"I am an Anima?!"

"That's right."

"Does that mean I will not die?!"

"No, my few years estimation is itself because you are an Anima, if you are were a normal human being, you would already be dead."

"I understand. Sigh, but why can an Anima survive what a body can't?"

"Animas contain the laws of the world itself, the laws of the Dao, as you've seen before just dao marks alone are extremely powerful and the purer they are, the stronger the power they can exert. Animas are dao marks that have elvolved into a higher form of existence. They contain the profundities of Heaven and earth and the meaning behind its laws. Just understand it as Animas are the cherished offspring of Heaven and earth."

He flipped the squid before continuing : "In their mythological past, humans and variant humans after struggling to survive have learned how to use them by removing the will of the anima and imbuing it with their own will effectively taking over its consciousness. While a spell and attainment of a path can only be passed in knowledge, Animas allow a strong unshakable power to be passed down from generation to generation as long as the anima is taken care of. This allowed the rise of all humanoid species who began studying and using animas."

He continued : "this was all before the invention of refinement and the following countless experiments to try and refine animas from scratch which took countless years to create the endless amount of animas that humans now use, variant human had also participated but humanity thanks to its relentless pursuit surpassed the variant humans especially since the discovery of the rules of refinement path. Refinement is refining materials with dao marks into anima or fusing animas and materials to obtain another anima, while reverse refinement is going the opposite way, from an anima to the anima used to refine it which is much harder but also very useful in certain circumstances. This countless research had been a competition between variant humans and humans since the dawn of their history."

"There was such a deep history to it!"

The minimen tribe leader smiled before his eyes turned dark : "That's why you can't allow anyone in any circumstance to know that you are an Anima."

"Why?"

"Say I got my two animas and fused them, refining them into one Anima for a period of time, then I changed my mind or some circumstance forced me and I now needed both animas back, can't I just reverse refine them?"

"You mean?!"

"That's right, You are not just an anima, You are also the perfect material to reverse refine the immortal fetus!"

Nameless's heart sank!

"Although you are much weaker than the original anima but you are the perfect walking blueprint for the immortal fetus. That's why you can't allow anyone under any circumstance to know that you are an anima nor that you were born of it."

Nameless turned pale as he remembered the women near the Tree of eternal life mentioning the Guardians, he also didn't forget the demonic cultivator, they probably already were people coveting such a treasure before, let alone now when he was such a weak and easy prey.

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"What can I do then?! it's only a matter of time before I am caught and killed!" Nameless anxiously spoke.

"All you can do is escape."

Nameless's face regained some colour before he spoke : "How? this forest is almost endless!"

"That's the point, its impossible to escape by feet."

"Then how?"

"We use the Guardian's teleportation formation." the minimen tribe leader smirked as he bit on the squid that had been perfectly cooked.

"Is it safe?"

The miniman laughed : "Hahaha, little kid, what a good joke. When was there anything risk-free in this world? No, it's not safe, you will probably be detected but does it matter as long as you escape?"

"Are you crazy?! what's the point of escaping if I'm just gonna be detected and pursued anyway?!"

"Little kid, what do you think happens after a beast tide ends?"

"What? why talk about this?"

"Just answer the question."

"Beasts move out of their territory as the beast tide happens, after beast tide ends, things become peaceful as beasts recuperate for a while before beas- before beasts return to their territory!"

"Hehe finally realised it, the beast that have gone far away from their territory will come back, those same territories have already been occupied by opportunist beasts, a clash for territory is inevitable."

"So you mean?!"

"Yes, if you remain here, it is but a matter of time before you die."

"Then when can I escape?!"

"Relax, one step at a time, hurrying never got anything done, there is still time. First go to your birthplace and get some of the energy left behind by the immortal fetus, I checked the will's memories, you seem to be commited to returning there but as the will said you will first need beast cores as energy to fuel and support the absorption. That's why I'm allowing the will to be in your mind for now. Gather the beast core, advance your dantian and then a few days later, I will help you leave but before that, I will also use the wills for things our minimen tribe needs."

"Great! its a good plan, but where will I go? I also don't know anything in this world." Nameless's heart sank again as he realised.

"I have no idea either hahaha." The minimen tribe leader spoke before bursting into laughter.

Nameless could only sigh.

"Don't worry, I have a good idea but that's not for now."

Nameless thought for a bit before he made an outrageous request : "Can't I just stay with your tribe here?"

"Hahaha, this is the best joke I have ever heard."

The minimen tribe leader could only laugh for a few moments before speaking : "I think there is a misconception in your mind. The minimen you have met are merely our youngest generation in their training period. Because we live peacefully, we have to train our young to be ready for the dangers of the forest thus we create all sorts of situations to simulate real life encounters so that they would learn how to deal with stress and stand up when it truly matters."

He continued : "The young generation are always cowardly. We are minimen after all, we have no claws or powerful bodies, we are also smaller than almost all beasts so minimen youth are always deathly afraid of mostly everything, they have yet to gain true strength, so these encounters help build confidence and cement into them the need to face danger head on as well as rely on each other to overcome it."

He put another raw squid to cook before proceeding : "The Keiya that they escaped from was merely another miniman that cultivates transformation path, he pursued them to this cave to rest before turning back. Flobo, the one with the beard was meant to protect them in case of danger but he allowed you to fight them because he thought you were sent by me."

"So that's why the ancestor only came out after I revealed my human body, so it was all an accident?"

"Not really, It was an accident but I allowed you to go in. Peace and comfort can never make one stronger. It is only in stressful situations that one can learn to deal with stress. It is only in truly dangerous situations that one can learn to deal with danger."

"What? so I could have killed them and you wouldn't have interfered?"

"No, of course not, I made sure they were still alive. You think my wisdom path is merely there for show, I am aware of everything that happens in this cave and the surrounding fifteen kilometers at all times without even trying."

"You can do that?!"

"You can too, it's called "divine sense" but your range will of course be much smaller."