Chapter 144: Beasts from Grassy Continent. Dong He’s Observation.
When the deer was barely breathing, its owner took that opportunity to cancel their blood pact and then tossed it into the ocean. Perhaps the owner never expected this deer to be fortunate enough to survive this ordeal.
As to the specifics of why its owner would be so heartless, Lin Jin had no idea. But if he ever came across that b*stard, he’d definitely ask why they abused the deer so badly.
The caravan from Grassy Continent settled down on an empty space inside Maple City. Many people were currently headed here and the place was bustling with life.
After all, it would be nice to increase their knowledge even if they couldn’t buy any pets.
Lin Jin also didn’t plan on making any purchases. He was there to record new beasts.
Upon arrival, Lin Jin immediately saw a massive creature.
Its limbs were massive and its skin tough, being about six meters-long. The fact that there was no fence around it, and with so many people surrounding it made it clear that it was a tame creature.
Lin Jin went over and touched the beast.
“Rank 1 ambulocetus. Blood pact formed. Earth attribute.”
“Unique creature from the Grassy Continent, adept in transporting goods.”
“The evolution method…”
Lin Jin understood now. This creature’s main task was pulling carts, playing the role of a cow or a horse.
However, its head overall stature was incredible. The saying that the Grassy Continent had the best beasts wasn’t a lie after all.
After seeing this ambulocetus, Lin Jin decided that he must travel to Grassy Continent someday. He felt that there definitely were interesting things waiting for him over there.
Lin Jin continued moving along. As the ambulocetus functioned somewhat like a horse, there wasn’t much to see. There were even better creatures inside.
Here, he came across a number of species native to the Grassy Continent.
Lin Jin had previously met people from the north. They had bulky builds and straightforward personalities. On the other hand, the people of the Grassy Continent were the epitome of ‘rugged’.
It wasn’t like they had muscular and striking builds, nor were they wrapped in animal hide or had animal teeth as accessories. Somehow, there was a Spartan-like attitude to these people.
Both the men and women gave off the same feeling.
Up ahead were wild beasts from Grassy Continent bound by chains while some were kept in cages. Lin Jin had never seen most of the creatures before, but he recognized some from books.
For example, there was a shar-pei lizard that was over two meters long. Then there was a thick sand-spitting snake with formidable attack power.
On a whole, there seemed to be over a hundred wooden or metal cages of different sizes. This didn’t include the larger amount of creatures being tied up in chains or ropes.
Without further delay, Lin Jin invoked his coiled wire needle and began ‘recording beasts’.
A sleeping shar-pei lizard suddenly felt a sting in its paw and shuddered. One of the Grassy Continent natives got swiped by the lizard’s tail and fell down flat on his face.
Clearly, even with its rough skin, a shar-pei lizard couldn’t withstand the sharpness of a coiled wire needle.
Wherever Lin Jin went, there would be wild beasts yelping, shuddering, or struggling in pain.
“Rank 1 shar-pei lizard. Earth attribute…”
“Rank 1 rockhorn tyrannosaurus. Earth attribute…”
“Rank 2 metal bark scorpion. Wood attribute…”
“…”
As Lin Jin watched data of beasts pour into the museum, he was even ecstatic to see a few rare beasts in the mix. By the time he was done recording them all, he should be close to getting the next rewards.
A little distance away, Dong He noticed Lin Jin.
He frowned.
“Why is this guy everywhere?”
Up till now the incident of him mimicking Lin Jin’s trick by steaming a client’s crab was still fresh in Dong He’s memory.
Dong He assumed that Lin Jin had deliberately tricked him into doing that.
But speaking of which, he now acknowledged that Lin Jin’s skill at his job. Even his sister, Dong Que, and his brother-in-law Nan Gongxian had told him about it.
If he wasn’t capable enough, the man couldn’t have passed the Rank 2 beast appraiser’s exam.
Nan Gongxian even told Dong He to keep a low profile, and if an opportunity ever arises, he was to learn something from Lin Jin.
