Akata sat in the center of the group of Scarlet Tigers. Most of the Scarlet Tigers in the room were fairly young, in fact some of them were around Akata’s age. He didn’t know why, but Akata felt sympathy for these tigers. Internally he sighed and continued.

His nature energy washed over all of the people present. His nature energy transformed into a torrent as it flooded into their bodies. These people were born after the incident of the plant cultivator so the foreign life inside of their bodies wasn’t that deep. The Scarlet Tigers didn’t resist at all as Akata’s nature energy went through their bodies.

It was a fairly simple task for Akata to find and gather the foreign life of the plant cultivator from the bodies of the young generation. He just dragged out the event so as to make it seem difficult to the older generation. They couldn’t sense it so Akata wasn’t worried about them finding out about the fact he was taking his time.

He slowly and thoroughly converted the life force of the plant cultivator into energy he could use for himself. In truth he could’ve finished healing the entire group in about 15 minutes, but by the time half an hour came he wasn’t even a quarter of the way through.

All of the life force that was coming to Akata, was used to nourish his plant cultivation base. He felt his cultivation base rising rapidly as he absorbed more and more of the life force. By the time he was halfway through Akata experienced a breakthrough.

‘2nd Grade of the Seed Rank. I feel a bit closer to nature now. Controlling nature energy is a bit more easier now.’ Much change didn’t come to Akata as he progressed to the next Grade of the Seed Rank. He probably wouldn’t have even noticed it if he wasn’t truly paying attention. He continued on with the absorption process.

Great Priest Bambe was of course in the room observing what was happening. He was watching everything happen closely, making sure nothing went amiss. Instantly he noticed Akata breakthrough to the 2nd Grade. ‘He broke through to the 2nd Grade? Well maybe it has to do with the fact that he is doing all this work under the use of his plant cultivation base. Or could it be because of something else?’

He kept his thoughts to himself and didn’t let it show on his face. He still watched closely to what was happening and now kept a special eye on Akata. ‘If something else happens I’ll report it back to Lord Tahei.’

Of course Akata didn’t think anything of the fact that Grand Priest Bambe was in the room, or that he might cause attention through his breakthrough. This was because even he himself didn’t think anything of the breakthrough.

He continued to take in the life force of the plant cultivator from the surrounding Scarlet Tigers. For the next hour, Akata absorbed the life force. Once he finished he let out a long breath. By then he had made it to the peak of the 2nd Grade. “Done! All of the life force of the plant cultivator is expelled from the younger generation. Given enough time they should be able to completely recover.”

Great Priest Bambe nodded his head. He was extremely grateful towards Akata. Not only did he save his granddaughter he also saved the rest of the younger generation. He didn’t mind the fact that Akata had grown in cultivation base a bit.

“Excellent excellent! I will report this great news to Lord Tafei right away.” Great Priest Bambe said happily.

“My father told me to bring you to him when you finished healing us. I’ll lead you to him right away.” A voice called out from the crowd of Scarlet Tigers. It was none other than Tabet that spoke out.

Tabet was in the crowd of the younger generation. In truth, he was the most talented figure in the group of young cultivators. Therefore he was able to cultivate to a higher level than the others, and gain a stronger life force of his own to combat the foreign life force of the plant cultivator.

Tabet walked up to Akata and stopped in front of him. He bowed his head and in thanks. When he did that, all the others followed suit and also bowed their heads. They were extremely grateful for what Akata did. He essentially gave them a new lease on life now.

Akata scratched and smiled. “Hehe no need to be like that, I just felt like helping out where I could. Besides, I was able to increase my cultivation base through constantly using my power. Also, I’m not done with my task yet.” Akata turned to Tabet and spoke. “You can lead me to your father now.”

Tabet nodded his head and walked to his father’s chambers. Behind them, Great Priest Bambe followed along. Nobody impeded their path and Akata could see looks of reverence for him. He simply nodded his head in response to them.

They made their way to the chambers of Lord Tafei and the other leaders of the tribe. The pressure wasn’t stifling at all to Akata, as this time he was protected by Great Priest Bambe and Tabet. You could say that they wouldn’t let anything happen to Akata at all. They wanted to ensure Akata’s safety.

