Catching the object thrown at him, Bai Yunfei took a quick glance down at it. It was a space ring.

“Are these crafting materials?”

A quick scan of the contents told him the answer: “They are!”

Judging by how rare every single material was, Bai Yunfei assumed the Three-eyed Tiger King had prepared them beforehand. All sorts of valuable resources and metal could be found in that space ring. Some of them were even rare enough that Bai Yunfei found himself itching to take a good look at them.

The Soulbeast Forest was a hidden trove of treasure. All sorts of rare treasure worth countless stones could be found, but only if a treasure-seeker was in turn willing to risk their lives. Not even the Soul Kings of the Crafting School were willing to risk their lives for the bounty in this forest. But for a soulbeast like the Three-eyed Tiger King, collecting these materials was but a simple task.

“I thank you for these gifts, senior Tiger King. Your participation is nothing but good news for us all. If it worries you about this plan, I can offer up a Vow of Souls with you, senior...”

“No need, I believe in you!” The Three-eyed Tiger King refused, “I have little to do with the tiger clan these days, the leader of the clan should be here shortly. He can take the Vow with you if he pleases.”

“I see,” Bai Yunfei nodded, “If I may beg your pardon, senior, what plans have you for the Demon-eyed Tiger King?”

“I don’t wish for any more harm to befall my little brother...” he cast a worried glance over, “I planned on bringing him to our territory for now. Treatment can be figured out at a later notice once the Beast Taming School is dealt with. I hope that the fall of the Beast Taming School will net us the knowledge to release soulbeasts from their confines...”

“Actually, there was something I was planning to talk about when everyone arrives, but since senior Tiger King is here...if senior doesn’t know, the Alchemy School is currently living within the Core World. Many of the Soul Kings were researching a way to save soulbeasts and managed to create a pill we call the ‘soul rejuvenating pill’. As the name implies, the pill helps a soulbeast regain their soul and fight off the slave seal. We hope to complete its research in a matter of days by now...”

“What?!”

The Bloodhowl Wolf King and Three-eyed Tiger King both cried out in surprise. “Repeat yourself! Did you say you’ve found a way to help soulbeast puppets?!”

“Is that true?” The Bloodhowl Wolf King questioned after the Three-eyed Tiger King.

“Without a doubt. We were having a difficult time finding any progress until a while ago. I only mention this now instead of before because of that progress.”

“Do you have that ‘soul rejuvenating pill’ or not? I’ll pay whatever the price for it now!”

“Please stay calm, senior Tiger King. I’ve said that research on the pill has only just begun. The effects are quite weak, we have yet to improve it to have any substantial effect. The alchemists in the Yao clan are currently doing their best, but I believe it won’t take long to improve the pill. Soon, we should have a pill that’ll bring back the soulbeasts. If I may also say, senior, this is not something worth paying ‘whatever the price’ for. Think of this has a ‘thank you’ for agreeing with this plan...”

The Three-eyed Tiger King peered suspiciously at Bai Yunfei. “You are saying you want no noble reward for finding a solution to soulbeast puppets? None at all?”

Anyone that could find said solution would be considered a ‘savior’ to the entirety of soulbeasts. Finding a human willing to help any soulbeast was rare enough, but to find something revolutionary for free? That was too high of a sky-bearing fruit than they were willing to reach for....

Bai Yunfei remained indifferent, “This by no means a ‘noble’ thing, senior. I am only thinking about the powerful soulbeasts to gather here. If this pill works then we’ll definitely be able to crush the Beast Taming School and save those soulbeast puppets. If any soulbeast is willing to help me destroy them, then it should be expected that I return the favor.”

He wasn’t thinking of himself as the ‘savior’ of soulbeasts by doing this. He only wished to give back to the soulbeasts helping him. If anything, these soulbeasts were doing most of the work.

“But...” Bai Yunfei began, “Producing these soul rejuvenating pills will require many resources. Considering the abundance of the Soulbeast Forest, it would be very helpful for the soulbeast world to provide assistance.”

“I see no problem with that!!” The Bloodhowl Wolf King replied hastily, “Ask and you shall receive. The ingredients of our forest will be yours to use! I will let the others know when they arrive of the Yao clan’s plight. I’m sure they’ll be willing to help!”

It took a few more inquiries about the soul rejuvenating pill before the Three-eyed Tiger King backed off. Until the Beast Taming School was gone, the Demon-eyed Tiger King would be left behind in the tiger clan’s territory to await treatment.

