The Beginning of Transcendental Wars?

"Bah, isn't it boring?" The rabbit said with a look of disdain on his face. "Staying cooped up in the same place for centuries? I wanted to stretch my wings a little."

"And you ended up here?" Damien asked with a raise of his brow. "Odd sort of place for a vacation isn't it?"

"Of course, I didn't want to come here!" The rabbit rebuked Damien harshly. "I was caught by a Rock Mountain Bird and it brought me here. I was able to escape but.." he trailed off and Damien looked down at his right foot that was bleeding. 

The rabbit raised his head and looked at Damien pleadingly, "Can you help me, my lord? I would rather not die here in these darned lands." 

"Don't call me lord, just Damien is fine," said Damien as he crouched down and studied the rabbit's foot. He wondered if the AI system that he created was going to work on a magical being. 

Beastmen were still closer to humans but Damien didn't think a stead would count close to humans. 

"I am Mauri," replied the rabbit. He started fidgeting when Damien touched his foot, which showed that he was not used to being close to humans. 

"Sit still Mauri," Damien sternly said while activating the Eye of Observation. In front of his eye appeared a small screen which glitched for a while before providing him with an X-ray image of Mauri's foot. 

It seemed like his AI system worked on magical beings just fine. 

"Your foot is fine," after examining the X-ray, Damien turned to look at the stead and said to him, "It is only an external wound, and just needs to be patched up a little." 

He took out the disinfectant from his system's inventory and cleaned Mauri's wound which was still bleeding. Once his wound was clean, Damien applied the ointment that he had prepared for small injuries and used his clean handkerchief to tie Mauri's wound.

"Alright, I don't have much resources at hand at this moment," he told Mauri. "But this should be enough, as long as you keep your wound away from water, it should heal without flaring up." 

"Thank you, Lo—Damien," Mauri changed his words when Damien glanced at him lightly. 

Damien smiled at him before patting him on the hand. "Make sure to fly out of sight this time, Mauri." 

He then turned to look at Xavier before saying, "Let's go." They still have to look for Thalia's father and return to the guild. 

Xavier glanced at the stead before nodding as he and Damien walked away leaving Mauri behind. The little rabbit with wings stared at their backs while fluttering his long ears.

[You have helped a stead in help.]

[Congratulations on getting another step closer to becoming the best doctor in the beast world.]

[Fame: +6]

"Something is weird." 

Damien was reading the notifications that were displayed on the screen in front of his face. He turned his face to look at Xavier and asked, "What's weird?" 

"The stead," replied Xavier with a frown on his face. "They never leave their territory, in fact, this is my first time hearing a stead say that it left its territory on its own accord."

"And that's weird because—"

"You do not understand," Xavier turned to look at Damien. "Steads had once stood on the side of the transcendental beastmen. They believe they are better than the rest because they once accompanied those who laid the foundation of this world." 

Damien tried to remember if there was any information about transcendental beastmen in the memories of his predecessor. 

And to his surprise— there was more than little information. From the First War of Transcendental Beastmen to the Age of Enlightenment, his predecessor had read every single thing about them. 

Transcendental Beastmen. These beings shared the same status as the Beast God in this world. Not only were they exceptionally powerful and shrouded with ethereal aura, but they were also immortal. 

Unless they met a match which they couldn't defeat, the possibility of a transcendental beast man dying was close to none. 

"You should know it better than anyone, Lord Damien," Xavier glanced at him and said, "Steads are the very sign of the power of the transcendental beastmen. They have stayed cooped in their territory for ages, if the steads are stirring, it is not a good sign." 

"And why is that?" 

"Because—" Xavier's eyes darkened. "The last time the steads left their territory, it started the fifth transcendental war." 

And before Damien could say anything else Xavier paused in his steps and raised his hand to silence Damien.

Seeing the solemn look on Xavier's face, Damien turned silent. He placed his foot raised in the air back on the ground before whispering, "What's wrong?" 

"I smell it—the Impert Snake," Xavier answered, causing Damien to straighten up as he looked around wildly. What the hell? Why did no one tell him that his beast nucleus came with his sense of smell gone as well? 

"W—where?" Damien asked but Xavier didn't answer instead he turned his head to the left. His eyes were fixated on the small corner of the tall, rocky hill on their left. 

"Wait here," he said to Damien before walking straight to the corner of the hill that had multiple boulders and sharp rocks sticking out of the ground. 

"Yeah, sure. You are the boss," Damien said while looking at Xavier who was walking away. 

Dan floated in front of him before saying, "Shouldn't you follow him as well?" 

"Why will I? Didn't you hear him say that he wants me to wait here?" Damien said to the 3D hologram that was flying on the side of his head. "Why will I ignore the advice of an expert?" 

"Yeah. And you are scared," remarked Dan with a very human-like snort. "I didn't know that you were a scaredy cat host." 

"Don't you think that you are getting a bit too chatty?" Damien glanced at Dan and snapped angrily, "Don't forget that I am your maker, so in case you go a bit too cheeky, I can also destroy you." 

"Destroying me will not change the fact that you are a scaredy cat." 

"You fucking—"

Rustle. 

Damien went still. 

With his back stiff, he stood where he was, not even daring to breathe too loudly. 

"I am a rock, I am a tiny, puny rock," he muttered under his breath as he slowly closed his eyes and shuffled his feet forward. 

While silently hoping that he would magically start resembling a bumpy boulder or something of the sort. 

However, the sound of rustling got closer and closer before—

"AHHH!!!" Damien screamed in terror as something slimy clamped on his shoulder.

"Shut up, you scaredy fool. It is me," a familiar voice snapped at him from behind and Damien paused before turning to look at the man behind him. 

It was Xavier. 

Upon realising that it was none other than Xavier, Damien was slightly relieved but then he turned embarrassed a second later, and a sudden surge of anger rose in his heart. 

"What are you scaring me for?" Damien stepped away from Xavier who was covered in slime. 

Xavier raised a brow and stated coolly, "It's not my fault that you are feeling jumpy, Lord Damien. I didn't call you as it would have been nothing but foolishness on my part." 

"After all, screaming near the nest of Impert Snakes is something that only fools do." 

Damien the fool: ".." 

"Oh, so it's my fault that you are covered in slime and decided to crawl behind me?" Damien fired back. 

"I did not crawl," Xavier protested at once. "I walked and the one who seemed to be on the verge of crawling — is you," He added after a pause while eyeing Damien who was half crouching and half standing. 

Realising what he was talking about, Damien stood up straight. 

He cleared his throat and asked, "What did you find inside the cave?" 

"Nothing," replied Xavier.

"Then why did you go running there?"

"When I say that there is nothing, I mean to say that the cave is inhabited at the moment," Xavier said in a clipped tone. "It is empty, other than the skin that those beasts shed, the entire nest is completely empty."

He wiped the slime off his clothes before saying, "It is a tangled mess inside which is why I am covered in slime. Not that I am interested in rolling in it." 

"You mean to say that the beasts are somewhere outside?" Damien looked around warily as if already expecting the Impert Snake to pounce at him when he was expecting it the least. 

"That's correct," Xavier answered. "It is not good," he added with a frown and Damien silently agreed with him. "If it was sleeping we would have snuck behind it but—"

His words were silenced by a sudden snap of a bone cracking somewhere behind them. The two men wheeled around and came face to face with the ugliest most terrifying snake Damien had ever seen in his life.