Chapter 44
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[Idan]
When the door opened and I saw my pissed companion I knew that she would expect an explanation but I deserve one as well. She looked like she wanted to slap me but what confused me was exactly that. Ever since we met she had been calm. Yes we met almost two weeks ago and that is a very short time but I knew that something was different.
Normally it would be something like a sixth sense but for me it is different. We have a soul pact. We both know that the other one is ok and some other information but once we are close to each other this connection strengthens. Right now I can feel her emotions. Anger, sadness and something else I cannot identify.
What throws me off is the intensity. I know what causes her anger.
I am lying on top of a king-sized bed and am surrounded by four 'nurses. They are all very nice and seem to like small animals. Add their strength into the mix and I am reduced to the level of a stuffed toy. It is not unpleasant and they seem to like feeding me with berries, nuts and whatever else this red thing is they stuff into my mouth.
For her, it must look like I've been having a great time by myself.
Cannot really deny that either but let us first take care of her emotions.
"Nice to see you. How about you get those emotions in check?"
Being direct is better lest she does something bad.
I guess she did not notice her spike in emotion. A shocked expression appeared on her face which morphed into an angry one. She closed her eyes and focused for a second before I noticed that the emotions traveling through our connection disappeared.
She exhaled a deep breath and opened her eyes.
The first thing I noticed were her eyes. I vividly remember them. While they were slightly dim they were beautiful. Right now they were...different. Her left eye was still of a green color but her right eye was different. Her right eye was no longer green. Her eye looked normal except the red pupil and the black iris and silver sclera.
Ok, it did not look normal at all.
Turning towards the nurses I wanted to have some privacy with her. Signaling her I wanted her to send them out.
"Can we have the room for ourselves? We have a lot to catch up on."
"Don't worry take your time."
"Yes, we will prepare some tea for you."
"Can we come back later?"
"..."
The enthusiastic responses were very heartening. I always imagined humans as very violent and aggressive but they were truly nice. Perhaps my race played a role. I guess a tiger or wolf beast would have received a different treatment.
"Yes, we will see each other later."
After they all left the room and closed the door I turned back to the important part.
"What happened to your eye?"
My voice was graver than I expected.
"Nothing much. It is just the seal for a soul that could extinguish my own in an instant."
Her sarcasm was still there. Seems like she got through it without any problems.
"Any danger as of now?"
"I don't think so. Madelyn, the owner of this place, used a treasure from my parents to create this seal. It is self-sufficient and will slowly integrate itself into my body and soul. In the long run, it will benefit me."
"That is nice to hear. Now, who is this Madelyn?"
"You have not met her yet? I thought she would have visited you will I was unconscious."
"No, I have yet to meet her."
"She is, as I said, the owner of this whole place and has a leading position in this city. She is also a form of caretaker for me. Apparently, my parents choose her to become my teacher and servant."
"Can we trust her?"
"Yes, we can. There is no possibility of betrayal. She is bound by a soul contract that originates from a higher realm. There is no punishment for betrayal since betrayal is impossible. The contract removes any and all desires and thoughts of harm towards me. She is basically an extension of myself if I so wish."
"Sounds hard for her."
"It does but you know me. I am neither cruel nor stupid. Furthermore, she received a load of benefits for her servitude. Increased affinities and a fully regenerated body with increased talent. If that is not a good compensation then I don't know."
This sounds very good. Now we have someone who can support us and guarantee an easy start.
"How strong is she?"
A pained expression flashed across her face. Something must have happened.
"She was a Smallstep Powerhouse."
"Was?"
"Yes, she was. The regeneration of her body and increase and talent meant she had to be reduced to the Third Stage of Mana Refining. She is currently much much weaker. At the level of Emma."
This is bad. Our bodyguard just disappeared.
"Any benefit for us?"
"Well, she still has her influence as the head of the hospital and her private army. A family of sorts. She has already arranged for us to live in a mansion with her. The mansion is located near the center of the city and I will probably attend a school for some time."
"What is a school?"
This term confused me. I have never heard of a 'school' before.
"It is a place where children gather and learn about a variety of topics. Everything a child will need in life."
"Sounds interesting."
"I will go there to get my emotions in check. You noticed but I lost control of my emotions at the door. When I saw you relaxed and fawned upon by the nurses somehow my emotions went berzerk.
Normally that would not happen but right now I am in a bad spot. Because of our run-in with that Black reaper thing and the injury I sustained, a race-related growth spurt of my emotions activated.
I put it under control but I will have to go through this at some point and the school should help me with that."
"How long will that take? Or how long do you want to stay here?"
She supported her chin with her right hand and proceeded to think about my question.
We have a good base here. Influence in the form of Madelyn and support in the form of Madelyn.
We can safely increase our strength but we should not stay here forever.
At some point, this city will not be able to contain us. At some point, we will search for her parents and will want to see different places. Find opportunities and challenges.
"I will need three weeks to go through a special treatment to get my emotions under control. right now I am just suppressing them. At some point, this will backfire. A period of three weeks with exposure to my emotions should put me on the right track. At the same time, we will train, hunt, and learn about society and some other aspects.
I think we can just go with the flow and decide at some point that we want to move on."
I would agree with that. Right now we are weak and we lack information and experience. I guess a few months or longer is a good time limit.
"I agree with that. Now, what will we do right now?"
"We have everything planned. We will go to meet one of the nurses here. Her name is Nomiki and she will be our maid in the mansion. On the way, we will go get Mina and Dua. They are the personal disciples of Madelyn. They will accompany us to the mansion and be the link to the hospital. Due to Madelyn's current state, she has to disappear from the public eye.
