New companion

The small animal came running straight to Ryu, on its mouth, a brow object, big to the point to force the ferret to fully open its mouth, which made quite a funny sight. Seeing the scene, Ryu almost gasped, trying to suppress his laughter, afraid the guards in the distance might somehow hear him.

At Ryu's feet, the ferret raised on its back legs and gestured with its front ones, signaling to Ryu to come down. Understanding the ferret's intention, Ryu kneeled on the ground and offered his hand, to which the ferret dropped the object it was carrying.

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As soon as the brown object fell onto Ryu's hands, a notification popped out in front of his eyes. Even before reading the screen, Ryu knew that the object was not something useless or common, but a treasure because the system doesn't usually send warnings over a trivial matter.

Ignoring the screen in front of him, Ryu rested his eyes on the brown object in his hand, to his amazement, it didn't look any different from an ordinary stone found anywhere, only its color was slightly different, unusual. In his mind, Ryu wondered if he saw that piece of stone on the ground, he would recognize it as something valuable or not.

The answer, he already knew, for something similar had already occurred with him. When he received the throwing dagger as a gift, Ryu put the item aside, thinking it was a family memento with its only value being emotional. That until his master Feng Po opens his eyes, otherwise he could very well have disposed of the dagger as trash.

Having his flaw pointed by someone experienced as the old cultivator left Ryu annoyed, but it was acceptable. But now, even an animal showed its superiority, making Ryu deeply angry with himself with his own stupidity and lack of talent.

Feeling defeated, Ryu finally turned his attention to the screen in hopes of getting some answers about the seemingly normal stone.

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The description of the items provided a general idea of the origin of the stones, as they were from the mining region, it was not strange that the place had a great affinity with the natural elements of the rock. However, the description gave no indication of its uses, which didn't provide any help to Ryu at all, and made him even angrier at his lack of knowledge.

When Ryu finished inspecting the item, the ferret was squealing angrily at him as he gestured with his front paws as if demanding recompense for the stone. "Okay, here's your reward." Ryu said, tucking the stone inside his ring and pulling out a large chunk of meat.

Before Ryu could hand over the piece of meat, the ferret jumped into his hands eagerly, taking the meat off. Chuckling at the animal's impatience, Ryu ran a hand through the ferret's fur and said, "Thank you for the gift.". But Ryu got the feeling that he was scamming the little animal, even though the ferret proposed the switch, so he decided to reward him later as best he could.

"First of all, let's give you a name." Ryu said, and to his surprise, the ferret stopped eating and looked at him. "What about ... Fuzzy." Ryu said after some thought, but the ferret squicked angry with the name, "Okay, calm down, let's think something else. What do you think of ... Bucky.".

This time the answer didn't come quickly, instead the ferret stopped and pondered a bit before signaling that it was okay with that name. So it was established that from that point on, Ryu would call the ferret Bucky and that Ryu would pay him back in the future.

"Bucky, can you show me where did you get this gem?" asked Ryu. He didn't expect to find more of that gem as he clearly knew that something so rare wasn't something found in lots, but only in individual pieces and with great luck.

Ryu's reason for asking was mainly because of curiosity, but part of the curiosity came because of some weird feeling that something wasn't right. As if the random encounter with an absurdly intelligent ferret was not enough, the animal had shown up with an extremely valuable treasure in the most casual way possible.

There was a chance the heavens decided to smile at Ryu and bestow on him, but still, Ryu preferred to see if there was another reason before jumping to hasty conclusions about being heaven's favorite.

Bucky didn't disappoint, as soon as it heard Ryu's question, it grabbed its piece of meat, turned around, and started running ahead. After running through the fallen forest trees and protruding branches, Bucky stopped, munching its food, to look back and confirm if Ryu was following him.

"Go slow. I can't walk between the branches like you." protested Ryu, as he struggled to keep pace with the ferret, who chose the worst possible path for a human to walk through the forest.

Walking through the trees, the new pair of friends headed north until the end of the forest, so they continued to walk for another hour. All along the way, the ferret continued ahead, masterfully following a path he seemed to know very well.

Some distance ahead, Bucky climbed on top of a large boulder and looked back to check if Ryu was still following it. When Ryu reached three paces away, the ferret turned and leaped off the rock, preparing to retake the lead. But before Bucky could land on the ground, Ryu leaped forward, grabbed Bucky while still in the air, and landed on his stomach, remaining in that position.

A fierce battle broke out on the ground just as Ryu and Buck fell to the ground, as the ferret understood Ryu's action as aggression and began biting his hand mercilessly as it writhed, trying to free itself from his grip. But Ryu didn't let go of the ferret, he endured the pain of the small sharp teeth penetrating his skin on his fingers and held the animal until it calmed down.

"Calm down! We can't go this way, Bucky." whispered Ryu trying to calm the ferret, until a minute after the fight started, the ferret calmed down a bit, and Ryu let him go. Freed, Bucky ran five meters ahead and turned to look at Ryu, expressing its anger, as if inquiring for an explanation.

"There are highvale people over there." Ryu said, pointing ahead, and he continued to explain, hoping Bucky would understand him, "They are bad. If they see me here, I am in trouble. do you understand me?".

"What am I doing? I am explaining myself to an animal." Ryu said, confused with his own action. But, Bucky looked in the direction Ryu was pointing, approached him, and placed his tiny pawn on his bleeding hand.

"Ha! Now you regret your actions. Whatever, just don't do it again." Ryu said, annoyed. Then he lifted his head to see ahead where the mine entrance was located.