Chapter 32: Chapter 31: Feather

Zephyr covered his face with a cloth and searched the pockets of corpses, even the half corpse of the assassin. His endeavor netted him a couple of coins and some random belongings like a pendant. He also pocketed the dagger.

“May as well take the other weapons to sell.”

He stripped every valuable from them and set them aside to be cleaned. The Spatial Pouch had different blocks for every item. Still, he didn’t like Sherine touching bloodied stuff when he could avoid it.

He burned the corpses with the power of his Emblem. Athena jumped to the ground and cautiously approached the ghostly flames. She slowly reached out with one wing and let the tip of her wing contact the flames. Surprisingly, she didn’t burn. The gray streaks on her back glowed as if they were being strengthened by an unknown force.

The flames of Nether Soul Empyrean nourished Athena’s soul.

‘Did I unlock a new skill tree for Athena?’

Every Magic Beast’s evolution differed slightly because of the environment and the difference in mana. No evolution was completely the same, but they followed a general pattern. His flames most likely unlocked a new path for Athena, one that might not exist in this world.

After all, his soul carried Riven’s divinity. And Riven was the mighty God of Afterlife.

‘I might have overreacted to him.’

Sherine gave him a second chance but Riven was the one who made everything possible. He recalled his remarks on Riven about Sherine.

‘I was too harsh.’

[Soul Essence +180] [Soul Essence +220] [Soul Essence +160] [Soul Essence +160]

“Seven hundred twenty.”

They were the highest level fools he faced. He checked on his status.

[STATUS] Zephyr Cyrus: Level 10 (120/600 Experience to next level) Race: Human Soul Rank: Mortal (3630/5000 Soul Essence to next rank) [Attributes] Strength: 36 Agility: 42 Health: 39 Defense: 38 Magic: 56 [Hidden attribute] Awareness: 15 [Emblem] Soulmancy… [Skills] Dragon Touch (Gold) (Passive): The love and devotion of a golden dragon nourishes your soul. Greatly increases your resistance to fire. Your element attacks deal 50% more damage. First evolution requirements: Soul Rank - King, Level - 30 Scythe Combat (Silver) (Passive): When a scythe weapon is equipped, attack power will increase by 8%, attack speed by 4%. Stamina consumption with scythe is decreased by 10%. Enhanced Focus (Bronze) (Passive) Brood Slayer (Bronze) (Passive) Intuition (Silver) (Passive)

‘Fifty percent elemental attacks buff for free. Dragon Touch skill is broken.’

Then again, the woman who gave it to him was a literal dragon and goddess. He could advance the skill once he hit Level 30. The XP requirement per level rose by 50 after Level 9. Still, it won't be long before he achieves the Level 30 goal.

“Let’s finish the evolution baby!”

“You’ll need to reach Level 30 to advance your Soul Rank to the King Rank,” Riven’s dreamy voice whispered in his head.

“Level 30? Shit, that’s too much.”

“Level 50 for Lord Rank. Level 100 for Empyrean and—”

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“Stop! That’s too far in the future.”

“Haha, the required Soul Essence will skyrocket with each rank. Better stock up, kiddo.”

Riven was back to his cheerful sarcastic self. Zephyr wondered if he forgot about everything that transpired during Sherine’s heat incident.

***

Zephyr stomped through the lairs of fools in the yellow zone. It was a bloodbath. One that marked a sharp decrease in the Prince of Sloth’s forces stationed in the Great Forest. Then they came across a cave bereft of any presence. The walls were splashed with lines of dried blood. It seemed like someone murdered the fools in cold blood. Oddly similar to the sights Zephyr left behind.

Sherine frowned at the bloody stench; the smell of blood usually didn’t repulse her to this extent. “Something is strange.”

“It can’t be Drake. He wouldn’t go to this specific lair while ignoring the others. Did some hunter party come here?”

The insufficient information stopped him short of reaching an opinion.

So, he headed outside the grim cave and called upon the fairy of the forest. 

The deity known as Arlette bloomed from nothing.

“Why did you call me? I was sleeping!” Arlette seemed mad to be called out. Her anger died as soon as she laid her sparkly eyes on Athena. “A celestial hawk… and it recently evolved to C-Rank. Why are its feathers gray then? It should be golden!”

“Golden?” Zephyr scratched Athena’s neck. “Do you know anything about it?”

“Stupid, how will she understand your—” Arlette paused midway, and her eyes nearly popped out of sockets. She saw the hawk shake its head. “She can understand us?!”

Zephyr glanced at Sherine, who also shook her head in unison with Athena.

“The Archive of Magic Beasts doesn’t have any text on the celestial hawk.”

‘Athena truly is a special magic beast.’

Zephyr had a hunch about it since the day he picked her up from the forest.

‘Or she picked me up.’

Athena was intelligent enough to trust him and Sherine to cure her. He won’t be surprised if she chose to be in that place to lure him.

“Arlette baby, show me the feather again. Let Athena be the judge if she wants it.”

Arlette flipped her palm and waved the same golden feather. “Do you want it, smart bird?”

Athena’s eyes turned white as she focused on the feather. She chirped and lunged at the feather. Arlette vanished into verdant mist before the hawk could close the distance.

“Not so fast, Athena,” Arlette said and put away the feather back in her pocket. “Your master must finish my quest to receive the reward.”

Athena released a hysteric shriek that probably translated into “Give me the feather!”

Zephyr caught Athena out of the air and plopped her on his arm. Her mysterious gray eyes stared at him, carrying unbelievable depths.

“On a scale of one to five, how important is that golden feather?”

Athena shook her head at every count that led up to five and then bobbed her head. It was extremely important!

“I’d have to do a near impossible quest for this little goddess to give me the feather. Give me one reason to go that far for you.”

Athena tilted her head slightly then reached out with her wings and wrapped it around his neck. She rubbed the back of her head against his chin as though imploring him to get her the feather.

“You used the affection card. Fair enough, I guess.”

Athena pulled back her wings and raised her beak, egging him to scratch her neck.

“That is a gesture of submission,” Arlette said. “She trusts you.”

Athena hadn’t done anything to break his trust. Not yet at least.

Zephyr leaned closer to the female hawk. “I’ll save the selfless goddess and get the feather for you. If you ever betray me, you’ll burn like those fools.”

It was a threat. A warning. Perhaps, a reminder to the celestial hawk. Athena bobbed her head, desperately trying to show her agreement. She had seen the flames that scorched and processed every bit of a soul into orbs.

She didn’t want to end up as an orb! Only god knew if she’d get another chance at life.

The sheer terror exhibited by Athena left Sherine and Arlette wondering about his whisper.

“What is he telling her?” Arlette whispered to Sherine.

The half dragoness shook her head, showing no intentions to dig into Zephyr’s goal.

At last, Zephyr brought Arlette inside the fools’ lair. The pixie scrunched her nose and waved her hand. Vines grew out of the ground and covered the blood.

“It’s her magic. The Queen of all monstrosities in our world.” Arlette drew in a shuddering breath. “The Brood Queen.”

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