13. Investigation

The afternoon sun hung low in the pale winter sky, its light scattered weakly across the endless expanse of snow. 

The forest stood silent, its bare, frost-covered branches clawing at the air. 

In the heart of the clearing, a settlement crouched behind a hastily erected wooden wall, the sturdy logs bristling with sharp, uneven points. 

Smoke coiled lazily from chimneys, mingling with the cries of grief that drifted on the frigid breeze. 

The snow outside the gate was stained red. Bodies lay scattered in twisted heaps, their forms half-buried in the drifts. 

Closest to the wall, the corpses wore animal furs—wolf pelts, bear hides, and strange patchworks of scales and feathers. Third, vertical eyes stared lifelessly at the sky, their sockets dark with death. Stone axes and crude metal spears rested near stiffened fingers. 

Farther out, near the tree line, more bodies lay slumped in the snow. These were different. Human. 

They wore matching blue uniforms, now slashed and bloodied, and their lifeless hands gripped sleek rifles, their barrels dull against the sun's weak light. 

But the living still stirred. The three-eyed ones moved purposefully about the settlement, some dragging the bodies of their fallen kin inside, others standing watch with weapons at the ready. 

A few humans walked among them, dwarfed by the size of their guns—devices that gleamed with a cold, mechanical precision at odds with the primitive furs and crude tools. 

From inside the wooden walls came the keening cries of women and children. Sorrow. Loss. Rage. The settlement seemed to ache with it, the sound as raw as the wind slicing through the trees. 

And high above it all, watching with unblinking eyes, sat the wolf. 

Its fur was the color of sunlit sand, blending seamlessly with the winter tones of the forest. It rested on a thick branch, the snow beneath its massive paws undisturbed. 

Muscles coiled beneath its sleek coat, but it remained perfectly still, its golden eyes fixed on the clearing below. 

It had been watching for an hour. 

Gavin's clone is watching all of these after he escorts the tribe members of the Spring Rain Tribe in his tribe.

He was sent out by the main body to gather information, Gavin knew when advanced technology advanced Humans came upon less technologically advanced Humans What happens?

And the tribes living here are not even Humans, He can even phantom what will happen to them. 

And, also in this life, he is not even human, a totem from one of the three-eyed race tribe, and he is sealed inside a totem. So, He has to find a way for the Humans to withdraw from this region and far away from him.

He does not anyone except his tribe near him until he breaks the seal.

He stays on the tree's branch for another couple of hours overlooking the settlement of the destroyed Spring Rain Tribe and he notices the Snake Tribe with their dead and tied women, Children, and live men most of them are injured from the Spring Rain Tribe leaves. 

After a couple of minutes the humans set the settlement of the Spring Rain Tribe on fire with the bodies of dead Spring Rain Tribe members and with their dead they also left.

After they leave some distance from the clearing, Gavin jumps from the tree and walks into the clearing with a last glance toward the burning settlement.

He starts following the Human troops from some distance because he feels danger from five humans in the troop. 

And among them from the human leading the troop, he felt a life-threatening danger.

So, he followed behind them from a distance because, with the smell and traces in the snow left by them, he would not lose them in the forest.

As he follows them, he thinks about how to make them leave the region. With them getting together with the snake tribe and destroying the spring rain tribe.

He does not think they came with any good intentions.

The best way to make them leave is to kill all of them, then they will not be able to come again with more humans.

For this to happen, he has to increase his strength to kill all of them and also increase the strength of the tribe members.

" Looks like, I have to give the method to advance to the blood awakening realm and the spirit blood realm to the tribe." He murmurs but the sound of his talking does not come out but the bark from a wolf.

He forgot he took over the body of a wolf.

This made him think, If this body could advance to the bronze magic beast realm then it would be easy to destroy the Snake Tribe together with the Humans. 

While thinking about how to increase his strength he follows the humans.

 As time passes a couple of hours, he stops and watches the human camp from the forest.

To observe them more clearly, he steps back inside the forest and finds a huge tree with thick branches.

He controls the earth element to form a ladder on a thick branch that he can feel will able to hold his weight and will overlook the human camp.

The ladder is made from stone, he forms it with his magic energy and not from the 'earth elemental' energy around him.

He formed the ladder with his magic energy because the previous stone ladder he formed with earth elemental energy took at least two minutes to form.

In this winter season, 'Earth elemental' energy is suppressed inside the thick blanket of snow covering the ground. It is difficult to call upon the 'earth element' inside the ground.

He climbed the ladder and made himself comfortable on the thick tree branch overlooking the Human camp hidden in the thick foliage.

He has around 15 hours to observe the Human Camp. 

The main body ordered him to return inside the range of the main body in a day.

So, sitting there he observes the Human camp with his mind thinking about how to increase control of 'earth element'.

The increased control of 'earth element' energy around the world would also increase the speed of forging his bones so they can transform into magic bones.

As time flies, and the light of the day slowly disappears. 

In the pitch black darkness, with the clouds covering the sky the light of the moon and stars cannot land on the ground.

But it did not stop him from observing the human camp with his night vision and the magic energy flowing through his eyes the surroundings are as bright as the day.

