Cloud Whale

Nameless moved immediately following the will's instructions, hiding behind the branches of his previous spot.

"Reduce your breathing to the minimum and use your mental energy to hide your aura! Hurry up!!"

He immediately followed her directive using his mental energy to hide himself however nothing happened.

Nameless was about to talk back at her before seeing that far away in the sky, a cloud changed form and began descending as a giant figure appeared from it.

It was a Whale!

The whale looked pure and white like snow, it was fifty meters in length and looked sublime with its white blubber skin. Its giant flippers had intricate carvings, it even had what seemed like horns and protrusions all over its body making it all the more majestic,however this majestic existence only inspired profound fear in him.

a Rank 5 Beast!

He had nearly died to the previous peak rank 4 beast, let alone now when he felt this beast's aura was crushing, he didn't even dare to breathe.

The whale came down obscuring his whole field of view, while it floated mid-air, all he could see was a world of whiteness.

The whale opened its mouth and sucked air.

Instantly, beast cores flew from all over the landscape and entered its mouth.

From far away, it could be seen hundreds of balls rose before entering its mouth.

The Whale closed its mouth and a glass like shattering sound echoed before it swallowed the energy flowing down its mouth.

Just by its suction the world lost its vivid clours and looked grey, just breaking the beast cores left a deafening sound.

Just when Nameless thought it was going to go back, the whale sucked again!

"Fuck!"

This time the ground overturned and trees heavily ruffled!

The tree he was on was on the verge of being unrooted from the ground, a gigantic tree with its branches ranging tens of meters wide was about to removed from its roots by a simple suction force!

Nameless's heart sank.

Weird tree roots emerged from the ground, every clutter of tree roots seemed to have a sphere at its depth, these spheres rose to the sky before they entered its mouth.

The Whale closed its mouth before it moved its flippers rising to the sky.

From afar, the scene looked spectacular, it was as if the whale was flowing upwards as if it swimming through the air in the sky, it rose and rose before it finally disappeared from his vision.

Nameless was sweating heavily.

'How come these type of situations always happen to me!' 

"What was that beast just now?!"

"It is a rank 5 cloud whale, they are cloud path beasts that survive in the clouds and explore the endless skies, they can swim through the air as if it were water, they are venerated in many cultures especially the Uraya kingdom who make it their own symbol."

"If it lives in the clouds, why would it come down here? and why at this very moment?!"

"It is indeed uncommon but nothing too strange regarding this situation. Cloud whales almost never starve, they feed on cloud path dao marks and live peacefully, they only struggled in the eras where clouds were scarce. Perhaps the cloud whale merely wanted to try a different kind of food and seeing the available beast cores, it decided to make a stop."

"So what you're saying is: I nearly died because this beast wanted a snack? Hahahah."

Nameless laughed, this was the funniest joke he heard in a long time.

...

Chapter 18 : Nearly dying again

He gazed at the landscape, it was even more chaotic than before and the trees surrounding him all looked unstable.

"What are the 'beast cores' you just mentioned, is that the ball that I saw before?"

"a Beast core is the energy of the beast condensing after death in the form of durable crystal-like glass that contains all of the energy remaining of the beast before his death."

"Weird, why would there be such an evolution? there doesn't seem to be any benefit to the beast."

"There is indeed a benefit and not a small one but a major one that was the reason why humanity had suffered at the hands of the world's beast in its ancient mythological past."

His curiosity was piqued : "What was it?"

"Beast cores at their essence are eggs. if allowed enough time without outside interference and with the correct the environment, the beast can resurrect and what was even more horrifying for mythological humanity was that the stronger the beast, the harder it was to destroy its beast core. Even having beast cores didn't lead to any substantial benefit."

"But wait? couldn't they just absorb beast cores by drinking them?"

"No, it is impossible for human beings to absorb beast cores except with very strict requirements and special powerful techniques, let alone just drinking them."

"But I could do it! wait, let me try and show you a memory,."

'as far as I know I am in control of this space so I can will something.'

In his sea of consciousness, Nameless willed and a drop of water emerged from the sea before it enlarged showing the scene of him killing the small fire foxes and then eating their beast cores."

"Then it seems the immortal fetus has such a unique quality, as far as I know both the Naaya and Keiya can absorb beast cores but only those according to their element. As for you, you absorbed fire path beast cores and still didn't seem to have trouble digesting them but you'll still have to experiment to see if that is true or not."

"I understand. Also what were the sphere that came out of the ground previously, are they similar to beast cores but for the trees?"

"You are right, beasts leave beasts cores, trees leave tree cores, as long as the tree core is not damaged a tree is not dead even if its body is destroyed."

"I understand."

"I do advise you to not ask too many questions for now, wills are not unlimited, at most, I can last a few months."

"How can that be?!"

"I am made of a certain amount of thoughts, the more I think, the more it depletes, although I am only answering questions, it would be wiser to first know that."

"I understand, a few months is more than enough."

"Tell me is it safe to stay here for now?"

