7 Last Day in the Fores

In a section of the forest a small griffin cub is dashing back and forth through the trees. It is hunting an animal that has features from both a wolf and a rabbit, a short hare wolf. It has a short light gray fur covering its seventy-pound, foot and half tall muscular frame. Floppy ears draped down the side of its head. A long snout, with ferocious teeth, took up most of its face. This little gray creature has been running for its life for the past half hour. Unfortunately for the hare wolf, Eos has been closing the distance steadily. This is partially due to its keen eye sight and Eos enhance speed that comes from his affinity with the wind.

Five minutes later Eos is within striking distance of the hare wolf. Eos lunged at his prey with his right talons and connect. The talons connected causing a large cut on its hind leg. The injured party rolled for five feet before stopping. Eos wasted no time and pounced on the downed animal. The hare wolf's neck was inside of Eos's beak for a split second before it was snapped.

Similar scenes to this have been happening for the past two months. Initially, Eos had started at the lowest level a week after he had met Arbor. Thanks to the help of Sol and Thalli, Eos had reached the peak of the 1st star realm.

Since beast cultivate differently than humans, they have different realms. Since beast only need time to mature, they have a simpler ranking system. The 1st start realm is equal the mortal realm of cultivators. Unlike humans who have ten levels in their cultivation realms, beasts have five, which are divided equally. The first one equaling the first two of humans, the second equaling the third and fourth, and so on. A two-star beast is equal to a cultivator in the kuwa realm. Of course, the battle prowess depends on many factors. These are what level each is at in the realm, the type of beast, the skills practiced, and so on.

With the dead hare wolf its his mouth, Eos is walking in a specific direction through the forest. After walking for a couple thousand feet, Eos arrived in a small clearing and glanced at Arbor whom is sitting in a lotus position. Eos dropped its meal from his beak before starting to eat his prey. After eating he went ahead to take a nap.

Just like Eos had been hunting for the past two months, Arbor had been struggling in the same position for the same amount of time. Patience has never been one of Arbors strong points. He had taken breaks during the past couple months to practice manipulating his essence in order to conjure up spells and battle skills. In the meantime, he had completely opened two meridians that connect to his brain and only one in his right leg. He was 33% of the way to his first small breakthrough in the kuwa realm.

A brief time later.

Arbor opened his eye, turned his head towards the sleeping Eos, then stood up. He started to jump up and down a little bit and shake his hands, "Alright you got it this time. You know how. Just do it. Imagine it and then do it." Arbor raised his right hand, took a deep breath, and moved the essence in his body towards his palm.

Fail. Fail. Fail.

It must be known that those born to cultivating parents have a natural feeling and know how in this area. In addition, Arbor is not much of a fighter, so something in this field is not natural to him. Thus, his current struggles.

"Relax Arbor. Relax," Arbor murmured to himself. He took a few deep breaths before taking another attempt.

With his arm raised, and his essence moving towards his palm, Arbor closed his eyes and started to visualize a small, thin green vine protruding from his hand.

Eos woke up do to a ripple of essence coming from the center of the clearing. He noticed a green vine growing slowly out of Arbor right hand. Five seconds had gone by and the vine was now 10 feet long. Eos let out a caw, that had a sliver of joy.

Arbor opened his eyes after hearing the caw from Eos. Immediately he noticed the vine that was growing straight out of his hand. It was as straight as an arrow. After blinking a couple of times, Arbor turned towards Eos, who was still laying down. The vine followed his arm and moved also. He had the thought of tying up his little cub, and the vine started to do just that.

Eos noticed the vine and jump out of the way. The two played a game of cat and mouse for before Arbor had gotten tired. Eos made his way to Arbor, who is laying on the ground, and sprawled out next to him. Arbor could not stop smiling. "This is amazing. But, its nowhere near good enough, I must be able to send out vines without the slightest thought. And a lot of them at that. I cant get complacent."

With that, Arbor continued practicing for another month. In the morning he worked on opening his meridians, while Eos would hunt for food for the two. At the end of this period he was only able open one meridian in his left leg. Eos is still at the bottle neck of the first star realm. In the afternoon, Arbor would attempt to catch Eos with his vine. Well, vines now, he can use two vines effectively. Unfortunately for Arbor, Eos has the speed advantage.

