Universal Slave

The sound of a roar woke Luke, who was taking a short nap to ease his fatigue a little. The cultivators also needed sleep, although to a lesser extent.

The roar came from deep within the territory.

Luke sensed the disturbance in the surrounding spiritual energy and came to a conclusion.

"It seems that a big fight is happening in the central area of ​​this territory."

He quickly undid his camouflage and dismantled the defensive formation he had set up. He had to go take a look, perhaps he could take the opportunity to progress with his hunting mission.

He began to head towards the location of the fight and at the same time checked the information the system offered about his progress in the mission: 11545/100,000.

After spending just one day hunting elemental monkeys, he had a little more than 10% of the points needed to complete the mission. He honestly hoped to progress even faster, but elemental monkeys usually moved in large groups of up to ten individuals, and it was difficult to find an isolated group that had only a few members. In addition, after each fight he had to rest to recover both his spiritual energy and his exhausted body, so hunting was a rather slow process.

At the rate he was progressing, it would take him more than a week to complete the mission. Obviously this was not too much time to complete a mission of such difficulty, but Luke had a constant feeling of uneasiness, a voice inside him that told him that he should increase his power as soon as possible.

He reached the central area of ​​the territory without encountering any obstacles, and on the way he did not see even a single elemental monkey. Now that he was at the site of the battle, he realized the reason.

A battle of epic proportions was taking place in front of him. An elemental monkey three times the size of the ones he had encountered so far, along with thousands of other common elemental monkeys were facing off against a gigantic white tiger.

Luke activated Xylara's Eye.

*Elemental Monkey:

Level 5 Spiritual Beast

- Health: 810

- Build: 693

- Strength: 820

- Agility:851

- Mana: ??

*

*Divine Thunder Tiger:

Level 6 Spiritual Beast

- Health: ??

- Build:??

- Strength: ??

- Agility:??

- Mana: ??

- Spirit: 55*

After looking at the information on the two powerful beasts, Luke confirmed that it was beyond his current capabilities to participate in a battle of such magnitude with his current power.

He continued to observe the battlefield with his Xylara's eye. Besides the level five elemental monkey that was the most powerful, there were also other level four elemental monkeys that were much stronger than the ones he had faced so far. However, the vast majority of elemental monkeys were still level three.

The bloody battle continued to develop, the tiger spitting out lightning that could kill an elemental monkey in an instant. The leader monkey of the pack was furious at seeing his subordinates die, and attacked with even more fury. His attacks were not limited to one attribute as was the case with the lower level elemental monkeys, but could use attacks of different elements one after another. "What a tremendous amount of mana" thought Luke as he watched the beasts fight.

Suddenly his gaze fell on a gigantic tree that was close to where the battle was taking place. Despite not being an evolved tree, judging by the spiritual energy it emitted, it was not far from reaching that step. On one of its branches, a fruit the size of a human head hung alone. Observing it with Xylara's eye, Luke understood the reason for the fight between the beasts.

*Spiritual Fruit (Unripe):

Fruit that has been produced by a tree from the spiritual energy it has not been able to assimilate. By consuming it, a large amount of spiritual energy can be incorporated.*

Even though the fruit he was looking at was a natural tonic, Luke did not feel any greed. The reason was not that he was a saint with no earthly desires, but simply that the fruit was useless to him. A human could not consume the fruit since the large amount of energy it contained would destroy his body from within in a matter of seconds. After all, it was a fruit produced with the spiritual energy that the tree itself had not been able to assimilate.

The only possible use for Luke was as raw material in the production of elixirs. But to manipulate such raw material, it would be necessary to have at least a level five cultivation. He could not save it for the future either, since once plucked from the tree the fruit would quickly lose its effect; at most he could keep it for a month before it became completely useless. If the system inventory was activated, then he could store it there, since it was a timeless space where the fruit would not deteriorate. But since this was not the case currently, the fruit that the beasts were fighting to the death over was completely useless.

So why were the beasts fighting then? Well, the cultivation of humans and beasts is different. So they could absorb spiritual energy directly. The fruit that was about to ripen was the most precious treasure for these beasts.

Luke continued to watch the great battle, thoughtfully.

If he wanted to take advantage of an opportune moment to make his move, there was something he had to do first: Get rid of the guys who were following him!

Presumably, if he made a move he would have to use all his power, which would leave him in a very vulnerable state. If someone took advantage of that moment to attack him, he would be lost. Therefore it was time to deal with his stalkers.

Facing them directly would be impossible. For one thing, they were hiding and would not volunteer for a fight, and secondly, even if he could fight them, he was not their match right now. If he used his forbidden techniques to finish off these guys, he would no longer be able to intervene in the fight against the beasts.

The royal guards who were secretly protecting Luke watched as he stood on the branch of a tall tree, watching the fight between the beasts in the distance.

"He's been hunting elemental monkeys for a whole day, what is he planning to do?"

"Maybe he wants to make money by selling the monkeys' power cores? After all, they have elemental properties."

"But in Lunaria, there's no one who uses the cores as raw material, at most he could sell them to merchants who go to Ferulia."

"But those merchants won't pay him much for those cores, after all, they have an agreement with the government and supply themselves with the cores collected by the army."

"That's true, it's not worth doing so much work for so little reward, he would achieve better results if he went to collect herbs for the alchemists, and it's less dangerous."

The royal guards were discussing the hybrid's erratic actions. When suddenly, the boy who had been standing motionless watching the battlefield until just a moment ago, ran off at high speed in the opposite direction!

"Hurry, the target is moving, we must catch up with him before we lose sight of him!"