Officially she will be on a trip to the country of Demons to work on a contract. Until she regained her strength I will be her disciple and you will be my contracted companion. It is not unusual. The unusual aspect of our relationship is the fact that we are on equal foot. Most beasts are servants."
Phew! At least everything is taken care of. No stress no struggle. I love it when something works out.
"When will we go to that mansion?"
"We will go now. Just follow me. We will meet Madelyn, Mina, and Dua in Madelyn's room."
"You know the way?"
"Yes, I came from there."
She directly turned around and headed for the door. I once again notice that she is very distant when her emotions are suppressed. The first time I met her it was the same. All distant and calculative. In the few days we spend in the forest she warmed up and emotions surfaced.
Right now it is the same. She keeps her emotions suppressed and will slowly release them.
Hopefully, she does not get influenced too strongly. We beasts are the best example of what can happen. We are strongly influenced by our instincts. Control is possible but very hard. Controlling yourself as a beast is similar to having starved for a week and trying to not eat from an all-you-can-eat-buffet prepared by the best chefs.
As she nears the door I follow her and jump onto her shoulder. Landing there I stretch my tail to coil around her neck and secure myself. I place my hindlegs near her neck and hold onto the backside of her collar. Lazily laying my head onto my front paws she throws me a glance. Seeing that I am tightly sitting on her shoulder she resumed her walk and grabs the doorknob.
Opening the door we are greeted by one of the four nurses from before. She sends a smile my way and bows to us.
"Young Miss, the High One send me to tell you that she will meet you in the inner hall. I was sent to guide you there."
"Then please lead the way."
"As you wish, Young Miss."
She turned around and began leading the way. On the way, we all kept quiet. We both had nothing to talk about. At least nothing we want to discuss in public and the nurse was self-conscious and did not want to mess up in front of the 'Young Miss'.
On the way to the inner hall, we get more nurses, guards and other females who I could not identify. Some were carrying baskets filled with herbs, fruits, and other objects. Sometimes vials filled with liquid, some were even carrying baskets filled with beast cores and in between a few monster cores.
I could identify the monster cores since they are filled with a miasma-like substance. They are in no way as effective as beast cores but they should have different benefits.
All the people we met first greeted us by bowing and then greeted the nurse leading the way.
We were surely walking for around ten minutes before we turned around a corner and were greeted by a giant wooden door. I say it is giant but it must have been two and a half meters at most. For me it was giant but for humans, it would seem only slightly higher than other doors.
But it was wide! The door consisted of two individual doors and each one was one and a half meters wide. They were completely different from the wooden walls and doors we had seen up to that point. They were not dark but bright. The wood was very light and faint and almost seemed to glow. It was a weird feeling. I knew that the door was not glowing but I still could not get the glow out of my eyes.
Aside from the non-existent but somehow existent glow the door was filled with carvings. What I noticed during our walk was that the people here seemed to love carvings. Almost all the space on the walls and doors was filled with carvings and if I did not miss something they were all different.
As we neared the door I noticed that there were two guards placed before the door. Their gaze was fixed forward and it seemed like they did not notice our arrival.
Based on the vibe that radiated of their body they were stronger than Emma and her group. Combined.
Emma and her group were all Mana and Qi Refining Experts. They all had a steady foundation. I can gauge that from their energy control and the way they carry themselves. As a beast with higher intellect, I am more sensitive to the 'vibe' people unconsciously give off. One of the reasons as to why I showed myself to them.
These guards in front of me were at least a whole realm above them. At that point, it gets hard to distinguish them. A Mana Refining Stage 3 could swat me to death like a fly. No challenge at all.
An Exalted Stage 3 can kill me with his intent. During cultivation, the energy will become a part of your body and you can naturally radiate it. The energy from an Exalted of any Stage would be enough to suppress and restrict the strength of anyone below their stage to a certain extent.
But once you are two realms below them your body simply cannot handle the stress. At first, you will have difficulty breathing. After that, your organs will fail and your bones will slowly crack. Then your skin will tear and break. Then your eyes will implode and you simply die cause your brain just turned into mush.
Why did I know of this? I witnessed it. The inner circle is the territory of several venerated level beasts. At one point I saw from a distance how one of these lords killed an intruder.
It is known that at most Stage 5 beasts are allowed in the inner circle but a Second Stage Qi Refining Tiger was dumb enough to ignore that.
The lord of the territory arrived and to make an example of him did not kill it swiftly but prolonged its death by using its energy suppression.
I can understand why. If some Mana refining beast dares to disregard your rules and you do not do anything, everyone will think that they can ignore your rules.
And n the long run it was one dead beast and a ton of beast who did not suffer the same fate.
The guards in front of us were around that level. Exalted Stage 3 at least. If they are suppressing their strength then they might be halfway into the Realm of Venerated or perhaps even a First Stage Venerated.
A terrifying existence. I guess they guard the inner hall because the woman named Madelyn is inside, their boss.
While I ponder about their strength I notice that the nurse that was guiding us enters the hall through one of the side doors. Until now I did not even notice that there were smaller doors inside these doors. I thought they were part of the carving.
She left us outside and entered by herself. I guess she is announcing our arrival or something similar.
I think I guessed right because shortly afterward, at most half a minute later, the doors were promptly opened by the two stern-faced guards.
The two put their right and left hand on indentions in the engraving that resembled handprints.
They pushed a small bit of energy inside and the door opened by itself.
As the door opened it revealed the view inside. The first we saw was a giant table. The table was U-formed and the open end faced an elevated throne. A set of stairs from the left and right lead up to the wooden throne. A few gemstones were embedded into the throne and a very soft looking pillow was placed on the throne for the royal butt that would sit down on it.
