Chapter 132 – Enthusiasm rises anew
Translated by Sunyancai
Many of the people raising the cubs almost lost all their patience in training. Every day, when they went to bed, they always considered cooking their cubs tomorrow.
But witnessing Caesar’s change aroused some people’s expectations, so they continued raising their cubs.
Said Shao Xuan the cubs must be trained frequently, so they spared some time to train them every day. If it was inconvenient to train their cubs in the tribe, they brought them to the training grounds.
In the woods, many cubs learned hunting skills while frolicking, such as searching, catching, throwing the prey, biting, and so on. And after being trained, some could give full play to their talents, overshadowing their companions, while others became more ordinary.
However, the cubs in the tribe were all talented.
When these people brought their cubs to the several hills around the training grounds, Chacha liked to cause trouble for them.
Lei was training his cub to sneak according to his orders. While he was training it, he heard a noise near him, which was caused by something flying rapidly in the air. He looked round and found his cub had disappeared.
He raised his head and saw the eagle that Shao Xuan kept, circling above him, holding his cub. No matter how he shouted and threatened the eagle, it did not put his cub down, and even flew higher. Then it flapped its wings and left.
Chacha flew back to the tribe with Lei’s cub, and came across Shao Xuan who was going down the mountain.
Chacha never took the others’ words seriously, but it did what Shao Xuan ordered it to do.
He did not throw it down directly, because if it did so, the cub would die if Shao Xuan failed to catch it. After descending, Chacha threw the cub in his claws to Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan caught it, looked at it, and recognized that it was Lei’s cub.
Shao Xuan did not know the type of this cub, but many people did not care about this in the tribe. Shao Xuan remembered that Lei named it Meng.
Meng, at first glance, looked a bit like a hyena, but if you carefully observed it, you would find that it differed much from a hyena. It had a longer and stronger jaw, and his mouth had sharp teeth. It was some kind of carnivore which Lei’s group often encountered. In terms of its habits, they were similar to wolves.
Compared to the wolves, the animals in Meng’s tribe had a more narrow and long body, with a larger skull. The adult animal had powerful muscles so they ran quite fast, therefore, the hunting group was often vigilant of them.
Lei seized the chance to catch Meng when they fought the group.
Although Meng was scared of the height, it still exposed its fangs to Chacha after being caught by Shao Xuan.
Shao Xuan checked Meng, and found it was not scratched by Chacha, and had no other injuries. He guessed Chacha just wanted to scare Lei and Meng, and was just causing mischief.
While he was checking, Lei caught up with them, tired and out of breath. When Lei looked at Chacha, he was so angry that his veins were visible on his forehead.
Chacha could fly away directly, but Lei had to run over the mountains. There were twists and turns on his way, so it took him a lot of time to catch up with Chacha.
Seeing Lei, Shao Xuan put Meng on the ground, who immediately ran towards him, and then lay near Lei’s leg, roaring towards Chacha, that was behind Shao Xuan.
“Well-trained.” Said Shao Xuan.
Judging From Meng’s behavior, he concluded it depended on Lei heavily, which meant it would possibly follow the orders, and even survive the first hunting mission.
Lei was in a different team, so he had opposing views of Shao Xuan under normal circumstances. However, because of training cubs, Lei held a better attitude towards Shao Xuan.
The one-year appointment of last winter now sounded like a joke. It was known to all that Shao Xuan found the very precious fire crystals during the first hunting mission after the ritual. Moreover, he carried many people in the hunting team out of danger. All of that could be considered hunting achievements. In this aspect, he overshadowed the others.
So, according to the one-year appointment last winter, everyone would keep their words and show their achievements this winter. But Shao Xuan needn’t do so. Lei had no choice but to accept this result.
After checking Meng to make sure it was not hurt, Lei looked at Chacha, that was behind Shao Xuan.
“Ah-Xuan, you should pay more attention to it, for it has often caused trouble.”
“OK, but you should also train Meng to be vigilant of flying birds.” Said Shao Xuan.
Lei nodded, intending to take Meng to leave. He took two steps, stopped, and turned around. He asked Shao Xuan, “Do you know what the Chief and the team leaders are discussing in the Shaman’s house?”
“You know?” Shao Xuan looked at Lei and asked. The elders in Lei’s family had discussed the new route with the Shaman, so he should also have been told about this program.
“Of course I know, I can tell you, but you have to tell me something else in exchange for it.” Said Lei.
“What do you want to know?” Shao Xuan asked.
