Contracting the Three-Eyed Crows and Bloody Scarecrows
The charred ashes of straw drifted in the deathly silent sky.
A cloud of yellow sand appeared, completely enveloping the ten Three-Eyed Crow.
"Gagaga!"
A faint cry came from inside.
"..."
Cao Fengqi watched the scene before him quietly, his face full of surprise.
Without letting any of the other battle pets take action, nor using the Nation-Protecting Flood Dragon Sky Crossbow, Dream-Eyed Butterfly easily suppressed another 10 Three-Eyed Crow after dealing with more than 30 scarecrows by Flying Sand skill.
Extremely easy.
"Haha, now my strength has caught up with the top experts."
"Now, it's time to reap the rewards."
A total of 42 level 8 evil beasts—this was a huge resource for him.
"Now, 10 Three-Eyed Crow have been suppressed, and 5 Bloody Scarecrow have been left behind; I can make contracts with them all."
Regarding the Bloody Scarecrow, Cao Fengqi instructed Dream-Eyed Butterfly to leave five of them alive, without actually killing it.
Although the Bloody Scarecrow has a fatal weakness, extraordinary fire and lightning magic can deal double the damage to it.
Fire magic is a very common type of magic, but Cao Fengqi still left 5 of them.
The reason is simple: while the Bloody Scarecrow is weak against Arcane Mage and superhumans with lightning magic, it is far too strong against other evil beasts.
Alternatively, Cao Fengqi could also create a combination between the Three-Eyed Crow and the Bloody Scarecrow.
"However, there are only 6 slots available for battle pets, but there are 15 battle pets that need to be contracted. This is a bit troublesome."
Other Beast Shepherd would find it incredibly difficult to contract battle pets, but Cao Fengqi was currently having a headache because he had too many battle pets.
Now he feels that every one of his battle pets is useful.
It's a bit of a difficult decision.
Let's take a look at the attributes of the Three-Eyed Crow and the Bloody Scarecrow first.
With these thoughts in mind, he arrived in front of a Three-Eyed Crow whose aura was faintly suppressed by yellow sand, and immediately began to Evil Herding Art.
"Buzz!"
[Battle Pet: Three-Eyed Crow]
[Level: 8]
[Constitution: 1158]
[Mental Strength: 3099]
[Talent: Soul Devouring]
[Skill 1, Blood-Eroding Nether Flame Projectile: Condenses blood-red dark flames and fires 3 chain-reaction black flames. Upon impact, they explode, forming a 5-meter radius of Blood-Eroding Netherflame that burns continuously for 10 seconds. Each flame bullet can independently lock onto a target. Attack range is 1 meter of mental strength. Recharge time is 2 minutes.]
[Skill 2, Soul-Fracturing Gaze: Releases a concentrated mental shock from the main pupil between the eyebrows, causing a mental shock effect on a single target, rendering them dizzy. The dizziness duration depends on the target's mental strength and mental defense, while also reducing the target's mental defense. Recharge time: 6 minutes.]
[Skill 3, Spirit Core Shield: Condenses a semi-transparent blood-red shield with mental energy. When the shield is broken, it will unleash mental ripples that can repel enemies within 100 meters. Recharge time: 10 minutes.]
[Skill 4, Blood Curse Amplification: When activated, increases the user's spell power by 20%. During this period, each spell cast consumes an additional 10% of mental energy. Recharge time is 10 minutes.]
[Skill 5, Blood Feather Meteor Kill: Flaps its wings and scatters crimson feather blades condensed with blood curse energy, transforming them into a dense rain of meteors that bombard an area with a diameter of 25 meters. Each feather blade has an corrosive effect. Recharge time: 7 minutes.]
[Skill 6, Nether Eye Illusory Sound: Unleashes a bizarre mental attack through bloodshot eyes, causing targets within a kilometer to fall into a state of confusion and fear. Charge time: 5 minutes.]
"Um?"
