Lu Fei put on a thoughtful expression, though he had also considered this question before. He had taken the time to study the history of the Beast Taming Continent, but the historical records could only trace back a thousand years. As for history prior to that, it was a blank.
He had previously speculated that before the advent of the Beast Taming Scrolls, the relationship between humans and contracted beasts was similar to that between humans and animals. Those that could be tamed were kept, and those that were disobedient could only be hunted and used as food for survival.
After a long silence, Lu Fei shared this idea with the drunkard.
Upon hearing it, the drunkard first nodded, then shook his head.
"Handsome, did I say something wrong?"
The drunkard didn't offer a critique but continued, "You've only told half of it."
Lu Fei frowned, waiting for his explanation.
The drunkard took a deep breath and slowly said,
"The reason I say what you just said is only half true is because this mode of interaction occurred during the Middle Beast Taming Era."
"Middle Beast Taming Era?"
Lu Fei uttered the words with some confusion.
The drunkard nodded. "That's right. The development of the Beast Taming Continent can be roughly divided into four periods. The first period we call the Ancient Beast Taming Era. The history of this period can no longer be verified, only some secrets buried underground confirm that this era did indeed exist."
"The other three eras are the Pre-Beast Taming Era, the Middle Beast Taming Era, and the Recent Beast Taming Era."
Lu Fei nodded thoughtfully. The Recent Beast Taming Era should refer to modern times, and the drunkard had also mentioned that the Middle Beast Taming Era had a similar background to his own description. So, what about this Pre-Beast Taming Era?
The drunkard's voice came again.
"The so-called Pre-Beast Taming Era was a thousand years ago. The world at that time was not as prosperous as it is today. It was an undeveloped world, with only primeval forests, mountains, lakes, and seas."
"Given such an environment, one can imagine it was paradise for contracted beasts."
"But later, humans suddenly appeared in this world."
"At first, the contracted beasts didn't know what this new species, humans, actually was. Perhaps in their eyes, they were just a new form of contracted beast. At that time, the number of humans was far less than that of contracted beasts."
"Coupled with the powerful strength of the contracted beasts, humans had a very low status. However, there was a fundamental difference between humans and contracted beasts, which was intelligence!"
"To survive and not be wantonly slaughtered by powerful contracted beasts, humans chose to endure. They attached themselves to the contracted beasts, seeking their protection, but the price was to use human intelligence to create all sorts of things for the contracted beasts. In this way, humans and contracted beasts lived in peace for decades, behaving like obedient dogs."
Hearing this, Lu Fei felt a sense of enlightenment, but it also brought about more doubts.
How did humans appear? One must remember that according to the former theory of species evolution, humans either evolved from apes or from marine life.
But based on the drunkard's introduction just now, humans seemed to have appeared out of nowhere without any warning.
Also, how did humans communicate with contracted beasts and gain their trust?
With these questions in mind, Lu Fei continued to listen to the drunkard's explanation.
"After decades of endurance, and with the contracted beasts all wanting to enslave humans and make them work for them, allowing humans to reproduce freely, the human population began to grow exponentially!"
"Contracted beasts possessed extraordinary power, but their intelligence was extremely low. Of course, they didn't realize this problem. Later, humans scattered across the world began to secretly connect with each other, and a shocking plan was quietly formulated at this moment!"
"After years of preparation, this plan was officially put into implementation, which was to instigate wars between contracted beasts!"
"The subsequent outcome was obvious: humans won. By implementing this plan, ninety percent of the contracted beasts in the world died in this war!"
"History calls it the 'War of Beast Extermination'!"
The drunkard, somewhat tipsy, said in a low voice,
"This was the first time humans utilized contracted beasts. Although they did not control them, they utilized their power!"
"This is what I want to say, how humans first utilized the power of contracted beasts."
Lu Fei nodded in realization, but still had some doubts. He then asked,
"But contracted beasts still exist in the world. That era likely did not have powerful war weapons like modern times. With human capabilities, how could they possibly be a match for contracted beasts? And how could contracted beasts be obediently controlled by humans?"
The drunkard did not keep him in suspense and continued to say,
"That's why I repeatedly emphasize a unique human trait: intelligence."
"Later, humans of the Pre-Beast Taming Era united and, utilizing the advantages of natural mountain peaks, built their own settlements, effectively preventing the invasion of contracted beasts."
"At the same time, they continuously collected various contracted beast eggs, brought them back to their settlements for incubation, and then nurtured and trained them by specialized groups of people."
"And these people were the earliest beast tamers!"
"However, their methods of taming beasts were extremely cruel. One beast tamer would only control one contracted beast. When the contracted beast was young, the beast tamer would drive an iron chain into the beast's body, with the other end shackled to himself. If the contracted beast resisted even slightly, they would pull out the chain and kill the contracted beast on the spot!"
"They would also make these young contracted beasts fight each other. Contracted beasts that grew up in such an environment would only obey the beast tamers and become excellent weapons in their hands!"
Lu Fei was startled, his scalp tingling.
The drunkard chuckled, "What? Does it sound very bloody?"
Lu Fei nodded silently.
The drunkard exhaled.
"The method was indeed a bit cruel, but it was effective. After this, humans began to truly control contracted beasts in combat and no longer feared incursions from wild contracted beasts."
"Time thus advanced to the Middle Beast Taming Era. In this era, as you just said, humans no longer needed to restrain contracted beasts with chains. They only needed to keep them in enclosures and provide them with food, and the contracted beasts would obediently follow humans."
"Through hundreds of years of evolution in this manner, humans became the rulers of this world. They also began to utilize the extraordinary abilities of contracted beasts to accelerate the evolution of civilization!"
The drunkard looked at Lu Fei. "I'm telling you all this not to tell you a story, but to hope that you understand one thing from the root."
Lu Fei listened attentively.
The drunkard said solemnly, "You must remember that contracted beasts can fight independently without humans, but relying on human intelligence can make contracted beasts even stronger. This is the true meaning of the existence of beast tamers!"