Despite being nonchalant on the surface, Dong He remembered it well.
He was currently observing Lin Jin, trying to see how the latter appraised beasts.
The entourage following Dong He around joined him in watching Lin Jin discreetly.
“Brother Dong, have you noticed that wherever Lin Jin goes, beasts would be crying out?” One of his followers with keen observation skills spoke up after noticing this detail.
Dong He nodded.
He noticed it as well.
“Not only that. Look, although some larger ambulocetuses are much tamer, they dislike being touched by humans. These creatures would avoid people who reached out their hands. But they’d never back away when it’s Lin Jin who’s touching them. Look at how obedient they are when he makes physical contact with them! Why is that?” Dong He flaunted his observation skills as well.
The others nodded in agreement, unable to figure out this mystery.
Someone suddenly spoke up. “That Lin Jin isn’t using seals nor invoking spells. That means he might not be using beast appraising skills. Let’s watch him carefully. Maybe we can find some clues.”
Dong He nodded in response. He had the same idea as well.
Lin Jin had risen up too quickly.
So quickly that the entire Beast Appraisal Association couldn’t get used to it. Knowledge was something Dong He couldn’t steal but if the man had some secret techniques that no one knew of, Dong He assumed that if Lin Jin could do it, he could too.
And so, his group continued to watch Lin Jin from afar, hoping that he would drop a clue.
Then, they saw Lin Jin walking somewhere before squatting down suspiciously.
“What’s he doing?”
Dong He’s heart thumped and he quickly craned his neck over to look.
However, there were too many heads moving around. Even if he stood on tiptoes and extended his neck, Dong He couldn’t see clearly. This flustered him and he quickly pushed through the crowd, hurrying toward Lin Jin’s direction.
By then, Lin Jin had stood back up and nonchalantly continued forward.
Dong He and his followers hurried over to the spot where Lin Jin had been squatting down just now. They deduced that Lin Jin must have done something there.
“This should be it!” Dong He finally arrived at the location where Lin Jin was standing just now. Looking down, he saw a wooden barrel.
The wooden barrel reeked as it contained feces from one of the caged beasts.
Other than this, there was nothing else.
Among Dong He’s entourage, one of them began pondering and came up with a farfetched idea.
“Brother Dong, I got it!” that person exclaimed.
Dong He was in the middle of thinking when his men shouted. He responded with an anxious demand, “Spit it out! Quick! Don’t keep me on my toes!”
That man said at once, “Brother Dong, do you remember what was mentioned in the encyclopedia of beasts? What do wild beasts use to mark their territory?”
Dong He considered before answering, “Feces and urine!”
“That’s right!” That man continued, sounding pleased, “I think the key to Lin Jin being able to intimidate these beasts is in this barrel of feces. Think about it. Most beasts possess a sense of smell far greater than ours. Wouldn’t a rabbit be frightened by the smell of a lion?”
This was a very simple theory. It couldn’t even be considered a secret as anyone with common sense could figure it out.
Some books even had theories of this sort recorded in their pages.
For example, during the olden days, when someone was lost in the woods, they would smother feces of wild beasts on themselves to deter other creatures, allowing themselves to escape successfully. Meanwhile, in beast taming, the usage of a higher level beast’s smell to contain a newly captured beast was common practice.
However, these practices were ancient, and not many people used them anymore. For one, modern professionals disliked this practice because feces and urine were filthy contaminants. Apart from that, there were already plenty of spells and seals to subdue beasts. Hence, although this method was recorded in books and supplemented with tons of real examples, not many beast appraisers were willing to practice it.
Even Dong He who assumed that he had figured out Lin Jin’s secret responded with a look of disdain.
“And here I thought what kind of mystifying skill Lin Jin could have been using but he’s actually using such a low technique! Although I, Dong He, am not brilliant nor skilled, I would never use this technique. Never!”
The others nodded in agreement. Simultaneously, their contempt for Lin Jin grew.