Divine Beast Tamer

Time passed slowly, and a month passed by.

After the day that Ronald was attacked, he started to hunt everyday crazily. Ronald fought those beasts that are of savage beast rank and spirit beast rank, while Freya fought those beast lord rank that came out after their area had been disturbed by Ronald's crazy hunt.

Ronald also let Anteva out and let her hunt on her own with her small army which was composed of 36 worker minions and 4 major minions. Although Anteva had gained a lot of energy since Ronald started hunting crazily, it was still not enough to sustain a large group of minions, as all minions whether workers, majors or super majors only had a lifespan of 15 days. That is why after 15 days Anteva needed to create another batch, and if she didn't have enough life energy to supply her army, then her strength would lessen.

Anteva's strength wasn't only related to her individual strength but also to the number of minions she can sustain.

But all these things that Ronald did in the forest within this past month was clearly seen and being monitored by someone.

***

Within one of the branches of the largest tree that can be found in the region where Ronald hunted, a woman in a green cloak was sitting while humming and watching the birds that flew within the forest. This woman was the shadow guard that had been assigned to monitor Ronald.

"Hmm, he's not bad, he's improving at a fast speed."

The woman's name was Fenghuang, this wasn't the name which she was born with, it was the name that her master had given her.

She was the only daughter of a noble who had lost his own territory during the war between kingdoms. Her entire family had been all massacred by the enemy, only through her mother and brothers' sacrifice did she managed to escape. But everything didn't end there as after she escaped, she was caught by a merchant and was sold to a slave market in the empire.

And as fate decided to let them meet, she met her current master, Lady Grace.

Grace was a person who really didn't want to enter the slave market, as she didn't like the atmosphere within the market. At that time, Grace was forced by his husband Timothy to come to the slave market with him, as he wanted to find people with good potential for the building of his Shadow Guard.

Grace's skill really helped Timothy in choosing people with good potential, that was why they finished selecting slaves early.

There are 3 reasons why Timothy chose to train slaves as his Shadow Guards.

Firstly, a slave's loyalty is absolute, as their soul was being bound by a soul contract, even just thinking of betraying will instantly kill them.

Second, they are very cheap.

Although Timothy was a son of a noble he didn't have the right of inheriting his father's title, therefore, the money that was available to him was only his savings.

The third and last reason was due to Grace, although slaves are very cheap, most of them have low potential and talent. That is why it is not advisable to choose a slave to be a noble's guard. But with the help of Grace's skill, the potential and talent could be reassured. Timothy had lost a lot just to let Grace accompany him at that time.

After they finished selecting 5 young slaves with good potential and talent, they prepared to leave the market, but at that time a slave trader guiding a new batch of slave passed by them.

Timothy accepted her request and felt that he had gained, but when he asked the trader for the price, his jaws fell.

As the young girl was the only daughter of a fallen noble, her price was very high, but as he had already promised Grace, he had no choice but to squeeze his pockets. He also tried to bargain to the trader to lessen the price, sadly the trader was an old fox and noticed that Grace really wanted the slave and that Timothy will surely buy the slave for her.

While Timothy and trader was bargaining, Grace approached the young girl.

At that time the young girl lost all her hopes of a bright future, it was like she was living her life inside her own nightmares, but then a voice woke her up.

"Do you want to be reborn like the divine beast Pheonix?"

The young girl was very confused as she didn't understand the meaning of the words she said, but she felt hope on the lady's voice and starting longing for that hope.

Then after some time, as Timothy and the trader finished bargaining, she learned that that lady would be her master.

While they were walking, Grace held her hands, which caused Timothy's jealousy, but then he sighed and just stayed silent, as he was thinking on what his next move would be.

At Timothy's and Grace's house, Grace was combing the hair of the newly bathed young girl.

"What is your name?", Grace asked the young girl with a soft voice, but the girl didn't answer.

Because of the soul contract, slaves can't lie to their masters, staying silent means that the slave didn't have an answer to their master's question.

"Oh, you forgot your name?", Grace asked again, and the young girl just nodded.

"I'll give you a new name then.", Grace thought for just a second before she continued.

"Starting today your name shall be Fenghuang.", After Grace said this, she made a beautiful smile and then continued combing Fenghuang's hair, while Fenghuang repeated her name for five times before she too made a beautiful smile.

Since that day, Fenghuang's life changed for the better.

After that time, days passed peacefully until the day when Timothy's Shadow Guard was established and had started their first training, and their instructor was Timothy himself as he can't afford to assign other people to be the instructor.

While Timothy started training his shadow guard, Grace came with Fenghuang.

Timothy was confused by this as he knew that Grace didn't have any interest in this kind of things, so she directed his vision at Fenghuang.

"Uhm, uncle, I also want to be a shadow guard.", Fenghuang said with a small voice while looking on the ground.

Hearing what Fenghuang said, Grace just sighed and didn't say anything.

Grace really like Fenghuang, she treated her like she was her real daughter and wanted to train her to become a proper lady who held a fan, and not a lady who held a sword, but she didn't want to interfere with Fenghuang's choice.

"You know that the training would be very hard right?", Timothy said with a heavy voice as he looked straight at Fenghuang.

Noticing his gaze, Fenghuang looked up and gazed back at Timothy's eyes, before she nodded.

This action of hers gained Timothy's recognition.

"I'll train you the same as everyone, would that be okay?", Timothy asked again but this time with a softer voice.

Fenghuang nodded again.