Chapter 183 Mysterious Old Man
Chapter 183 Mysterious Old Man
About an hour later, a couple of carriages stopped outside of the beast farm. The loud sound of thumping and wheels rolling became silent as the carriages pulled up in front of the farm. The carriages were all loaded with huge chunks of meat in their back, weighing dozens of pounds each. A couple of men jumped off and started to unload the meat. There were grunts and thuds as they hauled the meat out of the carriage and in front of the beast farm. It took them about half an hour before they finished unloading all of it.
After checking if they have unloaded everything, they jumped back on the carriages and took off the same way they came. Soon enough, they were out of Rocky's sight and the sounds of their carriages are fading into the distance. Rocky stared at the pile in front of him in disbelief. Content rights by NôvelDr//ama.Org.
"It cannot be! They just left like that? How will I carry all these meat inside by myself?" Rocky popped his head from the beast farm. In his imagination, being a feeder did not involve such hard labor.
Rocky couldn't help but feel extreme regret. Had he known that this job was like this, he would had asked Marin to transfer him somewhere else. Somewhere mellow perhaps instead of here where he was struggling with the meat. However on the plus side, the beast farm was the only place for him to improve his Magical Evaluation Skill. So despite the great inconvenience, he had to put up with it. He made the decision back then, so he had to see it through. Right now, he had meat to carry. He grumbled and cursed under his breath. Just because he had to do it, doesn't mean he had to like it.
"Fine. I can do it." Rocky sighed. He stomped to the pile and then picked up a piece of meat weighing dozens of pounds and carried it back to the beast farm.
One by one he picked up all of the meat and placed them in the cribs of all spirit-manipulated beasts. He grunted and cursed every time he picked up a meat and carried it all the way to the cribs. After he finished feeding the beasts, Rocky decided to practice his Magical Evaluation Skill. However, just as he was about to begin, a low voice came beside Rocky. "Are you done feeding them?"
Rocky looked up and saw that Sheridan had appeared out of nowhere. He stared at him expectantly.
"Yes, it's all done." Rocky nodded.
He then entered the beast farm to inspect Rocky's work. Rocky waited for him to finish. Rocky was sure that every beast had meat to eat. However, after a moment, Sheridan walked back outside and shouted at Rocky angrily. "All the spirit-manipulated beasts have not eaten a single piece of meat!"
Rocky was stunned. He also walked back into the stable to check and found that all the meat he put there were barely touched. For some reason, all spirit-manipulated beasts did not even bother to look at the meat. It was a strange scenario. Why wouldn't they eat their meat when it was right in front of them?
"What the hell happened?" Rocky felt very strange and wondered if these spirit-manipulated beasts were having a hunger strike just because they did not like him. Was it possible for them to do that? Could they really hold back out of contempt?
"Haven't I taught you that these food must be washed with fresh water and then brushed with pig blood before they go into the crib? All spirit-manipulated beasts like their meal fresh with blood on it. The meat will not be fresh after being cut up and delivered. It is our job to re-fresh the meat up," Sheridan said while checking the meat.
Rocky rolled his eyes and turned to stare at him, thinking that he must be picking on him. He had never taught him any of these before. Had he intentionally withheld that information to torment him? These spirit-manipulated beasts were really meticulous and demanding when it came to their food. Uriah, who was much more powerful than they were, was less picky. He would eat just about anything. He blamed Sheridan for this as he thought he caved in too much to their preference. So now these spirit- manipulated beasts were just so pampered.
"What are you waiting for? Wash the meat and dip it in pig blood. Do it now." Sheridan waved at Rocky to rush him as he saw that he was just standing there.
"Fine!" Rocky gave him a hard stare and turned to do his job.
"I wouldn't have thought that he could be a spirit manipulator at the second grade of the Earthly Stage. No wonder he was taking a spirit-manipulated beast at the second grade of three-stars last time I saw him. I think he is quite gifted, bringing up his spirit-manipulated beast well. He might be worthy of my teaching. It is not easy to be a spirit manipulator who can unleash the true potential of his spirit- manipulated beast. In the entire northeast military camp, only Marin was a little gifted. The rest have no talent at all except for this one," Sheridan murmured to himself while examining Rocky. He definitely emitted a different kind of aura.
It was about to go dark when Rocky was able to finish taking care of all the spirit-manipulated beasts. He was sweaty and exhausted, and he definitely needed to freshen up. He felt this job was much more tiresome than cultivation.
"Kid, since you are in my turf, you will have to obey my rule. Be quick with your work and don't get lazy on me. That is it for today." Sheridan showed up from the side as he reminded Rocky.