The U-shaped table in front of the throne was rather big. Some 10 people would be able to sit on each side and an additional five at the end facing us.
The chairs placed near the table were almost filled with various people. The only common thing about them is their gender.
If I am right and my eyes are functioning I can say that they are all female. One the right side eight women are seated at the table and were probably discussing something until we appeared.
Their age varied massively. Some seemed to be very young and some were way past their prime.
The left side of the table consisted of nine different people. These varied more some were obviously from different species. Some had horns and tattoos and were clothed rather sparingly. Some were fully clothed and the only thing that I could see was their eyes. Their eyes were at the same time very different. Their iris varied from normal humans. Their eyes were slits, a cross and a very big round dot that took up seventy percent of their eyes.
Aside from the weird-eyes and the tattoed women, there was one more group. They were the ones I thought were the weirdest.
They were tall. They all stood at an impressive 1.90 meters at a minimum. Most were taller with some reaching up to 2.20 meters.
What confused me was the vibe they gave of. Their pride was basically oozing out of them but at the same time they were happily chatting and talking with other people while giving off a nice and friendly aura. I just couldn't understand it.
As I was contemplating these weird tall women, the nurse that lead us here arrived in front of us and urged us to follow her. We promptly followed her and she leads us around the table below the throne.
She told us to wait there after which she disappeared behind the throne.
As we stood there waiting for whatever or whoever was supposed to come we were observed by all the people in the room.
The ones on the now left side of the table were very nice. They looked at us in a friendly way while giving us an encouraging look.
The ones on the left were different.
The ones with the prideful aura were somehow displeased with our appearance. Based on the looks they gave us we seem to have displeased them but I doubt that we had met them before.
Only one of them was different. She was the smallest in their group but she still stood at an impressive 1.90 meters.
She gave us a friendly look before she turned towards the rest of her group and gave them an angry look.
Based on the fact that they instantly retracted their displeased expressions and gathered behind the small women I can guess that she is their leader.
Their leader once again smiled at us and turned around.
The next ones were the tattoed and horned women. The older ones, I guess that they are older since they are taller, were looking at us in a rather neutral way. The smaller, and I guess younger ones, were looking at us with a MASSIVELY displeased look. I think displeased doesn't fit the situation. Two of them borderline hated us.
I don't care anymore. We have not met anyone of them before right now and they don't like us. Guess there's nothing I can do. We'll just wait until whoever is supposed to come appears.
Thankfully we did not have to wait for too long as shortly afterward three women appeared from behind the throne. One of them was the nurse that guided us here and the other two were unknown to me but based on the reaction I got from my friend they must be Mina and Dua.
Given the fact that they appeared and not Madelyn I guess they will announce that Madelyn has left to work on that 'contract' and they will probably then introduce us as the new personal disciple.
Well, me as the companion of the personal disciple.
As we wait for them to arrive in front of us I can see that the previously angry gazes on our backs just intensified by a lot.
Guess it has something to do with the personal disciple thing.
"Thank you for gathering here. I am Mina, a personal disciple of Miss Madelyn."
As soon as both Mina and, who I presume is Dua, arrived in front of us Mina addressed the gathered people.
"As you know my Mistress has been searching for a personal disciple. At first, it was not meant to be public but as you voiced your interest my Mistress has relented and allowed you to send your 'geniuses' here."
Her whole speech was laced with hidden, and toxic, comments. It seems to me that she does not like them very much.
What I noticed is that the whole speech seems to be addressed at the right side of the table.
The people sitting on the left side remained undisturbed.
The people on the right side, on the other hand, were not as calm. Some murmur was heard from the younger ones while the older ones just had a wry smile on their faces.
To me, it seems like they knew that they would not be chosen.
Then why the effort?
"The one my Mistress chose is the child right here but she will not be a personal disciple but instead she will be her inheritor."
Please report us if you find any errors so we can fix it asap!
[Idan]
When the door opened and I saw my pissed companion I knew that she would expect an explanation but I deserve one as well. She looked like she wanted to slap me but what confused me was exactly that. Ever since we met she had been calm. Yes we met almost two weeks ago and that is a very short time but I knew that something was different.
Normally it would be something like a sixth sense but for me it is different. We have a soul pact. We both know that the other one is ok and some other information but once we are close to each other this connection strengthens. Right now I can feel her emotions. Anger, sadness and something else I cannot identify.
What throws me off is the intensity. I know what causes her anger.
I am lying on top of a king-sized bed and am surrounded by four 'nurses. They are all very nice and seem to like small animals. Add their strength into the mix and I am reduced to the level of a stuffed toy. It is not unpleasant and they seem to like feeding me with berries, nuts and whatever else this red thing is they stuff into my mouth.
For her, it must look like I've been having a great time by myself.
Cannot really deny that either but let us first take care of her emotions.
"Nice to see you. How about you get those emotions in check?"
Being direct is better lest she does something bad.
I guess she did not notice her spike in emotion. A shocked expression appeared on her face which morphed into an angry one. She closed her eyes and focused for a second before I noticed that the emotions traveling through our connection disappeared.
She exhaled a deep breath and opened her eyes.
The first thing I noticed were her eyes. I vividly remember them. While they were slightly dim they were beautiful. Right now they were...different. Her left eye was still of a green color but her right eye was different. Her right eye was no longer green. Her eye looked normal except the red pupil and the black iris and silver sclera.
Ok, it did not look normal at all.
Turning towards the nurses I wanted to have some privacy with her. Signaling her I wanted her to send them out.
"Can we have the room for ourselves? We have a lot to catch up on."
