038
Sun Yong-Hik was sitting on the balcony of his bedroom with a glass of wine in hand and the bottle on the table. He looked down from all the way up there and watched over his mountain and the surroundings. He was in a very bright mood. With a bit of luck, this near-sentient Owl would evolve into a sentient beast after this breakthrough. And even if he didn't, he would become a beast with the element of seasons. Regardless of which happened, it would bring in profits.
After all, he knew beasts. Regardless of their races, they would have a time when they would be in heat. The female owl wasn't free and it costs him a lot but as long as they made babies, it would be worth it. A baby owl who already had an element…
He laughed at the thought.
The worth of a spiritual beast was related to their power stages like any cultivators but there was something else to take into account. It was its elemental properties. A spiritual beast with an elemental property was worth many times more than one without. And there were even more differences in prices depending on the elements.
For example, the five origins that were fire, water, earth, wind and thunder were easy to find. Spiritual beasts with these elements were at the bottom of the ranking. On the other hand, finding one with both space and time elements was nothing short of a miracle.
Even when it came to beasts in captivity, it was difficult. Just because you gave them a treasure with the element you wished for it to take hold of, it might not. Because they lacked awareness and were rarely able to understand such things. Owl was a special case. Most beasts would randomly enter the 10th realm after a random catalyst. They would indeed absorb elements but whether it be from treasures or even in a similar way to a treasure itself, it was hard to say. In the end, you could never be certain of the elements that a beast would get.
But here, he could. Sun Yong-Hik knew that Owl would breakthrough with the treasure he gave him and absorb the Season element. It made him incredibly gleeful. Finding a cultivator with this element was already difficult, let's not talk about a spiritual beast. No cultivator would waste this kind of treasure and no beasts would naturally get it. Sun Yong-Hik didn't even recall a single beast, tamed or wild, that he knew of and absorbed this element even once. Owl might be the first around this area and he hoped he wouldn't be the last.
He hoped that Owl would give him descendants who would be born with the element. This was something that could only happen when it came to spiritual beasts. If a parent had elemental properties, he would have a chance to be a parent of a beasts with innate elemental abilities.
Sun Yong-Hik didn't want Owl because he would become a sentient. He wanted him for him to become a sentient and have many kids. He didn't plan to enslave Owl himself if he couldn't but he certainly wouldn't give up on its children.
As he drank, he gloated more and more, having nicer and nicer dreams. He saw himself ordering a flock of sentient owls to attack his imaginary opponents.
…
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
The next part might be too tough for some readers. As the author, I decided to warn you guys. Please, do not proceed without being certain you can take it. This isn't gore but depicts mental pain. The rest of this chapter is mild but the next one won't be. You've been warned.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
...
Some distance away, Owl was inside his pavilion and concentrating on the flower. He was planning to breakthrough with it. He would sell the brick back. He took a position and began to absorb all of its properties. As the energies left the flower to enter him, he could feel them contacting with his core. He could feel the variety contained inside the elemental energy nourishing his core.
And time was spent in this way for three days straight.
Then, his consciousness was forcefully pulled within his own soul and he awakened in a strange situation. He couldn't see, move, smell or even taste. Heck, he didn't feel himself breathing or even his heart beating. He knew that this was the test from the element to check whether he was worthy of it. Yet, the fear remained. It wasn't that easy to overcome that. Having only the sense of touch left yet being unable to move and feeling compressed… It was simply torture at this point.
Memories flashed past his eyes as he recalled the test he had way back in his previous life. Back then too, it had been a torture but it was nothing like this one. Feeling pain was completely different than being repressed in the dark. While facing the pain, one knew what was happening. Here, he did not.
The lack of feelings wore down his mind and his drive. He didn't know how much time passed but he felt every second like hours. Wherever he was, it was without question the worst place he had ever been to.
And time went by. He suffered in silence as he couldn't speak. There was nothing to hear either. It was a hell where he was alone.
He didn't know how long it took for something to change. He nearly went mad a few times. But a change occurred. Something seemed to creep out of his being and extend outwards. Extremely slowly. It felt good. But so damn slow.
From time to time, he began to feel these extensions absorb things. He wasn't sure what it was since he couldn't taste it but he knew it was beneficial to him. But things were so slow…
He lost himself to the memories and the sadness. He wallowed for hours and hours in regrets. Then, he went mad. He spent days completely out of it with no longer any sense of self. Until after who knew how long, a part of him had grown upwards enough to pierce through something and exit the darkness.
From there, he got sight. And his mental state returned to stability after some more time elapsed. Then he noticed what was going on.
He had been a seed.
And it finally grew out of the ground. He could see his immediate surroundings. He seemed to be in a forest. He still couldn't move. He could only let himself drift along with the wind. From time to time, he saw gigantic monsters walking over him. Those were insects, the kind he ate as an owl. Right now, they were immense compared to him. Some hurt him as they stepped on him. He could feel their weight forcing him to bend, sometimes close to breaking him. It was always so painful. But he couldn't dodge or retaliate or flee. He was stuck unmoving and forced to experience the feelings of having insects stepping over him.
Time continued to flow in such a way as he grew at an extremely slow rate. He felt pain whenever insects came by and they did so often. He suffered whenever the rain fell upon him, every drop feeling like being hit by a raging wave. He was burnt by the sun and frozen in the night.
For a time, he ended up being stuck under a leaf that was decomposing. It was a horrible moment where he felt suffocated throughout for days.
After that, it snowed and he felt himself in a constant state of drowning. And cold.
But he remained alive and grew. Little by little, slowly. Enduring the pain. Enduring the loneliness. Stuck and unable to do anything but that.
He suffered silently as he grew taller than insects. He suffered as he grew taller than rats. He suffered as he grew taller than wolves…
And then, he became a tree. Well, he was always one but now he was truly a mighty tree of a respectable size. With its safety assured. He was still incapable of movement or speech or anything similar. But he was there. Alive.
He felt the pleasure of birthing leaves and the pain of losing them. He felt the torture of having insects eating him, his roots which were akin to feet. He was humiliated by the numerous beasts who peed on his trunk to mark their territory or simply relieved themselves. A few even pooped there from time to time.
He kept on suffering silently as he watched over time itself. A prisoner in his own body. He remained half-mad throughout, most of the time regressing into delirium and waking up only to find that it was snowing or no longer snowing.
And the years came and went as he grew taller and kept on feeling pain and loneliness.