This is bad!… Majid frown deepened, just how much do they know. He sat near the cave, his eyes looked vacant for a while before they sharpened suddenly. No, it can't be that they figure out that I'm alive. He tried to cover his back with a childish trick, only to make the situation worse. Most likely not, they have no reason to think he survived either. Excluding Teemao, that is.
The more he thought the more breaths became harder to take. First, it was Teemao, and know someone else is creeping on him. Someone related to Xiaode's death. Threads were intertwining around him slowly trapping him, sooner or later, his secret would be exposed.
He needs to hide deeper, does he has to leave this place. He thought about all his effort but it would amount to nothing in front of his life. No, he can't make a hurried decision, he was in no shape to think right now. Fortunately, he adopted a stealth lifestyle, even though he was hurrying his way back here, he didn't leave much trace behind. It was safe to stay there at the moment.
'This body really could use some rest'.
He saw Fiery as he neared the spirit source, she was still recovering, her complexions were better. He removed his clothes except for his pants, he was ashamed to take them off. He stepped in the water, it wasn't deep, it only reached a little above his knees, it didn't cover his face as he sat to meditate.
Fairy opened her eyes. 'Thank you, human!' Majid got startled.
"What's your name, human." Majid opened his mouth awkwardly. 'I'm stupid.' He has the luxury to gave them names, yet he didn't tell them his own name. 'But you see, I'm still conflicted about that thing.' Which name should he go by from now on? Majid was a weird name in this world, it would draw attention. Xiaode, on the other hand, was dangerous, he can't use it either, at least until he resolves his problems with his family.
"I'm Majid." For a beast, his name wouldn't be a problem, as for choosing a name he delayed this task for later, 'i'm gonna come up with some freaking cool name'
'Thank you Majid, I owe you my life' she bowed her head 'Like our promise, it would take about a week for me to recover. I would leave by then'
"We just helped each other," he smiled. "But I appreciate our friendship, so you don't have to leave!"
If he stayed, her presence would be a great help in case of emergencies. And he wouldn't need this source all to himself, he gonna have to leave anyway, after 4 months.
He didn't want to be heartless though, so he added " but if you choose to stay, you must know that you might end up in danger. Some people are after my life." It was useless tricking her anyway, with her high senses, she must know this, by his meeting with Teemao. She agreed right away, it seems danger didn't scare beasts away after all their whole life is spent in danger.
'Can you bring my little Foxy here' Majid opened his mouth wide, he forgets about the little guy completely under all his worries. His mouth closed to a smile, it seemed she liked the name. Foxy froze when he saw him come back alone, but he regained his liveliness when Majid smiled indicating that everything was OK.
After they came back, the little Foxy found a corner and kept looking at his mother. Majid started meditating but he was interrupted by a thunderous gurgling, his stomach couldn't take it anymore. Or maybe it was excited about the change in their menu. Finally, he could put meat on the table.
"Oh man, this the first time I'm gonna eat a haram food[1]" He felt nauseated, it was funny how a concept could make him feel like it was some concrete filth. But he wasn't about to give up his meat just because of that, especially when the smell of its fat started to volatilize. Even the little Foxy came and sat next to him, his tail wagging asking for a share.
"I need some protein, look at these hands." He looked pitifully at his withered hands, chills run through his skin as nuts passed by his mind. "I'm a carnivore, I can't absorb protein from other sources" He stopped his joke suddenly, as he thought of his religion. 'What! am I gonna be the only Muslim in this world?' he felt annoyed for some reason. What, should he start preaching it here, he smirked as he amused at the idea. 'Well, I'm kind of a prophet in a way, sent by God.' In the end, he brushed the ridiculous idea, he would be staffed in a spike, or crucified right away. He shook his head frightened as his imagination run wild, he left it behind on earth, and there it stays. But he can keep some part of it in his life.
He rose his head, he thought about the overseer, that guy doesn't seem to be the creator. He seems like a white-collar, worried about his opportunities and rating. He felt a little nudge by his side, it was the little Foxy, it was looking in front of him "f*ck!" The meat charred a little bit, he could only start all over, lamenting over his carelessness. This time he focused exclusively on his meat. Excited by the smell, Fiery come limping her way over, she couldn't miss on the barbecue night. These guys must have never ate cooked meat despite their fire power, what a waste. They gathered all around the campfire with a similar shine in their eyes.
After he finished his feast, he got back to plan his next move. 'So they found out he mislead them, they would assume someone related to the case done that. But there was no way to suspect he was alive. His supposed father has many supporters before, his enemies compass would point there. You can't look for a dead man. In that case, the forest would be out of their radar. Even if they knew he was alive and knew his whereabouts. The forest is big, its hard to find a needle in the sea. He didn't warrant a big hunt in the first place, he isn't a big threat. It just that in this world, they like to nip it in the bud.
