Even if he wanted to rush back with his highest speed, he was still in a four-star rift filled with unblemished and magical ranked beasts, which hindered his advancement greatly.
Additionally, their expedition team already took two days in order to reach his current position, how long would he take alone, while evading other beasts?
Three to four days were already fast and there would be no time for him to make reports or anything like that, because he was just too slow.
Currently, his surroundings were freed from any kind of beasts thanks to the explosion and death-aura permeating the air, but it wouldn't stay like this.
Jason was quite sure where he had to go first and he also remembered what kinds of beasts he saw before, which helped him to figure out the best path to the highland plateau.
He could also venture along the mountain-ring because he would end up at his final destination either way, but this brought dangers.
The issue with the mountain ring were flying beasts at the mountainside that might prey on him, which was not something Jason wanted.
As such, he decided to venture through the forest's outskirts while staying nearby the mountain-ring.
With his mana eyes supporting him, it was hardly a problem to avoid any kind of beasts, while his mind was still tormented by hundreds of questions and theories about Lux's behavior.
The only difference was that now, Jason was forced to add irregulars, as he thought about the untraceable Drake's he encountered deeper within the elemental crystal cave.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})Digesting that his mana eyes weren't perfect, was already hard for him, but his curiosity overwhelmed the bitter sensation because he never heard of an ability that could completely conceal mana fluctuation, and he couldn't remember such a beast in Shane and Dalia's advanced beastarium.
If he had such a beast, Jason could venture through the four-star rift with much more confidence, because its ability would most likely be inherited to him, allowing his mana core to be completely concealed which was even more advanced than the concealment technique, Shane gave him.
Meanwhile, Jason figured out that not a single beast seemed to care about his whole existence at all, because of his shallow mana core rank they didn't even saw him as a threat which made it possible for him to stop exerting the concealment technique.
Instead, he passively absorbed and refined mana in addition to his sub-area which did the same, while remaining focused on his task.
Scorpio still occupied his mana core, while its exoskeleton enveloped him, in order to be prepared for the worst-case scenario.
Even if he avoided all kinds of beast groups, there were times, larger packs traveled through the forest, running past him as he crawled on trees to hide, while other times, he was dragged into a territorial fight, as he passed two hostile beast groups.
Without knowing how he even survived, Jason was glad to have a mana grade-2 leather armor, which was consistently supplied with the mana from his mana sphere bracelet.
Even if he was accidentally attacked by some fighting beast groups, as wind blades, earth spikes and all kinds of elemental passed him by a hair, Jason couldn't help but look at most beasts in awe.
Comparing the variety of beasts within the four-star rift to Astrix, it was as if one would compare a lake to the ocean.
Each beast within the four-star rift seemed to be unique and if it was within Jason's possibility, he would capture all of them and bind them, which was unfortunately not possible.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})Since he encountered the untraceable Drake's, Jason paid much more attention to other beasts' abilities, and to his astonishment, they seemed to be much more helpful than he initially thought.
From regeneration to psychokinetic, Jason saw everything, and considering that he merely saw unblemished ranked beast fights, he was even more astonished because they devastated the surrounding more than the Magical ranked goblins that attacked Cyro-City.
There were multiple times, he was subconsciously forced to stop breathing because he was so shocked about the unblemished beast's capabilities.
Remembering how their expedition teams fought against other beasts, the battles he witnessed now, were much better to look at and involved a much higher combat prowess and affinity proficiency.
'Were we just fortunate, to have encountered weaker beasts, or are such beasts rare?' He wondered and if he were to estimate some unique beasts' combat prowess, Jason wouldn't hesitate to say that they would be able to defeat beasts that were ranked higher than they.
For beasts, this was already a decent feat, while their combat prowess also relied on the type of beast they were fighting.
In most cases, canine beasts would be stronger than others, less combat relying on beasts, like mice, even if they had a higher mana core rank.
However, it was still incomparable to what he witnessed, and Jason hurried away, as soon as he figured out which side would win, in order to not get dragged into other beasts' business.
Four days passed and his surroundings turned noisier than before, when he saw a few tents high on the highland plateau, while many adventurers and government workers seemed to rush from one place to another.
'Are they preparing for Lux's arrival or what happened?' He wondered while ascending the mountainside with slow steps.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Over the last four days, Jason passively absorbed mana and refined it, while he additionally practiced the Heaven's Hell technique, when his surrounding was partially secure because he was ignored by most beasts, which wondered him.
But even if he was curious about why he was ignored by these beasts, he wouldn't forcefully try to figure out the answer with his life on the line.
As such, he decided to do the same as the beasts and ignore them, except when he noticed unique beasts that attracted his curiosity.
In the end, four days passed and he barely slept during the night, where he couldn't walk around due to the bad sight, forcing him to halt his steps.
It didn't take him long to arrive at the highland plateau and once he saw all kinds of tents, Jason was astonished to see that the plateau was even more crowded than he initially expected.
'What are these people doing? Can't they decide whether to leave the rift or not?' When he saw them entering a large tent one after another, creating even more confusion..
"JASON!!!" He suddenly heard someone shouting next to him, and turning to his right, he noticed Malia charging up to him, with the Daer-siblings following her.
Jason suddenly frowned, seeing her so haggard and thin, as if she lost all her weight over the last few days, causing him to wonder, what the hell happened to her.
Hiving Jason a firm hug, she began to cry, confusing him even more, as he heard
"I'm so glad that your still alive!", which warmed his heart..as he patted her head while saying
"It's fine, I'm alive and stronger than ever before...hehe"
He still didn't understand everything, but he was glad to see that the others were fine, as he smiled ligthly.
