Lost Person

"Hmmm, if you really wish to serve my needs… then please tell me about the Hearts of Chaos… What exactly happened that made you turn towards the darkness?"

Annabel smiled and then put down her fork. "Master… when I was a child I was caught one day when out of the Helix Main Orphanage… They took me to their guild where they served me the same salt you are eating now…. Once I was fully under their control, they took the good part of my existence and contained it in a jade sealing coffer… It is said that many of the members of the Hearts of Chaos guild are truly good people. However, because of this meat, salt, and the jade sealing coffer, we are forced to become malevolent people…"

"So… these sick people even have the nerve to mess with fine beauties like you Annabel! I'm certain that I will have no choice but to take revenge on you!"

Annabel paused and then looked up. There were a dozen beautiful, ornate, and impeccably gorgeous vases on her ceiling that seemed completely ordinary. They were actually called the Seeds of Chaos, and she was going to use them later to create him as a vessel.

"Master, if you wish to do that, then I suggest you get stronger. There is a plant up there that grow the Seeds of Chaos. In our planet, planet Avon, it is extremely common for those following the Lord of Chaos to be given these plants… He is an extremely mysterious ruler that created the jade sealing coffer… Using his gift, you will be able to create perfect spiritual roots if you find a sleeping Foundation Building beast… With this beast, you can turn him into a cauldron that will spit out Mid-Grade Actualization pills…"

"Hmmm, no thanks… I'd rather not owe thanks to the Lord of Chaos… He deserves to pay for what he did to you!" Mason said with a peeved and irritated tone. His face was flustered as he thought about this poor girl who was an orphan. She was most likely outside trying to feed hungry mouths when some big men whisked her away.

The fact that some leaders of this guild let this kind of thing happened had to be stopped! In fact, he wished to crush everyone that was a part of this guild, and hopefully steal all their stuff!

"Master… I recommend that you aren't foolish… even our small branch guild the hearts of chaos have a foundation building cultivator like I told you… His power is enough to summon the force of three dragons to attack. Perhaps when you are a lot stronger you can go about saving my soul…" She felt an extremely strong tie to her master. Plus, they'd already been kissing for days as she tried to get him under her spell.

"No, I will do this now! Your master is very clever! Even if he has to face the skies, or destroy the earth, his power will show no mercy to any who dare to defile the beautiful, the weak, or the young. His only motto in this life and the last was to do what feels right! I shall save you, and… perhaps we can then truly talk without being each other's slaves."

"Alright… well, since your last days are upon you… would you like me to cook you something besides pork?"

Mason nodded his head before the beautiful and now entirely his girl walked into the kitchen. After killing and eating nearly 200 apple stealing boars, he finally got to eat a normal meal of eggs benedict with just a few slices of apple stealing bacon on the side. After all, he still had a vendetta against those pigs, and would not feel satisfied until their existence seized!

….

A few dozens of long and arduous miles away, at the Hearts of Chaos 3rd branch minor sect.

A man ran across the plains into the castle to report the news he just received….

"Sire! Urgent news… Urgent news!"

"What is it you silly man! Shut up now before I take away your voice box!" A large man with a gigantic sword on his back screamed angrily with contempt. These recruits he captured seemed to have too much mind of their own.

"Sire, it seems that Valance didn't report back home last night near Annabel's cabin! It is likely that he was killed by either Annabel, or one of the city's men!"

"Oh!" The man said shocked

"Geez, I can't believe that old bat is onto us from Helix Town…. That means we must speed up the time of our attack on their main headquarters and barracks in Helix Town… if we don't do something soon, we might lose our chance to overthrow the government. If we have to verse him in a heads on battle, we'll lose our chance of finally possessing that town!"

"Yes, sire… However, how are you sure it's not Annabel? Isn't it foolish to rush our plans without examining all sides?"

The boss man standing on the stairs walked down and looked at his recruit that delivered the news. He had yet to be fully put under control of the Hearts of Chaos Guild chain of command. Hence, sometimes he said things like this that defied the superiority of a commander's wisdom. Frankly, he was about to slap this little shit into the wall, before he realized this sounded reasonable.

"You know what… You're right… My name is Lord Burlap… Can you tell me what your name is recruit?"

"Sir! My name is Higgins Mortimer! I am just a small man in the refinement actualization stage that was recently captured!"

