Li Yu waved his hand. Ten storage rings appeared in his palm. He tossed them toward Shen Tu and they floated out in front of him. The Commander caught them out of the air with a practiced motion with his expression unchanging.

  “I took the liberty of cleaning the battlefield after our victory,” Li Yu explained. “The forest is clear. Inside those rings are the carcasses of the beast tide. Mutated beasts, commanders, fodder… it’s all there.”

  Shen Tu probed the first ring with his spiritual sense. For a fraction of a second his eyes widened, betraying his composure. The sheer volume of death and bodies inside the ring was staggering.

  “This…” Shen Tu lowered the ring, looking at Li Yu with a new level of gravity. “The volume is unprecedented. You cleared the entire Weald?” The scouts reported that the Weald was empty but since they were not there during the fighting, they were too afraid to get any closer. They did not know what actually happened with all the beasts. They just knew they were gone, whether all dead or escaped, they were unsure.

  “Millions of them,” Li Yu confirmed. “I couldn’t let good materials go to waste. The Alliance needs resources for the war, correct? Armor, weapons and alchemy ingredients?”

  The other leaders couldn’t help but get slightly closer to the rings even though they didn’t need to to see what was inside. They each were probing the rings themselves. Since the rings were open to the public without any kind of owner, everyone was able to see what was inside. Unlike Shen Tu, they could not maintain their composure. Gasps and exclamations of shock erupted.

  “Look at these cores! Not only are there so many with an immense amount of energy density, most of them are perfectly preserved!”

  “The pelts are intact! How did he kill so many of them without damaging the fur?”

  “This is enough material to secure our logistics for years! This is a massive fortune for any sect, clan or group. Even for the alliance it is an enormous sum.”

  Li Yu watched their reactions without any reaction of his own but his mind was remembering what each person was blurting out. He wanted to bait out anyone who was against him or at least greedy. To find some snakes hidden in the high grass. This was why he was doing this openly and not in a quiet chamber with just Shen Tu there.

  “I would like to submit these to the Alliance Exchange. I want the points for killing them, obviously. As for the materials themselves… I don’t have the time to process all of these carcasses. I’m willing to sell most of the raw materials to the Alliance directly for points or trade for refined goods.”

  Shen Tu looked back up at Li Yu, his stern demeanor quickly coming back. “Fellow Daoist Li, this is a strategic contribution. The Alliance will purchase all of it at a fair exchange rate. The timing couldn’t be better and I thank you on behalf of those fighting in the war.”

  He paused, his voice taking on a formal, bureaucratic edge. “However, per standard protocol for bulk processing of unrefined carcasses. The Logistics Hall mandates a processing fee for the work. To cover the labor of the skinners and butchers, I am sure you understand.”

  Li Yu’s smile twitched. He was expecting this but was hoping there wasn’t one. “A fee?”

  “It is regulation,” Shen Tu stated flatly. “Five percent of the material value.”

  “Five percent?” Li Yu’s voice went up an octave. “Commander, I just handed you an army on a platter. Ready to be used in this war. Tekton here even tenderized the meat!”

  ‘I did,’ Tekton chimed in proudly via their link but of course no one else heard them. ‘I shook them very hard.’

  “Make it one percent,” Li Yu haggled instantly, his merchant teacher Kui would have been proud. “Or I take the rings back and I’ll have my giant centipede bite the heads off them myself in the courtyard. We have plenty of free time since I just completed this task.”

  Shen Tu looked at the massive and terrifying mandibles of Tekton. He was definitely wearily or this beast above them but even more so at this seemingly young man that tamed it. His gaze then shifted back to the storage rings. He did not look intimidated but he was pragmatic. He knew the value of what was in those rings far outweighed a bureaucratic fee.

  “Three percent, not a single percent lower,” Shen Tu countered calmly. “That is the lowest I can authorize as Supreme Commander without convening a full Council vote.”

  Li Yu stared at him for a moment, then sighed, acting as if he was being robbed blind. “Fine. Three percent. But I want the points credited for killing them today. The points from processing can be allocated to be at the end of each day until the task is done. I have shopping to do.”

  “It shall be done,” Shen Tu nodded to an elder, who scurried off with the rings. He would normally hand such things over to an aid but the value of those rings were much too heavy to hand to an aid. If something were to happen to them, it would be a great loss for the alliance since they would still have to credit Li Yu an estimated amount of points or lose face completely.

  The atmosphere began to relax. The shock of the beast was fading into the joy of the massive windfall and victory. The Alliance leaders were already mentally allocating the resources and revising their battle strategies. Li Yu was the hero of the hour.

  The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  But not everyone was smiling.

  From the side of the leadership group, a man stepped forward. It was Lord Valen of the House of Crimson Fang.

  Lord Valen had been the most vocal detractor in the meeting earlier and his sect was known throughout the Eastern Continent for their brutal beast-taming methods, methods that relied on pain and domination rather than contracts.

  Valen didn’t look at the storage rings this entire time. He didn’t look at Li Yu or his smiling face. His eyes were fixed greedily on Tekton from the moment Tekton showed up.

  He walked up to Li Yu, stopping a respectful distance from Shen Tu but ignoring the Commander’s presence entirely. Shen Tu might be the head of the alliance on this continent but this alliance was much more fragmented than the one in the South. Many clans and sects had their own agenda and some of them were strong enough to be more brazen.

  “Fellow Daoist Li,” Valen calmly said while everyone was discussing next steps. “An impressive display. Truly.”

  “Thank you,” Li Yu replied with a smile but internally he was already preparing himself for what was to come. He recognized the tone and the attitude of such a person. It was the tone of someone who wanted something for free.

