Chapter 119 - New changes (1/2)

”The one in my hand will pull the skin off an animal if it strikes the animal. It is not the same as using the ones you have heard of. You don't use the whip that you have on animals, it would injure and them and repeated strikes could cripple them or drive them mad,” explained Lucian.

”Oh! This is completely different from what I thought,” said Balthazar. ”I have heard of those cases of animal harassment and thought that use of whip is a common thing.”

”Those animal harassment cases probably were scenarios where such methods were used. There are a number of tamers who when unable to tame some aggressive wild animal tend to use such methods,” said Lucian. ”These are rare cases. We take extreme care to not hit the animals.”

”Then, how do they even work?” asked Balthazar who was confused. He was quite surprised as he found this to be quite different from the things that he had seen in vita-nova. In the game, he remembered that big wh.i.p.s were used against mounts.

”OK. You seem to have observed situations where tamers frightened animals in the wild or something like that. It works on docile species only. It is to be used on such species which are trespassing in a secure area. Most aggressive species like many wild cats, tend to attack back if you land an attack on them. It also injures them heavily. So, if your plan is to tame them properly you don't let it hit them,” explained Lucius.

”The best way to control the whip is by their sound and attack objects close to them. Animals are quite perceptive and most of the ones that move on land have a good sense of hearing. So, the crack of the whip and shattering objects close to them puts fear in their hearts,” said Lucian. ”This is used to direct their movements. Whenever they come close or stray from their path you use the whip to intimidate them.”

”So, most strong animals wouldn't be hurt by this whip?” asked Balthazar.

”No. They will be hurt. Most definitely. Many times, they get crippled too. I wanted to say that the whip is to be used to kill the animal or cripple it. Both of these aren't great options if you intend to tame an animal. Tamer consider the health of an animal to be extremely important and they protect their pets and even teach them tricks to protect themselves.”

”Oh, now I understand your point. Can I try it out with some of these?” requested Balthazar.

”No. I can't let you practice on these. All the ones here are rare ones like Anubis. We have a number of common animals like cougars in another place. Why don't we go there,” said Elric. In a few minutes, Lucian Elric brought him to a cabin to gather a few supplies before they reached a new training ground.

”We have a couple of cougars here, which we can try this on. They are bred as kids from captivity and are afraid of me,” said Lucius as he pulled out an electric prod used to shock and control animals. ”This is also used to frighten them and not actually hit them unless they try to attack you. You develop a sense of mutual respect between you and the animals, when you behave in that manner,” said Elric.

”I will release one from the cage. Try to make it move along a plain running track for starters,” said Elric pointing to a location for Balthazar to stand.

A few seconds later, a cougar arrived near him. It was growling and Anubis beside Balthazar also began to growl back in response. The cougar was moving closer to them to attack, when ”Ttwack,” rang out the sound of the whip as Balthazar aim it at the ground close to the cougar's feet stopping it in its tracks.

”Not bad, repeat,” shouted Elric who was at a distance behind the cougar. A couple of more strikes at the ground cause the cougar to turn back and move away.

”Good. You have decent skill. I half expected that it would end up hitting by pet,” said Elric as he came closer to them. After that, he called Anubis and shouted instructions for it to get back to its kennel. It came close to Balthazar and rubbed against his legs before making its way to its kennel.

”It is better that you don't have Anubis with you during this training. It would aggravate the other animals you are practicing with,” he explained.

”Can I have a second try?”

”Maybe later. This is the time for most of them to rest. These things wake up much earlier than you and have just had a lot of exercise and are tired. You got the basic idea for now. We can try again later,” said Elric.

”Thanks. So, what do I owe you?” asked Balthazar.

”Nothing. Consider it a freebie. If you're still interested to learn tomorrow, we can consider some proper lessons later,” answered Elric. He led Balthazar out of the grounds to a safe zone and returned back to his work.

”Not bad. At least I understood the basics of controlling the animals. Could come to practice again later,” thought Balthazar as he got back to his room and into the V.R. pod.

He started the somnium tech and began to browse the net as the game's upgrade didn't yet finish and about 20 minutes were remaining which is about an hour in the somnium technology. He began to browse information about tamers, incidents involving animals and similar things to get a better understanding of tamers.

Then, he opened the vita-nova website to check the information that it posted about the upgrade. The official reason for the upgrade was given that they had to do it because of unexpectedly large number of patrons that purchased the somnium gear.

They also put in a line that this was due to the extreme similarity of the game to real-life which spurred a large number of people to experience the game and enjoy the feeling of living in an ancient era of swords and magic. The team responsible had decided that this could be the best reason for the unexpected increase in the number of players.

Apart from that, the website also listed the changes that would occur in the game.

1. The number of beginner village and towns are increased by five times. This also resulted in a corresponding increase in the map size and the number of kingdoms and empires doubled.