The rest of the day traveling, after they had left the devastated village behind, was spent in a solemn quiet, only the sound of their mounts running along the path that was set out before them, enormous mountain range far, far off in to the distance,though seemingly small from their point of view. In reality, the seemingly endlessly upwards stretching mountain, as if claiming to have the power and determination to reach beyond heaven and proceeding to attempt just that, was unreasonably huge. Even at the distance they were from it now, they could see the origin of the River that crossed many nations along its way towards the ocean that was no doubt just as unreasonably large and awe inspiring as the mountain range in the distance. There, on the upper levels of this mind blowing, exceedingly large mountain supposedly lived the tengu, alongwith their enormous crows, looking down on the other races from high up. One day Rex would visit the place too, curious about the actual looks and might of the mystical race.

Seeing how Danica was still in a rather sour mood, the burning village and the implications of the fate of the missing villagers clear, no Bork, not when on a feral raid at least, would have the capacity to try and take captives, the numerous blood puddles speaking of the fact. And while quite a few of said puddles no doubt belonged to other Borks, wounded or even killed by the desperate villagers, the result was the same. Danica was straight forward, keeping her heart on a sleeve, and while adventurous and somewhat wild, she was also incredibly kind in her own way and seeing such sights did a number on her. And as such, Rex called for a much earlier stop, setting up their camp a few ours before sunset, setting up their tent, putting out some more food for their mounts and then pulling Danica inside, burying her in his embrace and calming her down, telling her tales from his previous two lives, three, if he considered the cultivator memories another one. One after another, displaying the cruelty of the world, devouring the weak and the foolish on a daily basis, and tales of heroes overcoming such woes. A few hours and a decent number of tales later, Danica was fst asleep in his embrace, much calmer than before, her chest lightly rising and falling as she breathed in her sleep.

"The world is harsh, surely, yet its splendors will never cease to amaze you. Don't let one sad event chain you down." Rex spoke quietly, one hand gently caressing her soft hair. he had to admit, there was something to traveling with a companion, one he had quickly grown to appreciate. Sure, they could not fix the world of its countless tragedies, nor would Rex himself lose sleep over them, but there was something to lending his aid to those he could see. 'Out of sight, out of mind.' Rex remembered the saying, once again reaffirming the wisdom in it, closing his eyes to get some rest as well.

As it turned out, Rex was not half bad at the whole 'helping someone calm down' thing, or so he would like to joke in his head. He was well aware that Danica would have come to the same conclusion she had, even if a little later. A bit of a talk and a good nights rest, as well as a solid breakfast, something Rex had gotten up quite early to prepare, was quite the help, with her getting back to the usual, cheer and adventurous self, looking forward to them finally reaching the great forest where the giant swallows lived. Sure, they still had almost another week to travel, but with every passing they they came closer and closer. Danica could not hide her excitement about the possibility to soar through the sky on the back of one of the creatures, smiling and giddy with laugher every time she thought about the act.

Said week of travel, while bringing them through a couple of breathtakingly beautiful places, was otherwise rather monotone, with no other particularly notable encounter. Sure, they hunted a couple of deer along the way, mixing up their meals with another type of meat, had some fun time in a crystal clear lake they passed by, but otherwise it was mostly just the vast expanse of grasslands and patches of forest, all the way until they finally reached their destination- the forest if giants.

The old folks they had talked to as they gathered more information about the swallows had plenty to share. Most of it though was about this place.Tales as incredible and unbelievable as Rex's blood magic skillset was to others. Ones of beasts and birds dozen times larger than their cousins everywhere else on the continent, or at least as far as the people retelling the tales were aware off. Yes, swallows the size of a carriage, capable of carrying multiple people on their backs at the same size were not actually the pinnacle of the stories. No, that role went to all sorts of predators.

All manner of cats, canines and some particularly disturbing recounts of squirrels, or lizards were the more impressive ones. And yet, it all ended with the same understanding and point- the forest of giants was a place of absolute beauty and awe, much to their current understanding. Giant, awe inspiring trees shot towards heaven, their enormous trunks reminding skyscrapers in a crowded city, though due to the nature of nature, there was plenty of space between each of these giants.

