Running through the dense forest never was my forte. All the times that I spend with my sisters in the sect was aimed more towards cultivation itself, instead of learning various seemingly useless techniques. I can't curse my past self enough for that incompetence right now!

Who cares about my cultivation level? What does my Soul Hazard stage have to do with my current situation?! Even if I can improve rapidly thanks to my Immortal heritage, I should focus even a bit on the practical use of cultivation instead of just trying to ride on my potency by itself!

I know that in the upcoming intersect tournament higher cultivation level can work wonders against other human cultivators, but the past events made me realise that its all for nothing! Who cares about the contest or the prize if I can't do anything to help my saviour!

During those two short days that I get to know him, he saved my life twice already! At first, when I was overwhelmed by the terror of the zombie toddlers, he managed to repel them with some kind of holy technique. Later on, just after arriving at sect, he put a tough front against this damn Axeliar, despite his strength is only that on the lowest mortal realm!

I don't know how can he combine such divine abilities with such measly strength of a common human. But that's not the point! A few hours later he gifted me a sword that I could obtain only by selling myself for an entire year in some kind of luxury brothel, and as if that wasn't enough to gain favour in my eyes, he pushed me out of the harm way while sacrificing himself to hold this insane beast off!

How can such a complicated yet wonderfull human appear in my life?!

I have to do something for him! Even if it will be limited to sending him off to the afterlife properly!

Raising my head over my tired shoulders, I can finally see the boundary of the sect's territory. All those times when I was going back alone from my training in the forest, I considered them as nothing else but walls enclosing me in the sect grounds, but now, they brought me hope!

"Stay where you are! Who are you?!"

As I made my way towards the gate, one of the cultivators serving his duty as a guard stepped forward and stopped me right in my track. Even if he knows me, that's the procedure I can do nothing about!

"I'm Eve, of the inner core of the sect! Bring me to the sect master right away! I have news that needs to reach her ears immediately!"

I know that I'm overstepping my bounds right now. In a normal situation I should allow the guards to search me first, then ask some mundane questions about life in the sect to confirm that I'm really who I claim to be. But now is not the time to follow the usual rules! If Bart were to die only because of some stupid regulations, I would never be able to forgive myself!

"Eve? How come you want to see the master? Don't you realise that she wants to skin you alive? She even sent four difrent search parties when you didn't show up for the morning count!"

Startled by my appearance and demands, guard confronts me with a question tricky for the outsiders. Yes, every sect member is obliged to attend the daily count to maintain the inner discipline of the sect younger generation. Only the direct core students are exempted from this rule because most of them are on their own missions all the time! But the trick lies in fact, that there is no morning count in the sect at all! This action is repeated daily but at the end of the day!

"Not morning but night count! Bring me to the master now!"

Thankfully, after confirming my identity with this basic question, the guards didn't make things hard for me anymore. If I'm so eager to meet with the master while she is fuming with anger because of my actions… Well… This isn't far from being suicidal!

In just a few moments, I appeared in front of the sect master who wields the position of my personal teacher as well. If some other cultivator went missing for one night, she probably wouldn't care much, but for her treasured direct disciple? That was grave misconduct!

Knowing that I don't have time to spare, I instantly fall to my knees.

"Sect Master, I came running here to seek your help! The man You tasked me with guiding around the sect, is currently engaged with some enormous monster! He forced me to go seek help while he holds its attacks of! Please, for all the contributions I made to the sect in my entire life, I ask only for this favour! Help him before it's too late!"

Initially furious, the Sect Master's expression softens during my speech only to turn vigilant when I approached the end of my plea. Just from this, I understood that she took my words seriously!

"What kind of monster did you encounter, child?"

Instead of lashing at me for ignoring the rules, my master tried to comfort me with her first words. But I don't need to be comforted at all! What I need is to mount a relief party for Bart! How could she think I would fall soo low to care about myself right now!

Drip. Drip. Drip.

With no answer from my master, I'm finally able to discern a delicate sound of water dribbling dripping on the room matress. Looking around though, I can't locate any leaks! Only when I try to rub the soreness out of my eyes, I realise that my fingers got wet!

"I didn't manage to take a closer look at it. What I know is that as soon as we stepped into its domain, Bart, who was at the front, instantly frozen in place, unable to make even the slightest movement. Only when I pulled him back to the area with rope, did he regain his freedom."

Coming back with my memory to those times, I can't help but shrug with unease. While those memories aren't the pleasant ones, I can't help but go back to them in hopes of finding some clues!

"From what I remember, it was throwing some invisible fireballs on us, setting our trail on fire without the slightest hint of attack. I'm not sure about this, but Bart seemed to dodge it only by instinct… If I were to guess something, its size was also enormous from the shadow it was throwing on the earth."

While I want to add something else, I really can't think of any other clue that I could get from this short time that I was in the proximity of this monster! Raising my head in hopes that the sect master will think some solution, I froze. I never saw such an expression on the face of my master before!

"If I'm not wrong, you encountered a Tyrant Poenguer. While every sect around the forest has its own name for this beast, one thing is certain. If this young man isn't a beastmaster, we won't be launching a rescue operation but the last service for such a brave cultivator!"

After saying those words, my master stood up in one, elegant move and turned back to the grand elders sitting behind her.

"Call the core disciples and other elders! We will depart in the shortest time possible! While he might be an outsider, this kind of situation is why we cultivate! We ought to pay the debt that he has thrown us into by saving our cute little Eve on multiple occasions, without paying any heed to his own welfare! Gather up and let's go!"