54 Silky

Silky: "I...the last thing I remember was blood, death, people were screaming. Then...something was forcing me down, hurting me, I couldn't move, I lost consciousness."

Jim: "I see. Well, it's over now."

'My guess seems to be right, the deaths filled the place with dark mana. She couldn't handle it and was reduced to the point where she could only subconsciously hide in the basement.'

Jim: "I'm Jim, what's your name?"

Silky: "I don't have one, humans normally can't see or hear me after all."

Jim: "You don't know anyone like yourself? Parents?"

Silky: "No? One day I just...Was."

Jim: "Hmm..." 'So Silkies just pop into existence? Or maybe she has amnesia.'

Jim: "Alright, I'm going to be buying this house soon. Do you intend to stay?"

Silk: "Then, you'll be my Master?" Jim was startled for a second at the excitement she displayed.

Jim: "I suppose so."

[Taming Complete, Silky Is Now Host's Subordinate]

'What the hell? That was way too fast, right?' The happy expression on her face was nice though, he let it go.

Jim: "Alright, I'll see you again in a day or two. I'll think of a name for you by then."

Silky: "Yes Master, I'll be waiting!"

As Jim left, he wondered why taming worked so fast with her. Libta and Celes both took about a months time each. 'Was it having her acknowledge me as her master?' He felt this needed some testing, but also felt it was a bit immoral to go around taming girls on a whim. As for guys? Why would he want to tame guys?

Before returning home, Jim called the real estate company and set up a meeting. They rushed the procedures along like they were afraid he would back out at any second. 'Haha, my new place is treated like a hot potato.'

Returning home, Astrill, Xia, and his Mother were enjoying a cup of tea while the Boy and Libta were mimicing power ranger poses. 'Huh, they settled in a lot faster than I thought.' Gathering everyone, he informed them of the new house. Jane seemed to be panicking slightly, the changes seemed to be coming too fast for her.

Jim: "Alright, we'll head over tomorrow morning."

Jim took a minute to sit the boy down now that he was in a clearly more comfortable state.

Jim: "I'm Jim, can you tell me your name?"

Boy: "I'm Torka...Can I go home?"

Jim: "Yeah, i'll take you back in a few hours, alright?"

Torka nodded in excitement. Jim let him get back to playing with Libta for now and headed over to the ladies.

Jim: "Astrill, the boy's name is Torka, i'm planning to take him home soon. I'd like you to come with and smooth things along."

Jane: "I'd like to go too."

Jim: "Mom?"

Jane: "You keep going off to places, I've gotten curious."

Jim: "Hmm...Okay."

Jim may have refused before, but with companion storage his mother can't be targeted by spirit beasts or hostile cultivators.

Xia: "I want to come too, I need to see things through."

Jim nodded, then felt something tugging his shirt. It was Libta.

Jim: "Right, shouldn't leave you here alone, huh. I guess everyone is coming."

Jim headed upstairs for a nap, he had used up most of his mana today due to teleporting back from Bahn Tai. The magic used at the house were negligible in comparison. Waking up later, Jim cooked dinner, after eating he stored everyone and teleported to Bahn Tai.

Back in the clearing where he had saved Xia, he asked Torka where to go while checking the area with detection.

Torka: "I...I don't remember."

Jim: "Alright, try to remember when you were at home. What happened to make you leave?"

Torka: "I snuck out, I wanted to pick some berries for Mom."

Jim: "Alright, so you headed out, try to remember how long you were outside."

Torka: "Um...a few minutes, then the scary man cut me."

Checking the area a child could walk over the span of an hour, it didn't take long to find Torka's home. A cave entrance hidden by bushes, several foxes were inside. He approached, then took Astrill and Torka out of storage. Pushing aside the bushes, the three entered.

Torka: "Mom!"

Fox: "Torka! Where have you been!?"

Giving them a minute, the other foxes also gathered at the entrance. There were 19 of them in total, counting Torka and his mother. They were living in squalor, all of them looked hungry and malnourished. The cave stank badly, and they seemed to be sleeping on woven grass mats. 'This is...not good, starvation, disease, the cold, they'll die at this rate.'

By now, Torka's mother had also noticed Jim and Astrill, everyone was staring at them with fear and confusion.

Torka's Mother: "Who...are you?"

Torka: "Mom, this is Jim, he saved me!"

Torka's Mother: "Saved you? What do you mean?"

A minute passed as Torka explained what happened earlier. Horror passed across the woman's face as she heard that he had been caught and was about to be eaten. "My name is Zana, thank you so much for saving my son!"

Jim: "Don't worry about it, it's only natural."

Everyone present, including Astrill, looked at him in bewilderment.

Astrill: "How is that natural? Everyone wants a far longer life span. It's weirder to give that up for nothing in return."

Jim: "Longer life span? What?"

Astrill: "You...didn't know?"

Jim worked it out quickly, two people have wanted to kill and eat foxes. Astrill mentioned gaining a far longer lifespan. Thus, eating a fox will increase your lifespan.

Jim: "So that's it." Looking up after working things out in his mind, Jim noticed everyone looking at him fearfully, including Astrill.

Jim: "Gross, I'm not going to eat you." 'In the first place, the system has all sorts of methods to prolong life, why would I eat a person?'

Jim: "Whatever, believe me or don't."

Jim began pill refining to pass the time while everyone sorted out their feelings. It hadn't been long since he put Brain Boost into limited circulation, but he didn't want to stop learning pill refining after just a little bit of success. After failing a few times to refine a higher level pill, everyone seemed to have calmed down.

Jim: "I have a proposal. You don't seem to be living well here, I can take you to a better place, what do you say?"

Two hours passed as the foxes argued over whether to trust him or not. Nobody was satisfied with what they had here, and the fact that Astrill had been living with him for so long was proof he could make good on his proposal.

Zana: "We would like to accept."

Jim: "Oh, great!" Jim quickly absorbed all of the foxes in his companion storage. "We're heading over now, just hang on." He didn't pay attention to the numerous startled voices in his mind. Withdrawing his stored mana, Jim had just barely enough mana gathered for another dimensional teleport.