While lying on the tree's branch, he started to control the 'earth elemental' energy to create small and simple objects.

And he feels as time passes, he did not stop. He did not even use the same ' earth elemental' energy for creating the object, after creating the object he let the object dissipate back into the 'elemental' energy.

He will absorb 'earth elemental' energy from another place and create another small object. This goes on up until the darkness starts fading. 

He senses his control of ' Earth elemental' energy is rising, which makes him remember a story he heard in his previous life.

When he was a 5th-rank psychic, he went to a bar on a planet where he heard a man named Marcus advance to a 7th-rank Fire elemental psychic on a frozen planet.

The man for a century was blocked at the limit of the 6th-rank psychic realm, so he went to journey the territory of the Human Federation for inspiration to advance to 7th-rank psychic.

5 years after the start of his journey he met a Star Beast in the space of quasi 7th-realm. Not a match against the star beast in space, he escapes.

But the Star Beast damaged his spaceship ship which led him to crash on a frozen planet with temperatures ranging below -700 degrees Celsius.

He was able to live because he was a fire-elemental psychic and fought against the cold to stay alive. Advanced his understanding of fire rules and he advanced to 7th rank psychic.

From 7th rank, a psychic can fly in space. So, he escaped from the freezing planet and returned a month before, Gavin heard his story. 

So, if he can bring his control over 'earth elemental' energy as before the winter season. Then his understanding and control over 'earth elemental' energy will also increase.

So, He has to go on to practice what he did to increase his control over 'Earth Elemental' energy before the winter season. 

But not now. 

Gavin's sharp eyes caught movement from the camp—a pair of humans emerging with a large bucket held between them. The smell wafting from the bucket reached him even at this distance, and he recognized it immediately. Waste. 

He crouched low on the branch, watching intently as they trudged away from the camp. A plan formed in his mind: he would capture one of them and bring the man back to his main body. The man's memories would be read, revealing all the information about the humans' camp. 

Silent as the falling snow, Gavin leaped down from the tree, landing lightly on the ground without a sound. He followed the two humans, keeping his distance. They moved through the forest, heading toward a pit some distance from the camp. There, they dumped the bucket's contents, the stench rising in the cold air. 

Afterward, the pair walked to a small pond nearby and began washing the bucket. Gavin crept closer, his sandy fur blending into the snowy shadows, until he was directly behind them. 

The men chatted idly, their voices carrying faintly over the gentle rustle of water. One of them leaned forward, scrubbing at the bucket's rim. That was when he froze. 

Gavin saw the man's reflection in the pond—the wide, terrified eyes staring back at the massive wolf head looming behind him. 

The man screamed, his voice piercing the stillness as he lost his balance and fell into the water. His companion turned in confusion, and then his face twisted in horror as he came face-to-face with Gavin's open jaws. 

Before the man could react, Gavin struck. His powerful jaws encased the man's head entirely, and with a brutal crunch, it was over. The lifeless body crumpled into the snow, blood staining the white ground. 

Gavin felt nothing as he swallowed the fragments of flesh and bone that had entered his mouth. The taste of human blood and meat does not disgust him as it should be—Maybe the clone is a wolf and the wolf's spirit is affecting him.

He has to return to the main body quickly but it can also be for other reasons because it was not even the most brutal way he killed a Human in his previous life.

He recalled his days in the Federation army, where rebellion was constant. Whether it was a regional uprising, a planetary revolt, or even a star system-wide war, he had fought them all. First as a soldier, then later as a commander, he had quelled countless rebellions. 

And among them when he was made commander of one of the armies in conquering a whole star system, he killed a man on a planet by cutting a millimeter of the man's flesh every second while he amplified the man's senses.

It took a whole week for the man to finally die. The Man was a distant relative of the Fu immortal family and disobeyed order which led to the loss of an entire fleet, only he with his spaceship came back alive.

So, He killed the man in such a brutal way. But this came to bite him back later.

The Federation ruled over 26 star systems, and Gavin had even fought against the Alasind Empire. He was instrumental in the conquest of the 26th star system, personally taking down a Ninth-Rank Psychic of the Alasind Empire. Yet, all the glory had gone to the Six Immortal Families. His name wasn't even mentioned in the records. 

That betrayal still burned in his mind. It was one of the reasons he had left the Federation, only to be ambushed at the border. 

As those bitter memories surfaced, the revulsion of consuming human flesh faded from his thoughts. Gavin focused on the remaining man, who was frozen in terror, staring at the bloodied snow. 

With a controlled leap, Gavin struck the second man with a powerful but measured swipe of his paw. The man's head snapped back, and his body crumpled into the pond like a discarded sack of potatoes, unconscious but alive. 

No, this one couldn't die. Gavin needed him alive. The man's memories would be crucial to understanding the humans' plans. 

Carefully, Gavin lifted the unconscious man onto his back, ensuring he wouldn't slip off. Using his magic energy, he formed a belt around the man's body, securing him tightly to his own. Satisfied, Gavin turned and began running toward the mountains. 

He moved swiftly, skirting the lower parts of the range where the snow was shallower and the trees sparser. It would be easier to make his way back to the tribe from there. 

Soon, the man's memories would reveal what the humans intended.