《Serpent girl Lily.》 Chapter 1: Disturbance. Suddenly the eyes of the great wolf snapped open, and it turned its head towards the depths of the forest. ¡°Is something the matter?¡± asked a nearby female wolf, as it looked with worry towards the pack leader. After hearing her words many of the nearby wolfs also turned to look towards their leader, to them the great silver fang wolf whom they follow is not someone many things can course worry, and as such they hope he would simply dismiss his mates worry. ¡°I felt a disturbance from within the heart,¡± the great wolf said in a deep voice filled with both power and wisdom, ¡°it was as the very essence shuttered. but it was weak and very brief, alas it was still something I cannot do, even if I was to use all of my power.¡± He said his voice slowly lowering as he spoke. This caused the nearby wolfs to worry a great deal. After all, he was Fenrir! Their leader and the one hailed as the king of the north! One must know that the 4 kings were beings of such power that just one could bring destruction to empires and end eras! Shortly after finishing his words, Fenrir once more looked towards the depths of the forest Deep in thought. Now many hushed voices could be heard from the giant pack of silver fang wolfs. Many discussing what it could mean, and many about what would happen now. But one thing was present in them all and that was a deep worry. Had any man seen this he would most likely have died from shock, if not fear. After all, this was the king of the north and his kin! even the youngest of pups could bring disaster to any empire or kingdom. And now here they were worried over something! The very Beings whom themselves kept countless men and women awake at night in worry. Many wolfs kept taking looks towards their leaders face, or more accurate the scar that ran across it, taking his right eye. ¡°what could it mean?¡± asked the same female wolf who had spoken up first. Fenrir looked towards his mate and after a short moment said, ¡°I don¡¯t know but what I do know is, that it can be nothing good.¡± ¡°nothing good can come from that place,¡± he said in a low voice. Though low as it was, it was still heard by many of the wolfs around, and in their hearts they agreed. While most thought of the kings as the rulers of the endless forest, they as the kin of one of them knew that within the very heart. Lay the true ruler, the true overlord of the forest and perhaps the whole world. As Fenrir spoke he couldn¡¯t help but think back to his youth, and feel a slight tingling from his scar. Back then his family live on the edge of the deep forest and it often had to fight other groups over the territory. He did not understand why the pack leader did not want to go further in, instead of slowly dying living here. Soon he had enough of the endless struggle over the territory and he ventured into the deep forest, wanting to prove himself and to find a better home to start his own pack within he traveling for many months, years even, many years. Far more than a single lifetime of a mortal man. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. Fighting many tough battles and almost dying many times. But in the end, he found it. The heart of the forest itself! One could imagen how excited he must have been when he felt the essence within, he had been without words. after all, it was more than a thousand times thicker than just outside this heart. And many thousand times that of his old home, such a thing unbelievable to most. He had walked into the small area which was only a few hundred meters wide in a perfect circle, he had even walked right up to the small hill in the centre where he also had found a cave opening. Only to realise almost too late that something was already living here, it was only because of his senses screaming of danger and his new found caution acquired from the many times he stared death in the face on his journey here made had jumped back it time that he lost only an eye and not his head. As whatever lived there had lashed out at him. The increasingly louder worrying voices of his pack brought him back to his senses. ¡°all of you calm down right this instant!¡± his voice boomed from him, immediately bringing his packs worried talks to an end. Now hundreds of eyes were on him, and not a sound could be heard, it was as if the winds themselves had obeyed him and paused for him to speak. ¡°while it is true that there was a small disturbance from the heart, there is no need to panic.¡± He said while looking around at his kin before speaking once more. ¡°there is nothing we can do about this, so let¡¯s just keep calm and await word from the other kings and their kin about this. Kel-dinri and Tortus would surely know what this means better then I¡± he said while thinking of these two kings, he knew when it came to essences they knew more than he did and if there was anything to learn from this disturbance they would surely be the first to learn it. Hearing their kings¡¯ words many of the wolfs immediately calmed down, as he was right. What could they do? Even if the overlord was to awake, whatever they did would mean nothing. And they did not think they could learn anything from this disturbance as they had not even felt it, they knew he was right and that it would be better to await words from the other kings. There was still some who could not truly calm down mostly because they were now afraid that Kel-dinri would come by to tell Fenrir about what she knew. ¡°you think the other kings will do something like send messengers around over this?¡± spoke the female wolf who was Fenrir¡¯s mate. ¡°not only that but I am sure we will all soon enough move to tortus?¡¯s domain to speak of this¡± Fenrir spoke his voice once more filled with power and a deep wisdom that could only be found in beings who had lived for many millennia. This caused all of the wolfs to think the very same thing ¡°the four kings all at the same place! This is truly a rare event indeed¡± Chapter 2: Breakthrough. Inside a small and simple but yet beautiful wooden house, sat a young woman around 17 years of age. whose beauty could make almost any man lose his head for her. Yet on her face, she had a troubled look, but none would say it made her look any less perfect. She was around 1,6 meters high, had a slender body with just the right curves, and long sky blue hair and deep blue eyes. her pointy ears and elven charm combined with her hair and eyes with the coolers seen only from the fay, she had a rather exotic look to her. but also the look of a warm and caring girl whom was friendly and would smile to all. the typical good girl aura. Though she herself would say differently. Suddenly the young woman stood up from her meditational position. and rushed towards a small hot spring that was just out in the back of her small home. Upon arriving, She took off her long silvery silk robe, and exposed her naked body to the mild air before she went and sad down in the warm waters. The sight of her undressing herself was one must man would lose all sense of reason if they were to witness it. ¡°arhhh! Why can¡¯t I break through!¡± she said in an annoyed voice that yet still sounded heavenly. Aura was a cultivator of the tenth level of soul holding, the third great realm of cultivation. For being only 17 years old this was on the side of being rather high, and within her sect, she also held the title of a genius. A long sigh could be heard from her as she sunk down to her shoulders in the warm water. ¡°I was so happy when I joined the sect, but who would have thought that the biggest sect in the whole world would also end up as the source of my biggest worries!¡± she muttered to herself as she once more sunk into a state of meditation. After a few hours, she once more opened her eyes and let out a sigh. ¡°still can¡¯t seem to breakthrough on my own, might need a little something.¡± She said in a small voice before nodding to herself. Having made the decision, she walked out of her bath and back into the house, without paying any heed to her own nakedness. There was only a total of three rooms, the main living room which had both a small kitchen and a sleeping area, as well as a table in the middle of the room. One of the other two rooms was something akin to a storeroom and the other a place there was sealed off so that one could practice hidden and secret arts without anyone being able to feel it. She went towards the small storeroom and entered without hesitation. This room was filled with countless things, must of them looking like gifts. Money, jewellery, weapons and armour and useful pills and elixirs for cultivation and much more. All in all, this room was like a small treasury. Aura was after all not just any cultivator, no she was a member of the endless forest sects seven beauties and ranked as number 4. And as one of the 7 queens of beauty, there was no shortage of admirers who was more than willing to give her very valuable gift willingly. ¡°it might have been a mistake not to take advantage of all of this until now,¡± she said to herself as she started to look through the piles of stuff for something to help her break into the fourth realm. She had been stuck at this bottleneck for a long time. but had never wanted to use any of all these gifts, which she never even asked for. ¡°let¡¯s see let¡¯s see, what do we have here. Wow! Who gave me this!?¡± she said as she found a small bottle of pills. ¡°must be one of the princes, yeah I can¡¯t think of anyone else who would give something like this away.¡± This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. She took the pill bottle and was about to store it in her robes when she noticed her own nakedness. She let out a deep sigh. ¡°I must be losing it due to stress. Well there might be something here to help me deal with that¡± she said while looking over the what looked like endless piles of gifts. ¡°nahh better not¡± she said while slowly shaking her head. She went back out towards the bath. After having taken one of the pills she once more sat down in the bath to meditate. Aura was a Halfling between a fay and an elf. her father a fay and a free cultivator. which are those who does not belong to any sect or clan. He has even reached the sixth realm, the Soul forming realm. this was seen as rather good for a free cultivator as they only had themselves to rely on for cultivation. As opposed to members of sects or clans who got both pills and elixirs. He is making a living going into the endless forest to find rare plants or killing magical beasts for the core meat and blood with other cultivators mostly free ones like himself. Her mother was an elven slave he had fallen in love with and bought using all his money after having sold off almost all he owned to get the necessary amount. Fay is a race that was originally a half breed between the fairy and any other race, the children would always be a fay. And it was not until many thousands of years after the first ones were born that they became a race of their own instead of a half-breed. This happened after the top fay cultivators came up with a cultivator path unique to fay blood. Elves, on the other hand, is an old race even older than humans. About the same age as the angels and demon race. They are a rather peace loving people and have never had many conflicts, which was also originally why they fell to the humans attempt at world conquest. Both elves and fay are prized for their beauty and are both regarded as second only to the angel race in beauty. A dozen years later her father had married her mother. and not long after, she was born. She had gotten the best from both her parents. Her mother¡¯s elven charm and the pointy ears, and her father¡¯s blue hair and eyes. Growing up, she did not see her father much as he was always working to provide for his family. Her mother had a weak body and could not work, but other than that she was not really sick as such she took great care of Aura. Aura had as almost all other children begun to cultivate from a young age. And had learned much under her father¡¯s guidance whenever he was at home. it turned out she had much better than average talent in cultivation much to her father''s joy, as life could be very dangerous in this world and much more so if one was a top class beauty. so it was relieving to both of her parents that she could become strong enough to protect herself. After a dozen hours, Aura opened her eyes with a satisfied smile on her face. Making her beauty truly breathtaking. