Three days before Rocky arrived at the Temple of Zaphiel…
"Master, you're really amazing," Derek said in a flattering tone. "I know you have many secrets, but I didn't think you'd have THIS kind of secret!"
After living inside Rocky's Mobile Fortress these past few weeks, Shana, Derek, Diana, and Mildred were surprised to realize that Zion had these many strong monsters under his command.
At first, they thought all of them were Zion's Avatars. However, Erica reminded them that Zion was restricted from gaining Avatars no matter what method he used.
When her friends realized what she meant, all of them were shocked as this could only mean one thing.
All the monsters around them weren't Avatars, but real monsters, yet they were following the orders of a Rookie!
Derek couldn't help but feel more respectful of his Master after figuring out that the latter had managed to tame these monsters and make them follow him on their own volition.
Little did he know that these monsters didn't originally obey Zion's orders, including Rocky, who was currently ranked the highest among them.
They only listened to him after getting a dose of Giga's Giga Destroyer, which made them become more obedient in fear that they would get sprayed a second time.
As for Rocky, he was Tiona's first underling.
When he was still a Rocky Bal-Boa, he never thought much of the teenage boy.
However, the longer he spent time with the other party, the more Rocky became attached to him.
This was also the reason why he risked his life to save Thirteen in his battle against Arundel, even sacrificing his life to give his Master a chance of survival.
Since then, Thirteen and his monster army have been joined to the hips, fighting side by side with each other through thick and thin.
"Master, teach me how to tame monsters too!" Derek pleaded. "Although I can get Avatars, having live monsters is better."
The teenage boy fixed the glasses on his face with a finger before giving his disciple a look of disdain.
Thirteen was currently seated on a wooden wheelchair, which the Trolls had crafted especially for him. They even placed a cushion to make sure that he would feel comfortable in seating on it, earning Tiona's approval. "No," Thirteen replied. "But why?!" Derek complained. "Because you don't have what it takes to care for live monsters," Thirteen replied. "Besides, you won't be able to necessarily take them back to Pangea."
"But you managed to do it, right?" Derek insisted. "If you can do it, then I can do it too!"
Tiona looked at the swordsman from head to foot before spitting on the ground. There was a look of disdain in her reptilian face, which made Derek feel uncomfortable.
"I'm built differently," Thirteen replied. "Just like you said, I have many secrets, and this is just one of them. If you try to know more about it, I would have no choice but to silence you."
Thirteen even made the gesture of cutting his neck, as if implying that if Derek were to know more of his secrets, he would be erased from the world.
"So, you were able to clear the Temple of Courage with their help, right?" Mildred, who had always wondered how Zion defeated the Boss Monsters in the Temple of Courage, smirked. "With these many monsters, clearing it up would have been a breeze."
"Indeed." Zion nodded.
He didn't even try to explain that if it was only Rocky and the others, clearing the final floors of the dungeon wouldn't have been possible. The only reason they managed to pull through was due to the fact that Cranky was with them at that time.
"I also found it weird why these monsters seemed quite friendly while training with us in the Rigel Continent," Diana commented. "I thought they were part of the Earth Dragon's forces, but it seems I was mistaken. Did you meet these monsters during your First Wandering?"
"Yes," Thirteen replied.
Right now, he wanted the members of the Hero Party to keep his secret, so he didn't mind answering some of their questions.
"Master, please tell me what kind of training method you used to tame them!" Derek had no intention of giving up. "Just a clue will do! I know that you don't have the Beast Taming Class or any skill related to Beast Taming, so please, enlighten me!"
Thirteen paused and fixed his glasses for the umpteenth time, making Shana, Diana, and Mildred stare at him with amusement.
The three ladies already knew that Zion was smart. But his glasses made him look smarter and look more charming as well in their eyes.
'He doesn't look bad with glasses,' Shana thought. 'I want to hug him right now.'
'This boy sure looks good in glasses,' Mildred thought. 'If only he were a little older, I'd probably date him.'
'I hope he recovers soon,' Diana thought. 'I heard he couldn't see past three meters without his glasses.'
Thirteen, who had no idea what the three ladies were thinking, finally gave up because he had a feeling that Derek would pester him until he gave an answer to his question.
"Okay, I'll tell you how I tamed them," Thirteen replied, which made the Swordsman do a fist pump. "The first thing I did was feed Rocky a rock."
"… A rock?" Derek asked in disbelief. "You fed Rocky a rock?"
"Mmm, he eats rocks you know?" Thirteen replied. "I kept on feeding him until he could no longer live without me."
Rocky, who was listening to the conversation inside his Mobile Fortress, pretended to not hear anything and simply continued to dig underground.
"Then how about the Ogres?" Mildred asked.
"I bought O1 and O2 from a Slave Trader," Thirteen answered. "After that, I fed them meat everyday until they could no longer live without me."
O1 and O2, who were busy roasting the meat of the Majin King for lunch, also pretended to not hear their Master and even averted their gazes.
"And the Trolls?" Diana asked. "Did you feed them some meat as well until they can no longer live without you?"
Thirteen looked at Diana in shock and gave the Crusader the, "how did you know?" gaze, which made Erica and Sherry giggle.
"Zion, stop teasing us," Shana said with a pout. "Tell us the proper method of taming beasts."
The teenage boy sighed before shaking his head helplessly.
"Rocky, move closer to the surface and find any monster that is Rank 5 and below," Thirteen ordered. "I will teach these people how to tame Monsters."
The eyes of the Hero Party all lit up, thinking Thirteen was planning to do a special demonstration just for them.
An hour later, something fell inside Rocky's Mobile Fortress, making everyone gather around it.
It was a small Elephant, whose entire body was covered with soft white fur, making the young ladies look at it with smiles on their faces.
They recognized the fluffy elephant because it was one of the Avatar Pets that girls really liked to have.
It was a Rank 3 Monster called White-Furred Elephant.
This monster was also one of the few beasts that had the ability to heal others, which was the reason why many ladies wanted to buy its Avatar.
The confused White-Furred Elephant immediately took a defensive stance when it found itself surrounded on all sides.
Despite the fact that there were many stronger monsters around it, it held its ground and trumpeted its trunk, as if telling everyone that it was ready to fight to the death.
"Now, I'll teach all of you how to tame monsters," Thirteen said before shifting his gaze to Giga's partner, Stacy. "Stacy, give it the non-flammable version of your Stacy Destroyer."
The Blaze Skunk nodded, and immediately, the Trolls and the Ogres backed away as if their lives depended on it.
The White-Furred Elephant, who saw the monsters run away in fear, thought that it succeeded in intimidating them.
This made it feel very proud of itself, even trumpeting its victory over others.
At that moment, Stacy's spray crashed over it like a wave of filth, which caught it completely by surprise.
The faces of the Hero Party immediately paled when they saw Zion's "taming" method, looking pitifully at the small elephant that was squirming and twitching on the ground, like an insect about to kick the bucket.