Kaden dragged the corpse where the rest of them were. The guy he had dragged back had bled to death and he had watched. The leader’s face still had that shock of surprise with his chest torn open. As for the remaining one that he had burned to death...

“Shit!” Kaden said out loud as he realized a potential mistake. He had set that one guy on fire and they had been carrying valuable herbs!

Luckily the fire had died out, but the man had become charred black by the time that had happened. Lover half of his body had far less damage. It seems he had tried to put out the flames somehow, but died regardless. Kaden had not really thought about it before, but his fire was relatively strong. Would someone at Channel Opening die so quickly otherwise? In truth, he had expected to have to chase him down.

It annoyed Kaden quite a bit that the charred man looked quite edible as he riffled through his corpse. The charred smell was really distracting him.

Kaden had a sigh of relief as he picked up only slightly burned bag and found a two blue flowers in it, luckily undamaged. He did not know much about herbs, but he could tell that these specific herbs were likely Mana Herbs. There had been a few of those in Dashire. If for beasts Dire Beast stage was what Channel Opening was for humans, then a Mana Herb was same stage for plants.

The flower had this translucent layer on it. Like a layer of water stuck on its surface. Kaden wondered what the high beast wanted to do with them.

He found out that the three men had shared six of these flowers among each other when he quickly looked rest of the bags too. Did the boar have a personal stash somewhere or found a place where large number of plants, such as these Mana Herbs, could grow? Perhaps thats why it had commanded the thieves to be hunted down? To keep a secret.

Kaden looked carefully, but found nothing else. They didn’t seem to have pouch like he had. He placed the flowers in there as he felt it was the safest place.

He also picked useful things like their weapons. Kaden didn’t really have any sword fighting skill, if one doesn’t count the short time he had practiced just before the battle. Yet, weapon was a weapon. His claws were good, but since he was going to kill people, he might need to hide his special abilities at some point.

He also had noticed there was some weakening of mana when he blocked the sword with his phantom claw. They were made out of mana and when they suffered damage, he would need to replenish it.

The swords were far better quality than he had seen before. They were weapons made for Channel Opening stage. What if he tried to block something stronger? Something that could cut through his claws? Would his hand be cut off? He decided he would have to be careful in the future and picked up the sword. It kind of felt unfamiliar, but he still took it.

He was about to leave before any beast finds the place. He didn’t want to risk a fight unless he had to. Targets of the command were now dead. Yet, as he was leaving, he remembered the last man saying something about money.

Kaden had dumped what had been in bags on the ground as he searched for the herbs. A pile of those small crystals, that looked the same as what he had even found in his pouch, had been in a bag that the man had offered to him as money.

“I should pick these too”, Kaden said to himself and collected the crystals. Dashire had used coins for money, but perhaps these crystals, which he had not been able to truly identify, could be used as money too. One other use had seemed to be simply storing information. They likely were not purely for currency.

He could hear something closing into the area and he decided it was time to leave. He would return the herbs to the boar. There was no way Kaden would mess with the high beast. Besides, it had seemed sensible. It was also ruler of the area so getting on its good side was beneficial. Not to mention he had no idea what the herbs were and what their use was. His inspection skill was not for plants. All he could say that there was unusually large amount of mana in them.

With a rough idea where to go, Kaden proceeded towards the high beast’s dwelling. It was quite a bit deeper. There likely were no other high beasts in the area so Kaden only paid attention to more advanced dire beasts. He was not familiar with the area, but he did manage to avoid any troubles.

Eventually there was an area with small lake and various stone formations around otherwise open and flat area. There were signs of something big living in there and nothing else. Kaden felt that usual presence of something powerful nearby. He guessed he had finally reached his destination. He hoped that this was the correct way and that the high beast didn’t expect some kind of… etiquette?

Then Kaden heard sounds of movement from within the rock formations. The blue furred boar with crystaline tusks, that Kaden knew, appeared and looked at him with some curiosity.

“Great beast, I have come to return what belongs to you”, Kaden said and took out the blue flowers.

The boars eyes brightened immediately and started walking towards Kaden.

“I heard your command and I found the humans that had stolen them”, Kaden continued. He wanted to take the least chances possible. “They have been killed for such an offense.”

*gronnkh*

“You are strange. Not human. Not beast.” Message entered Kaden’s awareness.

Kaden somehow understood what the boar was telling him. It wasn’t the sound. The information and words came somehow afterwards from within the aura that the boar was releasing. Truly, high beasts were on the brink of being able to communicate directly with words. They already could do so with their aura. Still, Kaden felt like the speech was rather simple. Whether it was incapability of the boar at its current stage or that something is lost over the delivery, Kaden couldn’t say.

