“What... the fuck is THAT !!”
Utterly flaggerbasted weren't words strong enough to describe how he was actually feeling.
Before his very eyes was standing... an enormous pool ? No, a lake... An enormous lake of fully crystal clear refined mana. Such a astronomical quantity of mana was worth at least twenty to thirty years of cultivation in an upper realm, no less.
“This is just utterly ridiculous...”
Slowly calming down, as he wasn't really an excited person, he again started pondering what really happened to him. He was thrown down in a low or ordinary realm, with a so well cleansed body that someone would mistaken him to be born yesterday, and with a life worth of cultivation energy he may start to absorb anytime he want. It just... makes no sense.
“Just what on earth did you do old man...”
Finally acknowledging the existence of such a blessing, he immediately thrown out of his body the ridiculously little amount of energy from the boar meat. Earning such a little amount of mana wasn't worth dirtying his body in the least bit, as it would bring more harm than benefits.
The more pure a body is, the least loss is made during the later absorption, the more efficient the energy is when it is used in combat and the more it makes the cultivation foundation stable. If possible, he wouldn't even cultivate at all as long as he hasn't consumed this lake of mana.
It may not be overly obvious in the Body Transcending Realm but once he enter the Energy Merging Realm he will have to nurture nine gluttonus stars the more the best. At this stage the importance of having a steady and unwavering foundation was something he was extremely aware of.
“I've truly stuck gold this time. It doesn't even matter if the old man doesn't take me back before I break through the next or even the next of the next realm, I have so much to ingest that I would definitely be above the Ascended Samsara Realm before a few years. At this moment I'll be able to get back on my own.”
Of course it wasn't exactly possible to guard his body from the outside dirt but it would be so insignificant that he couldn't care less if he doesn't cultivate the outside energy.
Slowly finishing his meal, he suddenly took the boar horn hastily and stood up in a defensive formation as he heard noise a few dozen meters behind him. Three grey wolves came out of the bushes as they looked roared fiercely in his direction. This situation may have scared any ordinary twelve years old young boy, even some others with the same or above cultivation levels as fear isn't something which can be overcome by power alone but Samael was different.
Those scenes happened so often when he went hunting with his grandfather that he was more excited than anything, to say the least.
In fact he waited for this to happen, and deliberately left a carefree image of someone enjoying his barbecue, oblivious at what may happen behind him.
But any fairly experienced hunter is extremely clear about the fact such a flavor amidst the forest will definitely attract more than a greedy scavenger. Without changing much his stance he took a few steps back, retrieved his left arms sleeve and carefully opened wide the boar body. Liters of blood poured on the ground as the wolves eyes glittered dangerously, and Samael digg his arm inside the body as if looking for something.
A few seconds later he took out a grey pearl, the size of an eye from the boar body. Its Crystal Core and also his most valuable part. Having succesfully retrieved what he wanted last from the boar, he finally gave all his attention to the wolves if front of him and smiled coldly. Three Mid-grade rank 1 grey wolves.
“Such an obvious trap... Low rank beasts are so dumb.”
Looking at the left one, he suddenly dashed toward right one without a word, surprising his targets greatly. He thrown the boar horn inside the wolf mouth, taking him aback, then jumped on his back, caught the two sides of his head between his hand then violently made it do a swift 180°rotation, breaking his neck without a chance of fighting back.
The two other wolves, seeing their beastkin being killed so swiftly under their noze began thinking that something was wrong and glared at him with a lot more cautiousness and even a bit a fear. They didn't dare striking first.
Taking advantage of it Samael took back the boar horn from the dead wolf mouth and threw it a lot faster aiming the left wolf head he stared at a few seconds before and without looking at it anymore he ran toward the middle one as it also dashed toward him. Making use of his superior physic he swiftly avoided his dreadful bite by a step aside then stroke a loud reverse slap with the outer side of his hand, throwing the beast on the ground.
He didn't bother taking his time as he directly shot his head with his foot, the wolf flying even futher as the sound of his skull indicated well enough the state he was in. Finally looking toward the third one, he stared motionlessly at the lifeless body without being surprised as he know very well that he killed it directly as he engaged the wolf he just killed barefoot, throwing the boar horn with a lot more strenght in his head.
