CH 8: Soul beast forest

As Wang Sheng, Tang San and Xiao Wu stared at his hand with wide eyes while Ali was smiling smugly, Tang San gulped :"Ali, w-when did you get so much money? Y-you didn't steal, did you?"

Ali rolled his eyes as he smacked Tang San on the back of his head :"Do I look like a thief to you? As to how, sorry, but I won't tell you. After all, a magician never reveals his secret." Actually, he had stolen all the money that was in the Storage of Omnitrix. But he hadn't pickpocketed or stolen anything himself. That was all Omnitrix's doing. You see, Omnitrix has some pretty useful functions:

1: Not needing to be summoned for its Storage and Library abilities to be used. He can just keep it inside and then use both abilities without anyone being able to detect it. He didn't know if Gu Yuena also couldn't detect it or just didn't bother with it, but he still hoped that it was the former.

2: Storage can be used in AOE type of way. He can just use it to store anything and everything not living inside of the Storage of Omnitrix! He can also filter it so only specific things would be stored. For example, he had filtered it and stored quite a bit of the school's money!

He wouldn't just go around and steal stuff, but after finding out that they were a bunch of jerks who make fun of everyone, he didn't feel bad anymore and just stole just enough for the school to not collapse. Also, since this boy was quite annoying, he completely emptied his and his friends' pockets!

The reason why he wanted to go to the second floor was mostly so that he would see the funny scene of them not finding their money and seeing what they would. Xiao Wu immediately smiled as she grabbed Ali's wrist and pulled him while she walked :"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go already!"

Ali sighed helplessly, but was a little surprised when he felt another hand grab his other wrist. When Xiao Wu noticed that she couldn't pull Ali anymore, she looked back to see Ali looking back at Gu Yuena who had grabbed his wrist tight enough to hold him in place, but gentle enough to not hurt him.

A slightly cold look appeared in her eyes as she glared slightly at Xiao Wu :"Let go of him." And Xiao Wu immediately let go, afraid of her for reason that even she didn't know. 'She isn't even my girlfriend, yet she's this possessive?' Ali helplessly curled his lips before he nodded towards the stair that led towards the second floor :"Let's go already."

After they walked towards the second floor, the three boys from before immediately noticed them as the first boy mocked :"Heh, beggars came to the second floor? Don't you know that you will be punished if you don't pay up? I can't wait to see your embarrassed faces."

The only reason why Ali could contain himself from jumping on him and beating the ever living bullshit out of him was only because he wanted to see their looks when they realize that their pockets are emptier than Xiao Wu's chest :'Let's see who will be punished, and who will have the last laugh, bitch.'

After they sat around an empty table with Wang Sheng looking rather excited, a waiter came and held up a notepad and a pen or something :"So what food will you children be ordering?"

"Rabbit stew for me." Ali said with a smirk as Xiao Wu turned to him and glared at him :"Why?!" And Ali just shrugged innocently :"No reason, I just craved some rabbit meat suddenly." Xiao Wu continued to glare at him as they ordered. Even after the waiter went away, she kept glaring and pouting at him as if she was treated unjustly. But Ali just kept smirking provokingly at her.

After the boys that had mocked Ali and Co were finished, Xiao Chenyu, the boss of the group and the students, snapped his fingers, smugly calling for the waiter :"Waiter, we're finished." And a waiter walked towards their table :"Hope you enjoyed your meal. The total amount will be 7 silver soul coins."

"7 silver soul coins for a simple meal..." Wang Sheng winced, but Xiao Chenyu just smugly snorted :"No problem. Here you... Go... Go...?" As he kept hitting his pockets, he couldn't feel anything inside as he checked his pants.

When he couldn't find anything, he got up and checked his entire body, but still couldn't find anything :"Where are all of my coins?!" When they saw that the waiter was furrowing a bit, another boy chuckled slightly nervously :"It's okay, boss Xiao, you must've just forgotten it in the dorm. We will pay this time."

Another boy nodded as well, but when they got up to check their pockets, none of them could find anything. As they panicked, they told the other boys in their group to also check their pockets, but none of them had anything on them at all.

"Children, it's a crime to dine and dash, you know?" The waiter furrowed as he looked at them :"If you don't pay, we will be forced to send you to the principal's office." On the other side, with Ali and Co, Wang Sheng and Xiao Wu could hardly keep in their laughter while Ali just enjoyed his food as he watched the funny show.

-

"Okay, we're here." Ali said as he looked around the soul beast forest with interest before he hopelessly looked at his companion :"But say, why are you here with me?" Gu Yuena looked at him and answered simply :"To protect you."

Ali seriously wanted to get a soul ring for his Omnitrix and unlock an alien already, so told the teachers that he was planning to go and hunt for one. But surprisingly, Gu Yuena said that she will also go with him, and didn't give up till he agreed.

