Danger of Path

 When he returned, he called all of his lovers to the table, before telling them of the two options. After telling them what he knew of, the women all turned quiet, seemingly mulling over this.

 Then, Eris opened her mouth, "Aren't you the leader of this group? It is up to you to make the decision. Sure, you probably asked because you want us to help you make a better choice, but at the end of the day, you have the final say, Ryker,"

 Hearing this, the ladies nodded, agreeing with what Eris pointed out. Ryker went quiet. Seeing her lover becoming quiet all of a sudden, Eris felt bad.

 "It's not like it is a bad thing to ask us, but this is an important matter, one we could not decide because we are too weak. Of course, under normal circumstances, we will pick the longer path. But, we do have the spatial artifact, so, it's fine if you want to take the longer or closer path," 

 Hearing the argument from Eris, Ryker could not help but agree with the blue-haired woman. In the end, it is all up to him. And he wants to arrive at the core region as quickly as possible and get his hands on the resources there.

 "Alright, we are going to take the path through Agarsi Forest,"

-x-

 After gathering enough supplies to last them 24 weeks, Ryker entered the path. Surprisingly, he could see some people going through the path as well.

 Most if not all the cultivators are Genesis Sea experts. He does wonder how are there so many Genesis Sea experts before chalking it off to cultivators from different vassal nations that had reached a bottleneck in their cultivation.

 With the resources in their nations not being enough to help them break through, they decided to try their luck at the Agarsi Forest or maybe they planned on heading towards the core region.

 Either way, he did not care much for them as he had better things to worry about. Namely, the Shadow Panther that is staring at him right now!

 He had used the Shadow Traversing Technique to bypass all of the cultivators in the area. Unfortunately, it leads to him stumbling over the Shadow Panther, who seems to have the same plan as him, except it is likely to want to ambush the cultivators coming through the area.

 *Growl*

 The Shadow Panther stalked him, moving in circle but Ryker could tell it was getting closer as it moved. While he is confident in his strength, he is at the late-stage Genesis Sea, he will not underestimate his foe.

 After all, it is a surefire way to get killed. Soon, the Shadow Panther moved, hiding back in the shadow. Ryker keeps calm, his eyes observing any changes in the shadow, a sign of it's moving.

 Behind him, a shadow bubbled before the beast burst out of the shadow, its fang piercing Ryker's neck. Or is it supposed to be that way

 Instead, the creature's teeth could not even pierce Ryker's skin, which let out a golden glow.

 "Looks like my decision to improve both my Soul and Body Cultivation paid off," he murmured to himself before unleashing a Soul Technique, Soul Breaking Strike.

 The beast let out a pained yelp before it dropped to the ground, its vitality gone as its Soul was destroyed in a single strike.

 "There is that, let's put this in the storage ring and see if there are any valuable resources here," the other reason, aside from the path being the quickest way to arrive at the Agarsi Forest, relatively safely, is that the Agarsi Forest is a treasure trove of resources.

 The Agarsi Forest is considered to be a part of the Birak Kingdom's core region but the presence of powerful Spirit Beasts and many other dangers in the forest make it so the kingdom stopped having designs on the place.

 However, it does not mean the Kingdom is giving up on the place. Instead of having their strength crippled to turn the Forest into livable space, it is much better to let it be and send expedition parties to gather the resources there.

 From herbs and fruits to the beasts themselves, there are plenty of resources that the expedition teams could harvest. Aside from the expedition teams sent by the royals and the governors, individual cultivators or groups might try to get their hands on resources there.

 With the Agarsi Forest being so vast with its bordering 4 territories, the Birak Kingdom did not even attempt to monopolize the region for itself. Besides, if some of the cultivators became strong and decided to join the Birak Kingdom, their strength would increase greatly.

 However, with opportunities, there are also dangers. He could feel more powerful beasts in the area. His Soul Sense is likely one of the best in the area as he easily detects the beasts and cultivators in the area.

 "This is troublesome," while dealing with a low Tier 9 Genesis Beast is easy for his current strength, it would take too much energy and time to deal with a middle Tier 9 Genesis Beast.

 Not to mention, if he is forced to fight such a beast, the commotions might attract those vultures, that will swoop in the moment both sides are injured.

 He decided to push it back for now. Besides, even if he is chased by a more powerful expert, he does not think he can up a fight.

 And if he cannot win, he had multiple trump cards in escaping, with the best being his mastery of the Law of Space. He decided to look for treasures in the area. Maybe there is something that will interest him.

-x-

 "Curse it," Ryker swore as he used his Celestial Body to block an incoming swoop from, vultures. He only thought about it and literally one harrassed him in that instance.

 He is currently fighting against them for a powerful herb at the center of the clearing. The herb in question is called Purifying Bell Grass, a Grade 9 Genesis Herb and one he intends to grab for himself.

 Unfortunately, there are multiple protectors, namely, Blood Vultures. It is likely they built their nest in the area and used the herbs to attract beasts and humans to fight for it, essentially using it as bait.

 Thankfully, there are no other beings in the area, so he did not fall into the trap. Unfortunately, the vultures are not keen on him taking their baits, which likely help them gather weakened beasts and cultivators before they kill them.

 While dealing with one or two is easy, the Blood Vulture's strength at most reached the 3rd Stage Genesis Sea while most are at the 1st Stage. However, when more than 50 attacked him at once, even he didn't think he could handle their onslaught.