Luen took a few steps and stopped in his tracks.

Turning to look behind him, he frowned at what bothered him. The sound of skidding gravel echoed into the quiet fields as he dragged the lengthy lower half of the dead snake back to his abode. An unsettling feeling gnawed at the back of his mind. His efforts made too much noise, likely to draw the attention of more Beasts to their location. However, as the sun began to set, the farmer needed to quickly reach his fortified manor.

“Fuen. Go help hold up the tail so it doesn’t drag and make so much noise. I would rather not have to fight another Creeping Earth Python with its dead brethren wrapped around my neck. That is just asking for trouble.”

“Yeeess, Dad,” Fuen moaned but did as told, flinching upon touch as he lifted the weighty remainder of the snake’s body. Snakes made the little hairs on Fuen’s body stand straight up.

The majority of the python looped heavily to the ground, and Fuen strained to keep the carcass hovering off the dirt, pulling the tail over his shoulders and behind his neck. He detested touching the snake out of innate fear. However, he chose to touch the decapitated python over facing another alive one with its head still fully attached.

Since home was but some many more steps away, the farmer decided it was a good idea to take along the meaty Bloodstage Beast. The trio continued down the dirt road with the snake dangling in the air, and soon they reached the end of the path. Fuen dropped the snake’s tail and hurried ahead, wanting to escape to his room and avoid having to help his father butcher the Beast.

“Okay, Dad. We’re home. You good? Yes? Okay, bye.”

But his hopes were in vain.

“Not so fast, Fuen. No, I am not good. When we enter past the walls of the manor and the energy barricade, you will help me clean the python’s carcass.”

“Aw, common, Dad! I was hoping to start absorbing my first core!”

“Do not even try it, young man. We must supervise your first Beast Core absorption, especially since it’s abnormal.” The image of his wife crossed his mind, and Luen slightly changed his mind. “Actually, Fuen, you can go in first and explain to your mother what happened today. However, you will still come back and help me before we do anything else.”

“Fiiiine,” Fuen groaned. When it came to snakes, he only wanted to eat the already cut, processed, and fried meat that could no longer be differentiated from where it came from.

Leandra giggled but stopped as Luen smiled and told her, “Welcome, Miss, to our humble farm.”

With one hand holding the headless snake wrapped around his neck, Luen pointed with his free hand at a metal rod in the ground and continued, “Here on out is our land, which extends to where the crops end at the beginning of the Kune Forest.”

The merchant lady peered out into the far distance where the rows of crops stopped with a section of bare land before the wild vegetation and dense towering trees continued. Leandra’s eyes widened, gazing left to right, surprised by what she saw. She then looked at the father and son with admiration, acknowledging their diligence and commitment to hard work. Endless fields of rows of lush uniform crops gleamed with healthy foliage that reflected the orange sunset sky. Many leafy greens and various plants bearing colorful fruit compacted the fields.

“Only you three manage these fields?” Leandra exclaimed with an astonished voice.

Fuen titled his head back and proudly puffed out his chest. “That’s right, Miss! Just me, Dad and Mom created this masterpiece!”

“All of these fields? Amazing…” Leandra said, gazing out again at the endless rows of crops that were all similar in height. She nodded her head, seeing the meticulous care given to each individual plant and the attention to keeping the grounds weed free. What she saw was a testament to the family of three’s daily laborious work, an arduous feat not many could do.

Luen interrupted Leandra’s sightseeing and ordered his son, “Actually, Fuen. After talking to your mother, please bring her here. She can help Miss Leandra settle in one of our spare rooms near your side of the courtyard. I will prep and gather our butchering knives. Do not dare to run away, young man. It will only delay the first absorption of your Beast Core, if you do.”

Fuen pouted but did not argue and went ahead of his father and the merchant lady to find his mother.

The dirt road ended in a cul-de-sac, and a long and wide path of inlaid flat rocks continued straight onto the family of three’s farm—heading to an object in the distance. Fuen groaned as he headed down the flat stones road. With his phobia of snakes, the teen dreaded having to help butcher the Beast.

As Fuen continued walking, the small object in the distant fields slowly grew larger, revealing the rocky exterior of his parent’s manor. Sturdy walls—formed from sections of thick stone slabs—stood taller than his father, who was a good two, almost three heads taller than most men.

Fuen’s father was a sort of jack-of-all-trades. Life in the rural areas required many skills for survival unless one was rich, which Luen and his family were not. With his enhanced strength from his Beast Spirit, the Fire Ox, Luen hired some mercenaries to guard him while he cut the slabs of stone from the nearby Kune Mountains to construct the thick stone walls of his small manor.

With the help of the other farmers, who exchanged labor amongst each other to reduce costs, they fabricated the tiles and built the roof that curved and hung over the wall’s edge in a similar fashion to the eastern styles of Ardent City.

As Fuen reached the entrance, talismans to ward away Beasts were engraved into the stone slabs. Reaching the wood entrance, Fuen pulled out a necklace holding a special red Beast Core, infused with an array that acted as a remote key to lift a section of the translucent energy dome that encased the entire manor.

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Fuen walked to the deep mahogany door and used both hands to grasp the right metal ring. Pulling it and slightly tilting it to the side, a metal mechanism clicked as the door unlocked. Pushing the door, Fuen entered with his eyes darting around a square courtyard, the size of five carriages by five carriages in search of his mother. Glancing past the fruit trees in square clay pots next to a well at the center of the courtyard, Fuen first looked over to the finely curated garden in long raised stone beds. His mother was nowhere in sight.

