“Seems to me that you are on the right way for an answer. Just got a little message from the goddess that you’re a smart one.”

Grinning, Misako looked to him with a smirk on the lips.

“I know that.”

Iranueel smiled at that and had a sudden idea. He went ahead of her and turned walking with face to Misako.

“There is something that bothers me a lot. Where are all the magical creatures then. I mean, I have seen a ghost and something like an elemental, but nothing like an unicorn or a dragon. These must be hard to disguise for Gaia.”

Misako halted for a moment to collect her thoughts.

“You are right and this leads to the next thing I wanted to talk about. When our world went into magical slumber, all the magical creature were banished into one of Gaia’s seeds. I think that’s where some of the mana goes that she is siphoning of all the humans. By considering the mass of energy she assembled this way, her worlds must be really huge by now.”

The stupefied look on his face made her laugh a little. A very pleasing noise to hear.

Iranueel felt a little bit like a small boy when talking to her like that. Considering her age, which he would never ever spoke loud if she was near him, it wasn’t a bad comparison.

“Why do you look like an idiot. All gods have their own seeds. Odin has Valhalla, the Indian gods have their Nirwana, western religion has heaven and hell, and Gaia has several magical realms. So the only magical creatures on earth are ghosts and smaller elementals, that are easy to disguise and some creatures that have no problem with shapeshifting or a similar enough to a human to impersonate as such. We avatars can step into the realms of the gods by passing some portals dispatched all over the globe. The gods notice this for sure but they allow us to do this as long as we don’t try to kick them from their throne. They will try to collect you to their flock but if you refuse them, there’ll be no revenge for it. But you should never use your soul catcher power in the realms of other gods than Gaia. All avatar gods will disembowel you for using it and stealing from their worlds.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

This was something to stomach for Iranueel. There were many worlds to discover on earth alone and all magical ones. He could spent hundreds of years for this task alone and rise to power by venturing into the deep.

Misako examined his silent frame for some time. She left him alone with his thoughts and instead watched the environment for any dangers.

They were walking in a forest that had clear signs of human meddling. The trees were planted all 3 meters to harvest as much wood as possible and there was little undergrowth. Almost every tree was a Korean tree and the needles on the ground had killed most of everything on the ground. Only little noise from birds and insects could be heard. She missed the living forests of her youth in this moment. Since humanity claimed more and more of the planet, the nature had ever less place to grow wild.

Iranueel had some answers but the more he knew the more he wanted to ask. It seemed for every answered questions arose two more.

“You said, that there’re some creatures that live among humans undiscovered. Which ones would this be and can I discover them somehow?”

Misako smiled at him like a teacher would look at her bright student.

“Right question! There are vampires, werefolk like werewolves, werebears or werecats and many more spirits that have assembled enough power to materialize a human body. The more powerful the creature, the harder it is to discover them. The power I gave you, can help you with it, but you have a lot of training to do if you want to unveil even the weakest humanoid spirit. They are a powerful bunch and shouldn’t be angered lightly.”

With a frown she looked at him.

“By the way, it took some serious power from me when I gave you my special power. I’m slightly above being human now and I think only our soul link with the blood oath keeps me alive. So we should try to kill some smaller prey to get me back on track.”

“Wouldn’t it be better if I gave you your power back, after we have destroyed the tracking magic? I mean, it’s your ability and I don’t want any hard feelings with you by keeping it.”

Misako shrugged and came real close to him now. Her face only millimetres from him. He could smell her fragrance and feel her breath against his skin. And her eyes were looking into his with real concern.

“This power is yours for now. I gave it willingly to you. We will be together for quite some time I think, and with enough blood magic, I can get my ability back without taking it from you. We will both have to grow a bit but then it will make us much stronger. Information is power in this world the same as in mortal life. I will watch your back and you mine. I don’t know you very long but I’m certain, that you will become a power to be reckoned in this universe and I will stay at your side. So man up and strive to become someone no one wants to mess with.”

Then she took a step back and gave him a peck on the cheek. After that Misako went again in the direction of the town and left him standing.

‘Please, no pressure. I’m just a small fry in this world and she wants me to take on the big guys in the future. But she sure is worth the pain’

And he took a glance at her well rounded bottom swaying from side to side. A small sigh was all that came from him and then he followed her again.