Sitting across from Justin, Elijah began the debriefing. He asked Justin about how he thought the battle went and what he thought he could do better before adding or voicing his own thoughts. Together they worked on creating better strategies for fighting a large group of beasts for the next few minutes.
After they finished their discussion, it was time to look at their rewards. Elijah and Justin began approaching the tree in the center of the clearing and brought three warriors with them. The remaining warriors were left to take care of the carcasses and keep watch.
Before they reached the tree, they heard the whines and cries of several beast. In an instant Justin and the other warriors where on guard. They drew their weapons, readied their shields and entered a defensive stance.
Elijah was surprised as well, but he didn’t have the same reaction. To Elijah the beast cries sounded like puppies or other small animals. He guessed that the beast they were hearing were the cubs of the hyenas they recently killed.
Fortunately, Elijah was correct. As they approached the foot of the tree, they saw a litter of cubs rolling around inside a shallow hole. The first thing Elijah did was use his Identify talent.
Hyena Level 2
Hyena Level 1
Hyena Level 3
Hyena Level 1
“Should we kill them?” One of the warriors asked.
“Obviously,” another warrior replied.
“Shouldn’t we at least try to raise them?” Tevin suggested. He was a warrior with dark skin, short dark hair and light brown eyes.
“We tried raising beast in the past, but it never worked out,” Justin answered. “According to their inherent nature beast can only respect the strong. Anything else is either food or unworthy of notice.”
Elijah didn’t voice his opinion yet. At times, it was best for a leader to stay quiet and let his people voice their thoughts. It made everyone feel like their opinions are valued and Elijah might be able to hear an idea that he wouldn’t be able to come up with on his own.
“We’re a lot stronger than these cubs,” Tevin said. “We can train them while their young and they will listen to us when they grow up.”
“Like I said before they only listen to the strong. Unless you have a skill or talent that will help you tame beast, they will definitely bite the hand and probably the head that fed them. Don’t forget that beast grow a lot faster in size, strength and cultivation than we do. Relying on only eating and sleeping they will quickly grow past the level of most people in the village.”
“But everyone has cultivation techniques now. Won’t we be able to grow faster than these cubs?”
“I think Tevin might be right,” one of the warriors said.
“Sounds like a good idea." another warrior said.
Justin didn’t have an answer to Tevin’s question. He could only look at him with a stunned expression on his face. Eventually, he gave up on trying to come up with the answer and passed the decision to the next person in the chain of command.
“What do you think we should do Chief?”
Elijah didn’t rush to answer the question. Truth be told he was only barely paying attention to the conversation at this point. The majority of his attention was placed on the litter in front of him and the internal conflict he was experiencing.
Did he have the right to decide the life and death of the cubs in front of him? Better yet was it right for him to kill the hyenas simply because he wanted the natural treasure? What kind of man did that make him?
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Unlike other people, Elijah knew that beast would eventually gain intelligence as they gained levels. According to his future self, beasts would have their own language in the future and be able to communicate using the human language like other intelligent races. So, what right did he have to stomp out the life of these developing creatures?
For a few seconds, Elijah was constricted by this internal conflict. However, he was able to quickly break free after he asked himself one question. Who was he?
Elijah was the Supreme. The Supreme Ruler. As the Supreme Ruler his duty was to help his followers develop on their paths. It didn’t matter if some animal died. Why should they get to live happily while his people lose the opportunity to develop?
In Elijah’s mind cutting down the hyenas was no different than cutting down some trees. It was possible for trees to develop intelligence as well, but he wouldn’t hesitate to chop them down if his people needed wood, to build defenses, space for farming or a path to walk. His people would always have the number one priority.
At that moment, Elijah split the world into black and white. There were those that followed him and those that didn’t. He would happily cut down plants, animals, humans and all other races for his people. He wouldn’t let anything stop him or his people from developing on their paths.
Shaking his head, Elijah realized he was letting himself get too worked up. Wasn’t all of this only a virtual reality game? No matter how realistic it may seem, none of it was real. Everything he experienced in Fallen Heaven was simply training for the real world and eventually the world of Fallen heaven would become less and less important. Right?
“We can try raising them,” Elijah finally said. “Maybe the goblins or the new humans have a way to effectively control beasts.”
“I can go and ask the goblins we have with us.” Tevin suggested.
Elijah nodded and Tevin jogged away. After Tevin left Elijah ignored everything else and focused on the tree. He placed his hand on the tree and a notification appeared in front of him,
You have discovered a natural resource. The daily upkeep for this natural resource is 7,500 points of astral energy. Do you wish to pay the upkeep for this natural resource? Yes, or no?
Natural Resource: Tranquil Oak Tree
Tier: 0
Description: A tree that releases a tranquil aura capable of soothing all beings that reside beneath its leaves. Its aura enhances the growth, cultivation speed and gives out a buff or a debuff to those under its leaves. Its aura has the greatest effect on unintelligent living beings like beasts, insects and plant life. However, intelligent living beings can still benefit from its aura to some degree.
Buff: Tranquil Mind
Effect: An individual’s mind is calmer and less likely to be affected by negative emotions. The chances of being swayed or falling prey to outside forces is less likely. Stun and any other negative mental effects are 10% less effective for the next three hours.
Debuff: Open Mind
Effect: An individual mind is calmer and less likely to be affected by negative emotions. The chances of being swayed or falling prey to outside forces is more likely. Stun and other negative mental effect are 10% more effective for the next three hours.
“It’s definitely something good, but I don’t know how useful it will be to us,” Justin said. “Also, we don’t know how long we’ll have to stay under the tree before we can receive it’s buff and other benefits.”
“You’re right,” Elijah agreed. “I think we might be able to make some medicine or tea out of the leaves in the future. However, right now, there doesn’t seem to be any clear immediate benefit to nurturing this tree.” Elijah paused for a few seconds before he continued speaking. “For now, I won’t pay the upkeep. In the future we can bring Jenny and some others over to take a look. Maybe they might be able to discover some hidden benefits.”
“The goblins said they might have someone that knows how to tame beast, but they can’t be sure.” Tevin jogged back to Elijah and immediately began to speak.
“What do they mean they can’t be sure?” Justin responded with a frown on his face. “Either they have someone, or they don’t,”
“They said that a lot of people died, so they don’t know for sure if that goblin is still alive.”
“Oh,” Justin replied.
“It looks like were done here,” Elijah said. “Let’s continue to rest for another hour before we move to the next location. Justin, have a warrior and two goblins stay behind to watch over the hyena cubs. They can verify how long it takes to receive the buff or debuff.”
“Yes, Chief.”
“Oh, and they don’t have to give their lives to protect the cubs. If they’re in danger, then they should run away and wait nearby for our return.”
An hour quickly passed, and the warriors were back on the road. Although Elijah and the others didn’t fully recover, they would have no problem fighting against the occasional beast that came their way. Besides, the next location they were going to didn’t have any beasts inhabiting it.
The next location was a pond which Elder Jamal scouted the day before with his hunters. It was suggested that this pond might have gone through some changes and become a natural resource. A few villagers would often visit this pond to enjoy its visual beauty and relax.
When Elder Jamal went to the pond with his hunters, other than a few plants they didn’t find anything of note. The plants that they found did have the potential to turn into astral herbs, so Elijah was going there to take a second look. At the time Elder Jamal didn’t find any tracks of beast nearby so there definitely wouldn’t be any beast in the area when Elijah arrived. Right?