"Indeed, every creature, beast, tree or existence in this world has an aura, beasts elvolved into sensing and avoiding stronger auras, of course this is not absolute. There are beasts without aura and there are beasts that do not avoid stronger auras even if they were lower ranked."

"So even though I'm safe, it still can be dangerous. What purpose drives beasts especially to even rush into stronger auras?"

"The most powerful emotion in a beast is hunger, its most powerful drive is starvation and survival, beasts have all sorts of survival mechanisms but if the beast was really starving, they would be all turned off, even fear would be turned off, thats why beasts have always been such a pain to deal with. Of course, this is just in extreme situations, in a forest such as this, most beasts have enough to survive but now that such chaos has spread, most beasts are probably starving."

"So this place isn't safe?"

"It is safe, the entire forest is chaotic after the beast tide and even though beasts can be starving, they would only dare intrude the place of a powerful aura in extreme situations."

"So basically its still unsafe but its safer than the rest of the forest, anyway doesn't matter, I will just leave. Keep staying in check for my safety, I can't afford to die so fast."

"Understood."

Nameless moved, going down the tree and rushing forward, as he was moving however, he realised he was still naked.

"I keep forgetting that I am naked, hey, look for plants that can be used as clothes."

"Understood."

It didn't take long before Nameless stumbled on black sticky leafs that felt like a mix of cotton and wool putting them over his body.

He continued on his path moving through the battlefield without even caring to check for beasts or danger, they were probably all dead, he also had a place in mind he really needed to go.

It didn't take more than half an hour before he left that battlefield, looking out he could see a weird looking forest in the distance that had twisted branches and looked malefic.

In the ground were fallen trees surrounded by countless rat-like creatures that had bat faces and bat wings, they looked terrifying as purple gas was emitted from them.

"Take a detour, its dangerous here. Those are poison path trees and flying poisonous rats are dangerous especially since it seems the trees have used a paralyzing agent on them even though they are supposed to be immune to them meaning the tree is moving towards becoming a quasi-rank 5 existence, it left the rats on display as bait, the purple gas intensifies hunger making hunger overshadow the beast's instincts."

"Understood."

Nameless took a very large detour even leaving that periphary completely.

After an hour, he arrived at a beautiful multicolored forest that looked almost like a plain because how thin yet tall the trees were.

He moved through the branches, the air seemed multicolored and the scene looked breathtaking but he was always on edge waiting for the moment the woman was going to give information about danger.

"Drop to ground-level and then run as fast as you can!!"

Nameless moved immediately moving through the branches before reaching the ground and sprinting as his body shapeshifted into a gazelle humanoid being with hooves as he rushed as fast as he could.

Nothing seemed to happen as he rushed before shadows obscured his figure. Nameless turned and what he saw were giant alienoid bird descending aiming at him with its eagle-like claws!

"Fuck!"

The women screamed : "Dodge when I tell you!"

"Wait, wait, wait, Now!"

Nameless dodged!

Boom

The ground where he used to be crackled and broke by the giant bird's claws.

Nameless would have been meat paste if he hadn't thrown himself over at the right moment!

The intensity of the moment made him finally realise the danger he was in!

His body began to shapeshift expanding, it became bigger and more aerodynamic, his hearing became sharper and could isolate and pick the most crucial sounds to his survival.

"Don't expand! shrink yourself and try maintaining the same form, remain streamlined, bend your back and rush through without looking. Do expand your sensory quills, I need more information, remember the moment I say dodge, dodge but don't stop rushing even as you dodge if you don't want to die!"

"Got it!"

Nameless began hitting his hooves with the ground with more intensity like a deer as his bones protruded from his body while still being covered in skin.

His body slowly became more refined and all the useless part of the shapeshifting was removed before he shrank his upperbody and expanded and strengthened his legs and hooves.

Nameless soon began phasing through a blurry world.

"Dodge!"

He moved!

Boom

Nameless didn't stop rushing! he kept charging forward!

"Dodge!"

He moved!

Boom

"Again!"

He moved!

Boom

Finally after four minutes of dodging, he was able to find a rock and use it to propell himself just in time before the birds claws came crashing at where stood a few seconds before, the propulsion was so strong yet he was barely able to leave the territory of the bird.

Luckily, the bird didn't pursue him.

Yet Nameless kept rushing forward.

He only stopped after ten minutes creating a long distance between them.

"Haaa haaa haaa haa Fuck I nearly died again!"

He breathed heavily and couldn't help but fall to the ground as his body finally turned normal.

"You bitch! I nearly died, was this your plan all along?! you told me these trees were safe!!"

"I only have access to previous knowledge before the beast tide, you also don't seem to know that I only have access to your senses, it is only that I can use them more efficiently and more powerfully but they are still very limited, I could only sense the beast because of the sensory quills which are enhanced by your special physique."

"Why did it attack me anyway?"

"The previous beast was probably displaced from its environment by the beast tide before settling on this one. These trees release a gas that has a calming effect on beasts, it is so potent that low rank beasts can die from relaxing too much but it only had minor effect a peak rank 4 beast, just the fact that he didn't pursue you after you left is the testament of the powerful calming gas of the trees."