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- yeah so the next few chapters are gonna be a tiny bit slow... so now you have been warned. and it kinda won''t pick up that much until we need this mysterious serpent girl Lily. Chapter 3: Realm of Soul expanding. Aura slowly closed her eyes and once more went into deep meditation. But this time, it was not to cultivate further but instead to feel the extent of her new powers. The true reason Aura was often called a genius was not because her talent in cultivation as while high yes it was only that. And with only high talent one cannot be called a true genius. No, the true reason was that Aura is incredibly skilled with the soul force art, this art was the most important tool of any cultivator without exception. Soul force have as many levels as there are great realms of cultivation and one can¡¯t get into a higher level without being in the right realm. This was still true for Aura, but soul force is not simple at all. And must spend a long time to fully master a level. Soul force was almost more important than cultivation in itself. While a high realm of cultivation would give one an incredibly strong body and a lot of soul energy it would mean little if one was not skilled enough in using soul force as this power would be mostly useless. The low levels of soul force would only allow one to do simple things such as removing leaves, snow and dirt from once path or preventing one from getting hit by the wind, rain or snow. the higher ones would enable one to do so much more, like moving objects both big and small under the users full control. while there might also be the art of telepathy for this, that is much harder to use then soul force. And does not only require a high amount of focus and mental strength. but is also far inferior to soul force which is both easier to use and much more potent. But also things such as walking on water and levitation and at the very high levels even offer true flight. Yes, this was the real source of Aura¡¯s title as a genius. She had always easily been able to understand the concepts of soul force and been able to master it with great ease. So while others had to spend a lot of time not cultivating and instead trying to master the many levels of this profound art she could just mostly focus on cultivation her soul, earning her a place at the top. After around seven hours of getting a feel of her new found powers she finally opened her eyes. As she slowly stood up from the waters, her still pristine skin was almost glowing. The secret to this was within the water itself. The water was from the source enriched with many different herbs that are good for the skin, hair and would even slows down ageing. this natural stream of pure warm water was shared between only seven small homes like hers and each belonging to a queen, a great privilege indeed. Standing there, she slowly raised her hands this caused two dozen orbs of water to rise from the pool and they slowly started to rotate around her. The orbs did not simply rotate around her, no they moved up and down and as they did they also began to overtake each other, doing this the smile on Auras face became even brighter. ¡°and, up we go!¡± Aura said while lifting her hands high above her head. And as she did, her whole body slowly raised until she stood atop the waters. while this was only standing still and also took up much of her focus it was still something unbelievable to must, as walking on water was something that normally required the late fourth level to do. But this was after all why she was called a genius. And even now after only seven short hours, she had completely mastered this level of soul force, truly a feat worthy of being on the level on a genius. standing there naked atop the waters with a bright smile on her near perfect face, and while orbs of pure water spinning around her shining like gemstones, she was truly a stunning sight one that would certainly cause all young men to fall in love. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to be immersed in a feeling of great joy over the breakthrough. ¡°wahh!¡± she suddenly let out as she was shocked to her very core. This caused her to fall straight down into the water along with the many orbs. And for around ten breaths worth of time, she just sat there, eyes fully open and visibly deeply shocked. Only then did she quickly close her eyes and attempt to feel within her soul if the sensation just not had been true. ¡°This. This. This is definitely the second rank of Soul expanding! but how I, I only just broke through to the first rank a few hours ago!¡± she said to herself with a voice filled with shock while looking down at herself, taking a few deep breaths. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°no, I need to calm down here so I can figure out what just happen!¡± she said in a determined and excited voice. ¡°let¡¯s see here, what could it have been,¡± She whispered to herself ¡°This would have taken me more than two full months of cultivation.¡± Her eyes snapping open again ¡°could it have been enlightenment!? Yes it must have been, but how and why?¡± she said in a very excited voice. ¡°enlightenment, enlightenment, enlightenment¡± she mused to herself while trying to recall what she had learned on this particular subject. ¡°damn, I can¡¯t seem to remember anything useful! But this just might be the key to solving my problem! so I definitely need to look it up¡± she said her voice filled with determination. Not wanting to waste any time she got out of the water and used soul force to dry herself off instantly before taking on her robe and quickly leaving her home, going towards the sects main library. With quick steps, she walked through her house and the small garden that separated her home from the large mountain walls that served to give her privacy. After exiting a small tunnel and leaving through her gate, she sped up and left the valley that housed the homes of all the Queens. Not long after she was already on the main road of the core sect. here she stopped running and instead walked in a very graceful way, she was, after all, a queen and as such could not be seen running around. The main road she was now on looked more like something one would expect to see in a large city, then a cultivation sect. But then again this was the endless forest sect, the largest and most powerful sect in the whole world! Its power and wealth were incomparable to anything else. Even the great empire of Zakunn which it was located within. Its power was also the reason behind the sects name. as it had not always been called the endless forest sect, no this had at first only been a title. Given to it in ancient times. But it had just happened that no one else had ever been able to overtake them terms of strength and, therefore, it had held the title for so long that no one even remembers its original name anymore. But little did it matter as there were no sect or clan who could take the title away anyway at this point. Aura walked down the fine paved stone road, past a great many stores and workshops who was all run mostly by other disciples. She quickly drew much attention from the many nearby disciples. And soon she had become the topic of much talk among the crowd. most already knew who she is, after all, there is only 7 people with the title of Queen and as such had very little anonymity, and those who did not know would all quickly learn it as dozens of disciples would say her name aloud as they stared after her. Aura did not pay this much attention as this would always happen whenever one of the queens was walking around, but she did quicken her pace a little, as she did not really like all this attention. This was also the main reason Aura had spent most of the past seven years on her own, and moreover ended up without having any real friends to speak of, and only had a few people she would even speak with, which were the top 3 ranked Queens. They were all members of the angel race but was a lot friendlier towards her then must, which had originally surprised her as must angels she knew had been a lot rougher than these three, and they had also ended up helping her much over the years. ¡°ahahaha¡± an arrogant laughter could suddenly be heard from within the crowd. ¡°getting to see my beloved Queen Aura here is truly my good fortune.