"Oh? What is it?", She asked with eyes filled with curiosity.

"Something that would make you very very strong!", I said with a mysterious voice, trying to build a bit of suspense.

"Well, hurry up show it! Why are you tormenting me", She replied teasingly, though her eyes were clearly very intrigued.

"Alright, but the moment I bring it out, I want you to send a bit of your energy to it without any questions okay?", I looked at her and I emphasized the seriousness of the situation.

Otherwise, this happy occasion would turn into a nightmare in the blink of an eye.

Seeing how serious I was, her previously puffed-up feathers returned to their former tight state and she replied seriously, "Alright."

Without wasting any more time, I brought out the heavenly arts from my inventory.

It was noticeably less powerful than how it was when I first brought it, but its magnificence did not decrease one bit.

Ashe looked stunned and dazed the moment it appeared. I flapped my wings to wake her up and she immediately did as instructed.

She sent a bit of her mana towards it, only for that little droplet of mana to transform and return as a huge wave and enter the place between her eyes at a lightning speed.

*Thudd*

Her body lost all control and she fell over and I instantaneously hid the cultivation manual away!

Looking out the window I noticed that the heavy rain started to lose a bit of its previous intensity, but it was still strong. I moved my spiritual sense to check on the women, and everyone seemed to be alright.

Cai Yi and some women were in the wooden house Jia was held in and vice versa.

Kali and the tigers took shelter in a big tree with thick leaves and interconnected branches. Some droplets sill found a way to fall on them from time to time, but they did not seem that bothered at all.

I opened my Status Window to allocate my free points.

[~Status Window~

Host: Zed - Umbra Storm Eagle.

Titles: {Blazing Heart}, {Truth Seeker}, {Dauntless Spirit}

Level: 32

Experience Points(Exp): 44250/68400

Rank: Body Refinement(High)

Health Points(HP): 351/351

Magic Power(MP/Mana): 381/381

Spiritual Energy(SE): 391/391

Magical Resistance: 41(28)

Physical Resistance: 42(29)

Spiritual Resistance: 31(37)

Vitality: 68(102)

Strength: 71(106)

Stamina: 54(81)

Intelligence: 75(112)

Agility: 64(96), Dark: +19, Nearby Enemy: +16, Sky Dash: +19.

Spirit: 81(162)

Available Stat Points: 10

Available Skill Points: 6

Karma Points: 25

[Skills]

[Quests]

[Shop]

[Map]

[Inventory]

[Party(Locked)]

]

I had a 200% Stats boost on Spirit, and it was also my favorite attribute.

Spiritual attacks were so dangerous and life-altering in an intense life or death battle, even though my skills were only sub-par compared to some of the stuff I had seen in the shop.

I had my eyes on some spiritual spells, but I still needed to reach their prerequisite mainly high spirit and a higher cultivation realm.

There was also the fact that I was broke, but I had priorities.

After thinking about it for a while longer, I decided to put all of my 10 Stats on Spirit. Every other attribute was great but I needed the extra improvement on my spirit to raise the map's range, increase my spiritual damage, and just an overall increase in my ability to escape and sense enemies.

The cornerstone of any successful fight.

My Spirit attribute directly jumped from 213 to a staggering 243, and my Spiritual Energy increased from 391 to 424.

I felt like a flash of light going on and my mind went blank, but it was not a bad feeling.

Just the opposite, it felt very cool and soothing as if every problem I ever had was but a dream. I could feel that something was expanding, it was not my mind but something deeply related to it.

Was this the soul?! I could not tell, it still felt so distant.

All I knew for certain was that I was now able to do some pretty hefty damage using my spiritual attacks, and the fact that the range of my map increased to 700 meters.

After the feeling subsided, I calm down and glanced at my status window.

I still had 6 skill points.

I knew what I was going to do with them, Dark Shield!

I've had my wing broken several times now, and I almost died because of it. I needed something other than resistances to increase my survivability.

Counting on just resistance was already a loser's mentality, I did not even notice it before.

