The New Beast in the Forest
Ja Sun's brows were knit in a tight frown. He was within a small tent as he observed his reward being formed.
[Objective: Infiltrate King's Lair without using anything other than techniques of an array.
Optional Objectives:
1) Complete the objective without entering anyone's notice.
Mission Rank: C-C
Rewards: 20gm Array Quartz— Stalk of Night Lotus
Time Limit: 60/60 minutes.]
It was an easy success but Ja Sun now used to better ranks in mission simply felt a little odd. It's been a long time since he got such low-ranked missions and he didn't even bother adding the constraint of pumping his fist in an enclosed location privately because nobody was here to witness him.
Putting his greed aside, Ja Sun observed his surroundings.
A lush forest greeted his sight. Trees were taller than the ones found in the Giant's Forest and almost all of them had a cultivation above hundred years of age. But given their external look, Ja Sun could assess that the vegetation was not as old as the cultivation age suggested.
'Artificial increase in cultivation... looks like it really is here,' Ja Sun's eyes narrowed. He didn't sense anything as good as a blessed land around here so the probability of Qian Daoliu and Redstar telling the truth that the Three-eyed Golden Lion was here was high.
Restraining his divine intent, Ja Sun wanted to be surprised. It was easy to spread his divine intent completely but the arrays and spatial tempering around this location were of similar quality to the Divine Grace Array.
Not the least bit impatient now that he was here, Ja Sun took out a lot of tools. A carving knife, a desk, a small stack of parchments, and even an item resembling a telescope. After a few tries, Ja Sun set an apt mission once again.
"Set Mission."
[Set Perimeters]
"Map out the array surrounding the King's Lair within the Star Dou Great Forest.
Additional Objectives:
1) Complete the task within a day.
2) Complete the task within 3 days.
3) Complete the task within 7 days.
4) Complete the task within 30 days."
[Objective: Map out the array shrouding the King's Lair.
Optional Objectives:
1) Complete objective in 1 day.
2) Complete objective in 3 days.
3) Complete objective in 7 days.
4) Complete objective in 30 days.
Mission Rank: C-B-B-B-C
Rewards: Dull Carving Knife— Sun Imperial Carving Knife/ Sun Imperial Carving Knife/ Sun Imperial Carving Knife/ Dull Carving Knife
Time Limit: 30/1/3/7/30 days.]
"That does it," Ja Sun groaned weakly, "I'm on a vacation. I'm going to enjoy figuring out the array around the King's Lair."
With that, Ja Sun stretched his legs onto the desk and pulled the parchments onto his thighs before starting to scribble down a lot of things he had already experienced while traversing the array and entering the King's Lair.
The most prominent aspect of the Array was the spatial maze that would have been impossible for Ja Sun to comprehend if it wasn't for his divine intent and his experience with Divine Grace Array. It also meant that the creator of the array had a mastery above Ja Sun in many aspects of the profession if not all but that didn't mean the task itself is impossible. The cracking of an Array is different than understanding it and moving according to the set rules.
The King's Lair didn't prohibit entry but had a very unique path and to walk on this path, one must already have the corresponding 'key'. This key may come in any form or shape and Ja Sun deduced it to be an intent from the creator itself.
If any living being had the approval of the creator to enter, the array turned into a maze would shift in a manner that the living being would enter easily. However, the same wasn't the case for Ja Sun but as long as the path existed, all Ja Sun had to do was move in a more winding pattern while finding the right nodes and shift to finally make the maze move his way temporarily.
A living maze like this was interesting to Ja Sun. Interesting enough that he set aside his rather long-term objective of understanding the soul origins further and the project of the nine bracelets aside temporarily.
"Hmm, what should I eat today?" Ja Sun muttered while continuing to fill in the sheets crazily. His diagrams and sketches were at the same level as the inheritance of the profession he had gained from Qian Daoliu regarding the various arrays used to form Spirit Guidance Tools.
*Flutter*
Ja Sun heard a soft sound and his eyes lit up.
'Dinner!'
He exclaimed and walked out of the tent with a gleeful expression as he found the source of the unnaturally sparse forest. Although there were signs of strong spirit beasts all around the region, they were quite peaceful and barely had any intent to battle. Weak creatures, however, were a rarity and...
'Weakness pleases me... a lot,' Ja Sun narrowed his eyes as he gazed at the clueless emerald-feathered swan matching his gaze.
An Emerald Swan.
If Ah Yin's Blue Silver Goddess is the plant-type spirit beast with the greatest vitality then when it comes to other spirit beasts, this title is held by Emerald Swan. Their flesh is tender. Their feathers are treasures that can increase the lifespan of an ordinary human being by a year and the stronger they are, the exponential the effects.
*Kwaaa*
The Emerald Swan was barely a hundred-year-old level. It isn't the size of the spirit beast that allowed others to know its cultivation but the emerald veins on its wings. Of course, Ja Sun was past such methods and a single sweep with divine intent revealed for the beast to be 103-years-old in terms of cultivation.
Blinking at the Emerald Swan, Ja Sun crossed his arm, "What is it?"
At this point, he didn't even need to use his martial soul to understand and communicate with weak spirit beasts. The difference in quality when it came to divine and mortal was simply... monumental.
The Emerald Swan moved around Ja Sun as if observing him from head to toe and then cawed again before looking at the back of his head.
"My head? It seems attractive... god damn, I can't eat you now that you've understood my beauty..."
Ja Sun sighed deeply.
Emerald Swan: "?!"
"I'll tell you what, I'm in need of some materials. Well, plenty of materials, actually. Most of them are skins or layers of beasts. I won't eat you if you let me harvest half of your feathers."
