(Chapter 44)

"Alright..."

They swam and do some lovey-dovey moments and ate their breakfast before going to the said place for the sickle and short staff Beast Souls.

But Yang Manli said that those creatures are only Primitives, and it's so rare to see it's Mutant and more so for Sacred-Blood.

With the ability to meddle with Beast Souls, Shyrveen doesn't worry too much about it.

Since, it is their last day for Yang Manli's day off from her gang.

Shyrveen used his ice and summoned the Gold-Shelled Black Beetle and whispered to Yang Manli, that her eyes got widen after realizing for who is 'Dollar'.

"Please, forget about that sweety, okay?"

The appearance of the (4 Stars) armor is more inclined into Rhinoceros Beetle and it is much more detailed than Han Sen's golden armor.

His helmet has the horn of the Rhinoceros Beetle but he willed himself to meddle the horn to be two and protruded on both sides of his head like the horns of the Chinese Dragon.

Normally, he can't do this but with Mana inside of the Beast Soul, he can do it now.

But once he took back the Mana from it, the Beast Soul will turn back to its original appearance of golden rhinoceros beetle.

Yang Manli stared at Shyrveen with open mouth and Shyrveen smirked as he asked her again.

"What are you thinking about, sweety?"

But she only nodded as she replied, while her eyes are glimmering with love to Shyrveen's face.

"Nothing!~"

'Well, this should be my revenge for my dearest best friend~ Hihihi!... I might tell Xuan Xuan about Dollar if I didn't meet my darling, but he is here, so I don't care about anyone other than this handsome boyfriend of mine now~'

"Good."

Then Shyrveen carried Yang Manli in a princess style and willed the armor to cover her too and he inserted his mana to the Beast Soul and the appearance changed from gold to blue.

He created his wings at his back and flaps it to propel them into the sky and passed by at the Steel Armor Shelter because the forest where the creatures for short staff Beast Soul is located, is on the opposite side.

In doing so, only a handful of people in the shelter were hyped after seeing Coin appeared again.

"Is that Dollar? But based on the rumors he has golden armor? Why he has blue?..."

Asked by the new guy that recently got access to the God's Sanctuary, because anyone who wants to enter the sanctuary must be at least 16 years old.

But he was answered by a man that already staying in the sanctuary for more than one year with a shock expression.

"No! That's Coin, little brother!... Where!?"

The new guy pointed at the horizon that made only the man sighed because he didn't catch a glimpse of Coin and continues.

"... Generally, in this shelter, there are three individuals that have been called, the Three Kings of Money... Dollar, Bill, and Coin. Dollar is gold, Bill is black, and the person you got a glimpse earlier is Coin, the Blue King...

We thought that three of them disappeared and went to the Second Sanctuary because there's no rumors lately about them. But seeing Coin passing by again, we are sure that they around somewhere and busy with something..."

The new guy nodded and wonder how strong those three individuals, and thought of something.

"Oh... But why they are called kings?"

"... That's because we all conclude here that three of them can fight at each other toe to toe, and it was based on Coin's overwhelming power after... 'Thrashing Son of Heaven and Fist Guy in a blink of an eye'..."

But whispered carefully at the last while looking around, then pats the shoulder of the new guy before adding the last thing.

"If you saw Ass Freak, be neutral, Coin stated that Ass Freak is their dearest brother and under their banner. I'll go now, and good luck with your journey to get stronger, and maybe you might become like them someday..."

That made the new guys clench his fist as he stared at the horizon.

While at the Steel Armor Gang's office of Qin Xuan.

Qin Xuan didn't get a glimpse of the passing by Shyrveen and Yang Manli but the temporary secretary reported about it and thought.

'Where the hell that scummy dead man bringing my best friend to?...'

And went back to her paperwork.

Because of this, she didn't get an idea for Han Sen to be Dollar like Yang Manli but there's only a very slim chance for that to happen because Shyrveen changed the appearance of his armor into his liking, and she can't accept that Ass Freak is stronger than her.

Shyrveen and Yang Manli reached another forest that can be reached only after marching within five days.

But they arrived there within three hours because of Shyrveen's ice wings with Beast Soul of Harpy's Wings that he borrowed from Yang Manli.

The forest is called Battlequiet Thicket.

The forest was small, shadowy, and flourishing. Its canopy was ruled by elm, birch, and holly, their leaves and branches allowed for just enough light to pass down for colorful plants to control the soft, rich soils below.

Thin tree limbs dangled from every tree, and a range of flowers, which blossomed brightly, enriched the otherwise monotonous view.

A discord of sounds, predominantly those of small creatures, reverberated through the air, and formed a chaotic orchestra with the sound of the wind blowing gently through the forest.

"The forest is quite small compared to the other forest, there are only Ordinary and Primitive creatures here so it's not a popular place for the people of our shelter add that they need to make a journey for 5 days here just to get Ordinary and Primitive Beast Souls? And another 5 days again to go back to the shelter?... Waste of time as what we all say so about this."

Yang Manli explained after she set her foot to the ground and Shyrveen pull back his ice and Beast Souls.

"So... What kind of creature do I need to hunt for this short staff Beast Soul?"

"Aim at the birch looking trees, those are creatures that are called Ents, if you found a charred birch, those are Primitive Burned-Birch Ent, the normal looking birch are the Ordinary."

"... Then does purple mean Mutant?..."

"Oh! How did you know? I thought this is... your... I see... Maybe, because of the lack of human activities they have time to evolve, huh?... Good for you, darling~"

Yang Manli asked but only to follow where Shyrveen is pointing at and saw the burned birch tree but have purple stripes around its trunks.

