"This should be the pce," Luke said, looking at the entrao the cave in front of him.

  He had finally reached the epiter of the territory, and the most powerful magical beast in the area should be here. So far, he had been able to advahout any obstacles, so when he reached the cave, he hesitated for a moment whether to enter or not.Going into eerritory blindly, especially when he k was the territory of a beast with a power superior to that of the elemental monkey, was at the very least dangerous. And it could be sidered by the most cautious people as dht suicide.Luke tried, whenever possible, to be cautious.

  "Let's observe the situation first."

  He looked for an appropriate pearby a up a defensive formation. Then, using all the scarce mana he had, he created a small golem about 30 cm tall. It was a small homunculus that looked a little funny.

  "I'll explore the terrain first, and if it's not too dangerous I'll go in and explore in person."

  Luke sat down on the ground and closed his eyes. The little homunculus came to life and began to move at high speed, and in just a few seds it had already crossed the entrao the cave.

  As the golem advahe terrain that had previously beey on the system map was filled in.Luke could observe everything his golem saw, since his sciousness was inside. He could even use his Xyra eye remotely.

  The first se of the cave did not present anything iing, it was simply a dark ay tuhe only thing remarkable erhaps, the high density of spiritual energy in the enviro, which was eveer than the density present in Lunaria. Or at least in the areas of Lunaria that he had visited. Perhaps in the royal pace, the situation was different.

  Very soon, however, he came to a fork in the road. Looking at the two paths in front of him, Luke decided to take the one on the right. In that dire, he could sense multiple presences, very faintly. While iher dire he could only sense a single presence, which possessed a terrifying bat power.

  He walked along the dark tunnel and came to a chamber covered iation. The spiritual energy there was even more trated. Luke fantasized about eliminating the beast that owhis cave, and taking over the pce. If he cultivated in this enviro his cultivation would advance much faster!But it was just a fantasy, with his current power, if he faced the beast he would probably end up very badly injured. He always had the fidence of being able to escape using his multiple methods, but it was better to avoid danger if possible.

  He looked at the pnts present, they could be sidered natural treasures. If these pnts were sold at au, they would undoubtedly fetch exorbitant prices. Luke proceeded cautiously without trying to obtain any of the pnts, he was on a reaissance mission. If the beast became aware of his presend destroyed his golem, although it would not put his life at risk, it would cause great mental damage. After all, it was his scioushat was ihe homunculus, and if it was destroyed it would be like experieng the feeling of dying! A person with a low level of spiritual attribute would lose his mind in such a situation, being a fool who could not even trol his most basic bodily funs.Luke's spiritual attribute was high, he himself did not know how high, sihe system did not give him accurate information. But what he had verified through his reinations was that this attribute was not reset with each reination, but was cumutive. In his previous life, the attribute was already listed in the system as "??" and when the system cssified something like that it was because it was beyond the reach of the current power of the system. If his system were of a higher level he could e to know those details, but in the meahey remained a mystery. Luke had fantasized several times about the power the system could wield if he raised it to the highest possible level. But unfortunately, as the system leveled up it became more and more difficult to tinue advang. To level up the system Luke o plete quests, but high level quests were pletely impossible for him. Some quests at that level were ridiculous things like killing gods or simir.

  The little golem advahrough the rge enclosure filled with natural treasures without opposition. However, when he reached the ter he saw something that caught his attention.

  "Children of the forest?" Luke atg through the eyes of his golem raised his eyebrows in surprise.

  The "children of the forest" was a way that people on the ti used to refer to a particur race, the Arbori. This race lived deep within the great forbidden forest, in a different area than the Lunaris.In the eyes of humans, they were a strange rao one had ever eheir realm, but it was said that these beings were born from a great sacred tree. They grew on the branches like fruits, and when they matured enough they reached their anthropomorphi. This race had a great affinity with the earth and pnts. In addition, there were a lot of rumors about their other miraculous abilities; it was said that they could increase the quality of the elixirs produced by alchemists using a liquid they produced in their own body, that they possessed a very strong life energy that was the best tonic for a long life, that they were loyal for life oheir reition was earned, et short, the stories reted to the Arbori were full of this type of things. To put it simply, they were highly coveted by all the human nobles who lived outside the forest.As the Arbori lived deep within the forest, one could rarely find one of them in the human realms, which added a yer of mystery to their already mysterious existence.