They had seen with their own eyes the monstrous speed that Luke could use when he was fighting, if he could maintain such speed for a few minutes, they would lose track of him completely. If they were to return to Lunaria and report that they had lost their target… their legs were shaking just thinking about it!

The group of Shadows also silently followed the young hybrid who was now running at high speed through the forest, as if fleeing from the battle that was taking place behind him.

The feeling of being watched completely disappeared. He had finally gotten rid of his pursuers.

"It seems that despite their high cultivation level, they are susceptible to illusions."

That's right, the "Luke" that both groups were chasing right now was nothing more than an illusion that had been conjured by him. It was a dark magic spell that he had secretly learned in his past life. After all, dark magic didn't have a very good reputation among humans.

"Perhaps it's the fact that they've never come into contact with this kind of magic and that's why they don't know how to defend against it. I'm afraid it's a trick that I can only use once."

Luke had calculated that for someone to be able to follow him without him being able to discover their exact location, they must have a cultivation of at least level four, as well as a good camouflage technique. A person of that level could easily break free from an illusion like the one he had conjured, as long as they realized that it was an illusion. After all, illusions didn't work very well against spiritual cultivators, who can dissolve irregular mental states using spiritual energy.

"I don't think they'll be able to break free from the illusion very soon anyway. That will give me enough time to settle my business here. As for what's going to happen later… I'll figure out what to do when the time comes."

..............................…

Lanti ran through the rain. She was chasing after some Ferali they had found near the river while investigating the recent disappearances of hunters in the area.

The Ferali were a particularly athletic race, and in the rugged terrain of the forest their innate abilities were on full display. However, Lanti's might equaled the battlefield. In the past half hour, Lanti had captured half a dozen Ferali who were illegally in the vicinity of Lunaria.

A voice message was transmitted to her. It was her subordinates informing her that they had captured another group of Feralis and reporting their location.

Lanti increased her speed dramatically and appeared in front of one of the Ferali. With a slight movement of her hand the man collapsed to the ground unconscious. She took out her bow and fired two arrows. In the distance two screams of pain were heard almost simultaneously.

She exhaled and relaxed her posture. This was the last group of fugitives.

Now they would have to transport them to Lunaria. What would happen to them later was no longer her responsibility, but it was likely that this event would cause a diplomatic conflict with the Feralis tribe.

Lanti felt someone approaching from behind her, looking back she realized that it was Sonya, her friend and subordinate, who was running towards her. She focused again on the unconscious Ferali in front of her. He was only a teenager, no older than her sister. What was he doing so far from his territory, and violating the treaties between both tribes? Lanti thought with some sadness.

Sonya approached her and hugged her by the neck as she always did.

Lanti felt her friend's movements and said solemnly.

"Sonya, during work hours you must behave responsibly, and not disrespect our uniform"

Lanti was a person who took her responsibilities seriously.

However, Sonya did not respond. Only the sound that Lanti would remember for the rest of her life rang out in the silent forest. "Click"

Lanti felt all her spiritual power being blocked by a higher force, her body feeling heavy. She looked in astonishment at the object that now surrounded her neck: A shackle made of Noral.

She turned around to look at her friend, who was looking at her with a complicated look.

"Sorry Lanti"

Sonya said with a voice full of guilt and sadness.

From the silent forest several Feralis that were hiding began to emerge.

Lanti felt a blow to the back of her neck and her vision began to darken. The last thing she saw before losing consciousness was her childhood friend, receiving a package from one of the Ferali and nodding her head.

..............................…

Flynn ran in the rain. He had to escape. Escape and ask for help, otherwise all his brothers would die.

"Why?! Why?! Why did this have to happen? It's all my fault!" Flynn thought in despair, as tears ran down his cheek and mixed with the rainwater.

In the dark forest visibility was poor, but Flynn didn't stumble once. He spotted the river in the distance and was able to calculate his location, he was close enough to the city to find a patrol of guards, if he was lucky.

The river was rough and it was impossible to cross it by swimming, Flynn desperately searched around, hoping to find some way to cross.

Despite the rain, his keen senses sensed someone approaching behind him, he knew it couldn't be anyone other than the fake Luca.

He immediately began to run along the edge of the river, he couldn't stay still or he would be captured just like his brothers.

He continued running for a few minutes, when suddenly he saw a figure in the distance. As he got closer he realized it was a soldier from the royal guard! Excitedly he increased his pace as he began to shout for help.

"Help! Help! There are demons in the forest! Help!" He shouted. But the soldier in the distance didn't hear him, perhaps the rain made communication difficult.

The presence behind him was hot on his heels. He shouted again until he lost his voice, but it was no use.

The fake Luca appeared from the darkness of the forest and covered his mouth.

"I never thought you could be so fast to escape. It doesn't make sense that a little boy without cultivation can move at such speed" said the cold voice that sounded just like his brother Luca's.

Flynn tried to struggle, but was immobilized without any effort by his captor.

"Come on, your brothers are waiting for you" said the fake Luca, and began his journey deeper into the forest.

The last thing Fynn saw was the soldier in the distance under the rain, and another figure hugging him from behind. The scene seemed familiar to him.

..............................…

It was already getting dark. Hours had passed since the start of the battle. The tiger was completely covered in wounds, and was losing the fight, he wouldn't last much longer. On the other side, the leader of the elemental monkeys was also quite battered, although in comparison he was in much better condition.

However, a pile of elemental monkey corpses adorned the entire battlefield. After all, the tiger was a beast of a higher level! The only reason he was at a disadvantage was because of the sheer number of enemies he had to fight simultaneously.

"It's about time we got into action," Luke said.