Mane and Lily rode their Red Maned Horses side by side. Naturally because of Mane's ability to sense everything around him once they were within 500 meters, he was able to engage in casual conversation with Lily without worrying too much about being caught unaware by a sneaky beast. The light from their second Light Grass illuminated their surroundings and allowed them to see what was ahead of them and around them. They came across a lot of goblins, and so far they had been able to handle them fairly easily. Mane mostly burned the goblins they came across with his father's technique, Fire Phoenix Flames. He was basically using them to train his fire proficiency. Of all his elements, Earth was the one with which he had the highest understanding, and although the elements weren't skills, one's level of elemental mastery was measured like one measured skills: Beginner Level, Intermediate Level, Mastery Level and Full Mastery Level. Earth and Water were the only elements that Mane had Mastery Level understanding of. Fire had barely entered the peak of the intermediate stage. And Wind had been stuck at the peak of the intermediate stage for a long time now, and that was mostly because Mane didn't know how to perfectly use it in battle.
Mane usually used Wind as an accompaniment, choosing to use it to strengthen his flames or extinguish them. He knew that for him to reach the Mastery Level with Wind he had to use the speed related element as a major fighting force, but it was easier said than done. As for Lightning, it had immediately jumped to the Intermediate Level when Mane unlocked it, and it was progressing very quickly even though Mane didn't use it that much. It was almost at the middle stage of the Intermediate Level! The Darkness element was also at the peak of the Intermediate Level, and the Time element which Mane had comprehended so long ago was still only at the Intermediate Level. However, it had also experienced growth, albeit an extremely slow progression. For in so many years it had gone from the initial stages of the Beginner Level to the peak of the Beginner Level. It had only broken into the Intermediate Level after Mane unlocked his True Eyes.
However, when one considered how difficult it was to master Time and the fact that Mane wasn't fully attached to just Time but many other elements, it was easy to understand just why the progress hadn't been as swift as the others. Besides, Mane's progress was very good. It wasn't comparable to the peak Time Wielding Geniuses in the True Universe, but it wasn't far away.
Because of Mane's lack of dependence on Wind, he wasn't able to properly instruct Lily on how to use her element as a large part of her fighting strength. But he actually didn't really need to. Lily's progression with Wind had been extremely swift, much like Lam's had been with fire. And she seemed do have an inherent understanding of just how it could help her in battle, just like Lam. Both were at the peak of the Beginner Level in terms of proficiency! This was crazy because they had only just unlocked their elements and started using Edict! Mane found this too quick as well, but after interrogating Number 3 and understanding that Lam and Lily were of the Elemental Race, it made more sense to him why their talent with their elements was so unreal. After all, they were called Elementals. If they were any less talented with their elements, they wouldn't be worthy of such a lofty name.
"It's been a while since they last attacked," Mane suddenly said, and Lily replied thusly, "Yeah. It's been almost ten minutes."
It was odd, considering how many attacks they had weathered in the 40 minutes that they had been here. They had to withstand attacks almost every minute, and each time they finished off the goblins within a few seconds. In fact, if it wasn't because of how swiftly Mane dispatched off the goblins, it was highly likely that the next wave would come when they were still engaged with the last. But things had been very quiet for the last few minutes. It had been ten whole minutes since the last attack, and not one goblin had showed up.
"Do you think that we scared them off?" Lily asked. It seemed likely since they had dealt with every goblin wave as easily as flipping the palm of their hands.
"I don't know," Mane shook his head. "But it could be," he added. "Or it could be that we have left their territory," came his last statement, and Lily furrowed her brows in thought.
"That seems very likely," Lily nodded her head. Magical Beasts were territorial, so it would make sense if the goblins didn't dare attack because Mane and Lily were in another's territory. But even then, some conditions for their abstinence had to be met.
"For them to stay away means…" Lily started.
"This must be the territory of stronger Magical Beasts," and Mane finished her thought. Both were thinking the same thing. Even though Magical Beasts were territorial, that only applied to the stronger beasts. Stronger Beasts could claim a territory as theirs, and the weaker ones wouldn't dare to trespass. If the goblins were really staying away because this territory belonged to another, that would mean that the owners of this territory were stronger than the goblins. And the gap had to be relatively sizeable as well, otherwise the goblins would have risked attacking anyway.
"I wonder which beast it is," Lily gently pulled back a stray strand of her hair and said. Within the dimmed light of the Light Grass this action was particularly charming, and Mane caught himself staring at Lily for a few seconds.
"What is it?" Lily asked and tilted her head cutely when she realised that Mane was staring at her. Her question brought Mane back to his senses, and the young teen blushed slightly in embarrassment.