As he said so, Ja Sun used his spirit transformation. His body bulked up considerably and his shabby dark hair turned silver with a layer of silver fur covering his arms and legs as his third eye opened.
Ja Sun gave a coy grin to the poor Emerald Swan as it shrank its neck with a frightened expression. Its terror emerged deeply once it saw Ja Sun's third eye.
"It's just feathers, right? Although... I do want to see how your wings and breasts taste like..." Ja Sun mumbled, further horrifying the spirit beast.
"Cawww!"
A poor bird's screech rang that day.
---
"Hum, hum, hum.
Dai Taiyin's a pussy~ So is Yu Xiaogang~
Always lubing themselves when they see me~
Always bending the knee unwilling or willingly~"
Ja Sun hummed a soft tune while filling in the parchments after going in and out of the entrance of King's lair once again.
"I can do better than this. Although the lyrics are divine... the tone can be worked on. As for the array, it uses three particular trees as a spatial channel that would constantly shift the point of the entrance but that can be controlled if necessary. It's similar to the forest in the Spirit City that Bibi Dong first left us in."
Ja Sun continued to work with great pleasure.
"Hum, hum, hum,
I've got Ah Yin's—"
*Roar*
Ja Sun sighed softly as a 'menacing' roar erupted around him. After spirit transforming yesterday, he didn't revert. After all, if a weak spirit beast mastering vitality and lifeforce could sense his 'head' then it only meant that the Life Gold turned into his mental core left a strange breath of vitality on him.
Ja Sun didn't plan to cleanse himself off of that. Why would he willingly remove a natural, vitality-inducing perfume? Or is it musk now that its part of his natural odor?
Still, if this beast could sense him then it won't be long for others to do so, too, and Ja Sun was hoping for that, too.
Walking out, Ja Sun saw the same Emerald Swan perched atop a sabertooth hippo as the red beast glared at Ja Sun.
By now, the feathers on the Emerald Swan's Body had grown once again but already having enough material from this beast, Ja Sun looked at the hippo with kind eyes instead.
The 892-year-old Hippo suddenly shivered.
"You better make sure to heal this guy's skin since he came to uphold your honor. Don't worry, I won't take much," Ja Sun took out a beautiful carving knife with a gentle smile on his lips.
---
"Hmm, I never thought if I can survive the void of space now. I must try it... well, I should try it after becoming a god. Would be cool to jump planets and find other spirit beasts and whatnot... hehe, maybe I'll find my previous planet someday."
Ja Sun hummed thoughtfully before returning to his work. It was already his third day and much to Ja Sun's despair, he was 80% into completing the Array. At this point, the only challenge was his own lack of understanding regarding Spatial manipulation using Array, which, ironically, this array itself would fulfill.
*Stomp*
*Stomp*
The ground trembled as Ja Sun set down the quill made from a beautiful emerald feather... the Emerald Swan's feather, that is, and walked out with a pleased smile.
How could he not be happy?
He got to work in peace and the Emerald Swan would bring him a specimen every day. This saved Ja Sun the time to move and rest every night in satisfaction.
Walking out, Ja Sun saw the Emerald Swan perched on top of the growling Sabertooth hippo... who also sat on top of an even larger Mama Sabertooth Hippo who was 11275-years-old.
However, seeing Ja Sun, the spirit beast that came with rage at the behest of her child suddenly trembled with instinctive fear.
"Ah, a mother's love is beautiful indeed. As beautiful as this knife," Ja Sun took out his carving knife once again.
---
"Oh shit, I can totally ask Liu Erlong to join in for the night! Why didn't I think of it before?" Ja Sun smacked his forehead and accidentally slapped his own third eye before falling off the chair and groaning in pain.
"Ow... sigh, anyway," Ja Sun sat up. This was the fourth day and he looked at the stack of parchments filled out on his desk.
"It's done."
To his declaration, the area above his forehead glowed and a dull carving knife, and a Sun Imperial Carving Knife fully clad in gold was provided to Ja Sun, making him sigh.
Still, his understanding of spatial manipulation had grown significantly.
"Oh, they're late. Should I spread out my intent?"
Just before he did so, he heard a loud curse.
"Damn human! Come and meet your demise! How dare you hurt my poor Green Boy!"
Ja Sun grinned and walked out with a pleasant chime, "Did somebody call me? Oh..."
Ja Sun gasped in surprise. He wasn't sure if this was intended to humor him or not but...
An Emerald Swan on a Sabertooth hippo which sat on an even bigger mama hippo who perched on top of even greater Sabertooth Hippo in the great bottleneck right under the ranks of 100000 years of cultivation. At this point, Ja Sun had no words left as he took out his carving knife once again.
'Oh, well, more skin wouldn't hurt. The foundation of the nine bracelets needs to be layered with as many materials as possible to make a finished product in one go.'
However, the fact that a spirit beast under the rank of 100000 years of cultivation could speak human did stun Ja Sun for a bit. However, it wasn't too glaringly amazing. It's not like the hippo sprouted wings and began flying but Ja Sun did understand what was going on now.
In the den of beasts, surprisingly, were rules and the topmost rule was to never harm an Emerald Swan.
Thus, Ja Sun kicked away the family of the Sabertooth Hippo who was now labeled as the Emerald Swan's caretaker and kidnapped the bird, for the time being, eager to see what feather he could ruffle and may gain the opportunity to create some worthwhile quests. Either way, he was in the outskirts of the forest so he was content.
*Caw*
Holding the bird by its long, suave neck, Ja Sun gave no care to its regretful pleads and pulled it inside his tent as weird screeches echoed soon.
What a man can do in this day and age when frustrated by being away with his loved ones for too long...
Only the parties involved can ever know.
***
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