Chapter 36 - Sacred-Blood Mount Beast Soul

"Was there only the mother?" Han Sen was cutting the giant Stormbird meat after plucking the entire bird. Drako was now using the bird's feathers as a pillow.

"Hunf!" He snorted and shook his head in denial. His search was quick and finding a bird of this size wasn't that difficult. Moreover, the smell of the egg was of something recently laid, so the peculiar scent was still present in the mother.

"Was it difficult to hunt her?" Han Sen asked out of curiosity. After all, it was the first time he hunted a Sacred-Blood Beast without any help from him. He should have already imagined that this would happen due to their great strength.

Still, he was concerned that the fact that he had never improved their Levels could influence something. He remembers very well what were the effects of Level Up on his common Black Beetle armor, which greatly strengthened the armor. He did not fully understand the system, so he didn't know what effects Pets would have when improving their levels. He knew they would become stronger, but not how.

"Roar~" Drako growled softly and shook his head again. It was difficult to catch because it was a fast bird, but he was an intelligent creature and cornered it faster than it could react. And after breaking its neck, there was no more resistance.

"You did very well, you know I was just kidding..." Han Sen caressed Drako's snout, who closed his eyes to enjoy the affection and praise from his master. After a while, he continued, "Go fetch some wood for me. After that, your sister should be somewhere nearby, so go after her. You and her will follow the trail of this herd, I have a feeling there's a Sacred-Blood Beast behind all of this.”

Just waving to signal his understanding, Drako spread his wings to start flying. But before he could, he felt a wave of heat rushing through his body, and it seemed like he was being strengthened at an alarming rate. Looking at his master, he saw that it was his doing and used his snout to gently tap on his hand.

"Enjoy while you can and show your sister who's stronger!" Han Sen had just used 600 EXP to elevate Drako to Level 3. He wanted to see if there was any visible difference or if he would further transform into an advanced form. But besides becoming more energetic, there was no other visible difference. He didn't know if he hadn't spent enough or if the Level only served to make the creature stronger internally. Also, he leveled him up just to prevent any accidents from happening when he goes hunting for another possible Sacred-Blood creature.

After Drako silently flew away on a path that Lin Beifeng couldn't see, Han Sen started the process of slicing the bird and removing all the bad parts. He knew that there was a lot of useless meat in a creature that wouldn't give any gene points, no matter how much he ate.

So, after almost two hours of doing this whole process, he ended up with about 30kg of bird meat that he still needed to properly prepare to be able to eat, as well as the 10kg egg. Reducing so much weight from the bird was almost a miracle, but his expertise was enough to capture all the possible points just with that.

Drako had long ago brought the wood he needed and he made another bonfire up here. Being over 200 meters high, Lin Beifeng wouldn't even know that smoke was coming out from here, as they were close to the clouds at that moment. Han Sen obviously didn't plan on sharing this feast since every Sacred-Blood gene point counted absolutely.

After having cooked the meat and egg to the best of his abilities, he began to eat and eat. He had no qualms about leaving Lin Beifeng alone for a while, as he had warned that it might take some time. Using his great hunger and eating capacity, he started devouring the entire meal.

"I just need to study a little more about Hyper Gene Arts and I think I'll be able to quickly transform the Devourer Sutra. Genetic changes are so dangerous and unfortunately I have no foundation to solve this problem. I only managed with the Frozen King Sutra because there was already a base material..." While eating, Han Sen once again used the [Devourer Sutra] to be able to consume the last 15 kg of the meal.

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• Stormbird Meat Eaten •

• One Sacred-Blood Gene Point gained •

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• Stormbird Meat Eaten •

• One Sacred-Blood Gene Point gained •

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• Stormbird Egg's Eaten •

• One Sacred-Blood Gene Point gained •

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• Stormbird Egg's Eaten •

• One Sacred-Blood Gene Point gained •

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Almost ten hours later, he finished eating the entire meal alone, earning an additional 9 Sacred-Blood gene points, and extinguished the fire he used. Only the feathers and unused materials from the Stormbird remained. Unfortunately, this type of material was not used in the Sanctuary, and could not be taken outside either. Otherwise, it would be easy to do many things with the remains of the beasts, since even the bone of a mutant beast is stronger than a common Z-steel dagger.

"Before that, let's see the beauty I've gained..." Since he had gotten rid of the bird's body, he now wanted to know what its Beast Soul was like. Every beast that his Pets kill is considered as if he had killed it, not them, so he had already won this Beast Soul some time ago.

"Screeech!" With a sharp scream, the Beast Soul emerged from his body and began to expand, taking the form of a beautiful black eagle with metallic blue feathers as secondary color. It may have been due to its swift movements, but Han Sen noticed how its motions carried a hint of electricity. It was truly worthy of the title Stormbird.

