The First Legendary Beast Master

Chapter 1661 Muddy Demons

The swamp dragons sorted themselves out, while the Beast Rangers marvelled at Karlʼs ability to give directions to a group of hatchling beasts that struggled to ever understand multiple word commands.

The advantage of having them bonded to a Ranger was that someone would naturally understand their wants and needs. But with Karl around, he could just directly interpret their language, and answer them as if they were speaking common.

And they understood him back.

At first, the majority of the Swamp Dragons moved to the ”Demons smell funny” group, laughing at their own joke.

Then, they began to spread out, with over half opting to keep exploring on their own, and five of them coming forward to see who wanted to bond with them.

That wasnʼt quite as many as they had eligible Rangers.

But that was five more than had Swamp Dragons yesterday, and Karl would likely be able to find a comparable subspecies in the other regions of the Tiny World.

The Swamp Dragons were the most obvious, but some of the eggs were likely from Drakes, as Karl had simply grabbed everything that was left after he cleared out the dragon riders encampment.

”Well, nowʼs your chance. Do your best to convince the little ones that youʼre the right choice, and you can get to bonding.” Karl reminded them as everyone stood around awkwardly.

”Right. Well, trying to convince them might not be as easy for us as it is for you. But I think that we can come up with something” one of the Rangers, a lanky Obsession Demon whose hair was dyed almost bubblegum pink, agreed.

She knelt down and brought out a selection of meats.

”These are my favourites. If you like the same ones, there will always be food ready.” She explained.

The beasts looked dubious. Didnʼt that mean that they would have to compete with her for food?

She wasnʼt very large, but if they were allies and both wanted the same thing, there would definitely be competition.

”If we donʼt like the same thing, that means we have to go hunting twice as often, so that we both get what we like. If we pick the same one, we just have to hunt more of the good stuff,” she added, encouraging the dragons.

Karl relayed the message for her, as the dragons didnʼt understand well.

She was using a skill to help attract the potential partner, but it wasnʼt as good as what the System provided Karl as part of his class benefits.

Now that the swamp dragons understood the dilemma, they were much more agreeable about sharing the food.

Hunting for things that didnʼt taste good sounded horrible.

Given the option between that and sharing the food that they did get, they would take sharing every time.

Karl noticed that one of the demons and one of the lizardfolk Rangers stepped back as the others placed their favourite options out for the hatchlings to pick from.

”Problem?” He asked.

”Weʼre both vegetarians. Putting out plants for Swamp Dragons, who prefer not to even have their food cooked, would be a mistake. We will hold off to see if there are other sub-dragon species that we can bond,” the lizardfolk woman explained.

”Ah, that makes good sense. Youʼre already hunting meat for a Dire Wolf, so you might as well look for one partner that likes what you eat”

One of the hatchlings toddled over as Karl was talking. He had mostly understood what they were talking about, and saw this as an opportunity.

”{I want the scaly one who wonʼt steal my food.}” he insisted.

Karl laughed. ”This one says that he doesnʼt share food.”

The lizardfolk stared down into the hatchlingʼs insistent eyes, then held out a chunk of fish.

”Do you like fish? I have lots,” she offered.

The Dire Wolf didnʼt like it, so she had never used up the first batch she had picked up.

A moment later, one of the hatchlings from the ”Demons smell funny” group came over, and sniffed at the vegetarian Demoness.

”{She still smells funny.}” He informed Karl.

”Thatʼs natural. Demons smell very similar, no matter what theyʼve been eating”

The little one frowned, an action that was really only partially lidding its eyes, a swamp dragon didnʼt have lips to adjust.

”{Itʼs not a terrible smell. Can we try dunking her in the swamp and see if it

makes her smell better?}”

The Demoness laughed as she saw the dragon look between her and the water.

”He wants to throw me in the water, doesnʼt he.”

”Yep. He thinks it will make you smell better.”

The Demoness laughed, right before being tackled into the water by a hatchling swamp dragon.

And thatʼs how the whole ”Temp them with food” process ended.

The hatchlings saw their opportunity, and they took it. Team ”demons smell

funny” charged and knocked the rangers down into the mud, sending them rolling into the shallow water.

The Rangers came up, spluttering and laughing as they were swarmed by scaled bodies.

Even though most of them didnʼt object to the smell of demons and lizardfolk, they were swamp dragons. Everything smelled better to them when it was at least a little covered in swamp mud.

They werenʼt even picky about their fish landing in the mud. Sure, it was good when fresh, but a little bit of mud didnʼt hurt anything.

The cook had said something about a three-second rule, but they werenʼt quite sure what happened three seconds after the meat fell on the ground. Presumably, someone else would steal it. But none of them had dared to wait

that long and test the theory.

After rolling the Rangers through the mud a little and soaking them in swamp water, the hatchlings had a consensus.

Demons soaked in swamp mud smelled like Demons soaked in swamp mud, not like a blend of the two.

But it was fun.

So, while they had already determined which of the Rangers they wanted, and

that dunking them in the mud didnʼt fix their scent, they had no intentions of

stopping.