"Here?" Sylvanas asked doubtfully.
"Of course. Look at all these people. Isn't it lively? You could learn a thing or two yourself!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
"If you weren't here, I would leave him here," Sylvanas said, covering her mouth as she laughed. "But now that you're back, I don't dare leave him here. Someone might steal him."
"No one would! Look how honest I am. I would never do anything like that!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk vowed.
"I know!" Sylvanas lifted the Crystal Ball with a smile. "But I love taking other people's things, and I'm terrified of people taking mine. So I'll just have to go to a little extra trouble and keep him in my own camp."
"If you put him in your camp, I'll go see him every day and bring him the freshest meat!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk said angrily.
"I wouldn't have thought to guard against that if you hadn't mentioned it. Thanks for the reminder," Sylvanas said. "I'll have to tell my soldiers to watch the barracks and keep a certain someone out of the camp."
"Do you really have to go that far?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked in annoyance.
"Absolutely. Absolutely." Sylvanas nodded. "He's a Rare Silver Elite! My sister said she was jealous. Oh, and you need to find one for her too."
"Do I owe her something?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk snapped. "I'll find her a Carrion Bird. A red one. Very pretty, doesn't eat much, economical to keep, and even eats rotten meat. It's a Rare Silver Elite too."
"Carrion Birds stink. She won't want one," Sylvanas said.
"How do you know whether she wants one? A Carrion Bird is what she's getting," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
"Oh, then go find her one. I don't care. Who knows? Maybe she'll like it," Sylvanas said with a smile.
"She's your sister. Why do you sound like you don't care about her at all?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"What else can I do? I'm not willing to give her Lupos," Sylvanas said.
"She's unlucky to have a sister like you. A Carrion Bird it is," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
"Bring a Carrion Bird anywhere near me, and I'll smash your head in!" a cold voice said beside Yu Lin Bloodhawk's ear.
"Who's that? Who's so full of themselves?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk turned as he spoke.
"Me!" Alleria said.
At some point, Alleria had walked up behind him.
Legion Commander Alleria? Yu Lin Bloodhawk was dumbfounded. "Are you part cat?" he muttered. "You don't make a sound when you walk. Eavesdropping isn't how a noble should behave."
"What did you say?" Alleria's brows shot up. "There's no need to stand on ceremony with you. You don't behave anything like a noble yourself."
"Still better than someone acting like a bandit!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk muttered.
"Are you talking about me?" Sylvanas turned to ask him.
"No!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk immediately denied it. "I wasn't talking about you. Who would dare criticize you two big bosses? If I can't take you on, surely I can at least stay out of your way? Just don't forget our deal. Once it's done, I won't come running into your camps, and you should stop dropping into mine so often."
With that, he turned and hurried away from the sisters. What a joke. He couldn't even handle one boss. With two of them attacking him, his chances of getting his head smashed in were even higher.
"Hey! Don't forget the Rare Silver Elite!" Sylvanas called.
"Carrion Bird!" Yu Lin Bloodhawk replied without looking back.
Sylvanas laughed as she watched him flee to another corner.
"What deal did you make?" Alleria asked with a frown.
"It's a secret. I can't tell you yet," Sylvanas said mysteriously.
"You can't even tell your sister?" Alleria asked.
"No." Sylvanas shook her head. "It's not time yet."
Alleria didn't mind. Then she suddenly said, "He seems quite afraid of you."
"He's afraid of you too," Sylvanas said.
"I'm a legion commander. It's perfectly normal for him to fear me. But you're the same rank as him. Why would he be so afraid of you?" Alleria asked.
"He doesn't care about your position as legion commander. Have you ever seen him afraid of any legion commander?" Sylvanas said with a smile. "He answers directly to military headquarters now. He doesn't belong to any legion."
"Then what exactly is he afraid of?" Alleria was puzzled.
"I'm not sure myself. He's been afraid of me ever since Lin Yu died," Sylvanas said after a moment's thought.
"Who's Lin Yu?" Alleria asked.
"I'm not really sure either. Stop asking, Sis, and start recording. This will be useful reference material later." Sylvanas realized she had let something slip. Quick, change the subject.
Just then, both gates of the Gladiator Arena opened. The elf with the lynx directed the animal to amble into the arena, then shut the gate. The elf jumped up into the stands, while a Troll entered through the opposite gate. He held a sharpened wooden stick, but he wasn't as muscular as the one that had fought the black bear earlier.
The lynx spotted the Troll and charged.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk looked toward the elf in the stands. He seemed very nervous, but also appeared to be directing the lynx's attacks.
After a while, both the Troll and the lynx were drenched in blood. With only a sharpened wooden stick in his hands, the Troll had come off worse, his flesh torn open all over by the lynx's claws. The lynx also had several bloody puncture wounds, neither shallow nor particularly deep.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk could only shake his head at the sight. Idiot! Is that how you fight with a lynx? Aren't you using a Rogue as a Warrior? And without a healer, at that! If the Troll had anything besides a sharpened stick, your lynx would already be dead.
