The Exalt [Cultivation Fantasy]

Serena smiled brightly at Oscar, staring intently at him with her sharp green eyes, a thin veil of her usual cheekiness hiding the infatuation within them. She skipped ahead with light feet toward Oscar and Mary while covered in her green Ein shroud. Her black fur coat contrasted with Oscar's white fur coat.

'What luck! To meet Oscar on the first day! I wonder if he'll give me a clue?' Flowers and heat filled her thoughts despite the chilly wretched landscape she was in. She could barely contain the sounds of joy trying to escape her mouth.

Lucy was brandishing her sword with hostility and was stunned that Serena had gone out without a single defense. She stared blankly but snapped out of it to follow. 'Is this a trap she's setting? But her Ein isn't moving, and her posture isn't set for anything. No matter, I have to be the one ready to fight.'

On the other side, Oscar sighed inwardly but kept his face calm and put away his buckler to show he had no intentions. Mary also had her spear pointing straight at Serena with wary eyes.

"Mary. There's no need for aggression. They won't fight, isn't that right, Serena?" Oscar seemed more tired than usual.

"Oscar? How can you trust this nasty woman?" Mary was stunned at how easily Oscar was swayed.

"Who are you calling a nasty woman?" Serena scoffed at Mary. "There's nothing worse than being insulted by someone so inept."

"Greedy wench!" Mary shouted and burst her Ein in droves.

"Stuck-up mouse." Serena also unleashed her Ein in full force. She straightened her back more than usual to accent her height. Her words cut deep into Mary, who hated being called out for her small stature, which she had no control over.

Mary's light-brown Ein clashed with Serena's green Ein in violent sparks. Lucy was about to join the battle, but a mighty quake caused her and the others to stare at Oscar. Their eyes widened at the deep hole that formed under his foot.

Normally when someone puts an immense force on the ground, it forms craters. Oscar's foot acted like a sharp knife, puncturing the ground but also shaking it. This feat of strength showed how powerful Oscar's physical power with Adamasreis had gotten.

Oscar looked at the three who were about to clash with a piercing gaze. "I said, let's not fight. Serena, you know what would happen if we do try to fight, right?"

"You're right." Serena withdrew her Ein back to the small shroud.

"Serena?" Lucy was still confused.

Serena turned to Lucy with a funny face and said, "He's mister first place for a reason. We can't fight him and win." Her face turned serious at Lucy's look of disbelief. "Trust me on this. We'll be the ones in the dumps instead."

Lucy wanted to argue more but seeing Serena's unwilling gaze made her take another glance at Oscar. 'This ordinary-looking man is that terrifying? He did take first place, but Serena wasn't that far behind.'

It was the truth that Serena didn't want to fight Oscar because she didn't feel confident in going against his strange predictive powers without knowing more. But the larger reason was that she didn't want to fight but have a moment of rest with Oscar. Out of view from Mary and Lucy, Serena sent a wink toward Oscar.

Oscar smiled lightly at her message and turned to Mary, grumbling near him. "Remember what I said? It's not ideal for us to make unnecessary enemies. We need to think about our life in the Inner Hall later."

Mary pouted but nodded her head. She was already in bad relations with Serena but to antagonize Lucy and potentially more was not ideal for her.

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"Oh my? Talking as if you've already got this trial in the bag? The clues you received must be good. Any chance I can take a look?" Serena's gaze never left Oscar as if asking him for a clue.

"Nope. You can look for them yourself. Don't follow us either, or else we'll have no choice but to fight." Oscar flatly refused Serena's inquiry, which irritated her, but she understood Oscar wasn't saying this out of malice. Oscar continued, "Unless you have something you can offer us. But I don't think you have anything worth trading."

Serena clicked her tongue in defeat after Oscar's supposed openness to negotiation. 'Trying to see what I have so far? Not a chance in the world.'

"I suppose you're correct. If there's nothing else, then we'll separate from here." Serena turned around and dragged Lucy with her away from Oscar and Mary. Her eyes were full of frustration as she stared at Mary and Oscar. 'Next time, I should invite him to a mission, just the two of us.'

