Gaining forty new cultivators, twenty-eight of them with the wind affinity and each of them agreeing to cultivate as Beast Tamers presented an additional problem. One that I was happy to deal with. I needed to collect flying beasts for the new cultivators to bond with.

I had promised to supply each cultivator with an uncommon cultivation technique and their first bonded animal, but I only had a few Peryton housed in Storm’s Aerie. It meant I needed to go hunting, something I was relieved to do. Anything to escape the minutia required for Kingdom building.

I began joining Storm on her sorties as she mapped my territory, both of us on the lookout for any potential flying animal that would suit my House's needs. We ran into several herds of Peryton, and I was able to collect over a dozen faun that would serve. I didn’t want to take too many from each herd, worried that my actions might affect the species' survival. I hoped to be able to farm them for years to support my Fief’s requirements.

The only time I ignored my concerns about conservation and species viability was when I captured an entire Herd and placed them inside the torc. I planned to use the aerie as a habitat, hoping it would serve as a suitable place to begin a breeding program. The Peryton were omnivores but preferred foraging and eating plant-type foods. They moved around the island’s forest grazing on spirit plants as they migrated, only eating other animals when they were forced to kill to get access to the most beneficial spirit plants.

The Peryton was only a tier-one beast type, and while they could evolve and grow, very few Beast Tamers would make the effort to help them advance, relying instead on Heavenly tribulation for guidance and opportunity. There were two advantages for cultivating as a Beast Tamer that made their tier negligible. The first was the ability to compartmentalize a cultivator’s mind so that they could bond with more than one animal, the second was a Beast Tamer’s ability to help their companions increase their tier without the benefit or risk of a Heavenly tribulation.

The dietary requirements and size of the Peryton made them an ideal first animal companion for the fleet of Beast Tamers I was envisioning. They would not grow much larger than a Clydesdale and that made finding places to stable those beasts not claimed possible. Their size made it easy for them to transition between flight and land travel, and they were not so threatening that people would be frightened watching them traverse roads and streets. Even in the smallest and remotest villages of my Fief, the Peryton would be accepted as harmless for the most part.

Storm made finding the wild Peryton easy, her ability to track growing exponentially more impressive as her Qi perception grew, becoming more prodigious daily. I think she had reached the limits as to distance with her skills, but she continued to refine finer details, giving her a deeper and more nuanced control of her abilities.

I had used the time we spent hunting animals to search for the location of the smuggling operation. The ship’s Captain that I had captured had given me enough details that I had easily found where it moored upriver. But other than a dock, and an empty warehouse, the location had been a dead end.

Whoever the people that normally maintained the warehouse and dock were, they were long gone. Somehow, they had been warned that the ship had been seized and the Nascent Soul cultivator that had accompanied the ship had been killed.

I had quartered the area, starting a search pattern that worked well with Spirit’s abilities, allowing her to add features to the map she was creating as we searched the area. Our search became more fine-tuned as both of us increased our familiarity and abilities to control our Qi perception. But even with a more practiced approach, we had failed to turn up any further clues. The people that had been stationed at the dock had escaped, and they must have flown out because they had left no trail to follow in the surrounding forest.

There were no paths carved out, no areas of bush or grass removed creating trails from constant use. No trees were cut down or removed. Not even a broken branch or disturbed spirit plant from a person attempting to traverse the forest. If I hadn’t found the dock and warehouse, I would have never known that anyone had carved out a place in this unspoiled ecosystem, that an assembly of workers had gathered to exploit the dock that existed between forest and river.

I had our attempt to catch an Ogygoptynx to thank for discovering where the smuggling operation might be hidden. The owl-like creature had eluded Storm’s and my best effort to capture it. The damn thing was smart and agile and had taken our attempts to capture it as a game. I could swear I could hear laughter in the hoots the owl vocalized. Its hooting filled with taunting and disdain as it continued to escape.

