Chapter 32

Kryst was brought by Old man Wise to his Tree Abode.  On top of the giant Apple Tree , there lies a simple yet sophisticated tree house.  There's re ornamental plants beautifying the house and it seems to be close to nature.  The air in here is also pure and light.  Kryst feels comfortable here . No wonder , Elves are closer to beasts than humans .

The place they came into is quite peculiar and beautiful.  This place is like a giant forest that is only meant for air type demons such as the Old Owl Wise.  As Kryst thought of this , he suddenly opened his space and let out Ollie. 

A giant black owl suddenly appeared out of nowhere , causing the white haired old sage to jump up in surprise.  The black owl hooted and calmed down as it landed on the ground beside Kryst . Kryst extended his hand to pat its back .

Ollie then noticed the old man and hooted at it as he tilted his head . Wise also stared back at Ollie and suddenly slapped his thigh in recognition .

" I didn't expect to meet an Owl from the Black Owl Demon Clan! "

Ollie turned to Kryst and said . " Hey Kryst , this old man feels familiar . "

Although Ollie spoke to Kryst , only Kryst could understand it ..Beasts and Demons are different.  Moreover , White Owls and Black Owls possess different kind of languages . Much more , Ollie has not yet evolved to become a demon and couldn't yet be understood by old man Wise .

Wise stared intensely at the black Owl and looked with bright eyes to Kryst . " This little owl seems to be on the verge of evolving , Little one . "

Although Kryst doesn't know the level system of the Beasts and its prerequisites for evolving , he could still percieve the unstable mana within the beast's brain where a condensed mana is forming into a delicate demonic core .

Kryst stared at Ollie and nodded to the old man . " This is Ollie , my friend . I met her in a forest near a human tribe . "

Wise looked at Ollie and squinted his eyes . " Ollie , that name sounds like a pet name . That shouldn't be your real name inn'it? ( Isn't it)  . "

Ollie hooted randomly as he couldn't understand what the old man is talking about. 

Kryst patted Ollie's head and activated his second ability. 

Ollie hooted and started walking towards the old man.  Ollie kinda has a bigger form than the old man as he looks down on the old man . " A white owl , it's my first time seeing such an owl.  " Ollie hooted and scrunitized the old man.

Although the old man wasn't in his beast form , Ollie could still the smell of an owl from him .

" But why are you so pale? "

Hearing his words , Wise burst out of laughter and slapped his thigh in amusement . " I'm not pale , we're just two different kinds of owl . You're black , I'm white . "

Ollie nodded in understanding then suddenly opened his eyes wide . He immediately hooted to Kryst's direction and screamed . " Little Kryst , Little Kryst!! This pale owl could understand me!"

Ollie had a distinct unbelievable expression upon his face as he flapped his wings in excitement .

Kryst nodded to Ollie and turned to the old man.  " Do you want to help him become a demon? "

Wise squinted his eyes at Ollie and said in a slow pace . " A place where an evolving beasts should come would be on the top of the Mount Cone. However , that place is off limits and is only limited to demons with higher statuses among our society . "

" But since this little owl is one of my kind , I'll bring him there by my name . "

Kryst slightly bent his waist and said. " Thank you for your generosity , Master Wise . "

A foolish smile surfaced upon the face of the old man as he hurriedly went to Kryst's side and led him to climb the tree house .

" Hahaha , I'm glad that you acknowledge me as your master . Hurry up and hand me a cup of tea as our ceremony.  "

Kryst wanted to get away out of instinct not wanting to be touched by others . Facing such enthusiastic old man , Kryst felt complicated within his heart.  He doesn't know wether he regards this old man as close to him .

He only met the old man an hour ago so he felt uncomfortable being treated such kind treatment.  Kryst would always guard against strangers and is not used to them . Knowing that Ollie and Pitzy aren't humans , he would subconsciously put down his guard around them but in front of people in a human form , such as Sherwin , Han Nabi and Wise . He couldn't get himself to speak to them .

If not because of Yggdrasil , he would probably spend most of his time searching for herbs , self learning and exploring the world .

When he met Sherwin , he didn't expect that they would get along after sparring a couple of times. Kryst knows that building up his resistance to his mentality of not wanting to interact with people would benefit him and his tribe in the future. Only with good communication skills would he then be able to make Allies and trade for the sake of his tribe .

Fortunately , Han Nabi is there , and she seems to be good at communicating too . She could be used as their diplomat .

Kryst was led to the treehouse . Over there , he look beyond the sceneries down below . The air is fresh and cool making him to subconsciously relax his tensed muscles .

" This is a good place . " Kryst commented a he let go of his grip on the window sill .

Wise smiled then put the teapot on the table and sat down on the floor . The table's legs are low and there's no chairs , people has o sit down on the floor and cross their legs if they want to .

