Little Raven rubbed against Asher's chest, the small tuft of fluff on its head swaying left and right.
Asher's gaze instinctively fell on that tuft of fluff.
Mainly because he suddenly remembered the time he accidentally plucked it off last time.
After Little Raven's feathers underwent a transformation, the fluff seemed to have transformed as well, looking much smoother to the touch.
Asher's expression gradually showed a bit of temptation.
'Hmm.'
'Touch it.'
'It shouldn't be a problem, right?'
Little Raven: *Alert*
Just as Asher was about to reach out and touch the tuft on Little Raven's head, Little Raven abruptly leaned back, dodging his hand.
One person and one bird stared at each other.
Don't ask.
Ask, and the answer is that Little Raven still hasn't forgotten what happened last time.
That tuft of fluff—better not touch it.
Who knows if it will fall off again?
Having already experienced one round of molting, Little Raven was now extremely protective of its feathers.
"Alright, alright," Seeing this, Asher didn't insist and withdrew his hand, following Little Raven's wishes, "Things seem fine."
If it had time to worry about its feathers, that meant Little Raven's condition wasn't bad at all.
Little Raven proudly nodded.
╭(╯^╰)╮
'That's right!'
'The bird was now full of energy!'
'Can take on ten opponents at once!'
Asher chuckled. He believed what Little Raven said.
After all, a 41% bloodline awakening was the highest percentage of awakening he had ever seen.
And it even came with a new talent skill.
Asher couldn't help but wonder in advance. 'What kind of skill would Little Raven gain in its next stage of awakening? And…'
His gaze fell on Little Raven's grade and level.
Logically speaking—
With an increase in bloodline concentration, both its strength and rank should improve accordingly.
But this time, they didn't.
Locked.
Those two words couldn't be clicked on, but their meaning was easy to understand.
The question was, why was it locked?
What was the cause?
And how could he unlock it?
For now, he didn't know.
Exhaling slowly, Asher's expression remained calm and composed.
It wasn't that he wasn't worried or didn't care about Little Raven.
Little Raven's strength and level had already far exceeded his expectations. Getting stuck on a small issue occasionally wasn't necessarily a bad thing. It was a good opportunity to let Little Raven train and master its current skills.
Especially its talent skill [Solar True Fire].
"When we have time, we need to practice this skill properly. At the very least, you need to master it well. You must never accidentally use it," Saying this, Asher looked down at Little Raven. Little Raven also raised its head and met his gaze.
Clearly—
Both of them were thinking of the moment in the secret realm when flames uncontrollably burst from Little Raven's eyes.
Fortunately, no one else was around at the time, and Asher reacted quickly enough to prevent any irreversible consequences.
But if it had happened somewhere else…
Little Raven nodded frantically.
'Understood, understood.'
'I will train properly as soon as we get back.'
'This skill must be practiced until perfection.'
'Besides—ain't I already quite skilled at it?'
Thinking back to how, over time, it could even maintain eye contact with Asher, Little Raven puffed up its chest in pride.
"In such a short time, our Little Raven has already learned the basics. Truly amazing. So, fully mastering it won't be hard, right?", Asher immediately saw through Little Raven's thoughts.
He went along with it, praising Little Raven without hesitation.
Then, following his own desire, he took the opportunity to firmly ruffle the tuft on Little Raven's head.
Little Raven: "!"
Fuming, Little Raven turned away from him.
But then it realized. Even so, if Asher wanted to touch it, he still could.
With a flutter of its wings, Little Raven took off. Not too far, just from Asher's blanket to his back.
Another evolution…? No, it wasn't really evolution. More like growth.
Slowly transitioning from an immature stage to maturity.
Though judging from its current state and mentality, Little Raven was probably still in its adolescent phase, right?
As Asher grimaced under the pressure on his back, he thought to himself.
"Oh, right," Asher suddenly remembered something important. He struggled to support Little Raven with one hand to relieve some pressure, "Do you remember what happened after you charged into the sun?"
"Why did I suddenly pass out?"
He remembered very clearly—
He had been fine at first.
Then suddenly, he blacked out.
