Shiga had been exploring the wilderness around the school while looking for a companion for an entire week now. He had managed to avoid most of the strong magic beasts, but there were a few times he had to stand and fight. Sadly, Shiga hadn’t been having much luck in finding any suitable magic beasts.

At one point he had come across a rain owl nest, which would have worked very well. All creatures that fly are innately gifted with Wind Attribute which made the Rain Owls work well with him. The owls also possessed a water attribute, something Shiga did not, yet before Shiga could start to bond with one of the chicks, a giant rat magic beast suddenly attacked. Shiga of course would not let his potential companions be killed, so he defended the chicks from the rat. The rat was actually very powerful and slowly began to press Shiga back, but luckily before anything bad could happen one of the adult Rain Owls returned to the nest. It quickly chased off the rat and stared at Shiga. Shiga wanted to try and bond with one of the chicks, but the adult wouldn’t allow him close. Shiga left knowing that the only reason the owl had let him go was because he had protected the chicks.

So, he continued to explore the wilderness while searching for a potential companion. Suddenly, while he was debating heading back to the sect, Shiga came across a sunny and rocky clearing. In the clearing there was a clutch of eggs with a small serpent nearby. The serpent looked similar to a large boa, but it had two legs near its head and bright colors that slowly shifted, like a chameleon. Seeing the eggs, Shiga felt hopeful that he might have found a good companion. Snakes were definitely able to take care of themselves, and generally had at least an Earth Attribute. Carefully and quietly, he climbed a tree and watched the nest. By using Qi to enhance his eyes, Shiga was able to see that some of the eggs would occasionally shift meaning that the snakes inside were very close to hatching. To his horror though, the serpent that had been guarding the nest suddenly ate one of the eggs! Shiga nearly leapt out of the tree then, but the serpent slowly curled back around the nest. It clearly wasn’t the snake that had laid the eggs, but was instead an opportunistic one that was guarding the eggs for food. Shiga worriedly slept in the tree and the next day, he could see the eggs moving more.

One of the eggs even had the beginnings of cracks, but before Shiga could even begin to climb out of the tree the serpent ate the egg. There were only a few eggs left, so he quickly descended and worked his way closer to the nest. By this point, all of the eggs had developed some cracks, and one even had a small nose pushing out of the shell. The serpent slowly began to eat another egg while the young snake pushed its way out of the shell. By the time the young snake had finished pushing itself out of the egg the serpent had finished off all of the other eggs.

The serpent cautiously eyed the newly born snake. It was more fitting to call it a lizard though. It had four legs and Shiga could just barely make out some feathers matted to the body. The serpent slowly opened its mouth and was about to lunge at the young lizard when Shiga jumped in. He kicked the head of the serpent which had been raised in preparation while also slicing at the body. Luckily for him the serpent was very weak and ran away as soon as it got its bearings.

With the serpent gone, Shiga turned back to look at the lizard. The lizard was calmly watching him with bright eyes while it slowly munched on the remains of its egg. Seeing that the lizard was still wet, Shiga gently picked it and the remaining egg up before moving them to a spot of bright sun. The lizard quickly finished its egg and basked in the warm sunlight.

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Shiga decided that this little lizard would have to do as a companion. It definitely had an Earth Attribute, but the feathers also suggested that it had a Wind Attribute which worked out spectacularly for him. Quickly, he sat down in front of the lizard which only watched him with one lidded eye.

Very carefully, Shiga began to operate the [Companion of Life] technique. The little lizard lifted its head and stared fully at Shiga, its attention attracted by the complex movements of Qi. After finding a companion, the second step of the technique was definitely the most dangerous. A cultivator would have to open their dantian to their potential companion. This was one of the biggest shows of trust a cultivator could perform because by opening his dantian, Shiga was allowing it to connect to the outside world which meant that his entire cultivation base was easily reachable. Cultivators and Magic Beasts could mess with, destroy, or even steal someone's cultivation easily when a person’s dantian was open.

The reason that the technique had Shiga do this was multifold. It acted as an initial show of trust from the cultivator, it allowed the companion to see who they were going to form a bond with, and it prevented the cultivator form forcing a bond on any creature or person that they managed to subjugate.

When Shiga opened up his dantian, the lizard merely looked at it curiously before Shiga closed it again and moved onto the next part of the technique. Shiga extended a large portion of his Qi containing all of his attributes, Wind, Earth, Life, and wrapping it around the lizard. Prompted by the technique, the lizard merged its own Qi into it. The lizard possessed a strong Earth affinity and a decent Wind one which boosted Shiga’s own affinity with them and in return the lizard developed its own affinity towards life thanks to Shiga.

Then, the final part of the technique began. The large globe of merged Qi moved in between the two and they began to compete to absorb it, deciding the dynamics of their relationship in the process. Shiga was more experienced and powerful, but the lizard was surprisingly cunning and maneuverable, willing to give up a small piece to get a larger one somewhere else. Eventually the contest ended and the surrounding currents of Qi dispersed. Shiga had managed to absorb about 70% of the Qi globe, and thus the lizard got about 30%. According to the technique, this would be roughly similar to a leader and a follower.

Now that the whole process was done the little lizard stretched and climbed up shiga before stretching out and resting on top of his head. With its feathers now dry, it looked almost as if Shiga was wearing the feathered head dress of a child's toy on his head. Smiled and thought for a few moments on what to call the little lizard. He vaguely remembered that there were legends of a feathered serpent from South America on Earth. This serpent was called Quetzalcoatl but Shiga couldn’t remember the exact name and just decided to go with something that sounded similar.

“I’m going to call you Quezota” (Shiga)

The lizard didn’t respond but almost seemed to relax even more on Shiga’s head. Having named Quezota, Shiga got up and set off to return to the sect.