The festival lights shimmered under the canopy of the ancient tree.
Music and laughter still carried through the air — but Yoomlana's eyes had already caught the flicker of unrest at the edge of the celebration.
She didn't show it. Her expression remained composed, the serene face of a leader who could smile through a storm.
After ten minutes, when enough time had passed to keep up appearances, she excused herself softly to Bai Chen.
"Please forgive me for a moment, Sir Bai Chen."
She turned and walked away, her immense figure slipping into the shadowed trunk passage of the great tree.
Bai Chen watched her go, saying nothing, but his gaze followed her all the way until she disappeared behind the wooden archway.
Yoomlana's steps quickened the moment she was out of sight.
By the time she reached the infirmary corridor, she could already hear the ragged cries echoing from inside.
She drew in a breath and pushed open the door.
Inside, the air smelled of blood and herbs. Five male Wyverian lay upon stone beds, their scaled bodies marred by gashes and burns. Some wounds were shallow. Others were deep enough to expose muscle.
"Grand Elder!" one of the healers called out immediately.
Yoomlana raised a hand.
"No need for ceremony," she said. "Just tend to them."
She stepped forward and addressed the wounded captain of the hunting team.
"How are the injured?"
The captain grimaced and tried to rise, but Yoomlana pressed him gently back onto the bed.
"Stay down. Speak as you are."
His voice trembled with guilt.
"Forgive us, Grand Elder. We failed the hunt. A stray monster broke into our territory — we couldn't handle it.
Jimmy… has returned to the earth vein."
Yoomlana's hand tightened slightly. Then she exhaled, and her voice softened.
"You came back alive. That's enough. Do not torment yourselves — rest, and recover."
She stayed with them until their breathing steadied, offering what comfort she could.
Then, quietly, she left the room.
As the door closed behind her, she leaned against it for a moment and whispered:
"Another hunter… gone."
The words barely left her lips before dissolving into the sigh of the wind.
The Wyverians were long-lived — but few in number.
Their hunters, rarer still.
Though their people tilled the soil and tended orchards, they were not true vegetarians. Their diet required meat, and so hunters were necessary.
And hunting meant death.
The balance had worked — once.
When the previous Great Elder was still alive, a male dragon giant who had personally stood against invading Elder Dragons, the tribe knew prosperity and safety.
But when that guardian of old fell back into the veins of the earth, Yoomlana had been born as his successor — a new Great Elder, and a woman.
Her strength was not in battle. Even facing a single Great Jagras was a strain.
So she had changed direction.
If she could not fight for her people, then she would feed them.
If she could not wield a blade, then she would cultivate peace.
Under her guidance, farms and breeding grounds flourished — meat-wyverians raised in captivity, orchards glowing with fruit nourished by leyline energy.
But the dream of taming monsters as protectors… that dream still met the unyielding wall of reality.
"We've made progress,"Yoomlana told herself quietly.
"Don't lose hope. If Sir Bai Chen truly teaches us, the plan to raise guardian beasts could succeed."
She straightened her shoulders and turned — only to freeze.
Bai Chen stood less than ten meters away, leaning casually against a pillar.
Her eyes widened slightly before she forced a smile.
"Sir Bai Chen — what brings you here?"
Bai Chen nodded toward the infirmary door.
"Hard not to notice when someone your size moves that fast.
Tell me something — how many villages do your people have?
How many citizens?
And… how many hunters?"
The sudden line of questioning caught her off guard.
She thought for a moment, then answered honestly.
"Not counting small camps… seven villages in total.
Around twenty thousand dragonfolk.
As for hunters… roughly fifty."
Bai Chen's brow lifted.
One hunter for every four hundred villagers.
That ratio was abysmal.
And in that number, he saw not weakness — but potential.
A vast, untapped market of hunting contracts.
You've got all that… and you never mentioned it?
In the Astra, hunting commissions were tightly controlled — almost impossible to come by.
Even as a top-ranked hunter, Bai Chen had to fight for every single quest board posting.
The Fifth Fleet alone had over five hundred hunters.
If he took a few extra commissions in a day, the entire base would run dry of available work by nightfall.
But this?
The Wyverians' hunts weren't under the Guild's jurisdiction at all.
They were native rights.
Their villages, their monsters, their land — all outside the Hunter's Guild authority.
Legally speaking, it was the Guild hunters who were the trespassers — poaching on dragonfolk territory without sanction.
Which meant… if Yoomlana signed his hunts as "tribal commissions,"
Bai Chen could hunt freely under legitimate cover.
No politics. No restrictions. No competition.
His pulse quickened.
You had such good conditions — why not say so earlier? We could've sealed a partnership days ago!
Of course, his face betrayed nothing.
He folded his arms and looked up at her, calm and thoughtful.
"I've made a decision," he said finally.
"I'll teach you how to tame monsters."
Yoomlana blinked in surprise — then joy flickered across her face.
She assumed his change of heart came from compassion, touched by the wounded hunters she'd just tended.
"So Sir Bai Chen truly has such a kind heart…" she whispered to herself.
But Bai Chen's mind was running the math.
If each village trained just a hundred large combat-capable monsters,
Seven villages would need seven hundred in total.
If each one granted him even 500 skill proficiency points,
that added up to 350,000 points —
enough to push a rare skill straight to Crown Tier.
Seven hundred beasts… seven hundred partners.
Now that's a deal worth teaching for.
Meanwhile, Yoomlana bowed her head deeply in gratitude, misreading his silence for benevolence.
"Sir Bai Chen," she said softly, "on behalf of the Wyverians… thank you."
Bai Chen only smiled faintly.
"Don't thank me yet," he said. "You might regret it later."
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