Hana wrapped her arms around Relic. She was excited to finally explore the forest. It had been such a long time since she had left her town. Thinking back it wasn’t since…

“NO!” Hana grasped tightly onto Relic

“Wait!” Relic said.

Jiro immediately stopped diving and began gliding over the forest.

“What is the matter?” He turned his head to his sister was slightly pale.

“Y-you can’t go there...” she spoke softly.

Relic saw the strange way Hana was acting and seemed to already understand what was happening. “You mentioned to Sophie something regarding a trauma I had. Does my trauma occur in this forest?”

Hana nodded.

“Will you tell me about it?”

“You really don’t remember?”

He shook his head.

“Okay… since you want to hear about it...” Hana seemed to struggle with her words.

“Back when we were four, mom was discussing with a local peddler around the forest about the delivery of fresh fruits to our restaurant. We were playing hide and seek and it was your turn to hide. I went looking for you but as the day went on, I realized I could not find you.” A painful expression appeared on her face.

“We looked for you for many hours and eventually we did find you. Luckily, a cultivator had found you and brought you back to us. He said that you were surrounded by wolves and that you were so scared you were huddled beneath the roots of a large tree. Thankfully he was able to save you at that time. However, when you returned to us, you became frightened of anyone who got close to you. Even the man who had saved you had to knock you out before bringing you to us. Once we got home you were still screaming and running away and that’s when you ran towards me. For some reason you didn’t mind being around me. I was the one that suggested we play in the forest, so I decided I would take care of you until you got better.”

She looked with deep sorrow to her brother. To her, she had essentially caused her brother to be an outcast that couldn’t live like a normal person. If one day he couldn’t live happily and find himself a wife…she could not bear the thought.

“Hahaha!” Relic busted out in laughter. “So that’s it!”

Relic had always believed himself to be a needy child since he was born. When his master had first picked him up, he immediately stuck to her like sap on a tree. Wherever his master went he would follow without fail. It was so bad that he wasn’t even able to go to the washroom without his master in his direct vision.

Now that he knew the truth, he couldn’t help but chuckle at all the times his master berated him for being so annoying. “To think it all started from that...” he shook his head helplessly.

“B-brother…” Hana stammered

“Sorry,” he wiped a tear from his eye, “There’s nothing to worry about. I have long since recovered from my trauma. You do not have to worry about anything.”

“Mn” she nodded. Seeing the unaffected expression from Relic, she could only believe him

“(You’re not really from the future, right)?” Jiro voice suddenly sounded in Relic’s mind.

Relic noticed Jiro’s slight uncertainty in his voice. “(Do you doubt me?)”

“(Of course, your sister might believe you since she is young but I’m almost twice her age. I would be an idiot if I believed in such things.)”

“(Then why are you asking?)” Relic smirked.

Jiro twitched his eyes slightly before shutting up.

The trio descended once more and entered into the forest. Many of the spirit beasts below immediately scurried away when they saw Jiro fly down. They could all sense the presence of a divine spirit beast and immediately became frightened.

Spirit beasts were a general term used to encompass all non-humanoid creatures. There were millions of different species which fell under this category. However, most cultivators divided these spirit beasts into three classes; which were the regular spirit beasts, the divine spirit beasts, and the spirit essence beasts.

Regular spirit beasts were the most common type of spirit beast. They were usually the most aggressive of all the spirit beasts as they moved purely on instinct. They were generally of low intelligence and incapable of understanding humans.

Divine Spirit Beasts, on the other hand, were just the opposite. At birth, the possessed intelligence akin to regular human children. They were several times stronger than regular spirit beasts and cultivators at the same level.

The reason why some spirit beasts were regarded as divine spirit beasts was because of their blood line. Just like all cultivators cultivated to find the Dao, all spirit beasts cultivated in order to seek out their primordial bloodline. The primordial bloodline was the ancestral blood which once flowed through the primordial beast, the first rulers under the heavens. It was said their power was so mighty; every step would shake the very foundation of the heavens.

The chances of awakening the primordial blood line was nigh impossible for most spirit beasts. They could spend their whole lives cultivating, even to the rank of an immortal spirit beast and never having actually awaken their blood line. Divine spirit beasts were said to be blessed by the heavens; having not just a powerful body, magic, and talent, but also a noble bloodline which allows them a higher chance to unlock their primordial bloodline.

Jiro carried that very same blood line and every spirit beast within that vicinity could sense it.