Having no outer interest than the Crystal Core of these beasts, he succesfully retrieved the three Rank 1 Middle Grade Crystal Cores, some grey eye-sized beads as well. He has now three Rank 1 Mid-Grade Crystal Cores and a Low-Grade one from the boar. It wasn't useful at all for his cultivation but could be exchanged for some clothes, a bag and a lodging at least, maybe more if he was in an lower realm.
He took an hour to make an improvised leather bag from the roasted boar skin and put the four beads, a bit of roasted meat and the horn inside as he started walking again.
He walked out of the forest two hour later and stood against a wide mountain range. He thought of start crossing it by the relatively good looking human made path he saw first glance but thinking of how did the sun graduately loose his bright as he previously walked out the forest, he changed his mind thinking that it wouldn't be wise to wander in the dark on such a road. Moutains are dangerous enough the day even without beasts, he didn't want to experience falling in a ravin, break his leg then be attacked by rank two or even rank three beasts.
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But as he started looking for a celler to pass the night he suddenly saw a little group of people walking out of the moutain path. There was a pretty looking girl with blond hairs, which was about fifteen or seventeen, a middle aged man which was tall and looking fairly strong and a middle aged woman. They were all equiped with knight-like metal armors, not too heavy though. The middle aged persons were both talking quietly to each other and the teen girl was the first to notice him as he glared at them. She was surprised, to say the least.
“Hey kid ! What are you doing here ?”
She started walking in his direction as both the knights stopped talking to look surprised in his direction as well and follow the blond girl.
“Well I'm... Huh, lost ?”
Samael was embarassed. It wasn't a big deal to meet adventurers in amidst of nowhere but he never done so without his old man, and it was true to say that kids of his age have nothing to do there without being escorted by stronger persons.
“You're lost ?”
She stared at him as if she was looking to an idiot who did an unbelivable blunder.
“Yeah it's like that... My grandpa must have dropped me somewhere for training or pranking me. Honestly I don't know, I awaken a while ago on the meadow behind the forest and just walked up to the mountain range. In which realm are we anyway ?”
“In which realm ? What do you mean ? You're grandpa must be a fairly irresponsible person to leave a kid alone in such a place.”
She seemed angered by the fact that someone who has such ideas as dropping kids in the forest. Samael felt awkward as he didn't know what to say, he also thought the same after all. He noticed that she didn't seem to understand the concept of realms even though it was common knowledge for anybody who lived in the outer world. An idea started make its way in his mind.
“Have you ever heard of the outer world ?”
She glared at him strangely before saying no. He immediately understood what was going on. This was most likely a lower realm which wasn't linked to the outer world starlink, so people have most likely never heard of other worlds. Not every lower realm wasn't linked to the rest of the world but it remains something quite common so he didn't mind much and started properly conversing with them.
“Nevermind then. Could you tell me where's the closed town ?”
“Well Grebur town isn't far a few dozen kilometers behind the mountains but you shouldn't even think of going there today. It will be night and even if it wasn't we wouldn't allow someone as young as you to make his way through those moutains alone.”
Samael looked a bit surprised at the girl, a bit chocked by her big sister like demeanor. People weren't much concerned by other cultivators business where he used to roam previously and would certainly not involve themselves into unless it was something that involved some treasures. But he recalled that in the lower realms kids of his age would surely not have his cultivation, if they did even cultivate. He laugh a bit wryly...
“Who are you ?” did he finally ask.
“I am Hena de Louiselie, the daughter of the earl of Louselie. What about you ?”
“You can call me Sam. I am the son of... Argh, it doesn't matter.”
She laughed a bit before going back to talk to his two guard and made a hand sign to tell him to come as Hena took out three tants from her space ring. Samael stared at her hand, a bit surprised to see such a thing in a lower realm. Hena noticed his gaze and started laughing.
“This is a space ring. It's a rank 3 magical item fairly expensive even for someone like me, it should be your first time seeing one right ?”
