"Sir Jekyll, where are you taking me?" William asked.
Jekyll just smiled and placed a finger over his lips. "It's a secret. You'll know when we get there."
The two of them were currently riding one of the Wyverns that had become one of the protectors of Lont. William didn't know why they had to do their talk away from Lont.
Deep inside, he hoped that Jekyll wouldn't use him as a specimen for his experiments. Because this was a private affair, Ian wasn't allowed to accompany Wiliam. This made the Half-Elf think that whatever the Dentist of Lont wanted to talk about, had to be done in secret.
Soon, the two arrived at a familiar place.
This was the Silent Forest where William had trained under the Sentinel of Lont, Trent, and his Drunken Monk Master, Dwayne.
The Wyvern landed in the clearing beside the lake and allowed his two passengers to disembark.
Jekyll then crossed his arms over his chest as he looked at the red-headed boy in front of him. "Your Grandpa said that you can tame Herd Type Beasts. Can you really do that?"
William nodded. In the past, he had used contracts to make the Spire and Psoglav become temporary members of his herd.
The reason?
His Shepherd Job Class didn't have a Taming Skill!
The method he used to make the Hippogriffs and the Trollhounds become part of his herd was to invite them using promises and compromises. He promised the Hipogriffs that he would regrow their limbs if they became part of his herd.
Due to this agreement, the Shepherd Job Class was somehow able to tame these magical creatures and add them to his herd. What he didn't know was that the King's Chesspiece Divinity was subtly helping him in the background.
Jekyll smirked, "Well then, why don't you give that taming skills of yours a try. Turn around for a second."
William obediently obeyed Jekyll's command and turned around. Suddenly, the stillness of the Silent Forest changed and the ground trembled as if there was an earthquake.
The red-headed boy was about to turn his head around when a hand held his head in place.
"Did I tell you to turn your head around?" Jekyll's voice, that was laced with intimidation, made William unable to even move his head.
The vice-grip that was locking his head in place was the real deal. William had a feeling that even if he used all of his strength, he wouldn't be able to release himself from Jekyll's hold.
A few minutes passed, and the tremors finally stopped. Jekyll let out a loud burp as he released William's head.
When the red-headed boy finally regained his freedom, he still didn't dare to look behind him. He was afraid that the Dentist would once again grab his head and, this time, snap it off from his body.
"Okay, you can turn around now," Jekyll stated.
William gingerly looked behind him and his jaw dropped instantly at the sight that was right in front of his eyes.
More than a hundred Beasts of varyings sizes lay on the ground panting for breath. There were at least twenty Lamassus, fifty Red Minotaurs, over a hundred Inferno Bulls, and a Giant Demihuman Ox that was over six meters tall.
Jekyll chuckled when he saw William's dumbfounded face. He didn't expect that his surprise would be able to make the narcissistic, red-headed, boy speechless, which made him think that his effort was worth it.
"Go on, do your best to tame them," Jekyll urged.
William nodded his head as he walked over to the Giant Ox that was radiating the aura of a Millennial Beast.
If he hadn't evolved his Shepherd Job Class, William believed that there was no way he would be able to add this powerful creature to his herd.
He was still feeling regretful about the Titanic Green-Scaled Trollhound that had refused his invitation. Because of this, William wanted to have a taming skill that would be able to capture any Herd Type creature with increased chances.
When he gained the Quick Shot Shepherd Job Class, William didn't expect that this new Job Class of his would allow him to create twelve skills of his own choosing with the power of the System.
Each of the trials that he had passed allowed him to create a single ability. This made William very happy, so he and the System had collaborated to design the most optimal skills that he could use to strengthen himself and the Herd under his command.
Right now, the Quick Shot Shepherd had Twelve Skills in total.
-----
< Quick Shot War Art >
(Active Skill)
-- Allow the Quick Shot Shepherd to Employ his own War Arts
-- The maximum number of War Arts that can be created is thirteen.
< Beast Taming >
(Active Skill)
-- Throw an orb of light to any Beasts that can be tamed.
-- The chances of Taming will increase if the Beast is weaker than the Shepherd.
-- The chances of Taming will increase if the Beast has a good impression of the Shepherd
-- The chances of Taming will increase if the Beast is in a weakened state.
-- Only applicable to Herd Type Beasts
< Beacon of Hope >
(Passive Skill)
-- Every member of the Herd under the Shepherd's command receives +50 Enhancement to all stats.
< Shepherd's Blessing >
(Active Skill)
-- The Shepherd may choose one blessing to bestow upon the entire herd. Each spell gives a corresponding +20 Enhancement to their respective stats.
-- Only one blessing can be active at a time.
-- Ox's Strength
-- Feline's Grace
-- Hawk's Splendor
-- Wolf's Cunning
-- Turtle's Wisdom
< Freedom Striders >
(Active Skill)
-- All members under the Shepherd's herd gain the freedom of movement in any kind of terrain. They will not suffer any kind of restrictions that would hinder their movement.
-- As long as this spell is in effect, the Herd will be able to move underwater as if they were walking, or running on land.
< Heroism >
(Passive Skill)
-- When members of the herd are fighting against opponents that are a Rank or several Ranks higher than them, all of their stats will increase by 50%
< Herd Immunity >
(Passive Skill)
-- All members of the herd gain all of the Shepherd's natural resistances.
-- If the Shepherd has an immunity to status ailments or diseases, all members of the Herd would share this immunity.
< Underwater Breathing >
(Active Skill)
-- All members of the herd gain the ability to breathe underwater.
< Guardian of the Herd >
(Active Skill)
-- Allows the shepherd to transform into any Beast that is a member of his Herd.
-- This skill will last for an hour.
-- This skill can be cancelled anytime.
< Healing Wind >
(Active Skill)
-- The shepherd calls upon a gentle breeze that heals up to 2,000 Health Points in a twenty meter radius.
< Kinship Evolution >
-- The Shepherd may choose one Beast to form a pact with them and allow it to evolve to a more powerful form.
-- Only one Beast can use Kinship Evolution at any given time.
< Unstoppable Thousand Beast Charge >
(Active Skill)
-- When charging towards the enemies, all members of the Herd gain 80% resistance against ranged attacks.
-- When charging towards the enemies all members of the Herd gain 80% resistance against magical attacks.
-- Each member of the Herd will receive a magical barrier that can endure up to 100,000 Health Points of damage.
-- Any member of the Herd that receives damage that surpasses 100,000 Health Points will immediately lose the effect of this buff.
-- This skill can only be used if the Herd has a thousand or more members.
-----
Because of this set of skills, William was confident that he would be able to strengthen his Herd to the next level. Right now, he was only lacking in skill points. This was why he couldn't upgrade all of them at the same time.
However, he knew that, when all of these skills were unlocked, his Herd would be able to reach their full potential. These skills would give William the power to make a difference in a war where he was greatly disadvantaged.