"Hahaha! You look like an idiot! Hahaha!" As expected there was someone who was more than happy to see Mane like this, and she didn't waste the chance to tease the young Supreme. Her laughter and her words embarrassed Mane even further, and the slight reddening of his cheeks became even more pronounced. If he could, he would have tossed the infuriating fairy from his shoulder, but he didn't have that ability. Hildegarde was someone who could comfortably remain on his shoulder even when he was using Brimstone and remain unharmed! In fact, she had been groggily rubbing her eyes as she sat within the dangerous flames that could easily burn a person entirely in under a second! Mane was helpless when it came to her. Luckily for him, the place wasn't too bright so Lily couldn't see his current state of embarrassment, saving him his blushes.
"I was wondering how far you have gone with the Scholar Manual I gave you," Mane replied quickly. For the first time in a long while he was very grateful that his brain worked so quickly. If not it would have been even more embarrassing for him.
"I have understood the gist of it, and I am close to becoming a 1st Degree Scholar." Lily sounded excited. A 1st Degree Scholar was basically a Trainee Scholar and it was the first step to truly stepping into the world of scholars. Mane had fulfilled his promise to her by giving her a Scholar Manual about a month ago – well, half a month ago to be accurate. Because Ananse didn't just give Mane a manual but handed over her own experiences and understanding of scholar manuals as well, Mane's brain was like a library for several other scholar manuals that Ananse had perused. And because he had her understanding of the few valuable ones, he was able to pick out one for Lily. It was a manual comparable to his, and it suited her really well.
It was called Nature's Touch, and it was said to be perfect for people who were loved by nature. Even for those who weren't blessed by nature the manual could still be used, although it wouldn't be as effective. Because there weren't many of such people – those loved by nature – in the world the true ability of Nature's Touch had never been fully unlocked and many scholars branded it as an Intermediate Level Scholar Manual. Lily was the best person for this manual, and the fact that she was close to becoming a scholar in such a short amount of time was proof of her talent for it.
"That's great," Mane was genuinely excited for her. And he was a little impressed by her talent for it. Being a talented scholar wasn't easy because every scholar was talented. After all, without having an unreal level of intelligence, one couldn't become a scholar. And that meant that scholars were already immensely talented and intelligent people. And to become the cream of the crop amongst such an elite group of people was very arduous. But it seemed that Lily wasn't going to have that problem. Now all she needed was to comprehend some intelligent situations and she would break through.
"Let me give you some pointers based on my own experience," Mane offered and Lily excitedly nodded her head. Hildegarde watched as they went on and on about experiences and techniques with a teasing smile tugging at the ends of her lips. It was a good thing for Mane that he couldn't see it, otherwise he would have become very self-conscious. Suddenly Mane stopped talking and turned to look in a particular direction.
"What is it?" Lily noticed his change and asked. Yet though she was asking and a reply hadn't come yet, she was unsheathing her sword. She knew that for Mane to react this way meant that they had unwanted company. Her question was almost reflexive.
"It's here," Mane replied and jumped off Roxanne who was neighing continuously in fear. Even when the goblins attacked Roxanne didn't have such a reaction. Lily's horse, Skimpy, was no different from Roxanne. The young mare didn't hide his unease and kept fidgeting uncomfortably.
"It? You mean that its only one beast?" Lily picked up what Mane was trying to convey as she soothed her horse. She also got off her mount.
"Yes," Mane replied. "For one beast to scare off so many goblins shows just how much power it has," Mane added. Actually, he could feel the aura of the approaching beast, and he was a little surprised. It was a High Level Earth Realm Battle Beast! Or as one would refer to it in this world, it was a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast! The goblins were so weak, yet this creature was several times stronger than them. And they hadn't even reached the deepest region of the Dark Valley. Coming across a Pseudo Legendary Class Magical Beast which was so rare in the outside world after just 40 or so minutes in Dark Valley was amazing. And Mane couldn't help but wonder what else was here.
*Roar*
Soon the beast revealed itself, and Lily unconsciously sucked in a breath of cold air when she saw it. Mane was also stunned upon seeing the beast. Illuminated by the light of the Light Grass was a monkey beast that was made of crystals. It was about 10 or 11 meters tall with bulky arms and legs. Its eyes were blue like Mane's, and it had a small horn on its forehead. This beast was something that neither Mane nor Lily had expected to come across here because it was a myth. They had both read about it, but neither had expected to see it in real life. This beast was called a Crystal Monkey. And it was a powerful creature!