Fuen walked along the edge and climbed a set of stairs to an open hallway of the building that surrounded the courtyard’s perimeter. He headed to the kitchen where the fragrant smell of roasting meat and herbs wafted into the surroundings. The teen closed his eyes and breathed in the mouth-watering aroma with a smile. Stomach now rumbling for a quick taste test, Fuen rushed on the mahogany floorboards to the kitchen.

Wrapped in her favorite purple blossom stained apron over her olive green robe, Fuen’s mother, Biyu, prepared one of his favorite foods: fire roasted Armored Boar. A pair of ornate wood pins, with flowers chiseled in by his father, held his mother’s silky black hair that was wrapped into a bun. She moved with experienced quick nimble movement as she quickly stirred the many bubbling pots, turned over the roast, and thinly chopped some herbs for garnishment.

Sneaking over, Fuen tiptoed to the kitchen island behind his mother where the completed dishes for a feast were placed. Like a pouncing cat, Fuen swiped some of the pickled entrees and slices of roasted meat.

“Fuen!” His mother shouted, seeing his actions out of the corner of her eye.

“Hi, Mom! Is this all for me?”

“It is, but you were supposed to wait until I finish. Silly child, you always try to sneak food before everything is ready. How was it, Fuen? Were you able to find a green Beast Core with your dad? Where is your father, anyway?”

“Oh, yeah! I did, Mom! Hehe. Guess what!”

“What? What is it, Fuen?”

“Guess!”

“You got an even better core than the green one your father and I hoped for?”

“Haha! You’re kind of right, Mom. I had a resonance with a Beast Core!”

“Oh, how wonderful, honey! Congratulations, Fuen! Let me see it.”

“Oh, um, Leandra still has them. She’s still holding onto them for me.”

“Leandra? Who is this Leandra?” Biyu narrowed her eyes and glared at her son.

Fuen gulped. “Right…I was supposed to tell you. Dad made a really good deal with a nice merchant lady from the West.”

“Merchant lady? Deal?”

“It’s nothing bad, Mom. I promise! I even got two cores! One that I resonated with. Dad did not even have to spend any money!”

Fuen’s mother looked at him with a deadpan expression. “Honey. Did you say your father spent no money? Nothing is free. Did your musclehead father get scammed again?”

“Again? That was a long time ago, Mom. But no, we do have to pay her, Mom. Eight gold worth.”

“Eight gold! Your father was scammed!” Fist clenched, Fuen’s mother began ripping off her apron. “Where is your father, Fuen!?”

“Mom! Wait! Let me finish!” Fuen pleaded as his mother’s face twisted with anger, but she paused, silently deciding her husband’s fate. Fuen’s next words would determine what would happen to his father.

Taking a deep breath, Fuen continued, “We do have to pay the merchant lady eight gold, but it’s actually in our favor. She only wants room and board with food provided for two years.”

“…”

“Um, Mom? You okay?”

“Fuen,” Biyu said with a chilling voice. “Where is your father, I need to have a chat with him.”

Fuen thought to himself, I knew it. See, Dad? Your ears are going to fall off after getting a heavy earful from Mom. Trying to help out his father, Fuen added, “Don’t be too mad, Mom. Dad also caught a Creeping Earth Python along the way. Our fortunes might be changing!”

“Let’s see if your dad will be fortunate enough to sleep inside the house tonight.”

Fuen gulped again and said, “Actually, Dad told me to have you show Miss Leandra to the open room on my side of the courtyard. She was going to get cores from Beasts in the Kune Mountain range.”

Fuen’s mother relaxed a bit after hearing the lady’s intentions. “Oh, is that so? How old is she, Fuen? Is she pretty?”

“Very, very pretty, Mom! But I think she’s older than me.”

“Did your dad say she was pretty?”

Hearing those words sent shivers down Fuen’s spine. Fuen desperately tried to help his father out of his predicament. “No, no, no! Dad was actually mad at the lady because he thought she was trying to scam us.”

“Hmmm… so he does have some senses. I need to test your father. Bring me to him,” Fuen’s mother ordered, taking the pots and pans off the fire before getting ready to war against her husband.

Fuen sighed internally. I tried my best, Dad. Good luck. You’re gonna need it.

Fuen led his mother out the kitchen and into the courtyard. At the same time, his father and Leandra walked through the entrance of the manor and closed the gate. As his wife and son approached, Luen saw the piercing cold eyes from his wife and sighed, knowing he was in trouble. However, lucky for him, the merchant lady did most of the initial talking.

“Hello, pardon my intrusion to your beautiful home. My name is Leandra Wilxby, and I am a merchant from the Hawthorn Empire on the Western Continent, close to the World’s End. I know my presence is most unusual. However, please rest assured my being here is purely for business. I thank you and your family for hosting me. It greatly helps my quest in find cores from Beasts of the East that roam close to the Kune Mountains.”

Biyu was not completely convinced. The Eastern Continent was large, larger than the Western Continent. The Kune Mountains were not the only area of the East that had Beasts. No place was safe from Beasts.

“I see. I am curious. Are you searching for specific Beasts? Is that why you specifically chose the Kune Mountains?”

“Yes, some of the Beast Cores I was requested to find can only be found on the northern side of the East. To be exact, one I must obtain is the core of the Divine Black Tortoise.”

Immediately, Biyu gasped in deep shock. All of the family of three did. Biyu had to confirm.

“Miss, are you certain?”

Leandra nodded her head.

“Miss! The legendary Beast is not an Advanced Stage Beast. It is not even a Heavenly Beast. Far above that! Past the stages of Kings and in the realm of Emperors, the Divine Black Tortoises are Demi-Gods!”