Overall this was great, I also noticed that I was slowly becoming their psychiatrist!

I did not want that nor did I think I was qualified for it, but when you see people in pain you could not help but try to lessen their pain in the only way you know how for me that is a rational approach.

If there was one thing that I was sure of, was that you really cannot resolve people's inward problems. No one can save us but us.

The only thing you could do is try to gently lift them from the pattern of thoughts they're caught up in. Whether it is self-blame, hate, worthlessness, etc... Then, maybe offer a more realistic and rational way for them to look at the situation.

Afterward, assure them that they should take all time they need, because everyone processes things differently, and it was a very natural thing to think and feel the way they do because it's true, our emotions are so out of our control that thinking otherwise is delusional.

Sure, we can suppress or numb something but the origin, the value, or rather the weight of it remains out of our control. I suppose the last step would be to offer a genuine solution to their problem, whether they take it to heart, understand it, or whatever.

You can take the horse to the water, but you can't make him drink. You also don't have the right to get mad at the horse for not drinking, after all everyone wants to drink and if someone does not means there are other problems and your indignation about that only makes it worse.

"I want to test something, help me.", After sitting in silence for a couple of minutes I asked her after she calmed down a bit.

I brought out one of my beast pouches and I put a bit of my mana into it. A strange star-like mist started coming out of the pouch's mouth, I beckoned Ashe to go in and she did.

The moment she made contact with the mist, it started moving and started engulfing her from the tip of her beak to the end of her tail.

The moment she was completely covered by the mist, she started getting smaller and smaller at a very terrifying pace, then she completely disappeared.

The mist which was now dark in color returned to the pouch on its own and the pouch closed itself.

Fucking magic! I got goosebumps just from looking at it.

Looking at its exterior, I could not feel any difference between before and now.

I used my inventory ring to store the pouch, but it did not work.

I tried using my inventory, and surprisingly it worked!

Hm... But I did try to put living things in it and it did not work.

Could it be a combination of the beast pouch and the inventory? I did not know and frankly, I did not care, I did not have the time to pursue questions that would bring no benefit other than pure knowledge. Unless there was a benefit I just was not aware of it? In any case, I still had a lot of things to do, priorities and all.

I brought out the beast pouch and used a bit of mana and the Mama bird was immediately thrown out.

I hurriedly formed a mink link and asked, "How was it?",

"It just felt like I was in this world just hidden from it somehow. I could also hear the sound of the rain even from there and I felt like I could get out because it seemed fragile", She replied with a strange look on her face.

I naturally knew she was able to get out.

There was sound? Hmm... that brought up another question. If sound waves were able to make their way into the beast pouch's dimension, what about Mana?

"Ok go back in there and try to cultivate. Don't try the new cultivation manual it'd take a bit of time to set up, just use the old one."

I controlled my mana and used the beach pouch once again to bring her inside, after a couple of moments I threw her out again.

I formed the link and asked, "So, how was it?"

"It worked, I could cultivate indeed from there."

"Let's try one last time", I said because I needed to try inside the inventory. Hopefully, it'll work!

She got in once again and after a while, I brought her out.

"Did it work", I asked with a high tone, visibly on edge.

"Yes", she said with a faint smile.

Thank god! Hearing her answer I was over the moon, this meant I could just store them in my inventory and let them cultivate.

Theoretically, I knew it would work but I still needed to try. My inventory was a real tangible place, unlike what you'd find in a game.

Its entrance was a black portal at the depth of my mind, that was why I could use my divine cultivation manual just from there previously.

After I made sure the matter of the beast pouches was done, I was finally at ease.

Then, I remembered something.

"Can you tell me who used to hold you back when the monkey monsters used to attack?", I asked while tip-toeing around the subject. I did not want to tell her where the heck did you go when her son died. It was indeed frustrating for me as well.

Her eyes changed for a second becoming almost red with rage, "It's a plant monster northeast, It used to send its seed into my territory and I had to keep removing them otherwise they'll start spreading a misty poison, and give birth to even more seeds. However, I only removed the little flowers and did not dare to attack she was very very strong and could kill dozens of monsters at the same rank on its own. Don't go there!"

This was all the information I needed, and I'd absolutely go there.

Maybe if this monster died she could shift the blame for her son's death to it, because it was indeed the one responsible.

"Ok thanks, by the way, you stink!", I reminded her of the impurities still covering her body and jumped off the window "Alright, I'm off, protect the camp for a while and cultivate well!", I said before leaving quickly through the window

I did not forget to turn off my Dao Field before venturing out, Ashe did not seem to notice it may be because she just transformed and thought it was related to it.

As I was flying, the rain seemed to suddenly intensify, but I knew that was not the case. It was due to my speed that I was able to run into more raindrops compared to when I was just still.

