***
That Evening,
When the duo of Carleine and Ember made their inevitable entries into his room, Evan surprised them with a Gift he had had in his mind to give for a good while.
"This is—" Carleine started and Ember naturally stepped in to complete the sentence,
"This is this Stygian Family's cultivation technique!" the redhead exclaimed.
"You're giving this to us?" Carleine asked, sounding incredulous.
"Of course," Evian said with a shrug, "I don't need and you'll make better use of it than I ever could."
The Royal Family was the strongest in the Verlice Kingdom and as a family and power only two or three countable steps below that power, the Stygians had access to some of the best knowledge and resources to fine-tune a technique they would come to be known for centuries.
The only other families who had such access were the Larnaks, the Renans as well as all other Territorial Lords and despite a passably close relationship with the Renan Lordess, not even Ember had access to such a technique.
Receiving the Stygian Family's technique was no doubt a big deal and Evian went a step forward by handing them the cultivation resources as well as the gold he had received as a reward for their recent task. Again, the two would find better use of it, and that included the gold which they were likely going to use to get even more resources.
Following the session of gift-giving by Evian was a passionate session with all three ladies bringing their all because they believed Evian deserved to be absolutely worn out. Alas, they failed. Whatever techniques they had developed were all conquered by Evian's sheer ability.
When they woke up, neither of the two was surprised to find Evian was no longer in bed with them because somewhere between the throes of orgasmic yells the night before, Evan had cued them in on his plans for the day.
After a bath to rinse themselves of the wondrous grime of their activities with Evian, the two crossed their legs on the bed in solidarity and began to properly digest the information within the technique.
Once that part was done, they began retrieving resources from their pouches little by little to supply their attempts to draw in Spiritual energy from the atmosphere and aim for a breakthrough that had long alluded them.
...
Meanwhile...
Evan found his slow way past the City's civilized grounds and through the fairly barren land of more than ten miles to separate the City walls from the forest boundary and give the City a chance to quickly react to a potential beast tide.
With his senses having been further sharpened after his advancement into being a Wraith Noble, Evian was able to better observe the fact that he was not the only person to approach the Forest. It also helped him watch out for traps and get further into the forest while keening his ears for the arrival of any Beasts that might be getting too close for Comfort.
"Ahhhhhhh—-" the one called Lorient was on the ground gripping his arm that was marred by the claws of a wolf, "It got me. The damn mutt got me!"
Even as Lorient yelled, he still swung his word with his uninjured arm and managed to strike back the head of a Wolf that made to finish the job.
Evan saw the reason the five were in a predicament almost immediately;
The Eastern Sect Disciples ans the Wolves were all at the Third Order but the Disciples were outnumbered two to one ans lacked the viciousness and raw strength to remotely contend with their beastly opponents.
"This makes no sense," said one of the five, "I heard from the Seniors and Beasts at the edge of the Forest are not supposed to be this strong."
"Oh by the gods, how will we get out of this?"
Evan did a quick count and ascertained that he stood the chance to get himself a thousand Soul Points and it took barely a second of further thought for him to convince himself to come to the aid of the Disciples.
He had no care if they lost their lives but he also saw no merit in watching them get killed when there was nothing he stood to gain. He might be better off killing the Disciples himself and reaping their souls for himself but, of course, that was a thought for later.
He moved fast, his speed dazzling the Third Order Beasts/people on the scene and with quick action without giving the Beast about to gobble up Lorient a chance to react, Evian stabbed his spear through the Beast's head.
The death was instant and the absorption of Essence quickly followed.
[You have acquired 100 Soul Points]
"Huh?" Lorient let out. His shock caused his pain to temporarily cease but Evian was already gone from his immediate sight.
With his Grey eyes moving so fast to mark the position of his targets, Evian went after the next. He evaded a claw strike and stabbed his spear upward right through the bottom of a Wolf's maw and out the top of its head. He went a step further pulling until he ripped it apart.
[You have acquired 100 Soul Points]
At the point, with two of their fellows down, the Wolves reacted toward Evian. Two leaped at him but with Wraithic Phasing, he caused a massive collision and swiftly took advantage.
[You have acquired 100 Soul Points]
[You have acquired 100 Soul Points]
Watching such an impressive feat, there was a similar thought in the minds of the Five Eastern Sect Disciples,
"Who the Fuck is this?!"