Many of the elves on the filming platform shook their heads as they recorded too. Apparently, they weren't very satisfied with the lynx's combat ability either. A Wild Bear could send an opponent flying with a single swipe, and even a glancing blow drew plenty of blood. Judging by what they could see, the difference really was enormous.
Only after a long fight did the lynx find an opening to pounce and sink its teeth into the Troll's throat. A few shakes of its head finally ended the battle. The Troll had already fought the lynx for quite some time. Exhausted and bleeding heavily, how could he have had any strength left to dodge or struggle? After a couple of kicks, he died.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk was furious. If this was how they used lynxes, what was the point of keeping them? They might as well feed them to the Wild Bears and save all that training time.
When the magically amplified announcement to clear the arena sounded again, Yu Lin Bloodhawk spotted his deputy Unit Commander. He sent someone to fetch him, then demanded angrily, "Is this how you have the lynxes fight?"
"Yes. How else would they fight?" The deputy Unit Commander was bewildered by the scolding.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk was livid. Forcing his anger down, he said, "Tell me honestly. How many lynxes have died?" He was genuinely afraid that the two hundred lynxes they had worked so hard to capture had almost all been
wiped out.
"None have died!" the deputy Unit Commander said in surprise.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk continued glaring at him.
"Not a single one. I guarantee it!" the deputy Unit Commander said firmly.
"Don't tell me every lynx can beat a Troll." Yu Lin Bloodhawk didn't believe a word of it.
"Not every one can, but we have Rangers." The deputy Unit Commander pointed to the Rangers stationed around the stands. "They aren't just watching. They're also tasked with stopping the Trolls from escaping or killing the lynxes. Whenever a lynx's life is in danger, they shoot the Troll dead."
"So that's how it works. Good thing none died, or you'd have had me to answer to," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
He didn't care how many Trolls died, but the lynxes were another matter. They were hard to catch, and there weren't many of them. Losing even a few would hurt.
By then, the arena had been cleared, and the next round was about to begin.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk spotted a female elf waiting behind the gate with a red lynx. On closer inspection, she turned out to be one of his original soldiers. Ignoring the deputy Unit Commander, he jumped down from the stands and went over to her.
When the female elf saw him, she saluted. "Greetings, sir!"
Yu Lin Bloodhawk waved a hand. "At ease. Let me ask you something. If I ordered you to enter the Gladiator Arena with your lynx and fight a Troll, would you dare?"
The female elf stood at attention. "Yes, sir!"
"I'll give the Troll a real metal spear. Would you still dare?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"Yes, sir!" the female elf said.
"I remember you're from the First Battalion, right?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"Yes, sir," the female elf replied.
"Do you know Sprint and Stealth?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"Yes! You made the rule ages ago that we couldn't learn any other skills until we'd mastered those two. A lot of us have learned both," the female elf said.
"You learned them that quickly?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk was rather surprised, and his face reddened slightly. He hadn't learned either of them himself.
"It's been quite a while, sir. We practice those two skills every day. We'd have to be pretty stupid not to have learned them by now," the female elf said with a smile.
But how could she have known just how embarrassed Yu Lin Bloodhawk felt at that moment?
"Have you completed your Soul Link with the lynx?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked.
"Yes, sir. Just three days ago," the female elf said.
"Can you communicate with it?" Yu Lin Bloodhawk asked again.
"Yes, sir!" the female elf said.
"Good. Try telling it to use Stealth," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
He wasn't confident himself. He didn't know whether all feline creatures had a Stealth skill like they did in the game.
"It doesn't seem to understand, sir!" the female elf said, straightening after bending down to speak to the lynx for a while.
"Explain it slowly, then demonstrate beside it. Stay as close as you can. Ideally, stroke it while you enter Stealth, so it can understand what you mean or sense what changes," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said.
The female elf followed his instructions and tried several times, but still failed. She began to grow anxious.
"Don't rush. Treat it like a little child and coax it. Give it candy if you need to. Whatever works, get it happy and eager to please, like a child showing off. Try a few more times. I'll go tell the people in the stands to wait a bit."
Yu Lin Bloodhawk returned to the stands. Once there, he told the deputy Unit Commander to have everyone wait before starting, and ordered him to send someone for a real spear for the Troll who was about to enter the arena.
When the deputy had first seen him jump down to speak to the female elf, he hadn't known what was happening and had already ordered the bouts halted. Now, hearing that the Troll was to receive a real weapon, he was astonished. Still, he asked no questions and sent someone to carry out the order.
Yu Lin Bloodhawk then approached a group of elderly elves who looked like Spellcasters. He saluted and asked, "Might you gentlemen be esteemed Spellcasters?"
"What can we do for you, Baron Bloodhawk? We are indeed Mages," one of the elderly, mage-like elves said.
"Here's the situation. I plan to send my soldier into the Gladiator Arena alongside her battle pet, but I'm worried her life might be in danger, so I'd like to borrow a magic item from you. Do you have anything that could protect her from one fatal blow? I'm going to give the opposing Troll a real weapon too," Yu Lin Bloodhawk said. "It may not be needed. It's just a precaution."
Before you continue