Oddly, I did not expect that I'd enjoy it as much as I was. Thanks to my strong biology, the simple natural rain could not lower my body temperature at all. I still felt as warm and comfortable as when I was sheltered in the watchtower, and I was also able to feel the cool droplets as they made their way around my soaking wet feathers before falling to the ground, sometimes even reaching into my skin tickling me in the process.

Ugh, FUCK!

A drop of rain immediately fell directly into my right eye making me stagger in the sky, all of my previous enjoyment vanished in the blink of an eye.

I hate when shit gets close to my eyes, even more so when shit does get into my eyes!

I always felt like the eyes were some of the most vital body parts for a healthy and happy life, yet they were the most vulnerable. Tsk, crappy design.

I made my way into the gang of misfits' tree and gave them the bodies of the bandit leaders to enjoy!

Those were some high-quality rich meat filled with strong mana and nutrients.

I left the Mid rank Foundation Establishment leader to Ashe and gave them the silver-haired, bald, and goatee man.

I also brought out the pheasant I hunted before. Once we finished our meal, We played a simple game of tag for a while. Needless to say it was tag monsters edition, with skills, sharp claws and fangs, ultimate moves, and incredible speed.

The best case scenario was when just a bit of blood was spilled, but not too much.

It sounded rough and painful, because it was, but not to the extent that would make you solely focus on it, I do feel like my pain tolerance is now high. So, we did have a ton of fun.

Speaking of fun I also discovered a new strange hobby that makes my heart beat faster.

Stalking!

Yes! I just love stalking, the longer the better. There was something strangely captivating to me about the whole concept.

Being in the dark and watching something with a plan in mind, whereas your target is blissfully ignorant and just going about their day in a merry way.

It was mostly biological instincts, but there was an undeniable psychological factor as well.

The feeling of power, control, and intelligence that comes with it. The feeling of having everything within the palm of your hand when your target has no clue about your existence and their probable approaching doom, makes you feel intelligent and strong when the other is ignorant and weak.

That was the twisted part of it, it was mostly due to me being a non-confrontational person thus liking these types of power plays that don't necessarily involve the participation of the other person.

As much as it was a curse, it was also a huge blessing. From my knowledge so far, any sapient creature is emotional due to the existence of thoughts. Emotional creatures are very error-prone due to the existence of having emotional desires and needs.

An example would be how because someone might want to feel better about themselves, they might show off to other people and in doing so they unintentionally release some of their secrets thus creating for them weaknesses that might even result in their deaths.

Or how might someone prefer to look someone in the eye and make himself shown to prove something, maybe it was an act of revenge and he wanted to give the gloating look of 'I told you so' even though it's risky and involved danger which might endanger their life.

The examples were endless.

For me if I wanted to take revenge, it would not involve the validation or the feeling of the other person at all, well maybe a little only if I had the ability to debilitate them without risking my life, or if it involved the emotional progression of someone I was close with.

I'd just plan well, analyze every scenario, and think of countermeasures then I'd come at him with everything I got. Killing or crippling him in a single attack. It was not because I was a cold emotionless being, but the opposite.

The emotional satisfaction I'd get from that is through playing the long game, patience, intelligence, and the feeling of being practical regardless of my emotions because I'm aware of how most people would go about it, so one can't help but feel special.

The mind is really strange... I did not justify nor condone any of that, but it was there. I did not think there was a need to either own or reject it just let it be and be aware of how it was affecting my thoughts and feelings thus actions.

Initially, I was only planning to play them for a bit, but it was just too damn fun! Especially running and playing in the rain, I also was starting to grow fonder of them day after day.

But, I still had things to do.

I shooed them off and headed northeast.

I was going to find the other person responsible for my brother's death. Personally, their death would not bring me any satisfaction whatsoever, but it was essential for the Mama bird to get some sense of closure about the whole ordeal.

I figured she only blamed herself because the monster is too strong for her so she never dared to even consider putting the blame on it and she only saw herself as the one at fault.

I opened the map's visual panel and it immediately appeared in front of me blocking my line of sight, however, I switched to using spiritual sense instead of my eyes to dodge the tree branches and keep moving.

The map was becoming more and more life-like with every increase in Spirit, it showed 700 meters of the forest with me as the center exactly, as it was with trees, shrubs, and animals from a bird's eye view.

Once your eyes glance at a certain dot, you could feel a very gentle pull of some strange power, if you gloss over it and keep moving your eyes nothing will happen but if you don't run away from that pull and somewhat follow it and keep your gaze glued to it you'd get a vision in your mind's eye what the dot or rather the monster is doing.

Currently, I was looking at a pitch black bob cat-like monster, with pointy ears very short legs, and a very long tail who was pointing his butt towards a nearby tree and peeing. The blue dot was at a size that implied low Foundation Establishment.

At this point, I was getting a bit deep into the forest but I still had not found any plant-like flower that had a lot of flower children and misty poison.

~Ding!

[New Quest Available]