Guardian Of The End

'Now how did he know that?' Jason questioned Hestia.

[ I have no idea. Why don't you try asking him? ] Hestia suggested.

"How do you know that?" Jason did as told. He directly questioned the monkey king while upping his guard.

"The aura of your guardian was what summoned me and the monkeys to your location. I wouldn't have bothered to find you otherwise." The monkey king said in Monkeynese. "You didn't realize how we monkeys could understand what you were saying?"

Jason opened his mouth before closing it. He had been the only one who had talked with the monkey king. For some reason, he had assumed that the monkeys knew the human language.

"I know a bit of your language but I am not proficient at it. But I noticed that not only me but the other monkeys were able to understand your words as well.

Due to your abilities, you can talk to any beast and the same is true for them. No matter what method of communication you use, you can communicate with any beast." The monkey king explained.

It was only then that Jason realized how powerful this ability could be. Communication with beasts could help him in many spots and might even lead to him having his own beast army.

"So we can talk normally now." Jason said uneasily.

"Yes, and please follow me." The monkey king slowly stood up before he started walking away.

Jason noticed the hints of respect persent in the monkey's tone and followed him. He started discussing things with Hestia as well.

'Will I receive respect from every beast that I meet?'

[ As I said, I am new to this. Its very possible for you to have a slight advantage over beasts since you would be able to use the aura around you to suppress them. ]

'What?'

[ Its like this… ]

Hestia hadn't realized that Jason had her aura active around him. If not for the monkey king, she probably wouldn't have figured it out for some time.

The aura that had surrounded Jason had slowly turned into his own aura. This meant that the connection between the two of them had increased by a notch.

Due to this, the silver-haired boy could wield her aura and create an effect on beasts at his level or below his level.

'Coming here was the right choice.' Jason silently observed.

He entered the living room in the house which, to his surprise, had a carpet laid in the center of the room.

"Please sit down." The monkey king pointed towards the carpet before settling down himself.

Jason followed his example and sat on the floor. The maid monkey soon arrived with two earthen bowls full of berries.

She placed one of them in front of the king and the other in front of him before moving out of the room.

"These berries are quite special. I think they will help you." The monkey king informed before popping multiple berries in his mouth.

Jason carefully observed the berries. They were the size of strawberries and were completely black.

'Inspect.'

---

< Sour Dark Berries >

- The essence of the forest made a group of trees absorb dark mana. In turn, the fruits growing on these trees received the dark mana as well.

- Eating one berry will increase your dark mana affinity by 0.01%

---

Jason's jaw dropped slightly when he read the last line on the berry. They could increase his affinity!

This potentially meant that if he ate hundred such berries, his affinity would increase by one percent.

Jason counted the berries in the bowl, and much to his disappointment, only ten berries were the Sour Dark Berries.

The silver-haired boy eyed the monkey king's bowl. He found out that none of the berries in the king's bowl were the sour dark berries.

"Those berries grow once every two years," The king explained as he had sensed Jason's gaze. "A single such tree can give twenty such berries and there are only five such trees present in the forest.

Jason, who was eating a berry, almost choked. If there were only five such trees present in the forest, it meant that only hundred such berries grew every year.

"It is quite hard to obtain these by I somehow managed to get my hand on ten such berries which you are eating right now," The monkey king added.

Jason didn't reply and instead chewed on the berry in his mouth. It lived up to its name due to its sour taste which ha hints of sweetness as well.

< Progression of affinity upgrade: 0.01/100 >

A system window suddenly opened up in front of Jason in response to him eating the berry. He closed the window before looking directly into the monkey king's eyes.

"These berries must be expensive then." He said in a low tone.

"Indeed. They sell for a high price and many people come to the forest every two years to get their hands on these berries. Since they can permanently increase one's affinity with the dark element, the amount of people competing for it are high."

"Then why did you give it to me so casually?" Jason inquired at last.

He didn't make any advances towards the rest of the berries lest it got him in trouble. Such an expensive thing wouldn't have been offered to him without a condition attached to it.

"Think of it as a tribute to your guardian. Don't worry, I won't ask you to pay the exact price for the berries since that would leave you and your family bankrupt." The monkey king reassured him.

Jason decided to take his words seriously since the Syrward family wasn't exactly rich. Not to mention that his family was also in debts at some locations.

If not for how strong his family was, Jason was sure that the various debt collectors would have arrived at their house and demanded them to pay the entire debt with a huge interest.

"Then what do you want in return?" Jason questioned at last.

"What I want is," The monkey king smiled humorlessly. "A favor from your guardian."