¡± a young man said as he walked out from a large store with an arrogant look on his face and eyes filled with undisguised lust. ----------------------------------------------------------------- I really don''t get why that just happened to the last bit there.... I swear it was fine just a sec ago... no really! Chapter 4: the arrogant prince. The young man was quite handsome and his short blond hair and the arrogant air around left no room to doubt that he was of noble birth. He was wearing deep forest green robe with the sects crest in gold thread. Aura took a glance around the crowds before looking back towards the young man. ¡°hello to you too prince Kaspian,¡± she said not bothering to hide the fact that she was clearly unhappy with his words from her voice. ¡°Arhh I can already feel a headache coming my way,¡± Aura thought. ¡°I must say, my dear Aura, it has become so very rare to see your lovely figure around these days, if I didn¡¯t know better I would almost think you were hiding from me,¡± Kaspian said as he moved closer to her. ¡°why did I have to run into this stupid idiot here¡± Aura muttered to herself in a low voice before answering him in a clear and lovely voice. ¡°not at all prince, Kaspian I have merely been busy with my cultivations lately, after all not all of us have your talent¡± ¡°hahaha, so that is how it is. But dear you do know that you need only ask and I would gladly help you with anything I can, even that little habit of talking to yourself¡± he said back in a cheerful voice. At first, the surrounding crowds have been excited to see not only the fourth-ranked beauty of the sect but also one of the nine princes, but after a few moments the more knowledgeable ones started to leave, it was after all well known to a great many disciples that these two people was not on friendly terms. To become one of the nine princes of the sect one needed great strengths, after all in this world strengths was everything. But there are also many forms of strength, so the things needed to become a prince was roughly 3. One is personal strengths, as a cultivator, this is incredibly important. There is said to be strength in numbers so the second is leadership skills, to earn the title of prince one must have a strong following. And lastly is charisma, this is the least important one, but it still matters a great deal. ¡°no no I would feel bad about taking up any of your precious time, the kings know you could use some to do something about that look in your eyes,¡± Aura said, voice thick with scorn. ¡°hahaha is that so? But I doubt the kings would give me anymore than a quick death if I ever was to meet them. On the other hand, you my dear beautiful queen Aura. you could make me a king, that might just help me do something about these eyes of mine¡± Kaspian said every word almost dripping with venom. ¡°I have no doubt it would change something, but I am also sure that it would only make them, even more, disgusting. Furthermore, I believe I have already said that even if the kings themselves wanted it I would never become your Queen, so forget about ever getting the title of king my dear prince¡± her last words full of deep hate. ¡°your words hurt me my dear Aura but make no mistake. You will become mine! So you might as well just accept that and follow me to my bed, the sooner you accept your fate the sooner you will being to enjoy it.¡± He said no longer even trying to hide his real intention. ¡°I will never become yours nor will you even touch my body with your filthy hands¡± Aura resorted her face showing off her fury. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°if it was not for your title of a Queen I would have taken you years ago and you would right now be laying in my bed begging to be used by me! But that very same title shall also be what hands you to me! In two years at the great tournament I will rise in rank within the prices and when that happen by the sect rules you will become mine willing or not! So unless the kings themselves take pity on you I will become a king and you my queen!¡± he almost yelled at her. Aura felt disgusted by his stupid grinning face and eyes who clearly showed he thought he had already won and was now only thinking on breaking her prideful self. And she knew he was mostly right, in only two more years the great tournament would be held. This was only held once every ten years, and she knew that all the protected her from the less then kind members of the sect was the title of Queen. And of course also knew of the rule that would allow him to take her even if it was by force if she could not enter the top 100 or top 20 for the females. ¡°since you have left your home that must mean you finally broke through into the fourth realm, not bad not bad and knowing you I also guess you have mastered the fourth level of soul force as well, that¡¯s not bad at all but it¡¯s not good enough. And in the two years even with all the high ranked pill and elixirs you could use, you would at must enter the fifth realm so don¡¯t even dream of getting into the ranked spots¡± he said with a smug grin on his face. Aura gritted her teeth¡¯s on hearing this as he had been mostly right, just missing the part that to even enter the fifth realm within two years she¡¯ll also need a miracle. Taking a deep breath and calming herself down a little she finally opened her mouth to speak again. ¡°it is as you say prince Kaspian, it would take much of me to even reach the fifth realm within two years as such I have little time to spare so I must really be going now,¡± she said as she prepared to leave. ¡°is that so, but it would be a shame to separate so soon. Why don¡¯t I walk you there?¡± he said once again in his charming voice. ¡°no thank you prince Kaspian, I¡¯m headed for the library. And I¡¯m afraid I will be entering parts you can¡¯t access with your title of prince¡± Aura replied clearly faking the regret in her voice and turned to leave. ¡°then I will have to just have to see you again some other time my dear queen Aura,¡± he said from behind her. ¡°indeed some other time then,¡± she said not even looking back as she once more headed towards her destination. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- you know I turned Aura power down by a few levels as I went on from the beginning. after all, I want to make her OP so i cant really start her there as well. but don''t you worry, she is far from weak. Chapter 5: The library. ¡°damn that¡¯s stupid arrogant perverted bastard, I swear his only role in this world is to ruin my days¡± Aura said to herself as she walked towards the library, this time not even bothering to pay attention to the people around her. ¡°the kings curse you. Whose fault do you think it is that I have to isolate myself¡± she muttered in a small sad voice. ¡°it¡¯s his damn fault I started to talk to myself in the first place!¡± now with a hint of anger in her voice. ¡°but maybe I should do something about that habit of mine,¡± she thought downhearted. Aura was still the center of much attention, but no one dared to walk up and talk to her. She was, after all, a Queen, and one wrong move would course them to make her many silent admirers quite hostile. That and right now she had an aura around her that did not allow people to get near her. As she walked she couldn¡¯t help but feel a slight regret that her day which had started off so brilliant had taken such a turn for the worse thanks for that Kaspian. ¡°I swear to the kings that I will find a way to ruin him and his stupid plans¡± she swore to herself as she picked up her pace a little. After around two hours of walking, the sun was now beginning to set. But the great building that housed the library was also ever so slowly coming into sight. A slight smile appeared on Auras face as the building came into sight. The great library of the endless forest sect was truly worthy of the name great. It is the largest library in the world not counting the royal library of the fairy kingdom, but that was also tens of thousands of years older than even the human race so there is no way anything could surpass it. But to the must people, this library was still far more important. As the fairy¡¯s held texts of mostly ancient history. While the endless forest sect¡¯s library holds the must information about cultivation as well as the endless forest. Here there was text containing almost everything known about cultivation. Missing only some rare secrets held by other powerful sects and clans. From simple things such as text telling about how the human race had over ten thousand years ago, wondered why some trees were so hard they could never in a hundred years cut them down, or while some of the beasts which they normally hunted for food. could sometimes destroy entire towns overnight. leaving them powerless in the face of death. To them learning of the essences of nature. And starting to cultivate their soul realm, earning them great strengths. And their later attempt of world conquest. It also held all the cultivation paths belonging to the different races, while the base for theses paths is the same. The absorption of essences to strengthening the soul, the soul will then strengthen the vessel, that being the cultivators body. And how the paths come into play as the races are not all equal in affinity with the different elements. And that the paths allow one to convert the essences into the elements best suited for the nature of one¡¯s race. And how must races have multiple paths each allowing cultivators to differ from others, not to mention that there are tens upon tens of thousands of arts to master so all differ from other in many ways. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! And there is also an incredible amount of arts stored here as well. Making this place the destination of many thousands of disciples every day. Aura walked through the great doorway, and she headed deep into the building past many large bookcases and other disciples. And went up many floors, each time she ascended a floor the sect elder guarding it would always look up, but upon seeing her silver robe they all just went back to their cultivation without a word. The library has a great many sections and must disciples can''t enter must of them. There is a total of twelve sections and for example, the Emperor of Zakunn could only enter the first 6. Aura as a one of the sects Queens of beauty could enter a total of ten, the only ones who could enter more is the great elders and the sect leader himself. This is just one of the many privileges given to the Queens. Reaching the sevenths section, she finally stopped going further up and instead began to look for texts on the subject of enlightenment, which she had come for. Hours passed and the only sound that could be heard on the entire floor was Aura slowly going through texts upon texts and the ever increasingly louder noises she made. As she time and time again ended up without results. While Aura had told prince Kaspian that she was entering an area he could not enter she had lied to him as he with the title of a prince would enter up to the eights floor, but even still she was alone as few could enter this high and even then, must would not. As Aura as slowly beginning to lose hope for an answer, she heard a familiar voice. ¡°having troubles finding what you are looking for?¡± Recognizing the voice Aura turned to look in the direction it came from. ¡°Holly! Don¡¯t scare me like that¡± she said looking at the beautiful angel who was standing beside her. ¡°hehe I didn¡¯t mean to scare you but you was just too focused on the book you didn¡¯t even sense me approaching. And that¡¯s a big no no what if it have been someone else and not me? What if it had been prince Kaspian?¡± she said with a great big smile on her face. ¡°so you have already heard about that have you?¡± Aura asked already knowing the answer. ¡°yeah I have heard all about how the fourth-ranked beauty in the sect came into a big fight with the fifth-ranked prince,¡± Holly said teasingly. ¡°is that so? Then let me ask you what is the first ranked beauty and strongest cultivator of the young generation doing here alone so late at night?¡± Aura replied back also in a teasing voice. Chapter 6: Holly. Even this late at night the library was still well-lit and one could clearly see Hollys beauty. She was wearing a silver robe just like the one Aura wore, only this one was made to allow for her large white feathery wings. She has long golden blonde hair which is found only with pureblood angels as well as their golden eyes. Her skin have a healthy tan, and she had the perfect curves for the women in her prime. As well as the aura of a true warrior, her warrior nature could also ever so slightly be seen from a well-toned body. Even among the angels, Holly is a top tier beauty and was it not for the beautiful golden spear she had by her side or the bloody history of the angels. Must men would probably cast themselves at her whenever they saw her. ¡°hahaha!