The orange sky dimmed as Clay finished off another group of elemental beasts. 'This forest is filled with hidden little treats.' Complained Clay as he activated {Eyes of Panthea} and used its thermal vision to check out his surroundings. Seeing that he was safe he deactivated his abilities. The hard brown muscles covering him broke apart and fell off. "Arby turn into the container." Hearing the command his backpack opened up and a ball of adamantine was flown out. The ball landed on the ground and started to break up into nanobots. Those then turned into a metallic bottle.
Clay walked to his recent victim; a mosswer. The mosswer was four-legged with long shape fur that was both used to attack and defend. He crouched next to the body and started to skin its limbs. He then cut off all the muscles he thought would be the strongest. Picking up the chuck of muscle, he shoved it in the container.
The container could only fit a handful of muscles but that didn't matter as Clay's goal was not to use this muscle but to test if he could use his ability on old muscles. 'If this works then I will have to get a separate house for myself. Where I will store all my extra muscle. I should hang them to the ceiling like butchers used to do.' Chuckled Clay at his dry joke. After taking a last look at the mess he made, Clay started running towards the entrance of the forest.
'Now that Mother Earth updated my blessing. Body enhancement is working perfectly, I can already feel the difference. People call it a side effect of getting blessed but I think it's a necessary tool as with it even Rank- 7 mages could easily get killed by rank-1s or die from common diseases.'
'Kinda sad though that it wasn't working when I was farming minotaurs in the musculi dimension. I could have already got a Rank-2 level body... Well can't complain, I guess this is the universe's way of trying to balance me.' Clay happily ran trying to outrun the forest's growing shadow.
***
"My lord recently a technologically blessed hacked into various things and stole money. I am turning off the AI I left in the casino." Arby informed Clay. "Shit, that annoying. How much is in the bank?" Asked Clay as he drove his car. "240,780 credits my lord."
"Only that much?"
"I have been buying tech and weapons that can be useful in different situations based on your orders."
"That explains it... Good thing I got these elemental cores to sell and I don't really have high expenses so we should be fine. remember to tell me when you activate it again."
"Understood my lord."
"Remember the guy I asked you about? Where is he now?"'
"He is currently inside a cave by the shoreline." Reported Arby as he turned on the car GPS and showed the guy's location.
"What's he doing there?" asked a confused Clay.
"He seems to be following a map of sorts. He is also carrying mining equipment with him."
"What's this scumbag up to. Ping him on my GPS. This seems like a good time to teach him a lesson. Humm, killing him will go too far. Scaring him should be good enough."
***
Heavy rain banged against Hiten city as night fell. Weirdly in the center of the city, a building was untouched by rain. "Tina, life is fickle. Filled with turns. Stop playing around and focus on your growth." Staring out the window Kiri Heartflet talked to his daughter. "Vei has already surpassed you and many are close." Turning around he looked at Tina. "I thought you wanted to surpass your older sister? Now that you have grown, have all your ambition left?"
"Stop being so dramatic dad. I am just 20 and I am close to reaching Rank-4. Most people reach Rank-4 in their mid-thirties." Tina angrily answered back, while sitting on the sofa with her hands digging into chips.
"Yes, that is the normal age for commoners. You Tina are one of the elites of the Heartfelt family. You are supposed to be elegant and strong! Not the coach potato you are." Kiri said as he eyed the chips.
"Hey! Are you calling me fat?" Defensively said, Tina. "No, I am insinuating it. Humph!" Snorted Kiri.
"You two calm down. This is not how a father and daughter talk to each other." Sweetly said, mature women while reading on an indoor swing. She looked like an older tina, with short dark red hair. "Tina's progress slowed down due to your genes." Snickered the women.
"What? Tina, you fell in love? Oh god." Kiri looked dazed as he walked to the couch and sat beside Tina. "Since childhood, I have told you kids to never free out your heart to anyone. No wonder your progression has halted to a stop."
"Why did you tell him!" Tina ran into her room. "So what's your plan now?" The mature woman asked Kiri as she looked up from her book. "She will be slow in her progression, no matter how hard she tries. The only way she can grow stronger is she experiences a strong heartbreak." Kiri looked tired as he processed this loss.
"You won't do anything dumb? Will you?" Asked the lady with concern. "No, are you scared I will start that tradition again? Haha" Forcefully laughed Kiri as he looked at her. "Fate has chosen Tina's destiny. If her lover dies, it will be not by my hands but because destiny deems it."
"I am happy that she fell in love. She will be safe from all of your enemies... I am going to sleep. You staying or not?" The lady asked as she got off the swing. "I have to change some of my plans. I will come back tomorrow. Also, tell Tina to make that guy join the tournament. I wanna see who this prick is."