The ground outside was dyed red, and as snow began falling, the snowflakes absorbed the redness as soon as they touched blood. It was a strangely serene scene as I stared at the mutilated corpses of the monstrous beasts below.

But I was interrupted by the sound of something cracking. It was the yellow barrier surrounding the town, and it seemed like it had reached its time limit.

Thankfully, the monstrous beasts were gone, and there were no roars in the distance or strange creatures staring at us from behind trees.

"Hell yeah!"

"We won!"

"Nobody even had to die!"

The warriors celebrated; some breathed sighs of relief, and others cried. Even the two clans, while separated by their colors, celebrated with some hugging each other and yelling out at the top of their lungs.

There was no longer any of that sophisticated feeling about them, and they now seemed like just any other person happy to be alive another day. They would get to see their families again.

Even the clan leaders exchanged glances, which were too short to tell if it was a coincidence, and they happened to be looking at each other at the same time. But they also smiled and nodded, seemingly happy with how everything had turned out.

The governor looked happy too, though he stared in the distance with a complicated glint.

I understood where he was coming from. At first appearance, this seemed like our victory. However, if one looked at the bigger picture, we were just a fly who fell into the spider's net and struggled harder than others. We were safe for now, but that wouldn't be true for much longer.

This was no victory; we were just delaying the inevitable at this rate. We no longer had a high-level barrier to protect us, so any other attack from now on was going to be a massacre. Mirroring today, except the chances of it still being in our favor were slim to none.

Neither the governor nor I said it out loud, but I was pretty sure that barrier had been a single-use thing. The old governor ripped that card to activate it, which was usually done only to activate single-use arrays. Otherwise, he would have saved the key to activate and deactivate the barrier.

I shook my head and dismissed such thoughts. Now was not the time to analyze every little thing and try to make some grand discovery.

Approaching the governor, I whispered, "I can put a barrier around town that will look just like the previous one."

Though our conversation should have been drowned out by the noise of celebration, I still decided to whisper my words. Also, putting up a sound-canceling array would just raise more brows.

"That looks like it?" the governor asked, making sure he'd heard right.

"Of course," I nodded with a polite smile.

Neither of us needed to say it out loud. But the only barrier I could create that would cover the whole town would be a bluff. It would look like the previous one but have zero defensive capabilities.

Also, just the barrier being there would raise morale.

"What do you need?" the governor asked; his confirmation of my plan was already evident.

"I need some monstrous beast corpses, blood, beast cores, and a couple of hundred spirit stones," I said.

Sure, the barrier would just be a bluff, but it was still a big barrier. Also, I really needed some spirit stones. I was running low on them.

"Done," he nodded and looked on ahead.

Wait, did I ask too little? Judging by how casually he acted, I asked too little. Oh well, if I needed more spirit stones, I could just ask Song Song. She probably had a lot lying around.

I looked around in the distance, and no monstrous beasts were in sight. I could only hope it stayed like that. Many unknown factors were at play here, but I was confident that the monstrous beasts wouldn't attack for a while. Especially when I put that yellow barrier up again.

That was the weakness of having a cautious leader.

We needed to get Song Song and reinforcements here and let her handle the rest. She could enjoy a good battle.

"Also, can you bring some monstrous beast corpses to my mansion as soon as possible? I need them for some of my research," I said.

He nodded, "Sure, I will come and visit you soon. We can talk about some things I have been meaning to tell you about. Your showing in this battle was nothing short of flawless."

The old governor no longer addressed me as a subordinate or somebody he could use as a tool. He knew that with the power I had shown, even he wouldn't be able to order me around.

It was hard to tell if I could defeat someone like him in a face-to-face battle. Since he could have many hidden techniques or artifacts, and due to being at a higher stage than me, he was stronger physically and had much more Qi than me.

But it wasn't like I was the kind of guy who fought fairly, either. If I wanted to eliminate someone, the last thing going through my mind was to fight him on fair grounds. Also, the soldiers and clan leaders had seen what I could do. Whether he was stronger or not, I had undoubtedly shown the most impressive results. I was the biggest contributor in this last battle.

"I will be going then," I jumped down from the wall and walked into town.

Stolen story; please report.

Some of the civilians looked at me as I walked amongst them. Their looks were filled with reverence, and it was not the kind of looks someone gave to a fellow human.

It felt weird. However, at the same time, I understood them. After all, we cultivators had protected them from the roars of monstrous beasts they had heard. No doubt they would be more amazed once they saw the corpses of said monstrous beasts, and some were the size of houses or bigger.

I reached the mansion, and the lone guard in front of the gate nodded at me. As I walked past him, he called out, "S-Sorry for interrupting you, honorable cultivator. But since you are here, everything is alright on the front lines?"

"Yes," I nodded and was about to continue walking. But while my words somewhat alleviated the guard's worry, there was still some anxiousness in his gaze behind that helmet.

I never bothered thinking about who these guards were. They were just some guys the governor had picked to likely keep an eye on me and nothing more. It wasn't like I needed a mortal guard.

Despite that, these guys were still people. Someone who had a family and had lived a whole life before ending up here.

"What's got you so worried?" I inquired.

"Ah," he looked surprised and partly worried when I asked him that. "The other guy, the gate guard who protects the mansion is my brother. He was there helping with carrying supplies to the wall."

"Don't worry, nobody died in this round," I reassured him. "We had an overwhelming victory against the monstrous beasts. Your brother will probably get a big paycheck since we killed a lot of monstrous beasts, and we can sell them as ingredients. You only need to worry about which expensive restaurant you should bug him to take you to as a celebration."