"Hmmm, good… you're now promoted to the guild's department of defense… If anyone gives you any problems, just tell them to go see Lord Burlap… Now, let me go find someone to go see Annabel… If I am correct, she was working on a vessel to reach the 3rd Refinement stage before our battle…"

He walked off leaving the recruit there as his knees shook and his mind raced. His inner being was trying his hardest to escape the spell from the charming salt. However, with his knees shaking and his heart racing, one of the village medicine experts came up to him. After telling him to "open his mouth and eat" his knees stopped shaking before he was pointed towards the defense department office.

"Go! And do what the head master told you! You are one of the luckiest recruits I have ever seen! Your head is still attached to your body and you've received a promotion!"

Higgins cheerfully walked off towards the defense tent in the center of the guild grounds.

….

At the center of Helix Town

The Foundation Building expert of the town paced back and forth nervously as he waited word on his nephew. It was extremely hard for a cultivator to have children, and this was true the higher up in rank they got.

This was true especially for his brother who was at the peak of the Foundation Building realm. His strength was leagues above his younger brother, Orland, who was in charge of the minor city of Helix. If his brother found out that Higgins Mortimer, his son, went missing, then his entire city wouldn't survive the night.

"Sir! We've just received word that Higgins got lost near the apple stealing pigs! We have no idea what happened to him, but apparently the dead body of a Hearts of Chaos recruit was discovered dead in a pig's nest. This means, most likely, that he was not taken by the Hearts of Chaos…."

"Wow…. we're really doomed if that is the case" Orland said looking down at what remained of his nails. The sound of him munching and biting into it had caused the visiting recruit much nervousness. It sounded like a war was being fought against the cuticles and nail beds of his hand. After him nearly devouring his entire hand, this news caused him even more shock.

"However, young recruit… I wish for you to send out two search parties… One to search all the cabins around where you found the body… My nephew might have not left yet, and two, send out a spy to investigate the camps of the Hearts of Chaos… If we're lucky, this will give me just cause to ask my brother to help me destroy those ridiculous Chaos followers…"

"Sire! Yes… I will do exactly as you said!"

The recruit tapped out of the tent with large and powerful steps making sure to show his determination and vigor. The expert, Orland, on the other hand, could only stay in the town to protect it in case of an attack. It was a real shame too, but he had his duties as a nobly aligned cultivator.

"Hmph, if you so much as lay a hair on him, whomever you are, my brother and my family will not let you live!"

….

Mason and Annabel finished breakfast and went out to go scout the roads, hills, and valleys of Death Valley Forest.

Mason figured since he had a beautiful, and more powerful slave with him, that he might as well take some risks while leveling up. He then starting fighting a three armed baboon with Annabel.

During the beginning of this fight, though, a few soldiers walked up to their camping spot, and decided to try and interfere and steal their kill.

He could only watch as the three armed baboon lost one of its arms to the soldiers after losing another arm to Annabel.

"Uhm, excuse me… this is our kill… If you want some experience, can you please go to another area?"

"Sir… we were amid looking for a lost person, and we saw you struggling with this beast… We were certain you'd need help with just the two of you against this stage three demon beast…" A three-stage demon beast roughly corresponded with a level 1 – 3 Refinement cultivator.

The soldiers then paused when they realized what he said, "By the way, what is this experience thing you're talking about… we don't even know what that is?" They said with confusion and perplexed expressions.

"Hmph, well… then… I guess I can forgive you for trying to kill steal…. Now, Annabel… Beat it to the ground so I can stab it!"

Annabel Dance in the air, spun to the side, and then rocketed off the ground. Hitting the monster square in the face, it fell over before the much weaker Mason stabbed the beast in the brain. He soon received 1500 experience for the kill helping him reach the 7th mortal stage instantly. Unfortunately, he wouldn't be able to reach the 9th mortal stage without developing spiritual roots… In order to do that, he'd need to get the essence of a foundation budding beast to create perfect roots.

Perfect roots were extremely uncommon in families without cultivators…. However, to Mason this was extremely important. He wasn't going to settle for even perfect spiritual roots. There might be something even better out there in this universe, and he'd find it with the help of his system!

"So…. Who exactly went missing? Can we help you two gentlemen?" Mason said as he put away the blade.

The two soldiers sighed and held up a poster of a hard to understand sketch.

"You two…. Have you happened to see someone named Higgens Mortimer… If you have, there will be a large reward to those who are involved in finding him."

"Actually, Mason…. To me he looks familiar," Annabel said to the two men. "Would you two like to see where I last saw him?"