¡± Holly let out a healthy laugh and slammed the bottom of her spear into the ground coursing a might ¡°booom¡± to echo through the many halls of the library. ¡°good comeback little sis, it¡¯s good to see that prince Kaspian didn¡¯t get rid of that sharp tongue of yours,¡± Holly said with a great big smile of her face. ¡°don¡¯t you worry about me losing my tongue to the bastard. I swear he is the reason I got it to begin with¡± Aura replied with a small chuckle. ¡°ha! Well said, sis. Now, why don¡¯t you tell me what happened out there today? I would rather hear it from you then the rumours¡± Holly said, her voice and face becoming somewhat serious. ¡°alright but why don¡¯t you take a seat first,¡± Aura said while looking around for one of the chairs made to take an angel''s wings into account. ¡°then I will do just that,¡± Holly said jumping up and sitting on the table Aura was reading by. Seeing this Aura let out a small giggle and began to tell of her small so called fight with prince Kaspian. ¡°I see so that¡¯s what happened,¡± Holly said after listening to Auras tale. ¡°it¡¯s mostly like the rumours says only a bit less dramatic,¡± Holly said nodding to herself. ¡°just how dramatic did the rumours make it out to be?¡± Aura asked now a bit curious. ¡°never mind that,¡± Holly said now fully serious. ¡°that prince Kaspian might just be a big idiot, but he is right you know, both with you entering the fourth realm and that it¡¯s not going to be anywhere near enough,¡± Holly said her eyes never leaving Auras. ¡°but here is something I don¡¯t understand. Why would you be spending half a day of your time here reading instead of cultivating? The kings know you don¡¯t have time to waste.¡± Holly asked in a very serious tone. ¡°you are right, I just broke into the fourth realm this morning and am only at the second level of the realm¡± Aura said. Grinning to herself knowing full well that what she just said, not made any sense. ¡°wait right there!¡± Holly said after a moment. As her thoughts caught up to her. ¡°you say you are at the second level the same day you broke into the great realm?¡± Holly nearly shouts out her question. ¡°hehe yeah, that what I said. Even I couldn¡¯t believe it at first either¡± Aura said with a smile on her face before telling Holly all about what had happened and why she had come to the library looking for answers. ¡°hmmm I see¡± Holly finally said after thinking about what she had just heard. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°I don¡¯t think that was enlightenment Aura, or have you learned something that make you believe it was, in your search? She added, looking deep in thought. ¡°you don¡¯t think so?¡± Aura said looking crestfallen as she felt her only hope slipping away. ¡°no, I don¡¯t. I am however fairly certain that what you experienced was element alignment¡± Holly added, rekindling Auras hope. ¡°element alignment? Whats that? And how do I do it again?¡± Aura asked all at once as if her life was on the line, which it might as well be. ¡°you don¡¯t know?¡± Holly said, ¡°no you don¡¯t need to look for a book I can tell you what I know, it should be enough¡± she quickly added as Aura was already about to start looking for a book on this subject. Aura quickly sat back down looking at Holly with big puppy eyes. ¡°let¡¯s see, element alignment is where you enter a state of almost being one with the natural elements in your blood. But it most also be the main elements of your chosen path. As for you it should be water and wind, right?¡± Holly paused for Auras reply. ¡°yes my path is mainly focused on water and air with a little light as well,¡± Aura said not hiding it. ¡°water, wind and light? You most use the Gentle waveform as your main martial art right?¡± ¡°yes yes that¡¯s right¡± Aura replied back while nodding her head. Gentle waveform. To be as a leaf in the wind. Ever moving just outside the enemy¡¯s range. While each strike might look gentle holding the power of an all-consuming wave. ¡°right. Then it would be wind and water. Element alignment is as I said allowing yourself to become one with them. This would help to both increases in cultivation and break through bottlenecks. It is something we angels use a lot¡± Holly explained. ¡°the angels? I thought you used combat to raise in cultivation so quickly¡± Aura interjected. Nodding her head, Holly began again ¡°yeah you are right, but while we grow in combat experience from this the same can¡¯t be said for cultivation. No, here we use element alignment but the easiest way to achieve is through life and death combat.¡± Holly added with a great smile, looking mighty proud of herself. ¡°really? Then do you think if I used this, I could become strong enough to enter the ranked spots in 2 years?¡± Aura asked both hopeful and afraid, as she knew this might be the only thing other than some super rare supreme treasure that could save her. ¡°it might, but only if you are truly willing to risk your life,¡± Holly said staring deep into Auras eyes. ¡°more than willing!¡± Aura said without hesitation. ¡°my fate will become far worse than death if I fail here. So I¡¯m willing to do anything it takes¡±. She continued with a fire burning in her eyes. Seeing this Holly nodding once more, then said. ¡°there is only one thing I can think of which can help you achieve your goal¡± she paused for moment ¡°and that is for you to enter into the endless forest alone and live there until you have the strengths you need¡± she added. Chapter 7: The forest!? ¡°the endless forest? You mean that endless forest!?¡± Aura let out in complete disbelief. She could not believe what she just heard, the endless forest is without a doubt the most dangerous place in the whole world. And now Holly had told her to go in, and alone! Even more, it was not just in and then back out no, she had to live there? Impossible!! ¡°yeah, the one and only endless forest¡± Holly affirmed without batting an eye. Aura was shocked, she still couldn¡¯t believe what she had just heard. ¡°you, are you telling me to go into the endless forest, and alone at that?¡± she finally asked after a few moments of pause to get her thoughts together. ¡°well it doesn¡¯t have to be alone really, but it would give you a better chance to achieve element alignment. It will of course also make the chance of you surviving decrease quite a bit as well, but I don¡¯t think it will be easy to find someone willing to go with you.¡± ¡°wait. Wait a minute, you said the best way to achieve element alignment was life and death battles right?¡± Aura asked still trying to make heads and tails of this. ¡°that I did indeed¡± Holly replied back knowing the question that would come next. ¡°then there should be many other places where I could get that other than the endless forest. So why can¡¯t I just do that? I mean going into the endless forest on my own would be the same as simply killing myself¡± Aura asked almost terrified. ¡°Aura you are a smart girl so why don¡¯t you tell me why the endless forest sect is as powerful as it is now?¡± Holly inquired. ¡°well, it¡¯s mainly because the amount of essences that can be found is higher here than anywhere else¡± Aura answered. ¡°that¡¯s right. You said before that you think you can enter the fifth great realm with a small miracle before the two years are up right?¡± Holly asked. ¡°yeah that¡¯s right¡± Aura nodded. ¡°alright so with element alignment you will step into this realm. But then what? We both know that that¡¯s not going to be enough¡± Holly said. ¡°so you need something more than just that. And I can tell you this if you didn¡¯t know, the reason that there are so much essences here is because the sect it so close to the endless forest itself¡± holly added. ¡°so if you can enter the fifth realm with the amount of essences that can be found here then you need to go somewhere there is, at least, double that amount¡± Holly finished and leaned back a little to observe Aura. This caused Auras mind to spin, she had, of course, heard about the great expedition two thousand or so years ago where a group of over one thousand of the world top cultivators entered the forest and found a place where the essences were more the double what it was within the sect. but they were the top of the top and in the end, only a handful made it out alive. There is no way she can get in there and live to get out again. ¡°but don¡¯t I have to go really far in? it would properly take me months, and I would die a hundred times before I reach the deep forest! Not to mention the kings live there!¡± Aura exclaimed while half in shock over Holly could even suggest something as insane as this. ¡°haaa¡± Holly sighed deeply. ¡°no you won¡¯t be going into the lair of the kings, and it would only take a month or two to get into a place where the essence will be twice what it is here, that expedition also ran into a lord which was why it ended as it did. and with your mastery over soul force, you could properly hide from the more powerful magical beasts so you should be fine¡± ¡°well as fine as any can be surrounded by magical beasts that want to rip you into tiny little pieces and eat your flesh¡± Holly added. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. ¡°fine you say! How is that fine!¡± Aura could no longer hold back and shouted. ¡°I didn¡¯t know become some kind of sex slave to the prince Kaspian was fine either¡± Holly added. ¡°well, no, that. Do you think I can do it?¡± Aura asked bowing her head in defeat. ¡°yeah I think you can do it, or at least, have a good enough chance. And it beat becoming a sex slave for Kaspian and his gang, right?