"What about you, any creatures around here for its Beast Soul that you want to get?"

"... Nah, nothing so far... But there's another forest here that has Beast Soul Whip, I want to change my whip and the others too because it came from my father and I want to give it back to them so they can't say anything about it."

"Alright, I'll help you, sweety."

"Thanks, darling~"

They spend fifteen hours hunting, gaining, and evolving the Beast Soul from Mutant Lightning-Birch Ent into Sacred-Blood Thunder Alder Ent (4 Stars) before going to another forest for Yang Manli's whip.

But they took a break since it's already night and let the day passed, and now, Shyrveen is flying towards the forest while Yang Manli is on his back.

"... There's a lake?"

Shyrveen asks after seeing the reflection of the water from above, they still far for around three miles but with his current Genes and Geno Art, he can see that far.

"Yeah, it's called Abysmal Depths, sea serpents inhabit the place but they are Mutants, there some Primitive fishes and crabs too..."

Yang Manli replied subconsciously and suddenly realized.

"You can see that far, darling?..."

"Yeah, and with my ability it will be double... But with its name, there should be a Sacred-Blood creature too..."

Shyrveen nodded nonchalantly and express his thoughts then something clicks on his mind after hearing what Yang Manli said.

'... Hmmm?... Did she say sea serpent?...'

"You're so fit to be an archer, darling~... I'll ask Xuan Xuan for you to be the Bullseye Team Leader and you can do whatever you want with me if you join us, what do you say?~"

"... As my girl, I can do that right?"

"No, no, no. It's still up to the woman if she wants to do it or not~"

Yang Manli had her fun with her boyfriend while traversing the sky, and in no time, they went down to the shore and she said suddenly after remembering what Shyrveen mumbles about the lake.

"I don't know, darling... Because honestly? We all avoid water bodies to hunt the Sacred-Bloods, it is fine if the water is only shallows but with that kind of depth... Nah... Better sleep in the shelter."

"Hee... Then I'll hunt them later for my Geno Points... So, what is this forest then?"

Shyrveen took one last glance to the lake before turning his head to the forest.

"... This is called, Reflecting Woods."

The forest was vast, bright, and thriving. Its canopy was demanded by cedar, fir, and walnut, who let through enough dancing beams of sunshine for a diversity of herbs to make use of the moss-covered grounds below.

Swooping creepers dangled from many a tree, and an array of flowers, which were unique to this region, protruded from the otherwise beige forest floor.

A tumult of wild noises, most belonged to critters, brightened up the forest, and were in harmony with the occasional splashes of frogs jumping in the nearby lake.

"Instead of ents, treants lived here, but why their Beast Soul are whips? I don't know maybe because they characteristics?... If we compared the treants here, you can say, one Mutant Cedarfury Treant can overwhelm 20 Mutant Copper-Toothed Beasts in 15 seconds... With their fast movement and mobility of humans, they have flexible branches that can extend around to thirty meters too and that's what makes them lethal..."

"... Do you think I can eat them?..."

"You can, every creature is edible, but... I'll pass if you want to share some~ Bleh~"

Yang Manli pushes out her tongue like a child and Shyrveen can only roll his eyes for it, he takes out the mattress again and said.

"Wait for me here, and take this wings back. So if something happens you can fly to the sky to escape and there's the snake's ability too."

"... Okay... Are you sure you won't snipe them from afar like what you did from the ents, darling? "

"Yes. Of course, that's why I'm making you stay here because the ice that I wield can't discern between a friend and a foe if I'm on offense. And this is my training too to not to get rusty from close combat."

"... Got it, be careful, okay?"

Yang Manli kisses him and stared at his back while going into the forest.

She can't stop worrying even though she knows that Shyrveen is now stronger than the past.

But that's because she doesn't know about the Super Gene and how strong to an extent his evolved Beast Souls from the creatures of the same stage.

Shyrveen walks casually and summon his Beast Soul Armor and soon a whip went in his peripheral vision but he let it be, and it hit his chest.

But he looked down just to see there's no dents or even a scratch on the armor, and he wasn't push back from the impact too.

'I need to test this out with the Sacred-Bloods...'

Since no such creature in his sight, he started a massacre, but he didn't forget to train his Arnis with Icesheath at the same time without the armor.

With the flexibility of the branches, he used it to try to breakthrough from his long time bottleneck in Arnis with the short staff and he summons the two Beast Souls short staves.

This is the reason why he took fifteen hours to finish hunting the ents from the first forest, he needs two staves.

After ten minutes of not gaining the Beast Soul, his senses are now trying to control his body, but he let it be because it was the same when he was using the sickles from the past.

Within four hours, Yang Manli is now impatient and marches inside the forest while pouting.

It didn't take her long enough to find where he is Shyrveen because of the sudden cold in a certain area.

She didn't run towards it but seriously and cautiously stepping forward carefully, because she didn't forget how the meat of the Mutant was shattered like a glass from the past.

And only to sigh in relief that she can handle the cold after using the Spectral Snake Beast Soul.

Its ability was to regulate the temperature on the surrounding of the user passively, and its one of the active skills was to put the user's body to be in the incorporeal state, but she didn't know the second one which Shyrveen knows.

She intended to go beside him and asks what's the matter after seeing him only standing there for five minutes but only to stop on her tracks.

Because she saw a whip that soon will hit Shyrveen's temple but only to see another blurring movements that made the branch be frozen and shatters in a matter of second...