The time slowed down as Majid watched the fox with reddened eyes, getting closer and closer. His chest heaved more with each step. All he could hear at that moment was his heart, booming in his ears. Time turned fast forward, the fox disappeared from his view he's soul instinctively flared locating the fox, in the middle of the of fire-lizard steps symbol. It was as if the fox teleported to his left, behind enough in his blind spot, he's heart almost burst of his chest. Majid reacted fast, he stepped on the outer circle, distancing himself. Mid through, a strong blow bent his body from the side, it flew in an arc, tumbling in the air before he crashed 20 meters away, the fox run after him. Majid rolled many times on the ground unable to control his body, his side burning intensely. He got on his knee as soon as the momentum died, only to find the fox right before him. He couldn't get surprised, nor did he see the attack, and though his soul sensed it coming, it was faster than he could collect even himself. He was sent rolling on the ground again, only stopping when his body hit a tree. Fortunately, he has the boy experience, his mind fired his soul to sense his enemy and channeled Qi to provide some protection. Otherwise, the blunt would have broken his bones, and the fire burnt his skin. Surviving the 2 blows gave him the courage to fight, he must fight! his breathing started to regulate itself. This time he kicked the ground to the side evading by a hair. The fox was so fast though, it followed right after him with another blow. This time at least he raised his guard receiving the blow, a flash of fire sent him flying nonetheless. But he was able to control his body, land on his legs, his body didn't stop leaving behind a deep trail in the ground. His eyes firm were fixated on the fox, bent on following its movements, but to his surprise, the fox didn't go after him, it stared at him for a while. 'you're qualified' the fox nodded. "w-w-what!" his head turned left and right before it craned to the fox, he soon cooled off his surprise it was to be expected after all in this world. He didn't let his guard down as he waited for the fox to say something again. He gives some spiteful stares to the small fox who was lying near a tree, leisurely spectating the show. "As you must know, we don't live near human settlements, I originally live deep in the forest. But with my cub, I have a great weakness, but I have my partner to share the burden, with as both we could fend off most threats. Recently a pack of dogs attacked us, I was heavily injured, my mate died giving us the chance to escape". It didn't move its mouth, but he could hear the voice clearly in his mind, it was eerie. The voice was a high pitched annoying voice like the barking of the little fox. 'So it was telepathy,' he noded like a professor, surveying his theories under test. 'Like hell, I care about your f**ing problems, you just attacked me, and now you're telling me your story, these beasts didn't have manners, so what! you want me to be the father now and take responsibility or something'. As the hostility of the fox vanished, his sense of relief exploded in a fit grumbling, but he didn't dare to voice his complaint. The fox didn't care about his feelings, she continued the story, she escaped to the safe zone to recover. Though it risks meeting humans, it was still safer, she can hide somewhere and recover without attracting attention. But her injury was serious than she expected, her vitality kept dropping. So she looked around for something to help her recover, with her high senses, she found a spirit source. Unfortunately, another beast was guarding the source for itself, she tried to share it, but the beast attacked, with her injuries, she could only back off and escape. The picture got clearer, Majid could feel where this is going, he interrupted the fox. "So you want me to help you". 'Yes'. "Why do you think I'm gonna help? it's not like you asked nicely you even attacked me, do you want to force me into helping you?" The fox looked unfazed, "Of course you need something in return. You can keep the beast core, and we could share the spirit source, all I need is to recover, you can have the rest for yourself". He indeed would need some resources to train for the next few months, it was a good opportunity and all, but there was a tricky part about it. "How can I trust, you will keep your word?" After all, it wasn't a just request, she wanted to kill another being for its benefits, that didn't settle well with him. What's gonna prevent it from turning on him as well. "That... you have to figure out for yourself, all I can say is, I won't ask much of you, only to distract the enemy to give me a chance to give it a final blow. Even if we succeeded, I would be weakened, it wouldn't be in my best interest to attack you even if I wanted". The gears in his mind started to roll, browsing through the boy's memories. It doesn't seem there's a beast contract or the like, he can't ask her to give her cub as a hostage either. He wasn't able to make a decision. "Why me?" "Let me continue the story so you can understand," she was in a critical situation. If she didn't get to the source, it's only a matter of time before she will succumb to her injuries. She couldn't ask beasts for help, instead, humans could cooperate given the right price. But she couldn't go around herself as she needs to recover, and If she met a powerful cultivator, most likely she would be killed for her beast core. Humans for some reason don't kill cubs, so she sent the little fox to look for a young cultivator. When little fox first found him, he was disappointed, Majid speed was lower than him when he chased him, he eventually gave up on Majid. Today when the little fox stumbled on him though, he found out that he was hiding his power so he approached him again." "This doesn't explain why me" "You avoided a fight even though you were stronger, and you're weaker than me, these are my reasons" 'You could have said that. why the long story!' 'So the little fox is weaker than me, where the hell all his confidence comes from, does it come from my show cowardice or the backing of his mother' "Are you sure we can defeat him?" He looked seriously at the fox making his last question. "Human, I thought you're smart race, or is it just you!" the fox rolled her eyes at him. 