Naath grumbled and sat up as he started to circulate his true void arts to regain his energy and stamina. After a few minutes he had fully recovered and stood up letting out an annoyed breath. He started to climb once more while grumbling “could have built the elders hall anywhere. Why the top of a fucking mountain?! Damn elders, is becoming a direct disciple even worth this shit?” After about another hour of climbing, Naath came across a new ledge to rest on and catch his breath. He quickly began to climb faster upon seeing it.

When he reached the edge of it he pulled himself up over it and rolled over to lay down. He took a deep breath and looked up again to try and see the top. However what he came face to face with was not in fact the sight of an endless mountain but the eyes of a deep brown colored monkey. The monkey was looking at Naath and Naath at the monkey. Almost as if they had some form of agreement they both jumped at the same time, the monkey going back into a cave in the mountain, Naath standing on his feet at the ready to fight.

After a minute the monkey simply turned around and went back inside of the cave. Naath let out a breath and focused upwards once more. However just as he was going to leave a voice sounded out in his soul sea. “Kid are you really going to just move on after seeing a pure-blooded earth monkey? Argh I guess you don't even know what that is so let me explain it to you. First I have to explain bloodlines. A bloodline is formed in some beasts when they reach a certain cultivation level. Upon reaching this level they can pass down a portion of their powers and abilities down to their descendants.

In the beginnings of time there were many mythical beasts born from the chaos and these beasts also have innate abilities and bloodlines. The more pure the bloodline of any beast the stronger they are. Take your silver moon wolf for example. Its bloodline is almost completely pure and when it reaches a certain level it will unlock its innate ability passed down by its ancestor. These innate abilities can be learned by cultivators who kill these beasts and refine their skulls.

Wild beasts cultivate differently from humans, they engrave their bones with special markings similar to runes in order to store more energy. At least until they reach a certain stage. These stages are of course also determined by bloodline. Once they reach the stage where they get their innate ability the engravings are considered complete. Now an earth monkey has the unique innate ability to sense treasures. If you were to kill that monkey and then refine its skull you would be able to gain this invaluable skill for yourself!” Naath nodded his head and said “many thanks seniors for informing me of all of this, however I have no interest in treasures. I only want to become strong myself.

After all senior, any treasure or weapon is an external form of power and means nothing before someone with absolute powers.” The rune let out a sigh and said “well at least loot the monkey’s cave. They like to hoard the treasures they come across, the treasure hoard should be at the back of its cave buried in a hidden pit. Even if you don't want them yourself you can't ignore an opportunity like this. You can always sell them for cultivation resources and use them to help improve your own strength.”

Naath nodded in agreement “alright then senior we’ll do that.” The rune let out a breath of relief as it heard it finally managed to convince Naath to do as it said. Naath turned towards the cave and walked into it, it was long and narrow, just barely big enough for Naath to fit in and stand upright. However after going in deeper for a few tens of feet it grew wider and taller. Naath finally had some room to breathe, he stretched out some and started to cautiously continue into the cave keeping an eye out for the earth monkey.

After half an hour Naath finally spotted the monkey again, he paused and did his best to hide against the cave wall as he observed the monkey. It was digging up a space near the back of the cave and putting a fruit inside of the hole it had just dug and re-burying it. Naath's eyes lit up as he saw the monkey do this, it meant Naath had essentially found the monkey's treasure hoard with almost no effort whatsoever. However what happened next made Naath frown slightly. The monkey laid down on top of the spot and went to sleep. The rune in Naath’s soul sea almost jumped with joy as it said “brat your luck is simply heaven-defying! It went to sleep right in front of you after revealing its treasure hoard!

Brat if you don't kill this monkey right here and now to take its innate skill I will refuse to teach such a cowardly person in the future. Someone who can't even take advantage of the opportunities lying in front of him will never make it far. I absolutely cannot allow you to simply pass this by!” Naath shook his head and said “fine senior, I’ll kill the damn monkey, happy? Besides, my rations are running low anyway.” Naath waited for five minutes until the monkey's breathing was deep and rhythmic before slowly approaching so as to not wake the monkey.

The rune in his soul sea was in a state of disbelief as he watched the events unfolding right in front of him. He had been linked to countless hosts in the time he had been around yet he had never come across someone with this kind of luck. It was as if the heavens simply threw favors at this child’s feet! As he thought of this the rune thought of another certain possibility but shook it off thinking it was impossible. The heavens would have already acted if it were the case.

Outside his soul sea Naath was right above the monkey and carefully building power into his fist. After building up power for a few minutes to be absolutely sure of his kill he struck at the monkey’s heart and killed it instantly. The rune in Naath’s soul sea said “good, brat good. Now break down the monkey and refine it’s skull first so you can get it’s innate ability! That far out values any treasure on this measly little world of yours.” Naath shook his head but did as instructed and removed the monkey's skull and cleaned it up and then sat down cross-legged with it in his left hand.

He slowly circulated his true void arts and began to refine the skull, as he did so knowledge seemed to flow into Naath’s mind and soul sea. Strange runes began to flow out of the monkey’s skull and engrave themselves into Naath’s own skull. As this happened Naath started to sense an odd fluctuation beneath him. He realized he was feeling the treasures buried underneath him. However Naath did not allow himself to be distracted and continued to circulate the true void arts absorbing the skull.

After two hours Naath opened his eyes and stopped circulating his true void arts. The skull in his hands turned to dust and he clapped his hands to get rid of the dust and then turned his gaze towards the ground where he felt dozens of fluctuations that he recognised as the feeling of treasures. He began to dig up the pit that was 10 feet wide and five feet deep. Inside of it were several swords, a small pile of gold coins, a few decrepit sets of armor, and a spatial ring. His eyes widened when he saw the spatial ring and he immediately picked it up and put it on his own finger.

The ring's formation activated and it shrunk to fit Naath perfectly. After that he used his material energy to look inside only to find out it was a completely empty 5 metre cubed space. He was a little disappointed but delighted at the same time. Now he didn't have to worry about carrying all of his treasures at all. He could carry all of his belongings with him in this ring and it would be totally weightless and completely hidden.

Naath waved his hand and all of the treasures as well as his backpack went into the spatial ring. The only downside Naath was disappointed with was that spatial rings cannot store living things so Brutus would still have to climb with him.