During this brief intermission, the Bloodhowl Wolf King took it upon himself to catch Bai Yunfei up on the news regarding the other soulbeasts. A meeting was already being prepared for in three days with the Violet Dragon King being the one in charge of it. But how many soulbeasts were coming or joining their plan had yet to be detailed...

Bai Yunfei took his leave shortly afterward. Without anything else to be notified about, he saw it prudent to head back to his room in the Core World.

———————

Now back in the Core World, Bai Yunfei sat down at the stone table he had in his room. It was time for him to look at the things he received from the Three-eyed Tiger King.

“Oh? I can see a few upgrade stones in there!”

His interest was piqued by a few particular stones amongst the items. One by one, Bai Yunfei took them out from the space ring and placed them upon the table to be closely examined.

Equipment Grade: Low Heaven

Elemental Affinity: None

Equipment Effect 1: Upgrading has an increased 15x chance of success.

Effect cannot be stacked.

Equipment Effect 2: Crafting has an increased 10x chance of success.

Effect cannot be stacked.

Cannot be upgraded.

This upgrade stone was about the size of two large fists and had several points of interest for Bai Yunfei. He looked absolutely gleeful at the size and effect of the upgrade stone.

Author Note: I’ve decided to change the wording of the effects of regular upgrade stones for the sake of simplicity.

“Could this next one be a High-heaven tier?!”

He hurriedly picked up the second one...

Equipment Grade: High Heaven

Elemental Affinity: None

Equipment Effect 1: Upgrading has an increased 30x chance of success.

Effect cannot be stacked.

Equipment Effect 2: Crafting has an increased 20x chance of success.

Effect cannot be stacked.

Cannot be upgraded.

“It is!!” He exhaled with wide-open eyes. “Look at that multiplier!! This...basically means something that had a one percent chance of success immediately becomes thirty percent with this stone!”

Regular upgrade stones were rare and few, and the ones Bai Yunfei had right now were either from before, the Golden Roc King and Wind Ape King, or from the Yao clan. Even then, those were very sparse in numbers. To think that the Three-eyed Tiger King had some of his own!

These stones might not be as powerful as Guaranteed Upgrade Stones, but they were very helpful when it came to upgrading with the Upgrade Technique. Naturally, the more of these stones Bai Yunfei had, the better it was.

“Oh? This is...”

Another upgrade stone from the pile caught Bai Yunfei’s attention. There was something about this upgrade stone that felt different. Drawing it out from the bottom of the pile, Bai Yunfei held it up to his eye...

Equipment Grade: Low Heaven

Elemental Affinity: None

Equipment Effect 1: Successfully upgrade any equipment +11 and under.

Equipment Effect 2: Increase the grade of an equipment by two when crafting (highest grade being Low Heaven)

Cannot be upgraded.

This—this was a +11 Guaranteed Upgrade Stone!

Bai Yunfei’s hands reached out to the pile of upgrade stones at once.

“Swoosh!!”

In one fluid motion, he searched the entirety of the pile in hopes of a second one, but to no avail. The stones hadn’t even finished coming to a rest on the table before Bai Yunfei left the Core World...

In the real world, the Bloodhowl Wolf King and the Three-eyed Tiger King were conversing with one another when the two of them took notice of Bai Yunfei appearing into the room.

The impatient look on Bai Yunfei’s face caught the Bloodhowl Wolf King’s attention, “Bai Yunfei? Is there something...?”

Saluting politely to the two, Bai Yunfei spoke at once to the Three-eyed Tiger King.

“Senior Tiger King, I wish to ask something...where did this stone come from? And is there more of it?”

“Eh?” The Three-eyed Tiger King peered closely at the stone Bai Yunfei had in his hand. “Isn’t that a crafting stone?” He asked, curious about why this particular item had such an effect on Bai Yunfei. “Is there something wrong with it?”

“It is indeed a ‘crafting stone’, but it is distinctly different to the common crafting stone. The difference is very important to me. Senior, is there perhaps a location where this was found? Would more of these be found there?”

“Hmmm...all those stones were gathered from the same place. I have little idea on the differences between the stones since I wasn’t paying attention, but...I’m sure more of those can still be found...”

“Really?!” Bai Yunfei was practically beside himself, “Could the location of this place be given to me? May I have perm—”

“No.”

The Three-eyed Tiger King interjected at once, causing Bai Yunfei to come to a stop in surprise.

“There’s no use asking me. That is not a place you are allowed to go to.”