Fire-core Qi seeds

The group of yelling-centaurs in the swamp exchanged worried glances among themselves. Then, they ran from the swamp.

Regalo fired at the noble class yelling-centaur before it could get back on its feet. Da Morte manipulated the soil and rode on it to approach the yelling-centaur.

"Yelling-centaur surrenders to you! He pleads that you spare his life! He promises a favour in return!" Da Morte's system announced it before he could get close to his target.

The yelling-centaur bowed submissively before him. Da Morte slowed to a stop.

He smirked, "Smart centaur."

He felt Regalo about to attack the yelling-centaur. He ordered Regalo to stand down. The fiery demon pet obeyed.

Da Morte asked his system if the yelling-centaur could communicate with it like the Shepherd Willow.

"No, it cannot! This is just a hive mind situation!"

He made his fists burn in yellow flames and he approached the yelling-centaur, who was still in the bowing position.

"Where is the favour you promised me?"

The yelling-centaur was frightened by his approach. It seemed to realise what Da Morte said. It gestured for Da Morte to follow it. The yelling-centaur led him and Regalo to the central fire root.

"Are you kidding me? Seizing control of this swamp granted me access to this plant. The plant isn't edible by any means for human beings. The only thing I can do is to cultivate the fire-based qi in it."

The yelling-centaur cringed in fright. Then, it made gestures for Da Morte to have patience with it. The yelling-centaur went to the foot of the central fire root. It dug out from the ground three small round seeds and gave them to Da Morte. The seeds were the size of a peanut.

The seeds looked too ordinary to him. "What the hell is this?"

"Fire-core qi seed identified!" His system announced thrice.

His eyes widened upon realization, "Fire-core qi seeds."

He knew what the fire-core qi seeds were. A fire-core qi seed would boost one's fire element prowess by four tiers if one completely absorbed the seed.

Unfortunately for Da Morte, his mouse willow fire spirit couldn't use the fire-core qi seed to level up. An earned demon pet soul was forever stuck in its grade.

He gave Regalo a seed and kept the others for himself.

Regalo felt his guardian's malicious intentions. He and his guardian stared at the yelling-centaur with malice. The yelling-centaur was scared by the stares. It hadn't an idea of what they wanted to do to it.

An owned demon pet could make another demon pet its own. Regalo charged at the yelling-centaur. The yelling-centaur didn't attempt to run because it was overcome by fright.

A breath away from the yelling-centaur, Regalo came to a stop. He prowled round the yelling-centaur.

"Authorise Regalo's ability to establish partner-bonds, yes or no?"

Da Morte authorised Regalo's partner-bonding ability. Regalo looked eyeball to eyeball with the yelling-centaur. His eyes became a dark void. A split second later, the yelling-centaur's eyes were like Regalo's eyes too.

"Regalo has established partner-bonds with the yelling centaur! Regalo named the yelling-centaur, "Bomb"!"

"Wow! What a name."

Da Morte sat in the butterfly pose. He wanted to absorb qi from the fire-core qi seeds.

Regalo instructed his demon pet to stand guard over the swamp. Bomb made a sound, but Regalo and Da More couldn't hear the sound. In fact, no other creature could hear the sound except for yelling-centaurs. The sound made by Bomb was a loud whistle sound. Minutes later, the bunch of yelling-centaurs that fled earlier returned to the swamp.

The returned bunch was frightened by the presence of Da Morte and Regalo in the swamp. The human being and Thunderbolt Willow didn't notice the arrival of the yelling-centaurs because they were meditating. Regalo was lying on his belly while he used his forelimbs as a head rest.

Bomb communicated to his comrades to remain calm. He explained that Da Morte and Regalo were friends to them and that they would help protect the swamp from invaders.

At that moment, a group of ten Mouse Willows were stealing fire roots from the swamp. The yelling-centaurs noticed them and wanted to attack them. But they were stopped by a devilish snarl. They yelling-centaurs realised that the snarl was from Regalo.

The Mouse Willows were the Regalo's herd. He still considered them family. Regalo watched over the yelling-centaurs to make sure that they didn't hurt his brethren.

The group of Mouse Willows came, gathered, and went away repeatedly. It went on for ten minutes, and then they stopped coming. Regalo growled at the yelling-centaurs, gesturing that they should carry on with their guarding task. Regalo returned to his meditating position. The yelling-centaurs were all nervous and were hesitant to return to guarding the swamp. After minutes of indecisiveness, Bomb managed to convince his comrades to resume guarding the swamp.

Da Morte had almost spent half a day in the proibida realm.

Back on the normal earth reality, in the Dark Lord's palace on Sitio Escuro, the Dark Lord drank wine while seated at a dining table. His face was gloomy as usual. The dining room was big and virtually empty. There were windows all around the room, and they were all covered by thick curtains, except for one. The exception was the sole source of light for the room.

Light from outside beamed one side of the dining room, and that was where the dining table was located. The other parts of the room were dark.

Suddenly, the windows' curtains were forced apart, and the whole room was brightened.

A masculine voice off scene said to the Dark Lord, "Oh catastrophic one! The demon that unsettles the nerves of angels! Why do you choose to be in solitude?"

"What do you want, Sanchez?"

A five-foot-tall, chubby man with a moustache entered the dining room. He seemed calm and normal, but one could feel the sinister aura he exuded.

Sanchez replied in a deepened voice, "That boy you chose as the chosen one, don't you think he is a little bit unqualified?"

"His powers are weak, but I have faith in him."

"Faith? We have limited time for faith-"

The Dark Lord cut him off, "Time is infinite, Sanchez. Time is something, and time is nothing. We are the ones who put meaning to time." He took a sip from his cup and continued, "I don't want to be disturbed right now, Sanchez. Please leave. We will discuss later."

Sanchez left the Dark Lord's castle.