Chapter 952: Three Beast Taming Methods
Shortly after Faelyn exclaimed, Aria"s eyes brightened at once. She was also fascinated by the adorable creature being held by Leon.
The Winter Cat was small, and its strength wasn"t high, but it was very ferocious and stubborn.
"Reow!" the Winter Cat continued to growl.
The Winter Cat furiously resisted as it dangled in Leon"s hand. However, it couldn"t achieve its intended purpose no matter what it did.
"Ah, how can it be so adorable even when it"s angry? I want to pet it," Aria said.
However, the Winter Cat immediately snapped and hissed in retaliation when Aria"s hand drew near it.
"Be careful. It"s not strong, but it"s still a feral beast. You can get yourself hurt if you are careless," Leon warned her.
However, Aria knitted her brows and said, "My fleshly strength has already exceeded 5-million jin. How can this Winter Cat hurt me when it"s not even a Transcendent-level beast?"
"Maybe not, if it was just any ordinary Winter Cat. However, I don"t think this Winter Cat is normal. We can see that the Winter Cat"s strength and speed were not high; its claws and fangs are exceedingly sharp," Leon said.
"They could probably even cut through the defense of Paragon-level beasts," Leon continued. "I"m not sure if their survival tools were evolved out of necessity to live in this cold region, but there is one thing I know for sure."
"And that thing is?" Elizabeth asked curiously.
She was no expert, but she could also see that the Winter Cat"s fangs and claws were mismatched with its present level of strength.
"This Winter Cat"s fangs and claws are excellent materials for making weapons," Leon stated.
"What!" Aria and Faelyn exclaimed with outrage.
They immediately wanted to s.n.a.t.c.h the Winter Cat out of Leon"s hand and bring it under their protection. They feared he would kill for said materials.
"Reow!" the Winter Cat growled.
The Winter Cat quickly retaliated upon seeing two female humans" abrupt hands closing in on it. Unfortunately, its claws did not reach them as the male human pulled it away in the nick of time.
"Didn"t I say to be careful?" Leon"s lips twitched.
Aria and Faelyn were losing their minds over a creature. Nevertheless, he had to admit that the Winter Cat was a little cute.
Even so, it was too ferocious!
"Ah, you did say that, but… How could you think of killing this adorable kitten for its claws and fangs?! Isn"t that too cruel?" Aria berated Leon for his cruelty.
Leon immediately felt wronged.
"What"s wrong with that?" Darlene casually asked.
She had the most indifferent expression to Leon"s statement among all the people present. Leon quickly looked at her as if she was his savior, someone who shared his views.
"What do you mean what"s wrong with that, Sister Darlene? Do you think it"s okay to kill such a cute creature for its claws and fangs? Where"s the justice in that?" Aria preached before pointing at the Winter Cat. "Just look at it. Do you really have the heart to kill it?"
After looking into the Winter Cat"s big round eyes, Darlene"s heart wavered. It was certainly cute. Even so, what"s the use of being cute?
"It is cute," Darlene nodded. But then, she added, "But the warriors of the plains hunt all sorts of beasts all the time. If it can"t be tamed, isn"t it normal to hunt it for its materials and meat? After all, it"ll be a threat to everyone if we can"t get rid of its feral nature."
"Then all we have to do is tame it, no?" Faelyn thought.
That being said, Faelyn wasn"t confident that they could tame the Winter Cat.
The elven tribe had some proficiency in communicating beasts and domesticating them. However, the number was minimal. Furthermore, she knew little about the Winter Cats.
"Can we try? Pretty please?" Aria gave Leon the puppy eyes.
"Sure," Leon shrugged ruefully.
There was no justice when it involved survival. Aria never showed any mercy when their survival was at stake.
But now that survival wasn"t a concern, and it involved a cute little beast, Aria, and even Faelyn were overflowing with affection towards it.
"Cuteness is justice, huh?" Leon thought wryly.
"If we want to tame a beast, there are usually three ways to go about it. Domination, grat.i.tude, or temptation are the options," Leon mentioned after he did a quick search in the Archive for related materials.
"Considering how ferocious this little b.u.g.g.e.r is, it is definitely a tenacious fighter. I don"t think domination will work on it. As for grat.i.tude, it won"t be easy. After all, we haven"t fully grasped the situation in the north. Thus, we don"t know if the Winter Cat has any predators in this region."
"Furthermore, we can"t exactly break its legs and treat it. Such a forced method is more likely to break its spirit instead of earning its grat.i.tude—if done repeatedly," Leon added.
"In other words, the temptation method is the best method to tame the Winter Cat, right?" Faelyn asked for confirmation.
"Not exactly," Leon shook his head and said, "The grat.i.tude method has the highest success chance, but the conditions to earn grat.i.tude is stringent. On the other hand, domination has the lowest success chance, but it does guarantee quick results."
"As for temptation, it requires patience, diligence, and in-depth knowledge of the Winter Cat. After all, we can"t tempt it if we don"t know what it likes and dislikes. Fortunately for us, I do happen to know what the Winter Cat likes," Leon stated.
"You do, son?" Elizabeth asked.
"Yeah, the Winter Cats loves to eat fish. Fish is like a very addictive treat for them. The fresher the fish is, the crazier the Winter Cats" craving for them," Leon said.
Alas, Elizabeth, Aria, and Faelyn all looked stunned. They expected an amazing answer, but what they got was very simple.
"Fish… Doesn"t that apply to all cats? Furthermore, the Winter Cats live in this cold north region. Surely, they have grown used to eating sea monster meat," Aria mentioned. "Are you sure fish will work? We don"t have to use something else?"
"If you loved eating rice all your life, would you suddenly get sick of it just because you tried something new?" Leon asked her.
"Well… no," Aria answered before she added wryly, "But did you have to use rice as an example, Leon?"