"Alright, I'll take my leave for the time being." Peddler entered his weighing scale and caused the pile of gold on the other side to turn to dust, vanishing in response, "I'll work on refining Essencer into my guard dog and make preparations to face Invader next."
"Alright, I'll coordinate with you through our usual channel," Pnolli said after being dropped at the entrance to a certain forest.
Peddler had to prepare furiously to face Invaderon next. After all, unlike Essencer, he was a terrifying opponent.
Originally, the Invader System had even planned to deal with Compass Carburettor. So, whether in terms of resourcefulness, smartness, or cunning, it was leagues ahead of the Waning Essence System.
It had to be noted that the Waning Essence System was one of the first few Systems birthed by the System World. After that, it actively worked in Cultivation Worlds.
But despite that, it was one of the weaker Grade 3 Systems. That was a show of its capability.
On the other hand, the Invader System was different. Despite being birthed late into the game of System domination, the Invader System quickly blitzed through the ranks and even became the Grade 3 System with the fastest growth.
The fact that it didn't even shy away from scheming against both Arnark and Compass Carburettor was a show of its power. So, even in Faith Grounds, it was a formidable foe.
In comparison, Martial was kind of cute.
The chance of death facing Invaderon was dangerously high, hence why Peddler was going full throttle on his preparations.
On the other hand, Pnolli was calmly loitering around the edges of a random forest.
Before facing Arnark, he had to do something about the Beast God first. And for that, he had a plan in motion, taking advantage of Peddler's accessibility to deific body parts and other luxurious products.
"Kiek! Damn human! Why did you enter our forest?" Just as Pnolli took a step into the forest, a feathery blade extended to his neck, its tip touching his skin to cause a drop of blood to spill out.
His eyes calmly drafted to the side as Pnolli stared at the figure of a peacock that had masked itself as a bush to hide. It was keeping sentry at their border.
"You've grown well, Yuhka," Pnolli spoke calmly, observing the peacock's reaction being one of shock at his words.
"H-How did you know my name?" The peacock shrieked in a fluster.
"You played with a kid from a nearby human village ten years ago before you awakened your sentience," Pnolli said, watching the feathery blade press a tad deeper into his neck.
"Who are you?" It growled aloud, hoping to overcome the sense of unease it felt.
"Did you suffer an injury recently?" Pnolli extended his hand and massaged its injury, easing up fatigue in the region while also improving blood flow, "That should help you a little."
'H-How did he do it?' The peacock was flabbergasted. After all, it was ready to murder him the moment he tried to even budge a little.
But here, Pnolli somehow moved his hand while talking and even massaged its injury. And until the process ended, it didn't even resist.
"Let's go in, now." Saying so, Pnolli patted the peacock, rubbing his finger under its beak as he observed its eyes curl up in response. And surprisingly, it perched itself on his shoulder and didn't comment further.
"Yuhka, what are you doing?" A few minutes later, there was a holler as a group of peacocks crowded before Pnolli, staring at him alertly, "Why did you allow a human to enter our home?"
"I…" Yuhka realised only now as it flew up in fright, "What the heck was I doing? Why did it feel natural to perch on his shoulder?"
"He should be a Spirit of some strange Deity." One of the peacocks that guarded the place said, preparing to attack, "Kill him!"
"Stop!" Suddenly, a Spirit of the peacocks flew overhead before landing between the two sides, flashing its crown of feathers to calm down the agitated peacocks, "You're not his opponent."
It then turned around to glare at the youth, "Pnolli wasn't this young in my memories."
"You're right about that." Pnolli nodded in response, taking in a rhythmic breath. Suddenly, he seemed amicable to all the peacocks in the region, startling them the moment they came to a realisation.
"Follow me." The Spirit of the peacocks motioned him to follow it as it took flight.
"You've become a Spirit now, Yaeha," Pnolli commented once they went deeper into the forest.
In response, the Spirit of the peacocks, Yaeha only trembled once but didn't offer any reply, continuing to fly deeper into the forest.
The peacocks followed Pnolli from a safe distance, perched on the trees as they watched him jog through the distance without breaking a sweat.
'A normal human would be panting by now.' This was the thought running through their mind, having seen Pnolli jogging for more than four hours without a hint of exhaustion.
With his experience, every action he did conformed exactly to his needs, including the movements of his body parts. So, he was jogging at the maximum possible efficiency the human body could attain.
And for someone like that, four hours of jogging wasn't much to worry about.
The peacocks made a commotion every time he went deeper into the forest as all Pnolli did was make small talk with them from time to time. Shockingly to them though, he not only knew their names but also seemed aware of their history.
Eventually, after almost ten hours of jogging, Yaeha perched on the branch of a tree and displayed its crown of feathers, motioning for Pnolli to walk past, "I'm only told to guide you to this point."
Pnolli walked past, entering a clearing where there was a hill barely a couple hundred metres tall. And on its peak was a peacock, ten times bigger than the rest, sporting a divine sense of majesty to it.
It was the God of Peacocks, Yedu.
Yedu seemed mildly agitated as it stared at Pnolli, "Enough with the disguises, Pnolli."
"Why has the God of Humanity visited my humble abode?"
