It felt like it took us hours to tear the ugly thing apart. I wasn't strong enough to rip it open even with the swords I had in my ring. Which meant I had to rely on psychokinesis. The exhaustion I felt was on a whole different level. My body felt fine but my mind was drained. It felt a bit like I had drunk thirteen straight shots. By the time we finished Xerxes had lost most of his excitement. Until we found a small orb in the beast's skull.

  The orb was the size of crystal ball and was filled a dull emerald light. If it wasn't for the Eye of Heaven

  "!"

  I gritted my teeth, as irritation and mental pain washed over me. I had to take several calming breaths before I was ready to respond without saying something I'd regret. "What is it? Why are you so loud?"

  ""

  I raised an eyebrow at the ball and vaguely remembered something Desbera mentioned. Beast cores were beast Dantians basically, they stored the energy for the creature. I squinted at the eager Qilin as something dawned on me. "Have you been eating all the other beast cores? Without telling me?"

  "Yes" He stated matter-of-factly.

  The abrupt answer deflated most of the indignation in my heart. I was about to raise the issue again but I also realized I didn't care. As far as I knew beast core weren't useful to me. Desbera had mentioned cultivator could drain them to but why would I do that? I tossed him the orb and continued my work.

  "If I ever find a use for those I might have to take some." I called out but either Xerxes hadn't heard me or was ignoring me. I decided to assume the best of my companion. The majority of the bug had been dealt with and what remained wasn't worth it. I stored some of the meat inside just in case. It likely wasn't going to be the best tasting stuff around but beggars couldn't be choosers.

  When I was ready to set out Xerxes was done absorbing the core. From what I could tell their was a significant increase in power but he wasn't complaining. "Alright, I would have said we should keep hunting but the recent gains have been pretty nice. Lets move on. I am willing to bet that gathering the tokens was only the first step."

  I activated Apportation

  I grinned and summoned all five of them. Before I could do anything with them they floated into air and a stream of spiritual energy formed between them. When I saw that I couldn't help but be impressed. The tokens were some kind of special array. One that wouldn't show itself until you gathered all five and headed far enough inside. It also didn't take a genius to realize that they array was a kind of map. Or a compass I suppose. It automatically adjusted itself as I ran.

  I expanded my soul sense to monitor the area around us which was the only reason I saw the beast. Unlike every time before this creature seemed to know that it was being observed. Before I could send a message to Xerxes a jet black viper with pentagram like symbols along its head shot out at us. I barely managed to activate Psychic Aegis before the serpent was upon us. No sooner did the wall of energy form did the serpent crash through it.

  "Fuck!" I brought up my arms just as the snake slammed into me. The defensive properties of my robe were the only thing that stopped its sword like fangs from skewering me. I let out a scream of pain as I crashed through two trees. My back felt like I had gone twenty rounds with Bane. For a moment nothing except the pain existence and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into a hole.

  A roar from Xerxes brought me back to the moment. A halo of psychic blades formed and shot at the snake in an instant. I grabbed a healing a pill from my ring and popped it into my mouth. My muscle and bones quickly repaired themselves and I got to my feet. I rejoined the battle just in time to see Xerxes running along the snake's back. Orange and red flames firing into its scales.

  Unfortunately the flames barely effected the snake. Energy surged into the sigil for Inverted Dimension. Manifestation of Perfection

  The serpent launched a breath of black bile at the ground in a desperate attempt to hit the diamond but it was useless. I completed my trio of spells with the addition of Realm of Consciousness

  I grinned and nodded to Xerxes who restarted his attacks. Even with our combined onslaught the serpent didn't give up. It thrashed violently in random directions and nearly caught my with its tail. I unleashed Psionic Rain

  After seeing just how strong the snake's scales were I wasn't surprised when it resisted the spatial attack. When I saw that it only marked the scales I couldn't help but get excited. This thing had to be the strongest creature yet. The mental attack was much more effective. It passed right through its scales and targeted the creatures mind. A mind that was proving itself to be incredible.

  I was about to start a second attack the snake unleashed a hiss that made my bones ache. The sound reverberated throughout the dimensional zone and I was forced to flood it with energy to prevent its destruction. I gritted my teeth and circulated the Tao of Adamance through my body. Xerxes fared better than me and unleashed another blast of flame. This time the attack slammed into the snake's mouth. The horrid sound ended. I unleashed **Psychic Blast**. The snake was once again inundated with psychic energy.

  From there the battle shifted in our favor. The snake likely couldn't unleash either the hiss or the black breath any longer. Nor did it have a way to deal with the confusing effect of my spells. When it finally died I was both happy and disappointed. It was a great battle but quite painful. I barely had time to appreciate the win before Xerxes was digging through its head. I decided to leave him to it. There was no way I was going to collect this things meat.

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  It was way too big and my ring was starting to fill up. Especially when you considered there might be more treasures in the middle of this place. That didn't mean I wouldn't take something from it. I reached out with my psychokinesis and slowly ripped the creatures fangs out. I wasn't sure if there was a better way to extract them. A way that wouldn't hurt the fangs but I didn't care that much. I wasn't a dagger user so I didn't need them to be too high quality.

  I also didn't know any poison master types. When I had the fangs I shattered my dimension and looked around. When I found the five tokens floating in the air I smiled. I would have been pissed if I lost the path finder. I turned to Xerxes who was about to start absorbing his new core. "Wait, that one might take too long."

