The Valley

After the 'catching up' an embarrassed Ben along with the two bantering oldies went to the place where Vishok Lived. It was a huge area and ever luxurious. There was large backyard and an underground training area. This was really Luxurious. Suddenly Ben remembered something and turned to Vishok and Mahaansh. They had chatted a bit on the way and Ben found that these two were quite amicable. " Are you two in the Lord Rank? You are long since comrades and your beast is exuding a lord class aura." They looked at each other. Vishok was a bit confused. He said to Mahaansh : " You haven't told them your rank." Mahaansh answered " I wanted to be low profile. So..." Vishok was at a loss. He rolled his eyes at Mahhasnh and then turned to Ben. " Indeed we both are in the Lord Class. We worked in the army together. So we know." Ben understood and he nodded. They had a light refreshment and then came to the matter.

Vishok went deep in thought for about a minute. Then he searched through something on the network and also took out some documents. He then said to them " Look, it is not that easy to find an animal with affinity in one day. It will most likely take several visits. If you find one today, it is fine. I am happy for you. But it is not that easy. Next is the problem with understanding them. If you are not able to understand the working behind their powers, it is also an issue. You will have to study the biology of that particular animal. If it is a rare animal, information about it will also be scarce. Because, to understand the power of an animal, you have to understand its meridian paths, nervous system, muscular structure and special utility organs. If they are rare, we will have prohibition on killing them and without killing it is difficult to understand these. The next set of difficulties are associated with your martial seed. Mahaansh will explain it to you later. Now we will go to a valley near by. You can go and meditate there for a while. It is good for you martial seed. Also, there are lot of animals there. Maybe during or after meditation you can form an affinity with any of them. You can also use your aura to sense them. If that does not work, there is a beast master coprporation here. It is relatively a new one, but it has build a good reputation. We can go to the big one s as well. What do you say?"

Ben looked at his teacher. Mahaansh said " It is your martial seed and your path to martial Ben. I can't take decisions for you. If you think it s good, we will do that. If you think it is bad, we won't do it. It is as simple as that." After some thought, Ben agreed to it.

Soon they went to the valley that Vishok had said. This valley was a beautiful place. It was picturesque scenery that looked like a scene from mythical comic. Beouffs, fieries and various species of animals and birds. There was a lake which was considerably large. It was as large as a sea. Its other side was not visible. Ben and Mahaansh came to know that it was a rain only after Vishok informed it to them. There were a lot of animals drinking water from the lake. These were mostly herbivorous animals. They also found some carnivores who were lurking in the bushes at a distance. Ben, Mahaansh and Vishok stopped at a distance from the lake, where there was a lot of trees and tall grass. Mahaansh and Vishok used their power and 2 devices to set up a field. This helped them to seal of this area from the vision of the animals, without cutting off the energy flow. Ben started to meditate. It was 2:00 PM in the afternoon. Ben meditated for about 3 hours. He was really immersed in meditation and the feeling of surging energy levels in his energy core. But the two beside him did not understand this, due to the protective technique of Dr. Haldert. They thought Ben was a natural prodigy at meditation. At about 5 PM Ben was nudged from the meditation. They also had another purpose in coming here. They had to take at least first step today. He could meditate from early morning tomorrow. Soon Ben began to observe the various animals. With the help of Mahaansh he also released an aura field. Because a Lord Class martial was helping him, this aura was unnoticed by all the animals. It was what they thought. But there was an exception. Ben found that animal relatively quickly. There was a pack of Lupis, which were at a distance. These were a pack of Gale Lupis. They were some of the fastest predators around, which could naturally manipulate the air and create winds. Their leader was unnaturally big and it was showing signs of evolution to an Animus. Amazingly, it was not the powerful leader which sensed them. But it was a relatively timid wolf, which was at the rear end of the pack which sensed them. It was trying to warn the other members of the pack, but they simply pushed him away. Its colour was also a bit different from the others. The Lupis generally have keen sense of smell and hearing. The leader which was on the verge of evolving to animus should have an extremely sensitive nose. But it could not sense them. It was thanks to the two lord class martial artists. But this timid wolf had sensed them. This wolf was special: the trio thought. Mahaansh looked at Vishok. He nodded. Mahaansh's figure suddenly flickered. Ben could not sense any thing. Before that peculiar Lupis could even sense it, Mahaansh reached near it and grabbed it quickly by the back of its neck. He flickered back from there and came back. They did not linger any more and came back to Vishok's place.

At the place all three of them looked at this Lupis intently. At a glance itself, there was something peculiar about this one. It was not just about its impoverished form, but its colour and disposition was different. Vishok was looking at it with Keen intent. Mahaansh and Ben did not know that much about beasts. So they were waiting for Vishok to talk. Mahaansh was at the end of his patience. " Come on you white haired brat, what are you looking at. Tell us what it is." Ben was also dying of curiosity. He could sense the affinity with this animal. He could understand that its personality matched with him to an extent. He was also waiting impatiently for Vishok to speak. Vishok did not have a clear answer at present and he was vexed. He said " Is that the best nick name you could come up with, you grumpy old bachelor. Wait, I will let you know." Mahaansh wanted nothing more than to strangulate him. But he controlled himself. Vishok took some saliva and blood from the animal. He went with it to his personal lab. He created a DNA profile and he used a special network to get the DNA profiles of various animals from the Lupis family.

During all this time, Ben was trying to connect with this animal. Vishok's house had a huge backyard. His companion 'Azurban' was there with Ben. Mahaansh went to Vishok. Ben tried to connect with this animal. It was an adolescent one, which was learning hunting from the adults. It was still aggressive. But the presence of 'Azurban' was terrifying for it. Slowly, by using treats and his calm disposition, Ben gradually got close to the Lupis. It was now less afraid of Ben. He could see that this guy was really timid and not very powerful. But this Lupis was not willing to give up.

Meanwhile, Vishok was conducting various tests and was checking with the DNA profiles that were sent from various places through the Network. Soon his eyes lit up. It was a match. He used the blood and saliva to conduct some more tests. He then came to the Lupis and observed it for a while. Then he looked at the two of them. Ben and Mahaansh looked at him with anticipation.