One would assume the ground level should be quite barren, the enormous trees devouring every nutrient in an incredibly large area. And yet, nothing of the sort happened, smaller trees littering the lower floors of the forest. The reason for it was rather simple as well. Much like carrots in shape, though not quite in nature, these trees had a single, equally enormous root, digging straight down into the ground, going deeper and deeper as the trees grew and grew, resulting in plenty of space for other trees to find their own place to grow. As a result, even with the insanely large trees around, there was plenty of smaller ones as well. And much to the pairs surprise, the forest was still filled with ordinary creatures as well, as they saw a perfectly alive and vibrant ecosystem of flora and fauna.

With their destination found, they sent the wolves back, well trained to find their way home and capable enough to hunt down their meals along the way. It was impressive in its own way, just how well trained the mounts of wolfkin people were, but that was something Rex could wonder, and Danica smirk in pride about, later. They had another task at hand right now after all. And with their temporary mounts out of their hands, they could proceed deeper in the forest, looking for their long term, preferably permanent, choice of mounts. Of course, even as they collected information, they were told about other birds of similar sizes as the swallows, carnivorous ones. And while the predators of the sky would be somewhat simpler to maintain, only in deed of copious amounts of meat, Rex was particularly interested in swallows due to their amazing speed. Of course, were he to encounter something like falcons, that was a whole another beast altogether. Rex was more than willing to go especially wild should such an opportunity arises. Yes, falcons would be his perfect choice, but one had to take what like gave at times, as such, he leveled his expectations, remaining calm and prepared as they traveled deeper and deeper inside the forest.

One day passed after another, the duo moving further and further inside the forest, spending their nights high above the bound, nestling on some of the enormous branches the giant trees had, with Snek as their night's watch every single time. It was also here that they encountered active combat quite often, some of the creatures, beasts and monsters alike, trying their luck with the tow, juicy looking, bipedal creatures, wandering through their territory seemingly without an ounce of worry.

It was truly funny when they encountered a pack of wolves, ones that made their previous mounts look like a small cat next to a fully grown saint bernard dog. Danica had even expressed an idea of taming a couple and bringing them back to be bred at her home city, something her family could maybee become well known among not only the people of the city, but perhaps the entire tribal nation of the wolfkin. Though she was disappointed when Rex broke her small daydream, explaining the logistics and dynamics that would be necessary to keep such creatures take and obedient to their masters. As Rex explained, they could indeed get a couple of wolf females and bring them back to be raised and integrated into her family as their loyal companions, Males though, well, they would eventually be challenged for the alpha position, resulting in bloody battles and not a nice outcome. Sure, Rex could brand the first male. But what when the first pups are born? Would he have to return every time a new litter is there, branding each and every one? That was indeed not an option, leaving Danica's initial plans not viable in the long term.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

"I still want one in the future." she stated, a little pouty and imploring look in her eyes. Rex simply smiled, pulled her closer and replied "Sure. You will get one in the future." earning a quick peck on his face from the woman in question as she pulled him further ahead. They had plenty still to explore, and yet to find their targets as well.

Besides the wolfs, they had a few run ins with feral, enormous, horse sized cats, hunting in group of six to eight.The beasts, while wild and somewhat feral, were smart, since after loosing two to three of their numbers in their failed ambushes on Rex and Danica, the rest quickly escaped, allowing for the couple to collect the killed cats and proceed as they had been so far. The furs of the creatures would no doubt fetch some pretty penny in cities once they come upon any.

And so, while advancing deeper and deeper into the seemingly endless forest, encountering more and more bizarre and powerful animals, hey spent another week, until finally, they came upon something interesting. A new sight if you will. Sure, the giant, unreasonably large and seemingly endless forest was still all around, as evidenced by certain tree top lining the horizon in whichever way they turned, but the large field of grassland that was enveloped by said eternal forest seemed almost magical. Truth be told, it very well could be, what with the notably higher mana concentration Rex sensed the moment they stepped on the grass, as if fenced off from the forest just on the other side. The difference was so notable, that even Danica, as weak of a mage as she was, could sense said mana difference, though she simply stated that it feels that a change had occurred, not entirely sure herself as to the nature of said change. Rex simply smiled, and explained in detail, not willing to keep his wonderful lady in suspense. He also noted that usually, such distinct zones had something that made them so, causing Danica's ears to perk up, a sly smile crawling on her face.

