Triple Elemental Core and Unique Materials.

Using all of his senses, including his sense of smell, hearing, electrical, heat, and mana, he tracked down which valley the Tempest Vulture fell in. Talos leaned over the edge of the deep canyon and began to descend head first. 

He dug his claws on his front legs and back legs together to hold his massive weight to descend. As he did so, Scrat held on to his back spikes firmly. 

"Alright, this Tempest Vulture was an adult so its Beast Core will be of exceptional quality. Tell me, how have you used Beast Cores in the past?" 

"I eat them." 

Scrat shook his head while smacking his teeth slightly. 

"Inefficient and a waste of the proper use of Beast Cores. Next question, where is your Beast Core?" 

"In my heart." 

Scrat smiled. 

"Good. I will explain further when you find it." 

Hearing that, Talos began to speed up his descent, until he was sprinting down the canyon wall. Scar sat down and wrapped his tail around Talos' spikes as he enjoyed the fast speed. 

After several minutes, he reached the bottom where a river was flowing. The river was not very fast or deep which made him walk toward it. He sniffed the water finding it to be water with just a bit of mana which Scrat explained. 

"In this environment of dense wind and lightning mana, water does not have many chances to exist. The few sources of water in the Storm Belt are found in the canyons as those places the tornados from above have less of a reach." 

"Understandable." 

Not long after, walking through the canyon, he finally ran into the blood trail properly. The blood of the vulture was a deep cyan which Scrat jumped down to analyze. Using his finger he collected some of the blood before liking it off his finger. 

He tasted it like it was a wine with fancy notes before nodding his head. 

"Female, around 500 years old, currently carrying eggs. A mature specimen by it having its three heads, and it has gone through elemental strengthening. Impressive." 

With that, Scrat scurried up Talos' leg before taking his plan on his neck. 

"Talos, do you know what Elemental strengthening is?" 

"I believe I do Whenever I used to eat Beast Cores of the lightning, fire, earth, or even metal element I felt my own grow stronger. However, when I ate beast cores of other elements, I just got a higher tolerance to those in the future."

"Well, elemental strengthening is the proper method of absorbing Beast Core. You absorb the elemental mana in the Beast Core to nurture your own Beast Core. As for elements you can't use, you purify them into regular mana essence to do the same. Eating them wastes a lot of the energy." 

Talos should have thought about that, but he had gotten over-reliant on his Adaptive Evolution. He would need to remedy that or he would grow weaker, not stronger. After understanding that, he followed the blood trail until he found the vulture. 

She was lying on her side with her three heads hanging limp. They were breathing and were awake, but she just did not have the energy to do spare other than try to heal the wound he caused her.

The Tempest Vultures had minor regenerative abilities so a wound like this would heal in time, but Sword Intent was a counter to such abilities. Talos' understanding of sword fighting made cuts caused by it a nightmare to treat. 

This was a lesson taught to him by his Sword Master. 

'The more you understand what it means to cut, and slice your opponent, the more the wounds will remain despite their efforts. Understand this, my student.' 

It brought a small smile to his beastly face as he remembered his Sword Master. His old world had been split into two giant continents of equal strength. The East Continent of Cultivation with its unique arts of Qi, pills, elixirs, Daos, and intent. 

Along with the West Continent of Magic, mana, potions, laws, and spells. His master had been one of many Arch Mages and Senior Cultivators who explored the other continent for research or experience or to make connections. 

He shook his head when he realized he was now thinking too much about that. Scrat lept off his head and hid himself as Talos approached the downed bird. The vulture's three heads raised off the ground menacingly with screeches. 

The massive bird rose to its feet while spreading out its 6 wings. Well, three because the wings on its left side had lost the muscles and tendons that supported them. The huge wound he inflicted was still bleeding despite the vulture's mana and vitality fighting against his Sword Will. 

It was a losing battle, but if he did nothing, she just might survive. However he was not here to do nothing, he was here to hunt. Talos growled as all the spikes on his back began to thunder menacingly with lightning. 

He burst into fire which exploded with lightning bolts every time both elements touched each other. Talos' tail though swung from side to side on the rock as he carved huge molten cuts in it. 

The Tempest Vulture was not willing to die without a fight. It drew out its mana causing its whole body to light up along with its three heads. Each one opened their mouths as they attacked him separately. 

Lightning, Wind, and Fire surged toward him in a giant wave filling the canyon with pure elemental rage. A massive explosion erupted with Talos at the epicenter as he had not defended himself. The vulture continued to blast Talos intending to not allow him to survive.

After she stopped blasting she blasted him again, again, and again causing parts of the canyon to crumble down around them. She began to back away as her survival instincts had told her he was not dead. 

She was right as Talos charged through the raging winds, lightning, and fire. Her fire and lightning every time they touched him were simply devoured by his body and spikes. Meaning only her wind had any chance of wounding him, but Talos' body was covered in thick living metal. 

He squinted his eyes with a bloodthirsty roar as he leaped into the air like a panther. His front arms extended forward causing the Vulture to watch him in horror. Things played out in slow motion for her as she realized that she had faced a predator she should not have. 

