It took Aeron some time to process what he saw, there was a person inside the Vine Snake's belly. And the person was probably not dead yet. Humans didn't have cores which means that when they die, they just disappear after some time, just like Low-Grade Beasts.
"How?!"
Aeron was still baffled but he needed to do something. He took out his mana stones and put it near the person's body, he also put two mana stones on the person's hands, he wiped off the viscous liquid on the person's body, though it will probably just disappear if he didn't but it was still dealing damage so Aeron just wiped it off. This was the only treatment Aeron knew, the only way to save this person was to give her a mana supply. As for how Aeron knew the person was a she, it was because of her figure which was obviously a woman, her hair had already been dissolved and her body was filled with large patches where the layer beneath the skin was visible, her remaining skin looked really pale.
"Arthur, how do you think she is?"
Aeron asked, Arthur as a High-Grade Beast could do a more thorough diagnosis when it came to mana related things.
"She is currently struggling with her life master, she is mana deprived just like what happened to you in the past, but judging by her current state, it's a more severe case."
Arthur answered. Arthur didn't really feel any pity towards the injured woman. The only people or creature he cared about was his master, his subordinates, and his master's other pets. Of course, Aeron had already tried his best to educate Arthur about caring and emotions, but it was a hard thing to do when he had to order Arthur to do things like killing.
"Then, if she doesn't recover by herself after we provided her the mana stones then she'll eventually die."
Aeron said, he didn't know the situation in other areas, and with the recent attack he could already guess that something might be happening. If he tried to go back to the City of Una, he might be attacked by other beasts, so it was impossible for him to do so. If Agila was a High-Grade Beast then he could ride her and travel, but Aeron thought it would be unwise to show up with a High-Grade Beast as a level 5 Tamer. Though even without becoming a High-Grade Beast, Agila could probably carry Aeron with her, the flight would still be uncertain and dangerous, even then, Aeron would still not reveal his pets so easily.
"Arthur, have the monkeys bring me the hyena hide, and some fruits too."
Aeron ordered, the monkeys quickly fetched the hyena hide and fruits Aeron asked for. Aeron peeled the fruit and carefully took out the temporary core. He brought it right above the woman's pale lips, he placed it slowly on her lips which were a bit cold, and pinch the temporary core. The temporary core turned into a liquid-like substance flowing inside the woman's mouth, the temporary core was the most important part of the fruit, and it slowly turned into a liquid as the fruit was eaten. But the temporary core could also be used directly, a slight pinch and the temporary core will transform into a milky white liquid which will disappear after five minutes if not ingested.
"That should be enough."
Aeron said, he had already fed the woman ten fruit cores, the liquid cores still needed to be processed by the woman's body, it'll help the woman generate more mana. But her body right now was too much of a wreck, any more and it might just become dangerous for her.
"Arthur, bring me that grey cloth she was hugging earlier."
Aeron said, the woman had been hugging a bundled grey cloth wrapping something, but her body was already too weak so Aeron was able to yank it off easily. As for her clothes, they had been ripped in many places, even so, nothing inappropriate entered Aeron's mind because of her body's current state, it was a good thing that those clothes were still intact albeit largely damaged. Each of her clothing, from the shirt to the pants were probably made of High-Grade Beast materials. The pants were made of leather, but her shirt was made of High-Grade Beast silk.
'She probably had a leather armor and a weapon too.'
Aeron thought, both items were probably lost before she was eaten by the Vine Snake.
"They're all armaments which means they'll regenerate over time."
Aeron said, he looked around, but the only female around him was Agila.
"Sigh"
Aeron sighed perplexed.
'Hopefully, she won't blame me if she ever wakes up.'
Aeron thought, there was no choice but to do this, the clothing she was wearing might steal some of the mana that the mana stone provided. So naturally, he had to take her clothes off. Aeron suddenly remembered a disturbing memory, in his past world, there had been a time where some people would file cases for an absurd event like being rescued from drowning.
'Well, there shouldn't be anything like that in this world right?'