They landed onto a patch of grass and Relic immediately began to scour the area. A variety of trees made up most of what he could see. It couldn’t be said to be any more intriguing than any other commonplace forest. However, very quickly, Relic could determine the type of tree that was most prevalent.

“Black Oakwood trees.” Relic muttered. He quickly stood in front of a black tree and began digging around the base of the tree.

Hana and Jiro stood confused as they stared at what Relic was doing.

Relic continued to dig at the ground until he reached the roots of the tree. He gave a disappointed sigh and filled in the hole before moving to the next tree where he began to dig once more.

After a few moments, Relic had a large grin on his face. “Yes, found one!” He held in his hands a large black lump almost the size of a fist. It was dirty and looked a bit rough.

Hana’s eyes constricted the moment she saw the lump in Relic’s hand and swatted it away.

“Hana?”

"Brother, those are truffles! Don’t you know the ones found in the wild are poisonous?!” She shouted. She was the daughter of restaurateurs and had read books on dangerous foods unavailable for consumption. On one of the pages in a book, it stated to never injest this type of food.

Relic thought for a moment before remembering something. “Ah, that’s a lie.”

“W-What?”

“Do you know who sells the truffles people eat?” he asked

She shook her head. “Father only said the most successful restaurants are able to get their hands on truffles. Restaurateurs can only be invited by a group in order to buy the truffles that are safe to eat. Truffles found in the wild are poisonous to people.”

“Mn, well you are half right. Some truffles found in the wild are poisonous but that is only a small percentage. In truth it is very hard to tell if it is poisonous or not.”

Relic walked towards the truffle that was swatted away and picked it up. He proceeded to rip off a piece and held it up to his nose. “Here, tell me what you smell.” He handed a piece to Hana.

She was a bit scared, she had heard stories of people eating the truffles and some either went blind or grew horrible warts.

However, she trusted Relic and held it up towards her nose. When she inhaled the aroma of the freshly ripped truffle, her entire body shivered with excitement. It was as if she was transferred into another world and was caressed by the sweet air.

Hana involuntarily gulped and before she knew it, she put the piece in her mouth. The piece seemly melted in her mouth. “D-delicious!”

“It is, isn’t it?” he chuckled and then also ripped off a piece, eating it as well. He also ripped off a piece and gave it to Jiro who immediately spat it out.

“(Disgusting! Are you trying to poison me?!)” Jiro gagged.

Hama continued, “But… in the book they said...”

Relic shook his head.

“This world is truly large. If you take me on my offer, I can show the true colours of this world. ”

Relic proceeded towards another black tree in order to continue digging and then continued, “The truth is that there are people who would benefit greatly from keeping the knowledge of these truffles a secret. Certain trading groups hold onto and enforce monopolies over certain items and techniques. They are backed by powerful Sects and even kingdoms which allow them to do whatever they want. They have enough resources to influence the entire continent. It wouldn’t be hard for them to trick people into believing lies like all wild truffles are poisonous.”

Hana felt like her mind expanded. She lived on Heaven’s peak all her life and only knew so little.

Relic took out another truffle from the ground and had a surprised look on his face. “This place is a trove of truffles. Hana, help me dig some!”

“O-okay…” she walked towards another tree and began digging around the base. Hana had already unknowingly accepted the fact that her brother really was from the future. His actions and explanations had already convinced her that he was telling the truth. At the moment, she truly thought of Relic as her older brother and followed his orders.

The two spent around 5 minutes on every tree, and another 2 minutes to fill in the hole. Their tiny hands were roughed by the dirt and made it painfully slow to extract the truffles hidden underneath. Added to the fact that not every tree carried a truffle, the process was long and boring.

Jiro who was just resting on the side eventually grew impatient looking at the slow work the kids were doing.

Finally, he lost his patient and joined in as well. He drilled into the ground like it was mush, unearthing the truffles in a matter of seconds.

“Wow so cool!” Hana said, her eyes glimmered with excitement.

Jiro heard her praise and seeming dug even faster. By the end of it, there were 42 pieces of truffles in front of them.

“Are you going to sell them? Hana asked.

“Yea” Relic replied.

“What about mom and dad’s restaurant?”

“That may not be a good idea. If people knew a small restaurant was able to get their hands on edible truffles, then that would cause more trouble to them than good.” he explained.

Hana nodded, and under the directions of her brother, the two children stuffed the truffles inside their shirts.

They then headed up back to Heaven’s Peak and Relic had Hana lead them to the number one restaurant in this town.