Chapter 1521: Chapter 1521: Training Ghosts
There are always various kinds of sorcery circulating in the world, it’s hard to discern the truth.
The methods of training ghosts are bizarre and diverse, each differing from the other, but ultimately there are only two.
These two methods can be likened to dog breeding.
The first method is to traverse mountains and rivers to find pedigreed dogs, combine with elite training methods, feed them scientifically formulated food, which is labor-intensive, and any slight mistake renders all efforts wasted.
The second method is much more brutal, it involves directly throwing a bunch of puppies into a pen, with no food or water, allowing them to kill each other off until only one remains, akin to nine dogs and one mastiff.
The ghost obtained through this method is the fiercest and most savage, doing anything to survive.
The ghost trainer will then spend three to five years teaching the ghost human words, understanding human intentions, and also teaching it the rules.
This process is very long, very torturous, constantly beaten, always hungry, because a weak ghost is easier to train, control, and safer for the trainer.
Once it learns the rules, the ghost will be obedient and submissive.
Cherry chatted intermittently with Purple Summers, telling her many things about ghost training.
Although Purple Summers had heard of it before, hearing it directly made her shudder, she whispered, “This kind of industry… shouldn’t exist!”
Cherry giggled, “No commerce, no killing.”
Purple Summers thought about it and agreed, indeed, who would spend several years nurturing a ghost if not for huge profits?
But then thinking that the ghost buyers are living people, she found it even harder to accept and felt her worldview was about to collapse.
Her face looked bleak as she asked, “What kind of people buy these little ghosts?”
“Of course, rich people, poor people can’t even feed themselves, who would raise a ghost?” Cherry said with a smile, “For instance, businessmen, gamblers, stars and singers, and some are for revenge.”
Purple Summers pursed her lips, silent for a moment…
She recalled Nathaniel Summers.
In a way, Nathaniel Summers trained ghosts for revenge…
Cherry said leisurely, “Ghosts aged 5 to 8 years sell the best, at this time the ghost has some minor skills, is obedient, follows rules, and is easy to form bonds with. The year I took shape, I was quite popular, many people competed to offer prices, making that old man terribly pleased.”
Purple Summers was puzzled, “I thought the more powerful the ghost, the better the sale.”
“Affordable housing and garden mansions are incomparable.” Cherry shook her head, “Moreover, there are few people who can afford garden mansions, hard to sell. Most people buy ghosts for deception and murder, what’s that saying again? An ordinary kitchen knife can kill a chicken, why use a cow-slaying sword?”
“Don’t use a sledgehammer to crack a nut,” Purple Summers corrected her.
Cherry nodded, “Yes, that’s the word. Buying older fierce ghosts or evil ones are either for practicing dark sorcery, or needing bigger ghosts to tame it if they’re entangled with ghosts themselves. Otherwise, how could ordinary people dare raise them? If it doesn’t obey, they’d have to bother hiring a mage to subdue the ghost.”
She added, “My first master was the wife of a rich merchant. When she bought me, she told the old man she didn’t need someone too powerful but wanted clever and smart, and then she chose me.”
Purple Summers had never heard this story; she always thought Cherry’s master was only Nathaniel Summers.
Purple Summers asked, “What happened after? Did she die?”
If the first master hadn’t died, how could Cherry be with Nathaniel Summers?
Cherry smiled faintly, “No, she thrived. She had long been infertile, and her relationship with her husband was also discordant. Later, she conceived, her husband reformed and returned to her, they were loving. Just worried the ghost might harm the fetus, so… she sent me back.”