It had been an hour since Kaylee went into the mountains. Each creature she had met was swiftly killed before stored away in her own personal storage ring.
The mist surrounding her body acted as concealment as well as a weapon. She had killed every creature passing her by with a burst of Interstellar Gas.
This gas would wrap around her opponents body. Each of them had a confused look in their eyes as they looked around trying to find the culprit to their situation.
They didn't get much time to look as the gas began to restrict their movements before throwing them into the air making them hover as the pressure grew finally crushing the beast to death!
Other times she would restrain the beast before sending large amounts of Interstellar Gas into the creatures lungs through their nose and mouth suffocating them to death.
"That should be the 20th one I believe… 12 Bronze and 8 Silver. What is that? 52 points? At this rate we will only need a night to pass!"
She seemed to be enjoying herself, being out in the wilderness without anything holding her back or making her worry. The only way she could be happier is if Ryder was with her.
When the image of Ryder popped into her head the smile she had would turn into a frown. It was clear she didn't like being separated from him, yet the scene of him bitting off a man's head appeared next.
Her hands came up the next moment slapping her cheeks. She was trying to drive her stray thoughts away as she looked ahead with determination.
'That wasn't him! It might have been his body but something else was in control! Stop thinking about that… didn't I already forgive him? Come on! Get it together Kaylee! Ryder went through so much to save me, so did Jacob! I must show them I'm not a burden!'
Those thoughts ran through her head as she took off running deeper into the mountains wanting to speed up her hunt.
'I will not be useless next time!'
———
A shining grey blade slashed through the body of a gazelle looking beast! It had aimed for its leg before going through its flesh, it's once clean shining body was now stained red as the beast ran as fast as it could away from the predator chasing it!
'This Stellaris is very powerful when it comes to speed… if only it's cultivation was higher. Then maybe it would have a chance of escape'
The predator's eyes was the only thing that could be seen in the darkness. The piercing blue followed its prey, it's posture was low to the ground as it used every muscle in its body to burst forth catching up to the Stellaris once again.
Instantly the predator noticed the beasts body had begun to glow more as time went on. In a last ditch effort it unleashed a blast of pure star power behind it only to feel its power shatter moments later.
When it looked back all it could see was a glowing golden claw with a humans arm inside it. It was completely translucent but the beast soon drew its last breath as the claw slammed into its neck tearing through its flesh before ripping out as much flesh as it could.
The Stellaris fell moments later as a white flame formed on its forehead before shooting towards the predator entering its body.
"Phew. Running like that was a good warm up. Let's move onto another beast"
Ryder stood there taking a breath as he sent the beasts body into his storage ring. Currently he had a golden energy swirling around his body like a protective barrier.
'Do you even understand what you just did? Looks like I'll have to give you more credit, I didn't even teach you the technique but you learned it quickly after I used it with your body. Well done, you have had minor success with my [Soul Forged Beastial Manifestation] good job'
This made Ryder feel weird, he usually enjoyed the feeling of being praised by someone stronger but feeling it come from the beast that caused him to do a couple horrible things made him unsure if he should be happy about it or not.
"Thanks I guess… I didn't want to learn it at first but, if I want to live and get stronger then these techniques are the fastest way to that goal. So I'll… be c- cou- ugh… counting… on you in the future…"
It was very hard for him to say this, however he needed Cain as much as Cain needed Ryder. Without Cain he would have easily been beaten or killed by the two from before. This helped him to open up a little bit but he was still clearly weary of the beast.
'Good, looks like you are finally understanding. Then let's get to work, currently you are too weak to display the true power of this technique but having it could save your life… the technique I'm going to teach you is called [Heavenly Lupin Empowerment] this technique can make you leap an entire realm in physical power however you'll be weakened after the technique ends'
Ryder had been on the move, he was looking for a strong beast as he listened to Cain. After hearing the name of the technique his energy began to react with excitement! Just the name alone had activated his Soul Realm which amazed him.
'If just the name can already illicit such a reaction then the technique must be truly powerful'
"Fine, how are you going to teach me?"
'Release your avatar, I'll have to guide you personally'
This was when Ryder hesitated, he didn't know if he could trust that Cain wouldn't do anything when he got out but after thinking to himself for a couple moments he calmed down.
'Even if I do release him as long as we don't merge I can just force him back into my Soul Realm at any moment…'
With this reasoning he released Cain who let out a sigh of relief. He knew this would be a difficult decision for the boy, thankfully he didn't need to convince him.
"Head towards the closest mountain northwest from here. There should be a beast living in the mountain, I can feel it's cultivation is at gold rank. With this you'll get a safe place to live for the moment, the beasts body and soul, as well as a place to train since the weaker beasts and stronger ones would avoid the beasts territory"
Ryder only nodded his head before running towards the closest mountain. Currently he was in a forested area with large trees that created a roof blocking out any light. Even the rocky ground and the mountain sides didn't have a single mote of light due to the trees absorbing the energy from the area.
Though Ryder is just a human he always felt like something was off with him. He could see clearly in the darkness even when he was living with his parents. He had even bitten through many metal silverware even accidentally injuring those who tried to feed him when he was a baby.
This always made Ryder question himself but now he was happy to have these benefits. Recently he has even felt something manifest inside himself. It felt like he had a new sense like a sixth sense had manifested, now when he looked at beasts he could feel something telling him how difficult it would be to fight them.
This feeling when looking at those with lower cultivation then Ryder would feel like it was saying "Weak" while facing against stronger opponents it might react with "Strong" or he might feel an intense urge to devour.
It was almost like his instincts were telling him what beasts would aid in his growth the most. This wasn't the only thing these sense gave him however, when he would be attacked it would also react with a warning depending on how strong the attack was.
Due to this he was able to tell that the star force attack earlier was weak. So he just broke through the attack before killing the beast.
'I'm getting hungry…'
The image of the horse like beast from before showed up in his mind. The Celestallon looked like a very delicious meal just waiting for him, but this meal gave off an incredibly dangerous feeling.
'When I'm stronger I'll come back for it. For now let's focus on what's in front of me'
He stepped out of the forest only to be greeted with a much smaller mountain compared to the others around. At first Ryder wanted to relax his guard yet his instincts told him otherwise. Moments later Ryder jumped with all his might towards the right only to find a large feline beast clawing at the place he was standing before turning into a blur and disappearing.
'Fuck. A Stellar Night Stalker huh? These beasts can become almost invisible during the night time… however their bodies are weak, they are ambush predators but a beast the size of a adult male will still do massive damage if I'm not careful!'
In that moment he enveloped his body in a translucent golden soul force barrier that looked more like shining armor.
His head was completely encased in soul force as it takes the form of a wolf head while the rest of his body gains some wolf like features.
'With this I should be able to take an attack before countering with my own!'
Cain had taken a step back allowing Ryder to fight without his help. He wanted to train the boy not hold his hand.
'Smart, you realized that you couldn't find the beast so instead you put up your defenses based off what you have learned about the beasts strength… he is growing fast'
'Now we wait… show me why you are so feared!'