Even animals had to compete on looks

This beast-taming skill was somewhat different from the one in the game. It was less convenient, but far more realistic.

If it worked like it did in the game, it would be absurd. One legion went into the forest, and two legions came out, because one of them was a legion of beasts. Why fear the undead then? Just let the beasts fight them all. Someone's beast died? Pull back, form a group, and head into the forest. Or buy up a huge herd of beasts beforehand and raise them, replacing any that died immediately. The undead could not even kill off all the humanoids. Could they possibly kill every beast?

Wild beasts were untamed by nature, so this beast-taming technique still required the aid of a magical accessory. First, the beast had to be captured and fitted with the accessory. Then a little of its blood and a little of the tamer's blood had to be dripped into the magical item, allowing the two to communicate.

The next step depended on whether the tamer and the beast could complete a magical ritual together. The requirement was simple, yet not so simple: the beast could feel no resistance. Once the ritual was completed, the beast and the orc would be successfully linked. The magical item could then be removed and given to the next person.

With the ritual complete, the beast's soul and its tamer's soul would be closely connected. Their minds would be linked, allowing them to communicate much like friends or family, and the magical item would no longer be necessary.

The similarity to the game lay in the need to treat the beast sincerely, until it let down its guard and accepted a soul contract. The difference was that a magical tool was needed at the beginning to establish a channel of communication. As for how long it would take to persuade a beast to willingly sign a soul contract, that was anyone's guess. It depended on the tamer's ability.

The magical tool was not particularly easy to manufacture, either, so only thirty had been made so far. To put it plainly, it was merely something that let your beast talk.

It was entirely different from the Troll Rune Beast Collar. That collar carried a soul-enslavement spell, so the death of its master or the destruction of the collar could cause the beast to turn on its own side.

A soul contract, on the other hand, was more like a pact between equals. If a beast came to utterly despise its tamer, it might leave on its own, but under normal circumstances it would not turn on anyone. Through soul communication, it could distinguish friend from foe, even after its tamer died. In fact, the tamer's death might well drive it into a frenzy, provoking even fiercer attacks against the enemy.

That made the development of this beast-taming technique truly impressive! It was not as direct as the Troll Rune Beast Collar, but once the soul contract ritual was properly completed, the bond was extremely secure. True beast taming lay not in the magical tool called the Arcane Rune Beast Collar, but in the tamer's compassion and the soul contract ritual.

The awesome thing about this magical tool, called the Arcane Soul Beast Collar, was that it could be reused. Yu Lin Bloodhawk wanted to go and see where the collars were right away, but held himself back because it was too late. He looked through the remaining documents, found nothing else of particular note, and went back to bed.

Lying in bed, he carefully considered how to distribute the thirty collars. We have lynxes and giant boars right now. Fifteen for each? But the people sent to Westfall should be back in another ten days or so. What if they bring bears? What if no one has completed the soul contract ritual by then? Forget it. Ten for each type first. Pick twenty quick-witted people and see which Battle Pets are easier to form soul contracts with.

He figured the Giant Bloodfang Boars would be easier. They were not particularly hostile toward people. As long as no one hurt them, they could hardly be bothered to pay attention. If someone could communicate with them and feed them, surely winning their affection would be easy? But how should he choose the people? And how should he assign them? It looked as though another meeting was in order. As he pondered all this, he fell asleep again without even realizing when.

Three days later, everyone who had gone out hunting returned. He told the guards to summon everyone ranked squad leader or above to the meeting room. Once two hundred lynxes had been captured, they were to stop catching them. If they had not reached that number and found more, they could send someone else to capture them.

He took a walk outside, then headed toward the meeting room when it seemed about time. As soon as he entered, he found a crowd laughing and talking noisily. He did not recognize them. The only familiar faces were his former deputy company commander and four squad leaders from his days as a company commander. His promotions had simply come too quickly. Before he had even gotten to know his original men properly, he had inexplicably jumped several ranks, at a speed that defied belief.

He reckoned either Sylvanas or Alleria had arranged it. Either way, the Windrunner name was bound to be involved. Who else would care about an insignificant, newly appointed Baron like him? Whatever the case, it benefited him, and he was quite grateful to them. Nobody complained about having too many soldiers under their command.

He glanced around the room and smiled. "Brothers and sisters, some of you I've met before, and others I'm meeting for the first time. But that's all right. Once we've introduced ourselves, we'll know each other. I'm Yu Lin Bloodhawk, your unit commander. I'm sure you've heard of me. Please introduce yourselves."