Hearing this, Little Raven stopped messing around, tilting its head slightly. Its body also shifted, making Asher feel the uneven distribution of weight on his back.
…Though that also had to do with Little Raven's three legs, making the weight distribution naturally uneven.
Asher's thoughts wandered.
Fortunately, Little Raven didn't notice.
In its eyes was only deep confusion.
'What happened?'
'I don't know!'
'I just felt like I blinked, and all my feathers had regrown!'
'And I had grown up too!'
'And my body was full of power!'
'I also became stronger!'
'Oh, right, right!'
Little Raven started chirping non-stop in Asher's mind, bombarding him with information so fast that he needed 200% focus just to keep up. Otherwise, he might miss something crucial.
"What else?", Asher asked when Little Raven suddenly stopped at the most important part.
Little Raven hesitated, looking uncertain, as if it wasn't sure or was contemplating something.
'I… seem to have a special connection with that secret realm?'
Little Raven: ·△·
Asher: "..."
"The Forbidden Land of Red Soil?"
Little Raven shook its head.
'No, no.'
'Not that.'
'Though… if I want, I can kind of make a connection.'
Asher silently placed a question mark in his mind.
'Seriously.'
He was very sure that the problem here wasn't him—it was Little Raven.
What did it mean by "not related, but kind of related if you think about it"?
'Did the Red Soil Forbidden Land became your territory?'
Little Raven: 'If my Beastmaster says so, then yes!'
'I just feel—'
'That secret realm, that special space, that energy—'
'Have a link to me!'
Asher sighed. He quickly understood what Little Raven was talking about, "You mean the special space within the mountain range?"
Hearing this, Little Raven nodded furiously.
'Yes, yes, yes!'
'That is it!'
'It has a connection to me!'
"A secret realm, huh…", Asher murmured.
"If we call that mountain's special space a secret realm, it actually makes perfect sense."
"In fact, it's quite fitting."
He smiled slightly.
"Alright, tell me in detail. What do you feel?"
Little Raven tilted its head.
'Huh?'
'Didn't it just tell beastmaster everything?'
Asher: "?"
What did it say?
With great flexibility, Asher reached behind him with both hands, even though it was a little uncomfortable. But compared to catching the little troublemaker and questioning it thoroughly, that discomfort was nothing.
Seeing Asher's hands reaching over, Little Raven flapped its wings and took off again.
Little Raven: 'Goodbye, Beastmaster! Today, I shall set sail!'
And so, after a whole round of chaos, a nurse making her rounds heard the commotion in Asher's room.
Thinking something serious had happened, she rushed in—
Only to be greeted by an extremely awkward scene.
Nurse: "..."
"Sleep."
"…Alright, alright!"
Facing the nurse's anger, both Asher and Little Raven obediently lay back down.
No more trouble.
Seriously, no more.
If this continued, he might end up on the hospital's news headlines.
The nurse stood at the door, silently staring at Asher and Little Raven.
Asher didn't send Little Raven back into the beast space within his spiritual sea, mainly because Little Raven refused to go back.
And if it weren't for the nurse still standing outside watching, the cat worm, the little white snake, and the little jellyfish would have already lost control and charged out of Asher's spiritual sea beast space.
'Big Sis is bad!'
'She actually sneaked out!'
'We also wanted to cuddle with our beastmaster!'
Little Raven: o(￣︶￣)o
*The expression of a king who has everything under control*
Asher thought he wouldn't be able to fall asleep.
He just wanted to make a point.
Unexpectedly, just like during the day, it didn't take long after lying down for Asher's consciousness to sink into sleep.
Listening to Asher's gradually steady and shallow breathing, the nurse slowly closed the door and completely exited the ward.
Asher, who had originally planned to get up after the nurse left, ended up continuing the dream he hadn't finished.
Unlike before, when he would forget everything the moment he woke up, this time, Asher's awareness was much clearer.
'This is…'
'The sun?'
In his dream, Asher felt as if a massive sun was locking onto him, shining upon him.
