As the sun started to peak over the horizon from the east, it peaked through the cracks in Arbors hut. Arbors pre puberty body is cuddled up with his egg. The fresh rays of sunlight crawled along his body before shining directly into his eyes which caused him to turn over into the puddle of slobber. Arbor slowly rolled out of bed and dressed in his orange robe. After cleaning his own spit off of his egg, Arbor strapped it onto his back. On his way out the hut, he grabbed the staff that rested upright next to the front door.

Sol greated Arbor with an indifferent look as the electrified Arbor strolled out of the hut. Sol lifted Arbor off the ground and made their way to the sky. As the two rose in elevation, Arbor furiously reached out with an attempt to grab onto Sol. Arbor caught on that he was not going to make a successful attempt in grabbing onto her. Throughout the course of the flight, Sol released her power from Arbor, causing him to free fall for a handful of seconds before she would catch him again.

“Aunty Sol, what plans do you have for me on this adventure? Is there a pack of monsters that he needs taken care of?” Arbor inquired.

“Well would you look at that, we’re here.” Sol exclaimed.

“What do you mean here? Were in the middle of the...wait, is there a sky island or something?” Arbor excitedly looked around in hopes to find a floating landmass.

“Remember that I said on the other side of the mountain.” Sol mischievously smiled with her eyes closed as she waved at Arbor. The next thing Arbor realized is Sol’s figure rapidly shrinking as he fell to the ground.

He has already become used to her antics. Arbor crossed his arms and waited as he stared at her tiny figure in the sky. Ten seconds passed by before he started to get agitated and nervous. Next, Arbor passed through the canopy of the forest, which initiated his cursing at Sol.

Thoughts of when Sol was going to catch him raced through Arbors mind faster than he was falling. Arbor kept his back down as much as he could. When he jerked to a sudden stop dust clouds permeated the area. Soon after he turned over and found the ground and himself separated by a single inch.

“I hope there’s something going on around here. Master Mo did not give too many details on what or where he should be doing. At the least some beasts will attack him for infringing upon their territory.” Sol thought to herself as she scanned the area with her divine sense.

“You think that was funny? You better watch yourself later!” Arbor yelled towards the sky, inadvertently alerting the life in the surrounding area. Multiple animals perked up from a resting position and started to move toward Arbor.

Arbor brushed the dirt off of his clothes and started walking while slowly twirling his staff in his right hand. "She's not going to leave me all alone down here, is she? It's not like she will let me die."

Rustling sounds came from Arbors four o'clock and alerted him to his first real enemy. Arbor watched the brush sway back and forth as he stood in a ready position.

Nervous beads of sweat slowly rolled down Arbors face as he anticipated the creature that is approaching him. Before Arbor could comprehend what attached him, a gaping mouth with multiple rows of razor sharp teeth. With a slight arch of his back, the creature missed his head by half a foot and soared over him.

Arbor quickly gathered himself as he turned to face the enemy. Still timid, Arbor clenched his staff even tighter. What greeted Arbor is a dark green and blue snake with with red eyes and miniscule spikes protruding from its scales. Its body is as thick as Arbors preadolescent waist and twice as tall. After making eye contact with Arbor, the snake began to coil its lower half and stand up with the top half of its body.

Still afraid, Arbor hesitated when the snake lunged at him again. In a defense move Arbor stopped its jaw with his staff and fell onto his back with a snake continuously trying to bite him. At this moment, Arbor

realized that his strength outmatched the snakes.

Arbor rolled backwards put his foot against the snake stomach and kick the snake up in the air. He quickly stood up ready to hit staff and smacked the snake as a fell back towards the Earth.

The snake flew through the air until a tree stopped it. After hitting the tree the snake fell into the ground, seized for a little bit and then stopped moving. Arbor poked it with his staff to make sure that it was dead.

"What... the...I don't know what level of cultivation that thing was in but I need to be more careful regardless. The mantis stalks the cicada, while the oriole stalks the mantis. Where's the next one" Arbor scanned the forest with his eyes.

A minute passed by uneventfully as Arbor remained prepared for an attack. “Divine sense is what they called it right? Sol said I should be able to expand it a little bit now.” With each step, Arbor practiced seeing his surroundings with more than just his eyes. He was informed that at his current stage in cultivation he has to expand his essence at a rudimentary level, in a bubble like fashion. He will only be able to “see” what his essence passes by briefly.

Step after step Arbor failed. His failures created an annoyance. On Arbors one hundred and nineteenth step, he had finally succeeded. To his disappointment, he was only able to sense ten feet away from his current location. As Arbor walked, he made sure to check his visual blind spots, the areas beyond what can sense with his essence. Each step became practice on releasing it, pulsating it rhythmically.

Two minutes passed by since the first time Arbor successfully sent out his divine sense. At this moment more rustling sounds came from the distance.

I would look towards the sound and saw a large dark figure approaching him slightly larger than him. Along with the low thumping of the ground that he began to hear, huffing sounds came from the beast's mouth.

As you enormous figure came into view Arbor realize that is an animal resembling that of a bear. The only difference is that along with its dark brown almost black skin is a slight golden luster underneath its coat. In addition, two round horns only a couple inches long protruding out from the sides it's forehead.

Arbor retreated with quick steps as he watched the bear type animal barges its way through the forest. "Now."

Arbor charged at full speed towards the beast with his staff stretched out behind him. As the bears paw was going to make contact with Arbors chest, Arbor leaped into the air, letting the bear pass underneath him. Twisting his body and swinging his staff at the same time Arbor demonstrated his acrobatic ability as he connected his staff with the bears body.

The bear scooted five feet to the side before it finally caught its footing. A loud roar initiated it's second charge towards Arbor. This time Arbor ran with his staff at his side, ready to thrust it at any time. And thrust is exactly what Arbor did while shoving the back end of the staff into the dirt. The staff disappeared down the bears throat as it was unable to stop it's momentum in time. The locked bottom of the staff changed the direction of the bears inertia, sending it into the air. A quarter of it's way into the air, the bears spine was met with Arbors foot, shattering the vertebra. The audible craving of the bears spine signified to Arbor that it was dead, at least unable to move.

Arbor retrieved his staff from the bears mouth and flung the spit and blood off. He checked the egg on his back to assure himself that it is undamaged.

"Yet another beast at a lower level than me. I'm sure Sol has something to do with this." Arbor looked around for a bright colored bird or a ravishing woman. "Since it's come to this, I'm sure that she has something in mind."

Perched on a nearby tree is a red Phoenix closely studying the young boy. After the fight with the bull bear finished, the Phoenix scanned the area with her divine sense. It did this in order to scare off any beast with too high of a level for Arbor to fight against.

"This should get interesting" Sol thought as she noticed four different figures approaching Arbors direction.

...

A day march away from Arbor, in a dark cave, a creature shrouded in darkness woke from a slumber and seemed irritated at something nearby. This creature stood up and made it's its way towards the entrance of the cave.