'I hope that Teemao keeps his word.' All he needs to do is be careful. He has already a good idea. Before when he cleaned his clothes in the spring, he thought If he just added some green on these dirty spots. It would be a great camouflage like that of soldiers, it would make his stealth perfect. But he was actually camouflaged before in his homeless mode, and still was seen and recognized, the real problem was that he lived outdoors. Well, that was solved with this cave. He nodded, so it's back to the cave. But was the cave a safe hideout, or a trap he set for himself. No, this place is indeed safe There would be no spiritual source anymore if humans made it here, this place is hard to find following this logic. And it would be regretful to leave this place, after all. Then remains one problem What if they somehow made it up here. He needs to hide both the cave and the spiritual source.
But there was a tricky part to this. Hide this place, and he might leave signs of intelligence, or rather stupidity, disclosing his presence, leave it as it is and the cave is an open door. He really didn't want that, but if he did nothing, anyone passing by might find it out. This was a headache, a dilemma, he took his time thinking things through. Since he will be caught off guard if someone came inside, he might as well try to make it harder to find. If they still found it, well then it was fated, he smiled. 'I must learn something from Fiery, I can't keep worrying'.
By the time he made his mind, it was already the evening. Still, he moved. 'I'm gonna build that damn wall tonight.' Since there are no dangerous beasts, he felt the night was the perfect time to do his job, while all humans are sleeping. And he could train his night vision while he was at it. He might need to move at night sometime.
Since it was too late for any eye based work he let that till the morning. He has some heavy-duty work to do now. He looked around the area and gathered boulders of all sizes in front of the cave. Boulders that would take about six adult men on earth. He stacked them next to each other one by one. The cave was about 3 meters radius, his soul almost left his body by the time he filled that void. 'The hell!' He thought it would be easy, but he was sorely mistaken. It wasn't a straight forward operation, the first row was easy, the difficulty kept increasing from there. He tried to match different boulders to find the perfect fit, lest the whole thing crumbles above his head. He left a small hole at the bottom, he picked up a suitable boulder he already prepared and stacked it in. With a little luck, he would get a prior notice if someone tried to break in.
He dragged his tired body back to the Spirit source, he needed some real rest, he throws himself right into the Spirit Source. The cool water loaded with Qi refreshed his body, he felt like he was undergoing a metamorphosis. With a small effort, a huge amount of Qi infiltrated his body. "Ahh!" as his batteries left the red zone, the gear in his mind started to roll again. 'Just how does this spirit source work, this's amazing!' He was so lazy to think though, he wanted to enjoy this magical moment.
'System show me information about spirit source.'
[User request is unauthorized]
His face furrowed, He thought only analysis wasn't allowed, The system didn't give information for free either. 'Ahh, my encyclopedia, it's my own memories damn it!' But his face soon relaxed, over time if he kept doing quests, he would end up with one, "wouldn't I end up with a library in my head. I will start my heaven's path then. Haha!"
Though sometimes rebellious, the brain is a hard-working creature. Memories about the spirit source started to gather, piece after piece taking their right place. It wasn't bad to let my brain do some work instead. Under certain circumstances, when a powerful spiritual creature dies. A residual of their soul might remain in desolate places. That soul starts to attract Qi around itself resulting in phenomenal like spirit stones mines, and spirit sources, etc.
No wonder, the soul is what controls Qi, he nodded. before he started to think about his cultivation, now is finally time to power up. He smiled, his mind found something interesting.
'System can you estimate my cultivation and my techniques' progress.'
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[The user request is possible]
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'Show me my cultivation progress then.' he smiled eagerly!
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[body tempering level 3, low stage 9/10]
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Motivation filled him, he was so close to advance, but he didn't like that number, the scale was so limited, he nonchalantly said.
'System can you change the scale, let me see... like in percentage.'
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[body tempering level 3, low stage 93%]
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'You see, I wouldn't have known that 3%' he smiled before a bolt hit him. 'Wait!' His eagerness to seeing the other techniques progresses didn't blindfold him. It was a really important thing. if his guess was right, this system would turn out to be overpowered.
'System can you show my progress on a million-degree scale?'
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[User request is not possible at the current knowledge, and unauthorized]
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'Even if it can, it won't do it, that's greedy I admit.' He wanted to scale to a minuscule level, he would instantly notice any progress. That would make rating techniques, even improving them a child's play. But of course, it should have a limit. After a long Q&A with the system, he rounded it to a thousand based scale. 'That's still amazing.' a level is devised into 4 stages, and that stage is now devised in a thousand, this is already very good.
'I owe you an apology, both of you my beloved system, and Mr. Overseer'
He underestimated the system, so he ignored it to some extent, especially under the pressure he had since he debuted in this world. Not anymore though. 'I'm gonna search every nook and corner of this system.' He didn't find much though, other than a useful clue, the system could develop as their knowledge grow, like when he asked for quests. Other than the impossible, the system didn't accept requests that fall under 2 categories. Something unhelpful to the user, or something too exaggerated. Offering knowledge to the user unsparingly is unhelpful to the user in the system estimation, but it deemed the quest & reward system beneficial, so it accepted the request. If he could find other loopholes, it would be great. Then comes the moment he waited for 'Let's begin!' He started a checking spree, he couldn't wait to look at his techniques' numbers...
[1]Haram food: is the inverse of halal food, food Muslims aren't allowed to eat. the ape falls under that category because it wasn't slaughtered according to the recommended ritual.