When Talos crashed into the Tempest Vulture's chest, his massive weight sent her to her back.

"NOW DIE!" 

He coated his claws with Sword Intent and stabbed them into the vulture's chest causing her to screech in agony. Not giving any mercy, he spread his arms which had a surprising range of motion apart ripping her chest open. 

A massive eruption of blue blood covered him, but he lunged into the hole he opened and bit down on her heart. When his teeth were in, he used his back legs to get a hold before tearing back along with the vital organ. 

The Tempest Vulture watched the brutal sight with her three heads with horror as he dropped her heart. He went back in and bit down on a lung before tearing that out, but by that time the vulture was as good as dead. 

He growled with bestial rage that burned hot in his body. However, Talos did not allow himself to indulge too much as he kept his calm. He took a breath before breathing out now calm. 

Scrat scurried out from what seemed to be thin air with seemingly no care at the brutal sight. He lept right into the Tempest Vulture's open chest before scurrying around in the corpse. 

Talos blinked a few times as he was more suprised at the sight. 

"What are you doing?" 

Scrat replied with a bit of an echo. 

"FINDING YOUR LOOT!" 

Talos shook his head as he waited a bit before hearing Scrat yell out. 

"FOUND IT!"

Eventually, the squirrel emerged from the body holding a few items. For one, in his left hand was the Beast Core which was the biggest he had ever seen. It was the size of a grapefruit and overflowing with mana.

Not just that, Scrat also came out holding a single egg. The egg was green, blue, and red like the vulture, but the size of Scrat's body. The squirrel himself was covered in the same blue blood, but he did not seem to care. He scurried up to Talos to hold out the prizes he got. 

"If you give me a few minutes, I will harvest as many of the useful parts I found." 

Scrat rubbed his hands together before he began to use his magic. He reached into his mouth and pulled out a ring, it was not the stolen Draupnir, but a Spatial Ring. Using his magic, he plucked all of the feathers before storing them in his ring. 

He ran to each head to collect the eyes, he raised his hands before drawing all of the blood covering Talos, himself, the ground, and even the vulture before condensing it into a small cyan stone.

He held his hand out and spoke in ancient Nordic and drew out the soul essence of the vulture. It's soul was condensed into a small whitish-blue marble which surged with soul energy. 

He also jumped back in before pulling out two more eggs of similar size to the first. Once he was done, he scurried to Talos. 

"I should be able to cook up some potions if you help me out. In the Forbidden Regions, we have all the ingredients." 

Talos leaned in and squinted his eyes. 

"You can make potions?" 

Scrat held his head high. 

"Of course. I have been around since Borr, the father of Odin. I served him until his death and then I served his son Odin. In that time, I have seen many races come and go and learned many arts. I can brew potions, create rituals, spell work, and most importantly, travel to the 9 realms if you need."

Talos nodded. 

"Alright then, tell me more about the crime you committed. Those two things you stole, how long since you stole them, and who is hunting you?" 

Scrat sat up and explained.

"To begin with, these belong to Odin and Freyja respectively. I stole them around 50 years ago and my main hunters are the Valkeries along with Thor himself." 

Talos squinted his eyes as he began to circle the dead vulture thinking. 

"I swore to protect you so that is what I shall do, but you need to help me become stronger. How do you kill gods?" 

Scrat smiled as he gave an orderly bow to Talos. 

"My expertise and experience are all yours. Now, as strong as you are, gods are still beings not to be underestimated. You need to be stronger, and we need to refine that tail blade of yours to new extremes. You will not be disappointed Talos." 

Scrat got off the corpse as Talos was going to be eating while he talked. As always Talos tore out the intensity while leaving the vital organs before he blasted the massive corpse with his flames. Meanwhile, Scrat explained some things. 

"Ok, after you are done, I will make use of a complex ritual. I will use your blood as the spell circle, then use the blood, soul, core, eyes, and some World Tree Sap to empower you after you are rested." 

Talos nodded as he continued to cook his meal. 

"Tell me more about World Tree Sap." 

"As the World tree supports 9 whole realms, it is overflowing with mana and extreme amounts of life force. I am one of the few who know how to harvest the sap safely as even a drop has enough power to vaporize lesser beings. 

In time once you grow stronger, you will be able to help me harvest more for potion work. It is a rare ingredient, but the World Tree is heavily defended by the 9 Realms so be warned we will make enemies, more than I already have." 

Talos did not mind the sound of that. 

"Sounds fine to me, more enemies are more foes to test my sword against." 

Scrat nodded. 

"A perfect mindset. Now to get started on this, mind giving me your blood." 

Talos brought up his left arm and stabbed his claws into his right one. Scrat was ready and used a bit of mana to draw out a decent amount of blood from Talos. Just like the vulture, he compressed it into a small stone, but Talos' blood was like magma. 

Scrat gazed at it like it was treasure so he left Talos alone to get started on the ritual. As Talos began to eat, Scrat stretched out a bit as he had not done this in centuries. 

'Old bones, don't fail me now.'