Taming the Flock of Ducks (Please keep reading)

In the end, Kroya accepted the Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks, and Baron Kermoyer agreed to send someone over with three thousand jin of Sacred White Iron in three days, commissioning him to refine it again.

This time, the baron promised Magic Plants as payment. Compared to Magical Beasts, Magic Plants could be more expensive and more precious.

Still, three thousand jin of such perfectly refined Sacred White Iron was worth paying for with Magic Plants-and naturally, those would come from the ruins.

Kroya simply nodded calmly in agreement.

The two signed a contract for the second time.

With a contract in place, you won't be taking away the refined Sacred White Iron unless you give me payment I'm satisfied with.

Overall, though, their cooperation had been quite pleasant.

After seeing the baron off, he began taming the Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks.

The simplest way to tame Magical Beasts was to overpower them.

Most Magical Beasts would submit as long as you were stronger than them. It was a very common method.

However, Kroya had eighty ducks to deal with. Taming these pack-oriented Magical Beasts individually was useless. Once they banded together, their courage would return.

Even those he had already tamed might rebel at any moment.

He had considered dividing them up, perhaps into groups of twenty, and taming them one group at a time. But after considerable thought, he abandoned the idea.

Who knew whether they would rebel once they flocked together again?

I might as well tame them all at once!

That meant facing a mob of eighty ducks, which would be difficult and troublesome for an ordinary second-tier mage.

But Kroya was no ordinary mage.

The red mana produced by his Red Song Meditation Method was unique. Whenever he used this strange mana to cast fire spells, their power increased severalfold, if not more.

He was very confident. After taking some trouble to herd them into a small, barren mountain hollow, Kroya began his duck-taming plan.

Facing eighty ducks braced for battle, he smiled faintly and gathered his mana. "You'd better behave!"

Then he immediately unleashed a barrage of fireballs.

Boom!

Boom!

With the enhancement from Crimson Rondo, every cast was effectively a double cast, launching two fireballs at once.

Naturally, the flock did everything it could to resist this ferocious assault. But just as Kroya had expected, the ducks were terrified of this mana, as though they had encountered their natural predator.

On top of that, he had mana recovery potions brewed from Thirsty Sea Glow Algae and spring water filtered through Magic Spring Pearls, ensuring he had ample mana.

With such favorable conditions, success was only a matter of time.

After furiously hurling fireballs until he had exhausted his mana, he left the worn-out flock behind and went back to rest.

Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks were water-type Magical Beasts, and water elements were the source of their strength. Kroya had deliberately driven them here so he could slowly tame them through attrition.

Over the next few days, he arrived punctually each day to bombard them with fireballs, taking care not to seriously injure them, and repeated the process.

Incidentally, there was a small development involving the Crescent Moon Fruit.

After observing it for several days, Kroya discovered that whenever moonlight shone on it at night, it released a moonlit mist filled with the sound of ocean tides.

Sleeping within that mist accelerated the growth of his mental power and significantly improved the quality of his sleep.

Honestly, that was quite important for a mage.

Sufficient sleep and a clear mind could help a mage cast spells or craft items more quickly.

After observing it and finding no side effects, he grew accustomed to drifting off amid moonlight and the sound of the tides.

This also helped him make slightly faster progress in taming the Fish-Tailed Sea Ducks.

Thanks to his efforts, it took only five days for the exhausted flock to finally accept its situation. When he arrived one day, they came straight over to show their submission.

All eighty ducks lowered their heads to him in unison. It was quite a spectacular sight.

"So you've finally decided to submit."

Kroya laughed heartily, feeling thoroughly pleased.

After taming the flock, he suddenly discovered an unexpected bonus-

He had no idea whether it was because he had been frantically channeling mana and studying the Song of Red these past few days, or because of the Crescent Moon Fruit. Whatever the reason, he had unexpectedly mastered the third movement of the Song of Red.

This discovery made him even happier than taming the ducks had. Ultimately, the flock was an external source of strength. Fully mastering the Poem of Rainbow Light would give him power that was truly his own.

Once he became strong enough, acquiring a flock of ducks would be effortless.

This was another unusual spellcasting technique. The movement was called Quiet Little Serenade, and its effect seemed to make his mana less volatile.

Simply put, when he normally cast a fireball, he had to throw it as soon as he finished constructing the spell model and gathering the mana.

Otherwise, the turbulent mana inside might explode or cause some other mishap.

After learning this technique, he could better control the rhythms and changes of his mana. For example...

Kroya held a crimson fireball in his hand, casually tossing it around like a toy. The fireball, which should have exploded in his face, remained as stable as a ball of ice.

"Come to think of it, the Song of Red represents the most violent element, fire, yet all its techniques are about controlling spells... from Crimson Rondo to Quiet Little Serenade.

"What will come next?"

He couldn't help examining the Song of Red carefully. Only two movements remained in this poem. One seemed related to the range of sound, while the other connected it to the Song of Orange.

"Could it expand the range of my spells?"

Kroya was somewhat puzzled. Until he mastered them, these poems were rather obscure. Their mana-filled words prevented him from grasping the full picture.

The remaining six poems made him dizzy just looking at them. He could organize them, but reading them smoothly was completely impossible.

Unable to find an answer despite his efforts, he could only set them aside for now.

Now that the ducks had been tamed, he could begin his plan to relocate the Air Coral.

After patiently waiting another five days, Kroya finally uprooted three relatively robust specimens of Air Coral and brought them to the shore.

The knight Norman and several farm servants accompanied him.

Knight Norman managed the territory's farm servants alongside Chris and knew their circumstances well.

Since Kroya intended to explore the sea, Norman immediately gathered several of the island's most experienced fishermen to help.

These fishermen spent years making their living at sea. They knew a fair amount about where Magical Beasts or special resources could be found, which would make Kroya's clearing operations much easier.

They stood trembling beside the knight, anxiously watching Kroya surrounded by a flock of Magical Beast ducks. They could barely get their words out.

Kroya patiently listened to everything they had to say and marked three locations on the map-the reef area southeast of the island, the coral beds to the west, and the gently sloping, level area to the north.

A special species of Silverback Dragonfish inhabited the reefs. Their flesh was delicious, and they also produced roe, making them one of the nobility's favorite foods.

The coral beds had a complicated layout, but shellfish were said to hide among them, producing pearls imbued with mana.

The final location, the gentle slope, would serve as a forward base for the Air Coral and an area for cultivating Sea Spirit Lingzhi.

Kroya decided to clear out the Silverback Dragonfish first. It would also be a good opportunity to assess the flock's combat abilities, and he was looking forward to it.

Yet when he arrived in a small boat, the sight before him left him rather speechless.