In the morning, after breakfast, I water the tree with the five casks from the spring. Then I shift into the giant eagle form and with Brightfire on my back I fly to the village. While Brightfire goes off to prepare, I first head over to the elven leatherworkers.

Once I have given them all the wyvern's hide and scales I head over to the cooks and give them the meat. Unfortunately, the elves don't have anyone who does scrimshaw so the bones end up in the storage shed. Then I put my forge and tools back into my pouch, just in case I need them.

By the time I am done, Brightfire is back and waiting for me, so I shift back to a giant eagle. Then Brightfire climbs onto my back and I take off, flying to the southeast. It only takes about an hour of flying before the first island comes into view.

It is a tiny island, barely more than a sandbar, nothing worth even stopping to look at. However, a few minutes later several more islands come into view and a couple of them are decent size. Most of them are nothing but a pile of rocks, but the larger ones are worth exploring.

The nearest large one is covered in green, so I land on the beach and drop my shapeshift. Brightfire jumps clear just as soon as I land and is standing next to me when I return to normal. Ahead of us is a wall of green, looks like I get to crawl through another jungle.

"There could be anything in there, make sure you stay behind me."

Brightfire says "Got it!"

When she moves behind me, I push my way through the wall of green and start exploring. My senses are turned up to the maximum to try and prevent us from being ambushed. This island is big enough that it could possibly sustain a decent amount of life.

For the next two hours we carefully explore the jungle, but we have no luck. All we find is plants, small animals, and lots of brightly colored birds flitting about. When we reach the beach opposite of where we started we sit down to have lunch.

As we eat I stare at the next big island, it is similar to this one except it has a volcano. While not large, it does have a column of smoke coming from the peak. It is apparently active, I just hope it doesn't erupt while we are on the island.

Once we are finished eating I pick up Brightfire and fly over to the next island. I just carry her in my arms, it is too short of a trip to bother shapeshifting. As soon as we land I realize this island is completely different from the last one.

The air here is rich in mana, there is definitely something interesting about this island. Before we can even push into the jungle I hear the roar of a beast from somewhere. It looks like this island has life on it, so with Brightfire behind me I carefully move into the jungle.

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It doesn't take long before I meet the beast that roared, but I find myself not wanting to kill it. It is a beautiful tiger the size of a horse, it is orange and red with a horn growing from its head. The horn is a deep red color and I can see heat waves coming off of it.

When I step into sight the tiger turns to look at me arrogantly but then it takes a good look at me. After that the arrogance disappears from its eyes and it even bows its head to me. I stand still and after a moment the tiger slowly walks over to me, still with its head down.

Once it reaches me it bumps me with the side of its head and then licks my hand. This is new, I've never had a cat beast react to me like this before, it is surprising. I lift my hand and start petting the tiger's head, at the same time I scan it out of curiosity.

Not only is she a max rank mana beast, but her core is full to bursting and ready to evolve. Since she is acting friendly I go ahead and use a drop of sacred power to trigger her evolution. When her evolution starts Brightfire and I have to step back, flames rise all around her.

After the evolution process is done the tiger has grown a bit bigger and has flames dancing through her fur. If there was any doubt about her being a fire based beast they are gone now. She takes a look at herself and then proceeds to start licking my face in thanks.

She can't talk, but now that she is a sacred beast she can at least project her emotions to me. Amid the gratitude I get the feeling that she wants me to wait for a minute. Once I nod in agreement she turns away from me and lets out a loud roar.

A couple of minutes later the greenery moves as another tiger comes into the area. This one is slightly bigger, probably her mate, and is being followed by a half dozen cubs. There seems to be some communication going on between them and then the male approaches me.

Instead of licking my hand like the female did, the male actually drops to the ground and rolls onto his back. I know it is a sign of submission, but I just can't help myself as I kneel down. As I start rubbing his belly, I scan him and when I find the same situation I trigger his evolution.

It is really surprising to me that the first two beasts I ran into just happened to be ready to evolve. Not only that, but they turned out to be friendly, which is even better. Flames surge up around him as the male tiger goes through his evolution.

Brightfire says "Just what is it that you are doing? How did you make friends with them so easily?"

"I am a sacred beast and I'm guessing they can sense that. I am helping them to also become sacred beasts."

Brightfire says "You can do that?!"

"Yes, but only if they are ready. They have to be max rank mana beasts with their core full of energy."

Brightfire says "So it will only work on mana beasts?"

"Yep! They are the only things I have run into that have cores. Unless elves have cores?"

Brightfire says "No, we don't."

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask, do elves have the ability to gain levels?"

Brightfire says "Unfortunately, no. All we can do is practice our skills and count on them. We are at a huge disadvantage against the humans because of that."

"Yeah, the humans where I came from also don't have levels."

Brightfire says "Really? I thought all humans could gain levels!?"

"No, it is something their gods give them. The humans where I come from don't have that, their god with that power died."

Brightfire says "What?! A god can die?!"

"Yes, although not easily. He died fighting a horde of demons."

Brightfire is about to ask another question when the male tiger finishes his evolution. As soon as he is done the tiger lets out a happy roar and jumps to his feet. He then almost knocks me over by rubbing his body against me while projecting his happiness.