She thought for a while and said with uncertainty, "I don't know, it's very normal for adventurers parties, and merchants to disappear and most time they would be dead so no one would look for them. But, sometimes when the disappearance is strange they will send someone."

"Do you classify this as strange?", I asked

"I think so yes, the path we took is very common among small merchants, travelers, and so on. If a Foundation Establishment didn't return from it, it'll be investigated in the fear of losing other people. If there are monsters or bandits nearby they will be eliminated to ensure the safety of other people." She looked at me and spoke hesitantly, "They will send even stronger people, so you need to leave. They will be able to sense that you're not a spirit pet because there is no imprint on you and will attack you even if you don't do anything, or worse they will capture you, avian demon beasts are popular mounts even if they're not that strong."

Shit, that did not sound good. I had no desire to be someone's mount, how humiliating and soul-crushing would that be for me?

Seeing that I was silent, she added "You don't have to worry, for now, it will take days for them to arrive if they do at all."

I then thought of something, "Why didn't the bandits think of that? It seems like at this point it was only a matter of days till someone comes to save you?"

She stopped to think for a while and said"Hmm... It could be the fact that they're not very familiar with this country and adventurers, I heard some of the things they talked about and I know that they were from the nearby Badour Kingdom, it is a very military-oriented kingdom. The previous kings and even the current one were all generals at some point, and so they didn't allow the adventurer's association to set up shop in their kingdom. Also like I said earlier adventurers die by the hundreds if not thousands every day, it's not strange for some to go missing and not arrive at their destination, maybe they didn't care, maybe they had some contacts to provide them with some crucial information. There is also the possibility that they were just dumb and didn't think things through."

I liked how she analyzed this situation, after thinking for a while about it I couldn't think of anything that may have been left out.

"What can you tell me about this forest?", This was what I wanted to know the most.

"It's called The Still Hollow Forest, positioned right on the border between the Cania and the Badour Kingdom. Currently, we are in the outskirts of the forest, but the further you move north the more terrifying the demon beasts you will encounter. It's not very popular due to a lot of things. First off, it's always dark and humans can't naturally see in the dark unless they're in a higher realm, or have passive skills that grant vision in the dark. The monsters are very strong, yet their body parts aren't worth that much if you take the risk required to get them into consideration, there are more worthwhile places to make some money. It also has one other unique characteristic, it has no plants useful to humans at all."

I thought of the Three-White-Eyed deer, but it was rare, it was even mentioned in the appraisal description and from my exploration of the forest in these last couple of days I haven't encountered any.

Hearing her description of the forest, I could tell why I never encountered any human before, this place was a shit hole to them. Seeing her so knowledgeable I figured that this was a good opportunity to get some general information.

"Alright, tell me about this Vance City", I asked with bright eyes! What I lacked was information about the world.

She seemed surprised by my question, I didn't know why, but she replied nonetheless, "It's a Mid-sized coastal city on the north side of the Cania Kingdom. To get there from here you'd need around 10 days using a horse-pulled carriage if you keep going northeast."

I wanted to know more like what realm is the strongest person there, but I could tell that she was tired and was just hiding it. I figured I'd asked her afterward, it was indeed inconsiderate of me.

"Well, I see. Thank you, you can go and rest with the others. Take this.." I said giving her some very soft, silky, and warm blankets I found. I gave her over a dozen so that each one of them would be able to put one over the ground to sleep in and cover herself with the other.

She was barely able to hold all of them, the rest were thrown over her head, just an extra something that might put a weak smile on their faces.

She went back to the others, gave each one of the two blankets and they decided to sleep beside the campfire. As for sleeping in the huts? No one thought of that for obvious reasons.

Personally, I was not planning on sleeping anytime soon. Even if I wanted I won't be able to, I was just too excited.

I hurried back and returned to the watch tower.

I opened my inventory, this time using a visual panel, there are two ways I can access and view my inventory.

The first is through sending just a bit of mana into a newly mysteriously formed dark portal that lies in the depths of my mind, once my mana enters that portal I receive some wordless information and images about the content of the inventory. It may sound a bit intimidating and too much, but the process is so smooth and easy. In less than a fraction of a second, I get the full picture of my inventory without any difficulty.

The second is just through thinking 'Inventory' and a dark game-like panel appears showing everything I had in there, it also has filtering options which makes navigating it all the easier. You can choose to sort by numbers, name, or my favorite is using time so that the most recent acquired things appear on top.

My inventory was filled with stuff that I'd never seen, even though I'd just unlocked it. It was mostly filled with human bodies, armors, weapons, gold coins, pills, some cultivation manual scrolls, and other things that I couldn't recognize.

The bandit leader seemed to be rich, though I can't say for sure I don't know the value of these things they're worth something.

I will go through all of them later, now I have more important things.

