Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

There was this technique that Rain wanted to test and improve, but he didn't have the chance to use it in the capital since it gave him a headache. Going for random areas was a waste as well, but it was the perfect moment to test it.

Rain sat cross-legged and then used his earth magic until it reached the area where the beast people were. Usually, he would stop there, but to keep an almost perfect surveillance on them, Rain had to keep that spell active, but the cost of mana was insane.

Still, to save mana and to keep himself aware of their moves, Rain used less mana, and his mana was only used when their footsteps echoed in the area of the spell… thanks to that, Rain was able to tell what the beast people were doing.

However, it consumed more mana than he expected, thanks to the distance, so he had to keep using Meditation Mastery to have enough mana to keep the spell active. It wasn't half bad, though.

An unknown skill leveled up.

The Wiseman's Path received 300 experience points.

"I should reach level fifty already… I kept it at this level for far too long," Rain thought.

Name: Rainendall

Level: 189 (16.000/18.900)

Current Path: Wiseman's Path (Lv 47 (3300/4700)

Health: 20.830/20.830

Mana: 57.720/57.720

Stamina: 21.890/21.890

Strength: 1926

Dexterity: 1766

Intelligence: 2994

Vitality: 2082

Wisdom: 5252

Endurance: 2220

Luck: 376

Free Points: 100

Main Skills:

[Grand Arcane Infusion Lv 52)

[Meditation Mastery Lv 51]

[Wisdom Blessing Lv 31]

[Mana Burst Lv 11]

[Scholar's Insight Lv 10]

Support Skills:

[Iron Resilience Lv 47]

[Unyielding Endurance Lv 57]

[Grounded Initiate Lv 22]

[Second Wind Lv 40]

[Iron Defense Lv 43]

Language reached the max level, finally. So, Rain was able to equip a more useful support skill… Thanks to that, he realized that he was able to use the skill completely even when it wasn't equipped… he never imagined that it would work like that, but it made sense.

Since it had been mastered, it didn't have to be equipped because Rain knew the ins and outs of the skill… if it actually could be called a skill. Still, he was wondering what other skills would be faster to master… eighteen years to master language had been far too much time.

In any case, when morning came, Rain was a bit confused since the beast people didn't make any suspicious movements… they should have at least tried to check the area ahead a bit. At the same time, the others kept sleeping for a while since they had to work for several hours nonstop and keep guard duty as well. In the end, they only woke up when they got hungry.

"Sorry, it seems that we lost our edge," Roan said. "Who could have thought that peace would have such a double edged sword."

"It is fine. I also don't feel like usual," Rain said. "Anyway, I am going ahead first. some of them should recognize me, and they will feel less guarded if I go alone."

"What about traps?" Leiah asked.

"They aren't like that, so that it will be fine," Rain shook his head. "Besides, I confirmed that they didn't prepare that kind of thing while I was on guard duty. Well, until later."

Everyone wondered if that was fine… proceeding without a clear plan seemed risky, but in the end, there wasn't much that they could do with their numbers alone.

Rain left the underground tunnel as fast as possible and then quickly sealed it when he confirmed that the area wasn't being watched and soon began to walk toward the mountains. It didn't take long for him to feel the atmosphere changing… the beast people found him, and they began to emit their bloodlust.

"I am really rusty… I believe that I trained hard, but three years ago, this much bloodlust wouldn't have bothered me," Rain thought.

Climbing the mountain had been easy with magic, so Rain reached their base one hour later. At the same time, Rain found five hundred beast people glaring at him and ready to attack.

"Call the beast king, and I thought that we had a deal," Rain said. "Are you going to pretend that we didn't agree on not bothering each other?"

"The beast king died. We have a beast queen now," The beast woman that Dana mentioned stepped forward while oozing bloodlust.

Rain chose to adopt a façade of ignorance concerning the change in their leadership. He wanted the new leaders to believe that they were not under close spionage, allowing him and his group to operate discreetly. This approach was designed to create an illusion of being less of a threat than they truly were and ensure they could gather information without raising suspicion.

As for the appearance of the Beast Queen, she bore a striking resemblance to the Beast King. She, too, was a red orangutan, distinguished by her impressive golden armor, which radiated a royal aura. What set her apart were the golden claws she wore as additional armament.

These razor-sharp, gilded weapons not only amplified her fearsome appearance but also hinted at her combat prowess and authority as the ruler of the beast tribe. Her presence was commanding, exuding an air of power and determination.

"Since he died, the deal is over then?" Rain asked while furrowing his eyebrows.

"... The deal is over because you humans killed him!" The beast queen roared.

Rain frowned… they either had gone insane, or something really happened while Rain and the others were leaving in peace. They didn't have time to pick fights with others.

"I don't know what you are talking about, but we didn't attack anyone,' Rain said. "If you stopped hugging trees all the time, you would have known that we lived in peace in the last three years. We didn't send anyone to kill the beast king. I already defeated him, and I could have killed him."