Chapter 164: Successful Monster Domestication

That night, Jia Zhengjin gave Tina a severe "lesson," showing her no mercy despite her continuous pleas for mercy.

When waking up in the morning, Tina found herself unable to get out of bed. Hiding under the covers, she shyly scolded her husband for being too cruel.

Jia Zhengjin personally prepared a sumptuous breakfast, which finally brought a smile back to his "severely ravaged" wife.

"Keane," Tina murmured, leaning against his chest with a look of pure bliss as she tasted the delicious meal her husband had made for her, "tonight, go sleep in Perinn's room. You were so cruel to me last night; there's no way I can accompany you today!"

Jia Zhengjin reached out and gently stroked Tina's golden hair. "Understood."

After his wife finished eating, Jia Zhengjin picked up the dishes and went downstairs.

Perinn and Christina were still eating.

He first washed the dishes in the kitchen, then came out and said to Perinn, "Tina isn't feeling very well today. Take good care of her for me!"

"Yes!" Perinn stopped eating, looked up, and replied.

"Oh, right! I'll be in your room tonight," Jia Zhengjin said.

"Yes!" Perinn replied expressionlessly.

"What's wrong with Lady Tina? Is she sick?" Christina asked. "Is it because you two played too hard last night?"

Jia Zhengjin's old face flushed. He thought to himself, *Why does this clueless girl say whatever comes to her mind?* Coughing awkwardly, he said, "None of your business, don't meddle!"

"I'm a priest!" Christina said. "I'll go heal Lady Tina."

"Can that even be healed?" the corners of Jia Zhengjin's mouth twitched.

"Which kind? As long as it's a physical injury, we priests can heal it!" Christina answered innocently. "A single recovery spell will do!"

"..." Jia Zhengjin didn't even know how to retort, so he acted like he hadn't heard and bolted out the door.

Having Christina around constantly made him feel awkward. This female priest was even more naive than the little girls in the village, and she completely lacked basic life common sense. Sometimes her words and actions left him with no way to step down.

Should he consider finding a time to forcibly send her away? Sending her back to the City of Light would be better than keeping her here.

With a gloomy mood, he hurried outside the city early in the morning to check on the zombie corpse discarded the previous night. Because he hadn't dared to walk too far in the dark, he had simply had the kobolds toss it nearby. Come to think of it, for safety's sake, it would have been better to cremate it!

Relying on his memory, Jia Zhengjin arrived outside the city, only to find that the base of the wall where the zombie should have been was completely empty. Only a pile of crossbow bolts stained with foul blood remained to prove that his memory hadn't played tricks on him.

It seemed to have been eaten by some otherworldly creature.

Whatever, that was pretty much the same as cremation.

Jia Zhengjin had people gather the crossbow bolts together and set them on fire until they were burned to ashes.

Following his daily routine, he went to the beehive to recruit worker bees, then headed back into the city toward the beast pen.

All four first-tier magical beasts had been successfully tamed, and he eagerly released them.

The successfully tamed beasts affectionately surrounded him, completely devoid of the wildness they had shown before taming.

Frost Spider, Kuru, Money Mouse, and Manticore—they varied in size, yet all of them were formidable!

"They've already been successfully tamed?" Doma walked over with his giant axe, looking with astonishment at the four ferocious and brutal magical beasts that were now affectionately rubbing against Jia Zhengjin and acting cute.

Lord Keane was truly formidable! Just locking these magical beasts away for a few days without doing much of anything had actually been enough to tame them! Lord Keane truly possessed hidden depths; though he usually pretended to be quite weak, who could have imagined that he was capable of taming all sorts of magical beasts and even a dragon?

Doma's eyes were filled with deep admiration and awe.

Buddy, Wolf, and Carl arrived one after another to assemble, and all of them were utterly shocked at the sight.

Jia Zhengjin glanced at the four magical beasts, then looked at his subordinates. "Come on! Take one each of these four magical beasts. They can serve as both mounts and combat partners!"

"Give them to us?!" Doma was startled upon hearing this. "How can we do that? Magical beasts are extremely precious. Lord Keane, you should keep them for yourself!"

"I have a dragon!" Jia Zhengjin shrugged and said.

"Oh! That's right!" Doma finally remembered that Lord Keane possessed an actual dragon, which meant these first-tier magical beasts were indeed far too weak in his eyes. With that thought, it became much easier to accept. "Then... then we really each get one?"

Not just Doma; Buddy was also extremely excited.

This was a magical beast! Even if it was only a first-tier magical beast, it was still an extraordinarily powerful creature. In all the vast empires of the continent, those capable of taming magical beasts as pets were few and far between!

Compared to Doma and Buddy, the werewolf Wolf and Carl appeared much calmer. In their view, their own strength was the most important thing.

"Then... how should we divide them?" Doma asked nervously, his speech even becoming a bit stuttered.

"Right! How do we divide them?" Buddy was also nervously rubbing his hands together.

"As you like!" Wolf and Carl said indifferently. "Just leave the leftovers for us."

"How could we do that?" Doma grinned broadly.

"I want the Kuru!" Buddy decided very decisively, choosing the flying-type magical beast straight away. He deeply envied Lord Keane's dragon and also wanted to experience the sensation of soaring through the skies on the back of a flying creature.

However, a dragon was definitely out of the question, so settling for the next best thing, a Kuru that could fly, was also a great choice.

Doma thought for a moment. "I'll take this Manticore!"

Neither the spider nor the rat fit his aesthetic, and the lion had a much more imposing presence.

Once Doma and Buddy had chosen their desired magical beasts, Wolf and Carl used rock-paper-scissors to decide the ownership of the remaining two.

Wolf got the Frost Spider, while Carl took the Money Mouse.

With the four magical beasts distributed, Doma and Buddy eagerly climbed onto the backs of their pets.

"You guys go give it a try too!" Jia Zhengjin turned to Wolf and Carl and said.

Doma rode the Manticore on a wild dash across the city, frightening quite a few villagers into hiding in their homes, too afraid to come out until they realized the rider atop the beast was one of their own. Even so, lingering fear remained, and they dared only watch from afar.

Buddy rode alone on the Kuru, a creature resembling a giant vulture, soaring through the skies above the city. The sensation was immensely thrilling to him. He intentionally flew over the town guard encampment to show off to his subordinates, whose eyes went wide with envy as they fantasized about being the ones riding the magical beast.

Compared to the excited Doma and Buddy, the two werewolves, Wolf and Carl, appeared much more composed. Riding the Frost Spider and Money Mouse, they primarily tested the comfort of the mounts, the balance during combat, and their endurance.

Seeing the growing crowd of gathered town guards, along with Amber leading the newly formed crossbow squad, and facing the intense envy in their eyes, Jia Zhengjin said to them, "If you're envious, then become stronger! As long as you earn my recognition, you too can become powerful warriors who ride magical beasts!"

"Roar~~!!" In an instant, the entire crowd erupted in a frenzy!