It meant that you gave up on dodging and were already counting on the attack landing on your body. Resistances are vital but they should be the last countermeasure, not the only one.

Especially for a self-proclaimed assassin like myself.

I unquestioningly spent 5 skill points, raising it from Intermediate to Mastery. Leaving me with only 1 point but it was definitely worth it.

My mind was immediately assaulted with what felt like years of memories about the in-depth usage of the skill.

After a while, I returned to normal.

[Dark Shield(Active): The user is able to quickly condense a shield made of Dark elements. The shield's durability depends on the amount of Mana spent creating it. |Mastery|]

Although nothing seemed to be different, the opposite could not be more true!

It was no longer rigid in its creation, previously I could only make that oval shield shape and some other shapes in that category. However, now it's completely different.

I activated Dark Shield but I only created a heavy mercury-like substance with it, covering my right wing. Then, I put even more mana and I managed to cover up my whole body.

It felt very, very durable! However, the drawback is the amount of mana needed. 180! A huge sum, I could obliterate dozens of monsters with it.

It should only be used in decisive moments when I was sure an attack was about to land but had no way of escaping.

The biggest increase was definitely in its durability. For example, previously if I spent 10 mana to create the shield it'd only be able to block around 50 of damage. Now, the same 10 mana was able to block more than 200 of damage. Undoubtedly, a huge transformation!

I always found it strange how as you grow stronger and you understand your skills in depth you become able to do unimaginable things with very little amounts of mana compared to before.

The stronger I become the more I become convinced of this simple truth. Strength without profound understanding was very limited, if not crippling.

If three people were to fight, and they had the same intelligence and the same skill, wind blade for example.

The first would be just strong due to his high Intelligence, he'd be able to do some formidable damage no doubt. The other would be strong and more proficient in the skill.

Whereas, the last one would be strong, proficient in the skill and understands the Elemental Laws of his elements thus understands the inner workings of the skill to a very profound level which would enable him to unleash unimaginable might, unlike the two.

It was very easy to imagine how the fight would go.

I stopped thinking, activated my Dao Field, and closed my eyes to cultivate.

Cultivation was by far my favorite time of the day!

No cultivation session was the same, all of them had this new quality of embarking on a new adventure, especially when comprehending elemental laws.

Even though, I had already spent a bit of time in this world and was accustomed to my new life and its endless magic.

You could not help but get used to things, but not when cultivating.

That feeling of the occult and mysticism was always there because you're constantly learning new things.

How the world functions, the origin of mana, how it transforms, the different elements, and other worldless understandings which are the most erudite.

All of them are united with very profound magic, and through learning anything you become more and more engrossed and passionate in that endeavor of endless learning.

I could not help but recall one Zem Poem by Ikkyu I had read,

"Learn how to read the love letters sent by the wind and rain, the snow and moon."

..

[+2 Strength, +2 Stamina]

I opened my eyes and ended my cultivation when I heard creaking noises.

The Mama bird or rather Ashe woke up, she still seemed a bit drowsy so I quickly spread out my senses and checked out the camp and the three kids.

Fortunately, everything was in order.

I quickly formed a mind link and waited for her to connect.

She was barely able to stand up as if unaccustomed to her new strength and changes. Just like me, she completely transformed and turned pitch black! She grew in size a bit, and her eyes had a newfound confidence in them!

Her body was also covered with those impurities, I quickly closed my sense of smell with mana to avoid it. She had even more impurities than me, it could be because she was older and thus cultivated more.

She closed her eyes and started examining herself, after a while, she opened her eyes shocked, "This.. this... where did you find this? I have never heard of anything like this before. I knew there were cultivation manuals because I had seen humans before but...", she stopped after saying that as if looking for the right words to describe it, "This is unheard of! where did you find it?"

Of course, I knew that the divine cultivation manual was invaluable, but I could not say where it came from. The existence of the system involved a lot of secrets and most of them were not even my own to share.

There was also the fact that she hinted at being with humans several times but I'd ask her afterward.

