Pillar of Yita

Tianlan gave her an apologetic look, then parted the long grass with the air of an owner and introduced it to Fang Hong with a boastful tone, ”Ta-da, welcome to Sister Atira’s secret little base.”

”Why is it mine?” Atira looked at her, puzzled.

The little French girl playfully winked at her.

But Fang Hong was so amazed by the scene in front of him that he was at a loss for words.

There was a behemoth ahead.

The beast resembled a rhino, covered in long hair, with three sharp horns in a row and a long tail dragging behind. It was twelve to fourteen meters long, about the length of a bus, with a flat back almost as high as two and a half men stacked on top of each other.

In the backdrop of the firelight, it was like a swaying small mountain.

Feeling the presence of people, the behemoth turned its head, its wrinkled brown eyes curiously looking at them, and when it saw Atira, it immediately made an affectionate mooing sound, like a cow calling out.

”Haha,” Tianlan responded happily, waving to the huge creature, ”Hello Mr. Greyrock, we’re back, did you take good care of Big Cat?”

This was a Gey Ridge Burden Beast—

The Burden Beast was a large, herd-living, herbivorous mammal. Fang Hong knew a bit about them. These large creatures mainly lived in the Strictly Peninsula Mountain Region and the low-hill grasslands east of the Empire.

Wild Gey Ridge Burden Beasts led migratory herd lives, were quite intelligent and gentle, and since they lacked natural predators and were very curious, they did not fear interacting with humans.

For this reason, the Tasya People trained them as Beasts of Burden and regarded them as members of their families and tribes. The culture of the Tasya People is closely linked to the Gey Ridge Burden Beasts, both their Carry House culture and their nomadic migratory practices are derived from this—when a Tasya Person is born, they receive their first property and lifelong companion—a young beast.

If the person is female, the Gey Ridge Burden Beast becomes her most generous dowry on the day she comes of age and marries.

Fang Hong turned around in surprise, ”This is your Beast of Burden?”

Beasts of Burden, the most precious treasure of an Adventurer. In Eteliria, large Beasts of Burden were even known as the ’ships of the land’, and they were the most desired mode of transportation after Floating Ships.

When he was with the Morning Dawn Star Adventure Group, Miss Sicape had always wanted to get a large Beast of Burden for the team. But due to the high cost of large Beasts of Burden, they had never managed to do so.

In fact, some of the rare breeds of large Beasts of Burden were not any cheaper than low-end Airships—such as the Catoblepas Behemoth and the Thunderbird, the former being named after the mythical petrification cow, the walking mountain.

That’s why Fang Hong was so astonished.

Although Gey Ridge Burden Beasts might not be classed among large Beasts of Burden, they were still the largest among the medium-sized ones. Adding to this, the conservatively secluded Tasya People rarely interacted or traded with outsiders, making Gey Ridge Burden Beasts extremely rare in the market.

”Of course not,” Tianlan shook her head, ”This is a Beast of Burden from the Colin Commercial League; we rented it in Elpaxin. But we’ve earned quite a bit of money this time, maybe when we go back, we can buy Mr. Greyrock.”

”Did the Commerce Alliance name it?”

”Of course not, I named it. How is it, isn’t it super cool?” Tianlan awaited praise with a look that begged for compliments, causing Fang Hong to reluctantly look away. He really wanted to know which part of this enormous creature was actually grey from head to toe?

After thinking about it, he wisely chose not to ask.

Fang Hong believed that this was where he was smarter than Luo Yu—

And Tianlan was, at that moment, proudly bringing Luo Yu over and introducing him, ”This Carry House on top, it’s Luo Yu’s masterpiece. It was completed in just a week, and even those dwarves from the Colin Commercial League couldn’t stop praising it.”

Luo Yu shook his head and replied, ”It was all thanks to everyone’s help, especially Miss Atira’s Druid abilities, which were a huge help.”

Atira nodded with a smile.

Only then did Fang Hong look up and notice the wooden platform riding on the back of the Burden Beast. It was a bit like the howdah on an elephant’s back, but wider, with four connected to each other—those were the Tasya Carry Houses.

A Tasya Carry House, in essence, was just a house built on top of a wooden platform, named so because it was carried on the backs of Beasts of Burden. There were suspension bridges connecting the front and back wooden houses, while the sides had sturdy wooden planks, forming two saddle-like shapes on the back of the Gey Ridge Burden Beast, like two arch bridges.

The wooden house at the front was open, with space in the middle for a Beast Tamer or a driver; the ones at the back were semi-enclosed, more akin to a compartment.

Fang Hong immediately noticed the Guy Crystals on top, a structure that seemed to resemble the nature of the Tasya Carry House—using a unique technique that utilizes Guy Crystals to maintain the platform’s center and balance, which lessened the load on the Beast of Burden.

Instead of the cumbersome alchemical load-bearing structure.

But this was a closely guarded secret of the Tasya People, and Fang Hong curiously looked at Luo Yu.

”I figured it out myself, Mr. Ade,” Luo Yu said, somewhat embarrassed, ”It actually uses both Alchemy structures and Guy Crystals, but the Alchemy structure is hidden under the platform, and much reduced in size, thanks to Miss Atira’s help.”

He thanked Atira again.

”No wonder the staff from the Commerce Alliance were so impressed,” Fang Hong thought. This was a fresh approach, and its principles were surely not simple; otherwise, other Alchemists and Woodworkers would probably have come up with a similar solution long ago.