"Don't worry take your time."
"Yes, we will prepare some tea for you."
"Can we come back later?"
"..."
The enthusiastic responses were very heartening. I always imagined humans as very violent and aggressive but they were truly nice. Perhaps my race played a role. I guess a tiger or wolf beast would have received a different treatment.
"Yes, we will see each other later."
After they all left the room and closed the door I turned back to the important part.
"What happened to your eye?"
My voice was graver than I expected.
"Nothing much. It is just the seal for a soul that could extinguish my own in an instant."
Her sarcasm was still there. Seems like she got through it without any problems.
"Any danger as of now?"
"I don't think so. Madelyn, the owner of this place, used a treasure from my parents to create this seal. It is self-sufficient and will slowly integrate itself into my body and soul. In the long run, it will benefit me."
"That is nice to hear. Now, who is this Madelyn?"
"You have not met her yet? I thought she would have visited you will I was unconscious."
"No, I have yet to meet her."
"She is, as I said, the owner of this whole place and has a leading position in this city. She is also a form of caretaker for me. Apparently, my parents choose her to become my teacher and servant."
"Can we trust her?"
"Yes, we can. There is no possibility of betrayal. She is bound by a soul contract that originates from a higher realm. There is no punishment for betrayal since betrayal is impossible. The contract removes any and all desires and thoughts of harm towards me. She is basically an extension of myself if I so wish."
"Sounds hard for her."
"It does but you know me. I am neither cruel nor stupid. Furthermore, she received a load of benefits for her servitude. Increased affinities and a fully regenerated body with increased talent. If that is not a good compensation then I don't know."
This sounds very good. Now we have someone who can support us and guarantee an easy start.
"How strong is she?"
A pained expression flashed across her face. Something must have happened.
"She was a Smallstep Powerhouse."
"Was?"
"Yes, she was. The regeneration of her body and increase and talent meant she had to be reduced to the Third Stage of Mana Refining. She is currently much much weaker. At the level of Emma."
This is bad. Our bodyguard just disappeared.
"Any benefit for us?"
"Well, she still has her influence as the head of the hospital and her private army. A family of sorts. She has already arranged for us to live in a mansion with her. The mansion is located near the center of the city and I will probably attend a school for some time."
"What is a school?"
This term confused me. I have never heard of a 'school' before.
"It is a place where children gather and learn about a variety of topics. Everything a child will need in life."
"Sounds interesting."
"I will go there to get my emotions in check. You noticed but I lost control of my emotions at the door. When I saw you relaxed and fawned upon by the nurses somehow my emotions went berzerk.
Normally that would not happen but right now I am in a bad spot. Because of our run-in with that Black reaper thing and the injury I sustained, a race-related growth spurt of my emotions activated.
I put it under control but I will have to go through this at some point and the school should help me with that."
"How long will that take? Or how long do you want to stay here?"
She supported her chin with her right hand and proceeded to think about my question.
We have a good base here. Influence in the form of Madelyn and support in the form of Madelyn.
We can safely increase our strength but we should not stay here forever.
At some point, this city will not be able to contain us. At some point, we will search for her parents and will want to see different places. Find opportunities and challenges.
"I will need three weeks to go through a special treatment to get my emotions under control. right now I am just suppressing them. At some point, this will backfire. A period of three weeks with exposure to my emotions should put me on the right track. At the same time, we will train, hunt, and learn about society and some other aspects.
I think we can just go with the flow and decide at some point that we want to move on."
I would agree with that. Right now we are weak and we lack information and experience. I guess a few months or longer is a good time limit.
"I agree with that. Now, what will we do right now?"
"We have everything planned. We will go to meet one of the nurses here. Her name is Nomiki and she will be our maid in the mansion. On the way, we will go get Mina and Dua. They are the personal disciples of Madelyn. They will accompany us to the mansion and be the link to the hospital. Due to Madelyn's current state, she has to disappear from the public eye.
Officially she will be on a trip to the country of Demons to work on a contract. Until she regained her strength I will be her disciple and you will be my contracted companion. It is not unusual. The unusual aspect of our relationship is the fact that we are on equal foot. Most beasts are servants."
Phew! At least everything is taken care of. No stress no struggle. I love it when something works out.
"When will we go to that mansion?"
"We will go now. Just follow me. We will meet Madelyn, Mina, and Dua in Madelyn's room."
"You know the way?"
"Yes, I came from there."
She directly turned around and headed for the door. I once again notice that she is very distant when her emotions are suppressed. The first time I met her it was the same. All distant and calculative. In the few days we spend in the forest she warmed up and emotions surfaced.
Right now it is the same. She keeps her emotions suppressed and will slowly release them.
Hopefully, she does not get influenced too strongly. We beasts are the best example of what can happen. We are strongly influenced by our instincts. Control is possible but very hard. Controlling yourself as a beast is similar to having starved for a week and trying to not eat from an all-you-can-eat-buffet prepared by the best chefs.
As she nears the door I follow her and jump onto her shoulder. Landing there I stretch my tail to coil around her neck and secure myself. I place my hindlegs near her neck and hold onto the backside of her collar. Lazily laying my head onto my front paws she throws me a glance. Seeing that I am tightly sitting on her shoulder she resumed her walk and grabs the doorknob.
Opening the door we are greeted by one of the four nurses from before. She sends a smile my way and bows to us.
"Young Miss, the High One send me to tell you that she will meet you in the inner hall. I was sent to guide you there."
"Then please lead the way."
"As you wish, Young Miss."
She turned around and began leading the way. On the way, we all kept quiet. We both had nothing to talk about. At least nothing we want to discuss in public and the nurse was self-conscious and did not want to mess up in front of the 'Young Miss'.