Aeron thought, this world was a chaotic dog eat dog world. The threat of death was always looming, not just from the beasts, or other races of Gaia, but also from nature, like the weather. Aeron quickly did what he needed to do but what Aeron saw was even more severe. Wounds of different sizes covered the woman's body, some even showing bones. The clothes had regenerated enough to the point where they covered the wounds but Aeron could only cover her body with the hyena hide as he was helpless regarding the wounds.
There were fruits that could accelerate healing processes but nothing too magical, even Aeron's skill [Level Up (Anomalous)] didn't truly include a healing ability, but it was more of Aeron having a sudden surge in strength which consolidates quickly when he levels up, resulting to the acceleration of his body's regeneration. Of course, with enough mana, the human body could regenerate injuries just like beasts but at a much slower rate. Luckily, the woman seemed to be holding on, and from what Aeron could conclude, the woman was probably a powerful professional, if he was in her state, then he would probably die off within a minute. He placed the clothes far from each other so that they'll have more room to absorb mana to repair themselves.
"There's nothing more I can do for you, if you want to live, then fight."
Aeron spoke to the unconscious woman, he didn't know if she could hear him, but he felt like he had to say something. Meanwhile, Terra waddled towards the injured woman, it looked at the woman curiously, her face was filled with patches of skin dissolved by the Vine Snake's juices so she was absolutely at a horrendous state, but Terra didn't really care about that. After looking more for a bit, Terra waddled back towards Aeron before nudging his feet and looking up with its big baby eyes.
"You don't really care, do you?"
Aeron jokingly said as he used his finger to pet Terra's small head. Terra completely enjoyed the treatment while a big bird sulked while looking at her master. Aeron too noticed this which made him laugh, all the negativity from the attack and discovering an injured person was blown away. Aeron brought Terra towards Agila before petting her too, Aeron had felt her worry through their soul connection when he started to summon the other pets and when they arrived in the base, which Aeron appreciated. Agila was easily comforted by such simple actions, she would've, after all, stayed as a hatchling eagle if she didn't swallow her mother's core.
Arthur looked at the scene and tried his best to reign in his emotions. In the past, Aeron would even carry him up and swing him around, and now that he had grown much bigger than his master, it was impossible to return his past form.
"By the way, Arthur, you did a splendid job in using your [Perfect Copy] skill, it was truly a brilliant move."
Aeron complimented, his pets except for the other two, were very young, so honest compliments were very effective. Aeron felt Arthur's soul become happier when he heard his words. The [Perfect Copy] skill was truly something outstanding, it could produce an exact copy of Arthur with the same strength and speed. The downside was that the copy couldn't produce its own aura, there were workarounds, such as Arthur using his [Metal Domination] skill to create a full-body armor infused with aura and outfitting it on the copy. Unfortunately, Arthur was still limited in his application of [Metal Domination] and [Perfect Copy], each skill demanded a huge portion of his soul strength, being able to let the copy move while controlling the metal blades was currently Arthur's limit. Of course, with enough training Arthur could minimize the use of his soul consumption, but not by a lot. The best method was to let Arthur level up, but leveling up after reaching level 6 was not an easy task for both humans and beasts.
"Thank you master."
Arthur replied, he was still a bit unsettled using his master as bait, but hearing his master's compliment still lifted his mood. Aeron smiled feeling Arthur's soul connection, tonight had been a big night, if the Alpha Lykoi noticed his existence earlier then he could've been in a more deadly situation.
"Caesar bring me that bundled grey cloth here."
Aeron said, Caesar was standing near the bundled grey cloth. Aeron had been curious about the object wrapped inside since the woman seemed to value it enough to wrap it with this grey cloth and try to protect it even when she was unconscious.
"Well, what could this be."
Aeron said as he started to unwrap the grey cloth, he had already noticed the sweet scent that the object wrapped inside was emitting.
"A slice of fruit?"
Aeron said in surprise, he never expected it to be a fruit. But the fruit was strange as it emitted a very strong scent when he unwrapped it, he could also feel the powerful vitality coming out of the slice of fruit.