¡± said as she got up. ¡°no it does, it¡¯s just. No you are right I said I was willing to do anything, so I can back out now¡± Aura said nodding to herself. ¡°good, then I will talk with the sect and make sure no one will try to stop you from leaving, so you just go and prepare to set out, you don¡¯t have any time to spare,¡± Holly said as she began to leave. ¡°haaa¡± Aura sighed after Holly had left. ¡°I guess this is the one way I can get out if the, being it by death or success,¡± she said to herself in a small voice as she got up to leave. Aura quickly made her way back home and decided to sleep for the rest of the night before starting her preparations. As she was laying down she could not help but think about the endless forest. The forest itself got its name from its size, which took up almost the entire central continent, and from the endless amount of essences rich resources as well as the endless amount of magical beasts making the forest their home. The forest is the most dangerous place in the whole world but also the place where one could get enormous gains if lucky. Aura knew this and more from the stories her father had told her when she was younger. After some sleep, Aura got up and went straight for the spring in the back. She would often use this to wake her up. After fully waking up Aura returned to the storeroom to get some supplies for the journey. She would need a lot of things, many of them would be quite costly if she had to buy it, but as a Queen she had gotten a lot of things and she would now for the third time make use of them. She would need a lot of supplies if she hoped to stay in the forest for more than a year. Even if the forest was full of treasures such an essences rich fruit, it was not something she could rely on getting, so she would need the full amount of food and water to be safe. Such a large amount of supplies was not something anyone could carry around on them, so they would need storage rings. these rings were an inter-spacial tool that could hold a large amount of items, they were made only by the demon race and was rather expensive, but was also a necessary tool for any cultivator. ¡°first I need a way to carry all the stuff I¡¯m going to need,¡± Aura said to herself as she looked towards the jewellery. ¡°should be some storage rings among all of this¡± she muttered to herself as she began looking. Time went by and Aura had found a lot of storage rings, she had taken ten of them and wore them around her neck with a silver chain, as she didn¡¯t want to have rings on all her fingers. She did of course still have her normal one on as well, here she kept the most important things, which was really anything she would need on the spot such as weapons and live saving talismans and a bit of medicine and anti-poisons. ¡°now I just need to fill the rest of theses with some basic supplies and I¡¯m good to go,¡± Aura said, lightly tapping the storage rings around her neck. As the sun was about to set, she was done with everything and left the sect heading towards the endless forest. Chapter 8: Towards the forest. The trip out of the sect is always a rather long one due to the sheer size of it, but if one was headed out towards the forest it was much more difficult, as one had to pass all the many layers of defense made to keep the sect safe from the magical beasts that sometimes wander close by. However, this time Aura had no problems what so ever as she walked out, not even as she walked up to the small gate in the large wall was she stopped, as soon as the guards saw her they would simply let her pass, many of them mostly the males would still give her an extra look but this was something that always happened when people saw her. She knew this was due to Holly having talked to the sect for her, as normally it would have been very difficult to leave towards the endless forest for a lone disciple, even more so for a Queen as the sect treasured theses greatly, but for Holly who was ranked as number one for both her beauty and strength she could move a few elders to her side, and as such let Aura out without problems. ¡°one hundred meters of hardened steel¡± Aura slowly muttered to herself as she walked through the massive wall that separated the sect from the endless forest itself. This clearly showed just how dangerous the forest was when even the strongest sect in the world hid behind something like this. After walking through the long small and lonely corridor, she finally saw the light of the outside again. ¡°the great south-eastern plane¡± Aura said as she marvelled the sight. The size of a major kingdom with nothing other than grass and small hills and this could also be said to be the safest part of the forest. The endless forest is more than just a forest of trees no here was the greatest mountains and lakes the size of oceans, the endless forest total size was according to the fairies around sixty percent of the entire landmass of the world. After taking in the sight, Aura set off heading west. She was going to stay in the forest for a long time and moreover needed to head deep enough in that the essences will be twice what it is here. And if one was to go deep into the forest the south part would be the best choice, the reason being that if she was to encounter a lord or even a king the ones more south was more likely to let her live, not by much, but aura would take whatever she could get. The empire of Zakunn and the endless forest sect was in the very must south-east part of the forest within the edge of the continent and in the domain of the king of the east, the mountainous turtle Tortus. No one had even seen this great king, but he was said to be as big as a mountain which was the reason of his name. Tortus was a rather passive king this was also the reason the 3 great empires could even exist on the continent, but he and his kin, as well as the lords of the east, would still not allow them to enter deeply into the forest. Much less the other magical beasts that lived there. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Running at the top speed she could without getting tired to quickly and still being able to hide her presence from the magical beast the roam the great plane, she was making good progress and was relatively safe or at the very least felt safe. The must important to anyone who wanted to spend the night in the endless forest on their own was to enter the forest itself as the great plane had nowhere to hide. Hours passed and Aura only had a few run in with some magical beasts, but she had been able to get away without having to fight or truly flee as they had not been too keen on following her. Aura ran as a streak of silver, she did not make a sound as she ran. In this part of the forest, there were two dangers, one is the magical beasts and the other is other cultivators who were also in here, for whatever the reason might be. To Aura the must dangerous right now would be the other cultivators, in the forest death was only a step away and here was no law other than the one the kings themselves made, as such a beautiful girl on the level of Aura could easily get into trouble if she was seen by someone with less the golden morals. Therefor Aura still had her sects silver robe on, this would make must people unwilling to make trouble for her, as she clearly showed she had the support of the endless forest sect, a force no one was willing to offend. ¡°hopefully, I won¡¯t run into any problems today.¡± ¡°It would be a bad omen if I was to run into any trouble on my very first day in here¡± Aura said to herself in a small voice, as the tree line in the horizon was growing big enough to make out properly. As the day was coming to an end and the sun setting Aura finally got to the first of the trees, they were still few and far between and there were many stumps around from where great trees had stood in the past. ¡°this is where is truly begins,¡± Aura said in a small voice. But even if she was scared of this whole idea she was also somewhat excited. This was, after all, the first time she truly went into the forest. She had been in a few times with some elders before but that was not the same as this. ¡°from this point on I have to rely on having great luck to make it out alive,¡± she said as she darted deeper into the forest. ¡°I really hope I won¡¯t meet other cultivators while I¡¯m in here, they would almost the more dangerous than even one of the kings¡± Aura almost whispered this as if a small prayer. ¡°well as long as I don¡¯t run into the king of the west¡± she added thinking of the stories she had heard while in the sect of the things that happened in that part of the forest. Chapter 9: Long tailed silver wind fox. ¡°it would be best if I found somewhere to sleep for the night before I head to deep in,¡± Aura thought to herself, she was getting so tense that she didn¡¯t even talk to herself. ¡°step one, find a large tree, the tree needs to hide you from both below and above¡± she slowly said to herself in a low voice as she tried to recall what she had learned about sleeping in the forest. After searching around for a bit Aura found a good tree and jumped towards the top, and after landing on a good strong branch, she set up a few protective talismans to wake her if something got close and to hide her sleeping spot from others. Once the sun was rising a fast streak of silver jumped down from the tree Aura had slept in and moved deeper into the forest. This streak was, of course, Aura who moved fast through the what was called the tree line. This being the outermost part of the forest and have very few magical beasts, this is also where most of the sects on the continent take their disciples to train. The tree line is still not a safe area, but it was not unheard of that someone could get through it without meeting a single magical beast doing the one week trip it normally was. Aura was speeding along moving in big leaps only rarely touching the ground. Spending most of her time airborne. Suddenly in the middle of her leap, her body was violently thrown off course, her forward momentum was stopped instantly and her body shot to the left. The very next instant a nearly invisible blade of wind shoot by where she had been but a moment ago, hitting a tree a bit away. ¡°so that is how it feels to narrowly avoid death,¡± Aura said voice shaking a little as she readied herself to face the attacker. Aura moved to a move open area and as she did a few move blades of wind was shot her way, which she again dodged narrowly by moving ever so slightly while still in the air. She was already using her gentle waveform and her soul force to the fullest to pull and push her own body allowing for movements midair. ¡°that¡¯s a long-tailed silver wind fox¡± Aura confirmed to herself as she saw her opponent. ¡°chacha-chacha-chow!¡± the silver furred long-tailed fox let out clearly angry that this strange being had not died under its attack. ¡°it just had to be something like this I ran into. Great luck my ass! If this is an omen I¡¯m so dead¡± Aura shouted out her frustration. Aura knew the strengths and weaknesses of her fighting style and range was one of the things she was lacking at her current level of power. ¡°if I can¡¯t run then I will fight you little shit¡± Aura shouted, she was truly angry right now and the image of a Queen was nowhere to be seen. With Auras current strength her gentle waveform could not dodge the wind blades the fox was making from its tail in close range and as such was forced to stay at a range and simply dodge around without an end in sight to this fight. Both Aura and the fox got more and more angry as the fight dragged on as neither could do anything to the other. While Aura could try to go in close and deal with it she did not want to take this risk. The fox seeing how Aura did not dare get close to it, found this to be her weakness and decided to jump closer to her as it attacked. This put Aura within the range where she could not dodge in time. As she saw this she threw herself violently to the ground. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. ¡°you fucking fox don¡¯t think I will let you live after this little stunt!¡± she screamed in fury as she quickly got back up and put some distends between them. Aura was truly angry right now both at herself for not thinking that the fox would do something about the deadlock and at the fox for almost hitting her. ¡°clap!¡± Aura clapped her hands together and in the next instant she had a beautiful fan in each hand. These were Auras pride, two angel forged weapons with powerful water enchants. ¡°NOW! YOU! DIE!