  Now, in front of his eyes, there were dozens of Arboris. They worked silently, tending to the pnts, p spiritual energy and removing the impurities that appeared in them.

  Seeing this group of Arboris w tirelessly with empty eyes like puppets, Luke felt an inexplicable sense of pity and anger within him.He himself was surprised at the feelings that had suddenly appeared.However, Luke was a rational guy, or at least he tried to be. That was the way he had found to maintain a stable state of mind, otherwise he would have lost his sanity during his first reination. During those long years of lonelihat rationality helped him quell the feelings welling up inside him. Whatever was happening, the most important thing was to stay calm, assess the situation, and formute the safest possible pn of a.

  *Ding*

  The system alert sounded.

  *New mission avaible*

  *Mission 10 - Are you made of wood?:

  The Arbori have lost their leader, with no oo protect them they have been ensved by neighb tribes and their sacred tree has been taken from them.

  Objective: Help the Arbori. Free them from their svery and regain trol of their sacred tree.

  Reward: Gratitude from the Arbori, ??, system level increase, stick * 1, natural treasure * 1.

  Arbori freed: 0Sacred tree recovered: 0/1 *

  Luke looked at the information on the system s ahat this was a good mission. The system, after all, procimed itself to be a tool that was there to fulfill its deepest desires. The missions it usually issued were erratid dark. This time did not seem to be any different, but Luke simply felt within himself that this was a good mission. A mission that he wao plete at all costs.

  Luke stopped near one of the Arbori atering a small plot of nd where a few small sprouts were growing. Despite being in a dark cave, the pnts that grew here were not all of a gloomy attribute. On the trary, the vast majority of these pnts could never grow in this enviro. Surely the intervention of the Arbori was indispensable for the maintenance of these pnts.

  Luke picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it at the Arbori who had his ba.The Arbori moved his arm at high speed and intercepted the stohat was headed for his back. Then with a swift movemehrew the stone in the same dire it had e from.

  The sto the small golem and was absorbed by its body, which was made of earth.The Arbori looked in the dire where the golem was with his empty gaze. He remained for a moment looking in its dire, then turned around and tinued w.Obviously, Luke had protected his golem with a powerful illusion. If the beast that trolled this territory saw him directly, he could probably notice the illusion, as for any other entity of a lower level than such a sn, it was impossible for them to discover the homunculus under his trol, uhey specialized iion or had knowledge of dark magic.

  "Just as I suspected" Luke said with his gaze fixed on the back of the Arbori.Behind its neck, he could see a thin thread of spiritual energy that was ected to its body.

  "It is a remote trol teique" Luke cluded.

  The Arbori who were w with bnk stares as sves were mere puppets. While they were alive, they were not scious. It was a simir teique to the one he was using to trol the golem, but it was not the same teique.To begin with, using living beings as puppets, and so many at ohe spiritual power o perform such a feat was incredibly high!In addition, these Arbori had spiritual cultivation, although their levels were low, it was still difficult for ao remotely trol them like that.

  "It is probably the beast that owns this territory."Luke felt a headache ing on at the thought that he would have to face such a beast if he wao free these ensved Arboris.

  "For the time being, I will tinue iigating, these Arbori are in no danger here. It will not be too te to rescue them once I have a plete picture of the situation in this cave."

  Luke trolled the golem and tinued moving forward.He left behind the rge chamber filled with vegetation, and the pitiful Arbori.

  He passed through an area where there was a rge underground ke and finally arrived at a new chamber where a rge number of small is dimly illumihe enviro with their shiny bodies.

  He observed the situation ihe pd frowned. A rge number of people were lying on the ground, some were unscious, others were motionless with their eyes open and an expression of panid others were already dead.

  The tter had met a very miserable end. Creatures that seemed to be i rvae grew from their corpses. Apparently these individuals had been used as incubators, and after the birth of the rvae they had bee the food of the unpleasant creatures.Luke could imagihe suffering they had to endure before finally dying.

  At the same time that Luke was the miserable prisoners distributed in that chamber, a child who was in the distance, was watg him with surprise. Despite not possessing any spiritual cultivation, he could see the little homunculus that had a funny appearance, who was iing the surroundings. A sense of hope rekindled withitle lunari.