“I am not sure what I am”, Kaden replied. “I decided to grow stronger in this forest. I hope to have your acceptance.”

“Strength. Good. I accept you. Useful.” The boar continued. Then it consumed the flowers that Kaden had offered it. “Good. Taken too early. Still good. Good herbs for health! Water mana. Makes me beautiful. Fur smooth. Male I chose will like. Choose me surely!”

The boar chewed on the tiny flowers with great care.

Kaden’s eyes twitched. Did the boar just say that it wanted the herbs so that it would become more beatiful? To impress a male boar?

The high beast had ordered around the entire area to get flowers that it thought would make it prettier? Kaden was quickly reminded of Anuu’s words. That beasts are just like humans.

“Sure… whatever”, Kaden thought and tried to put the whole thing out of his mind and intended to return home.

“Not Human, more intruders”, the boar said while it was still carefully chewing all the herbs. “You hate yes?”

“Yes”, Kaden replied and looked at the boar.

“Intruders look for creepy hole”, the boar continued. “First one. Lived there. Long time. Not problem. Then more. Problem. Thieves took herbs. More looking for creepy hole.”

“What is this creepy hole?” Kaden asked.

“Too much mana”, the boar replied. “Things inside. Explored once. Not a good place. Perhaps Not Human insterested?”

Could this be considered a reward? Just what kind of motives did the boar have for telling all this? The thieves had not come for the herbs? Could it be they were happy with their loot and not go to… creepy hole? It wouldn’t hurt to at least go have a look.

“I am interested”, Kaden replied.

Then suddenly mana slammed into his mind. He fell to his knees, but at the same time he felt information about the location enter his awareness.

He recovered quickly. It was clearly the high beast’s way of transfering detailed information. If there was a next time, he would have to be prepared.

“Thank you, Great Beast!” Kaden thanked despite the headache he had been left with.

The high beast ignored Kaden this time and it lumbered towards the lake where it seemed to be simply bathing.

Kaden left the boar to do whatever it wanted. He examined the information he had received. It was slightly complex way of determining locations. Base idea was about relying on reference points, but there was some side information about who and what lived on the path, who were dangerous and who were not. Generally speaking, it was a path with all relevant information to know along that specific path. Some information that Kaden didn’t really even understand. Yet, enough that he could pretty much tell where to go.

He was relatively curious about this ‘creepy hole’. What would make a high beast call something ‘creepy’. If it seemed too dangerous, he would leave it be, but why would the boar inform him of the place, if it was something beyond him? To kill him? Why would the boar need to even spare effort to kill him? If it wanted, it could probably crush him instantly. To do so, specifically after it had said he was useful and that his presence was accepted by it, was unlikely.

It probably was dangerous, but not beyond him. There were also more intruders, likely more saints. Maybe he could kill them along the way, right? If one part of them had separated like that when they found something valuable, they were not of the same group, unless they betrayed the rest. Kaden pondered on that part for quite a while. People were cruel and selfish so it seemed likely to him. He still eventually decided that it was likely a separate group that he had butchered.

The ‘creepy hole’ was not actually that deep inside the forest or even too far, but it was in a difficult place and generally hard to find.

As far as the difficulty goes, it is in certain ravine. It was not too large, but added to fact that it was in between of hills with difficult terrain, it was somewhat troublesome to find. Obviously there were also the beasts that inhabited the area.

The boar’s information was somewhat old. It had not been there in quite a while so it was difficult to say just who or what lived there. The areas before had been accurate as Kaden traveled past them.

He did actually find some signs of combat along the way. Signs from human weapons. It seemed those people knew at least roughly where to look since they were going to the right direction. Possibly even perfectly. It also looked like that the group was far larger than the three he had killed before.

He would have to be more careful. His previous tactic was not going to work and without it he would have had some problems against the three too. It was best idea to scout first and then decide on what to do.

He followed whatever signs he could find. There was still a few hours before dark. It would be enough to reach the ‘creepy hole’ and also to scout what the intruding humans were doing, as long as they continued going towards the right way.

Continuing onwards he found a few more places where there had been a fight. They didn’t seem to extensive. It must have been some weaker creatures that attacked such a large group. Dire beast would likely be able to tell if it was a suicide. Still, probably most creatures living in the area noticed passing of such large group of humans.

Eventually, Kaden finally saw the group or rather groups of people in the distance. He slowed down and watched. He could observe them from a distance and not be detected. There were two different groups as far as he could tell. Several people in both.

“They will probably betray each other at some point”, Kaden felt sure about such possibility. “I think they are in same group to increase their numbers. Still even, if they split, I might have problems killing them. I have to be clever again… or ignore them entirely. They aren’t relevant targets.”

Kaden felt bad about just letting them go, but he was very aware of priorities.