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Storm had become so enraged, she released a lightning bolt, no longer caring that I wanted the creature alive to be used for a Beast Tamer. If the Ogygoptynx hadn’t realized the danger it was in and ducked inside a dimensional rift that neither Storm nor I had detected, it would have died.

That moment when Storm forgot our goals and tried to kill the animal had allowed both of us to notice and discover the rift, and a bit of focused perception had allowed us to find the limits and dimensions of the rift opening.

Rifts were a strange phenomenon, a tear in space between this world and others. They were the reason beast tides formed. An accumulation of world energy that had built up to the point that a rift was formed and beasts from another world or dimension spilled over into this one.

Usually, the rifts stabilized as the energy between both places equalized and the tear in space healed and closed. Most rifts opened and closed without fanfare or notice, isolated from the notice of Elves because of the sheer size of the planet. But occasionally, a cultivator was in the right place to notice the tear between worlds and had enough time to explore the rift and stabilize it if it was deemed advantageous. Rifts that were discovered in time could be claimed, tied to arrays, runes, and enchantments, tethered to this reality, and anchored so they remained open indefinitely.

This rift was located near the mountain range that ran through my territory. I entered it long enough to see that it opened into a massive cave system, with buildings and architecture that I had never seen before dotting the landscape.

Finding a cave system aligned well with what I knew about the Golden Lodoicea. The plant grew more like a mushroom than a normal plant, flourishing in the cave that it had been planted in while growing inside the torc. I hadn’t considered that that might be necessary to nurture or farm the seedpod and that direct sunlight might harm the plant.

I wondered how long it would take Herbal Hall to discover that idiosyncrasy. There had to be other considerations because the pod I had planted to clean up waste byproducts in the ocean seemed to be growing well.

I wanted to begin exploring right away, but I wasn’t so thoughtless as to not consider that the plant might be well protected. Whoever was behind this smuggling operation was powerful enough to have sent a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator as escort for the pods and cores that had been harvested. It stood to reason that at least a cultivator of that level remained to guard their farms.

Instead of exploring immediately, I sent out four missives, and settled out of the way, finding a place to camp and hide while I waited for responses.

Master Shadow.

I have discovered a stabilized rift that opens into a vast cave network. I cannot be certain but based on the proximity between the rift and the dock and warehouse that serves as the point of origin for the products I have discovered, I believe the smuggling operation for the Golden Lodoicea might be found within this rift.

I am attaching a homing talisman that I have active, tied to the rift’s location. I plan to explore this rift in greater detail but will await your missive before I begin.

Disciple Jai Myche.

{Talisman Attached}

Yvonne,

I have found something that might be of interest to you. A rift that opens into a cave system that seems to satisfy the environmental priorities ideal for Qilin to breed and flourish in. I am attaching a homing talisman to the rift location, perhaps you would be interested in joining me in exploring what might be found within?

Four Element Sect Member Jai Myche.

{Talisman Attached}

Elder Shade.

I have reported my discovery of a rift opening to Elder Shadow that appears to have been stabilized. I believe that the smuggling operation that Patriarch Umbra has tasked me with disrupting is being operated from within this rift.

I plan on entering and exploring the rift more thoroughly and hoped that you might be interested in investigating the area inside the rift yourself.

Baroness Jai Myche

{Talisman Attached}

Gwen,

A recent discovery while hunting for flying beasts requires further study. I have accepted forty cultivators as new members of House Myche. I flew ahead to attend to other matters, but they should be arriving any day. Each was offered a berth on my ship that will tie the eight prefectures together.

Please see them settled in the Keep or unclaimed housing near the Keep and explain my delay. I authorize you to access my personal funds to provide each new House member with food, clothing, and a small allowance (use your discretion on what is suitable).

I will establish base pay and bonuses with each cultivator when I return.

I will return to Xiwang as soon as possible, until then, you remain my Voice in all matters that concern Fief Myche.

Baroness Jai Myche.

{Qi Sealed}