"The Three-Eyed Crow is incredibly powerful. Its skills are far superior to those of the Nightmare; they're not even in the same league."
Cao Fengqi looked at the Three-Eyed Crow's attributes, his eyes shining. "Moreover, the Three-Eyed Crow's mental strength has reached 3099."
"So..."
"Nightmare can be discarded, and the number of Mirage Rat can be reduced from 8 to 5, which will free up ten contract slots."
He pondered for a moment, then, with a flicker in his eyes, he approached a Bloody Scarecrow that had nearly been burned or hacked to death.
[Battle Pet: Bloody Scarecrow]
[Level: 8]
[Status: On the verge of death]
[Constitution: 3105]
[Mental Strength: 689]
[Talent: Wood Consumption]
[Skill 1, Withered Bone Piercing: Dense array of hardened straw spikes extend from beneath the body, precisely piercing the target. Upon impact, it inflicts a bloody corrosion, reducing the target's defense by 10% for 3 seconds. No cooldown.]
[Skill 2, Straw Strangulation Formation: Creates a 50-meter radius strangulation field centered on the user. Countless sharp straws rapidly spin and intertwine, dealing continuous cutting damage to targets within the area. The user can move slowly during this time. Recharge time: 5 minutes.]
[Skill 3, Rotten Straw Shield: Gathers the energy of rotting straw and blood around the user to form a thick grass shield. Recharge time: 5 minutes.]
[Skill 4, Foul Blood Foot Binding: Fires several resilient straws stained with sticky blood, precisely binding the target's limbs. Charge time: 4 minutes.]
[Skill 5, Mutilated Body Regeneration: After being destroyed, the user's body can be quickly Reconstitution. Cooldown: 5 minutes.]
[Skill 6, Bloody Charge: Curls up and transforms into a rapidly spinning straw top, charging in the designated direction. Targets along the way will be knocked back and suffer tearing damage. Immune to control effects during the charge. Recharge time: 6 minutes.]
[Skill 7, Withered Evil Body: Immune to all physical attacks; attacks inflict a bloody corrosive effect; damage from lightning and fire magic attacks is doubled.]
[Skill 8: Dead Tree State: In the Dead Tree State, the user cannot move and can only attack targets within a 100-meter radius. However, attack speed, damage, and defense are increased by 50%.]
"..."
Cao Fengqi pursed his lips as he looked at the attributes of the Bloody Scarecrow.
That's very strong too.
"What do we do now?"
Cao Fengqi frowned.
"Although the Mirage Rat relies on only three main attacks, its Mirage, Sever Soul and Slash Spirit, Illusion World, and Mirage Realm Protection are all very powerful. Keeping five Mirage Rat is already considered a small number."
"Contracting only 5 Three-Eyed Crow won't work either. I currently have relatively few magic-type battle pets, and the Three-Eyed Crow are very strong and practical."
"Among level 6 battle pets, there's also the Gray Feather Moth, but Gray Feather Moth can be rapidly upgraded using metal, and they also possess a racial combination skill, which is quite powerful."
"..."
"Alright, I'll put the five Three-Eyed Crow to Mirage Sleep for now, and then form contracts with them after I break through to the Fourth Sequence of the Beast Shepherd."
Ultimately, Cao Fengqi had no other choice but to do this.
The First Sequence of Beast Shepherd allows them to contract 9 battle pets, the Second Sequence adds 18, the Third Sequence adds 27, and so on. By the Fourth Sequence, they can contract up to 36 battle pets.
"It seems I need to prioritize improving my Beast Shepherd Sequence first; the Artifact Refiner Sequence can wait."
With his current extraordinary skills as Weapon Master, that's more than enough.
Most importantly, even if Artifact Refiner Sequence is upgraded, without metal or forging blueprints, the rank upgrade cannot be converted into combat power.
On the contrary, upgrading his Beast Shepherd Sequence would greatly increase his strength.
With these thoughts in mind, Cao Fengqi began to contract with the other four Three-Eyed Crow and a group of Bloody Scarecrow!