Samael laughed bitterly as he knew she mistook the why of such a gaze, as he in fact also had one before today, but he didn't bother explaining as he quietly nodded. The two knight guards then mount the tants and Hena took out some wood out of her space ring again, and lit fire by a wave of her hand.
“4th heavenstage of the Energy Merging Realm, fire element starfield...”
Samael noticed her cultivation level as she leaked a bit of her aura as she lit up the wood. Such a cultivation at the age of fifteen would be considered really bad in the upper realms as one would be at least at the Connecting Universe Realm or maybe even at the Stellar Phenomenon Realm at this age, but it should be considered pretty good in such a place and compare a lower realm to the uppest tiers of the galaxy didn't make much sense anyway. They would most likely never come by any existence above the Stellar Phenomenon Realm in their entire existence even if they wanted to.
Samael suddenly felt very happy that he could cultivate internaly via the stored mana lake. With it he was sure that his cultivation speed wouldn't loose out to any genius from any godly realms even though he ended up in such a desolate place, as he could just suck out pure mana from the lake for dozen of years as much as he wanted.
Even if he didn't have it he wasn't someone belonging to this place, with such a dry mana atmosphere. One must know that the human body has a spiritual organ the mana veins, which are a wide web of special veins inside their bodies alongside their blood veins but are in reality the organs which allow the body to absorb the outside energy. Every human has a total of nine mana veins which are only awakened inside the womb of their mother and cannot be after they are born.
But to awaken those mana veins, the mother's womb must have been akin to a bath of mana energy, the more the better ! Those who were born in lower realms at most have maybe two or three mana veins awakened out of the nine, simply because they weren't born in a good enough environment as with such a scarcity of mana in the air they wouldn't even need more. It may even be normal to one to be born without a single mana vein awakened and be deemed trash unable to cultivate in such a place.
As someone born in an infinitely better environment he wasn't something lower realms people can compare to simply in terms of body quality. If he started cultivating now, if he triggered even four or five mana veins he would suck dry the mana in the air a few miles around in half an hour... And still feel thirsty for more.
“Are you hungry, Sam ?”
Samael suddenly stopped thinking as he noticed that the three of them were staring at him, and Hena was putting a skewer of meat toward him. He felt a bit guilty as they were all sit around the fire and eating and he noticed that he had been so silent that they must have been thinking that he was maybe intimidated and didn't dare to ask for food.
“Sorry, I've been impolite..”
He said that with a so low voice that, with his cute face and his twelve years old Hena felt her teen girl melt a lot as she thought that he was really intimidated and stood up before giving him a warm hugg.
“Don't be so shy ! You little thing, call me big sis ! If you're hungry go ahead we have enough for even for ten of you, you'll make us feel guilty if we let you starve like that as eat to our fill. Come on !”
Samael was extremely startled and didn't dare do anything, then came back to his sense as he knew there was a misunderstanding.
“No no ! It's just that I also have some meat with me, I hunt a boar as I was wandering in the forest.”
He took out a chunk of roasted boar meat out of his leather bag and put it onto the fire to heat it back a bit. Hena and the others immediately were dumbstruck as they've never thought that a twelve years old kid would be able to kill a rank 1 beast.
“Little Sam, you cultivate ?” Hena asked, startled.
Samael nodded slowly as he took out the few Crystal Cores from of his bag, deepening even more their surprise.
“I've wanted to ask, how valuable are those things here ? They aren't high grade ones but it should be enough to buy a few useful things, no ?”
Hena stayed silent a few seconds before responding by another question.
“What's your realm, little Sam ?”
A bit startled, Samael quickly told he was at the fifth heavenstage of the Body Transcending Realm. Saying anything higher would only lead to more problems as he doubted there were even Body Arts involving anything above a Six Tier Body in this place. It left Hena and her guards dumbstruck again nonetheless as they speechlessly stared at him for a few seconds which left him quite embarassed.
“Well if you don't have anywhere to go.. What about you follow me back in the Louiselie manor ? You wouldn't have to care about having somewhere to live and something to eat. How about it ?”