"Not to ntion the loyalty…"
Aksai muttered.
The wyvern's bond with him was deeper than re obedience through soul mark. It was not forced. It was not fear-based. The beast would protect him even if it ant its own death. It was a kind of loyalty that couldn't be bought or faked.
He frowned slightly.
"And I can use it on many beasts. There's no need to worry about the backlash or soul damage. Plus, there's no limit tied to my soul strength."
That was another huge benefit.
Normal beast tars had limits. One wrong move and their souls could get torn apart. Too many contracts, and they would collapse.
He didn't have that problem. But then his expression darkened. His hand moved to his chest.
"The cost…"
He could feel it. A hollow sense, like sothing precious had been shaved away. He had traded ti for power.
It was not painful. But it was permanent unless he cultivated it back using his druidic bloodline powers.
"And against stronger beasts, the cost will only increase," he added.
If he tried this blessing on a mid-stage or peak 4th Order beast, or sothing even stronger, the price might be in thousands of years.
"That's dangerous," he admitted to himself.
He sighed.
"And after using it, I can't use it again in the sa manner in a short while. Not unless I want to harm my foundation."
If enemies had been nearby, things could have gone very wrong.
"This isn't sothing I can use carelessly," he concluded.
He looked at the wyvern again.
"But used at the right ti… on the right target…"
A faint smile ford on his face.
"This druidic blessing is…. How should I say it? Hmm. It is broken. Just the fact that I tad a 4th Order beast using this power has made hundred tis much harder to kill than before in the subcontinent.
Is this power exclusive to druids? Doesn't that an the druids would be able to overwhelm their human counterparts much more easily as both sides continue to get stronger? The fact that druids can recultivate the lost lifespans without facing any backlash or having to pay a huge price in return itself is too much of a cheat."
Aksai was beginning to realize how aweso it was to beco a druid. A blessing that ignored Spirit essence, Qi, and Aether. A thod that worked on almost any living beast. A bond that could not be erased using any Spirit-essence or even Aether techniques.
"And the best part," he whispered, "is that I don't need to dominate the world with it."
He stood up slowly.
"I just need to choose wisely."
The wyvern lowered its head slightly, as if sensing his thoughts.
Aksai placed a hand on its rough, poison-scarred scales.
"This thing… it's like owning a Lambo while still living in a rental apartnt," he said softly.
"My Core Formation powers and my Aether cultivation combined wouldn't have been enough to ta sothing like that. It's a good thing I don't have to maintain any control over the beast's soul anymore. Otherwise. I would have been in a huge pinch every ti the control over the beast got loosened up."
Aksai then observed the beast for a while. The beast lowered its head slightly and stayed still. Its sharp eyes no longer held killing intent. Instead, they followed Aksai's movents calmly.
"I guess that's enough," Aksai said softly. "One is more than enough for now."
"I won't ta any more beasts. It's not worth it to let go of any more of my lifespan unless it's a dao beast itself. But who knows how many years of lifespan the taming of the dao beast would demand.
"Even if it is the residual consciousness of the original dao beast, I'm sure taming it won't be easy. First of all, it is doubtful if the blessing could be used on a beast's residual consciousness," Aksai muttered to himself.
He raised his hand and rested it against the wyvern's neck. The beast did not pull away.
"I'll call you Zyn," Aksai said after a mont of thought.
There was no response. No thoughts flowed into his mind. No emotions were shared between them. This was not a normal beast bond. There were no commands, no clear sense of understanding.
Of course, Aksai could use the beast bond techniques after using the blessing on a beast. And since the beast was already tad via the blessing, he wouldn't face any rejection or risk in the process. That way, he could still form a special connection with the tad beast, which would allow him to know about the beast's emotions and inner thoughts.
However, Aksai decided not to use the regular beast taming thods on Zyn. Why would he burden his soul by placing additional soul marks on the beasts he had already tad through a higher-level taming thod? As for not communicating effectively with Zyn, Aksai didn't mind. This type of problem would resolve itself as ti went on.
Aksai smiled faintly as he looked at the beast's reactions.
"I don't know if you like the na," he said. "But I think it suits you."
Zyn let out a low rumble from its chest, as if to convey that he didn't care about the na. Aksai took that as a good sign.
"Alright," he said. "Let's work."
With Zyn by his side, Aksai moved deeper into the land. The poison wyvern flew ahead or walked beside him, depending on the terrain. Whenever poison beasts appeared, Zyn was the first to move.
Its poison breath swept through the land like a green storm. Poison wolves, insects, and snake beasts fell before they could even get close. Those that survived were crushed by claws or torn apart by its jaws.
Aksai followed behind, finishing off the weak ones and absorbing the poison essence left behind.
Each kill fed his body.
The poison wyvern had made it much easier for Aksai to explore the separate dinsion. The Spirit spells and artifacts still didn't work effectively in the dinsion. Under such conditions, having a natural ans to fly was a much-needed ability.
The green vein around Aksai's right wrist grew thicker as he kept on killing stronger beasts with the help of his tad beast. It spread slowly up his arm like a living thing. His skin felt warm at tis and cold at others. A faint poison mist began to cling to his body even when he stood still.
Days passed like this. Zyn hunted. Aksai harvested. The poison essence kept piling up.
One day, after dealing with a group of poison scorpions near a glowing swamp, Aksai suddenly stopped walking. His breath caught in his throat.
His right arm trembled.
The green vein pulsed hard, once, then again. A sharp pain spread through his arm and into his chest. Aksai clenched his teeth and dropped to one knee.
The poison aura around him surged. He could feel it clearly now. Sothing inside him was changing. The Poison Vein was no longer just growing. It was evolving.
***
A few days later.
Hour of Shadow Dragon (10:00 PM - 11:00 PM)
The night was quiet.
Aksai sat cross-legged inside a shallow cave, its stone walls glowing faintly from the pale light outside. It was a full moon night, yet the moon itself was hidden behind thick clouds. The light that filled the land ca from the luminous plants and mountains scattered across the separate dinsion.
Outside the cave, Zyn stood guard.
The poison wyvern's massive body blocked the entrance like a living wall. Its wings were folded, its head lowered, but its senses were sharp. Any movent outside would be noticed at once.
Large and small corpses were piled in front of Aksai. Poison wolves, serpents, insects, and even the remains of a few 4th Order poison beasts lay there. So bodies were still leaking green fluids. Others had already started to dry out, filling the cave with a sharp, bitter sll.
Aksai did not mind it. He lowered his gaze to his right arm.
The Poison Vein was clearly visible now. It had grown thick and strong, wrapping around his wrist and stretching toward his forearm. It pulsed slowly, like it was breathing. A faint poison aura leaked from his skin without him trying.
Aksai stared at it for a long ti.
"So it's co to this," he murmured.
His mind drifted to the knowledge he had gathered from the outer sect treasury of the Heavenly Poison Sect. Countless poison techniques surfaced in his thoughts.
So thods focused on the body's fluids. They changed bile and blood, granting abilities like Poison Touch and Poison Breath. With a single strike or breath, enemies could be lted from the inside.
Other techniques were more extre.
They altered the flesh itself, turning the cultivator into a living poison corpse. Not a mindless undead, but a controlled one. The body would rot yet remain alive, gaining terrible poison power at the cost of one's human form.
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