Kirian ate his favorite breakfast, 3 eggs and 1 large strip of beast meat with his grandparents, uncle, parents, and sister. It was a peaceful breakfast. Kirian closed his eyes and savored this morning, while wishing Arnie could be here. After confirming that everything was in his storage pouch, he closed his bedroom door and walked to the front gate. Kirian waved goodbye to his parents and Sarah. He promised he would return before he turns 23. This way he can talk to Arnie about the future of the Cain Clan. Kirian also wanted to help pave the way for his spoiled little sister. Yesterday she announced that she would be a yellow grade 3 by the time she’s 18, so Kirian wanted to come back to tease her if she failed.

Kirian turned around and looked up at the sun. He was running behind schedule as breakfast ran late due to Uncle Eric needing to be at a morning meeting to discuss Clan strategies. So now it was a little before noon. Kirian left Cain manor and proceeded down the main road. The main road took him through the town and passed the training field. After 15 minutes of jogging, Kirian could no longer see the town. At this pace he would leave Cain territory in a few hours if he went straight East towards the road that led to White City.

Silver Country is on the West side of the Murong Empire. The Murong Empire is the ruling party of planet Rock. They govern from Central city. Outside of Central city, there are four families and three large sects that support the Empire. These seven powers surround Central city. The outer ring holds the four families in each cardinal direction while the 3 sects reside in the inner ring closest to the Empire. The three reside in the three corners of a triangle around Central city but have influences from all over Planet Rock.

The far west side is mostly governed by the Petrichor family, one of the big four. West of Central city was called Silver Country. Silver Country comprises many counties. When Kirian left Cain territory he was within Raven County of Silver Country.

The nearest big city was roughly 500 li away (150 miles). Now Kirian was a yellow grade 4 cultivator and had nearly 7000EUs. He was only 500 EUs from being in grade 5. Based on his current cultivation he could easily reach the city in 2 days, but Kirian wanted to break through prior to reaching the city. The perfect place was Wild’s forest. Kirian had ventured into Wilds forest as it neighbored the East side of Cain territory. The forest was a well-known training area for high initial awakening cultivators and up. The forest had a few layers and the outer sector was perfect for hunting beasts and foraging for herbs and plants.

Kirian reminisced as he recalled the first time he came to the forest. Back then, Kirian was 13, Arnie was 16, Sarah was 11. Their mother brought them to Wild’s Forest to hunt a level 2 bear beast to celebrate their father’s return from the outside. Bear meat was Ralf’s favorite. Cindy could have requested other clan members to do this task, but nothing tasted better than a dish cooked with love from start to finish. She decided to take the younger kids out. Arnie had already ventured into the forest and good handle level 1 beasts by himself. A level 1 beast was roughly equal to an initial stage grade 8 cultivator. Arnie was a yellow grade 2 when he was 16. While he could not handle a level 2 alone, it would not kill him.

A level 2 beast was equal to a yellow grade 3 cultivator, but bear beasts were notorious for their thick skin and overpowered claws. Bear beasts were always a bit stronger than the typical beast rankings. However, with their mother present a level 2 bear would not harm them. Cindy had brought the kids out to bond, while taking the time to show them how to use their techniques, cut, kill, and salvage animal corpses. Arnie was used to this as he came out with his parents a few years ago.

Kirian and Sarah were new to it. Sarah was an initial grade 6 while Kirian was at initial grade 9 and close to breaking through to yellow. Sarah tried to send out her energy arrows, but her 1,600 EUs just seemed to poke the bear. Kirian first tried to use his physical strength to gauge his standing with a yellow level 3. The bear was close to hitting him with his outstretched paws, but thanks to a burst of a movement technique and some silent help from his mom he came out unscathed. This continued for an hour as Cindy instructed her kids.

Meanwhile the beast bear was getting reckless as it sensed it was being toyed with. The bear was lashing out and Cindy restrained the bear with Arnie. This allowed Sarah and Kirian to both laugh their best killing strike. Kirian used act 1 of his sword art to pierce a narrow hole straight through the bear. There was barely any blood as the sword swiftly stabbed through. The EUs allowed the sword to give off small vibrations with provided deeper penetration. He stuck through the bear’s heart, since his mother requested that they keep as much intact as possible. Kirian pulled out his sword and wicked off any blood.

At the same time, Sarah had sidestepped the bear and launched three EU covered arrows at the bear’s head. Only 2 arrows hit. The last one was headed Arnie’s direction, so he swiftly dodged it. Sarah’s attack went towards the bear's neck and ended up puncturing a large artery. The bear was gushing blood and Sarah refused to reuse her arrows. Kirian sighed and grabbed them for her. Sarah started shouting “I killed it, I killed it, teehee.” Everyone else made eye contact and shrugged their shoulders. If their spoiled princess wanted the credit, then they would give it to her.

After that, Cindy showed the kids how to clean the bear carcass and strip it of its fur. She pointed out what meat was edible and gave suggestions on how and what to cook it with. Kirian learned that his mom was a foody that day. She also enlightened Kirian about other classes or occupations that cultivators take on like cooks, blacksmiths, alchemists etc. A beast’s body can be used by a variety of classes and depending on how neat the kill is and how well you harvest, people are able to make a living off hunting.

Kirian learned a lot that day and it remains one of his fondest memories. As he was running through the forest remembering his happy memories, he came to the edge of the outer layer. He never went too far into the inner region as level 2 and 3 beasts are rampant. As a yellow grade 4, he can beat level 2 beasts with a bit of effort. Depending on the level 3 species he may not win. A level 3 beast is comparable to his current level, but variants like the bear beast may be closer to the Orange level 1.

Kirian confirmed his surroundings and slowly ventured into the inner forest. The inner forest is 50 li deep. Once he crosses this distance, he will only have 75 li on the other outer region left. Past Wild Forest is open grassland inhabited by smaller villages and settlements.