Chapter 7: Chapter 7: The Price

“I sense a strange presence from it…” Sherine said, eying the hawk. “I’ll ask dad for help.”

In less than an hour they had to call Riven for help. Zephyr had no choice but to agree. This matter was out of his power.

“That’s a celestial hawk, a magic beast with really high potential,” Riven’s voice echoed. “Some mage tried to enslave it… the leftover mana is of higher quality than its soul. It will consume its mana core.”

“Can’t we remove the mana?”

“You aren’t adapted to mana yet, your level is lower than that magician, and you also can’t use the spell mana drain.” Riven shut down Zephyr with knowledge he didn’t possess. “Sherine also never learned magic. If she forces the process, she will destroy the core.”

“We don’t have any other solutions?”

“We have one. Share 1500 Soul Essence with the magic beast. It will evolve and that should repair its core. You, the one with my divinity, can do it. Are you willing to share your prrrrrecious resources to save a magic beast?”

“Fifteen hundred…”

It’d take some time for him to collect 1500 Soul Essence. The hawk might succumb to death before that. He wasn’t worried about wasting the Soul Essence as long as he could live without regrets.

“Don’t underestimate a celestial hawk. It can hold on for four to five days.”

“That’s enough time.”

“We’ll help it,” Sherine thought. She looked down the tree and jumped over a hundred feet in one go. She landed without a sound and climbed the tree with the celestial hawk’s nest. She sat on the branch and held the bird. The hawk didn’t offer the slightest resistance. Sherine landed once again and patted the hawk’s head.

“Don’t worry. We won’t let you die…”

Zephyr could hear her thoughts, but the hawk couldn’t. But it stopped shivering and snuggled its head against her. Her intentions reached the juvenile bird—the simple notion made her smile.

“Birds are cute…”

“You are cuter though,” Zephyr thought out loud. He didn’t dare take Sherine’s flashy route and slowly climbed down. “Why don’t we keep it in the Soul Keeper House?”

“I forgot we had that.”

Sherine passed the hawk to Zephyr and took a wooden door out of the spatial pouch. It was similar to Riven’s Dark Dimension Door but of pale blue color with a golden dragon symbol. Sherine twisted the doorknob to reveal a room.

Zephyr entered the room with the hawk in his hands. The room was identical to the one Zephyr lived in. Even the bookshelf, closet, and desktop setup were exactly the same.

“You copied my room? That’s so sweet.”

“I wanted you to feel at home…”

Zephyr stroked the hawk’s feathers before letting it down on the bed and covering it with a warm blanket. “Stay here, okay? We’ll return soon.”

The hawk chirped as if it could understand Zephyr.

“Good bird.”

It might be a chance to get a pet with strong potential at the price of 1500 Soul Essence. All of it depended on if he could convince the hawk to be his pet. He would try at least.

“We have a shelter to use anytime. Do you mind if we keep hunting monsters while advancing towards the town?”

Sherine shook her head. “I don’t.”

They strode through the forest with vigilance, coming across numerous wild lives—rabbits with glowing horns, foxes with small wings on their backs, even a giant bear. Strangely, all the animals scurried away from them as if they saw a ghost.

“Sherine, do you know why they are running from us?”

Zephyr suspected Sherine’s half-dragon lineage. But it was just a suspicion.

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“They might be… afraid of me,” Sherine said as she touched the single horn on her head. “Father, how will we find more Soul Essence if everything is running from us?”

“Sigh, my dear daughter… wear this.” A ring fell from the sky into Sherine’s hands like a divine gift of gods. “It should suppress your powerful dragon aura.”

Sherine quickly put on the plain silver ring. “I hope someone attacks us now.”

Zephyr stared at the woman who carelessly thought strange things with an innocent smile on her face. He had a more important question about the hawk acting chummy with Sherine.

‘Because it was a magic beast?’

Zephyr continued on, and soon a group of three wolves barred their path. Eyes filled with hunger, they stared at the two. A wolf charged at him and the rest followed. Zephyr’s focus skill let him react to the explosive attack. And he quietly raised his scythe. The wolf twisted its body but the momentum worked against it.

The black blade penetrated the side of its neck. Zephyr created a crescent in the sky with the scythe and slammed the wolf into the ground. The wolves didn’t miss the opening and lunged at him with jaws wide open, ready to take a piece out of him.

Zephyr sensed the incoming threat, but he couldn’t react to the attack in time. Someone else did it for him. Sherine threw an uppercut and sent the wolf flying into the sky.

Sherine took care of the immediate threat and stepped out of Zephyr’s way. He freed his scythe from the wolf’s flesh and swung it at the last alive wolf. The wolf lost its eyes. It whimpered like a frightened dog and sprinted in the opposite direction. Zephyr saw through the wolf’s attempt to escape and chased after the wolf. It fortunately bumped into a tree, giving a Zephyr the perfect opportunity to decapitate it.

[Wild Wolf Lvl. 1 killed] [Experience +1] [Wild Wolf Lvl. 1 killed] [Experience +1]

The wolf crashed into the earth and splattered like a crushed tomato. Zephyr quickly transformed them all into the nourishment for his soul.

[Soul Essence +10] [Soul Essence +10] [Soul Essence +10]

‘So the experience is 1 multiplied by enemy level and Soul Essence is 10 multiplied by level. The Brood monsters have a free fifty percent xp boost.’

Zephyr scratched his head. Leveling up will take forever with these mobs. The only silver lining was his endurance. He wasn’t much tired after two small battles and lots of walking. Riven’s divinity proved to be a big help in providing him with energy.

“Thanks for the save. I would’ve been injured without you.”

Sherine gave a dry smile. “I should have held back…”

“It’s fine.”

Zephyr picked up the scythe and continued his hunt. He came across more wild animals who tried to attack them. He made quick work of them with his scythe.

Bears, wolves, jaguars—his scythe turned them all into corpses then his flames burned them. His massacre continued even when he ran into the zombie creatures. By the evening, the blood of his hunted prey had covered him from head to toe.

[Administer panel notice] [The goddess of the forests has taken notice of your relentless killing of wild animals.]

His first day in Hydralae took an unexpected turn.

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