Soon they were in the room with the five leading figures. As soon as they entered the room, Tabet rushed to the side of his mother. She was beside Lord Tafei and was a fully six meters long. When she saw him she immediately let out a cry. “Tabet! Did you get healed? Are you okay now?” She was extremely worried.

“Yes mother, I am well now thanks to Akata. He saved all of the younger generation as well.” Tabet turned and looked at Akata with praise.

His mother also turned and looked at Akata. “I truly thank you for your help. There is simply no way to repay your kindness. Please, if there is anything that you want just tell me. I will do anything that I can to get it for you.” She spoke gratefully, almost crying.

Akata simply scratched the back of his head and laughed awkwardly.

Tabet stepped in for him instead. “Earlier I had promised Akata that I will get him to the 5th Grade and will teach him a runic technique. He must be very intrigued by runes and so I offered to teach him something in return for his help.”

Akata felt embarrassed at Tabet’s words. It sounded like he was taking advantage of the situation to benefit himself. Of course it was true but he didn’t want it to be his image. He immediately shook his head and called out, “No no no, there’s no further need for that. It’s okay, really.” He said earnestly.

‘What am I saying right now? I do want that stuff, so why am I turning it down right now? I don’t care about my outward image and what others think of me. So why am I giving up these treasures in order to save my image? Ugh…’

“Nonsense.” A grand voice boomed out. It came from the other side of Tabet, from Lord Tafei. “Since Tabet has promised you such things, and seeing how you have helped us then he has to deliver. Our tribe does not go back on their words. So Tabet will definitely give you what he has promised.

However, that is what he has promised you. Right now I shall make you a personal offer on behalf of the tribe. But what to give you?” Lord Tafei looked solely at Akata at the moment, right in his eyes. It was as if he could see through all of Akata.

“That’s right, our tribe will personally make an offer for you. But what should it be? Great Priest Bambe, do you have any ideas?” Tabet’s mother asked.

“Lady Haque, I can’t possibly offer gifts on behalf of the tribe by myself. This task should be up to all of us; yourself, Lord Tafei, and the other Elders of the tribe.” Great Priest Bambe spoke out respectfully towards Lady Haque.

Lady Haque couldn’t argue with his logic. It was indeed up to the higher ups to offer a gift to Akata together, as everyone else didn’t have the authority.

“Tabet? You said that your young friend here is interested in runes, correct?” Lord Tafei asked his son as he turned his head.

“That is correct lord father. Akata is indeed interested in runic magic.” Tabet replied respectfully. He didn’t add or leave out anything.

“Hmm… I see. Then how about I personally teach Akata most of the things that I know about runic magic? Would that suffice?” Lord Tafei turned to look toward Akata and asked.

Akata internally exploded out with excitement. The opportunity to learn about runes personally by the strongest being he has ever encountered? How could he possibly pass that up? At the same time how could he turn this offer down? They were already magnanimous enough to offer a second gift, so he didn’t have the right to suggest something else or decline.

Even if the gift was bad he couldn’t not accept it. However, that wasn’t the case anyways. He absolutely wanted this gift. He couldn’t think of something that could possibly measure of to this. An increase in cultivation? He could advance anytime he wanted. Weapons or armor? He already had a scythe and his body was as tough as any armor he could use. Magical techniques? He couldn’t even use magic that well.

Runes were pretty much the only thing that interested him at the moment that the beasts could provide him. It wasn’t like they could teach him how to better use the scythe after all. And neither of them had any elemental magic power stored up to use, or waste on him to teach.

Akata didn’t know how to respond to the offer right now. He didn’t want to seem greedy but at the same time he couldn’t reject their offer either. All he could do was nod his head slightly.

Even without Akata voicing his answer, Lord Tafei could tell that this was what he wanted. With his level of strength, he could easily tell that Akata was excited about the offer. He nodded his head towards Akata and he continued on.

“Haha! Good good. Well all you have to do is heal the older generation. Once the older generation is healed then I will gift you my offer. Fair deal? This should be an easy task for you. Something you’re capable of, right?”