Trope World - Volume 1 Chapter 9 Break Thunder

I hadn’t seen a horse poop before Od. I haven’t ridden a horse before Od either. In this case, I was an amateur tasked with something beyond my understanding. Training a horse in a single night to both accept a rider and ignore his instincts to mount Od was impossible. As the cool night air flowed through me, I glared at the stallion and he glared right back. He didn’t want to be ridden. He wanted to ride Od. Beating him down for that wouldn’t do me any good.

Sucking in a breath, I let out a heavy sigh. My first step was probably getting him used to having a saddle. He already had a bridle, so I wasn’t quite impossible. Maybe? There were saddles in the barn and they didn’t look too complicated.

In the barn Li Jing was turned brushing her coat when she noticed me. “Melchior, I need some help over here. Could you lend me a hand?” Gasped Li Jing. I smiled gently and walked over to her. A favor for a favor it is.

Her coat was covered in sweat and dirt. Taking the coarse brush from her I started to go over her coat. Dust and clumps of dirt poured out. As I brushed her, she sighed and placed her hands against a wall. “I know this is a lot to ask but I have a rock in one of my hooves. Could you lift my leg and get it out for me?” She fluttered her eyes and her ears twisted about. I nodded and moved placing my back to her rump.

After I picked her leg up, I saw the rock. It was in there pretty good. Grasping it between two fingers, I ripped it out. Behind me, Li Jing sighed cutely. From there I finished brushing her trimmed the burls from her tail. “There is one more thing I need you to do for me.” She pulled out a jar of ointment and tossed me a pair of tweezers. From there her tail lifted and I saw her black horse v.a.g.i.n.a less than a foot in front of my face. “Stop glaring at it. I need you to cover it in the ointment. I think I may have a sunburn. And above my anus I’m certain there are ticks. I felt them crawling but couldn’t shake them off.” I let out a sigh. She just needed some help with some personal difficulties. It wasn’t a problem.

“I’ll get the ticks off first just try to relax.” Taking the tweezers, I reached above her donut and grabbed the first of the ticks. Even they had a cultivation base. Their BP was only 50 to 100. For ticks that was incredible. I summoned wyrmling but didn’t manifest it. Ever since it broke through to 100, my relationship with the Dao had changed. The end of the tweezer heated up quickly and I touched the ticks with them. With a quick pop the ticks died and fell off when the tweezers touched them. The heat vaporized the blood inside the ticks and made them release their hold.

I marveled at my new power for a moment before my eyes turned on my friend’s horse v.a.g.i.n.a. It was big and a bit imposing. I knew that it could swallow down my fist with ease. Equines were just like that. Dipping into the jar I took out a healthy white clump of the goo. I touched it to her and she jumped. I leapt away ready for a kick.

“Sorry it was cold, go ahead.” Li Jing assured. I sighed and moved forward. After the initial touch I started to rub it in. When I stopped seeing it as a part of Li Jing and thought of it as medical care it helped disassociate me from what I was doing. Which was rubbing a mass of white stuff all over a centaur’s v.a.g.i.n.a.

Li Jing’s v.a.g.i.n.a was soft almost deceivingly gentle. Yet as I rubbed along its contours, I could feel the powerful muscles beneath. “You know I could crush a finger if one slipped in. I could turn it into bloody pulp bone, muscle, and skin think what I could do with a fist.”

“Just like a woman to brag about tightness while I’m putting ointment on her v.a.g.i.n.a.” I said.

“I’m just making conversation.” Li Jing retorted.

“I’m sure but I’m done now.” Just as I said that a pink bulb of flesh the size of a thumb winked at me. I took a step back. That was something I hadn’t seen before.

“You’re such a tease.” Li Jing m.o.a.ned. I raised an eyebrow and her ears flattened. “Fine, thank you for helping me. My tail shades me from the sun mostly, but a bit more protection doesn’t hurt. Anything I can do for you.”

“Are you messing with me or flirting?” I honestly couldn’t tell. She hadn’t seemed so into this before out in the field.

“A little of both. There isn’t another human on the homestead.” She said with a shrug. Then she looked up at the twin moons. One had begun to block out the other. “The night makes those taught by the Black Moon sect randy. You’ll excuse me if I’m a bit hormonal.” Li Jing smiled. Compared to human teeth hers were blockier but there were still canines.

“Well I’m not in the mood. I still have a lot to do before morning.”

Skill lv up: CAC lv3; passive; +3INT/WIS

“Good luck breaking Thunder he’s of a powerful breed. Even as young as he is, he is not to be underestimated.” I nodded and grabbed a horse blanked and saddle. This may take all night. “Are you certain you don’t want join me for a ride?” I smiled gently.

“Maybe another night.” She pouted before nodding. She found a place in the barn and laid down on a pillow. “Come see me before you go to bed. I might change your mind.” I nodded and smiled. When she was away, I shook my head. Li Jing was a sweet girl. I just didn’t have the time.

