The Beasts Invade (2)

When dawn arrived, Shui was already up. He hadn't slept to begin with, so he hadn't bothered setting up a tent. He had been active during the night because he was the one who chased down the moon hunting dogs and killed four of them. He could have finished off another one, but he purposefully left it half-dead so that it could verify the report of the moon hunting dog which he had placed under complete mind control. At the start of this trip, Shui didn't think he would have a chance of using this skill, but once he spotted the moon hunting dogs the idea came into his mind as he wondered why they were in the wasteland.

Once he got the idea, he quickly came up with a plan and executed it while Ragley was asleep. Evolved beasts, besides a few exceptions, had weaker souls than humans before they became beast kings. Additionally, it was a beast spirit, so it only took him a few hours to complete the mind control. However, if it wasn't for the moon hunting dog being overcome by fear and desperation, it would have taken about a day to break down its mental barriers and complete the process.

Applying mind control made him feel like he had obtained a second body, but it was more similar to a disposable clone. Once the mind control was done, it was easy for him to edit the hunting dog's memory to make it seem as if their interaction never happened, even though there would be a gap of a few hours. Since this was a new sensation for Shui, he didn't bother trying to mess with the hunting dog's behaviour and simply watched the events through its eyes.

He had deduced much from their conversation and the number of evolved beasts at their habitat, but he couldn't keep watching since the hunting dog's body required rest. He could force it to stay awake, but Shui had his own job to take care of.

When Ragley woke up and exited the carriage, Shui was standing at attention waiting for him.

"Good morning, were you able to rest well?"

Ragley was visibly befuddled by Shui as he nodded and walked past him. This wasn't the first time he had slept in the carriage while leaving the hired workers to fend for themselves, so he was prepared for snarls and to be glared at. However, Shui's polite response was unique.

In an attempt to distract himself from Shui's unexpected attitude, Ragley quickly finished the preparations for their departure. After they exited the cave, he stayed to retrieve something and that resulted in the dismantling of the cave. Shui now had a good idea about how the cave worked, but showing off that information wouldn't earn him anything better than a scowl.

In a short time, they returned to the site of yesterday's ambush. Both remained tense as they drove by, but fortunately they weren't disturbed. While Ragley was simply relieved, Shui brought up a topic he had in mind since the start of their return trip.

"Ragley, you can make both internal and external pills can't you?"

"Hmph, that can be said for any proper alchemist."

"I see, in that case,"

To block off Ragley's escape from the topic, Shui took out his shadow heart pill. Once he noticed the pill, Ragley grimaced and shook his head.

"So it ended up in your hands. Are you really a worker?"

"Yes, though it's been a few years since I last worked as one so it's just a side job. Still, that's beside the point. Despite your miserly attitude, since you sold this I assume you need funds for your research, correct?"

"You're only half-right. I did, need funds, but not anymore."

"Even so, surely there's no problem with earning more. Besides, as an alchemist aren't you interested in seeing your creation be praised far and wide?"

"Hmph, how could I possibly be fond of the idea of letting a failed product like that be seen as my work?"

"'Failed product'? I thought it didn't cause over-mutation."

"It doesn't, but that's only because I focused on erasing that possibility. That pill is just a disgrace to true alchemy."

As a fellow crafter, Shui could emphasize with Ragley's words. In forging, it would be like carving a metal in the shape of a sword; that would never earn the forge master praise for his skill no matter how great the sword was, because it was the metal that deserved the extolment.

"In that case, I won't force you. How about I provide an investment instead?"

"You want to invest in me?"

"That's right. You might be safe this time, but if you have to auction off one of those failures every time you're in need of money, you'll be found eventually. I'm sure that's not what you want."

"...I need more time to think about this."

"Sure. Oh, and here's a gift by the way."

Shui then passed a space expansion bag to Ragley that contained an artifact he stole from the underground auction.

"In my hands, it would just be a torture device, but in yours it should help extract more materials to work with."

One reason why experts were reluctant to acknowledge shadows as true living beings, was because their bodies would decompose quickly after death. So quickly in fact, that by the time Shui harvested their hearts, the rest of their bodies would already begin to lose shape and the ground would suck up the blood like a sponge. Although Ragley had sealing bags, Shui deduced that they were either one-use or only of limited number considering how light and small the hearts were and his desire for samples.

"Hmm, indeed. With this I can preserve other organs and the blood as well... I'll take it."

A few days later, a crowd of evolved beasts had gathered at the edge of the shadows' territory. Someone with a keen eye would notice that the evolved beasts were split into five groups of four evolved beasts of the same cultivation. Three of these groups were made up of beast spirits, while the rest were high beasts. The four evolved beasts that made up each team were a moon hunting dog, a scarlet tiger, an iron panda and a three-eyed monkey, each with its own specific role.

After the incident where the scout team had been attacked, a high beast always accompanied the scouts and there was another wide-range search, but the human responsible wasn't found. While hoping that they had left the area entirely, the evolved beasts finished their preparations for this mission handed down by the great beast they served. Few of them were excited by the thought of what they were tasked to do, but none voiced their complaints, especially not now. Whether they would be able to complete this mission and return home to their dens, no one knew.