48 Where Am I?

Ghost opened his eyes.

He looked around to see an unfamiliar sight. "Where am I?" He couldn't sense Raikou nearby, the connection was shockingly weak.

"What happened?" He thought. The last thing he remembered was collapsing halfway through his breakthrough.

Raikou's circumstances were unknown to him and that made him panic. That was his only friend in this world and he couldn't help but feel that his breakthroughs cause nothing but trouble for him. Of course, him being alive was a testament to Raikou still being alive.

"Wait..." Ghost got up and his body felt extremely peculiar. "NO!" He realised what had happened.

"Fucking son of a bitch! When I get my hands on you!" Ghost realised that Raikou had made him into a wolfman. There must've been other options like last time, but he made him into this!

For now, his plan was to find Raikou. It would be a long journey, but currently, rank 4 cultivators are no threat to him.

--

Raikou was thinking about Ghost and whether he was ok. There wasn't much threat in that forest to his wellbeing, so he picked that location for Ghost to teleport to.

He couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he meets Raikou after he made him into a wolfman.

After some rest, he decided to get up and find out where he was exactly.

He left the room and saw Satella in the opposite room sitting on the floor cultivating. It wasn't a good idea to disturb someone mid-cultivation, so he waited.

After 20minutes, she got up for a break and saw him standing by her door staring.

"That is creepy. You shouldn't just stare at someone."

"I was waiting for you to finish. I wanted to know, Where am I?"

"We're back in my hometown. The mission failed after 'someone' alerted the target and he somehow disappeared." She gave him a questioning look.

"Had to do something. Couldn't leave the kid hanging."

"Isn't the ancient kingdom far away? How did you get here so quick. It would take months of travel, wouldn't it?"

She gave him a mysterious smile and replied, "We have our methods."

They began walking together out of the building. "Is this your house that we were in? Abit forward to bring a man in, don't you think?"

Satella blushed at his words. "You brought yourself in! By the way, humans aren't exactly a normal sight here, so don't go around behaving the way you usually do!"

"No can do buckaroo. Badassery can't just be turned off."

He really frustrated her and it got to her. Even annoying people usually didn't get on her nerves, she was able to ignore them. However, Raikou is always able to get under her skin.

"Anyways. This is the headquarters to my mother's organisation. She is like an unofficial queen in these areas. The Odelschwancks are the leaders of this whole territory, which spans about 500km. The only people above my mother are transcendents." Raikou could hear the pride in her voice.

"Does every elf have the ability to place a soul brand on someone?" Raikou asked.

He didn't notice the blush on her face, "Yes, every elf has it. Don't mention it to anyone that I placed the brand on you. Don't ask any questions, just avoid mentioning it."

Raikou nodded when he saw the serious look on her face.

"Let's go on a tour of your 'kingdom'"

She led the way and took him around.

Raikou was greeted to a magnificent sight when he left the house. A huge white castle towered to the sky. It had pink roses wrapped around the whole building, giving off a majestic but earthy vibe.

"Woah, is that your mother's?"

Satella nodded, "We elves really love elegance and nature. The huge castle was created to signify her authority as the leader of the Odelschwanck territory."

"Show off." Raikou whispered and walked up to the castle.

"Stop, you can't go in. You need permission. I have to enter first and introduce you as my guest to avoid getting your head chopped off." Satella warned.

"They couldn't chop it off even if they tried."

She rolled her eyes and gestured to the guards standing in front of the huge castle door.

"This is a guest of mine. Allow him entry." The guards nodded and opened the door.

"Even the guards are fancy. Wearing white robes with silver shoulder pads. They look like fancy backup dancers to a superbowling performance." Raikou thought.

The hall of the castle was huge. With the naked eye, it was quite difficult to see the other side of it. In length alone, the castle spanned about 100 acres based on what Raikou could sense with his observation skill.

"Wait this is new, didn't know I could sense things like this." He chalked it down to an upgrade in observation.

After checking his stats, he had indeed reached absolution in his mastery of observation. He probably didn't notice, as it may have occurred during that crazy battle.

Satella tugged on his sleeves, "Come this way, this is the main hall. I don't know how long you plan on spending here, but a human won't live a peaceful life in this territory without the leader's permission. Even if you are my guest, it won't be enough."

She directed him to a room with 4 guards stationed in front. They allowed them entry and opened the doors.

The main hall was decorated with flowers hugging every wall and every pillar, just like the exterior. Rows and rows of guards were stood opposite each other, with a huge red carpet going across in between. At the end of the carpet were some steps, which had a huge throne placed upon them.

The woman sitting on the throne looked just like Satella, but more mature and colder. Raikou looked into her eyes as he walked along the red carpet with Satella. Her eyes never left his and left him feeling uneasy.

Name: Maria Tu Odelschwanck

Cultivation: Rank 6 9th Level

Species: Elf

She was the strongest person he had ever encountered in his whole life.

"Speak! Why have you brought this human into my hall?" She spoke with a domineering tone and didn't even address Raikou directly.

He felt abit disrespected. "Guess I'm going to have to showcase my badassery here too. Not yet though, she's too damn strong." Raikou was already formulated plans in his head for the future.

"Mother. This is a friend of mine. The one I was telling you about." She signalled to her mother with her voice.

Maria gave her an understanding nod and took another look at Raikou.

"So. You're the one." She finally displayed a smile on her pale face.

Raikou didn't like the look she was giving him.

"What have I walked into..." His forehead began to sweat.