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“In one’s pursuit of immortality, a chance encounter can also be considered destiny.”
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“Who goes there!?”
Even if Qai had an inkling who it was, he was panicking.
”If you’re brave enough, come and fight me face to face.”
Qai sounded fearless on the surface, but deep inside he was already nursing a deep feeling of crisis.
“You want to fight me? What gall! I, Old Bu, have never seen a mortal in my hundreds of years ever dared challenge an immortal.”
‘Immortal!?’
Qai’s face immediately sank.
His thoughts were immediately affirmed. He already heard and read about an immortal living in the mountains, but never had he imagined that he would meet one right at the get-go.
Initially, he had the idea that the peak of the Evercloud mountain is the real home of the immortal so he was never worried about provoking one in the first place.
“Hah, I can say you’ve got guts. But your face betrays your confidence.”
“Senior Immortal.”
Qai’s reply was now in a much respectful tone and with a deep bow towards the direction of the voice.
“I only wish to temper myself here in the periphery of the mountains. If ever I disturbed your rest, I assure you that I have not the slightest intention of offending you. Please show mercy to this lowly one.”
Of course, Qai had lived as an aristocrat for 15 years in the past, so he had no problem imitating the usual demeanor of the lowly commoners when they suddenly meet a noble.
Like a beam of light, a man riding a broad sword suddenly came streaking just right above the trees.
‘He’s flying!’
Qai was beyond stunned.
But at the moment, he could not care about how can an immortal fly—he only cared about his poor little life.
“Haha, good! I like your attitude. How about this, become my servant and I’d let you live,” the immortal haughtily said.
‘Servant!?’
For the second time in his second life, he was being forced by circumstances to become a servant. He had been a noble in the past—a person being served not the one serving.
When Qai was 4, he wanted to learn how to read so he accepted to become a servant in return. That was somehow acceptable since it was an exchange—and being the servant of the herbalist also came with a bit of ’status.’
But now, an immortal who appeared to have no sense of value on someone else’s life was asking him to become his servant. And there seemed to have no offer in return.
Qai could only sigh.
Whether becoming his servant or not would bring him any good, he already left to fate. After all, there was no other way than to accept. That was because, in the face of such an immortal, denial means death!
“Senior, what does a servant of an immortal do?” He asked respectfully.
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“Hah, that’s easy. Seems you appear to be confident with your abilities, you only have to kill Spirit Beasts in this area of the mountains.”
‘Only that!?’
Qai wanted to clarify it but the immortal didn’t bother to be interrupted.
“As you said, you came here to temper your skills. So it's the chance for you. However, I’ll come back every week and collect their cores. If you don’t know what a beast core is, I’m pretty sure you already have one in your possession. And for every beast core you give, I’ll answer any question you like. And depending on the total value of all the cores, I might teach you a thing or two. But let me warn you not to be stingy, or else even the village you come from will cease to exist in these lands.”
With that, the immortal flew away towards one of the lower peaks of the vast mountain range.
Qai did not know whether to laugh or cry.
He truly escaped death plus he got a bit of a clue that the crystal-like thing he found in the Bison’s body was valuable for the immortal.
He sure had a lot of things to ask—things that he reserved at the back of his mind ever since he was transported in the body of Qai—so suddenly becoming a servant was certainly an opportunity for him.
‘Old Bu,’ Qai sighed.
When his thoughts were awakened from daze, he didn’t linger around and immediately looked for a safe place to turn into his temporary abode—ideally, one that was accessible to water.
He had no idea where to find Spirit Beasts; but from the words of the immortal, he was reassured that the area around was a spot he could encounter more than just one.
Again, Qai looked for a huge tree with bulging roots and carved a cave-like place. After he settled in, he immediately scouted the surrounding area.
‘This will be my territory for the meantime.’
His chosen abode was few meters away from a medium-sized pond. There was a small distance of clearing between the tree and the lake.
Qai was certain that many beasts would surely come by the area for water, or so he thought.
‘At least he didn’t ask for the meat. I would then get to eat all of my catch,’ he thought in relief.
Unfortunately, after two days, the only beast that came was a wild leopard—not a Spirit Beast—which he also slew nevertheless since he had yet taken a meal.
‘Do I really have to chase them down?’
His initial thoughts were to lie in wait and ambush all the Spirit Beasts that come near the pond.
Little did he know that Spirit Beasts, like immortals, have already transcended the realm of mortals and no longer need such basic nourishment like food and water.
‘If such is the case, then chase them down it is.’
Qai then started to gradually circle around his abode until he covered half a mile radius.
It was then he first noticed a jet black Spider with golden eyes. It had the size of an ordinary wolf and had legs that appeared to be made of metal.
Qai had always kept in his mind how the Bison from before could create a fireball so he was expecting that all Spirit Beasts had some kind of bizarre ability.
So he took a deep breath before he crouched silently to get a better position. Apparently, he wanted to avoid being noticed and wanted to employ a sneak attack.
And when he got near, he leaped forward and immediately appeared some distance from the Spider’s back while simultaneously unleashing his skill.
‘Raging Beast!’
Baam.
The Spider limped as its body was instantly pressed on the ground. It attempted to flee but Qai did not want to give it a chance.
He was relentless.
‘Nightfall!’
Baam. Baam.
Last time he fought the Bison, he was only a Silver rank Knight. Now that he was a rank higher, his attacks were not only strong, they were also punishing.
The Spider suddenly twitched then fell.
‘Dead!? Maybe I got lucky.’
Qai was expecting a difficult fight but it turned out to be completely lopsided.
Of course, it was all due to his treacherous design to ambush the Spirit Beast that he easily won.
He excitedly dissected the body of the Spider and took its crystal-like core. He noticed that the most distinguishing parts of the spider were its metal-like legs so he also took all 8 of them. However, Qai did not dare to take its meat believing it was poisonous.
Qai was overjoyed at the thought of how easy he would be able to collect beast cores that way since it meant that he could ask more questions as a result.
In a time it took to finish a meal, Qai once again saw another Spirit Beast.
This time it was a pure white-colored Horse that was capable of freezing its immediate surroundings—approximately around 3 meters wide.
Qai fought hard this time and almost died twice due to carelessness.
‘How come this one is way stronger than the Bison and Spider!?’
He was confused.
Qai wanted to find more Spirit Beasts to observe but since he had been severely wounded, he thought twice and reluctantly took the Horse meat back to his abode.