"Do I smell treasure?" she looked at Rex as as she excitedly bit her lip, causing Rex to wonder, was she really a wolfkin? As far as he could tell, she acted like a curious cat, most of the time at the very least. And so, while humoring Danica's playful nature and desire to find out what was what, he also 'offhandedly' mentioned his observation, just moments later having Danica on his back, her kanines chomping down on his neck, a growl coming from her as she did so. Rex just laughed, his hands up in the air as he surrendered, noting that it was nothing but stereotypes regarding the form that they shared similarities with, nothing else. Danica was her own person, and Rex appreciated her for who she was, even if they had been traveling together for a relatively short time. Apparently Rex said the correct words, as Danica's chomp on his shoulder stopped, followed by a single lick in the same place as she let go and returned to her place by his side, a playful smile still on her lips, though there was a tinge of happiness and content as well, mixed in that playful smile of hers.

Then, Rex changed his demeanor to a rather serious one, using mana pulses every few seconds as they closed in on the center of the grassland, once they were closer to the center, after they had spent another hour walking. And he could sense something, though he was quite surprised that while not actually an animal of any sort, he could tell that much at least, something in the very center of this field was somehow messing with his mana pulses, sending back distorted signals, obscuring the area it protected. And when laced with a sliver of his soul power, it came back even more distorted, causing even Rex to develop a rather strong desire to figure out what was happening here. This was the first time, since forever really, that Rex had encountered anything like this, and so, while cautious, he was getting more and more intrigued.

Soon enough, Rex sensed the first few creatures he would have to keep an eye out for, everything else so far had been all manner of small critters and rodents, nothing of the gigantic series so far. And then, they finally noticed a pond of sorts, a rather small island in the very center of it, and there, he could see a rather odd looking tree, no lighter than two meters. It might just as well be considered a bush of sorts. And yet, there it was sticking out like a sore thumb. Unlike the normal trees, or their gigantic variants, most of which were things like maples, oaks, birches, fir trees or some magical variant of their species, as far as Rex would classify them, the bush he saw was truly different. It was something akin to a bush of roses, though the plant, or tree, Rex was not entirely sure, itself seemed out of place. Its trunk, was formed from separate yet intertwined stalks, winding in circles around one another, reminding one of the DNA spiral. The branches were of the same manner, two separate stalks, at the same height, growing from each of the base trunk, entwining one again and just a bit further up, yet another, and then another and another such branch formed. And there were more then a dozen such trunks coming out from the ground, branching and entwining as they grew.

And yet, while seemingly separate plants at the ground level, they all came together at around the height of a meter, forming some sort of a cradle, or a nest, and branching away once again further up, creating something akin to a canopy above said nest. It was this plant, that Rex could sense was the origin of the disturbance, a rather odd energy emanating from it. And as the pair reached lake, Rex realized what he saw, or precisely, the value for him of what he saw. He was also aware of the two predators circling high above in the sky, though just barely, the two birds just within his mana pulse range.

He grabbed Danica's hand, earning her attention, whispering very quietly about his discovery, warning her of the danger looming in the sky, and his own readiness to intercept whatever he could sense the moment they descended. He also asked her not to take action just yet. The birds might be just what they were here for. With Danica aware and on board, Rex carefully kneeled before the lake, testing the water itself with various methods, figuring out whether the water itself was an actual danger to either him or Danica. After a thorough inspection, and even a slight taste test, once every other test was exhausted, he determined that the water was fine, even better than that. It had a mild, restorative quality to it, no doubt the result of the plant that grew on the island in the middle. But the restorative quality was not one of ordinary means. It healed ones spirit, namely soul, so for Rex, it was a treasure of immense value. And so, he was even more curious about the plant on the small island. What could it have in that cradle? Could there be a fruit of the tree? He was aware of plenty legendary herbs he had read in some books about, both in his cultivators memories and when he slid by the library during his stay in the capital, whose fruits had even greater, magical properties that the plant itself had on its surroundings. If such a fruit was here, he could recover this soul fragment of his to an incredible levels, opening a whole array of opportunities and possibilities, starting from his combat style, allowing him to much more easily control even more chains at the same time, as well as elevating his awareness to unconceivable levels, ever closer to the ones he has when his soul is complete. He would learn of it soon enough.

The pond itself was shallow, no deeper than reaching Rex waist, and so, his attention still divided between the happenings above them, his mana pulses becoming even more frequent and at the same time he was also well aware of what was happening in front of him. And Danica? Danica was keeping her attention on the land around them, keeping an eye on any possible creatures sneaking up on them from behind.