Chapter 403: Taming the Claw Wolf
The Blood Vitality Grass required stringent conditions to grow. First of all, its seeds were too rare and looked no different from the pollen of a regular grass.
For the seed to mature, it had to be swallowed by a Martial Origin Stage Origin Beast that lived in a place abundant with Origin Essence in the air. This, coupled with the Origin Beast constantly devouring other origin beasts was a needed condition.
And slowly, the Blood Vitality Grass absorbed the blood from the Origin Beast's body, growing in size. Its growth required a lot of nutrients, blood, and Origin Essence, causing the Origin Beast to constantly be on a hunt for prey.
But, it wasn't all cons for the Origin Beast as the Blood Vitality Grass would slowly begin to share its essence with the Origin Beast, strengthening it gradually over time.
It was a symbiotic relationship.
And if a long enough time passes as a result, there was even a chance for the Blood Vitality Grass to affect the Origin Beast to the extent its Origin Essence gains an attribute.
Such Origin Beasts were incredibly rare, but there were precedents. They were not only troublesome to kill, but also lead massive armies, eventually becoming kings that were stronger than Earth Martial Spirit cultivators at the same cultivation.
Though, the Claw Wolf before him wasn't at that stage, having only been in this symbiotic relation for a short while.
Right as Compass Carburettor began to destroy its mind, a thought struck him, causing him to stop as he recalled the figure of Helk, the bandit boss from the Misty Gorge Ruins.
"Maybe there's a chance. I haven't tried it, but if it's possible, I'll get myself a valuable mount." He muttered, beginning to create a seed in his mind.
Origin Art—Sleeper Cell!
As their mind was connected, he planted a Sleeper Cell seed within the Claw Wolf's mind, an almost blank one that had been implanted with some mental cues.
The moment it fell into the Claw Wolf's mind, it was like a stone being dropped in a pool of water, causing countless ripples to form as the seed acted as a tree, absorbing nutrients suitable for its growth.
And here, the nutrients were memories that were necessary for the Sleeper Cell ability to take effect.
Origin Art—Mental Creation!
The advantage of using Mental Creation was the fact that he only needed to will certain functions of it and the resultant power would automatically absorb the related memories from the target, shape it into a memory and activate it.
This way, the target would be placed within a realistic hallucination that would grow stronger over time.
All his Origin Arts worked in conjunction with one another, creating a synergic effect. Almost an hour passed in such a fashion before the Sleeper Cell seed firmly took root in its mind, causing the Claw Wolf to become his mount.
"Sit!" Compass Carburettor said, watching the Claw Wolf sit in response. He then clapped once, watching it roll over.
Suddenly, he turned around, alerted, watching the Claw Wolf respond accordingly. The inputs he had planted within the Sleeper Cell seed consisted of his voice, his image, his scent, body language, etc.
This way, depending on the way he acted, it would react accordingly. That's why he first checked using his voice, seeing that it was a success. Second was his body language, seeing that it worked too.
And third was his scent that his body produced when he sensed danger. He was just acting in this way, but since he had a realistic acting, it believed it.
An animal, especially from a canine breed was capable of sensing a creature's emotions through their scent. The Claw Wolf was the same.
What would occur after years of training was achieved by him in a matter of hours. Though, he still had to make the Claw Wolf repeat such actions until it was instinctual.
Currently, even though it was reacting in the way he desired, there was a delay in its reactions, as it just wasn't used to such things. Though, over time, its actions would become sharper.
That was the effect of the Sleeper Cell ability. Among the humans that were Sleeper Cells, they too became Sleeper Cells gradually, as the seed had to take a root in their minds and grow large enough first.
Compass Carburettor didn't plan on bringing this Claw Wolf with him back to the Gaider Realm. That wasn't his intent as he wasn't sure if it would even survive that long. His goal was just to use it as a mount for the time being while trying to see if the Blood Vitality Grass would grow further.
He wanted to harvest it in its most potent state, that way, the advantage he gained would be the maximum.
He then gazed at the corpse of the cultivator that had attacked him, noticing that their body was pretty mangled, unable to be recognised. He noticed in surprise that this cultivator had a spatial pouch, smirking as he grabbed hold of it, 'I see, that's why he/she was pretty strong.'
"But that's it. If you aren't careful enough, you'll die instantly." He muttered, looking through the contents of the spatial pouch, noticing a lot of essence stones, pills, and a couple of Artifacts within.
He emptied them into his storage bracelet, placing the spatial pouch in a sash that he strung to his hip, "I can either sell this or give it to Grisha for use."
It wasn't possible to place this spatial pouch within his storage bracelet, for the spatial abilities within the two would contradict one another. After that, the Claw Wolf finished eating the cultivator's corpse as Compass Carburettor noticed a minor glow in the Blood Vitality Grass, "I see, so cultivators are also good fuel for its growth."
He then spent a couple more hours training the Claw Wolf, preparing a set of reins and saddle for it. Taking a seat, he clapped twice, watching the Claw Wolf jog forth, smiling, "This saves me a lot of energy."
He then took an Essence Stone, using it to recover his expended Origin Essence, leaving the forest as he came across a massive building in the distance. It seemed to be protected by a barrier, and at its entrance was a massive crowd.
"Is this the first treasure zone?" He muttered, slowly approaching the location.