"Don't worry about where I got it from, all I can say is that no one knows I have it so don't worry. So do you like it?", I glossed over her question and asked her directly how she was feeling.

I did feel a bit proud not gonna lie, in this world there was no greater appeal than strength. Yet, I offered the unimaginable both strength and potential. As someone who was constantly at the edge of life and death, I knew she'd truly appreciate it!

Once she heard my question she woke up from her shocked daze and finally started thinking about what this would mean for her, "I love it... thank you, thank you son. I have been stuck in this small realm for more than a year now, I could break through but the next small realm would have been my limit.", She said with teary-eyed rejoicing!

Then, her head went down as if she remembered something and her voice seemed to be going lower and lower, "You know I had always regretted having children." She looked at the light drizzle outside and said shamefully.

I did not interrupt and let her finish what she wanted to say.

She looked at me with a slight smile and said, "Of course, not because I hate you children but the opposite.", She glanced at the floor and continued speaking "I felt ashamed for having children without having the ability to protect them, it was even more so when your brother died. It was my fault..."

*Splat*

A tear fell down from her eyes and landed on the wooden floor.

When the little guy died, I had not even considered how this would affect her, I only saw her as a mindless beast.

Unfortunately, at that moment I was going through a lot of stuff of my own and I did not even acknowledge the two siblings as real people, his death did not affect me whatsoever.

However, for her, it must have been devastating, especially since she blames herself for not having the strength to protect them.

"I...", I was tongue-tied, I did not expect this situation at all.

I was looking forward to a happy occasion to bring the two of us closer yet who would have thought the strong wall that gave me a lot of security in my weakest moment was actually this troubled and fragile. I sighed and said, "Sorry Mom, but you should not blame yourself. Potential and affinity are beyond our reach, we can only do the best we could with what we have and what's within our control as for the rest we can only hope and leave the rest to fate."

I did not continue speaking and gave her a bit of time to calm down a bit.

"I know, but it was my fault there is no changing that. I knew it'd be dangerous but I went and had children regardless. Deludling myself into thinking it'd be alright and it was your brother who paid the price", She said with a voice filled with shame and regret.

Should I talk or just let her vent? Fuck it! She must have hated herself as it is, I'd give her my two cents, and hopefully...

"Life is strange Mom, you can never prepare for it because life is constantly changing, what if you were the strongest monster in the region? Another monster will show up!

We are imperfect creatures, in our thinking and even more so in our understanding of life, do you think people who are stronger than you are free of death? I don't think so, no one can escape the fickleness of it all. One day you're at the top of the world and the other you're in the trenches." I said while looking at her and trying to do my best to comfort her but also to provide a voice of reason.

I then continued, "It was very unfortunate that he died, but life goes on. You can grieve his death and blame yourself only to the extent that they would not negatively affect your life going forward, but to only learn what you can and move on. Otherwise wouldn't you be letting down yourself and your other children who are still alive? I believe that there is a very delicate middle ground between honoring the dead and moving on, blaming yourself though can be comforting because you feel like you're taking responsibility for your mistakes it only does more harm than good Mom...", I was barely able to finish what I wanted to say, I did not want to hurt her feelings but this was exactly the most rational and practical way of looking at the situation.

I knew that it was easy for me to say that and look at it as such because I was very distant but for her who was in the midst of it all, it was very difficult so I hurriedly added, "Don't take my words too seriously, because I cannot truly understand what you're going through and that is exactly why it is easy for me to see and say that. However, I hope that you won't reject what I said and give it some thought once you're calmer, because I truly believe in what I said!."

She stopped crying and was still looking at the light drizzle outside with a heavy heart, she sighed and said, "I'll think about everything you said another time.", I could tell she did not want to continue talking about that anymore, but in my opinion, this was exactly the perfect reaction!

Thinking through things when you're already very conflicted and filled with emotions is not really the best mental state to inspire understanding and rational emotional conclusions.

I sighed and wished her the best, this was a battle only she can overcome, I can only cheer her on from the sidelines.