¡± Aura screamed as she swung her fans towards the fox. At this, dozens of golden streaks of light flew towards the fox. The fox upon seeing this quickly raised its tail to shield its body. But as the golden light hit, it let out screams of pain. Aura did not wait to see her first attack land before she made two more. This time, however there was no golden light and only blades made of water shot towards the fox. The golden light was mostly nothing more than an illusion and only twelve was hiding a real blade of water. More pained screams could be heard as twelve more blades of water hit their target. ¡°clank¡± was heard as Aura brought the fans together and as she did six blades of water sent out from each of them. Aura smiled and both of the fans disappeared into a green light that was emitted from the ring on her right hand. There was no more sound or movement from the fox. And there was little left of its once large tail and its body was also little more than a bloody mess. Aura was breathing deeply and was looking exhausted. ¡°that might have been a little overkill,¡± she said as she looked at the messy corpse of the long-tailed silver wind fox. ¡°I can¡¯t stay here any longer, the fight might have been noticed by other magical beasts¡± she added to her own mutters and she quickly moved away from the scene. ¡°this was the first time I killed anything with my weapons. They really are very powerful, as would be expected of a real angel forged weapon, even more so one given to a Queen by the sect¡° Aura thought to herself as she moved on. ¡°thinking back I was stupid for not taking out my weapon and deal with the fox quickly, if there had been other magical beasts nearby it could have turned out ugly, or even if I had been hit by that attack at the end¡± she said as she slowly went over the battle a little ago. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- so yeah I didn''t know what a fox say... so I asked my dearest siri and yep that''s the answer I got and what i gave you. please send any hate mail to apple. thank you. Chapter 10: Life in the forest. After the run in with the fox magical beast Aura was now much more cautious than she had been to begin with, and as such the normal one week trip to get through the tree line took her close to two weeks. After entering the part of the forest often called the outermost forest, she had a few run in with some rather weak magical beasts of various kind but she now didn¡¯t hesitate to pull out her weapons and as such had no real problems dealing with them. ¡°I¡¯ve been in the forest for more than three weeks now but I¡¯m still nowhere close to the area I need to reach¡± Aura said in a low and lonely voice. ¡°but I do feel like this might work out, even though I haven¡¯t had any time to cultivate my soul, I still feel a little stronger. This must be because I¡¯m using my soul force and the elements in my blood all the time which is slowly making me more powerful without having to sit down to meditate¡± Aura added before ending her little break. As time slowly passed by Aura moved deeper into the forest to where the magical beast was found in higher number and ever becoming more powerful. ¡°you fucking piece of meat! I will make you my dinner when I¡¯m done with you!¡± Aura shouted as she was facing a large staghorn deer. The staghorn deer is a magical beast that is normally around the strengths of a cultivator of the late fifth great realm and therefore this one gave Aura a hard time even with her weapons. Boom. Boom. Boom. Aura had become much better at fighting over the late few weeks and also at using her weapons, she now would not only send out six blades of water per swing of her fans but also a single blade of wind, this blade of wind was not the fans own power but Auras gentle waveforms range attack. Normally this would require her to be in the sixth great realm but thanks to her powerful angel forged weapons she could do it already though with much less power. ¡°huraa¡± aura let out as she attacked the deer. The deer not being one to just take hits on charge at her to take her out before she could move away, hoping she was not able to move so soon after an attack. Seeing this chance instead of moving away from the deer Aura ran to meet it, but just before they met she jumped over it¡± haar¡± and hit it right in the back of the neck point-blank. Boom. Aura heard from behind her and she landed on the ground. Not taking any chances she turned around to face it if it was going to get back up. Boom. Boom. Boom. ¡°hehe, that was really nicely done me!¡± Aura said as she walked towards the now dead deer. After being alone for so long, Auras habit of talking to herself was only getting worse without anyone else around. ¡°need to work quickly if I want to get some of its meat before I have to move on, can¡¯t stay at the site of a battle for long¡± Aura said as she kneeled down over the deer with a sharp knife and began to cut it up. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. ¡°this should late me a few days¡± Aura nodded to herself as she left the rest of the magical beast behind and moved on. ¡°haaaaa¡­¡± Aura let out exhausted after fighting another magical beast. She had been in the forest for almost two months now and because she had been moving deeper and deeper into the forest all the time the magical beasts was now getting almost too hard for her. ¡°I feel like I¡¯m close to the third level of the realm. This should be a good time to break through. If I keep going deeper in at this pace I will soon run into magical beasts I can¡¯t beat with my current level of strength¡± Aura said to herself in a serious voice. ¡°but it does feel like the essences is a little thicker here than it was back at the sect¡± she added as she moved to find somewhere she could spend some time without getting found. Boom. boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. ¡°a cave would be nice but even if I found one some magical beast would surely already live there¡± she muttered as she ran along. ¡°this is?¡± Aura said as she saw a small area where the earth was turned up and the trees broken and laying around. ¡°looks like the site of a large battle¡± she added as she inspected the area more closely. ¡°I think it has been some time since I last ran into any magical beasts have it not,¡± she asked herself as she thought back towards the last few days where she hadn¡¯t even run into a single magical beast. ¡°this could be why. Maybe they are still scared of the battle that happened here¡­ might be a lingering scent.¡± ¡°yeah this place might work out if the magical beasts are afraid to get close I could build a small shelter from the fallen trees and stay here to cultivate for a bit¡± she added. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Aura very slowly and carefully went around the area to see if there was some powerful magical beast living here, she did not want to accidentally disturb something that could hold other magical beasts away from such a large area as this. After not finding anything Aura began ever so slowly to bring some logs together trying to make as little noise as she could. After this was she found some large branches with lots of leafs and finished her small shelter. ¡°this is not bad at all,¡± she said as she closed the entrance behind her. She then set up some talismans and sat down to cultivate. After sinking deep into meditation, she heard boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Opening her eyes again and thinking over the sound she said in a low voice ¡°I think I have heard this sound a few times over the last few weeks¡± ¡°I wonder what is causing it¡± she added. Thinking over it for a few more minutes. She decided there was nothing she could do about it even if she knew so she went back into meditation. Chapter 11: Thunder?. Time went by within the endless forest where Aura was sitting within her small hideout silently cultivating. After two months of closed-door cultivation, Aura had now reached the fourth level of the fourth realm. She had originally only wanted to enter the third level. But she reached it only a few days after going into closed-door training, and after thinking about it, she decided it would be better if she spent some more time to cultivate as she did not know when she would get the chance again, and she knew that she would need the strengths later on, she might even need it just to survive when she went a bit deeper into the forest. ¡°it¡¯s no wonder the angels are so damn powerful. The fight all day long, get tons of combat experience and then after some fighting they break through into the next realms to easily¡± ¡°I should have asked Holly for some advice long ago, if I had I might not have needed to truly risk my life as I do now¡± Aura said to herself as she got up from her months-long meditation. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Putting on a thoughtful expression, Aura said in a low voice ¡°I feel like this sound have been getting louder lately. If I didn¡¯t try to focus on the smallest things back two months ago to avoid being surprised, I would never have noticed this noise. But now I can hear it without even trying¡± Aura then left her small shelter and looked towards where she thought the sound came from. ¡°it¡¯s coming from the sky,¡± Aura said looking into the sky, trying to spot anything in the far distance. ¡°it sure is a strange sound¡­ sounds something like thunder but it¡¯s never ending. Like a thundering waterfall but moving. Sure is strange¡± said to herself before looking around. ¡°it¡¯s good to see nothing have changed here, would have sucked big time if some super magical beast was waiting for me to stick my head out¡± she added before carefully moving deeper into the great endless forest. Aura moved very carefully and made sure to take many breaks so she was always full on energy. While she might just have had two breakthroughs she knew that where she currently was there is a large number of magical beasts of around the sixth great realm in strength. And as such any fight, she could avoid would be a victory for her. She knew she still needed to fight sometimes, but she would rather choose her own battles. ¡°shit shit shit!¡± Aura screamed as she ran for her life, not far behind her a red tusk boar furiously following. Boom! Could be heard moments after Aura dodged around a tree, telling her that the boar had rammed right into it. ¡°that makes the thirteenth tree you kissed ugly fucker¡± Aura shouted back over her shoulder as she kept running. She had been chased by this magical beast for hours now and she was more angry than she had ever been in her whole life. The red tusk boar was a magical beast with strengths on par with the late sixth realm and up. Aura believed this one to be around the mid-seventh realm, an opponent she could never hope to kill with her current level of power. And as such had been fleeing ever since she had been found by it, while wondering around in what must have been its territory. After the first few hours when she stopped hoping it would lose interest in the chase, she had begun to make it ram itself into trees hoping it would get tired of the chase and now the added pain and therefore give up. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Boom! ¡°ha that makes fourteen sucker!