A Nice Catch?
“Giant Flame-Maws? They are unusual for invaders to meet, but there is a pocket of them in another wooded area within the forest, near where the nest of that albino Laughing Fox is. I remember the first one of those bears all those years ago. It was a female, and when she grew up and had her own litter, all of her cubs turned out to be giants as well”
“It went on until a large portion of the population of that area ended up being giant. They are not all the same size, and it isn’t uncommon for an especially large one to be born every once in a while now… Those don’t survive very well at all, though. They need too much food to develop properly, and missing a meal can be fatal for them”
Edrick listened closely. Giant Flame-Maw Bears whose offspring seemingly had an incredibly high chance of being behemoths themselves? That could definitely sell like hotcakes.
Flame-Maws didn’t have a very impressive special ability, but they were still a powerful breed of bear. With the gigantism as an advantage, many would be more willing to invest in one as a battle companion.
‘There is also that albino Laughing Fox… I don’t think albinism means anything about its overall capabilities, but he did mention that it was smarter than the average one… He also confirmed that Laughing Foxes definitely possess an evolved form…’
Anoteros had heard that Laughing Foxes could have white pelt, but albinism was different from that. If that beast was a genuine albino in the sense that Edrick understood it, then it probably had problems with sunlight and a very poor sense of sight... If true, its superior intelligence was understated, as it had managed to survive with severe disadvantages.
‘I’ll keep this in mind for a later date. I shouldn’t get myself into lengthy ventures…’
The priority was training and getting stronger. The rest had to be relegated to a later date.
After a while, the scion spoke up.
“How about I demonstrate my human ways to you eventually? I have just the right activity in mind for that. I would love to get to it right now, but I have some objectives set for myself. If I run late on those, my wives will start to miss me”
“You have a concept of wives, and yet…? I am frankly very confused about your ways, Human. However, considering that the realm seems to have a certain level of appreciation for you, I suppose that I can make an effort. Call upon me when the time is right, and I shall see what sort of activity it is that you are referring to…” the Red Guardian glanced at Ansbach, who was currently knotted inside of the Nature-Blessed Wolf’s cavernous region.
“...I have a feeling that I know the nature of it, but I will refrain from any hasty judgment–As correct as it may be. See you on another day”
The Blutgar disappeared into the night as the scion merely kept cooking meat over the campfire, calmly eating and giving some pieces for Oswulf to eat in his palm, whilst Ansbach was still going at it strongly. If this was just the beginning of him coming to imitate his master, then his success story was going to be a raunchy one for sure.
If Ansbach were capable of reproducing with Nature-Blessed Wolves, then releasing him into the realm would result in a mass hybridisation in record time. Once he got going, there was no stopping him. Only the shortage of partners could put a pause to it.
“Unless you find yourself a harem of nice she-wolves, you might have to be a bit more omnivorous like me, you know?”
Ansbach merely exhaled out of his nose as a response.
“You’ll grow to like it, trust me”
The night passed without any hitch, and early in the morning, Edrick set out for the mountains. He soon set foot upon their rocky expanse.
The point was to get back to the Great Plains, but the noble was strongly hoping to be able to get his hands on at least one local Mountain Sasquatch on the way there. He would prefer a female right now, but would settle for any candidate.
‘Maybe I should have asked for the guardian to send one my way…’
He climbed onto tall peaks and slid down steep descents whilst doing his utmost to be as stealthy as possible. It was a bit difficult when accompanied by a giant red wolf whose stealth was not her domain of expertise, but halfway through the journey, he sensed the presence of one–Even better, actually, he could smell one.
“Guys, I think a sasquatch got itself into a spot it can’t easily get out of…” he commented to his companions before sending them ahead to block off the sasquatch’s escape paths.
Before long, Edrick’s assumption was proven correct, as he found a sasquatch stuck in a corner. This one had really gone to the worst possible place…
Mountain Sasquatches were great climbers. Unfortunately, this one was in an area where the closest walls were not only very smooth, but also where climbing would not just require you to move straight up... It was also a place where the terrain arched, creating a ‘roof’ of sorts, making any attempts at swiftly getting away futile.
From the looks of it, that sasquatch had managed to hit a bird out of the sky and had wanted to come down to claim its catch.
In a stroke of fate, this had been at the exact time a sasquatch lord passed by.
Just by the smell, Anoteros was able to tell that he was dealing with a young female. He could even tell that she hadn’t yet gone through a mating season... Or if she had, had not encountered any males.
“Why so scared? I am your lord, I don’t want to harm you”
Edrick knew that it was because he didn’t just have a regular lord bloodline. He had the Cannibal Sasquatch Lord Bloodline, and that ‘Cannibal’ part was responsible for giving him a rather sinister presence most of the time. Females only flocked to him when in their period of heat. Otherwise, all other sasquatches would rather avoid him like the plague.
Now that he had her right in front of him, Edrick was able to flex his proper authority and get to calm down. She was clearly still wary and afraid, but Anoteros was able to keep her relaxed long enough to restrain her.
“I’ll be taking you on a little trip to the Great Plains… I have been wanting to get myself a female sasquatch for a while”
Surely, she wouldn’t mind being in the service of a lord for some time. It was an honour to provide for someone such as him, and she would also get to go to the Great Plains, something he was certain very few Mountain Sasquatches actually got to experience.
…Not that she really had a say in the matter. Once he was done playing with her, the scion planned on using her assistance to find more Mountain Sasquatches in order to acquire their species-specific boon.
Until then, though, he was going to check what an individual-specific boon looked like for a beast such as a sasquatch.
‘System, any clue if they can carry offspring outside of their mating season?’
As far as I am aware, their mating season exists mostly to encourage them to actually meet up instead of avoiding each other like usual. So, I would assume they have a cycle like humans
Mmh… Guess we’ll be testing that out soon enough.