Jia Dai was lying down on a bed tied up, her back was covered with open scars through which blood was spilling out.

She had fair skin with long golden curly hair, her eyes couldn't be seen because she was blindfolded. Due to her unfortunate situation, she wasn't wearing anything, her face looked youthful, just someone in their early twenties.

The bandit that was tormenting her suddenly left, leaving her like this. Usually, when he tortures her he heals her afterward so that she wouldn't die. However, now he just left all of a sudden leaving her like this, if he doesn't come back soon enough she'd die due to blood loss.

Currently, she was quietly sobbing, the cloth that was used to blindfold her was already wet. She could feel her life slowly slipping away and she was barely holding on.

Even though she was currently living through the worst suffering imaginable both physically and mentally, she didn't want to die.

She was raised by a single father, they didn't look alike at all so she knew she was adopted. Such trivialities never bothered her nor him, the love that sweet wonderful man showed her was something even the biological fathers she knew were not able to give to their children.

He was so caring, strong, and forgiving, and does his best to help everyone around him. In simple terms, he was her hero!

She was clearly aware that in the grand scheme of things he wasn't that strong and there were a lot of people way stronger than him, but for her, he was the strongest both inside and out.

Even now, in her darkest moments, he was still helping her. Because the only thing that kept her going and not losing herself, were the memories she had of him, and the sacrifices he made for her to continue living.

She doesn't want to stay alive and suffer just because she feels in debt, No. He made her fall in love with life, both the bad and the good, and as long as there is something she can do, she will fight tooth and nail to survive and live on!

She refuses to let some scum of society who only dare to prey on the weak, and have no respect for themselves or others just like some mindless beast get the final laugh. She saw her fair share of people and she knows how to judge people, and these bandits are the lowest of the low.

Her father didn't raise her and sacrificed his life only for all of that to be taken away by these animals. She only blames herself for not being strong enough, she had an affinity with three elements Illusion, Fire, and Wind. Out of the three, she had the highest elemental affinity with wind but only reaching around 32%, she had 9% affinity with Illusion and 15% with fire.

Even her dream of becoming a powerful cultivator wasn't that probable with her talent. She knew that her future prospects weren't that great, life dealt her a bad hand and she could only swallow it and continue living.

That is why she was crying, she prayed for the scum that was using her to return quickly. She was prepared to suffer in this hell for years as long as there was light at the of the tunnel.

As she was cursing the bandits in her mind, she heard a commotion outside.

The bandits all over the camp started shouting and screaming in fear!

She could understand what they were saying.

"Demon beast attack!!"

*Ding* *Dong*

A bell was heard waking up all of the sleeping bandits.

"Prepare formation"

"Where are the leaders"

"ARGHH"

"We can't it's too strong"

"I don't know we're doomed, quickly split up and run away"

The hope that was ignited in her heart was slowly dying and replaced with despair! She couldn't hear any humans attacking, and the bandits didn't mention any enemy attacking only a demon beast and most importantly the strongest of the camp were nowhere to be seen.

If that's true then everyone would get slaughtered.

Soon the sounds of the bandits started to grow fainter by the second.

After a long while, the camp was enveloped in an unnatural silence.

She had no idea what is going on, she tried to remove her rope only for her injuries to worsen.

Jia felt defenseless and hopeless, and the worst thing is she couldn't see anything which only made the experience more dreadful for her.

*Bang!*

The door of the room that she was held in broke open.

She started twisting and wriggling in her place, as a last futile form of resistance only for the steel-like ropes tying her to penetrate her flesh drawing blood all over her body, worsening her injuries even further. She could feel herself slowly dying...

*Noo*

That is what she wanted to say, but all that came from her mouth were muffled noises.

The cloth filling her mouth was removed by an outside force enabling the sound that she was dying to make to finally come out.

"NOOOO!!!"

After a while, nothing happened, the death she was bracing herself for did not arrive.

