Chapter 150: Turtle Forest (3)
"You must become a beast to become a beast tamer!" Elizabeth said.
Her words and intent helped her gift—the game system—initiate a first quest for Jake.
[You have received a subclass quest—Elizabeth's Beast Tamer Class.]
[Elizabeth's Beast Tamer's First Quest — become a beast to understand them more! Follow Elizabeth's instructions and actions to successfully finish the quest.]
[Reward: Elizabeth's Beast Tamer Class(Epic), Friendship with Elizabeth.]
Elizabeth had never given anyone a quest like that, so she widened her eyes and stared at her gift's screen floating before her eyes. It excited her.
A part of her royal bloodline liked to command others, but Elizabeth genuinely loved beasts and animals. It was the latter that caused her to feel so excited about sharing her passion with others.
She didn't have many friends because of her unusual personality and magic. Everyone else also focused on their household's heritage. The Household Orb also wielded orbs as their weapons while Elizabeth spoke to her beasts and tamed them with her heart and voice.
She was the oddball of her household.
Her potential was limitless, however.
"So wild!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
Jake chuckled, "What should I do, Elizabeth?"
"We will climb the turtle forest like beasts!" Elizabeth dropped onto her four. It was such a troublesome sight as her long hair fell onto the ground. Minerva and Alice would have shook their eyes upon seeing that.
Elizabeth didn't care about her appearance at all.
She said, "Sio's good at climbing trees, you know?"
Sio growled and nodded.
"Aye!" Elizabeth smiled broadly. "Bears are really good at it! But Sio is a master at tree climbing! What about your friends?"
Jake smiled. If he had to choose a tree climber from his team, it would be Wukong. Ender could fly, so it wouldn't even be climbing, and Odin would surely be struggling a lot with it. Jake could see Medusa cresting trees as a snake, but that would be too difficult to copy.
Therefore, Wukong was the best choice.
"I'll ask my friend Wukong for help," Jake said as he summoned Wukong. The baby monkey appeared on Jake's left shoulder and hung on him as though he were a tree.
Elizabeth sucked in her lips upon noticing that summoning prowess.
'Ah, she must be jealous,' Jake thought. 'So cute.'
It had been more than an hour since Jake and his companions had encountered Elizabeth's pets. He could summon them at any moment, which he did.
All four appeared in their respective positions, further making Elizabeth jealous of Jake's skill. She was doing her best not to show her jealousy, but her cheeks were so red and puffed that Jake also ended up hiding his emotions.
'I can see why Mrs. Minerva has a weak spot for her!' Jake thought as he snickered inwardly.
Elizabeth swallowed her jealousy and turned around.
She shouted, "We climb up the trees now!"
"Wait, wait, wait! You want to climb the shell without any insurance?" Jake asked.
"Bears don't have… insurance," Elizabeth said. The word 'insurance' wasn't something she had often heard, but she could guess what it meant and replied back with a reasonable argument.
Jake grew nervous. He didn't want anything bad to happen to Elizabeth. He knew that assassins were watching over them as he spoke to her and that Mrs. Minerva must have thought about Elizabeth's safety before leaving her alone, but he still didn't want to risk anything.
His mother once told him that kids were more liable to harm than adults… though some adults were even worse than kids.
Jake squeezed his brain juices and devised a good idea to make things safe and thrilling for the little troublemaker.
He smiled, "I understand that I must become closer to beasts and speak their language to become a beast tamer, but wouldn't it be great for my companions to also understand what it means to be a human?"
"…" Elizabeth stared at Jake with her big violet eyes. She needed time to process his words, as she was only a five-year-old lady. That said, she could see where Jake was coming from.
Her beasts already had a few human characteristics. Her lion liked candies, and Sio often moved like a lazy, round man. Her parrot caught a lot of words and learned human speech, too.
With a friendly, wide smile, Jake added, "There are many things that humans have come up with to make their lives more comfortable. If we apply those things to our companions in moderation and ensure we don't impede their natural instincts and way of the wilderness, we should become much closer to them. It's like taking advantage of both sides!"
Jake spoke about the inventions that humans had crafted.