In the end, the two of them made their way to the soul beast forest, after Ali bought a few daggers, instead of attending the ceremony. Tang San had gone with Yu Xiaogang, his master, but Ali didn't want to go with them.

The only reason why he agreed to Gu Yuena was because since she had already come after him, he might as well build a friendship with her, and build a romantic relationship later on. After all, she was one of the most beautiful women in Douluo Dalu. Would be a shame to let such a gem go to someone else.

Since Ali didn't want to go with Yu Xiaogang and Tang San, he had gone and borrowed a token of Martial Soul Hall from Su Yuntao who surprisingly helped him out and gave him one. As they walked cautiously in the forest, walking deeper to find stronger and older soul beasts, Ali looked at Gu Yuena :"By the way, do you already have a soul ring? Is that why you're confident that you can protect me?"

"Mhm." Gu Yuena answered as they walked :"I was born with full soul power and have gotten my soul ring already. I'm a level 13 soul master, so I can help and protect you." Ali nodded and hummed :"Then can you tell me about your martial soul and your soul skill?"

Gu Yuena nodded as she raised her hand and multiple colored energies appeared around her hand :"My martial soul doesn't make me physically stronger like other beast type martial souls, neither does scales and such appear on me, but it allows me to control the seven elements of water, fire, earth, wind, light, darkness and space.

Because of that, my martial soul is also known as Elementalist, but its real name is Silver Dragon King since I will be able to transform into a dragon after I acquire my 7th soul ring, which will give me the Martial Soul True Body soul skill. My 1st soul ring is Elemental Tide, which attracts elemental energy."

Ali nodded in acknowledgment as he thought about it :"I see, then you're a long range fighter. Alright then, after we find a suitable soul beast, I will leave my back to you." Gu Yuena nodded with a small smile :"You can count on me."

They continued on walking for the rest of the path without disturbing any of the soul beasts that Ali didn't need. Also, because of the holographic Map of Omnitrix that only Ali could see, he wasn't really worried. Omnitrix had another Innate Ability, called Map, which has a pretty self-explanatory name.

A holographic map of the area around Ali will be in the Omnitrix which will also show the people and any living being in the area. Also, their strength, soul power level for humans and age for soul beasts, will also appear in the map. So Ali didn't really need to worry.

After searching for hours and not finding the one that Ali wanted, they finally decided to take a short break. The soul beasts that they had encountered were ones that weren't Ali's targets, and ones that weren't old enough, so they were still searching.

As the two children sat down on a rock, Ali sighed while looking at the sky :"I knew that we wouldn't just find the one so easily, but it's still rather hard to find it in such a huge forest that is filled with soul beasts that haven't lived for long, huh?"

Gu Yuena didn't say anything as she just kept looking at him like how she had ever since they met. Ali felt a little awkward, but still didn't tell her to stop. And he was slowly getting used to it anyway, so screw it, let her have fun.

While they were resting, the Map of Omnitrix began to beep, but only Ali could hear it. Just like how Ali could filter it to store only specific things, Ali could also filter the Map to also alarm him when a specific soul beast with an age that Ali had filtered entered the area that the Map covered.

Ali mentally moved the Map to float in front of his eyes as he looked at the picture of the soul beast and its age :'Bloodthirsty Tiger, 430 years old, quick, good at attacking, very tough, huh? Well, guess we found what we were looking for~.'

The Was actually approaching them, and not subtly at all. So when the sound of booming and hurried steps came, both Ali and Gu Yuena got up and got ready for action without saying anything.

As the footsteps got closer, the owner of the sounds finally revealed itself as it growled at Ali and Gu Yuena :"Roooaaarrr!" It was a 3 to 5 meters, red and orange tiger with razor sharp teeth, and with two teeth that were larger than the rest sticking out of his mouth like sabers. It actually looked like a Sabertooth Tiger, but with different colors.

With his daggers in his hands, Ali got ready to attack :"Gu Yuena, ready? Go!" And he attacked just as the Bloodthirsty Tiger walked towards them. When it saw that the small human had attacked it, it swung its paw at him, intending to slice him into pieces with its sword-like claws.

But just as its paw approached him, Ali lowered his body and slid on the ground before smoothly rising to his feet. The Bloodthirsty Tiger tried to raise its other paw to attack Ali with it, but the earth suddenly opened up and enveloped its front leg.

When it noticed that it was Gu Yuena's doing, it growled at her when it noticed that Ali jumped up and swung his daggers at its neck, trying to kill it by attacking its weak spot. However, when the attack connected, it didn't manage to pierce through the Bloodthirsty Tiger's thick fur, causing Ali to curse under his breath before grabbing its fur and jumping on top of it when it tried to bite him.