On the way to the inner hall, we get more nurses, guards and other females who I could not identify. Some were carrying baskets filled with herbs, fruits, and other objects. Sometimes vials filled with liquid, some were even carrying baskets filled with beast cores and in between a few monster cores.
I could identify the monster cores since they are filled with a miasma-like substance. They are in no way as effective as beast cores but they should have different benefits.
All the people we met first greeted us by bowing and then greeted the nurse leading the way.
We were surely walking for around ten minutes before we turned around a corner and were greeted by a giant wooden door. I say it is giant but it must have been two and a half meters at most. For me it was giant but for humans, it would seem only slightly higher than other doors.
But it was wide! The door consisted of two individual doors and each one was one and a half meters wide. They were completely different from the wooden walls and doors we had seen up to that point. They were not dark but bright. The wood was very light and faint and almost seemed to glow. It was a weird feeling. I knew that the door was not glowing but I still could not get the glow out of my eyes.
Aside from the non-existent but somehow existent glow the door was filled with carvings. What I noticed during our walk was that the people here seemed to love carvings. Almost all the space on the walls and doors was filled with carvings and if I did not miss something they were all different.
As we neared the door I noticed that there were two guards placed before the door. Their gaze was fixed forward and it seemed like they did not notice our arrival.
Based on the vibe that radiated of their body they were stronger than Emma and her group. Combined.
Emma and her group were all Mana and Qi Refining Experts. They all had a steady foundation. I can gauge that from their energy control and the way they carry themselves. As a beast with higher intellect, I am more sensitive to the 'vibe' people unconsciously give off. One of the reasons as to why I showed myself to them.
These guards in front of me were at least a whole realm above them. At that point, it gets hard to distinguish them. A Mana Refining Stage 3 could swat me to death like a fly. No challenge at all.
An Exalted Stage 3 can kill me with his intent. During cultivation, the energy will become a part of your body and you can naturally radiate it. The energy from an Exalted of any Stage would be enough to suppress and restrict the strength of anyone below their stage to a certain extent.
But once you are two realms below them your body simply cannot handle the stress. At first, you will have difficulty breathing. After that, your organs will fail and your bones will slowly crack. Then your skin will tear and break. Then your eyes will implode and you simply die cause your brain just turned into mush.
Why did I know of this? I witnessed it. The inner circle is the territory of several venerated level beasts. At one point I saw from a distance how one of these lords killed an intruder.
It is known that at most Stage 5 beasts are allowed in the inner circle but a Second Stage Qi Refining Tiger was dumb enough to ignore that.
The lord of the territory arrived and to make an example of him did not kill it swiftly but prolonged its death by using its energy suppression.
I can understand why. If some Mana refining beast dares to disregard your rules and you do not do anything, everyone will think that they can ignore your rules.
And n the long run it was one dead beast and a ton of beast who did not suffer the same fate.
The guards in front of us were around that level. Exalted Stage 3 at least. If they are suppressing their strength then they might be halfway into the Realm of Venerated or perhaps even a First Stage Venerated.
A terrifying existence. I guess they guard the inner hall because the woman named Madelyn is inside, their boss.
While I ponder about their strength I notice that the nurse that was guiding us enters the hall through one of the side doors. Until now I did not even notice that there were smaller doors inside these doors. I thought they were part of the carving.
She left us outside and entered by herself. I guess she is announcing our arrival or something similar.
I think I guessed right because shortly afterward, at most half a minute later, the doors were promptly opened by the two stern-faced guards.
The two put their right and left hand on indentions in the engraving that resembled handprints.
They pushed a small bit of energy inside and the door opened by itself.
As the door opened it revealed the view inside. The first we saw was a giant table. The table was U-formed and the open end faced an elevated throne. A set of stairs from the left and right lead up to the wooden throne. A few gemstones were embedded into the throne and a very soft looking pillow was placed on the throne for the royal butt that would sit down on it.
The U-shaped table in front of the throne was rather big. Some 10 people would be able to sit on each side and an additional five at the end facing us.
The chairs placed near the table were almost filled with various people. The only common thing about them is their gender.
If I am right and my eyes are functioning I can say that they are all female. One the right side eight women are seated at the table and were probably discussing something until we appeared.
Their age varied massively. Some seemed to be very young and some were way past their prime.
The left side of the table consisted of nine different people. These varied more some were obviously from different species. Some had horns and tattoos and were clothed rather sparingly. Some were fully clothed and the only thing that I could see was their eyes. Their eyes were at the same time very different. Their iris varied from normal humans. Their eyes were slits, a cross and a very big round dot that took up seventy percent of their eyes.
Aside from the weird-eyes and the tattoed women, there was one more group. They were the ones I thought were the weirdest.
They were tall. They all stood at an impressive 1.90 meters at a minimum. Most were taller with some reaching up to 2.20 meters.
What confused me was the vibe they gave of. Their pride was basically oozing out of them but at the same time they were happily chatting and talking with other people while giving off a nice and friendly aura. I just couldn't understand it.
As I was contemplating these weird tall women, the nurse that lead us here arrived in front of us and urged us to follow her. We promptly followed her and she leads us around the table below the throne.
She told us to wait there after which she disappeared behind the throne.
As we stood there waiting for whatever or whoever was supposed to come we were observed by all the people in the room.
The ones on the now left side of the table were very nice. They looked at us in a friendly way while giving us an encouraging look.
The ones on the left were different.
The ones with the prideful aura were somehow displeased with our appearance. Based on the looks they gave us we seem to have displeased them but I doubt that we had met them before.