He breathed out a sigh of relief, "Thanks..."

I walked into the mansion with a melancholic smile on my face. As an older brother, I knew how annoying younger siblings could be. For the first time, I got a paycheck after working my first job; I bought a wedding cake for my brother's birthday. It was not that good when it came to taste, but it was good enough to throw at him.

After getting some blank papers and a notebook from the mansion, I entered the courtyard. I sat on the wet grass, leaning against the mansion's wooden walls.

I began writing down formulas and different mathematical equations as I tried calculating the barrier size I needed to erect. It was a complex job for someone at my meager level of Array Conjuring.

At least Speedy was taking this whole situation well, without a clue in the world. He was just walking on the green grass and would return and stare at the pond every now and then, which suspiciously lacked any fish.

What? Was he waiting for the fish to respawn? Sadly for him, this was not a game. But I had a better meal prepared for him. Something that would tire those little jaws of his.

As if sensing my gaze on him, Speedy turned toward me and began approaching. He was pretty fast for a turtle and lived up to his name.

Once he was close enough, I patted his head and scratched his chin. The little guy's head had grown bigger than my fist, and it seemed he would no longer fit in the wooden backpack.

This was abnormal growth, and I knew enough about monstrous beasts to understand what was happening. All those pills I had been feeding him had taken effect, and Speedy would soon sprout into a fully-fledged monstrous beast.

But just as we were relaxing, the sound of wooden wheels dragging against the ground in the distance awoke me. I looked at the front gate, where horses and armored men dragged five carriages with bloodied-up monstrous beasts on them.

The guard at the front gate was talking to one of the armored men.

"Heh, you're alive? Did even the monstrous beasts find you too hard to digest?" asked the guard, whom I could only assume was his brother. They all looked kind of the same with that full-body armor on.

"Well, I guess I'm not taking you for drinks then."

"What? How much did you get paid for a cold-headed cheapskate bastard like you to be so generous?" asked the gate guard with mock confusion.

They continued their verbal banter as the other guards opened the gates of the mansion wide and dragged in the monstrous beast corpses. About a dozen of them.

Monstrous beasts often resembled normal animals, with something extra to them. In this case, some cows had four horns and were the size of a truck. There were also others like three-headed dogs and such.

However, I didn't know their exact names, as most were annoyingly long. I knew that these monstrous beasts did not have poisonous flesh or anything dangerous to consume.

"Send my thanks to the governor for such a fast delivery," I told the guards.

They bowed down to their waist, and one amongst them said. "Yes, honorable cultivator!"

Then they walked out and left me alone with the monstrous beasts and Speedy.

"How about giving it a taste?" I grabbed Speedy and dropped the little guy before the monstrous beast corpses.

Speedy bit into the cow-like monstrous beast's thigh without a second thought. But due to its tough skin and flesh, Speedy made no progress. So I had to draw my daggers and cut up the thigh of the monstrous beast into smaller chunks of flesh that Speedy ate without a care in the world.

Monstrous beast flesh was good for humans too. Well, most of it was, as there were poisonous monstrous beasts. Or monstrous beasts that were essentially trees and were not edible. Anyway, monstrous beasts eating other monstrous beasts also helped them cultivate.

After all the pills I had given Speedy, and with this too, he should be close to ascending into a monstrous beast himself.

It was only a matter of time, but how long would it take?

My thoughts were interrupted in their midst as I looked at Speedy. Where before his head was just bigger than my fist, it was now bigger than two fists and almost the size of a human head. Also, its body had grown proportionately.

I rubbed my eyes, making sure that I wasn't seeing things. Thankfully, I wasn't.

Holy shit! My Speedy was growing at a visible rate!

A sense of excitement rose in my chest. Was this what it felt like seeing your children grow up?

But before I could get too excited, I came to my senses and immediately turned my senses to their maximum. Then, I concentrated on the little guy.

What I sensed was nothing short of bewildering. Somehow, the bones were growing at a visible rate, and joints and ligaments were expanding in ways that did not make sense at all.

What the fuck was this shounen anime bullshit physics? Nothing grew like this!

But despite its lack of sense, it was exciting. It was like watching a magician's trick. It really seemed like there was nothing out there that couldn't be achieved using Qi.

Though it looked like the little guy would grow indefinitely, he stopped his growth once he reached my knee. But Speedy kept munching without a care in the world.

I was so concentrated on him that I almost missed a powerful Qi signature getting closer until they nearly reached the mansion's entrance. That brought me out of my thoughts, and I turned toward the newcomer.

"Governor, I did not expect you to come and visit me so soon," I said.

The old man took out a sack, and I could sense the abundant Qi inside the spirit stones in the sack. He walked up to the table on the corner of the yard and put the sack down, "This is three hundred spirit stones. I added some extra for a job well done during the Beast Wave. Also, you will get a large cut from the earnings we make from selling the monstrous beasts. Just as large as the clans."

After that, carriages came through the gate, and the guards carried barrels that reeked of blood.

"This is the monstrous beast blood you asked for. I brought it here as soon as I could," the governor said.

He worked pretty fast; no wonder this town was so prosperous under his rule. "Good. I will make the barrier as soon as I recover from the battle."

The governor nodded and opened his mouth like he was about to say something, but then he caught sight of Speedy. He frowned and looked confused. But then he shrugged and dismissed his concerns, "Anyway, there is something I wanted to talk to you about."

Ah, with all the rewards he had come with, it felt like he would ask for something troublesome. Which I was ready to refuse.