  I psychokinetically grabbed the ore and a second later it was in my ring. Much to the annoyance of Xerxes. "Come on as soon as we find a safe place to stop the sooner you can increase your strength." I laughed at him as we followed behind the compass. We were attacked three more times before the tokens stopped. Each of the monsters that came for us were serpents, two of which were poisonous. The last one was a constrictor and I wasn't sure which was worse.

  Thankfully they all attacked together which meant that once I set up my killing grounds they attacked each other more often than not. Despite the success I was happy when the tokens stopped glowing. The area it had lead us to was not a pagoda and was still a forest though this one was even stranger than all the others. It was massive. All the trees looked more like skyscrapers.

  It also wasn't dark or rather it was somehow day time in this area. I scanned the canopy but there were no signs of a sun or anything that produced the light. The more things I saw here the more interesting this place became. I scanned the area around us but there were no hints as to where I was supposed to go. Or what I was supposed to do. I turned my attention back to the token. At first I thought it was empty but that wasn't true. There was a small amount left inside.

  I sent a small amount of energy inside and found my focus pulled into the token. Suddenly I was looked down at a massive chimeric rhino creature. As soon as I saw it the whole thing clicked. The tokens were bounties. I needed to find the image on the token and fight it. Once all five were dead either the pagoda would appear or I would be led to a different area. Not only did I need five tokens to lead me here but I also needed it to show me the creatures.

  I pulled out the other tokens and repeated the process. Once I had all five creatures in mind I grinned. The next part of the trial was a hunt. A hunt through a giant forest sounded like an amazing opportunity. Especially if we assume that there will be even more treasures. "Xerxes we are going to be hunting five monsters. If you smell anything let me know."

  Xerxes tossed his head back and let out a howl that reverberated throughout the forest. I laughed at his excitement and then picked a direction. We ran for a short while before I decided that the forest floor wasn't good enough. I pushed spiritual energy into the soles of my feet and walked up the nearest tree. It took a second to modulate the amount of energy I needed to stick to the tree without going through but once I did it was easy.

  Xerxes followed and we were leaping from tree to tree like fantasy ninja. It was hard to know precisely but we had to be several stories up. We ran for around half an hour before a creature that looked like a preying mantis stepped out of the tree. It took my brain a second to realize that the creature had camouflaged itself and it didn't literally step out of the wood. I formed six psychic blades and a moment later the creature was dead. It fell to the forest floor as we passed by it.

  The disappointing fight confirmed that all the creatures weren't going to be as tough as the snake. Which kind of sucked. I had hopped I would be able to grind to level fifty here but that was now uncertain. I decided to not think too deeply about it. I either would reach level 50 or I wouldn't. If I could trust what the Crown Prince said than I shouldn't too consumed with speed. Xerxes and I picked up the speed until we came to an empty clearing with a large tree hollow. The hollow as halfway between us and the ground which made me concerned.

  My danger sense was silent but the hole seemed like it was the nest for some kind of bird. I gestured for Xerxes to step back with me and we hid against the trunk of a tree. We were about a one hundred feet away which still felt too close in my opinion. We weren't left waiting for long when a large four winged green hawk like bird appeared. The bird' beak was serrated like a blade and seemed sharp enough to punch a whole through anything on earth.

  We watched the bird as it tucked itself into its nest. For a moment it turned in our direction and I suppressed my aura as much as possible. I even stopped breathing the next several seconds. When nothing happened I poked my head and found the bird was gone. It had hidden itself in its next which meant we had a choice to make.

  "?" I asked and concentrated the Eye of Heaven

  ""

  I had to resist the urge to laugh. I nodded my agreement and we quietly moved closer to the nest. Our biggest threat was the bird rushing us to get out so I decided that Xerxes would lead. Once he was inside I would follow and activate Psychic AegisInverted Dimension

  The bird was only surprised for a moment before it unleashed a careening cry that made my vision swim. Intellect Fortress

  I gritted my teeth and activated Psychic Rain

  I abandoned my spells and conjured a halo of six blades. I shot the blades at the bird in an attempt to end the battle all at once. Unfortunately the bird's beak glowed with a Tao that felt like it would cut us in two. It slammed its beak into my swords and they shattered like glass. Before I could follow up Xerxes howled and fired a blast of fire. The attack caught the bird in the side of its head.

  I conjured six blades of compressed space and launched them at the bird. This time each blades took a chunk of flesh. The bird's blood poured onto the ground and intensified the feeling of slaughter in here. The bird's fury was almost tangible. It leveled its gaze on me and unleashed a cyclone of air at me. I ducked to the side and avoided most of the cyclone. My right arm and shoulder felt like it was trapped in a blender. I flooded my arm with the strand of adamance to prevent it from being ripped apart.

  When the attack the flesh on my arm was nearly been ripped clean off. The pain forced me to my knee as a fresh surge of energy flooded into my body. I gritted my teeth as flesh started to reform. I glanced over at Xerxes who swayed on his feet but there was nothing I could do. Just like he could take my energy I could take his. Unfortunately I neither of us could stop the flow. I quickly swallowed to healing pills and activated Realm of Consciousness

  I repositioned just in case the bird decided to just blast that area before I considered what to do. I pushed energy into the rest of my spells until Inverted Dimension Manifestation of Perfection