Only one of them was different. She was the smallest in their group but she still stood at an impressive 1.90 meters.
She gave us a friendly look before she turned towards the rest of her group and gave them an angry look.
Based on the fact that they instantly retracted their displeased expressions and gathered behind the small women I can guess that she is their leader.
Their leader once again smiled at us and turned around.
The next ones were the tattoed and horned women. The older ones, I guess that they are older since they are taller, were looking at us in a rather neutral way. The smaller, and I guess younger ones, were looking at us with a MASSIVELY displeased look. I think displeased doesn't fit the situation. Two of them borderline hated us.
I don't care anymore. We have not met anyone of them before right now and they don't like us. Guess there's nothing I can do. We'll just wait until whoever is supposed to come appears.
Thankfully we did not have to wait for too long as shortly afterward three women appeared from behind the throne. One of them was the nurse that guided us here and the other two were unknown to me but based on the reaction I got from my friend they must be Mina and Dua.
Given the fact that they appeared and not Madelyn I guess they will announce that Madelyn has left to work on that 'contract' and they will probably then introduce us as the new personal disciple.
Well, me as the companion of the personal disciple.
As we wait for them to arrive in front of us I can see that the previously angry gazes on our backs just intensified by a lot.
Guess it has something to do with the personal disciple thing.
"Thank you for gathering here. I am Mina, a personal disciple of Miss Madelyn."
As soon as both Mina and, who I presume is Dua, arrived in front of us Mina addressed the gathered people.
"As you know my Mistress has been searching for a personal disciple. At first, it was not meant to be public but as you voiced your interest my Mistress has relented and allowed you to send your 'geniuses' here."
Her whole speech was laced with hidden, and toxic, comments. It seems to me that she does not like them very much.
What I noticed is that the whole speech seems to be addressed at the right side of the table.
The people sitting on the left side remained undisturbed.
The people on the right side, on the other hand, were not as calm. Some murmur was heard from the younger ones while the older ones just had a wry smile on their faces.
To me, it seems like they knew that they would not be chosen.
Then why the effort?
"The one my Mistress chose is the child right here but she will not be a personal disciple but instead she will be her inheritor."
IdanWhen the door opened and I saw my pissed companion I knew that she would expect an explanation but I deserve one as well. She looked like she wanted to slap me but what confused me was exactly that. Ever since we met she had been calm. Yes we met almost two weeks ago and that is a very short time but I knew that something was different.Normally it would be something like a sixth sense but for me it is different. We have a soul pact. We both know that the other one is ok and some other information but once we are close to each other this connection strengthens. Right now I can feel her emotions. Anger, sadness and something else I cannot identify.What throws me off is the intensity. I know what causes her anger.I am lying on top of a king-sized bed and am surrounded by four 'nurses. They are all very nice and seem to like small animals. Add their strength into the mix and I am reduced to the level of a stuffed toy. It is not unpleasant and they seem to like feeding me with berries, nuts and whatever else this red thing is they stuff into my mouth.For her, it must look like I've been having a great time by myself.Cannot really deny that either but let us first take care of her emotions."Nice to see you. How about you get those emotions in check?"Being direct is better lest she does something bad.I guess she did not notice her spike in emotion. A shocked expression appeared on her face which morphed into an angry one. She closed her eyes and focused for a second before I noticed that the emotions traveling through our connection disappeared.She exhaled a deep breath and opened her eyes.The first thing I noticed were her eyes. I vividly remember them. While they were slightly dim they were beautiful. Right now they were...different. Her left eye was still of a green color but her right eye was different. Her right eye was no longer green. Her eye looked normal except the red pupil and the black iris and silver sclera.Ok, it did not look normal at all.Turning towards the nurses I wanted to have some privacy with her. Signaling her I wanted her to send them out."Can we have the room for ourselves? We have a lot to catch up on.""Don't worry take your time.""Yes, we will prepare some tea for you.""Can we come back later?""..."The enthusiastic responses were very heartening. I always imagined humans as very violent and aggressive but they were truly nice. Perhaps my race played a role. I guess a tiger or wolf beast would have received a different treatment."Yes, we will see each other later."After they all left the room and closed the door I turned back to the important part."What happened to your eye?"My voice was graver than I expected."Nothing much. It is just the seal for a soul that could extinguish my own in an instant."Her sarcasm was still there. Seems like she got through it without any problems."Any danger as of now?""I don't think so. Madelyn, the owner of this place, used a treasure from my parents to create this seal. It is self-sufficient and will slowly integrate itself into my body and soul. In the long run, it will benefit me.""That is nice to hear. Now, who is this Madelyn?""You have not met her yet? I thought she would have visited you will I was unconscious.""No, I have yet to meet her.""She is, as I said, the owner of this whole place and has a leading position in this city. She is also a form of caretaker for me. Apparently, my parents choose her to become my teacher and servant.""Can we trust her?""Yes, we can. There is no possibility of betrayal. She is bound by a soul contract that originates from a higher realm. There is no punishment for betrayal since betrayal is impossible. The contract removes any and all desires and thoughts of harm towards me. She is basically an extension of myself if I so wish.""Sounds hard for her.""It does but you know me. I am neither cruel nor stupid. Furthermore, she received a load of benefits for her servitude. Increased affinities and a fully regenerated body with increased talent. If that is not a good compensation then I don't know."This sounds very good. Now we have someone who can support us and guarantee an easy start."How strong is she?"A pained expression flashed across her face. Something must have happened."She was a Smallstep Powerhouse.""Was?""Yes, she was. The regeneration of her body and increase and talent meant she had to be reduced to the Third Stage of Mana Refining. She is currently much much weaker. At the level of Emma."This is bad. Our bodyguard just disappeared."Any benefit for us?""Well, she still