The Medallion
Chapter 246 The Injured War Dragon

"Everyone can see that the spirit-manipulated beast is dying. Why can't they treat it well? They are real bastards without any conscience." Sheridan was visibly upset when he saw that the creature was breathing its last and would soon die.

Seeing the beast's condition, Rocky thought of an idea and his eyes lit up. With eagerness that he could not hide, he asked Sheridan how he planned to deal with the situation.

"The creature breathes, its heart beats, and it is a life form, just like we are. I will replace a suitable place to bury it." And Sheridan was obviously grief-stricken.

"Sheridan, I am going out as I have an important task to attend to. I can bury it for you. You take care of yourself." After Rocky said those words, he picked up the spirit-manipulated beast, flung it on his left shoulder, and left the beast farm.

"What has come over him? I wonder why he is showing so much kindness today," Sheridan murmured to himself suspiciously, as he saw Rocky's receding figure.

What Sheridan did not know was that Rocky had not offered to bury the spirit-manipulated beast out of any kindness that he felt for it. He had other plans. Therefore, instead of doing as he had said to Sheridan, Rocky took it directly to the laboratory he had built.

Once there, he addressed the creature and said, "Do not worry. I will help you. I will make sure that you feel no pain." Rocky knew all too well that it was in unbearable pain and agony. Therefore, without any delay, he put the spirit-manipulated beast on the cold operating table. Having done that, he gathered a little spiritual power in his palm, placed it on its heart, and pressed it gently.

The creature could not live and predictably died soon after that, as its heart, its arteries, and its veins had been shorn into tiny fragments, and were now nothing but pulp.

With the spirit-manipulated beast dead, Rocky had obtained a free corpse to experiment on. He wanted to practice how to operate on its dead body, and conduct some experimental operations on it, as that would give him an edge in the future.

Before Rocky knew it, he had been experimenting for three days.

And as the creature's corpse could not be preserved for long under normal temperatures, Rocky had no choice but to bury it - the first cadaver he had experimented on. Therefore, he carried what remained of it, found a large hole in the desolate forest that was near his laboratory, and buried it there.

Rocky did what he had to, but he was not happy for he could not experiment longer on the creature's body. Therefore, on his way back, he muttered to himself, "I need to replace a new dead body to experiment on now," and started speculating how he could do it. Then, after he had finished his daily routine jobs, he started taming little Rubygon.

Recently, little Rubygon had revealed its wild nature by running away in the wild without taking Rocky's permission. It was extremely unruly, and had it not been for Uriah's help, Rocky would not have been able to restrain it.

Taming a spirit-manipulated beast was a complex and challenging job. It required a combination of harsh and mild tactics. A new hand, Rocky was inexperienced in taming spirit-manipulated beasts in real life. Although he had theoretical knowledge about it, as he had studied Beast Taming Skills, there was a tremendous gap between theory and practice.

In spite of his innate talent, Rocky could not bring little Rubygon under his control. He could not break its spirit, as it resisted both strategies. Neither a severe nor a soft approach impacted it. No matter what Beast Taming Skills Rocky used, little Rubygon stayed the way it was - wild and untamed, like a spoiled princess, who did what caught her fancy without fearing or caring for anyone.

"You little thing, I swear I will tame you and teach you to be obedient. If I do not do that, I will take your name, and call myself Rubygon," Rocky said, and stared at little Rubygon. It seemed that he had been wrestling with little Rubygon.

In the following days, apart from his daily work, Rocky had one more thing to do staring at little Rubygon, as they stood in the central field. Initially, both stared at each other peacefully. However, later, little Rubygon became impatient and got irritated with Rocky, so it started attacking him. Rocky also adopted harsh tactics and beat little Rubygon until it was blue.

After a few days, he found that little Rubygon had become obedient. Even the expression in its eyes conveyed timidity. Gleaning from how Rocky had been treating little Rubygon lately, it seemed that only violence could have tamed it. However, if that were true and little Rubygon was scared of Rocky, then that meant that his previous experiment had come to nothing.

Therefore, Rocky began to use the Beast Taming Skills he had learned, to tame little Rubygon. Additionally, he started taking it and Uriah to hunt for some menial wild spirit-manipulated beasts so that he could sufficiently exercise it.

Half a month had gone, in the blink of an eye.

And Rocky's efforts at taming little Rubygon had finally paid dividends. Now, most of the time, it behaved properly and did as it was told. Although, there were times when it was disturbed, became emotional, and was also disgruntled. However, on the whole, Rocky was satisfied with little Rubygon's performance.

