"Are you sure?" Number 12 asked.

"Yes. I sensed it. My stripe vanished from the shield," Number 5 replied.

"Why did it take Teacher so long to reach the peak of the Xantian Rungs?" Number 2 asked.

"Was there a problem with the shield? Ye, can you trace the location now that it vanished?" Number 12 asked.

"It's an incredible distance. No, it's even further than that. It's almost as if.. Aria, I can't track this alone. Let me link up with you. Use your Grand Probability Spell," said Number 5, the man named Ye.

Aria turned to face her fellow disciples. She grinned. "Come over here, Ye. My Grand Probability Spell will find him when we link, no problem. It may take some time, though. Arc, you're the strongest of us. Can you get me some Desolate Beast Cores. I need around 50. Make sure they're Middle Ascendant in rank or higher."

"No problem," said Number 2, the man named Arc. He held up his sword in salute and his aura exploded, nearly bringing the rest of the 12 to their knees. He vanished into thin air.

In the aftermath of Arc's disappearance Number 12 muttered, "Are there even 50 Ascendant rank beasts alive in this plane?"

"Then," said Aria as she clapped her hands to draw everyone's attention back to herself, "We have a plan of action. Everybody, let's go find Teacher!"

Their cheers echoed down the hall. The guards outside of the room didn't dare flinch or let their expressions crack. Before the 12 Disciples of the Sage, no one dared to act out.

-

In the battle's aftermath Cara found herself alone again. She felt a unique intimacy with the forest around her, as if its power was now part of hers. She couldn't explain it, but the sensation filled her with a familial warmth.

She drove her cultivation and found it without flaws. A tremendous amount of energy and power coursed through her. The defects in her cultivation that existed before melted away under the strange Earth Element pressure. She didn't know how to explain it.

She looked on her jade-glossed skin and smiled. She met her first goal since her reincarnation; she now stood at the peak of the Xantian Realm, and she only needed to collect a sufficient amount of mana to prepare for her breakthrough to the third realm, Zong.

But she was cautious. She didn't understand her newfound powers and that worried her.

It was at that moment a strange thought crossed Cara's mind. Her eyes widened and she wanted to slap herself for not thinking of it sooner. She cleared her throat.

"Status."

-

[Name: Cara

Age: 15

Occupations: Spirit Contractor (3)

Titles: Contractor of the Soldier Garden's Queen

Level: 47 - (44 + 3)

Health Points: 109,483/110,000

Mana: 250,000/250,000

Strength: 9,454

Speed: 9,922

Accuracy: 10,001

Stamina: 15,033

Skills:

NEW ------ Spirit Contract: 1

NEW ------ Spirit Forge: 1

NEW ------ Spirit Summon: 1

Jade-Dragon Body Cultivation Technique: 6X

NEW ------ Full Jade Body: 1

NEW ------ Yggdrasil's Heaven Fist: 1

NEW ------ Alchemy: 3

NEW ------ Arrays: 6]

-

She wasn't certain how, but she was able to bring up an abridged version of her Status with a thought. It only listed things that changed from the last time she inspected it. Cara smiled. Her 'Jade Skin' ability had changed and transformed into 'Full Jade Body', which was a change she expected.

The last attack she threw versus the ape appeared as well, named Yggdrasil's Heaven Fist. The most interesting things, though, were the mentions of 'Spirit Contract' stuff.

Her level increased a large amount and it seemed to be segmented, broken into an 'overall level' and 'individual job levels'. She had a job now and a title as well. Her new skills were mostly self explanatory.

Cara wasn't dumb. She could infer most of the information she needed from her Status, and her interest was piqued, to say the least.

"I could dedicate a lifetime of study to this strange screen," she said with a grin. Still, she didn't have time to just sit around in a daze. She could figure the rest out later.

Cara grabbed the remaining arm of the Ape and took off on a dead sprint. She weaved through the woods, but she didn't need to hide her aura. Monsters and other things moved out of her way in terror.

Cara wondered if it was because she killed the Ape or if it was because she had the Ape's arm with her. Either way, it didn't matter.

