Glancing at Ynos's shining eyes, I was momentarily stunned and did not know how to respond. "Hunt fairies you say?" I mumbled hesitantly to which he vigorously nodded his head in confirmation.
"Yes! Brother can hunt those little pests to further enhance your control over Earth mana!" He said.
Unconvinced I asked, "I know you hate then, but still, remind me how is me hunting them going to help with anything?"
"That's simple brother, the reason why none of you have been able to encounter a fairy before is due to their use of Earth mana, their affinity for it is quite high and they use it to hide in the forests where it's very abundant, this hinders your senses and prevents you from finding them," He carefully explained.
Hearing that, my eyes widened as I did a double-take on Ynos, surprised by his seemingly smart suggestion, "Who are you and what did you do to my little brother?" I subconsciously asked to which he tilted his head to the side in confusion and replied.
"What do you mean brother?"
Shaking my head, I quickly corrected myself, "Ah, it's nothing," I then hurriedly changed the subject, "So you think locating the fairies would help me get used to Earth mana, that's indeed a solid plan," I muttered.
"Locating and hunting them!" He emphasized the last part with a dangerous glint on his eyes.
"Eh, I don't know Ynos, it seems to me like you want to hunt them to extinction," I replied hesitantly.
"Oh no, not to extinction brother, I make sure to stay away from their nests no matter how tempting raiding one sounds and only hunt the stray ones across the forest," He interrupted me and explained with a serious expression on his face.
"Their nests you say? It seems like you know quite a lot about the fairies?"
Nodding, Ynos excitedly replied, "Yes, those little pests surprisingly have a society structure somewhat similar to that of the humans, though most of them prefer to live alone, there are still a few major nests across the land," He said as his expression morphed into one of longing.
I was sure that whatever he was imagining was not in any way pleasant for the fairies, hence why I interrupted him. "I'll try to search for them using Earth mana, though there is no real grudge between us nor did they do anything particularly bad to me so I won't be exterminating them,"
Hearing that, Ynos looked at me with a betrayed face and spoke, "Didn't do anything to you, but what about me brother! I'm already holding back enough by not outright raiding their nests, what's a couple of pests here and there gone,"
Stolen story; please report.
Nodding, I expressed my surprise as I replied, "Honestly, I still can't believe you didn't rush headfirst and attack them all, but..." Glancing in the direction of the cave where his miniature pyramid of skulls was, I continued, "You can't call that a couple of pests, besides didn't you already fulfill your revenge?"
"Hmph, they are a despicable race that deserves to be exterminated to spare the dignity of future dragons! And it is my duty to keep them in line so they would not challenge us again!" He proclaimed with a self-righteous expression.
I resisted the urge to mention that they only ever 'challenged' him alone, and instead nodded to indicate my understanding, I then walked over and patted him before speaking, "Well then i'll leave you in charge of this noble duty," I said with an exaggerated wave of my claws.
Seeing that, the light in Ynos' eyes just seemed to shine even brighter as he continuously nodded. "Ah yes, since your affinity with the Earth element is still low, you'll need someone to point you in the right direction to get you started,"
I nodded back and remained silent waiting for him to continue. "From here you should head south, don't delve too deep into the lands of the tainted, most of the nomadic fairies live somewhere in the borders of the forest,"
"Will do, thank you for your help little brother," I warmly thanked him to which a wide grin made its way across his face, he then nodded back and made his towards the cave to add the two skulls into his 'little' trophy mountain.
With him gone, I closed my eyes and silently drew a deep breath as I steadied my emotions. It was a meditation of sorts as I calmed my mind and reigned in my wild instincts, I tried to stop giving them free reign over my body. It was a hard but still nonetheless necessary process.
After a few minutes of getting myself ready, my eyes shot open as I exerted strength into my legs causing the ground to crack under my enormous weight. With a mighty leap, I was quickly soaring across the sky heading south in search of the fairies.
Along the way, I tried to keep my mind sharp as I constantly studied my surroundings. Though most of it was nothing but the usual boring forest, I still nonetheless diligently scanned everything in case of sudden danger.
I would occasionally catch a glimpse of a monster or beast scurrying for cover as soon as they notice my presence. Still, by the time they do, I would have already long left the area. Even though I wasn't flying with my top speeds, I was still very fast as each flap of my wings made me cover a huge distance, causing the scenery below to b always ever-changing.
After a while, I slowly landed on top of a small colorful hill that rose in the middle of the forest. It had no trees in it, instead, it had scarlet flowers covering its entire surface. Seeing the small hill from above was like seeing a shining light in the middle of the night.
Its appearance was quite strange, and it somehow reminded me of the rainbow-colored hills I came across in the God realm. As soon as I landed a pleasant aroma drifted to my nostrils, as a calm feeling washed over me.
I slowly reached out and gently caressed a few of the red flowers, surprisingly none of them were cut despite the disparity in size between them and my claws. They looked to be rooted in place as if nothing I do could ever disrupt them.
Looking left and then right, my eyes locked on a certain empty place a distance to my left as I spoke, “Hmmm, how long are you planning to hide there, come out,”