A year and a month, it took a year and a month of blacksmithing to become proficient enough to make low-grade magical artifacts that looked and were enchanted well enough. In this period, I used up all the materials and even melted most of the weapons in the spatial rings.

I haven't found a way to create the spatial rings, and I assume I'll need their blueprints to do so. Anyway, I spent the last month consolidating my gains and cultivating my mind.

In this sense, my mental cultivation is progressing quite slowly. While my qi and physical cultivation have almost reached their peak, my mental cultivation is only at the 6th level.

Unfortunately, according to Lea, the herbs that can improve one's mind are quite rare and extremely valuable. This, along with the rarity of cultivation methods for the mind, makes cultivators who follow the mental path very rare. Usually, cultivators follow the improvement of the mind that comes with the great breakthrough to a higher realm.

I had already experienced the benefits of higher levels of mind cultivation. At my level, my range of spiritual perception was five times that of ordinary cultivators, and it was extremely accurate. When ordinary cultivators could only sense things in the range of their mental senses, I could see things as if I were there with my eyes wide open.

‘I will use the major breakthrough of my cultivation to make my mental one catch up. But I will need some external resources to make it breakthrough to the next realm. I will need to see in the Beasts’ continent what opportunities there are.’

A sudden gust of wind blew through the workplace I had dug up in a corner of Lea’s mountain. It was so strong that all the artifacts had been blown around the smithy.

I got out to see what happened and saw the biggest and most majestic bird I had ever seen. It was 30 meters tall, with a wingspan of 86 meters. It had bronze feathers with golden highlights and a golden beak. It was perched on two trees that were struggling to hold its weight. Lea got out of her lair and greeted the new guest with a friendly roar. The eagle then opened his beak and spoke with a manly voice: “Lea, it’s good to see you. Gather the beasts you found. I will leave again in a few days for the Beast’s continent. This is the last stop.

As he said this, I noticed a couple of beasts that had dropped from the bird’s back: a white wolf with purple eyes and a silver stag with steel-like antlers. The wolf was 1.5 meters tall, and the stag was 2 meters tall plus the antlers.

(I) “Hi, my name is Zhao. It seems we will travel together to the Beasts’ Continent. Let’s get along.”

The wolf snorted haughtily and didn’t respond while the stag replied apologetically: “Hi, I am Stelg. Don’t mind him, since he awakened the Amarok’s divine bloodline he has become insufferable. He is convinced that he is some sort of chosen one that is far superior to everyone else”

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(Wolf) “I don’t believe I am the chosen one, I simply refuse to associate with my lesser who don’t even have a decent bloodline”

(I) “How do you know I don’t have any decent bloodline?”

(Wolf) “Do you have it?”

(I) “Well, no.”

The wolf snorted and looked away as if disdaining even staring at me.

(Stelg) “So are you the only one coming with us?”

(I) “No, there are other three coming: a Big-Eared Mouse, an Icy Sparrow, and a Golden Crocodile. They have their territory around here they will arrive in three-four hours”

After that, we started chatting. Stelg seemed quite interested in my forging technique and wondered if the techniques of folding and layering metals could improve his attacks. The white wolf, of which I still don’t know the name, just snorted again, muttering that blacksmithing wasn’t beastly. We ignored him.

After that, we spent the day inside the smith with me showing him the ropes of refining artifacts.

At some point though we heard a grand commotion coming from outside.

Once we got out we saw Icy lying dizzy on the ground with a claw wound on her side. In front of them were Croc and Mousy who were confronting the white wolf.

(Mousy) “Why did you attack her?!”

(Wolf) “She was annoying”

(Mousy) “She only asked you a few questions! Is that enough for you to attack a fellow companion?!”

(Wolf) “Companion, someone as weak as her, or you, doesn’t have the right to be my companion. And now scram, you’re also annoying me. And you know how I treat those who annoy me”

At this point, I had arrived near Icy and had started using my regeneration on her. She recovered in a few moments.

Then I went in front of the white wolf and said in a deep and threatening voice: “I don’t care which bloodline you have or if you have a bad attitude. Touch my friends again and we will have some problems.”

(Wolf) “Does it seem like I care? Now, since you threatened me, it seems like I need to teach you a lesson”

Said that he slashed at me with blue qi enchanted claws. Whose I intercepted with a qi-enchanted paw of my own.

BANG

I retreated a step while he was sent a meter back. It seemed like I had won but in reality, we were evenly matched, it’s just that I am heavier.

The wolf started taking me more seriously: he howled at the sky and released an icy qi around him, freezing the ground in the surrounding area and dropping the temperature below zero.

I activated the YinYang muscles’ core and charged. This time I infused my paw with yang qi and smashed it on his head. He surrounded himself with icy winds and sidestepped, then he clawed me. I dodged by getting up on my hind legs and started attacking relentlessly with my Yang Paws. He tried to counterstrike but in the end, he was overwhelmed and finished defeated against a tree trunk.

At this point the big golden bird decided to present himself: “Hi I am Roden, I am here to transport you six to the Beasts’ Continent. Hop on so we can depart. Someone brings Mar on top.”

And with Stelg bringing Mar with his antlers, we got on Roden who flew south towards a new continent and new adventures.