Chapter 23: Emotions and monsters ( III )

In the southern forest, the soldiers stared at Rowan and Blaze, dumbfounded, their eyes and mouths wide open in shock.When they saw a powerful-looking wolf fall out of thin air, they immediately assumed it was a divine beast. Their shock and curiosity only grew.

"A divine beast! I can't believe it, Lord Rowan has a divine beast!"

"What? A divine beast? Those powerful creatures blessed with divine powers? My grandfather used to tell stories about them, but he always said a village like ours would never lay eyes on one because only powerful kingdoms and empires have what it takes to raise and use them."

"My grandfather also told me that a single divine beasts can wipe out a group of a hundred hobgoblins in less than three minutes!"

"This is insane! Lord Rowan has truly awakened with God's blessings! Our village will be great again!"

The young soldiers reacted, voicing their shock and excitement. As for the captains and Brandon, they were too stunned to speak.

Unlike the young soldiers, who only heard about divine beasts in midnight tales, the three of them had actually encountered divine beasts before—and it wasn't a pleasant experience.

They could still remember the day when a giant golden eagle flew past their village at a devastating speed, powerful enough to fell tall trees and shatter numerous buildings. It was a sight etched in the minds of anyone at least 50 years old in Winterseed.

If their village had a divine beast, the possibilities for greatness in the future were endless. The young lord was truly blessed.

Rowan and Blaze observed everyone calmly—Blaze with curiosity and Rowan with pride. But this was no time to bask in pride.

"This is my pet, Blaze. It's a divine beast and will certainly grow very strong in the future," Rowan began.

"I know most of you are scared we might be suddenly attacked by monsters, so I'll let Blaze patrol the area. With its keen sense of smell, it will detect the arrival of any monsters," he continued.

Hearing his words, the villagers felt relieved, especially Brandon, who let out a loud sigh.

With that issue settled, everyone grabbed their equipment and proceeded to work.

Each tree was assigned ten soldiers, who swung their swords against it in rapid motion. Some did it plainly, while others tried to use the swordmaster technique they had been learning.

Very soon, the once-quiet forest was filled with the cacophony of soldiers working hard.

Even Brandon lifted an axe and swung it against the thick trunks of a very tall tree. Despite being in his late middle age, he still had a lot of strength and was able to work.

The two captains joined in as well, working together since their pace was much faster than the younger soldiers.

They both used their swordmaster skills, following a uniform and strong pattern as they swung their swords.

However, taking down a tree with very thick trunks would take them around thirty minutes. For the young soldiers, it would take about two hours because the trees had far bigger and stronger trunks than those on Earth.

Rowan sat on his horse, watching them work with an impressed smile on his face. Blaze was perched on his shoulder, observing the area with curiosity, its round eyes almost glowing with intensity.

As they both watched together, Rowan suddenly noticed a change in Blaze's stats.

----

[ BLAZE ]

- Race: Ashfire Wolf seaʀᴄh thё Novelƒire(.)ne*t website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

- Foundation Realm (Low-stage - 1%)

- Unlocked skills: Fireball (Lv 1)

----

The (1%) beside its cultivation realm wasn't there the last time Rowan checked Blaze's status. Seeing it now made a smile creep onto his face.

'This is incredible. It hasn't even been 24 hours, and it's already making progress. But I never saw Blaze actively absorbing mana—could it be that it absorbs mana passively?' Rowan wondered.

If that were the case, it would be incredible, especially since Blaze was still in its infant phase, a period of playfulness in its life cycle.

With this kind of speed in passive mana absorption, Rowan could only imagine how fast active absorption would be. The thought made him smile, and he couldn't help but punch Blaze's fluffy cheeks.

*Squeak* *Squeak*

Blaze let out two dismayed squeaks and gave Rowan a cold glare, as if telling him not to touch it.

"What? You're my pet, you should be happy with my touches and praises, you little rascal," Rowan grumbled.

Blaze responded with another cold stare and returned to observing the men with keen eyes. Rowan couldn't help but frown, this pet was indeed mischievous. Last night, it only let Rowan touch it because of the food pill. Now that it wasn't hungry, it had become unfriendly again.

---

Three hours slowly passed in the south forest. It was now the cool and bright hours of the evening. At this moment, six trees had been successfully taken down, and another five were in progress.

The captains were the first to succeed after about thirty minutes. Then they moved on to another tree and finished it in less than an hour. After taking down the second tree, they began bucking the fallen ones to make them smaller and easier to move back to the village.

On the other hand, it took a group of forty-seven soldiers to take down the other four, and those soldiers fell to the ground, worn out, after succeeding.

Only the two captains still had energy, displaying the difference between them and the others.

Rowan didn't just sit down and watch them work. After the first hour of sitting and interacting with Blaze, he decided to supervise.

He was currently supervising a group of tired young soldiers who were swinging their swords with their last bits of strength. They were already very exhausted.

'I should help at least,' Rowan thought.

However, before he could assist them, Blaze began to make a series of loud squeaks, drawing both Rowan's and the soldiers' attention.

Blaze squeaked loudly, eyes wide with terror, its fur bristling as it clung tightly to Rowan. The mischievous glint in its gaze was gone, now replaced by pure fear.

Rowan's eyes narrowed as he sensed that something was terribly wrong.

SHRIEK!!

A loud and terrifying shriek blasted across the entire area.