"So you're going to be my flying mount now, right?" Not imagining that he would win two Mount Beast Souls on the same day, he was happier than usual. His hunt had been worth it just for the amount of points he earned and these two very useful Beast Souls, the Mammo's and now the Stormbird's.

"Screech~!" Shaking its body slightly, the eagle placed its beak on Han Sen's palm in recognition. It only took a few hours inside his Sea of Souls to know that its master was not ordinary. But it felt proud to be one of the few Sacred-Blood Beast Souls there.

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"What did you find up there?" Lin Beifeng asked as soon as he saw Han Sen coming down. His honest heart believed that he wouldn't run away, so there must have been something up there that prevented him from coming back earlier.

"An egg of a Sacred-Blood beast, but I already ate it whole. You couldn't climb up, and I wasn't going to bring it either." Han Sen didn't even bother hiding it. It's not like he needed to.

"You!" Lin Beifeng was shocked, but he wasn't angry. He was amazed by Han Sen's luck in finding an egg at that height. "No problem, it was your merit. But there's no way out, right?”

“No way out. Our best option is to run while jumping between the fierce beast herd and then use Bastet to go to the shelter. Do you have any confidence in that?” He didn't want to use Drako and Nhil to clear this herd because it would be too suspicious if they disappeared all of a sudden.

"I wouldn't be impressed if you could do it, but I'm not sure if I have that much skill." Lin Beifeng admitted that he was only someone lucky, but very weak in combat. A large part of his gene points were bought and the only thing he had in abundance was money.

"We won't do this without thinking. We can come up with a strategy and then we can go. Let's go down." Han Sen reassured him, and soon the two started descending the vines, reaching the place where they were in the first place. It had been barely a day since they arrived there and the beasts were still after the poor Lin Beifeng's blood.

"How are we going to do this then?" Scared of the beasts down below, he looked to the side and asked Han Sen. But then, he saw that he was nowhere to be found. Feeling a push on his back, his eyes widened as he could no longer feel that he would return to the cliff.

"Uhuuuu! Get ready!" Looking like a skydiving addict, Han Sen jumped right after and equipped his armor.

"AAAAA WHY THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT?!?!" Shouting with all his might, he saw that Han Sen also jumped and was laughing during the fall, equipping his armor in the process. Even desperate, he did the same thing and a red armor covered him.

Without responding to him, Han Sen fell even faster and soon surpassed Lin Beifeng in freefall. With only 40 meters left to the ground, he stopped playing with his weak heart and summoned the Stormbird.

SWOOSH!

Just as they were about to come face to face with the enormous amount of bloodthirsty beasts, Lin Beifeng felt his fall stop and accelerate in another direction. Holding on tight, he found himself on a giant bird, the herd below turning to run towards them. Laying his body on the bird, Lin Beifeng felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his mouth right now.

"Did you enjoy the adventure?" Han Sen's smiling face appeared in his field of vision, so calm that it didn't even seem like they had just narrowly escaped death.

"Hahaha You're crazy, Brother! Crazy!" It had been a long time since Lin Beifeng had so much fun, and he would definitely cherish this day in his memory forever.

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As they got closer to the Steel Armor Shelter, the two of them walked and talked for the rest of the way. Han Sen summoned his cloak and weapons back into the Sea of Souls, leaving only his armor, while Lin Beifeng still wore the armor he was given and had the halberd on his shoulder.

As soon as they passed through the gates, many people who were there saw the two entering. Seeing how everyone greeted Han Sen as they walked through the area, Lin Beifeng truly believed him when he said he had the ability to help him settle in here at the Shelter.

"I can't believe I finally got out of that jungle. Just to think that a few days ago I was almost hopeless..." Lin Beifeng murmured loud enough for Han Sen to hear, even if it was a monologue.

"The life is a long journey of ups and downs." Han Sen held Lin Beifeng's shoulder and looked into his eyes, "So don't worry, because things are going to get worse!”

"..." Shocked by his brother's intense and emotional motivational speech, Beifeng almost fell to the ground in tears of surrender to the profound wisdom. Tears of sadness and desolation, obviously. But soon, they laughed about it and continued walking through the streets towards the market, to get some Beast Souls for him.

After walking for a while, Han Sen suddenly started heading in a different direction. Lin Beifeng saw that he was going towards a tall and friendly man who was talking to a beautiful woman with white hair. Noticing the number of subordinates beside them, he deduced that they must be leaders of groups within the Steel Armor Shelter.

'Will he-' Lin Beifeng was already wondering if Han Sen would ask for the help of these two, his heart being moved at the thought that he would do it for him. Getting to the point of asking such influential figures for his sake, he wouldn't know how to react anymore in front of Han Sen. But his thought process was interrupted when he heard what he said.

"Xuan Xuan, Fist Man, could you guys arrange some mutant beasts for that beggar over there?”