Oscar also decided to move away from this spot, but Mary still checked behind them many times. She was agitated.

"You don't need to worry. Those two won't try to ambush us." Oscar said.

"I don't put it past Serena to think of doing so." Mary retorted.

Oscar thought for a moment and nodded. Although Serena was infatuated with him, Oscar knew she was also very competitive and not willing to lose for such reasons. If the rules demanded them to fight, she would fight without hesitation, but for the time being, she had chosen to take strategic retreats to better her chances.

'What a tricky person.' Oscar rubbed his head as if a migraine had settled in. 'I'll have to be careful around her.'

"Look!" Mary's face brightened for the first time after running into Serena. The source of her excitement was a large cavern on a cliffside; it was a nice crevice facing away from the direction of the wind, making it perfect to avoid the snow. The cliff itself was long and stretched far, reminding Oscar of the Rust Cliffs of the Hurin Plains; he felt it was indicative of it being a separate region. 'Perhaps there are more powerful beasts up there, which is likely a place one of the items could be. But first, we should focus on rest.'

Oscar entered the cavern with Mary but soon frowned at the sight of scattered bones around the ground and frozen traces of blood. This scene was very common for a beast's nest or abode. Oscar looked around but did not see the Exalt Beast, fearing it may be invisible.

His Ein burst in droves and his buckler gleamed in the dim cavern, but no response came from the empty area. He threw his buckler around, controlling it with his thread to hit everywhere. However, once again, no hint of movement or response was seen.

Mary had her spear ready for Oscar's signal and watched his endeavors to fish out the beast. "Anything?"

Oscar shook his head. "Doesn't appear to be so. The more likely conclusion is that it went out hunting for its meal. That's perfect. We can wait to ambush it when it returns."

They waited at a short distance from the cavern, rotating the Frost Orb to have chances to recover their Ein. Behaving like the hunters they were, they laid low and never took their eyes off their quarry. It wasn't long before a beast finally emerged from the forest.

It was a large black wolf with white patterns on its face. It held a rather large bunny in its mouth, dripping blood on the snowy ground. Oscar and Mary slowly crept up, not wanting to surprise the wolf.

"It's a Greater Apprentice Exalt Beast. Wait for it to enter the cavern, or it'll get tricky to fight it in the forest." Oscar instructed.

The black wolf sniffed around and growled, causing Oscar and Mary to stop momentarily. It picked up strange scents from its home and immediately perked up after sniffing more of the air. Its head sprang around toward where Oscar and Mary were.

However, Oscar and Mary were already right in front of it and killed it in one fell swoop. The poor wolf could not even muster a howl as Mary's spear stabbed into its throat, dropping the large bunny. Its body fell to the ground in an instant.

"That was too close." Mary flicked the blood off her spear.

"It's good we rushed when it decided to sniff around. A quick and easy battle is always best." Oscar sighed. "But the silver lining is that we have our meals for today."

After clearing out the old bones, Mary started a campfire while Oscar skinned and prepared the wolf and bunny. They cooked the meat like skewers over the fires and ate with much delight.

"I ate before coming to this tundra, but so much had happened; I feel like several days had gone by." Mary ate well, though she preferred the soft bunny meat. So, Oscar elected to eat the tougher wolf meat. They were well-fed and well-rested.

At Oscar's suggestion, they decided to climb the cliff. Atop the cliff was more of the same forest, except the trees were twice as tall. Oscar scanned the area and noted a tree that stuck out like a sore thumb; this tree was taller and wider than all others.

Their journey wasn't long, and they came upon the large tree. This tree was separated from the rest of the forest as though it was isolated. A moat of snowy ground surrounded it.

"Do you think the Snowbell Fruit might be on it?" Mary asked.

Oscar pondered, but a sudden piercing cry echoed through the forest.

"CAWW!"

Oscar looked up, seeing a large avian beast looking down on them with ravenous intent. "Might be the feather."

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