After a full day of reviewing and gaining insights into the various nature energy arts and techniques that Noluck had transmitted him, Akata became much more proficient with his use of it. Although it would take a bit of time to actually improve greatly, the applications and foundations he found for it were of great use. He spent most of that day focusing on the movement skill and therefore gained the most from that.

‘This nature movement skill, Lunarsun Steps, has three different levels to it. The Outer, Inner, and Core levels. The Outer level can be used by people of the First Rank, the Inner level can be used by the Second Rank, and the Core level can be trained in by people of the Third Rank. I’m not even able to understand how this movement skill works for the Core level and I can only somewhat understand how it works for the Inner level.’ Akata was reviewing how the movement skill was divided to himself.

‘It doesn’t matter though, as the Outer level is much more faster and profound than the Shadowfeet technique. The Shadowfeet technique gets faster the darker the place you use it in, but the Lunarsun Steps can exceed the Shadowfeet technique’s top speed even in bright daylight. While the Shadowfeet technique uses shadows as the basis of speed, the Lunarsun Steps uses the light of the sun and moon as the basis.

But that means the more light that shines on me the faster I go but if I happen to be in a place where there is little or no light than I will be much slower. So how about I mix these two techniques together and combine the best traits of them.’ This was Akata’s aim as he studied this technique. If he could perfectly combine these two techniques together then he wouldn’t have to worry about where he was at when using this skill and he could also improve its speed. ‘Let’s get started then.’

“Akata!” A voice rang out as soon as Akata was about to begin. Akata opened his eyes and sent his nature sense out to scan his surroundings. His nature sense was fully replenished and back in top shape. After he had spent a full day looking over the various nature energy manuals and techniques it had even grown a bit stronger. Although it was invisible, if one could see his nature sense, one would notice a tiny amount of wisps flowing throughout his nature sense range. These wisps made it so that his nature sense could spread out further, move faster, and pick up more details regarding his surroundings.

From his quick scan of his surroundings, Akata picked up on a figure of a scarlet tiger standing in the doorway. From the energy, aura, height, weight, breathing rate, and other factors, Akata was able to conclude that this figure was familiar to him. Akata stood up and greeted the figure in the doorway. “Lord Tafei.” He said respectfully while bowing.

“Mn.” Lord Tafei greeted with a warm smile. “Please call me Scarlet Runic Lord as that is what all the other beasts of this land call me. Ahh… I don’t know who’s idea it was to get the beasts of this land to come up with exalted names for us great clans. Anyways, I have come to escort you to a gathering that has been planned yesterday. I would have told you when you woke up but you seemed to be in the middle of gaining some enlightenment. I’ll tell you more about the gathering as we walk there.” Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei said as he gestured Akata to come.

Akata didn’t reject and immediately got up to follow. This meeting had to be special as he was requested to go to it. Otherwise, he would’ve been able to finish gaining his enlightenment. Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei walked Akata to the gathering place and told Akata all about what had happened and the purpose of this gathering.

“So basically because I was able to go against the top geniuses of the beasts I was seen as a threat?” Akata asked with some minor confusion.

“Somewhat but not quite. In truth none of the tribes see you as a threat just an enemy because you are a mortal and have strength to rival their geniuses. Think of it as if you mortals had a competition with your top geniuses and one beast was able to beat half of your geniuses. Wouldn’t you view that beast as a strong enemy in the future. And if that beast was able to grow stronger it would prove quite troublesome in the future. That is the case here.” Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei said calmly.

“The Star Wolves, Gatorapes, and the Wyrms especially see you as an enemy. More specifically the Meteor Wolf Star Tribe, the Earthen Beast Tribe, and the Flying Dragon Snake Tribe, the top three tribes under ours, see you as an enemy. They may not want to kill you but they surely have something planned if they wanted to meet with you. Given their status, we couldn't just outright reject their request. The other tribes however we could reject it easily. Therefore only those three tribes will be about to meet you at this gathering.” Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei went silent for a moment.

This silence made Akata kind of wary as he could sense the deep thought that he was in. After a moment Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei spoke solemnly and much more quieter.

“I want you to be cautious of the Meteor Wolf Star Tribe however. They are known to be vicious when it comes to mortals, especially the leader right now, Star Sovereign Allica. If the gathering becomes unsafe we will have to get you as far away as possible from this island. That's just if worse comes to worse however, but still, be careful if them.”

Akata took these words to heart as he had his vigilance peaked now. In the inside he was very cautious but in the outside he looked as cool as a cucumber. Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei took note of this and nodded his head in satisfaction. “Good. Here we are.”

The place of the gathering was still on the grounds of the palace. It was in a large open courtyard that filled with countless runes etched into the walls and floor. It was a beautiful place that had a charming aura to it. Gold could be seen littering the ground as if it were useless. Plants filled the courtyard in a decorative manner and pillars with yellow fire could be seen throughout the place. This was a place that wasn’t accessible to the public or even regular members of the Scarlet Rune Tribe.

“This is Golden Runic Lord Taple’s private room. Everyone, even me needs permission from him to enter this place. For him to have the gathering here means that he does indeed wish to keep you safe.” Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei mentally sent a message to Akata.

Akata was amazed at the sight that he saw when he entered this place. The first thing he noticed was the sheer amount of gold in this place. Mortals, no matter how rich they were, would have their heart palpitate and their eyes go wide with greed from the amount of gold in this room. But every beast in here paid it no attention whatsoever. This was the difference between the lifestyles of the two races.

Akata quickly let it pass his mind as he didn’t really know the value of gold. The next thing that caught his attention was the powerful beasts that were in the gathering room. There were two striking pressures that especially caught Akata’s attention. One of them came from a familiar figure, Golden Runic Lord Taple, the other came from a beast he hadn’t met before. But he could conclude that it was the same type of beast as Pina.

Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei followed Akata’s line of sight and stated, “That is the true leader of the Flying Dragon Snake Tribe, Dragon Emperor Hymna. He has around the same level of strength as my father. He is also the oldest member that is apart of our Great Aka Tribe, around a thousand years old.”

Akata reeled at the sound of that. A thousand years old? He couldn’t even comprehend how long that was, but he definitely knew that it was a long time. The shock that appeared on his face caused Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei to reveal an amused smile.

“Once beasts reach the Temporal Rank, we can live much much longer. In fact I’m able to live up to half a millennium since I’ve reached the Beast Rank. In the Temporal Rank, some beasts have even been known to live up to two thousand years.”

‘I still don’t know why exactly I want to become stronger. But this just gives me more of a reason to. I want to know why getting stronger gives you a longer life, why you’re able to control people or situations with just an appearance, what are the secrets of this universe and who made it? There’s so many things to do and figure out that requires you to become strong.’ Akata silently mused to himself.

“Go over to where Tabet is for now until the gathering starts. When it does, you’ll get further instructions.” Scarlet Runic Lord Tafei stated. He pointed in a direction at where Tabet could be seen looking directly at Akata with a broad smile. Akata smiled back and went in that direction.