Using my ming, I scrolled down to the end of the panel. There I saw something that made my heart skip a beat.

[Stygian Tempest Heavenly Arts]

It was a black scroll, but to describe it as such would be unfair. It looked like a godly item, not just in terms of looks even though its looks were unrivaled.

The pressure it emitted! A pressure that gave one the feeling of reverence, and fear, and inspired worship in people.

I still had not even brought it out from the inventory, I was just looking at its image in the inventory panel, yet it made me feel this way.

I felt like a man who was lost in a desert without food nor water for months only for him to stumble upon a feast with otherworldy aromatic delicacies and cool water.

This was not due to me thinking about how good it'd be and actively influencing my desire for it, No. At this point, I was not even thinking of anything but my entire being was set ablaze with desire.

The mana is my whole body was disturbed, tempted, and it was as if it gained sentience and then lost its damn mind!

In this current state, I would not be able to activate any sort of skill. I had no control over my body!

It looked pitch black but with some white ancient symbols engraved on its smooth surface radiating a strong light, it did not look like an inanimate object at all!

Wind and darkness were moving around it, even though everything that enters the inventory escapes from the field of time and space. This scroll defied all of that, in the dark panel filled with dead-looking items. Only the scroll was alive, if I was told that it was self-aware I would not find it that hard to believe.

I impatiently brought it out of the inventory and it was then materialized, showing its full glory to the world for the very first time! It kept floating in front of my eyes. I was not using my mana to keep it afloat, it was carrying itself through the sheer energy it was emanating.

However, I hurriedly retrieved it back to my inventory, I felt danger! I could feel that it was radiating a crazy odorless smell and energy that was spreading at a crazy speed, if I didn't bring it back I'm sure it'd have attracted all of the monsters in this forest due to their high dark affinity.

Holy shit!

Before this the word divine item didn't mean anything to me, it was just a word. Only now that I truly comprehend the depth, weight, and value of this item.

It's like how when people say they don't fear death, but when they come face to face with the actual thing called death, the end. They lose their shit.

What should I do now? I cannot possibly bring it back. I'll try something else.

I closed my eyes and controlled a small wisp of my mana to enter the inventory portal in my mind, this time I didn't let go of its control.

As I kept moving around with it, I started getting a feel of what I was approaching. It was like I was controlling a drone that sends sensory information into the depths of the sea, the only difference was that this was a storage space.

Bodies, bodies, bodies... Because each body is different, they don't stack on top of each other thus occupying a lot of space, gold coins, a weird crystal, pill bottles, weapons...

Then! The wisp of mana I sent was sucked out by something terrifying, I had no time to even resist its pull, whether I could have resisted at all is another question.

*BOOMMMM*

I felt like a small bamboo stick that was dealt the full-blown force of a huge tsunami, however, I was not injured in any way.

*Thudd*

My body lost its strength and fell on the wooden floor of the watch tower, thankfully it was strong enough to bear the fall of my full weight.

I lost all control and my mind was brought to a dark space.

I could not feel anything other than the dark elements that I'm already familiar with, then!

Strong gusts of wind started to form all over the dark space, they had no shape or form, just pure wind elements!

The wind started growing bigger and bigger until it started colliding with the limits of dark space, but it did not stop.

*CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!* *CLANG!*

It sounded like thousands of swords were hitting each other hundreds of times every second.

After a while, as if they both made a decision they stopped their conflict. The dark space started shrinking down and falling, while the wind started integrating with the smallest bits of the dark elements.

Wind and darkness went from trying to tear each other apart to merging, supporting, and building each other.

The wind was swift, sharp, and light. Whereas the darkness was destructive, still, profound and you couldn't sense it if you didn't see it directly.

After a short while, I could make out the figure the elements were trying to make.

A pitch-black dark eagle with bright white eyes!

The figure was growing by the second, after a while it consolidated and gathered every bit of wind and dark elements in that space.

Its eyes were looking directly at me, I did not have my body in this space, I was just a single point of consciousness.

*Screech*

The elemental eagle made a high-pitched cry, it was not loud at all. However, the pitch of the voice couldn't hide the majesty and strength it carried. I felt overwhelmed!

*Swoosh*

Suddenly, it was rushing directly in my direction. My first instinct was to run away due to how intimidating it was, but I had no wings, no legs, and not even eyes. I could not even look around, just straight ahead.

*BOOM!*

I felt another collision in my mind, this time it felt painful and I momentarily lost focus and I was not able to see anything.

After a while, I opened my eyes only to see that I was no longer a singular point of consciousness but I occupied the body of the elemental dark and wind eagle.

Occupy is a strong word here, more like a front seat passenger that can see everything that is going on but I was unable to influence it.

We were flying at an unimaginable speed, looking below I could see the landscape of a barren world changing every fraction of a second.

Up ahead I could see a very thick black mist, the eagle did not hesitate and entered it.