Grey watched this group of new people, although he wasn't too social, even with the last group of people he usually travels with, he had gotten used to going on the missions with them.
He couldn't help but give a sigh and accept his fate. These people were only a stage above the people he usually travels with.
"We should get going." He said, seeing the trio weren't showing any signs of moving.
"We want to accept a mission close to where your mission is going to be carried out. More points for us." A young man from the group of three said with a smile.
"I'm not helping out with that, I'm not interested in doing any other missions." Grey was as straightforward as ever. If these people felt they would get him to help in their missions, they were obviously dreaming.
He had zero interest in the mission he was assigned, much less that of others. The only reason he wanted to go with them was because it would make his mission easier, and it wasn't like he was hoarding the rewards since he would be sharing it equally with them.
The others nodded. Everyone knew of Grey's personality, so none of them took offense from what he said.
Grey was pleased with how they took the situation and left with them.
Just like most of the missions the Grand Elder had assigned for him, this one was still in the forest surrounding the Faction. However, they would have to venture deep into the forest.
Grey knew for a fact that the deeper he goes into the forest, the more danger he would come across.
When the group got to the edge of the forest, Grey told them of the mission.
"Our mission is to bring back the core and corpse of a Three Headed Deer." He looked at the trio with him.
When they heard him say Three Headed Deer, their expressions changed slightly. These were incredibly rare Beasts, encountering one was purely by chance, yet, they were sent to go and search for it.
These Beasts don't like socializing with other creatures, so they are usually solitary and keep a very large territory. They are extremely territorial and will fight to the death in most cases if they feel someone or something is trespassing on their territory. As they grow older, they seem to develop a hatred for humans, and would occasionally kill them whenever they cross paths.
Grey didn't care about these things, all that mattered to him was completing the mission within the space of a week. Locating the Beast was the hardest part, but there had been sightings of the Beasts from those who had ventured into the forest for a mission in the past few months.
"Our first target is the western part. That is the part that has the most sightings of them. If we're lucky, we might complete the mission within a day or two." Grey gave them a briefing on what he had found about locating the Beast.
The trio nodded and the group walked into the forest.
During the first parts of the journey, all they needed to do was to release their auras and the Magical Beasts around would run away at the sense of how strong they were. But the deeper they went, the stronger the Magical Beasts.
Before long, they had gotten to the point where there were occasional Rank Seven Magical Beasts. These Beasts were in the same Plane as them, although they might have a higher cultivation stage, these Beasts are not scared to cross blows with them.
A Beast soon attacked them, this Beast was in the Mid stages of Rank Seven.
Grey and the trio worked together and quickly killed it. After killing it, they kept the corpse.
Seeing that they were staring at him, Grey let them take the corpse. There were other things he was more concerned about.
The trio showed their gratitude to him for giving them the corpse before they continued on the journey.
One after another, Magical Beasts kept coming their way and they would kill all of them.
Grey couldn't help but frown when another Magical Beasts appeared. It was a Golden Spotted Fox. These were shy creatures that rarely attacked people, yet, this Fox had a somewhat enraged eyes as it charged at them.
"Strange." He muttered as he dodged the sharp claws of the Fox.
The trio worked with him and the Fox was on the verge of dying in a matter of seconds when Grey received a voice transmission from Void.
'Don't kill it.'
Grey paused for a slight second but reacted accordingly, pushing the Fox from the incoming attacks of the trio.
"Wait! Don't kill it." He said.
"Why?" The leader of the trio asked, ready to attack. This was the most benefits they had made in a long time, and he didn't want a free Rank Seven beast core to go just like that.
"Haven't you noticed more Magical Beasts are attacking us? I've frequented these areas during the past months, and although there are Rank Seven Magical Beasts all around, they rarely attack people in this manner. I know most of the routes, so I'm sure we're not in any of these Beasts' territory, yet they keep attacking." Grey explained in a calm manner.
He wasn't in a hurry, the Fox tried to attack, but it was put down with a casual wave of his hand. The Fox was already severely injured, it was no match for Grey's physical strength.
Grey's cultivation isn't the only thing that had advanced these past months, his physical strength had also gone from being level with the explosive strength of someone in the Fifth stage of the Elemental Venerable Plane to someone in the Sixth stage, edging closer to the Seventh stage. This Fox only recently broke through to the Mid stage of Rank Seven, it was no match for him, physically.
The trio looked at how easy it was for Grey to push the Fox away, but they still thought about his words. They were also quite shocked by how often they were being attacked, but due to how many free high level cores they were gaining, they weren't thinking about it.
"In most cases, Beasts tend to act like this when there's something good in the area." One of the trio said, licking his lips.
Whenever natural treasures are born into the world, especially in forests like these, Magical Beasts would swarm the area. In these times, people would encounter more Magical Beasts when exploring that area of the forest during the time the treasure is about to be born.
"Yes, but don't put your hopes in getting it. There are Rank Eight Magical Beasts in this forest. I will not want to encounter any one of them just because I was clouded by greed." Grey's words killed the thoughts in the heads of the trio.
"The four of us should be able to deal with a Rank Right Magical Beast." The youngest of the trio suggested.
Grey chuckled but didn't reply, there was no use in reasoning with someone who could bring up such a suggestion. Even a Peak Rank Seven Beast shouldn't have too much of a problem dealing with all four of them, yes, Grey included, yet, this young man was suggesting they attacked a Rank Eight Magical Beast, one they didn't even know if it's in the Early stage or Late stage.
"Come on, if we can get that treasure, we will advance faster." Another one of them urged.
"I'm not interested in that. You can go if you want." Grey replied as he started to go through the map of the forest he had created in his head.
At present, his plan is to avoid the area where the treasure should be born.
"This thing will definitely attract Three Headed Deers to the area, this will make your mission easier. Think about it, such a treasure would attract all the Magical Beasts in the area, right?" The leader of the trio said, stopping Grey's thoughts.
"Yes, even if we're not going there for the treasure, we can just wait there and a Three Headed Deer would come to us."
Grey couldn't refute their words, although he wanted to avoid that place, he also knew that with such a treasure, a Three Headed Deer will surely appear there, so long as it's in this forest.
Seeing Grey's expression, the trio knew that they had been able to convince Grey.
"Just to be clear, if an opportunity presents itself for any of us to take the treasure, first to get it, own it." The leader of the trio said.
Grey nodded, not even bothered about it. Why would he want something a Rank Eight Magical Beast has set its sights on?
He didn't try to stop these guys from daydreaming. Fools were allowed to dream.
The trio all had plans of getting the treasure, Grey on the other hand, just wanted to complete his mission and continue his training.