“I want to know the reason of Caesar’s change in detail.” Said Lei with expectations, his eyes glistening. Between the regular beasts and the ferocious beasts, he naturally preferred the ferocious beasts, so he wished Meng to become a ferocious beast in the future…
“You don’t need to tell me what they discuss. As for what you want to know, wait for a few days and you will know.” Said Shao Xuan, and then made a gesture. Chacha immediately flew up, and followed him down the mountain.
Seeing Shao Xuan and his eagle leave, Lei frowned.
Did Ah-Xuan know the program? But only a very small number of people know that, and only close relatives were told. Why did the Shaman tell him?
As for the reason for Caesar’s change, he answered “You will know it in a few days.” What did he mean?
Three days later, the Shaman distributed 100 copies of the volumes which recorded the profound craft and the hunting animals kept by the ancestors. Not every household in the mountain could get one copy, but at least several could share one.
The 100 copies triggered off a huge wave of discussion in this peaceful tribe.
Training cubs even originated from the ancestors?
The ancestors were so capable!
As well as magical profound craft, related to Caesar’s change into a ferocious beast?
The Shaman could really do anything!
……
The Shaman did not tell them how Caesar had changed into a ferocious beast, or who had branded him. But according to the records in the volume, only the Shaman could use the craft. Everyone naturally assumed that it was the Shaman that had performed it on Caesar, that caused such a change in him.
When the Shaman distributed these volumes, he also said, if in the tribe a beast was comparable to a hunting animal, he would perform the craft on it.
The Shaman cooked a pie for everyone, and explained how to eat it, and how to eat more of it depended on each of themselves.
The enthusiasm of those who had gotten impatient aroused again. They even caught a few more cubs when hunting. They knocked them unconscious, tied them up, and brought them back to the tribe. Then they specifically taught them the hunting skills. Some people did not intend to raise cubs, but the volumes distributed by the Shaman generated their enthusiasm.
In a short time, the number of cubs that had plummeted, gradually grew again, but most of them still ended up in the pot.
One year later.
It seemed the earliest group of cubs brought back to the tribe had matured. They might not be adults, but most of the beasts at this age in the woods were involved in hunting, they went hunting alone or with their relatives. And at this time, some in the hunting group began to ask the group leaders for permission to bring their own beasts to go hunting.
In their view, their beasts had been so strong, that in the tribe they could often catch some stone rats, and they were very obedient. What’s more, they could make fierce attacks… These warriors thought their beasts were much better than Caesar.
Not just one or two warriors, but several of them had such an idea.
They had kept their beasts for nearly two years. It had cost them a lot to raise these cubs that had grown so strong now. It was time for them to go hunting.
The Shaman looked at the proposals handed in by the team leaders and did not reject them, but told them what should be paid attention to, which Shao Xuan had put forward.
After obtaining permission from the Shaman, the Chief and the team leaders, with great pride, several warriors strode across the Path of Glory with their beasts.
However, when the hunting team came back again, almost none of their beasts came with them.
Five beasts set out with them, but only one returned, which was Lei’s Meng.
Meng survived, but it received many wounds. Lei had witnessed Caesar’s injuries after going hunting, so he felt reassured. Anyway, as the only beast that could come back, Meng outperformed the other four.
Such a result worried some people a lot, and they began to question whether their beasts could come back safely in the future.
Two of the four beasts that did not come back lost control while hunting the prey. They did not obey the orders, and even launched an attack on the members of the hunting group. As a result, these beasts were killed on the spot.
As for the other two, one was kicked by the prey on the head, so it took it’s last breath soon after. The other ran away and could not be stopped.
This result made those who also intended to go hunting with their beasts hesitate to do so. They thought they had to strengthen the training of their beasts’ dependence and self-control, which Shao Xuan had reminded them to pay attention to.
In the following few hunting missions, besides Meng, who was kept by Lei, unexpectedly several other beasts returned safely. Which included Liao, Mo Er’s cave lion, Si Ya, Mao’s fur-less boar, and the beasts raised by Ah-Yang and Ah-Guang.
Ah-Yang and Ah-Guang had also caught two animals during the hunting. Ah-Yang brought back a cub which looked like a hyena, and he called it An.
The one brought back by Ah-Guang was a big bird egg at the beginning, which was stolen from a nest. She always wanted to keep a flying bird like Chacha, but when she hatched the egg following Shao Xuan’s instruction, she found that this bird could not fly. It was a wingless bird, similar to the phorusrhacos. But she kept raising it instead of cooking it, and named it Jing.
After a year, the two animals kept by Ah-Yang and Ah-Guang followed the hunting group out hunting, and both had good performance in general, which made Mai very happy.