When Bai Mo and his group returned to Astera, they were greeted with a warm welcome from everyone.
After all, while a Great Jagras might not be much to write home about, a Bazelgeuse was a different story—it was a creature the entire Research Commission had yet to successfully hunt down!
And now, one had been captured!
After learning the details of the incident, the Commander approached Bai Mo with a complicated expression and said, "Bai, Jasper has already informed me. This Bazelgeuse can essentially be considered your solo capture!"
"The commission for capturing a Bazelgeuse is classified as a 7-star high-rank quest in the Guild, with a reward of 15,000 zenny. Additionally, the Ecological Research Center is offering ten Armor Spheres and five Hard Armor Spheres."
"These are the basic quest rewards. As the one who captured the Bazelgeuse, you're entitled to freely use all its materials. If you're willing to sell it entirely to our base, we're prepared to offer 300,000 zenny for it."
To be honest, selling a Bazelgeuse for 300,000 zenny was a outright loss.
After all, if all the materials from the Bazelgeuse were broken down and used to craft equipment, it could easily yield four or five full armor sets and several weapons.
But the process involved was no small feat, and since the Guild handled the equipment production, it was only natural for them to drive a hard bargain.
However, Bai Mo didn't seem to care about any of that. Instead, he glanced at the Bazelgeuse, which was now surrounded by Wyverian researchers, and said, "Commander, you know I can communicate with monsters. I'd like to try taming this Bazelgeuse, just like I did with the Nargacuga."
Compared to the Nargacuga, which could fly but was limited in its capabilities, the Bazelgeuse—also capable of flight and doubling as a bomber—was clearly a cut above!
The Commander's eyes lit up at Bai Mo's suggestion.
If they could truly tame these flying wyverns, their progress in exploring the New World would accelerate significantly!
Though the Research Commission had already domesticated a few Wingdrakes, those small flying wyverns could only manage short flights and were little more than basic transportation tools. They were no match for creatures like Rathalos—even a Pukei-Pukei could send them running.
After approving Bai Mo's proposal, the Commander simply reminded him to collect his rewards from the quest counter before taking his leave.
Bai Mo, meanwhile, was promptly whisked away by the head of the Ecological Research Center, Lannart.
Inside a reinforced seaside cavern, one monster after another lay in slumber.
A Kulu-Ya-Ku, a Pukei-Pukei, a Great Jagras, a Tobi-Kadachi, an Aptonoth, a Great Girros, a Jyuratodus, a Barroth, a Gastodon, and even a Lagiacrus submerged in seawater.
These were the fruits of the hunters' labor over the past few days.
Though none of these monsters occupied particularly high positions in the ecosystem, the fact that so many had been gathered in such a short time was a testament to everyone's efficiency.
Once Bai Mo arrived, Lannart eagerly roused an Aptonoth and had Bai Mo communicate with it, attempting to gather intel on the Aptonoth herd's situation.
As a herbivore, the Aptonoth was relatively easy to talk to.
With Bai Mo's reassurance and persuasion, they successfully extracted some racial information from the creature.
However, while some were easy to communicate with, others were far less cooperative.
Whether it was due to the harsh treatment from the hunters or simply its nature, the captured Pukei-Pukei refused to cooperate entirely—even going so far as to spit venom at Bai Mo.
The corrosive poison sizzled against the ground, sending up wisps of smoke.
As the researchers and nearby hunters moved to restrain the Pukei-Pukei again, Bai Mo stopped them.
Instead, he grabbed a steel plate from the research center and walked right up to the Pukei-Pukei.
Just as everyone thought he would try to reason with it, Bai Mo suddenly slammed the steel plate straight into the Pukei-Pukei's head.
The sudden blow left the creature dazed, but before it could even react, Bai Mo struck again—and again.
"Will you submit or not? Submit or not?!"
Watching Bai Mo relentlessly hammer the Pukei-Pukei's head with the steel plate, several of the Wyverians who had previously held favorable impressions of him shuddered.
Was this guy really cut out to be a researcher?
In the end, the Pukei-Pukei chose death over surrender, succumbing to its injuries after Bai Mo had thoroughly ruined a perfectly good steel plate.
Tossing aside the now-bent plate, Bai Mo turned to a stunned Lannart and said, "Director, as you can see, there are always some creatures you just can't reason with. So, let's move on to the next one."
"R-right…" Lannart didn't argue. He simply motioned for the next monster—a Tobi-Kadachi—to be awakened from its anesthesia.
And so, after a full day's work, the underground cavern had gained two more corpses—along with several detailed research reports.
Flipping through the densely packed notes on biological intel and glancing at the fallen Pukei-Pukei and Jyuratodus, Lannart didn't seem too bothered.
After all, their previous methods of studying monsters had resulted in far greater losses. Now, thanks to Bai Mo's "kill one to warn a hundred" approach, their work had actually progressed more smoothly!
The dead Pukei-Pukei and Jyuratodus were hauled away by hunters for processing—their materials sent to the workshop, and their edible parts delivered to the Canteen.
Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion.
As for the remaining monsters, Lannart had already decided to leave them to Bai Mo's discretion.
After all, the prospect of taming monsters as companions—as Bai Mo had described—was undeniably appealing.
After a long day's work that had left him teetering on the edge of becoming a full-blown magnetic-field maniac, Bai Mo finally left the underground cavern and returned to the base.
After resting overnight in the First-Class Quarters assigned to him by the Commander, Bai Mo checked the countdown—still over twenty hours remaining—and dove straight into shopping mode.
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T/N:
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