Shades of the New World

Rith came from behind and asked Evin, "Who did you pray to, by the way?"

"No one, I just prayed for the buck. If the Empress or some other god or goddess happened to hear me, then that's fine as well," Evin said nonchalantly.

"Okay," Rith did not chase the matter.

Ssatsko taught Evin to bleed the buck, and then they gave the dried husk to Rith to store. The Feline took a little bite from it, and commented, "Definitely tastes better than a rat".

"Maybe tell your boyfriend that you don't like his gifts," Evin joked.

"I don't want him to go and hunt a deer because of me. And who says he has to feed me in the first place? I'm much older than the little thing. I'm sure I'm qualified to be his sugar mommy. I only eat his rats because I feel bad for the thing." Rith replied without skipping a beat.

"Such a shameless cat"

"Whether or not I feel shame is my own choice. Why don't you follow behind my footsteps? Just ignore your feeling of shame and do what you wish. Life becomes so much easier," the Feline replied with a grin.

"Maybe it's because I'm not a Feline, I don't have a shame switch. You know, maybe I should complain about you to your brother. I feel like I'm being scammed of this Cosmic Professionalism thing. One moment, you abide by it, and the next you act like you never heard of such a thing," Evin jabbed.

"Patriotism is also a choice. Who says I have to abide by it all the time?"

The answer's shamelessness stunned Evin, who wasn't able to reply properly, fast enough.

Feeling weakness in her enemy, Rith gleefully attacked more.

After being properly chewed out by the Feline, Evin finally waved the white flag.

"I can't believe you're both older than me," said Ssatsko, after listening to their conversation.

"I'm only barely older than you," Rith replied, a bit offended.

"Grandpapa, this cat is bullying me!!!" wailed Evin and ran towards Ssatsko.

The old man thought he experienced many things in life, but never would he expect he would one day have to comfort his three-hundred-year-old grandson.

The three had venison neck for lunch and continued their journey. After hiking for a bit, they would sit down and take minor breaks. But at one point, they found some traces of what seemed to be a mana-beast.

It seemed to be some sort of a bird with razor-sharp talons. Ssatsko found talon marks on a branch and could see dents made by the creature on it.

They concluded that its talons must've been super sharp, as the talon's size wasn't that big. So it couldn't mean that the bird was abnormally big. The old hunter judged that the bird shouldn't be too strong, since practically every time a mana beast ate, it would become bigger. He explained to Evin, that when a normal beast becomes a mana-beast, it starts absorbing the natural energies found in living beings after eating them, resulting in some of them becoming unbelievably big.

They decided that they could take it on if it ever came to attack them, so they ventured deeper and deeper into the forest.

And just like that, four days passed and the trio finally reached the spot that Ssatsko wanted to show to Evin.

…

The armor covering the crow was finally getting the hang of some of its abilities. It was able to affect the crow and have it perform some actions subconsciously. The crow didn't realize that it was being affected, perhaps because it was too dumb to realize. It only thought that the actions it was performing were its instincts.

The crow was currently flying in the central area of the forest. Aside from the occasional hunts, it would spend its time searching for the two-legged land walking creatures.

The armor, on the other hand, wanted to have the crow leave the area, but it was unable to force the crow to leave its territory. It could only wander its territory, hoping it could find a human. It felt that their search would be fruitless for quite a long time, since not a lot of people would just wander around a forest. Thus, it spent most of its time studying its own abilities.

It realized that it could talk inside its host's head. Every time it said something to the raven, the big bird would look around its surroundings like it was startled, or it would just fly away in panic. It also realized that it gave its host some abilities about how to use it. It noticed that the raven was much more proficient at attacking its prey, while also being able to slightly adjust its armor to block the enemy attacks, when the prey retaliates in some ways.

…

In another part of the forest, three dark-skinned individuals were walking through the forest, searching for something.

"Elashin, I don't think the item is in this forest. Our methods showed that our aim was around the area of that town, but there are vast plains around the town. If someone capable chances upon the creature, it would become much harder to retrieve it. I think we should scour the plains first," one of the iron-pierced mages said.

"It's not a problem to search more in this forest, we don't know what kind of creature it has been born as. Our best bet is to search this forest methodically. We searched the town, but did not find any clues. And besides, if someone else manages to find it, then we can only employ more difficult tactics. It's not the best option, but it will mean that we won't be fumbling around in the dark. Besides, the forest is filled with creatures. Statistically, it is also our best bet after the town," Elashin answered.

"You mean to further antagonize the kingdom? We got away with the previous few... cases, but I'm seeing a lot more mages that are loitering around town. Can't be there to just because..."

"Even if we can't retrieve it, we can be sure to kill it. That will be considered succeeding in the mission. As for whatever happens after that, that's a problem for our future selves," the man shrugged.

"And what is this creature you are searching for in the first place? You said that it could be anything, so why can't it be the caterpillar I squashed in the morning?"

"It can't become that small. It's just unscientific, you see. The most likely thing that it will become is a humanoid, and after that, the next thing that the target feels closeness to. Do you wake up some days and hope you become a caterpillar in your next life?" Elashin said.

"I do hope I become a tree, sometimes," grumbled the man.

"It was a rhetorical question," smiled Elashin.

His two subordinates were clearly not satisfied with the situation, but they still shut their mouths, as they found talking to their boss a waste of breath.

After walking around the forest, they finally found some interesting tracks of a bird. It was the same track that Ssatsko found.

"Is it a mana-beast? Why is it so small, though?" one of the men inquired.

"Perhaps it specializes in lethality. Or perhaps… It is our target. It seems that it has become a bird. A raven, most likely. See how ironic it is? The prisoner wanted wings to escape its prison, so the gods have turned him into a crow." Elashin said with a smile.

"Let's find this bird, then. Arolan!"

The man called Arolan immediately cast some magic on the trails. The mage was using a veil that hid his World energy, but if someone could see him, they would see the man take on a pinkish shade. The World of Life.

"The beast went deeper into the forest. Let's go," Arolan said after a few seconds.

…