Advanced plan

Even if he wanted to help Selene right away, he knew that he wasn't capable enough, not at the moment with his weak body and abysmally low cultivation.

If he wanted to solve Selene's issue as his first task, he had to spend several weeks if not months to do so!

As such, Kyle could only postpone the thought, or rather tweak this idea a bit.

Right now, staying alive and advancing further in the most efficient way were the most important tasks for him.

With that in mind, Kyle decided that it was crucial for him to help Selene cultivate properly.

At the same time, he had to keep an eye on his improvement and progress. He wanted to enhance his Spirit Soul's overall capabilities as well!

This would allow him to absorb and annex more soul force, which in turn, increased the possibilities and extent to which he could utilize the Nurture ability.

There were several more variable factors Kyle had to take into consideration.

Selene was already at the Pryr Initial Fortification stage though she had yet to begin cultivation with mana.

On the other hand, Kyle was still at the Initial rank of the Origin stage.

He had to nurture his physique and enhance his body by merging with soul force.

While doing this already made him feel exhausted, fixing Selene's problem to a certain extent drained him of all his energy.

"You are able to cultivate with Primordial energy now, right? How about mana? Can you cultivate and absorb both, and test out your darkness affinity, or will that be problematic?"

Selene could only stare at Kyle, who was still half-naked, in confusion owing to the barrage of questions. She was not sure what he wanted from her.

"I..think, I can absorb both Primordial energy and mana...but then, I believe my state will worsen again. I'm sorry to say this, but I don't know what you mean with darkness affinity, nor have I ever absorbed mana actively…"

This made Kyle understand Selene's confusion and worry so he began to think of a solution.

Meanwhile, Selene was left on her own, and she was not sure what to do right now.

As such, she thought of taking a look at Kyle's belongings to kill time.

'He wanted to sell the meat, right? Even if it has already begun to spoil, the tribe chief will definitely exchange it for other goods!

Oh, there is also a dagger, and a sword made out of a tusk or something like that? They're not overly sharp, but definitely better than one's fists and normal stone weapons...Master is truly great!'

Somehow, she didn't feel scared of him anymore, and from thinking of him as a predator like Zwark who would supposedly lunge at her to fulfill his desires, she now thought of Kyle as her savior!

Other than that, Selene had started to absorb mana, but she didn't want to tell Kyle about that yet.

Informing him about the same would mean that also sharing the information that the pain she had been feeling since a very young age had worsened once again!

And after noticing that he had fallen deep asleep after trying to alleviate her pain the first time, she didn't want him to be exhausted again.

After half an hour, Kyle opened his emerald eyes when he had made up his mind.

His eyes opened to look for Selene who was busy organizing the contents of his backpacks. Seeing this made a faint smile appear on his lips

"If it worsens your pain, you shouldn't absorb mana for now. If possible, cultivate with Primordial energy and try to become stronger as fast as possible. But, tell me if the pain starts to increase again. I will take care of that then…

As for the pieces of meat you are currently sorting out according to the degree to which they're spoiled, we should sell them now. Maybe, we can get a few sets of clothes and a leather flask in exchange."

Selene nodded her head as she picked up the spare set of clothes before handing it to Kyle, who looked at himself.

There was only the loose piece of hide he had sporadically sewn together, hanging around his waist that was held together by the vine.

'Ah...I knew I was forgetting something!'

After that, he took the set of clothes before he teased Selene as he grinned mischievously,

"Don't look!"

It was only a few seconds later that Kyle pulled down the loose piece of hide which caused Selene, who was subconsciously staring straight at his crotch, to scream out in shock, while doubting his intention.

Kyle couldn't help but smile drily at her reaction as he put on the set of clothes.

Less than a minute later he was already collecting the pieces of meat Selene had been organizing as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Selene's face that was still pale due to her unique condition had suddenly turned red and her cheeks were burning.

She could only regain her senses when Kyle reached the doorframe of their small hut.