¡± But now she just did it out of pure hatred. Even in her anger, Aura had not forgotten that this really bad situation would turn truly horrible was she to run into other magical beasts so they had been running in a large circle of what had so far been a rather safe area. Boom! ¡°fuck that was a close call,¡± Aura said as she narrowly dodged behind a tree before the boar rammed into it. ¡°either it''s getting faster or I¡¯m getting tried before it is. And I fear it¡¯s me getting tired¡± Aura said to herself as she kept running. The boar seeing her almost get hit began to try even harder much to Auras dismay. Boom! ¡°shit I can¡¯t keep doing this all day. Or I will end of like one of the trees¡± Aura said as she slowly began to panic. ROAR! ¡°not that way¡± Aura screamed as she turned and began to run in another direction. ROAR!! ¡°no definitely not that way¡± she added, as yet another terrifying roar was heard. Boom! ¡°fuck now is not the time to make more fucking noise!¡± Aura yelled at the boar as it rammed into yet another large tree. ROAR! At this roar, Aura looked back over her shoulder only to turn back and increase her speed. ¡°well, that¡¯s fucking great!¡± Aura screamed as a large tigerfox came out and began to join the chase. ¡°I wonder if I can somehow make them kill one another and leave me be,¡± she said as she once more dodged, making the boar ram into a large tree. Boom! Roar! Upon seeing the red tusk boar slam into a large tree then tigerfox stopped giving chase to Aura and leapt at it taking this chance to get an easy meal. Aura kept running leaving the two magical beasts to fight it out among themselves. ¡°well looks like the kings want me to live another day,¡± she said to herself as she stopped to take a small break and catch her breath. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Finally getting some rest, she noticed just how loud and close by the strange noise had become over the last few hours. Taking a look towards the direction of the sound, she dropped her water bottle and stood there with her mouth wide open and eyes filled with shock. ¡°that¡¯s. that¡¯s. that¡¯s a thunder crow! But it''s so big!¡± Aura said as she stood there staring at the massive magical beast as it headed in her direction. Boom! Boom! Boom! Every time it flapped its large wings the sound of thunder could be heard. Thunder crows are dark purple crow magical beasts that fly with the speed of lightning. They can become very strong, and are known to be the fastest flying magical beasts in the world. They are mostly around the fourteenth to the sixteenth great realm in power, not something Aura could even dream about surviving a run in with. And this one was massive! It could easily carry a few people in its claw. ¡°why does it look like it''s headed my way¡­. I mean it can¡¯t possibly be flying towards me right¡± Aura thought as the large crow was getting closer and closer. ¡°with that size it must be a lord¡­.¡± Chapter 12: thunder crow. BOOM! It sounded as the massive crow magical beast landed on a large steel wood tree, named for being harder than steel. ¡°no this can¡¯t be right, there no way such powerful magical beast would ever bother with someone like little me. Yes, this is all just a dream. Just a dream¡­the kings please let this all just be a dream¡± Aura desperately thought to herself as she stared at the massive bird. For a few minutes, the two of them was just staring at each other, bird and fay. Though for Aura, the silence felt like an eternity. ¡°kraa! I did not think I would meet a lone mortal at a place like here¡± the thunder crow said bringing an end to the silence, ¡°tell me who did a weak mortal like yourself reach this deep into the forest?¡± it added. ¡°it speaks! By the kings! this must be a lord! What do I do?! What do I say!?¡± Aura thought to herself desperate to find a way to survive this. After a few minutes, the crow grew tired of waiting for an answer and once more spoke. ¡°Kraa ! you are so blinded by my brilliances and the endless depths of my power, that you can¡¯t even speak are you not little mortal.¡± ¡°..y¡­ye¡­yees¡­¡± Aura finally managed to say. ¡°kraa! Kraa! Kraa! Yes, stare in awe of my endless might! I the mighty thunder crow Comrozz!!! Hahahaha soon all will know of my might and sing my glorious name! Ahahaha both the whole forest and all you little mortals! Ahahaha¡­. Kraaa wait! You weak mortals will never get even close to the heart, how would you ever know how I defeated the kings and became the new ruler of the forest!¡± Comrozz said. ¡°the kings!?¡± Aura said shocked! True she didn¡¯t know who powerful the thunder crow truly is nor the power of the kings. But if this crow says it can defeat them then just how powerful is it. ¡°kraa! It was good I found you little mortal! I will bring you with me to witness my glory! Kraa!¡± Comrozz said as the flew down and grabbed Aura with on leg and flew off with great speed. ¡°kyaaaa¡± Aura screamed as she was grabbed by the crow and pulled along its insane speed. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Boom. Was all Aura could hear as the world slowly turned dark as she lost consciousness both due to the shock and the insane speed they were traveling with. Time went by with Aura shifting in and out of consciousness. She slowly started getting used to it or at least to the extent where she could set up a small barrier of soul force to keep the raging winds from knocking her out. As Aura began to stay awake for a longer time she also began to take note of what was happening around her, mostly just how fast they were flying. When she looking to the ground below all she saw was green. Yes just green, she couldn¡¯t even make out the trees or the ground it was all just one endless sea of green. ¡°kraa! So you finally awake are you little mortal¡± Comrozz said. ¡°that¡¯s good, I was thinking about dropping you a few times you know¡± he added. ¡°ahh! No! I mean yes I¡¯m awake now!¡± Aura quickly replied back fearing he would truly drop her as she knew that she could never hope to survive a fall from this height and speed. ¡°kraa good good! I need you alive to tell the world of my glory when I defeat those cowardly kings!¡± Comrozz proudly said. ¡°can¡­ can you really defeat the kings?¡± Aura weakly asked. ¡°of course, I can! I am a mighty thunder crow and a Mythic beast! None can match me in strengths even less those cowardly so-called kings¡± Comrozz said in a proud voice. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there. ¡°a Mythic beast?¡± Aura asked having never heard the term before. ¡°kraa! You don¡¯t know what a Mythic beast is?¡± Comrozz called out surprised. ¡°no¡­ no I don¡¯t.¡± Aura replied in a small voice. ¡°does that mean that you mortals don¡¯t know the deferent levels of us magical beasts¡± Comrozz asked. ¡°no¡­ no, we don¡¯t.¡± Aura replied still in a small voice now with a hint of shame in it. ¡°kraa! You mortals truly know nothing! But fear, not this mighty Comrozz shall tell you! Be grateful little mortal!¡± Comrozz said. ¡°thank you¡± Aura hurriedly thanked him. ¡°yes, now I guess it would be best if I started from the bottom and went up, hmmm let¡¯s see. The lowest is know to us as Common beast and are the weakest of magical beasts. If they become powerful enough then they can enter the realm of an Elemental adept beast, the beasts around where I picked you up was mostly at that stage, it''s mostly then the magical beasts begin to truly use the elements it also strengthens their bodies making the much stronger then common beasts¡± Comrozz told her this as she telling a child the most basic thing in the world. ¡°so Elemental adept is around the fifth and the sixth realm of cultivation,¡± Aura thought as she listened. ¡°after Elemental adept comes Self-forming stage, this is where magical beasts slowly begin to form a sense of self. And after that, it¡¯s the Self-gaining stage here they truly gain a self, it''s considered to be the most important stage there is.¡± Comrozz continued on. ¡°and then after that, they become Essences beasts this is mostly the highest stage a magical beast reach without living in the deeper part of the forest. After this they will become a True beast, this is also where they begin to be able to speak as I do know¡± Comrozz explained. ¡°why is it the can¡¯t reach the true beast stage unless they live within the deep forest?¡± Aura asked now curious. ¡°well that¡¯s of course because the amount of essences needed is very high and most would grow old and die before collecting enough without the help of the heightened amount found only within the forest. Anyway, after true beast is Sovereign beast only the truly strong reach here. Next is Emperor beast only those living close to the heart can ever reach this stage.¡± Comrozz continued. ¡°and of course lastly is the mighty Mythic beast stage where yours truly the mighty thunder crow Comrozz is at!¡± Comross said proudly. Magical beast ranking. Common beast. From the 1st to the 5th cultivator realm. Elemental adept. It¡¯s around the 5th and 6th cultivator realm. Self-forming. This is around 7th and 8th realm. Self-gaining. Around 9th and 10th realm. Essences beast. Around the 10th to 12th. True beast. Around the 12th to the 15th realm. Sovereign beast. Around the 15th to 20th realm. Emperor beast. Around the 20th to 25th realm. Mythic beast. Around the 25th to 50th realm. an added note. the highest any cultivator have reached is the 17th realm. Chapter 13: The Heart? ¡°kraa! Now you know my true might! When I have become the new ruler of this forest you will go and tell the mortal races of my might and then they will sing of my name!¡± Comrozz said not once having looked down towards Aura. ¡°why do you calling us mortal races? Magical beasts can also die so why was are we mortal?¡± Aura dared to ask as her curiosity was eating away at her. ¡°kraa! Because your kind has only been around for a few thousand years while we the magical beasts were ancient long before that! We saw the birth of all the mortal races and we will see their end as well, that is why we call you mortals! Comrozz explained. Aura slowly absorbed what she had been told. ¡°where are we heading and how long will the trip take?¡± Aura asked feeling this was something she should have asked long ago. ¡°we are going towards my new home the heart of the forest and it will take me around four more months to get there, for a mortal like you it would be impossible to reach the heart even in a hundred lifetimes¡± Comrozz answered. ¡°the Heart¡­ this must be where the kings live¡­ I can¡¯t believe I get to enter the domain of the kings themselves. But still for it to take four more months with this speed, the endless forest sure live up to its name.¡± Aura thought as she looked down onto the forest. Aura had long ago gotten used to the loud thunder which came whenever Comrozz flapped his large wings. She also didn¡¯t think I was as bad here so close to him as she had expected it to be. ¡°but still I wonder what I should do in these four months¡­ maybe I should try to cultivate. It might be hard to do while also keeping the winds at bay. But I might as well try I don¡¯t think I have anything else to do¡± Aura thought to herself. As her bad habit of talking with herself was kept under control by her fear that she might anger Comrozz. At first, Aura had a large deal of trouble with cultivation as every time she tried, her soul force would retract, this caused her to be knocked unconscious many times. And it was not until she had been trying for more than three weeks she finally began to have some progress. ¡°BY THE KINGS! The essences is so thick here!