'Look at this guy!' he rolled his eyes back at the fox. "There's nothing like sure in a fight! if we fought well, we can defeat it" "Give me some time, I need to think!" "Serve yourself" He can trust the fox, at least for now, it had the upper hand yet It didn't finish him off. Sooner or later he needs to fight, based on his fight with the fox, even though he couldn't follow her movement on a close-range with his eyes, his soul can. Though his reflexes weren't up to par, this was his first fight, if he has time to train, he could hone his reactions. If he trains with the fox more, there's no chance better than this. Besides, he needed those resources to increase his chances of passing the school selection. He must understand what he's gotta deal with though before he makes his final decision, he approached the fox. "Can you tell me about the beast, how strong is it?" The fox didn't hesitate to recount its encounter, its seem like it likes storytelling. The beast was a strong Ape of the same level as her, she has an advantage over him though, as he's element less. But his body was stronger, especially with her injuries, she can't fight him for a prolonged time. that's why it needed Majid help, to finish it as fast as possible. "I have 2 conditions to accept your offer" "go ahead" "First I need some time to train, as you can see this is my first time in the wilderness" "I can give a week, I can't hold on much longer". Majid smiled, and he continues "I need to fight with you periodically to get used to a superior opponent". This time the fox looked perturbed, it took her long to conclude "Then I can give you 4 days to train, and I can only fight for a short duration each time". It would be better if he could fight longer, but he can't take too much blow from her anyway. It was good enough, he could build his courage against a fierce opponent, he could check his reflexes from time to time until it reaches a passable level. An idea sparkled in his mind making his decision easier. "Deal!" confirming the deal, he climbed a nearby tree. 'Yeah it should be time by now, system do I really have to ask, shouldn't you be popping them around, what you've got for me!'' [what function does the user want] 'system shows me the quests, of course, hahaha' he tried hard to keep the laugher to himself. He thought that the system definitely has a quest for him, to hunt the beast. [There no quests] 'The hell! System' Coldwater poured over his body, extinguishing his excitement. Still, he found a way to comfort himself. 'System, when would I start to receive Quests' [The system didn't support quests, so there would be no quests] This time hot water poured over his body, rage broke loose. He checked the system, other than the identification skills and his status, there was nothing no shop, no inventory, no quests. "Ahhh!" 'System, are you kidding me! you better make some quests, do you understand, make the f***ing quests, this isn't fair, f**k....' [request is under analysis..., request accepted] [Quests generation…, wait] [Quests] Master the second level of fire-lizard steps Master the second level of fire snake fist Break through the 4th level of body tempering realm Defeating the Ape Beast 'You have some after all, hahaha, don't scare me, this kind of jokes are bad you know!' 'system what's the rewards for the first quest?' [there's no reward] 'Ok! cool! what about the second and third?' [there's no reward] 'The heck! show me at least how much exp each gives or something' A bad premonition started to take over him. [there's no exp or any kind of advantage granted by the system by accomplishing any quest] 'no no no... that can't be. It must be just because they are self-rewarding basic quests, no problem, this's just the beginning, stop being greedy'. cold sweat plagued his body, as he kept looking at the notification. '[any quest] system what do you mean by that' [the system is incapable of granting any physical benefits for the user, for this quest or any feature quest. The system is an AI cohabiting in the user's brain and soul to help him access and organize his knowledge] 'f*** f***... I knew it!' Even though it was plain and clear, the system was but an AI, it wasn't omnipotent, he couldn't give up. He kept reading the notification, again and again, his eyes reddened, suddenly the gear in his mind stopped. 'System you can at least created a knowledge reward for me,' the system knows more about himself, and it could do more than just that it could make analytics. 'Just give me something,' he needed Quests and Rewards for motivation, that's the system he dreamed of having. [request is under analysis…, request accepted] [rewards generation…, please wait] [Quests] Master the second level of fire-lizard steps. Reward: analysis of the third level of fire-lizard steps Master the second level of fire snake fist Reward: Analysis of the third level of fire snake fist Break through the 4th level of body tempering realm Reward: Analysis of the 4th level of cultivation method Defeating the Ape Beast. Reward: Beast Core, Spirit source "System you can make those analyses for me without a need to do the request right!" [No unless you completed the Quest, the system won't do the analysis] Cold sweat covered his forehead, a foreboding thought floated to the surface, 'System, tell me please it's not because I asked you to make rewards for me' [No this kind of analysis is out of limit from the start, the system can't make the user stupid from overreliance on the system] 'Look at this guy!' Seeing the result he let out a deep breath, 'so this is why I got a bad feeling before when I first knew this system wasn't omnipotent heh!' but with this kind of result, he wasn't too disappointed, he avoided the worst. Who knows, maybe it could surprise him with some good rewards, or so he hoped. The fox becomes his first master, the little one becomes his first fellow disciple. He let the little fox attack him all day long while he tries to overpower him in positioning. He evades the attacks moving behind the little fox where he can strike if he so wanted, he doesn't dare to retaliate though, he feared the wrath of his mother. In between, he would exchange some blows with the mother, in reality though, he was a sandbag, all he can do is trying to expect her attacks and avoid them. Even if he could fight back he wouldn't as she was already suffering from attacking him. the fox power was dwindling over time, the more he trained, his power increased, the more the fox power decreased. In a way it was good news for him, after all, he can't trust the fox either, but it was a tricky situation. He must stop before the balance broke, he can't let her lose much power it was their main damage dealer, he can't let his selfishness lead to their demise.