has her influence as the head of the hospital and her private army. A family of sorts. She has already arranged for us to live in a mansion with her. The mansion is located near the center of the city and I will probably attend a school for some time.""What is a school?"This term confused me. I have never heard of a 'school' before."It is a place where children gather and learn about a variety of topics. Everything a child will need in life.""Sounds interesting.""I will go there to get my emotions in check. You noticed but I lost control of my emotions at the door. When I saw you relaxed and fawned upon by the nurses somehow my emotions went berzerk.Normally that would not happen but right now I am in a bad spot. Because of our run-in with that Black reaper thing and the injury I sustained, a race-related growth spurt of my emotions activated.I put it under control but I will have to go through this at some point and the school should help me with that.""How long will that take? Or how long do you want to stay here?"She supported her chin with her right hand and proceeded to think about my question.We have a good base here. Influence in the form of Madelyn and support in the form of Madelyn.We can safely increase our strength but we should not stay here forever.At some point, this city will not be able to contain us. At some point, we will search for her parents and will want to see different places. Find opportunities and challenges."I will need three weeks to go through a special treatment to get my emotions under control. right now I am just suppressing them. At some point, this will backfire. A period of three weeks with exposure to my emotions should put me on the right track. At the same time, we will train, hunt, and learn about society and some other aspects.I think we can just go with the flow and decide at some point that we want to move on."I would agree with that. Right now we are weak and we lack information and experience. I guess a few months or longer is a good time limit."I agree with that. Now, what will we do right now?""We have everything planned. We will go to meet one of the nurses here. Her name is Nomiki and she will be our maid in the mansion. On the way, we will go get Mina and Dua. They are the personal disciples of Madelyn. They will accompany us to the mansion and be the link to the hospital. Due to Madelyn's current state, she has to disappear from the public eye.Officially she will be on a trip to the country of Demons to work on a contract. Until she regained her strength I will be her disciple and you will be my contracted companion. It is not unusual. The unusual aspect of our relationship is the fact that we are on equal foot. Most beasts are servants."Phew! At least everything is taken care of. No stress no struggle. I love it when something works out."When will we go to that mansion?""We will go now. Just follow me. We will meet Madelyn, Mina, and Dua in Madelyn's room.""You know the way?""Yes, I came from there."She directly turned around and headed for the door. I once again notice that she is very distant when her emotions are suppressed. The first time I met her it was the same. All distant and calculative. In the few days we spend in the forest she warmed up and emotions surfaced.Right now it is the same. She keeps her emotions suppressed and will slowly release them.Hopefully, she does not get influenced too strongly. We beasts are the best example of what can happen. We are strongly influenced by our instincts. Control is possible but very hard. Controlling yourself as a beast is similar to having starved for a week and trying to not eat from an all-you-can-eat-buffet prepared by the best chefs.As she nears the door I follow her and jump onto her shoulder. Landing there I stretch my tail to coil around her neck and secure myself. I place my hindlegs near her neck and hold onto the backside of her collar. Lazily laying my head onto my front paws she throws me a glance. Seeing that I am tightly sitting on her shoulder she resumed her walk and grabs the doorknob.Opening the door we are greeted by one of the four nurses from before. She sends a smile my way and bows to us."Young Miss, the High One send me to tell you that she will meet you in the inner hall. I was sent to guide you there.""Then please lead the way.""As you wish, Young Miss."She turned around and began leading the way. On the way, we all kept quiet. We both had nothing to talk about. At least nothing we want to discuss in public and the nurse was self-conscious and did not want to mess up in front of the 'Young Miss'.On the way to the inner hall, we get more nurses, guards and other females who I could not identify. Some were carrying baskets filled with herbs, fruits, and other objects. Sometimes vials filled with liquid, some were even carrying baskets filled with beast cores and in between a few monster cores.I could identify the monster cores since they are filled with a miasma-like substance. They are in no way as effective as beast cores but they should have different benefits.All the people we met first greeted us by bowing and then greeted the nurse leading the way.We were surely walking for around ten minutes before we turned around a corner and were greeted by a giant wooden door. I say it is giant but it must have been two and a half meters at most. For me it was giant but for humans, it would seem only slightly higher than other doors.But it was wide! The door consisted of two individual doors and each one was one and a half meters wide. They were completely different from the wooden walls and doors we had seen up to that point. They were not dark but bright. The wood was very light and faint and almost seemed to glow. It was a weird feeling. I knew that the door was not glowing but I still could not get the glow out of my eyes.Aside from the non-existent but somehow existent glow the door was filled with carvings. What I noticed during our walk was that the people here seemed to love carvings. Almost all the space on the walls and doors was filled with carvings and if I did not miss something they were all different.As we neared the door I noticed that there were two guards placed before the door. Their gaze was fixed forward and it seemed like they did not notice our arrival.Based on the vibe that radiated of their body they were stronger than Emma and her group. Combined.Emma and her group were all Mana and Qi Refining Experts. They all had a steady foundation. I can gauge that from their energy control and the way they carry themselves. As a beast with higher intellect, I am more sensitive to the 'vibe' people unconsciously give off. One of the reasons as to why I showed myself to them.These guards in front of me were at least a whole realm above them. At that point, it gets hard to distinguish them. A Mana Refining Stage 3 could swat me to death like a fly. No challenge at all.An Exalted Stage 3 can kill me with his intent. During cultivation, the energy will become a part of your body and you can naturally radiate it. The energy from an Exalted of any Stage would be enough to suppress and restrict the strength of anyone below their stage to a certain extent.But once you are two realms below them your