¡± Aura screamed in shock as she for the first time managed to enter the stage of meditation needed to cultivate. Her excitement of doing this had been short lived as the essences here was more than ten times thicker than what it was back at the endless forest sect. ¡°kraa! You think this is special? Kraa within the deep forest and the heart it is many thousand times higher than out in the mortal lands! Of course, the heart is richer in essences than any other place in the world! And the foolish cowardly so-called kings dare not even enter it! It is wasted on them! Kraa¡± Comrozz said after Auras outcry. Hearing this truly shocked Aura, after all, did this not mean she could cultivate more than a thousand times faster if she entered the deep forest. ¡°more than a thousand times the amount of essences in the deep forest? Forget about entering the sixth realm! Even the tenth realm would not be hard! With this, I can become a grand Elder of the sect when I return!¡± Aura thought to herself and without even listening to the rest Comrozz was saying went right back to try to cultivate again. Time quickly went by with Aura spending most of her time in meditation, she did whoever not cultivate as fast as she had hoped to. This was mostly because of the insane flying speed that caused a need for a small soul force barrier at all times, she was not used to this kind of duel soul force and meditation so she would often slip in one or the other. Three months had passed since Aura had been picked up by Comrozz, and she had just entered the seventh level of the fourth realm. She had however in her excitement lost control of her soul force barrier and fallen unconscious once more, this had happened more times then Aura cared to even try to remember. If it was not the excitement over a breakthrough then it was a shock over the ever increasing amount of essences that ended up as the course of her being knocked out. Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. Aura slowly woke up with a smile of a face, at first, she was sad that even though the essences was so plentiful here she could not cultivate properly because she was traveling. She had long since come to terms with that and now just waited for the day they would land. She had come up with a few ways to trick Comrozz to let her stay and cultivate for a bit before being sent home. Satisfied with the breakthrough, Aura once more closed her eyes to cultivate. But only a moment after she did this she was interrupted by Comrozz coming to a sudden stop. Aura looked towards Comrozz and then followed the thunder crows gaze down towards the ground. What she saw was no longer a sea of green but instead massive trees, they must have been hundreds of meters tall. Though she could not see whatever Comrozz was seeing, all she saw was massive trees all around her with no end to them. after a few moments, Comrozz seems to have made a decision and began to fly towards the Center of the forest once more. Within Auras mind a battle raged between her curiosity and fear, after a few moments her curiosity won the battle and she asked. ¡°what was it you saw down there?¡± ¡°it was a Mythic beast, most have been the king of the south. Though I don¡¯t know what she would be doing this far from the heart. None the less I won¡¯t go fight her here, no instead I will go make the heart my nest! Then she will either come and fight me or she will bow before my might!¡± Cromrozz answered after a few minutes of silence. ¡°a king here? I kinda wish I could have seen her. But then again I doubt I would have lived for long after meeting her¡± Aura thought to herself looking towards the ground, but she once more saw nothing but a sea of green. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ so a few words from me. firstly this ended up taking a lot longer than it should have. my plan was to make Lily join the story at around chapter 5. and yeah as you might have guessed by now that didnt really work out for me. i think i warned people back in chapter 2 or something that it would be a tad slow. so i really didnt fail to deliver on that now did i. none the less. we will soon meet Lily, and the story will start. yep i just said it will start. and by that i mean that is still have yet to start. so somehow or another ended up with an around 20 chapter long prolog... on other news i went back over all the already posted chapters and did some fixing here and there. Chapter 14: how? Where?..... And who?? ¡°hmmmm¡­ that¡¯s a strange new being. It feels very different from the ones that live around my little home. it¡¯s very weak, I doubt it will reach here alive. But I want to see this being¡­.¡± Heed the call of your goddess, and by my will, I force you into existence. ¡°go seek out this small and weak creature, guide it here and make sure it survives, that is my will and the law that you live by¡± I watch as the tiny winged black snake fly off towards the strange being that is moving towards my home, a little lonely as it was the first company I had since by birth. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The weeks after Comrozz stopped due to the other Mythic beast moved slowly, Aura could not help but think about the upcoming battle between the kings and Comrozz. She couldn¡¯t even begin to imagen how powerful they truly were, and now she would soon be standing in the middle of a battlefield of such beings making war. Aura had also reached the eighth level and would soon enter the ninth level, with the speed she had advanced over the past four months she knew it would be no problem to reach the sixth great realm before the grand tournament, that is as long as she survives the trip out of the forest of course. ¡°we are getting close are we not?¡± Aura asked, knowing they could reach the so-called heart anytime now. ¡°kraa yes! We will soon enter the dead lands a large area of land around the heart the so call kings forbid all from entering! But I will enter the very heart and make it my own! Soon I will rule these lands so stay awake little mortal so you can witness my might!¡± Comrozz replied proudly but Aura could also hear some excitement in his voice. She had heard from him earlier, of how he long ago had been in the forest but had fought against the king of the south and lost and had to flee the forest. This had all happened a long time ago so very long that the angels and demons did not even exist yet, so she could understand why he would be excited to be back after what might have been hundreds of thousands of years or even more. After a few more hours of flying, Comrozz once more stopped mid-air. ¡°kraa! There truly is nothing living in there¡± he said slowly looking ahead. ¡°what¡± Aura asked as she also looked ahead but saw nothing out of the ordinary. ¡°this is the border, for far longer than even I can see there is no living beings, nothing at all. That is by law of the kings, any who enters this land before us will die. But I no longer fear the kings, no soon I will become a king myself, the one true king!¡± as he said this he took off once more at full speed towards the sacred heart of the forest. ¡°kraa! I can see it! I can see the heart! Kraa! My throne I can see it!¡± Comrozz exclaimed loudly after flying for about an hour or two. Hearing this Aura also looked ahead trying to see this so called heart, but all she saw was a sea of green. ¡°really? Where is it I can¡¯t see anything other than trees¡± she said being influenced by his excitement. ¡°kraa! Just ahead the small area with no large trees and silver like grass!¡± he answered, so excited he didn¡¯t even try to uphold the image of a mighty magical beast of the Mythic realm. Aura looked ahead trying to spot it, but she couldn¡¯t make out the trees so had no hope to spot a place where they were missing. But after looking for a long time searching for anything that looked like silver, she saw a small silver glitter within the sea of green like a speck of gold in a desert. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°that¡¯s it? I thought it would be bigger, grander, maybe something like a massive palace made of gemstone or something¡± Aura said a bit disappointed. ¡°kraa! Little mortal you just don¡¯t understand, but soon you will. Kraa! Soon I will make you understand! Kraa! Kraa!¡± Comrozz replied upon hearing Auras disappointed words. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suddenly the large silver panther who had been laying unmoving for the last few weeks strung up as if the very earth had tried to devourer it. This set the hundreds of nearby feline magical beasts all on guard as they turned to look towards their leader. The large silver panther looked towards the north-east. ¡°someone have crossed the border and is headed straight for the Heart,¡± the silver panther said in a female voice. Her words immediately brought great shock to all who heard them. After all, it had only been a bit more than a year since the disturbance, and all who lived within the deep forest had been told to stay far away from the dead lands. After speaking those words, the silver panther turned into a blur and was gone the next instant. Upon seeing this the rest of the feline magical beasts also all turned into blurs and was gone just as fast. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shortly after saying that Comrozz stopped again, this time, he looked towards the west, Aura even felt him shaking ever so slightly. ¡°Kraa! Kraa! This can¡¯t be! hundreds of Mythic realm beasts all moving towards me!¡± Comrozz said shocked his voice trembling with fear. FOOLISH BIRD! YOU DERE ATTEMPT TO ENTER THE HEART? YOU SHALL DIE BY THE HAND OF THIS KING! A voice thundered from the west. Hearing this voice Comrozz shacked strongly for a moment Aura thought she would be shocked to dead but after that moment it stopped. ¡°i..i.. impossible that... there is a realm beyond the mythic realm?? No! this can¡¯t be! kraa!¡± Aura heard Comrozz scream sounding mad. It was at this moment Aura learned that he did not stop shaking but instead dropped her! Aura screamed as she fell, but she couldn¡¯t even hear her own screams! She could do nothing as she watched the ground grow bigger and bigger. Her vision grew darker and darker and just before her vision turned back as unconsciousness took her, a small black shadowed entered the corner of a fading vision. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­.. ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­¡­¡­ ¡­¡­¡­ ¡­ . Slowly Aura regained consciousness, her head still groggy. As memories of her fall came back she could not help but get two questions. How did I survive? and where am I? She slowly sat up and looked around, the first thing she saw was that the grass she was laying on was not green but silver. Aura looked closely at the grass. ¡°this is silver crystal grass!¡± she said shocked! ¡°a single strand of this is worth many thousands gold coins! And here is so much of it!¡± she said to herself completely forgotten all about the situation she is in. ¡°hallo¡± a single word was spoken in a voice so heavenly she could never compare too. This voice woke Aura up from a near fevered dream of endless wealth.