Rocky had just wanted to check what caused its disability, but he immediately discovered that it had no sex organ. Aside from that, it seemed anatomically identical to normal animals. But it wasn't normal at all! Its saliva had magical healing properties.
'I've done so many genetic experiments. I bred a gecko which has the similar healing ability as this beast. But the gecko can only heal itself, while this beast's saliva can heal human wounds too. It must have some special genes, ' Rocky thought to himself, utterly fascinated. Unfortunately, he was not able to take his war beast back to his world, and he couldn't do genetic experiments with the technology in this world. All he could do was to look at the beast and wonder what kind of special genes it might have.
But Rocky found an easy way to test how the power of its saliva was. He bit his finger and put it close to the beast's mouth. The small beast did not hesitate and bit his finger, sucking hard. When Rocky pulled back his finger, he found the wound had already been healed. He bit on the wound which just healed and put the finger into the beast's mouth again. He pull it back at the same time as before, noticing that the wound had not been completely healed.
He tried several times and came to a conclusion: though its saliva had a powerful ability of healing, the healing power was less potent after repeatedly curing the same wound. It meant that his body had produced antibodies to its saliva. He deduced that the human body did not have the same elements as its saliva.
Then Rocky continued to examine its four legs. Soon, he found a small scar on its left hind leg. A red gash indicated that the wound apparently had just healed. He gently applied pressure on it and the beast immediately screamed. It struggled in his arms and looked to be in great pain.
'Looks like its left hind leg was cut by something when it was just a newborn. And it might have damaged a hamstring. My little beast still managed to heal the wound when it licked itself instinctively. So the beast raiser didn't realize that it had been injured and instead thought it was born disabled, ' Rocky inferred. His little war beast was not born disabled! Rather, it had been wounded by accident!
After figuring this out, Rocky instantly went to the yard and snapped two hard twigs. Then he tore his tattered right sleeve off and ripped it into strips, tying the two twigs on its left hind leg which kept the leg from touching the ground. If its hamstring had really been wounded, it would make the wound worse if it put pressure on its left hind leg.
The beast now could not maintain its balance still since it could only stand on three legs. After falling on the bed several times, it gave up and lay on the bed crying in pain, staring at Rocky with tearful large eyes.
"It will be alright, little one. It's for your own good. Once you recover, you can walk and run freely like the other war beasts," Rocky petted its head with a smile.
His war beast seemed to understand what he said. It tried to carefully stand on its three legs. Though it was still shaking, it did not fall down again. But Rocky couldn't help but laugh at its comic appearance.
Night fell, and the setting sun turned the clouds a vibrant shade of cherry red.
A man dressed gray robes entered the room, holding two big pieces of bloody meat that were at least five kilograms each. He flung the meat in front of the two cages after entering Rocky's room.
He was about to leave the room when Rocky stopped him and asked, "Are these raw pieces of meat for the war beasts?"
"Of course. You think they are for you?" the man in a gray robe retorted impatiently.
"Do you have any other food such as vegetable
s and fruits? If the war beasts only eat meat, they will become obese and have high cholesterol. And their fighting capacity will be weakened. I have observed the war beasts here, their genetic structures are different from the regular animals. They should have a healthy diet like human beings in order to make sure they are healthy," Rocky explained to him at once.
"Are you insane?" the man in a gray robe cursed him and left the room immediately.
"You are insane! I am an expert on animals. Some of the transgenic animals which I studied and bred can run faster than cars or crash down a wall. Many countries' military sources were trying to persuade me to uncover some animals' genetic sequencing, but I refused them all," Rocky said arrogantly, despite knowing that it would be to no avail anyway.
Someone was beating a drum outside the room and said loudly, "It's time to have supper!"
"Looks like you have to eat with me from now on," Rocky murmured to his little beast. Carrying his war beast in his arms, he followed the other men out of a red gate, passing through a long lobby. After entering a small gate, they saw a yard with several long tables. One of these tables was laden with food, behind which two cooks were serving food to the boys who had fallen in line.
No one had taken their war beast with them except Rocky. Once again, they looked at him with contempt and laughed at him.
Rocky ignored them. When it was his turn, the cook reminded him kindly, "The beast raiser had already sent the food for war beasts to your rooms."
"I know, but the nutrition is not enough if they eat meat and nothing else. They might get obese," Rocky answered him seriously.
"What should war beasts eat if they don't eat meat? Grass?" Hearing his words, those boys laughed out loud. They considered Rocky as a madman.
"The war beasts are omnivorous animals. They can replenish vitamins by eating grass. Anyhow, my war beast will eat the same food as me," Rocky replied coldly. 'Soon you will know how stupid you are. Some genetic structures of animals are similar to human beings," he thought to himself, frowning.
"I have been working here for a long time, but it is the first time that a royal spirit manipulator is willing to eat with his own war beast," the cook smiled at Rocky and he gave him an additional half portion in case one was not enough.
Rocky turned around holding the meal box and found that all the seats were almost taken. Seeing Rocky come up to them, some of them even put their feet on the seat beside them so that he couldn't sit.
At last, Rocky found a quiet corner and directly sat on the ground. He began to eat his supper with the war beast.
'Oh! I can't believe I've forgotten to give you a name, ' Rocky suddenly thought while watching his war beast gulp down the food happily.
He thought for a while and decided on 'Uriah', which crossed his mind when he thought that his war beast was unlike a dragon. His opinion was that it was more important to have an impressive name than to have a nice one.
Finished with their meal, Rocky returned to his room holding his Uriah. He saw Flint slicing the meat with a sharp knife and throwing them into the cage where his tiger-faced war beast was locked.
"Only eating meat is not enough for him," Rocky said.
"The initial months of the war beast's life are very important. Eating much meat can strengthen their physique and muscles to increase fighting capacity," Flint replied after glancing at Rocky without any emotion.
"Strengthening them is good, but once your war beast meets a foe who moves fast, it will have no vantage to win. Its muscles can only help itself hold for a few minutes longer," Rocky said, smiling slightly.