Kryst followed the old man and followed Wise's instructions of pouring him a cup of tea.  Somehow , the atmosphere felt a bit serious. Kryst focused himself on pouring the old man a tea . He felt kinda weird and strange , it's his first time doing this kind of thing such as acknowledging someone as one's master. 

Kryst put down the teapot gently and handed the small cup carefully to the old man . He doesn't know why , but he somehow did those movements out of instinct . Feeling the solemn and serious atmosphere around the room , he subconsciously made his movements gentle and careful as much as possible. 

Politeness and Respect ....

These are the things that he learned today.

Wise has this ability to make the juniors to subconsciously respect him and relax their guard towards him . As a respectable wise owl sage , it is only natural for Kryst to feel this way.  Moreover , because of Kryst's ability of bypassing the language barrier and being able to perceive and understand the other party's emotions. Kryst subconsciously reacted to old sage's direction .

Because of this , Kryst did not dare disrespect the old man .

Wise was satisfied with this and drank the tea Kryst offered . The duo talked and Kryst listened to him obediently . It was rare for Wise to encounter such disciple so he is particularly kind and lenient. 

Whenever Kryst asked a question about a certain herb. Wise would patiently explain it to the teenager and even talked about some trivias about certain plants and how they benefit and nourish people's body especially for demons .

Owl is a demon physician so he is naturally more knowledgeable about demonic plants that are suitable for both humans and demons .

And since Kryst isn't particularly a human either , he listened deligently to what the owl adviced since he has two evolving beasts within his tribe .

It would be best if he could learn how to concoct medicine for all humans , demons , Elf and other races. 

So much time passed ad only after Ollie hooted that there are people under the tree did Kryst remember his teammates .

He said a temporary goodbye to Wise and climb down from the tree . Han Nabi , Kathryn and Sherwin were waiting below.

When Kathryn saw Kryst , she immediately clapped her hand and extended her hands to be hugged . Han Nabi the handed Kathryn to Kryst and massaged his sore arms .

" You have worked hard . " Kryst said to Han Nabi .

Han Nabi smiled and waved her hands . " It's nothing big , I can handle it . "

Kryst turned to look at Kathryn who is clinging to him in a behaved manner . " Was she naughty? "

Sherwin nodded . " Yeah , we've been roaming around the trading area , Kathryn was particularly inconspicuous because of her small size."

Sherwin also is somehow confused about something. 

' where the hell did those bunch of vegetables they traded with the demons come from? '

' Don't tell me Kryst owned a sort of portable space artifact that can hold a big amount of things inside.  '

Sherwin definitely hit it True . Unfortunately , Kryst couldn't completely trust in him yet and couldn't tell him about their hidden race . The only explanation Sherwin recieved from the sudden change of Han Nabi was that Yggdrasil , Kryst's god , blessed Han Nabi and that's all .

He didn't say that he brought Han Nabi to their dimension to change race .

Speaking of the dimension , Kryst had stocked a lot of vegetables because of the fast speed of growth of the plants inside . Moreover , their tribe only had a handful of elves that could consume the vegetables and it's regrettable if they would be left to rot. 

He wished Yggdrasil could upgrade the space and put a law of time freeze on the warehouse.  That way , he wouldn't worry about the span of freshness of the fruits and vegetables inside . Only if Kryst is a normal modern guy , he would have cooked those vegetables into different kinds of cuisine.

Unfortunately , Kryst spent all his life inside the institute and was not given a chance to see the world outside after being captured to captivity. 

Even If a normal modern guy is in his Kryst's shoe , that doesn't mean that all modern people could cook . As most people prefer meat over vegetables , there is a big possibility that those vegetables will still eventually turn useless .

Kryst went to rent a tree house on the lower place of the mountain and layed baby Kathryn beside him as he pondered .

Han Nabi traded their vegetables with herbs and tools in the trading market . Han Nabi thought of trading meat but was afraid that Kryst wouldn't want to.  Kryst is an excellent hunter and could hunting preys anytime.

However , Kryst doesn't know how to cook meat aside from roasted so he immediately told Han Nabi to not worry about it and just trade the vegetables with meat that have been preserved by the demons with a special technique. 

Han Nabi , not too far from Kryst's tree house also pondered about trading spices tomorrow.  Earlier , although they were trading , most of the time were actually spent on roaming around the mountain like a tourist . She and Kathryn enjoyed the fun of seeing different kinds of demons like kids in a zoo and forgot about trading aromatics and spices that she could use in her cooking. 

" Oh , I should also ask for some information about some salt lake nearby.  It would be good to create an artificial salt lake inside the space . "

" If the water in the artificial pond is stagnant and the water starts to evaporate , the minerals would be left behind. Together with the sun and some mysterious (scientific) incomprehensible rules behind the creation of salt lake , a salt lake would eventually be formed.  As long as there's no outflow of water. "

" It would be best if we could just transfer some salt lake water in an artificial pond and that's it. "

Meat , Vegetables , fruits , aromatics , spices .... Their food is now stable.  They won't have to worry about feeling full of vegetables anymore. 

