it to? After all, it was an Epic-tier monster. Even if it was arrogant, Ye Ci had to let it be. It was not too late when its Loyalty reached 100 points.

The DEBUFF in the Burning Crevice was continuously reducing Ye Ci’s and Ol’ Four’s HP. Ye Ci had depleted her stockpile of potions. She dismissed Ol’ Four and headed in the general direction of an opening of the crevice based on her memory. If memory served, she would be able to climb out of the crevice to a neighbouring map.

Translator’s Notes:

(1)自古英雄如美人，不许人间见白头(Proverb): A Chinese proverb carrying the meaning that heroes and beauties do not live long.

(2)老二(slang): Literally translated as “old two”. A Chinese slang for a man’s penis.

There! Finally a chapter with NO cliff!!! Yay? XDXD Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter!!!

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