Mixed Blessing System

While Lothur's group was once again moving through the forests of that part of the province, the Transcendent keeping an eye on him, continued to follow this group.

But unlike earlier, when he had promised to give Lothur a break if this young man managed to save himself on his own, this man was now rethinking this.

He did not believe Lothur could escape him if such a young man used all his skills. The difference in cultivation between him and those local leaders was not slight, after all.

But still, he remembered very well the last time he had seen Lothur trying to run, and he could not help but worry, given how much this young man had improved in such a short time.

'He wasn't so strong and fast that day that I failed to catch him...' He pondered this, feeling something must have happened after he left Peters City. 'Did he find some special resource? Or did someone from Daemon's group help him somehow? Considering their technologies, I wouldn't doubt anything...'

'Hmm, but if I kidnap him now, I won't be able to see more of him in action to make a better judgment about him.' He thought about this mission that Lothur and that group had to do.

That could be an opportunity for this Transcendent to see Lothur using other abilities and assess his strength and possible secrets.

Considering that he would keep an eye on everything and could act if Lothur showed a new improvement, he decided to follow his promise and wait.

'I will give you the time until you complete this mission. After that, it will be time for you to meet your grandfather!'

...

Hours later...

When the sun had risen over the horizon, Lothur's group was arriving in the vicinity of the village where they would begin their mission.

As the carriages of that group were finishing their way to that village, the young students of the Morning Star Academy were waking up from the little sleep they had had that night.

But some woke up with strange expressions, exposing the discomfort of sleeping in a carriage that had traveled along a dirt road in terrible condition.

Lothur noticed this as he woke up and noticed the plight of Julia, who did not have as high a Constitution as his or Elke's and had therefore suffered much more from the journey.

'The roads in this place are not ready for my cars...' He thought about that point, noting that he would have to deal with this issue once he returned to Peters City.

'We will have to prepare the streets of Peters City for cars and larger vehicles, but also build at least one road between that city and another nearby. Only then will we be able to have our transportation company running smoothly without maintenance problems arising frequently.'

He smiled at the thought of building tolls since he would not simply allow anyone to travel on his roads without paying!

'Those who choose to take their chances off the roads will suffer from wear and tear on parts and will have to pay even more dearly with the maintenance of their vehicles...' He smiled, feeling how good it felt to be on his business side. 'By all means, I will win!'

"What?" Elke saw the smile on Lothur's face and asked in a low voice.

He kissed her forehead and said. "Nothing. I was thinking about some adjustments I will have to make in my organization when we return to Peters City..."

"Or rather, maybe I should send a message to our allies to take care of it as soon as possible." He looked in the direction of one of his watchers, who certainly had a method of communicating with the powers in Peters City.

So he waited to do that until the carriages of their group arrived at the village in that area of the Finn Mountains.

Lothur greeted his colleagues in the other carriage, and when they went to a local coffee shop, he made his way to communicate with one of those observers.

That person promised to send his message to the Becker family, assuring them that such a house would pass on his concern to their other associates.

With that, young Ritter ate breakfast alongside his group without any further thought of the Ritter Motor Company and began to turn his attention to where he was.

The village they had just entered was near the central area of the Finn Mountains, where the problem they were supposed to investigate was happening.

This place had almost no strong cultivators, so when their group arrived, most of the 200 or so locals began to pay attention to them.

But of the few cultivators there, one of them soon had gone to where they went to eat to talk about the mission his family had created in the Morning Star Academy.

"Ladies, gentlemen, are you here at the behest of the Morning Star Academy?" A level 7 individual asked while looking at those youths.

Those three people looked at each other and then focused on Elke, showing that man who was the boss there.

Elke then said. "Yes, we are here on behalf of the academy. We must investigate the area because of some strange phenomenon involving the animals and beasts in the vicinity."

After hearing that from that level 9 woman, the man, who appeared to be in his middle age, blond, slightly overweight, and tall, sighed in relief.

"Sigh!"

"I'm glad you are here." He said, looking at Elke without caring that the one who seemed to be the weakest of the group was actually the leader. "The situation at my family's farm is not good at all. The animals refuse to work, they are getting sick frequently, and some spend the whole day sleeping!"

"Only during the nights, when everyone should be sleeping, do they become more active. But we can't do anything even then since we always hear strange noises from the mountains where the animals graze."

"Since everyone is afraid to go and see what it is, we are without producing food, while we are slowly losing our animals!" He said in a nervous tone, the natural thing to expect from a man worried about the fate of his home.

"To make matters worse, the beasts in the area are more active and violent than ever... I don't know what's going on." He placed his right hand on his forehead, showing these youths the scratching wounds on his forearm.

Lothur saw it using his visual ability, quickly noticing that these were no ordinary bruises.

There was a slight dark aura about them, something that, were it not for the man's cultivation, would probably have threatened his life by now!

Lothur could see this not only because of his visual ability but also because of his medical knowledge.

"Was that injury caused by the beasts in the area?" Lothur asked, drawing that man's attention to him.

Such a person looked at Lothur, who looked like only a mortal. But given his distress, he did not bother to answer the question of that group's servant. "Yes..."

"What happened to the members of your family afflicted by this? Did any of them die?"

"No. But they have been in a comatose state since they were injured... Why do you ask that?"

...