The only thing they don't have is a crop.  They don't have rice yet .

It kinda feels strange to eat meals without Rice . As an eastern woman , Han Nabi felt uncomfortable eating meat without pairing it with rice . How the hell did those cannibals and barbarians stand eating meat without rice ?

---

Leon stopped running and slowly looked at the foggy mountain. It's already late at night and he has been traveling all day long . He felt tired and hungry so he paused to conserve his energy.

Carrying a large bag behind him , Leon put down his bag and suddenly transformed into a handsome and tall man with hot body . His body is full of masculine muscles exuding alpha hormones. 

He has a strong predatory gaze and a unique scent of a strong being . Jus by standing on the foot of the mountain . The demons sleeping at the mid flat ground of the mountain immediately felt the presence of an apex predator .

A dominant Demonic Lion , a Demonic Sovereign who ruled over weaker Lions . Suddenly , a similar form arrived .

The golden slits on the lion squinted and scrunitized Leon .

" Juniper " Leon said as he picked up his bag. 

Juniper hummed and suddenly transformed into a similarly golden haired masculine man .

" You have arrived.  " Said Juniper. 

" How's the clan? "

Juniper snorted . " They are good ... Still as hipocrite as ever . If not because of the Eagle's presence , they would have long caused havock over the mountain.  "

Leon frowned and clenched his fist.  " That idiotic brother sure has guys to provoke the demons in here. "

Juniper couldn't refute that . Although Leon is a strong Lion , no one actually knows his true level.  He has always been a low key lone Lion.  He's like a wolf in a pack that was lost or left behind , roaming in the wilderness , seeking shelter and stable home.

Leon rubbed his temple and said to Juniper.  " I'm tired , do you have a place for me to stay in? "

Juniper stared quietly at Leo then nodded.  " Follow me.  "

As they walk , Juniper suddenly asked Leon.  " Don't you want to go back to the clan? "

Leon shook his head.  " Brother is afraid of me , if I go there . He might mobilize the whole clan to monitor my movements . "

Their clan is just near the vicinity of the mainlands of the humans . The humans in the mainland worship the God Sun Apollo . Humans there are sophisticated and has a high civilization.

Phoebe , Ares and Apollo kinda has a rather complicated relationship.

It is rumored that Ares and Apollo fought for Phoebe's love , but Apollo got defeated by Ares. Ares is clearly stronger than Apollo . Unfortunately , Ares' descendants couldn't defeat the number of Apollo's humans.

Because of that , the shapeshifters were driven out of the mainland and started roaming in the barbarian lands . Ares and Phoebe was so enraged that they immediately cut off connection with Apollo's humans.

Starting then , Humans , Shapeshifters and Demons fought .

However , Demons and Shapeshifters are most likely to ally because of the relationship of their gods.

For some unknown reason though , Shapeshifters began to decline .

Ares no longer appeared within the dreams of every tribe's priests or witches.

Fortunately , Phoebe still gave the Demons some signal that she's still there , while Ares had already began to be forgotten by the shapeshifters.

The Demons , especially the Eagle clan was dissatisfied with Leon's brother's decision of getting back the connection that had once been cut off . The demons dislike the Lion Clan's interaction with Apollo's humans . That's why Juniper was put in a tight spot when he arrives In the gathering .

Juniper wanted Leon to bring back his authority as the real successor of the Demonic Lion Clan.

Leon however is still young and inexperienced. He is still tempering himself in order to snatch back the throne that was rightfully his.

As the two passed by a Tree house , Leon suddenly sniffed the air . Juniper turned to him and confusedly tilted his head . " What's wrong? "

Leon rubbed his nose and shook his head.

' i somehow smelled a similar scent here ... '

----

Lienor opened his eyes gloomily and thought to himself.

" What's with my dream this time again? "

Lienor sighed ...

I'm is dream , Kryst was pushed down by another man again . This time ...

The man in his dreams possess a more muscular body than him .

Lienor touched his slender body and toned muscles.

' does Kryst prefer muscular ones or the slender ones . '

' that man in the dream has a tall stature , towering figure , muscular body and a strong scent of a domineering man . '

However , looking at his own figure . He's clearly just a normal modern person who only knows how to watch anime.

Lienor is also tall , but he is not as muscular as the man in his dreams who pushed the adult Kryst on the bed .

He is the type of Tall boy , slim waist , toned abs , toned biceps , and long and slender legs.

He's the type of man that is often times called as Ikemen in anime mangas.

Lienor plopped himself on the bed and groaned.

' no , Crispy is still young . He can't be courted by that disgusting adult . '

' no , no , no .... Aaaaaaaah!!!!! '

Lienor punch the bed in anger and the bed suddenly collapsed .

Lienor stared blankly at the broken bed and said. " Not again . "