body simply cannot handle the stress. At first, you will have difficulty breathing. After that, your organs will fail and your bones will slowly crack. Then your skin will tear and break. Then your eyes will implode and you simply die cause your brain just turned into mush.Why did I know of this? I witnessed it. The inner circle is the territory of several venerated level beasts. At one point I saw from a distance how one of these lords killed an intruder.It is known that at most Stage 5 beasts are allowed in the inner circle but a Second Stage Qi Refining Tiger was dumb enough to ignore that.The lord of the territory arrived and to make an example of him did not kill it swiftly but prolonged its death by using its energy suppression.I can understand why. If some Mana refining beast dares to disregard your rules and you do not do anything, everyone will think that they can ignore your rules.And n the long run it was one dead beast and a ton of beast who did not suffer the same fate.The guards in front of us were around that level. Exalted Stage 3 at least. If they are suppressing their strength then they might be halfway into the Realm of Venerated or perhaps even a First Stage Venerated.A terrifying existence. I guess they guard the inner hall because the woman named Madelyn is inside, their boss.While I ponder about their strength I notice that the nurse that was guiding us enters the hall through one of the side doors. Until now I did not even notice that there were smaller doors inside these doors. I thought they were part of the carving.She left us outside and entered by herself. I guess she is announcing our arrival or something similar.I think I guessed right because shortly afterward, at most half a minute later, the doors were promptly opened by the two stern-faced guards.The two put their right and left hand on indentions in the engraving that resembled handprints.They pushed a small bit of energy inside and the door opened by itself.As the door opened it revealed the view inside. The first we saw was a giant table. The table was U-formed and the open end faced an elevated throne. A set of stairs from the left and right lead up to the wooden throne. A few gemstones were embedded into the throne and a very soft looking pillow was placed on the throne for the royal butt that would sit down on it.The U-shaped table in front of the throne was rather big. Some 10 people would be able to sit on each side and an additional five at the end facing us.The chairs placed near the table were almost filled with various people. The only common thing about them is their gender.If I am right and my eyes are functioning I can say that they are all female. One the right side eight women are seated at the table and were probably discussing something until we appeared.Their age varied massively. Some seemed to be very young and some were way past their prime.The left side of the table consisted of nine different people. These varied more some were obviously from different species. Some had horns and tattoos and were clothed rather sparingly. Some were fully clothed and the only thing that I could see was their eyes. Their eyes were at the same time very different. Their iris varied from normal humans. Their eyes were slits, a cross and a very big round dot that took up seventy percent of their eyes.Aside from the weird-eyes and the tattoed women, there was one more group. They were the ones I thought were the weirdest.They were tall. They all stood at an impressive 1.90 meters at a minimum. Most were taller with some reaching up to 2.20 meters.What confused me was the vibe they gave of. Their pride was basically oozing out of them but at the same time they were happily chatting and talking with other people while giving off a nice and friendly aura. I just couldn't understand it.As I was contemplating these weird tall women, the nurse that lead us here arrived in front of us and urged us to follow her. We promptly followed her and she leads us around the table below the throne.She told us to wait there after which she disappeared behind the throne.As we stood there waiting for whatever or whoever was supposed to come we were observed by all the people in the room.The ones on the now left side of the table were very nice. They looked at us in a friendly way while giving us an encouraging look.The ones on the left were different.The ones with the prideful aura were somehow displeased with our appearance. Based on the looks they gave us we seem to have displeased them but I doubt that we had met them before.Only one of them was different. She was the smallest in their group but she still stood at an impressive 1.90 meters.She gave us a friendly look before she turned towards the rest of her group and gave them an angry look.Based on the fact that they instantly retracted their displeased expressions and gathered behind the small women I can guess that she is their leader.Their leader once again smiled at us and turned around.The next ones were the tattoed and horned women. The older ones, I guess that they are older since they are taller, were looking at us in a rather neutral way. The smaller, and I guess younger ones, were looking at us with a MASSIVELY displeased look. I think displeased doesn't fit the situation. Two of them borderline hated us.I don't care anymore. We have not met anyone of them before right now and they don't like us. Guess there's nothing I can do. We'll just wait until whoever is supposed to come appears.Thankfully we did not have to wait for too long as shortly afterward three women appeared from behind the throne. One of them was the nurse that guided us here and the other two were unknown to me but based on the reaction I got from my friend they must be Mina and Dua.Given the fact that they appeared and not Madelyn I guess they will announce that Madelyn has left to work on that 'contract' and they will probably then introduce us as the new personal disciple.Well, me as the companion of the personal disciple.As we wait for them to arrive in front of us I can see that the previously angry gazes on our backs just intensified by a lot.Guess it has something to do with the personal disciple thing."Thank you for gathering here. I am Mina, a personal disciple of Miss Madelyn."As soon as both Mina and, who I presume is Dua, arrived in front of us Mina addressed the gathered people."As you know my Mistress has been searching for a personal disciple. At first, it was not meant to be public but as you voiced your interest my Mistress has relented and allowed you to send your 'geniuses' here."Her whole speech was laced with hidden, and toxic, comments. It seems to me that she does not like them very much.What I noticed is that the whole speech seems to be addressed at the right side of the table.The people sitting on the left side remained undisturbed.The people on the right side, on the other hand, were not as calm. Some murmur was heard from the younger ones while the older ones just had a wry smile on their faces.To me, it seems like they knew that they would not be chosen.Then why the effort?"The one my Mistress chose is the child right here but she will not be a personal disciple but instead she will be her inheritor."