The second I approached thunder with the horse blanket, he tried to bite my nose off. I dodged to the side narrowly avoiding a serious maiming. Once again, a normal human couldn’t survive this place. Maybe a cultivator could but that was a big maybe.

He nickered and I pushed his nose away. Thunder reared up but the post kept him from rising too far. The pitch-black horse whinnied loudly then grunted. His ears were down, and he looked ready to kill. I tossed the horse blanket over him and he shook and tried to roll. The blanket fell off into the dirt and he nickered at his success. I pulled out a carrot and thunder immediately paid closer attention.

Thunder extended his head to get at the carrot and I took a step back. He snorted in frustration. I tossed the blanket over him again. He glared at me but didn’t move to shake the blanket off.

What I had was no ordinary carrot. It was a random carrot that managed to grow in Od’s herb garden. It wasn’t in the rows and was just a normal carrot. But the spiritual energy within it was still powerful. When he didn’t shake the blanket off after a full five minutes, I broke the carrot in half and let him eat it out of my hand.

Of course, he glared at me the whole time he ate the half of the carrot. He made sure to lick my hand repeatedly. It was sticky and gross, but I made no move to wipe the drool off. Instead I took out a brush. At first, he looked at me wearily but then grunted as I brushed some of the dust out of his coat.

So far this had been a rousing success. If I had a week to break him, then I would have called it a night and returned him to his pin. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I had to make him ride capable by the morning and I had to make him not try to mount Od. I gave him the other half of the carrot and let him chew on it while I continued to brush out his coat. I took the blanket off and continued brushing him. He even nuzzled me probably looking for more carrot.

I took the blanket and put it back on him. When he didn’t shake it off, I took out another carrot and gave him half. I knew, I wasn’t a great horse trainer. Thunder was incredibly intelligent. If I had used force instead of positive rewards, then we wouldn’t get anywhere.

Once again if I had three days Thunder would easily become a great riding horse. He had the potential and the intelligence. I reached up and tried to pet his nose only for him to snap my fingers up. He glared at me and I flexed my fingers. His teeth were strong. He was at the qi condensation first stage. But I was f.u.c.k.i.n.g sturdy. His teeth couldn’t break my skin or grind my bones. I couldn’t even feel any pain. Thunder snorted and released my hand.

I took the saddle and he glared at me. Instead of glaring back, I calmly pulled out the other half of the carrot. He snorted again and I pulled out another whole carrot. I tossed the saddle on him and when he didn’t struggle, I gave him the half and whole carrot.

This should have been my second day or third. It was too rushed. He glared at me and I pulled out 3 carrots. He quickly turned his head away pouting.

I rolled my eyes, made sure the belt was tight and put my foot in the stirrup. I have still in only a handkerchief from Od. There was nothing else protecting me. Not that I needed it. My health was high, and my body was tough. Once my foot was in the second stirrup, I held the reins. There was nothing binding Thunder to the fence now. He took off like a bolt of lightning.

Black as night with his tail flying up, he charged jumping a fence and picking up his speed. I was much heavier than I had been before. Because of that thunder couldn’t buck me very well. Currently, I weighed around 150kg that was well over 300lbs. My body wasn’t fat. I was paper thin and running off spirit stones at this point. Od had snuck 3 into my bag while I was focused on the pill kennel.

Skill level up: Riding lv20; passive; 20DEX/END

Endurance has surpassed the milestone 55.4

Next milestone 100

Power Skill Discovered: Lone Star lv1; passive; +10END

Personal BP 3872.31

Thunder kept running and leaping over fences. He turned quickly ramming my knee into a tree. It hurt like hell. He turned over rolling on top of me forcing the air out of my lungs to no avail. I pushed him back on his feet with my bare hands. He might have weighed a ton, but my body was much stronger than ever before.

He was starting to slow down. A smile broke over my face and I spat out a mouthful of blood. If not for the health bar I would die from this. He fell on me and pulped my lungs. But it only took half my health. A single spirit stone raised my health back to full. They were starting to become less effective. As my health, mana, and stamina increased it took more spirit energy to replenish them.

Thunder’s BP was 3500 after the carrots. He was just below me in BP and I had just replenished my strength. His BP had dropped to 1000 after all the running. Once he slowed to a trot, I kicked him making him run a bit faster. I turned him to the barn even as his BP plummeted. I was tired he was tired and we both had a lot of ground to cover tomorrow. It would be worse on me if he was unable to run.

Skill level up: riding lv25; passive; +25DEX/END

My every movement used up less energy and I had vastly more stamina to use now. It was a win win on my part. Once back in the barn I opened a door to an empty stall. I grabbed a hay bail and gave it to him, then I remove his saddle and blanked, and finally brushed him down. Tomorrow would be even harder on us. It was 1 in the morning now and I had to get moving at sunrise. 7 from what I could tell.