Target: Taming (Bonus Chapter for Silver Alliance Leader Gallant Lazy Sheep)

In this village, there are many jobs to be found, which can basically be divided into two major categories.

The first category consists of jobs with no requirements; as long as you are willing to work, you can take them on.

Lumberjack, woodcutter, farmer, miner, shepherd, pig herder, and harvester.

Relatively speaking, these professions do not require high technical skills. Once you accept the task, the NPC providing it will tell the player how to do it, and you will learn the entry-level professional skill for free.

The other type of job requires meeting prerequisites before you can take them on, and the requirements for each are different.

First is the militia. You need to find the Militia Captain to accept this task. The work involves guarding the village from monster threats, standing guard, or even following the militia squad into the forest to clear out monsters.

Xiao Jie is very interested in this job. If he could follow a group of militia to kill monsters and level up, the safety would undoubtedly be well-guaranteed.

However, when Xiao Jie expressed his desire to join the militia, the Militia Captain, Tie Qianli, said that Xiao Jie's strength was insufficient and he was not yet qualified for the profession.

Xiao Jie speculated that this likely had a level requirement. Since he was only level one, it was definitely not enough; if he reached level five or ten, he should be able to join.

Next is the hunter. Xiao Jie really wants to do this as well. After all, if he could learn Archery, a ranged profession would always be safer. Moreover, the hunter in the village keeps several hunting dogs, which suggests that the hunter profession allows for pets. He might even be able to learn skills like Taming. If there were a meat shield in front to tank monsters during combat, it would undoubtedly be much safer.

However, the hunter also flatly refused Xiao Jie's request to learn, not even offering a reason, simply stating he had no interest in taking on an apprentice.

This left Xiao Jie feeling quite depressed; the trigger conditions for this profession were likely quite harsh.

The third is the blacksmith. This one is relatively simple because there is a senior like Wang Kai. He directly asked about the prerequisites: first, you have to pay five taels of silver as an apprenticeship fee. Back in the day, Wang Kai saved for two whole years to scrape together those five taels. Additionally, you have to get Zhou Tong's favorability up to 80.

Xiao Jie doesn't have much interest in this; five taels of silver is fifty thousand, which is too expensive.

The fourth is the chef. This is relatively cheaper, with an apprenticeship gift of only 500 copper coins.

Cooking skills are quite practical. After all, food is a long-term consumable, and learning to cook would undoubtedly save a lot of money on buying food.

The fifth is the fisherman. You need to find an old man by the small river in the south of the village to accept the task. Through conversation, he learned that this guy is a drunkard and particularly craves alcohol. Therefore, Xiao Jie speculated that he should be able to accept the task by giving him a pot of good wine, though what exactly counts as "good wine" is uncertain.

The sixth is the herbalist. You accept the task from the Pharmacy Owner to learn the herbalism skill. However, when applying for the job, the Pharmacy Owner said his Perception was too poor to do this line of work. It seems that the Perception attribute must reach a certain standard, which is impossible to fix unless he levels up and adds points.

The last profession is the night watchman. This profession is quite special; you don't have to work during the day, only patrol the village at night. It sounds extremely dangerous.

However, the pay is high, with an income of five hundred copper coins per night.

This task is triggered by the Village Chief, but the Village Chief said Xiao Jie's Yang Fire was not strong enough and he might run into trouble as a night watchman, so he refused him.

Xiao Jie was a bit confused by this prerequisite. Could it be that he needs to pray to his ancestors during incense offerings to avoid being harassed by ghosts and gods?

But the buff given by the Ancestors only lasts for seven days; does this task have a time limit?

It is a pity there is no profession for learning swordsmanship, which left Xiao Jie somewhat disappointed.

It's not that he has any special interest in sword techniques, but in a world with immortals and demons, the sword undoubtedly has a higher status, and perhaps its potential ceiling is higher as well.

Looking at these dozen or so jobs, the one Xiao Jie wants to do most is undoubtedly the hunter.

Archery + Taming (suspected)—in this Death Game, such a combination is simply perfect.

The advantages of a ranged profession go without saying, and being able to have a pet that coordinates in combat is a massive advantage.

Three wild dogs were enough to make I Want to Become Immortal lose his way, and he and Han Luo, two blank-slate low-level players, were able to take down a fierce Lost Soul Bandit, all thanks to strength in numbers.

Righteous two-on-one combat is sometimes more useful than any equipment or skill.

But how exactly is the hunter task triggered?

With no clues, Xiao Jie finally decided he had to ask Wang Kai. Having stayed in the village for three years and seen so many players, he must have a wealth of information.

He just feared that Wang Kai would demand something in exchange for the information, which would be troublesome.

Walking into the Blacksmith Shop, Wang Kai was still there hammering his Iron Sword. This guy was single-mindedly focused on grinding for money, with no intention of leveling up or improving his strength.

"Oh? Brother Following Wind, are you here to see me? Looking to buy equipment or gold?"

"Do you know how to accept the hunter's task?" Xiao Jie asked straight to the point.

"Hehehe, little brother wants to bring a pet?" Wang Kai was quite sharp.

"How did you know?"

"There are nearly two hundred players coming and going in Ginkgo Village, and at least one hundred and fifty of them want to bring pets. You tell me how I know."

Xiao Jie thought to himself, Fine, it seems I'm not the first person to think of this.

"Can a hunter learn Taming?"

"Of course, but it's not Taming, it's Dog Training. You can only train dogs. It's decent for the early stages, but it's useless once your level is high."

Xiao Jie couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed. "What about Archery?"

"That is very useful. At least before you learn spells, Archery is considered the most useful ranged skill. You definitely won't lose out by learning it. Of course, I'm just hearing this from others; I've never played it myself."

"Then do you know how to accept the hunter's task?"

Wang Kai laughed. "Of course I do. This isn't really a secret; for a while, it was almost an open secret. But very few people could actually do it. That hunter has a wife suffering from a strange illness who hides in the house all year round and cannot see the sunlight. She needs a Century-Old Wild Ginseng to sustain her life. As long as you give him one Century-Old Wild Ginseng, you can become Yang Baichuan's apprentice.

You'll learn Archery and Dog Training, and when you graduate, he'll even give you a hunting dog."

That's a pretty good deal; you even get a pet upon graduation.

"Where can I get a Century-Old Wild Ginseng?"

"Go harvest them deep in the valley; if you're lucky, you'll find some. The Medicine Shop in Ginkgo Village sometimes stocks them too. They aren't expensive, just ten taels of silver apiece."

Ten taels of silver! That was one hundred thousand yuan.

Xiao Jie was speechless; that was a bit too pricey.

"Do you want to buy some gold? It's only one hundred thousand yuan. Learning Dog Training plus a ranged weapon skill early on is definitely worth it."

Wang Kai was certainly dedicated; he pushed his business every chance he got.

"No thanks."

Xiao Jie shook his head quickly. He couldn't afford one hundred thousand yuan, and besides, he had the [Enlightenment] buff. Spending money to learn a generic version of Dog Training really wasn't cost-effective.

Xiao Jie browsed through the errands recorded in his notebook once more, rapidly putting his associative skills to work.

Learning Taming was clearly about doing tasks related to domesticating animals. The Shepherd and Pig Herder roles met those requirements, and neither job had any prerequisites. He could absolutely focus his efforts on these two professions. With his 21 points of comprehension, if he could achieve Sudden Enlightenment in swordsmanship on his own, he didn't believe he couldn't figure out Taming as well.