"For our primary goals in the future, we have two options that seem most viable to me."
"Our goal here is strength. Regardless of whether it comes from plain and simple leveling or comprehension and experience, in the end, we are pursuing strength.
"And to this end, our options become limited. We can either ascend a mountain or make our way to the massive tree in the center of the mountain range."
Ruyue had a pondering look on her face. Damien, who usually didn't seem that knowledgeable, had suddenly become an expert. Still, his words carried certainty and confidence that made it hard to doubt him.
"Why are these our only options? Can't we just stay within this ground-level jungle and gain levels through fights like we did just now?"
But Damien shook his head in denial. "That's not possible. There are two points we need to go over to explain the reason. For simplicity's sake, I'll start with the easier one. Have you opened your status since the last fight? Also, did you not notice anything while fighting those beasts?"
Ruyue checked her status before abruptly falling into contemplation. It was as he said, something was strange. "With the number of beasts we killed, I should have gained a significant amount of experience, but I've barely advanced a single level."
"It's the same for me. I can't say for certain what's causing this phenomenon, but I'm sure of a few things. Experience in itself is another form of essence, it's just that we don't have the capabilities to truly witness its form or control it. If we continue down this line of thought, we can infer that something is either blocking that essence from coming to us or sending it somewhere else for unknown purposes."
"But why would it be like that?"
Damien could only smile wryly at this question. Ruyue had obviously become caught up in his momentum and just asked whatever questions came to her without trying to find the answer for herself. But he didn't mind it much, so he let it be.
"We aren't qualified to know the answer to that question. Some truths aren't accessible until we gain the power to find them out for ourselves. Anyway, let's move on: did you realize what I was talking about in my second question?"
Ruyue once again fell into thought, ruminating on the previous battle. "Ah! Isn't the power of a 3rd class beast supposed to be much more robust than what we saw?"
Damien nodded with a smile. "Not only that, but their intelligence was also heavily lacking. I mean, look at Zara. Even if her intelligence is cut above the rest, she's still a good example. Most 3rd class beasts I have met until this point have learned to converse in the universal language, but these beasts don't seem to be capable of it.
"And besides communication, they also don't have the same mental capacity as the beasts we met outside. Just compare them to that pack leader from before and use it as an example."
Ruyue nodded in understanding. Indeed, even if the pack leader was barely strong enough to be considered a 3rd class, its intelligence and thought process were complex enough to rival a human adult. These beasts weren't even close to such capabilities, being consumed by primal instincts.
"This leads me to my second point. This one is a bit more involved, as it concerns beast society in general. Beasts are creatures who heavily prioritize two things, heritage and hierarchy.
"In this case, we are focusing on the hierarchy aspect. The beasts that live on this ground level are, to be blunt, the utter trash of this beast society. Their strength and intelligence are simply unable to match up, so they are forced to stay on the ground and attempt to evolve.
"However, it'll be different for those on the mountain. The higher we go on the mountain, the more powerful beasts we will encounter. Above ground, the higher one lives, the more status they have, while below ground, it's the opposite.
"Basically, if we climb the mountain we will face true opponents and beasts who are capable of thought that can rival our own. That is where we will find challenges.
"However, there are cons to this as well, the various Beast Kings that reside in this mountain range will inevitably be on those mountains. We have no means of knowing when or where we will run into them or the types of personalities they have.
"If they are on the more cordial side; we may be able to somehow scrape by with our lives intact, but if they aren't, we're essentially doomed."
Ruyue intently listened to his lecture, soaking up all the information he provided. Although she had been around the world a fair amount of times for sect missions and the like, she had never truly taken the time to understand beasts to such an extent.
Even most of the missions she took had to do with human problems rather than beast hunting.
"Hmm, risk and reward truly go hand in hand," she commented. At face value, the risk seemed to outweigh the rewards, but in reality, it was hard to say. They didn't know whether their experience gains would be hindered the same on the mountain, and they didn't know the layout of society there either.
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But if the experience block coincided with the hierarchy Damien had mentioned, they might make some truly splendid gains on the mountain. There was also the possibility of befriending a Beast King powerhouse, as well as gaining proper combat experience.
Aside from all that, there was another point that Damien didn't end up mentioning since it was too obvious. The mana here wasn't as simple as it was outside. While there was nothing out of the ordinary about the pure mana in the atmosphere, the concentration of elemental mana was much denser.
And with how environmental factors usually affected mana density, the concentration of elemental mana as they climbed the mountain would increase exponentially.
Neither Damien nor Ruyue practiced any 'normal' elements as their main fighting strength, but that wasn't a problem. Yin and Yang together are something akin to creation forces, so Ruyue could absorb any yin-natured elemental mana in lieu of pure yin mana and still be fine.
In fact, this is what she usually did in comprehension since actual yin element mana was rare to find in nature. If the elemental mana concentration spiked, she would naturally benefit.
As for Damien, his case wasn't as special. Lightning mana was easy to find, and as for space, it was everywhere. Spatial mana was ever present, it was just hard to actually draw out. Only when one's comprehension of spatial element reached a certain level would it be possible.
But that wasn't a problem for Damien, and if the concentration of such mana was heightened, it'd be even less burdensome.
All in all, the plan to climb the mountain didn't seem as bad as it sounded on the surface. But Ruyue suddenly remembered that Damien offered a second path they could take.
"And the second option?"
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"Ah, to be honest, that one is more of a gamble," Damien replied sheepishly.
"That tree obviously holds some sort of importance, even if we just judge by its size. The fact that it is the direct center of the mountain range also alludes to this fact. Something tells me that we'll meet an opportunity if we go there."
"Hmm…" Ruyue hummed. This kind of intuition wasn't something that could be ignored once they reached the level they were at. Evidently, there was something special about the tree that was drawing Damien towards it.
"But, it's still too much of a risk to take right now. It's an unknown factor. Also, it is so far away that it'll take at least a month of constant travel for us to reach that point if we factor in all the beasts and whatnot that we'll have to deal with during our travels."
"And the aura of that tree is immense. Even from so far away, its life aura seeps into the atmosphere and fosters the growth of the fauna. Such a tree is guaranteed to be conscious, and it might also be hostile. We can never be too careful."
"You're right. That's why I presented the previous option first. Still, I believe that we should at least check it out to see if there's anything special over there. I mean, if we actually gain some sort of heavenly treasure or opportunity, all the pain and travel would be worth it."
"True. No matter how I want to play it safe, it doesn't seem like that's really an option right now considering our location. But the known danger is safer than the unknown, so I opt that we go to the mountain first. After we gain some strength, we can head towards the tree."
Damien nodded in agreement. This was the path that he wanted to take as well.
As they talked, the two had traveled countless kilometers away from their previous cave. Even in these new surroundings, they hadn't been able to find another temporary residence to return to their peak state before they challenged the mountain.
Damien had also tried to devour the beasts he had killed before they left, but due to the experience blockage that he had learned about earlier, he didn't gain as much as he hoped.
It wasn't that his Void Physique's functions were being interfered with, but instead, the experience had already left the beast carcasses at the moment they died instead of being transferred to him, leaving them useless.
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And with those beasts being trashes among this society, they didn't even give him any noticeable changes in his physical stats.
Sighing lightly at his predicament, he turned his attention back to the boundless mountains on the horizon.
His blood was already boiling at the prospect of what they would find there.