After Rocky had finished his cultivation, he walked out of the abandoned house, and was pleasantly surprised to see little Rubygon holding a hare that it had hunted, in its mouth. That was its way of showing its trophy to Rocky and to earn praise.

"Good job! I am proud of you!" Rocky said, commending little Rubygon. Seeing that Rocky was happy with its achievement, little Rubygon joyfully took the hare to an empty corner to feast on it.

"Last night, I refined the Dark Heaven Egg at the medium stage. Without a doubt, now I am very close to the fourth grade of the Earthly Stage. With two more Dark Heaven Eggs at the preliminary stage and the assistance of the Heaven Divine Lotus Seed, I am sure that I will reach the fourth grade, soon," satisfied, Rocky muttered to himself. Right now, Rocky's cultivation was impressively quick. Combined with the Dark Heaven Egg, the Heaven Divine Lotus Seed, and the magical saliva, he had achieved significant promotions in merely one to two months; instead of a year or longer - the time it normally took others. Yet in spite of all that, Rocky still had a long way to go to reach the Heavenly Stage, based on his present speed. That was because the promotion was more difficult to realize at the Earthly Stage's later part, especially, beyond its fifth grade.

Therefore, in order to rise further and achieve more, Rocky planned to capture several more Dark Heaven Insects, which would make his cultivation easier with their Dark Heaven Eggs. However, it seemed that there weren't any more Dark Heaven Insects in the northeast military camp's area, which implied that Rocky would have to venture to the other camps' jurisdictions. That, in turn, meant that he would need at least two to three days to make a successful round trip, as the camps were at quite a distance from where Rocky was.

Therefore, before he set out on his mission, he had to consider his plan carefully, keeping a long-term perspective to it. Also, his daily schedule was so packed that he found it difficult to extract himself from it and venture forth.

As usual, Rocky went back to the beast farm of the northeast military camp to learn the Beast Curing Skill from Sheridan. In the fifteen days that he was there, owing to Sheridan's vast storehouse of knowledge, Rocky had already progressed tremendously vis-a-vis learning Beast Curing Skills. Indeed, he had benefited a lot by learning from Sheridan. Once Rocky had imbibed from Sheridan, he combined the knowledge he had gained from him, with that of how surgeries were performed, using the techniques of modern science. Consequently, now, he was able to conduct a few basic surgeries on some spirit- manipulated beasts. Undoubtedly, what he had achieved was a breakthrough and enhanced the way effective operations could be done.

After arriving where Sheridan stayed, Rocky met Thor and Joss, who had just reached the beast farm.

"Brother," Thor and Joss excitedly called out to Rocky in unison. They had not seen him since his transfer to the beast farm, and his moving there. Ergo, their happiness on seeing him surged high, for it was Rocky who was responsible for the fact that no one looked down on them anymore. His courage and conduct had also gained them respect and now no one considered them to be members of a rubbish team. "How come you two are free today? What are you doing here?" Rocky asked, confused, as he nodded a greeting to both of them, who had been members of the sixth team, earlier.

"Oh, Commander Marin sent us here. Yesterday, when she was leading our first and the third teams to the frontier, we got ambushed on the way. Though we successfully repulsed the enemy under her leadership, her war dragon was so seriously injured that now it cannot stand up nor walk. So, after we had driven the enemy forces back, and returned safely, Commander Marin asked us to bring Sheridan to where she is waiting, with her war dragon, to cure it..." Thor replied respectfully, as he held Rocky in high esteem.

"Sheridan, someone is calling you," Rocky shouted to get Sheridan's attention, who was busy working at the beast farm. Thor and Joss had described the encounter so vividly that he could visualize how severely the spirit-manipulated beast must have gotten wounded. Now that he knew the gravity of the situation, he was also a little worried for Marin, as she had always treated him well.

After finishing what he was doing, Sheridan walked out slowly and asked, "What's the matter?"

"Commander Marin's war dragon was injured!" Rocky replied.

"What?" On learning that Marin's war dragon had gotten hurt, Sheridan was extremely concerned and became tense. With an urgency in tone, he said, "Why don't you send it to me and I will take care of it?" "That is not possible, as it can't walk, due to the grievous injuries it received. That is why Commander Marin asked us to pick you up," Joss said promptly.

Sheridan became even more serious and yelled, "What are you waiting for? Take me to Commander Marin. Hurry!"

Thor and Joss became somber, nodded their heads, which meant that they would escort Sheridan to Commander Marin poste haste, and immediately they started heading towards where she was camped. Rocky, too joined them, as he wanted to benefit from seeing Sheridan treat the war dragon - live teaching from Sheridan, was a rare opportunity, indeed!000