Elizabeth gasped, "You can't make a ladder to climb up the forest!"
"Haha!" Jake burst out laughing. "That's a nice idea! But it goes against our principles as beast tamers!"
Elizabeth sighed with relief.
She asked, "What is your idea?"
Jake chuckled. He recalled the safety measures he'd made to conquer The Unconquerable Mountain. He wanted to craft something similar here.
He noticed thick vines dangling off the trees. At a glance, those appeared thick. Jake didn't know if they were sturdy enough to hold his weight, but he would try making ropes from them.
He asked Ender to gather a few of them.
Before taking flight, Ender asked, "What's the pride, Jake?"
"…I still am not used to your human speech," Jake instinctively replied. "The pride? You mean the pride of an eagle?"
Ender nodded.
"We will find out about it soon," Jake smiled. "I haven't been an eagle yet. I also have to think about my pride as an archer… so give me some time. I'll help you soon."
Ender nodded before flying to complete his mission. While Jake didn't want to think much about Ender's words because the baby eagle could hear him, he could see that Ender had begun questioning his pride and existence. It was a good thing, as it would help him become stronger.
It'd also make him think about his pride as an archer.
Once Jake had many streaks of vines tangled in his hands, Elizabeth approached him.
"Those are vines!" Elizabeth said.
Jake nodded. "Do you think these vines can hold our weight?"
"Yes! This is grandmas' forest!" Elizabeth believed in her grandma's magic. She was also kind enough to include Alice in her statement, even though she didn't know much about her input in The Turtle Forest.
Jake chuckled.
He explained his experience on the tutorial island and what he wanted to do with those vines. He also found a few sharp stones and sharpened them to make crevices in the trees' barks. Those stones also ended with hooks so Jake and Elizabeth could hang on their ropes.
With his equipment, he could easily play around with the world's content, which was fun.
Elizabeth also stared at him with a great interest.
Jake wasn't using any magic.
He was doing things like beasts!
"…and that's the scout's knot I learned from my world," Jake said as he weaved the rope around Elizabeth's waist and the other end of it from which the sharp stone dangled.
"Your world!" Elizabeth's eyes sparkled.
Jake awkwardly smiled. He didn't participate in any scout gatherings but just simply searched for various knots in the browser's search engine and learned about them before his screen.
His words weren't lies, but he absolutely didn't bring much experience from his world.
He didn't want to lie to this young soul, so he stood silent.
At last, it was time to climb up the turtle forest's shell. Overall, the wooden shell didn't seem impregnable. Jake could see natural crevices in them, making him appreciate the forest more. It also sloped toward the exterior at the end, which should make the climb much easier down the line.
"We should test our ropes first," Jake said. He confirmed that the rope was well attached to him before flinging the other end of it at the tree's branch.
It wasn't the tree of the turtle forest. It was the tree perched around it.
His stone end wrapped around the branch a few times before setting in.
Jake pulled his rope before running in.
He then swung back and forth on the tree's branch as though on a swing.
Elizabeth's eyes sparkled with thousands of stars.
"I want that, too!" she mimicked Jake's actions and threw the other end of her rope. It was a weak throw because Elizabeth didn't know how much strength she should use and wasn't as good at it as Jake was. She failed.
Jake quickly stopped swinging and ran to her side.
He helped her get her rope on the branch, then made a swing for her.
"Ayeeee!"
When she got close to him, he'd gently propel her forward.
"Ayeeee!"
Jake grinned.
"Wild!"
"Wild!"
These two had some fun.
Jake wanted to climb up the tree quite earlier than usual, but Elizabeth kept asking him for more swings, making Jake unable to refuse her with her adorable face and sparkling eyes.
It was so difficult that Jake saw Medusa looking at him scornfully.
Jake coughed and said, "I'll make a harness for Sio! I don't think Lew is coming up with us, right?"
"Aye! Lew is going to rest in Grandma Alice's house!" Elizabeth replied.
She couldn't believe that Jake thought of a harness for Sio. But that little gesture made her much closer to Jake. He wasn't just an acquaintance, but a real friend now!
At last, it was time to climb The Turtle Forest's shell.