Rocky rolled his eyes at Sheridan and left the beast farm. He then took Uriah and Rubygon out of the military camp for a quick shower in a river nearby. Afterwards, he held Rubygon for a neuron exercise for an hour before he started to cultivate for the night.
The next morning Rocky went to the underground nest to see the condition of Dark Heaven Insects. After making sure that they were okay, he then strolled back to the military camp. He ordered Uriah to look after Rubygon in the house before proceeding to the beast farm.
The second he reached the beast farm, Sheridan "greeted" him by pointing finger at him while he yelled, "I told you. Don't you get lazy on me! How dare you show up at this hour!"
"Hey! That's enough! The fact that I put up with you does not mean that I am scared." Rocky could not take it anymore. He shouted back at him. No one had the right to treat him so horribly. He strongly believed that he must have done something in the past that pissed Sheridan off. Otherwise Sheridan had no reason to pick on him every step of the way.
"Punk! How dare you talk back! Don't think for a second that you can get your way simply because you are at the second grade of the Earthly Stage. The way I see it, you are nothing but a rookie." Sheridan smiled at him coldly. He felt that he had the upper hand. He waited for Rocky to apologize since he had put him into his rightful position but Rocky simply cannot put up with him anymore.
"Listen, if I was a rookie, you are less than a rookie." Rocky shot back immediately.
"It looks like I need to teach you lesson so that you will remember your place in here." Sheridan suddenly picked up a wood from the ground. He skillfully twirled it around his hand and got into a fighting position.
"You want to fight? With a branch? Fine. I could live with that. I don't want people to say I was taking advantage of an old man." Rocky frowned as he felt a bit strange about Sheridan starting the fight proactively. Could he be one of the aces? He also did felt weird by his initiation to start a fight using a branch. What was going on his mind? Rocky shook this idea off when he examined his appearance. Sheridan looked nothing like an ace. There was no way he could be one.
"We wouldn't know that, would we?" Sheridan brandished his small branch. He did it so fast that Rocky did not have time to react.
Zap! Rocky felt something brushed through his face. He touched his face and there was blood on his finger.
Sheridan brandished his branch two more times and Rocky sensed two thin spiritual aura coming straight for him in a flash.
"That's fast!" Rocky grew solemn and stepped aside to evade the attack. He then turned and saw two dents on a withered tree behind him. Thankfully, he was able to block that attack. He wasn't sure though how long he could keep it up.
"Good. It took twice for you to notice." Sheridan smiled.
"Who are you?" Rocky realized that this old man was more than what he appeared to be. He was able to use his spirit power to do harm without any sign, which was something that no ordinary spirit manipulators were able to do. Clearly he was a top-notch spirit manipulator, who hid his strength well. He may look like an old man but his strength surpassed those in their peak years. At least he was not able to see his true strength.
"I am just an old man running the beast farm," Sheridan said calmly. Yet, Rocky knew he was lying. There was no doubt that this old man was more than what he claimed to be. He was no doubt hiding something. But what was it and why?
Rocky got serious. He had never expected an old man at the beast farm could be a top-notch spirit manipulator. Rocky had to admit that he misread Sheridan completely.
"I am sorry for what I said to you earlier. Please forgive me." Rocky was no idiot. He knew that he would gain nothing by going against him. So he deferred to him.
"Looks you found your place after all. I am not someone of high status. I am just an old man at the beast farm. If you have no problem, then please go inside and clean the beast farm." Sheridan then walked out with his hands behind his back.
"Why did this old man hide his strength to be an administrator at this small military camp? Who the hell is he?" Questions after questions popped into Rocky's head. His head hurt from the continuous flow of questions yet he could not answer any of them. Now that Rocky had gotten a taste of Sheridan's strength, he decided to behave himself around him. There was always someone who was better and
stronger. And such a powerful man was willingly being an administrator here. So he decided that he was not going to complain any longer about this job being merely at the second grade of the Earthly Stage.
Rocky entered the beast farm and worked while practicing the Magical Evaluation Skill. Morning was soon over, and his work was done.
"Glad to see that you worked fast this morning. Looks you can still be taught." Sheridan just finished a round of inspection and nodded approvingly at the clean and organized beast farm. He was satisfied by Rocky's performance.
"If there is nothing needed of me, I will be on my way." Rocky was still thinking about catching the Dark Heaven Insect so he bid farewell to him and went on his way.
Sheridan nodded and looked curiously at Rocky when he left the farm.