After several days of feeding, the two juvenile Terror Beasts knew that they could get food from Ye Xi if they followed him closely.
Thus, one could frequently see this sight around Mud Mountain: Ye Xi walking somewhere and the two juveniles tottering after him like ducklings.
"Allo!" Ye Xi squatted on the ground, holding a bowl, and shouted at one of the nearby juveniles.
Ye Xi thought that these Terror Beasts looked rather similar to Allosauruses, so he had given them the names Allo and Saurus.
The two juveniles smelled the meat and immediately ran over.
Ye Xi stood up, not feeding them and additionally kicking Saurus, who hadn't been called. He then took a step back.
This process repeated.
This repeated twenty-some times before Saurus finally learned to stop coming.
Ye Xi petted Allo on the head, brought it up, and fed it a spoon of minced meat.
"Saurus!" Ye Xi put down the first juvenile and called over the other.
The two juveniles once more ran over.
This went on for half a month.
The two juveniles grew much larger, and their soft teeth became sharp and hard.
After repetitive and constant training, they had finally learned to only come over to be fed when they heard their names. If they ran over without hearing their name, they would go hungry and be punished.
Ye Xi was feeding them in the same manner today. Only the juvenile that listened to his command would get food, and each time, he would only feed them a little.
After giving Saurus a spoon, Ye Xi took the spoon back and called over Allo. The still-hungry Saurus got angry and tried to bite Ye Xi's arm.
But Ye Xi was still a provisional Warrior, and he would not be so easily bitten. He swiftly moved his arm away.
Their teeth were no longer so soft, and even if getting bitten wouldn't present a large problem, it would still leave a bloody wound.
Ye Xi kicked Saurus to punish it, and Saurus was thrown on its back.
Even before training them, Ye Xi knew that they would eventually show their wild side.
But this was unavoidable, and he could only slowly teach them. The most important thing was to heavily punish them for this sort of action so that they would understand that attacking their owner was wrong and would result in painful consequences.
After kicking Saurus, Ye Xi held Allo in his arm and fed it minced meat until it was full. When Saurus came over with an open mouth for food, Ye Xi heartlessly left with the bowl.
"Owww! Awooo!" Seeing that Ye Xi was leaving, Saurus got angry and ran up to try and bite Ye Xi's leg.
Ye Xi immediately kicked it, this time with even greater strength. Saurus rolled across the ground several times before coming to a stop.
Saurus staggered to its feet and whined, no longer daring to bite.
…
The fruit-picking team, unwilling to sit around in the tribe doing nothing, once more entered the jungle to find any fruits or wild vegetables that they might have missed.
Their efforts did not let them down, and one day, they surprisingly came back with five sweet potatoes.
When Ye Xi learned of this, he asked for them. He looked at the five sweet potatoes like they were precious treasures.
In the past, he had believed that exchanging salt for food, in addition to the food gathered by the hunting and fruit-picking teams, would get enough food for the tribe. But the disaster and the hunger it had brought about made him understand that prehistoric society suffered from all sorts of upheavals and that food would always be a problem.
Thus, he planned to start farming.
Besides potatoes, was there any crop that was better to cultivate and more filling for the stomach than sweet potatoes?
Ye Xi did his utmost to protect the five red sweet potatoes from the drooling tribe members and their hungry eyes.
Because there were no seeds, he needed to grow the tubers in water. Ye Xi cut each sweet potato into four pieces and immersed them in water until they sprouted.
After obtaining the chief's permission, Ye Xi started a little terrace on the mountain. Once the sweet potatoes had sprouted, he moved them to the terrace.
One month later.
Whoosh.
A wooden stick flew through the air.
"Allo!" Ye Xi called out.
A Terror Beast the size of an adult human thumped after the wooden stick, bit down on it, and then ran back to place the wooden stick at Ye Xi's feet.
"Good job!" Ye Xi praised, stroking it on the head and then throwing it a piece of fresh meat.
Allo raised its head and snatched the piece of meat out of the air, swallowing it down without even trying to gnaw.
Saurus stood on the side with red eyes, impatiently clawing at the ground.
A barrel of meat was placed right behind Ye Xi, and it was packed with fresh and bloody meat. But it could only hungrily stare at the meat and not take one step toward it.
Those lessons of pain and hunger had taught it that it could not move recklessly.
As the two Terror Beasts grew larger and larger, whenever they were disobedient, Ye Xi's punishments would grow harsher and harsher.
As the wounds built up on their bodies, they grew increasingly obedient. Even after they matured, the fear and dependence had been branded into their nature.
After feeding Allo, Ye Xi threw out the wooden stick and finally called out, "Saurus!"
Saurus was ready and waiting. The moment it heard Ye Xi's command, it took off like an arrow from the bow, impatiently rushing after the wooden stick. Once it had bitten down on the stick, it ran back as swiftly as the wind and placed the stick at Ye Xi's feet.
Ye Xi gave it its proper reward.
Courage came over. As he watched the two Terror Beasts play-fighting with each other after their meal, he clicked his tongue in amazement. "You actually managed to train them, and they're so obedient, too."
"It's still not enough. They need some more time in training. They only understand simple orders currently. Anything a little more complicated is no good."
Terror Beasts were truly too stupid and too wild. He had spent far too much energy training them up until this point.
This was because only repetitive and mechanical training could make them somewhat obedient.
By the end, he had begun to regret this endeavor and wonder if he should have selected a more intelligent creature to train.
Although such a creature might not have been as useful as a Terror Beast, at least training them wouldn't have been as tiring.
Fortunately, however, his efforts had finally borne fruit.
Courage smiled. "It's good enough that they can obey. But I can tell that your training method is very tiring. It's no wonder other tribes never succeeded, seeing how much work is required."
It wasn't just a matter of time and effort. His success was also because they were recently hatched and had been put through a long training regimen involving reflex training, food, oral commands, punishments, and rewards. Only now were they showing some progress.
Hisss.
Scaly's black body slithered up to Ye Xi's side and began to crawl up his leg.
Scaly was no longer a small snake as thick as a finger. Its thickness could now be compared to a small bowl.
When Scaly was little, it enjoyed hanging from Ye Xi's neck or coiling on his shoulders, and now that it was bigger, it still tried to hang itself on Ye Xi's body.
But Scaly was now very heavy, and it was very tiring to hold its weight on his shoulders.
Ye Xi had tried multiple times to put Scaly down, but Scaly was very obstinate on this matter. If put down, it would slither back up, again and again, fully exhibiting its relentless spirit.
And Ye Xi's refusal made it angry and impatient.
Ye Xi helplessly allowed Scaly's chilly body to slowly slither up, feeling like he was carrying several bags of cement on his back.
Fine, just hang around there. As long as you're happy, it's no problem if your daddy is crushed, Ye Xi said inwardly.
He arduously bent down and picked up the wooden stick, then he said to Courage, "These two little Terror Beasts still need some training. After a little while, you and Uncle Bulrush will need to participate."
"Ah?"
Ye Xi chuckled. "These two Terror Beasts are for you."
Courage was startled. He had never imagined that the two Terror Beasts that Ye Xi had gone to such great lengths to train were for him and Calm Bulrush, nor did he dare to believe it.
"…You went through so much to train them, but you're giving them to me and Calm Bulrush?"
Ye Xi patted Scaly's head and said, "I have this fellow. A Terror Beast doesn't have much use for me."
Hiss!
"With a battle beast, hunting will get much easier for you."
Courage looked affectionately at Ye Xi, and he was unable to refuse such a tempting gift. "Thank you."
Ye Xi smiled. "You're welcome."