Unexpected gains

His usual practice would be to collect any herbs or fruits that he could easily get too safely.

Seeing that he could take advantage of the distracted sun bear he believed he could kill it and quickly climb up to get the fruit before the scent of blood attracts other beasts.

Unfortunately he failed on his first try, his second chance missed and the stare down resulted in further wasted time.

If he continued to stay or fight he would soon attract the attention of nearby beasts, he could leave and come back for the fruit later but the bear had become highly alert after being attacked.

Either the bear would be quick to eat the spirit fruit while he is away or would stay on guard until it was sure nobody was to be around.

The first would need him to leave and watch from afar in case the bear does decide to get the fruit further wasting time.

The second option would result in having more patience than the bear unfortunately he did not have much time to waste here for a single spirit fruit.

The man glared at the sun bear once more before letting out a sigh.

He backed off before disappearing from the bears sight as the bear remained on guard even after seeing him leave.

Not too far away leaning against a tree the man spoke quietly to himself. "Another failure."

He then took out his notes and wrote down. [unidentified Spirit fruit, guarded by Sun bear 6th spirit gathering, chances of retrieving 2%, marking 24]

He then took out a map and marked out the location on the map with 24 before putting them away.

Completely unknown to him there was a figure who had been watching his deeds from behind.

Just as he pushed himself off the tree to stabilise his body the figure appeared behind him.

Shadows antlers collided with the back of the mans neck with enough force to knock him unconscious.

Shadow pondered for some time while looking at the mans appearance, he did not look like someone of noble birth but judging from his attire he could afford some luxuries others could not.

Most likely he is a low ranked cultivator who had no choice but to do this kind of work and sell on the information to others to earn enough to support himself.

Judging from his actions he acted upon a time when he could gain something to increase his strength but upon failure he did not take the extra risk so it showed his ambition but also that he also valued his life highly.

Shadow thought to herself for some time before coming to a decision. 'He can be used.'

Placing her hoof on the mans head as soon as both came into contact Shadow manipulated her soul power to form a seal within the mans soul.

The seal that was placed upon the man was a slave seal, it will remain there until either he dies or Shadow dies.

The seal makes the person obedient towards the owner of the seal, if they have any thoughts of betrayal towards their master then the master will be aware of it and activate the seal hurting them or even killing them.

Those that are connected through a slave seal have their souls connected to their masters and can receive messages or orders through the connection.

Of course there are different levels or seals depending on their complexity, the simplest seal would allow the owner to detect their slave close by and cause them pain upon failing to obey orders but Shadow's seals were of a higher grade.

Usually only immortals are able to use their soul power to place seals like this however Shadow may not be an immortal but she still possesses some soul power.

Although weak in soul power she still has many years of experience and skill of using it so placing such a seal on an unconscious man who is weaker than her is not too of a difficult task.