After the dozens of newcomers had introduced themselves, Yu Lin Bloodhawk inwardly mocked himself. He had really thought too highly of those established nobles. He had assumed these were his soldiers, but now he understood. How were they his soldiers at all? He was merely their nursemaid.

The soldiers were indeed new recruits, but their officers were not. The battalion, company, and squad commanders leading them actually came from the various legions. These ten squads represented ten legions of Quel'Thalas, each of which had sent a fifty-man squad, neatly accounting for every main and auxiliary legion in Quel'Thalas.

This was probably the result of a balance of power and a compromise between the various factions. The unit commander was the highest-ranking officer in this newly established independent unit. The position was too important for any faction to yield, so in the end they had pushed him into it.

Once these men became combat-ready, they would probably see action once or twice. If their training really did greatly improve the Rangers' fighting strength as anticipated, their original legions would withdraw them and spread them among the legions as seed units. The only force truly in his hands would still be his original hundred men.

He had obtained this position not because he was so impressive, but because every legion wanted a share of this new military reform. None would give way to the others, and eventually they had reached a compromise.

Each legion had sent a fifty-man squad for training, bringing the total to five hundred. Add his original company, and there were six hundred men, exactly enough for a full unit. Whichever legion supplied its commanding officer would essentially own this unit in the future.

If the reform succeeded, that legion would develop the fastest, since it would at least have more experience in all these areas, from the proposed training plan to the Battle Pet plan, as well as

the many new techniques being proposed. If the reform failed, it would not matter much. If it succeeded, however, he would become a prize all the units wanted, which was why they had fought over the position of unit commander.

Yu Lin Bloodhawk had originally belonged to the Golden Mist Burning Legion, but it was only an Auxiliary Burning Legion and lacked the strength to keep him, however much it wanted to. With no one willing to compromise, the strangest unit in Quel'Thalas's history had been formed. It belonged to no legion and answered directly to the Military Department, yet it was a small combat unit of only six hundred men, and not an elite unit at that. It could not even meet the standard 1-4-5 or 2-3-5 configuration of an Auxiliary Burning Legion, while Yu Lin Bloodhawk had become the fastest-promoted unit commander in history.

He was actually quite satisfied with this outcome. After all, he had been promoted. Once these men left, he could simply recruit another five hundred from the new recruits, couldn't he? The key was whether this effort could make Quel'Thalas take Battle Pets seriously. If it did, perhaps they could hold out a little longer when the time came. At the very least, they could buy some time to evacuate more people.

So he said, "I don't care which legion you belonged to before. Main legion or Auxiliary Burning Legion, everyone is equal here now. Until you leave this place, you're my soldiers. I know why you're here, but that doesn't matter. Before you leave, though, there's one thing you must remember: the Bloodhawk Independent War Pet Unit is a collective. It's a wolf pack, and I'm your pack leader. I don't know whether the men who were here before have explained what a sense of collective honor means. In short, if someone bullies me, every one of you will help me settle the score. If any one of you gets bullied, I'll bring everyone along to settle the score for you. Remember this key point: competition within Bloodhawk is allowed, but infighting is not. Anyone who turns on our own will be sent straight back. Wherever you come from, if you still don't understand collective honor, find time to ask my original men. I don't want to discuss that now. Today, we're discussing the organization of the Battle Pet unit. You all know we already have two hundred lynxes. What you don't know is that I also bought more than four hundred and seventy Giant Bloodfang Boars elsewhere. Three hundred are adults suitable for use as Battle Pets. We may also have a hundred bears transported here in a while, so assigning Battle Pets and organizing the unit are our main concerns. My initial idea is to form the two hundred lynxes into the Lynx Special Forces. Their main duties will be reconnaissance and sabotage behind enemy lines, hunting down targets, and similar missions. Since those missions are dangerous, the requirements will be higher. Members of the lynx battalion must be Rangers with at least medium-level magic. We'll also form a company with the hundred bears. There's only one requirement for that unit: a willingness to pour time and effort into training the beasts. The remaining three hundred men will all have Giant Bloodfang Boars as their Battle Pets. I call them the Steel Torrent. There aren't many requirements for their personnel. Although we have enough Battle Pets, we only have thirty pieces of magical equipment, the Arcane Soul Beast Collars. I intend to give ten each to those choosing lynxes and boars, and reserve ten for the war bears. First, we'll see which beasts can complete the soul-linking ritual fastest."

The moment Yu Lin Bloodhawk finished speaking, the elves at the meeting broke into noisy discussion. He could tell that most of them wanted lynxes as their pets and were very reluctant to take Bloodfang Boars. He knew why. Wasn't it simply the High Elves' beauty-obsessed nature acting up? He sighed inwardly. These days, even animals have to fight it out over looks.