"Or the trees never did nothing and just let him try to kill me?!"

"There can be different theories, It could be that they were hibernating during and after the beast tide or they were fortifying their roots and tree core to survive in case the body was destroyed or they were cooperating with the beast bird or didn't want to enter an altercation with it."

"Was rushing the only way, couldn't I have hidden behind branches or just turned back on my way back at the start?"

"No, these types of birds do not feel they have protected their environment unless they pursued the intruder for a long time, if you had went back, it would have chased you out of its environment and at the moment it'd be anxious about losing its territory making it even more agressive than it already is."

"I understand, stay more alert this time, I don't care how much sooner you might end but be fully focused on judging the environment!"

"Understood."

Nameless moved, he remembered that he forget to ask something.

"I'm so dumb holy shit. Hey will or whatever is your name, give me the directions to the place I was born."

"Understood."

Nameless continued on his way.

...

"Trust me, just advance, it is safe!"

"You crazy bitch, I'm sure now you want to kill me!"

Nameless stood above a giant lake, all he could see around him was emptiness, aside from some fog, the branch he was on and the lake, nothing else could be seen, every few seconds, tentacles would emerge from the see and move.

Just the tip of one tentacle was bigger than his entire body, one move and he'd be done for!

The powerful vision of this new body along with the mystical element of this world made the scene look spectacular as it was straight out of a dream but Nameless didn't even desire to look at it.

"Just advance without making too much commotion, Yaksha octopuses will not bother over a small fry, a rank 5 beast would never attack a peak rank 3 body of a cultivator. It's probably already digesting its gain from the beast tide."

Nameless slowly moved trying to hide his aura and presence with his mental energy as he moved through the branch slowly trying not to make any commotion.

However a weird looking fish emerged from the sea and shot a look at him.

"Welp! Fuck it!"

Nameless immediately rushed! he didn't wait to hear the will's advice, immediately shapeshifting and using his hooves to step on the branch to propell himself, even if he awakened the rank 5 beast, he frankly didn't care!

The fish looked for a while before water shot out from his mouth towards Nameless!

Nameless was ready using his powerful body to step at the last moment avoiding the squirt of water.

Boom

He turned to look at the place he was on and he could only see a big hole in the gigantic branch he was on.

"Fuck!"

He moved but this time he always kept reserve energy for the crucial moment.

"Will, stay alert and use the sensory quills to detect the moment the attack begins!"

"Understoo- Now!"

Nameless propelled himself immediately not even caring if he fell from the branch!

Boom

This time he could see the horizons and the other part of the forest.

"Be careful! step back!"

"Why?!"

"Listen to me if you don't want to die!"

Nameless stopped on his tracks and retreated kicking his hooves.

Boom

A squirt of water attacked the place in front of him.

"Wtf! can it predict where I can reach?"

"The eccentric archerfish are intelligent fish that can predict its prey's escape pattern and predict its movements, you will have to keep going back and forth to escape!"

She continued : "Also do not fall into the water! the Yaksha octopus leave the eccentric archerfish existing in his territory for this sole reason aside from being used as alive reserve food themselves."

"Shut up! don't you see I'm trying to survive her, stop saying so much information."

Nameless wasn't a coward nor dumb, as soon as the squirt of water ended, he rushed the opposite way, the eccentric archerfish began to adjust its trajectory about to fire before he turned back!

He rushed forward his original path, kicking his hooves as powerfully as possible jumping over the hole that was in the branch.

The branch in the divine tree forests were gigantic, he looked like an ant moving through them and the big holes could be avoided pretty easily for him.

As he was moving forward, a few seconds passed before another squirt of water shot at him!

He immediately turned back again making the same maneuvers, going back in a normal speed until the squirt was about to happen or happened before he rushed with all his power towards the escape.

It didn't take long for Nameless to reach the other side.

"Thank god, wtf is even this forest? I remember passing through here before it looked like a ravine to me and there was no danger, the entire forest itself looked peaceful, hey, will or whatever explain!"

"When the immortal fetus was born, the formation was an extremely powerful one and existed here before even any of these beasts did, the energy fluctuations alone were powerful enough to kill any beast in this forest, the beasts all felt an instinctive fear that made them all retreat or hide. Yaksha octupses can produce fogs, so it probably use its ability to give the illusion that the river didn't exist and all that existed was a foggy ravine."

"Another question, why didn't you tell me about the eccentric archerfish?!"

"You told me previously to try and predict how the beast tide changed the environment since my information is outdated, the river is connected to many streams of water and countless beasts can live at its shore, I expected the eccentric archerfish to already be dead or eaten by the yaksha octopus."

"Anyway how dangerous is this place?"

"As far as I know this was the place with the brunt of the attack so probably the least dangerous while also holding the most danger at the same time."

"Sigh, so basically its dangerous, anyway, I am not far away, give the directions and give all me the information needed this time!"

"Understood."