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In the end, he found a nice spot inside a bigger tree. This tree was lot bigger yet strangely he didn't sense anything wrong in its surroundings even after activating his spiritual sense. Feeling safe, he closed his eyes and drifted to sleep.

Once he woke up, he felt hunger. As he got up and dusted himself off, he exited the hole in that big tree. And he used his spiritual energy to activate a surrounding sensing technique. He discovered many insects crawling all over the place and a few very small mammals. Considering his size now, they wouldn't make for much of a meal.

He probably needed something like a rabbit at least now.

Since there was nothing he could get from the close surroundings, he decided to move. He took flight into the night sky while remaining close to the tree top. He kept sensing his surroundings while keeping his eyes open. He remained wary and on guard. He was a spiritual beast at the first stage of spiritual accumulation now. He was probably an attractive meal to a lot of entities…

After circling around for a time without finding anything, he saw a light in the distance. It seemed to be…fire? If it was, it might be other humans. The joy of finding fellow humans was soon forgotten though as he recalled how he wasn't one anymore.

What did human cultivators do to spiritual beast? They hunted them. Either for their cores who were materials used in many domains or to sell them alive as beasts to be tamed. Of course, he didn't want either of those things to happen to him.

Still, he was rather curious about the level of humans around the forest. He didn't need to get too close but enough to sense their strength. He flew over there and, from afar, could see that there were three.

They were three kids… Probably around 14/16 years old?

He hoped to find middle-aged men, hunters and more than anything, mortals. But considering these were kids alone in the middle of a forest, it was likely that they were cultivators. No way would a bunch of children from the mortal realm enter a forest alone. Especially a forest with spiritual beasts.

He landed on a tree a few dozen meters away from them and extended his senses.

As it reached them, they all felt a chill but didn't make any movements. He retracted his sense as soon as it got into contact. It was a way to test them. If they had been in the spiritual accumulation realm, they would have made a move.

Since they seemed to only feel a chill without giving much of a reaction, they were likely still body strengthening apprentices. Or they were very dubious characters.

Either way, he planned to sense them for real this time. If they had hidden themselves as sheep, they would find his location through the sensing process. But he gambled on it.

He sensed them.

They still didn't move and only felt a chill. They were indeed body strengthening apprentices. He heaved a sigh of relief and decided to move closer. There weren't many risks to him doing so.

While the difference in the number of stages wasn't high, the fact that there was a difference in realm changed everything. They couldn't use spiritual energy while he could. This was enough to provide him with a strong sense of security.

As he got close enough, he could make out their appearances.

There were two girls and one boy, all wearing the same kind of robes. They were yellow with a depiction of a roaring beast colored in ink black on the side. Since they all wore the same robes, it was likely a proof of belonging to a certain organization. As for which, he did not know. He couldn't remember any with this particular design.

He began to question where he ended up… and when…

He decided to eavesdrop on their talk.

The boy was speaking: "I'm telling you! It shouldn't be too hard to get ourselves a tamed beast and then we can enter the sect association!"

It seemed like he was still trying to convince his two partners to go along with his whims. The two girls looked at each other and one of them said: "We know, we know, you said so throughout the journey…"

And the other girl added: "And yet, here we are, not having met a single spiritual beast in four days since entering the forest!"

The girls seemed to be accusing him… Anyways, they did come here to hunt for spiritual beasts. They seemed to be disciples of a sect who were hoping to join the path of beast tamers. He didn't find it unexpected. Most young apprentices who aspired to be tamers would first try to get a weak beast. They would familiarize themselves with beast taming through that first weak contract.

Still, this meant that if they saw him, they might covet him. It was difficult to admit it but it was the truth. To humans, he was nothing more than a commodity. A wild one without owner too… Considering his realm, he was probably a very juicy piece of meat to young beast tamers. A spiritual accumulation flying beast. It was good stuff…

He sighed then focused back on the trio.

The boy was trying hard to defend himself: "Well, they must be hiding from us out of fear?"

The two girls seemed fed up with him. One of them said: "If it was that easy to capture them, don't you think everyone would go for it? Seriously, why did we even believe you and came along… Let's just go back"

The other nodded. But the boy wasn't going to give up. He said in a hurry: "No, no, no, please reconsider, girls! We've already been here for so long… We can't just go back empty handed!"

The girls had to admit he wasn't wrong about that. They would be mocked if they came back with nothing. After all, they left the sect in a rather extravagant show of pride… The expression on the faces of the girls became grave. One of them told the guy: "Then what? Spend all our time hunting for ghosts? There isn't any spiritual beast around!"

They were stuck and they knew it but they still wanted to rant. And unfortunately for the poor guy, he was the only one who they could send their anger towards. He could only endure it like he did the previous nights. If bowing could help him tame a beast, he didn't mind.

As a second stage of body strengthening, the forest was dangerous. Supposedly. There were spiritual beasts spotted many times in here, with even a few reaching the fifth stage… Fortunately, there never was a single one beyond that. Though, if there was, the beast tamers of the sect would rush over.

Anyways, without much to depend on, he could only drag those two girls with him. They weren't that much stronger than him, being at the third stage. But there was safety and strength in numbers.

His sect was a low-class sect and he was at the bottom of it. At 15 years old, he was still stuck at such a low stage…All because he had a hard time 'willing' the energy… As an outer sect disciple, there wasn't much he had access to. Considering his state, he believed his future to be grim if nothing changed.

And that's when an opportunity presented itself. The side-occupation of beast taming. It was the occupation favored by his sect. To the point that they secluded themselves within a forest.

Of course, it was a forest that was largely devoid of dangers with no beasts in the spiritual accumulation realm. However, it provided a way for young disciples to find a beast for themselves. And those who managed to do so were taken into the tamer's association of the sect and nurtured with far more importance.

He believed that if he could find a tamed beast, he would be capable of changing his destiny, his fate.

Which is why he had to lay low and remain humble in front of those two bitches who kept complaining since they left the sect grounds. They were in a similar situation yet all they did was rant. It was certainly getting on his nerves but he endured.

All because of the hope for a brighter future.