"What is this from?"
Aeron spoke as he tried to remember any information regarding this kind of fruit. Unfortunately, the fruit was not something many people knew about, and even those who knew about it didn't disseminate the information as it might cause a huge problem if known among the masses, especially to tamers. Aeron suddenly noticed his pets stare towards his direction, most of them almost drooled at the sight of the slice of fruit.
"Arthur?"
Aeron asked Arthur, only Arthur seemed to be acting normal though Aeron felt fluctuations on his soul.
"Master, that slice of fruit you are holding seems to be tempting me and the other beasts, it seems to be something that could help us with our growth. But at the same time, my soul is warning me about it, but the other beast don't seem to feel that way."
Arthur answered, the other beast didn't feel wary and only temptation remained, if not for Arthur being a king beast, then the monkeys would've rushed Aeron to steal the slice of fruit. And if not for Aeron's soul connection towards Agila, then she would've tried to fight for it fiercely. But there were other beasts inside the base that were void of restraint.
Tatatatatata!
The little turtles rushed towards Aeron with their small stubby feet, their eyes were fiercely staring towards the slice of fruit on Aeron's hand.
"Stop them."
Aeron ordered, the monkeys didn't move immediately as they were too mesmerized by the slice of fruit, seeing the little turtles rushing even seemed to agitate them, but when Arthur ordered, the monkeys snapped out of their trance and quickly picked the little turtles up to stop them. All but one, Terra who was nearest to Aeron didn't seem to mind the slice of fruit, it only looked curiously at the object on Aeron's hand before looking away. Aeron would've noticed its actions if not for him being occupied at what to do with the slice of fruit.
Aeron quickly wrapped it around the grey cloth which made the strong scent diminish, but not completely. The monkeys were still looking at the grey cloth but the king's order made them calmer.
"Arthur, bring me down the tree."
Aeron ordered, he wanted to try something out, if this didn't work then it might be too dangerous to have the slice of fruit around, as it might have been the reason why the woman became so injured. If Aeron's pets could feel such temptation, then the other beasts would probably do everything to get their paws on the slice of fruit.
'This might have been the reason why those Lykois acted as they did.'
Aeron thought, meanwhile, Arthur nodded and carried Aeron down the tree. Aeron quickly alighted when they reached the ground. He looked around and found a few clustered scent bushes. Aeron brought the grey cloth and place it within the cluster of scent bushes.
"Now can you still smell it?"
Aeron asked Arthur, Arthur sniffed around trying to find the slice of fruit's scent.
"No master."
Arthur replied after he finished trying. Aeron on the other hand summoned the wolves. The silver wolves looked around and saw Arthur, Aeron glanced at Arthur to which Arthur nodded back before ordering the silver wolves.
Sniff Sniff Sniff Sniff Sniff
The five silver wolves tried to smell around but failed to pick up the slice of fruit's scent. Aeron and Arthur didn't inform them because the wolves might get too impulsive if they knew that they were looking for the slice of fruit they saw and smelled earlier. Arthur just ordered them to try and find other scents in the surrounding, the place had been planted with a lot of scent fruit but it was better to be careful about it.
"Alright. That's enough."
Aeron said as he unsummoned the silver wolves before doing another experiment. Aeron uprooted a scent bush, he wrapped around a mana stone on its roots before putting the grey cloth inside the scent bush.
"How about this Arthur."
Aeron said, Arthur tried to smell the scent bush before shaking his head. Aeron proceeded to test it on the silver wolves. If this method worked then he wouldn't need to think of other ways to hide the grey cloth. The silver wolves were ordered to smell the scent bush on Aeron's hands, but their reactions made Aeron happy, he had already had thoughts like bringing the grey cloth back to the old base since he couldn't just leave this on the bushes since it might be accidentally discovered by other beasts. With the results acquired, Aeron brought the scent bush containing the grey cloth back to the tree where he placed it in a hollow point of the tree. With the mana stone as a mana supply, the scent bush could live for at most a month without soil.