Mixed Blessing System

Upon identifying where he was, Lothur became more alert, fearful of where he had arrived.

If this was indeed the Three Great Lakes Region, as he thought, then his situation was somewhat complicated. After all, this was an area dominated by high-level spiritual beasts by the empire's standard.

In this case, even empire-level experts could meet their demise if they were careless in these areas.

Lothur knew this since this involved the history of Leopoldine, how this state had been formed, and the importance of this area to the empire, the focus on the early sectors of the academy.

So he was soon on guard, using his visual ability to scan the surroundings, trying to find a safe way away from there.

He was in the middle of a forest, where there seemed to be nothing but vegetation for dozens of meters in all directions.

At the same time, there was an extensive mountain range at the bottom of that area, where a gigantic rock separated that portion of land from the ocean.

Considering that he would not get anywhere following that direction, Lothur found his way west, cautiously walking while holding the demon.

This creature had already realized where it was and was also quite worried.

Besides the humans who were part of the Seraphim Church, some races of beasts were capable of killing demons. So finding itself in this dangerous place, which was supposed to be full of 3rd stage beings, it feared that it would meet its end.

'Damn you, human!' It looked at Lothur with hatred. 'You could have run anywhere, but you came straight to this dangerous place!'

"I hope you die before I do." It said in its pain-laden voice.

"Tsk!"

"You are a pest, demon," Lothur commented without looking it in the eye. "I saved your life. Do you know that? If I had gone with that Transcendent, I would have your Soul Bone in no time."

"You don't know that!" The creature exclaimed. "That human could trick you, kill you and take my bone for himself! Humans are like that. I've seen such a thing happen hundreds of times."

"No. I read that expert's heart and saw that he was telling the truth. He would help me." Lothur said, surprising this creature, who also knew that the previous Transcendent was being sincere.

The demon then stopped trying to fool Lothur and looked at the surroundings. "Forget it... You don't know what's best for you. In any case, what are you going to do now? You will probably meet your end the moment the first beast of this place appears."

"So why don't we make a deal? You give me some of your blood, and I'll ally myself with you in this place."

"Fuck you," Lothur said in a teasing tone. "Do you think I'm stupid? You will kill me the first chance you get. By absorbing my powers, you will become much stronger than before!"

"No, I'm being sincere."

"Forget about your plans." Lothur laughed. "I will find a way to kill you and increase my powers by absorbing your Soul Bone."

"And anyway, I can handle this place even without you or your Soul Bone," Lothur added confidently.

"When you are about to die, I will ensure you don't forget your choice as I devour you." It said, trying to scare this hard-to-handle enemy.

"Maybe I'll find one of those beasts capable of killing demons in this place..." Lothur muttered, scaring that being and making it keep quiet.

Beasts could not absorb Soul Bones, so naturally, they had no interest in such artifacts as humans would have.

They valued such items since they could use them for trading for things that might be valuable to them. Lothur was confident that if he could find a beast that could speak and kill such a being, he could come to terms with such with it.

Hence, he remained optimistic about his current situation as he walked through the woods, with one of his hands holding the demon and the other holding the Elemental Staff.

He managed to follow this way without significant problems for about 40 minutes until he came across the first being in this area.

A four-meter tall red bear, as wide as an earthling car, was lying in a nearby cave, dozing beside a beast carcass.

Lothur saw the status of this being and noticed that this was a Transcendent beast, the first with such strength he had seen in his life.

Because of this, he felt sweat dripping down his body while certain parts twitched vigorously, making him fearful of even letting out a fart.

'What damned luck!'

'How did I come across an expert right when I arrived at this damn place?' The silver-haired young man wondered as he moved more carefully in the opposite direction of that cave.

The demon with Lothur identified that creature and wanted to make some noise to get its attention since such a bear could not kill it.

Unfortunately, Lothur was holding it so that it could neither escape nor make a noise. So all its attempts were futile.

Crack!

But suddenly, the sound of breaking twigs came a few feet behind Lothur's back, drawing the attention of this young man and the lying bear.

'Damn. Who did this?' Lothur had not seen anyone else in his surroundings, so he turned back, trying to identify the cause of his bad fortune.

But as he looked back, he found nothing, only a tiny stone in the position where a tree branch had broken and made the previous noise.

"Shit. It's going to think it was me!" The silver-haired young man felt his blood churning and began to run, afraid of what that level 16 beast might do to him.

Unlike Lothur's ordinary enemies, beasts had no soul cultivation, only body cultivation. So they could not use long-range attacks like those of soul cultivators.

Beasts could even attack from afar, but that would be a physical attack, simple, like throwing a stone or something like that.

Thus, the scenario for him in that place was terrible and hopeful.

It was terrible because he could not use the Elemental Staff to destroy the enemy's blows, and he would still have to withstand an attack power possibly higher than his Constitution, which could kill him.

But he was hopeful as the enemy could not use ingenious spiritual tricks to harm him, and the pursuit could be more even. After all, Lothur was relatively fast, and the opponent could not quickly increase and decrease its speed through soul manipulation.

That way, there was room for him to try to escape, and he soon ran at full speed, making the demon in one of his hands feel the strong gaseous displacement through his body.

While that being could barely see his surroundings properly due to Lothur's extreme speed, that bear noticed them and started running after those who dared to attack him.

"Damned human! How dare you invade my territory?" It shouted in a spiritual voice, something that 3rd stage beasts could do.

...