She was stupefied, why would a monster remove the cloth in her mouth and not kill her directly?

Before she could continue on that train of thoughts, she felt a pill entering her mouth only for it to melt the second it made contact with her saliva, its healing properties rushing into her body like a cool yet strong healing riptide.

The wounds on her back were closing in at a noticeable speed, the life that was like a candlelight in a stormy night was now beginning to regain its former vitality.

Feeling her wounds closing up, she knew that she was given a healing pill, and even the quality seemed to be quite high.

'Is this the doing of a beast master?', Jia thought then became alert, afraid of holding on to some hope only for it to be crushed again.

"Please don't kill me", she said pleading.

After a while, a young but awkward voice of a young man was heard behind her, the voice sounded like someone who was just learning the language. Each word sounded like it was said for the very first time. However, it sounded genuine, and even a bit sad.

"Don't worry", after she heard that, the steel rope tying her got cut, then she felt something thrown at her, and from the texture, she could tell that it was some sort of clothing.

She started closing and opening her hand for the blood to flow because she could barely feel them due to how tight the rope was.

When she regained a bit of strength in her hand, she moved them and removed the blindfold, and opened her eyes for the first time in several days.

The room was dark so she didn't feel any discomfort, she just needed to get used to them again.

It didn't take long for her green eyes to see again.

Turning around she saw a huge majestic pitch-black eagle with golden eyes, looking at her dead in the eye.

It was taller than her, its body looked firm and strong. The feathers on its body looked especially sharp but also soft somehow.

She was terrified! But remembering the comforting sound, she chose to trust it. After all, she was already at the end of the rope both literally and figuratively.

Her eyes then moved past the demon beast looking for the beast tamer who saved her, but he was nowhere to be seen only his spirit pet was there.

She quickly put on the black robe that was given here and stood up with difficulty. Jia wanted to get out of the room and go see the beast tamer, she thought that he'd definitely be outside, but she was afraid of the giant eagle blocking the exit.

After looking at the demon beast for a while and seeing no hostility in its golden eyes, she felt a bit relieved. At the end of the day, this wasn't the first time that she dealt with spirit pets, regardless of how strong they are as long as they were not given the order by their master they're harmless.

So, after gaining a bit of courage, she moved towards it step by step slowly without making any sudden movements.

When she was just shy of a meter from it, she started feeling nervous again. Jia knew very well that this monster is very strong, she heard the sounds earlier.

Coupled with the information that some monsters are more intelligent than others, and the stronger they are the wiser they become. She extended her hand forward and waited for it to make the first move.

As if understanding her intentions, the monster stayed rooted on the spot not moving an inch in order not to scare her, and it just moved its neck and gently placed its beak on the girl's hand who was shivering and had her eyes closed.

Sensing the cold sensation on her arms, she retreated a few steps back. Even though logically she knew not to be afraid, it was just too intimidating. However, seeing the intimidating scary monster being gentle and even encouraging her, she felt at ease.

She put her hand on its beak, feeling its warm breath coming out slowly from its nostrils. She was shocked to find her hand covered in blood, but she wasn't scared. Wiping the blood on her black robe, she gently moved her hands below its face and started rubbing it slowly.

Seeing the monster looking at her in the eye, she felt a strong sense of intelligence coming from it. One that is unusual for monsters of its rank, she had heard from her father that only the descendants of mythical beasts are capable of human levels of intelligence even in the lower ranks.

'This isn't the descendant of a mythical beast like the famous Dark Vunamian Mandrills of this forest, it's clearly an Umbra Storm eagle. How peculiar', she thought.

She started feeling a bit safe and regained some of her usual vigor and courage.

"You are cute", she said smiling brightly, forgetting her current situation and the nightmare she was in for just a moment.

The monster pulled back its neck and stood up proudly just like when it first came in, smiled, and said "If you say so".

*Thud*

Her knees gave out and she dropped on her butt stupefied!

"What? How?"