The dirt seemed to talk to her as she moved. Cara could hear it like a voice, almost a whisper, that would say strange tidbits of information from time to time. The voice wanted to lead her somewhere.

Cara decided to follow it.

As she followed the instructions of the 'Spirit', she found more and more of the smaller Crocodile-apes. She ignored them and they moved out of her way, which worked well for both parties. Even after killing the Giant Ape, Cara's body wanted to kill more. The original body's soul still wasn't appeased.

Cara didn't act on these impulses, though. She had a feeling that giving in to the original body's revenge too much would have negative results.

After traveling quite a ways to the West, Cara came across what she could only describe as a disgusting nest. Trees were smashed, the ground was upturned, and in the center of it all a stream of mana was being extracted from the ground by an amateur array.

This was the original nest of the Giant Ape. Cara realized, just now, why the Spirit of the Soldier Garden wanted it dead.

"Fine," Cara said aloud, hoping the Spirit could hear her. "I'll fix this mess to return your blessing. Quid Pro Quo."

With her mind made up, she set to work. She cleaned up the fallen trees and broke apart the nests. She evicted any smaller creatures that came by and worked her fingers to the bone.

The Spirit of the Garden aided her. It whispered instructions on how to repair the 'Leyline', and Cara obliged in the work. She was thankful for the Spirit, after all. It helped her break through the 6th Xantian Rung far earlier than she planned.

Cara manipulated escaping mana and formed currents in it, helping it return to the ground and, subsequently, the forest itself. Immediately the nature around her turned more vibrant. Flowers bloomed and the air stirred, becoming cleaner.

Immediately the mana she felt cycling through her from the forest increased. The total buildup was intense, and her eyes blurred for a moment at the sensation. She grit her teeth and had to forcibly hold herself back. She almost started breaking through to the next realm. To do so in open territory like this would be a death sentence.

With the 'leylines' repaired Cara took off. First she deposited the Great Ape arm in her home and then she moved towards where she last saw the humans from before.

-

Cara found the encampment abandoned. She was disappointed that she couldn't watch the mages cast spells anymore, but she was also happy that she didn't need to reveal herself or watch the humans pointlessly die. She did her good deed for the day and she got a breakthrough out of it for free. Thankfully the humans from earlier left her gifts to make up for her saving them.

Tents, clothing, glassware, foodstuff, and even a few booklets containing 'knight techniques'.. The list of spoils went on and on. Cara made quick work of gathering everything she could use. She didn't even leave crumbs. Her favorite of the spoils were the glassware and the cooking utensils. Good cast iron was hard to make and find.

Perhaps the most important discovery, though, didn't come from the knights or mages. It came from the researchers that followed them. Cara found several apothecary books and other potion crafting tools. Her eyes glowed and she almost licked her lips in excitement. Her individual study of this world's plants and their alchemical processing was going slow, but with these references her ability and understanding would increase exponentially.

It took about six or so trips for Cara to gather everything she could from the human encampment. She buried or burned the rest, leaving behind a small portion of scorched dirt. The forest would reclaim the clearing in a few years.

-

In the Tin City, a conversation at a local bar could be heard by most of the patrons:

"Did you hear that the recent expedition into the Soldier Garden failed?" A gossip asked.

"Yeah. They say that two strong beasts were fighting, and their auras made the expedition retreat."

"It's more than that," the gossip continued. "I heard that the monsters fighting were stronger than Grand Knights!"

"Bullshit."

"It's no bullshit, my friend. One of my friends was a mage there and he measured the magic outputs while retreating. He said even Tier 8 mages wouldn't be able to put out that much power!"

"So the monsters to the south are equivalent to Tier 7 mages and stronger than Grand Knights? Is the City Lord going to do anything about this?"

"I don't know," replied the gossip, "But I heard the City Lord is going to send some elites to scout out the situation. The Guard Captain already volunteered."

"He's only a Grand Knight. Is he going to try and fight those beasts?"

"I doubt it. He'll probably just scout out the situation. He won't be alone. There will be others, too." The Gossip's eyes seemed to lose focus for a moment and he mumbled, "The magic core of beasts that strong.. What an ingredient! The Four Families might make a move, and the Empire in the East Mountains could too."