  Someone that was used to getting whatever they wanted. Bullying the weak and taking from them. ‘They are making a huge mistake if they think I am weak simply because I am alone or came here with just a few people. Actually, I want them to make that mistake, give me a justification to destroy you!’ Li Yu with malice.

  Kael had already told him of all the horrible things this clan has done. Not only to his family but to many others just like him. He had been digging dirt on them for a very long time now, the things he found were numerous. Li Yu’s internal detector if someone was vile was also going off.

  “The House of Crimson Fang has studied beasts for centuries, including this Sky-Iron Dreadnought and this is a fine specimen,” Valen lied smoothly. “It is a beast of calamity. Its nature is violent, uncontrollable. It is a threat to the stability of the entire region.”

  “He seems pretty relaxed and calm to me,” Li Yu gestured to Tekton, who was currently trying to use one of his legs to scratch an itch under a Crab Cult banner that was stuck to him.

  “For now,” Valen said darkly. “But you are young. You are from the Southern Continent. You will leave eventually. A beast of this magnitude… it requires specialized containment. It requires a master’s touch to ensure it does not revert to its instincts and slaughter millions.”

  The square went quiet. The celebration died down as people sensed the confrontation. Torben’s interest was reignited as looked on to watch the train wreck.

  ‘What a damn fool this Valen person is, I was smart enough to stop when I did but he is clearly too stupid. Let’s see what happens here.’ Torben thought.

  “What are you suggesting, Lord Valen?” Li Yu asked, his voice losing its cheerful lilt.

  “I am saying,” Valen stepped closer to Li Yu as he lowered his voice, “that such a weapon of war belongs to the Alliance. Specifically, to those with the expertise to manage it. The House of Crimson Fang is willing to take this burden off your hands. For the safety of the Five Mountain Alliance, of course.”

  He smiled, a thin, predatory expression on his face. He wasn’t even trying to hide what he was doing. Years upon years of trampling the weak has made their clan bold. “We would, of course, compensate you. A token fee for your… capture assistance. But surely you understand that a boy cannot be allowed to wander around with a strategic threat in his pocket.”

  Shen Tu frowned. “Lord Valen, this is hardly the time—”

  “It is exactly the time, Commander,” Valen interrupted. His greed had overtaken any kind of fake respect he had or this so-called Commander. Their clan didn’t truly respect the Alliance, it was something they had to be cautious of but in the face of such an opportunity he was willing to be more aggressive.

  Shen Tu was instantly angered but he held it in. How could he, as supreme commander, not understand or know what the House of the Crimson Fang thought. He knew but he didn’t have the tools to get rid of them. They were not only strong but were politically well connected. It had always been hard to get rid of them.

  Now with war at the doorstep, it was an even worse time to go against them. This moment would be filed away though, to be remembered and acted on later. While he was disrespected, he still had a use for them and their part in the war. He had to wait for a better time to settle this.

  Valen, however, was going to use the pressure of everyone around to pressure this boy into handing it over. The threat of his entire house falling out with him while he was on an unfamiliar continent with little allies. Valen's eyes locked on Li Yu. “The beast is a danger. Hand it over to the Alliance’s custody, Fellow Daoist Li. It is the responsible thing to do.”

  Li Yu stared at the man. He looked at the greedy glint in Valen’s eyes. He looked at the Crimson Fang robes. ‘This man, no, this family has probably done this often. Bully.the weak and make them give whatever he wants to him.’

  Inside his mind, Tekton rumbled. ‘Li Yu… this man. He smells terrible. I do not like him. Can I eat him? Just a little bit? How about I take away an arm, don’t worry, I can be very precise.’’

  ‘No eating,’ Li Yu replied internally. ‘Not yet. Let’s see where this goes.’

  Li Yu’s face shifted. The innocent, happy-go-lucky mask vanished in an instant. In its place was the cold, indifferent expression of someone who had just massacred an entire army and was ready to take action here. In front of everyone here, he was confident he could do as he wanted and escape unharmed.

  He took a step forward and was invading Lord Valen’s personal space. He didn’t flare his aura. He didn’t release his killing intent. He simply looked at the Valen with eyes that swirled with a faint, abyssal darkness.

  “Valen,” Li Yu said calmly, his voice carrying clearly across the silent square. “You seem to be confused. Is your brain okay?”

  “Confused?” Valen frowned. Not only did Li Yu not call him lord, his tone was also bad.

  “You think this is some kind of negotiation,” Li Yu said. “You think that because I am polite, I am weak. You think that because I am ‘young,’ I can be bullied. I can tell you, I am none of those things.”

  Li Yu reached his hand up and Tekton lowered his massive head down to meet his hand. Li Yu then patted Tekton’s snout. Tekton’s golden eyes focused intensely on Lord Valen. Tekton’s breath was hot and heavy with the scent of molten metal.

  “Tekton is not a weapon of war that I found on the side of the road,” Li Yu said coldly. “He is a member of the Crab Cult. He is my property. And the Crab Cult…”

  Li Yu leaned in close to Valen with a dangerous smile playing on his lips.

  “...is very, very protective of its property. Are you asking me to hand over a brother? Are you trying to rob me in front of so many, Valen?”

  Old Crabby-Legs - Rayne of Fire suggested Crab Legs and I thought this fit a bit better. KodiakGM had Crab of the thousand legs as well.

  Pincher-Pede - Knittingknots said Iron clad Pincher of the Great Crab which made me think of this one.

  Leg-Endary Crab

  I am heavily leaning towards Leg-Endary Crab myself as I like the pun. lol.