Yet, Asher didn't feel uncomfortable. In fact, he even had a lazy urge to bask in the sunlight within the dream, to soak in the sun and drift off to sleep.
Asher's consciousness: 'No, I must struggle a bit more! I need to figure out what's going on!'
Asher's dream: 'No, you feel very comfortable, you want to sleep!'
In the end, Asher still fell asleep.
One sleep until dawn.
When sunlight streamed in through the window and spilled onto the hospital bed, Asher slowly opened his eyes.
"Mm…"
'Last night… did I really fall asleep again?'
'And I dreamed?'
While in the dream, the sun didn't seem strange, but now that he was awake, Asher immediately linked it to the sun he encountered in the secret realm.
'Could this be the Three-Legged Golden Crow sending me a dream?'
Asher's expression gradually turned a bit serious and solemn.
'But thinking about it carefully, doesn't something feel off?'
'Even if it is truly sending a dream, it shouldn't be to me, right?'
'Shouldn't this kind of dream be linked to Little Raven?'
Asher turned to look at Little Raven beside his pillow.
The bird's feathers were a mess from sleep, and it had no intention of getting up. Feeling Asher's burning gaze, Little Raven finally, reluctantly, cracked open a tiny slit of an eye.
Little Raven gave Asher a slightly confused look.
'Beastmaster, why are you staring at the bird?'
'Do you think the bird looks good?'
Asher: "…"
"It's not just my imagination. You've definitely become more narcissistic."
Little Raven instinctively puffed up its chest, golden-red eyes full of pride.
'That's right!'
'It's not your imagination, Beastmaster!'
'Don't you think the bird has become even more beautiful?'
Asher fell silent.
'This… how am I supposed to respond?'
Whether he admitted it or not, Asher felt like he was digging his own grave.
"How about you keep sleeping?", Asher tried to coax Little Raven back to sleep.
But Little Raven was just getting into it.
'No way!'
'The bird must get a satisfying answer from its beastmaster today!'
Just as the atmosphere between the man and the bird was about to become tense, a few crisp knocks came from the open doorway.
"Come in," Both Asher and Little Raven stopped their actions simultaneously and turned toward the door.
The door opened, and in walked three figures. One adult and two children.
The adult was a slightly older woman, but she was well-maintained and carried a dashing aura.
Asher didn't know her, but he immediately guessed her identity at a glance.
"Miss… Liana, right?", Seeing Luna and Leo beside Liana, Asher smiled and greeted her.
Liana was holding a bouquet of orange-red flowers. Before she could even speak, Leo and Luna had already rushed over to Asher.
"Thank you, big brother! Sister really came back!"
"So cool!"
'Huh?'
Asher looked at Leo in surprise.
He could understand Luna being sweet-tongued—she was a naturally sweet girl.
'But Leo being this sweet? Something feels off.'
Following Leo's gaze…
'Oh!'
Asher immediately realized the problem.
Leo wasn't looking at him at all. Instead, he was staring at Little Raven, who had somehow already tidied up its feathers at lightning speed and was now standing proudly on the bedside railing, looking dashing as ever.
Meanwhile, Asher, who had just woken up, hadn't even had the chance to wash up or groom himself: "…"
'What is this?'
'Born human, yet still losing to a bird?'
Liana glanced at Asher, then at Little Raven, and couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
"I seem to have come a bit early," Liana took the initiative to offer Asher an out, "Leo and Luna were worried about me, so they rushed to the hospital early this morning to check on me. Then they started talking about you, Professor Asher."
"I thought…", Liana smiled apologetically, "Professor Asher, you should probably freshen up first."
Asher remained calm and composed as he nodded.
"Alright."
"Then I'll trouble Miss Liana to take a seat for now."
Asher then shifted his gaze to Little Raven, "And let Little Raven accompany our three guests."
Little Raven: "?"
The bird had only wanted to show off its handsomeness, but somehow, it had been assigned a task.
Little Raven angrily glared at Asher.
Asher walked off without looking back.
Little Raven and the two children, who were gazing at it with bright, sparkling eyes, stared at each other.
'Beastmaster, come back!'
'The bird doesn't want to babysit!'
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