Mixed Blessing System

After a few minutes, Lothur's group paid for breakfast at the previous establishment and headed towards the area of the previous man's farm.

They walked through the hilly terrain of that village for a few kilometers until they arrived at a farm the size of four soccer fields.

This place that had a hilly terrain, like the surrounding area, had some crops following the contour lines of the area, but also an area with animals.

There were animals similar to cows and chickens on this property, beings that gave milk and eggs for the owners to consume and sell. But there were also animals that handled loads on this property, from those used to pull carriages to those that did various services, such as taking and bringing messages or protecting the area.

But when he arrived at the area where the animals were kept, Lothur was soon faced with the strange situation of this farm.

Instead of finding the 'cows' eating grass on the uneven ground in the area, they saw these and other animals lying in different parts of the terrain.

These beings were not dead but looked exhausted and had strange looks on their heads that told everyone they were not well.

Lothur and his group mates saw this and soon approached the beasts in the area, trying to probe their situation.

"The dark aura I saw on Sir Seizer's arm is present in all these animals." Lothur said as he crouched down near a being that looked like an ox, completely brown with large, sharp horns.

Upon hearing that, those five individuals avoided touching such a thing for fear that they might be contaminated.

But Lothur was bolder. After activating his defensive technique as a precaution, he touched it between the animal's eyes, curious to see if he could glimpse its information through the system.

Lothur knew that he could not check the characteristics of humans by touching bodies, as he could when he checked materials of different types. But he still tried, hoping the system would work with an animal.

Unfortunately for Lothur, nothing came up. Not even the status of the being, since this was an animal, not a beast capable of cultivation.

However, his visual ability was there to help him however he wanted, so he immediately began to look through the body of this beast.

'Its organs are dying from malnutrition, which can be explained by the fact that it is not grazing, as Sir Seizer said...' He noted that the problem with those animals was all about dark aura, which should be affecting their souls and mental functionality.

One of those women then said while analyzing another animal. "It looks like something is trying to manipulate them..."

"Yes. Those animals were not injured like the humans on this estate." The level 10 young man, servant to one of the nobles there, said as he noticed that each animal he had checked had similar marks near their heads as if they were tattoos.

Lothur also noticed this on the ox he was checking, curious to know what that could mean. 'Could it be an evil cultivator?' He wondered about that possibility.

Of all the possible culprits, humans were the ones who were most likely to plot strange things like this.

But they could not be sure of that with only the evidence they had seen so far, so they were open to all possibilities.

"Is there anything you can do to cure these animals?" That farmer asked after a while, watching the group of students.

None of those five students knew how to do that, so they were silent as they looked at Lothur, the only one with skills that could solve biological problems.

Julia and Elke knew that Lothur was a doctor. In contrast, the others there were aware that he was an excellent poison master, two professions useful in removing problems from bodies.

Lothur was silent for a moment, looking at the animals in his surroundings. "Yes and no."

"What do you mean?" Seizer did not understand the meaning of Lothur's answer.

This silver-haired young man explained to him and his group. "I can help you keep the bodies of these animals healthy. But as for the problem afflicting them, I cannot do anything about it. The most I can do is try to solve the problem causing this and hope they recover on their own."

Lothur had no soul cultivation, meaning he could not use spiritual energy outside his body, even though he was a 2nd stage cultivator. At the same time, he was prevented from advancing his professions to the 2-star rank, which also prevented him from having the minimum necessary to try at least.

"The same is true for you and those affected by this aura. The most I can do is give you resources to keep your bodies healthy and hope that your souls can survive this darkness."

Lothur had an affinity and resistance to darkness. Still, as far as he knew, it only protected him from that element. So without further knowledge or experience, he really did not know how to help this farmer.

"It can't be..." Seizer muttered in disbelief, fearing the worst would come to his family.

"I'm sorry." That young man said as he continued to check his surroundings, trying to find some clue.

"Have you identified anything that leads us to the location of this being manipulating the animals in this area?" Elke was also searching for tracks but had found nothing so far.

"No."

"Me neither. It seems that these animals leave no useful traces behind."

All they saw in the surroundings were identical tracks, impossible to tell apart to the extent that they followed the enemy's path.

There was no darkness in the tracks, although these bodies were exuding the aura that Lothur could see.

With that, there was nothing to be followed for the hour, and soon Elke gave her order. "We will spend the day and night on this farm. We'll see if anything comes up in the meantime. If nothing appears, we will follow these animals once they become active, as Sir Seizer said they do every night."

Upon hearing this, Seizer swallowed his saliva, not the least interested in participating. "Well, I will leave you free to do whatever you wish. Meet me at the house if you need help or any assistance." He pointed to a large wooden house at one end of this farm.

Lothur and his companions understood that such a man was afraid and just smiled, feeling that it was better this way.

With that, they continued to investigate the animals and the surroundings for the next few hours, but without much success in finding clues that could lead them to the enemy.

In the meantime, Lothur produced several pills for the humans and animals on this estate, something to help nourish their physical bodies.

Time passed, and the sun had already changed position a great deal, being almost on point when Lothur's group returned from a break to continue investigating the area.

'With night coming, it's likely that whatever is happening to these beasts will get stronger.' Lothur pondered as he recalled that darkness and evil elements were more powerful at night.

...