…

"Your time has come Arbor. A few things before Telum sees you off. First, this forest is called the Golden Forest. If you ever wondered why no one ever ventures here, it is because I use my power to deter people away using various means. After thousands of years people have decided to simply not travel here. Second, don't stop improving. Power is everything out in there in this world. Do not show mercy. Anyone can have a fortuitous encounter and be able to beat you the next day. Third, do not be afraid to run away. If an opponent is too strong for you, run away as fast as you can. You only have one life. It takes more guts to run away than to stay and fight. Fourth, surround yourself with good people and treat them as your own. That especially goes for your little companion there. Fourth, some of us have a gift for you before you leave. Lastly, have you decided on the weapon that you want?" Haoshe emphasized.

"Thank you master for the advice. I have taken it to heart and hope that it will help me rise to the top. I have given it some thought this past year. I believe that a sword would not work best for me. If you could make me a staff. But first I have a question. Is it possible to specialize it or add certain functions to it?" Arbor questioned.

"What do you have in mind?" Haoshe mused.

"Would it be possible to make the weight continuously increase as my level does? Also, if it could extend on my command. Third, to be able to split so that I can yield it in two hands. And lastly, if I can be the only one to wield it. So, if I am not holding it, its weight seems to be astronomical. Oh, and nothing to fancy looking. That's not really my style" Arbor answered.

Mo Haoshe gave a contemplating look at Arbor before responding. "I hope I don't regret this. All these requests are simply to accomplish. Just a couple of simple runes need to be added to the weapon." Haoshe paused before giving Arbor a serious look, "If you ever lose this weapon, I will personally hunt you down."

"Y..Yes..Yes. I, I understand." Arbor stuttered.

Sol, Vulcan, Thalli, Telum, and Pona were observing from the side.

"What an interesting choice. While his spirit doesn't give him much of an offensive advantage, this could help make up for that. Say for example he decides to comprehend strength or force, having a blunt object will compliment this or amplify it. Also, he could add that do his vines, or what ever else spell he conjures up make them extremely resistant. By dual wielding it, he can have a vast offensive speed for both attacking and countering. If he uses it right, it can be manipulated to his will, given his soul spirit. Since he doesn't have any special affinity towards any of the high offensive power attributes, this is probably his best choice." Telum chimed in from the side.

"Agreed. It all depends on how he uses it. You have to think about the type of spells that he will use. With his affinity leaning towards nature, he can benefit greatly from a wooden weapon. It would be the same as someone with an ice affinity using a weapon made of ice. Although a sword is one of the best weapons to use, I do not think that it fits his demeanor. And that can play a factor." Pona added.

Thalli and Sol nodded in agreement.

"I hope you lot aren't doubting him. He was taught by all of us you know. Having uncertainties in him, means you have uncertainties in yourself. I think our little protégé knows what he is doing." Vulcan jested.

Haoshe walked up to the massive gigantic golden tree and place his hand on the trunk. His hand sunk in for a split second before he pulled it back out. When he pulled his hand out, a staff came along with it. This caused an extremely puzzled reaction came from the audience.

"He is putting a lot of emphasis on Him." The crowd responded.

"Bind this by blood." Haoshe instructed Arbor, "That will take care of most people being able to use it. Only those who have the highest attainments in runes and arrays will be able to. But that should not be a problem. Everything else you requested has been imbedded into it. Last thing, this staff will grow with you. The more you take care of it, the more you temper it with your essence, the more train and fight with it, the stronger it will grow."

Arbor bit his finger and let a drop of blood fall onto the staff. The wooden staff gave off a small shine for a quick second before returning to normal. Arbor gave the staff a couple of twirls around his body and felt satisfied.

"Arbor, Thalli and I have a gift for you and your pet." Pona declared. Eos let out a small caw at the mentioning of him being called a pet.

Pona walked up to Arbor and placed her finger between his brows. A strand of her essence entered his body and went to his soul. The stand stopped, and countless runes formed a protective barrier shielding his soul. She then did the same to Eos.

Thalli performed the same actions except what she gave Arbor is different. Inside his soul a small book appeared. "We didn't get enough time to delve into the details of all of the things I wanted to, but here is everything we know regarding cultivation. As you become stronger more information will become available to you. This way you won't get ahead of yourself."

"Thank you, seniors, I appreciate everything you have taught me up until now. I will not let you all down." Arbor said with generosity before bowing to everyone present.

"Telum, take Arbor to school. Its time for him to start his first adventure." Haoshe concluded.