15 Opportunity

The Black Heart Forest got part of its name from the fact that it looks black all year round, be it summer, spring, autumn or winter. The trees were forever black, leaving a sense of permanence in the forest. It was a vast stretch of forests that spanned for a few thousand miles.

The graveyard that Kael was reborn in was at the edge and periphery of the forest, thus it was easy to travel towards Fledgling City, the city that was nearest to Black Heart Forest.

This time, however, Kael planned to venture deeper into the forest.

The demonic spider that Kael encountered with Mirana and Thrump wasn't even a Commoner Rank Lower Phase monster. That was the reason why a cultivator at Mirana's level could quickly take care of it. It also meant that creatures at the edges of the forest were not at the optimal level that Kael was looking for. That signified that he had to go deeper into the forest to search for higher rank monsters that he could kill and harvest the monster cores.

Along the way into the forest, Kael encountered several dozens of demonic beasts. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes; leopards, tigers, lions, spiders, crocodiles etc. All of them met the same ending under Kael's sword. Kael didn't display anything particularly fancy. He would use Spirit Step to confuse and evade the enemy's attacks before stabbing his sword in an unexpected fashion into the enemy's vital parts, ending their lives with one sword.

Though their monster cores weren't worth a lot, Kael still decided to retrieve it from the monsters since his item bag had spatial properties that could store huge amounts of inventories.

After about a full day's worth of traveling by foot, Kael finally entered the deeper region of the Black Heart Forest.

The forest, according to the innkeeper in the tavern, was divided into the Outer Region, Inner Region and the Core Region. This was similar to a lot of places that Kael had been to in the past life. The Outer Region consisted of demonic beasts that had not achieved enlightenment in the road of cultivation. The Inner Region consisted of beasts that were on par with normal cultivators. The beasts in the Core Region were the true rulers of their domains, exerting their influence through their high level of cultivation.

Kael's target this trip was to enter the Inner Region. The Core Region was out of the question for his current cultivation level. No matter how many Spirit Arts he had, it could not make up for the gap in his cultivation. He would surely knock on death's door a second time if he ever ventured so deep into the forest.

On the edge of the Inner Region.

There was only roasted meat for dinner tonight. That was because Kael only managed to kill demonic beasts and didn't bother to harvest fruits. Besides, the characteristic black trees determined that their fruits wouldn't be any more edible than dried up acorns. Under the backdrop of the bonfire, Kael chewed quietly on the roasted lion meat. At the same time his senses were on alert for any possible incoming attacks from demonic beasts. The Inner Region was a dangerous zone after all, and Kael couldn't afford to sit on his laurels.

Nothing happened in the good first half of the night. Kael was done eating his dinner as well. He was just about to douse the bonfire with water when suddenly his ears pricked. There was movement amongst the bushes nearby.

Kael thought it was a demonic beast, or maybe even a pack of them. He took out the sword from his item bag and was on alert mode.

After a short while, the demonic beasts which Kael expected didn't appear. Instead, three men of short stature and dressed in grey hooded robes came out of the bushes.

"Greetings mate! What causes a normal person like yourself to come to the Inner Region of the Black Heart Forest in the middle of the night? Well I suppose you ain't normal if you dare to come here with your current cultivation level. Hahaha!" The short man in front of the pack spoke aloud.

Kael was taken aback in surprise. He saw their disproportionate large faces and together with their thick beards and moustaches. He realized that they were dwarves! He saw a few in Fledgling City, but he never expected to see their race here in Black Heart Forest. It seemed that they were here on an agenda as well.

"I'm here for training. Who are you guys?"

"My name is Darram Longhand. These two are my brothers, Mediumhand and Shorthand. Sounds a bit cheesy I know hahaha!" Darram Longhand pointed at his two brothers as he laughed. The other two followed suit and laughed as well.

Kael gave a smile that was not really a smile. He asked, "My name is Kael. May I know what you three brothers are out in the Inner Region of the forest for?"

"Doesn't hurt to tell you mate. We are here to hunt the Black Line Drake, which is at the Herald Rank Middle Phase. Its scales are good for crafting our guns. More importantly, its nest holds a great treasure – an Ice Artifice at the Common Item level."

Kael could tell that the three brothers were all at the Herald Rank Lower Phase. Therefore it shouldn't be difficult for them to take down a Herald Rank Middle Phase creature with their combined might. However, the Ice Artifice interested him greatly. On his path of cultivation, he had to cultivate in the Ice, Lightning and Fire magic powers in order to climb his way back to the top of the world as the Invoker.

"Oh? Is there more than 1 Ice Artifice?"

"Well it depends on luck. Black Line Drakes are rarely found. Even if there are, some of them might only have 1 Ice Artifice to power up their nests where it incubates its eggs. The Ice Artifice is born from the monster's years of cultivation and nourishing. Therefore it is a pure rarity."

Kael smelled a whiff of opportunity here.