"Are you still not ready?"

Hearing his voice made her snap out of her thoughts before she rushed after her master.

While walking towards the tribe chief's hut, he took the boar tusk dagger and wooden scabbard out of the backpack.

"Here, fasten the scabbard to your clothes first and sheath the dagger. You will have to fight sooner or later. As a Lohar, your agility should be decent, and with the darkness affinity seed, becoming an assassin should be a decent goal for you!"

Selene had never wielded let alone touched a weapon, and Kyle was giving her a dagger nonchalantly as if it was made of wood.

'Does Master not think about the possibility that I could betray and kill him once I'm healed?'

This confused her, and it was almost enough to let her forget what she had seen when Kyle had pulled down the loose piece of hide.

Yet, what she was still not sure about was what the darkness affinity seed inside her could possibly be!

"Thank you, master! But...are you sure that I deserve this…? And I'm sorry, but I'm still unsure what exactly the darkness affinity within me should be…"

Kyle frowned because Selene was calling him master and apologized for something needlessly again.

"Don't apologize and I'm not your master! About the darkness affinity...I think you will notice something once you're able to properly cultivate in the path of Maest! That will take some time, but a dagger should be a good choice of weapon for you.

There is also no need to think that you don't deserve a weapon, or if I am putting myself at a huge risk by handing over a weapon to you.

Just remember one thing; trusting you is my decision, betraying me would be yours! As such, I take responsibility for my decisions and you are free to do whatever you please! I won't force you to do anything after all."

She was not sure why, but Selene's eyes turned moist again, and her sight blurred when she heard Kyle's words. He might have said those words off-handedly, but nobody except Kyle had been kind to her let alone find her worthy enough of their trust.

After that, Selene decided that Kyle was what she needed the most; someone she could rely on, someone who treated her with kindness, a person who accepted her for who she was!

Thus, she quickly followed Kyle, who was carefully strategizing every step of his new, advanced plan!

When they reached the tribe chief's hut, he saw Tzc walking out of the thicket of bushes with a basket that was filled with wet clothes.

"Hello Tzc, is it safe to go to the small stream?" Kyle simply asked after Tzc noticed him.

Her eyes darted from him to Selene, and he could already imagine what she was visualizing.

However, Kyle could also tell from her expression that she had figured out something else.

True to Tzc's assumptions, the frail girl from the Lohar race was much more vigorous than before. There was a noticeable difference in the way she carried herself too.

Instead of cowering and trying to bend her back to look smaller and insignificant, Selene's back seemed to be straighter than before. The fearful girl who would always look towards the ground was staring straight into her eyes, something she hadn't seen the Lohar do before.

This led her to conclude that Kyle had no plans of using the little Lohar for fulfilling his desires and had not even attempted to violate her.

Rather, it seemed like the young girl belonging to the Lohar race had regained her will to live!

"The stream is safe, otherwise, I wouldn't have washed the clothes. It looks like you want to meet my father so is there something in particular that you need from him?"

Kyle had been suspicious about Tzc and the entire tribe since he had entered their small settlement. But, after he heard that Tzc was the tribe chief's daughter, the whole situation seemed to become more complex than he had initially thought.

Based on the way the Nasga race members had been eyeing the meat he possessed, it was clear that they didn't have much food, which was already a well-known fact.

But if that was the case, Kyle couldn't understand why Zwark had been allowed to raise half a dozen slaves and why he had not become Zwark's lunch or dinner already!

Furthermore, Tzc's unfounded trust in him also made him feel doubtful about everything.

He might be worrying needlessly, however, in a world that followed the law of the jungle, where the weak were killed and devoured by the stronger, his initial thoughts of leaving the settlement as soon as possible were only reaffirmed.

Nevertheless, he gave no outward sign of giving away his current state of mind. Instead, he smiled as if his thoughts were not filled with skepticism towards the entire Nasga tribe.

"I want to exchange the remaining meat I have for a leather flask and clothes, if possible."