Aariv looked at the last surviving man and said in an angry voice "Go and tell everyone, if they harm this jungle and its Inhabitants then only death awaits for them."

The man's body shuddered when he heard Aariv. Aariv's body was covered in blood, which made him look even more scary, so the moment the man was told to go, he ran like there was no tomorrow.

With that Aariv had solved the poachers and what happened today would probably keep them away for a while.

He used hydrokinesis(water manipulation) to clean his body and clothes, then used Aerokinesis(Air manipulation) to dry the clothes.

He walked to the campsite of poachers to see if they had captured any slaves. When he reached he was surprised to see someone familiar.

"So this is where you were, you dumb horse," Aariv said with ridicule.

The horse was tied to a tree and had many whip marks all over its body. When he heard the familiar voice he jumped in joy.

"Master, I knew you would come for me. I love yo..." He stopped speaking because he saw Aariv ignoring him and going to a big cage.

Aariv saw that the horse was healthy so he passed by him and went to a big cage in which a black bear was captured. He thought that the bear must be intelligent too, so he opened the cage and tried to talk.

But things didn't go as he thought, the Bear attacked Aariv the moment it was freed. Aariv tried to talk again and again, but got no answer.

"Talk or go away" He shouted at the bear.

The bear felt threatened, so it turned and ran away. Aariv was still looking in the direction the bear went. He was confused about why the bear didn't talk. He needed some answers so he went to the horse.

"Oy, stupid horse. Answer me truthfully, why didn't that bear talk to me?" He asked while staring at him.

The horse felt a little uncomfortable being stared at like that but still answered. "Didn't I tell you, not all animals can talk. Some are just too stupid"

"How many more animals do you know who can speak?" Aariv was getting irritated.

"Ummm... Zero." The horse said as he diverted his gaze from Aariv.

[SMACK]

Aariv smacked the horse's head with the least amount of strength, but still, a bump came out.

"Didn't you say earlier that animals learn to talk when they grow up? Why did you say that?" Aariv asked

"Oh, that?... I made that up because I wanted that gold," Horse said.

*Sigh*

Aariv had presumed that all animals could speak, but he was wrong, however, he still wanted to know why some animals could speak and some couldn't.

Suddenly a voice came from behind him, which he easily recognized.

"Quite a mess you made there"

"That was my first kill. Killing was not a problem, but I miscalculated my strength and made a gory mess," Aariv reasoned.

Neer nodded and said, "Yes, anyone would vomit if they saw those body parts lying on the ground like that."

Aariv was about to speak but noticed another small cage behind Neer. He went near and opened it.

He was surprised to see a male white lion cub in there. The cub jumped out, ignoring Aariv and ran to an already skinned animal's dead body. It started walking around the corpse and making noises.

*Sigh*

"Another child separated from its mother," Neer said with a sorrowful voice.

Aariv felt bad and came close to the cub, but it ran away as it felt threatened. Aariv tried to talk with telepathy and confirmed that it could not speak.

So to make it feel less threatened, he used energy manipulation and started radiating natural energy from his body.

Soon, the cub realized that Aariv was not hostile and went back to its mother's corpse.

"What should I do now?" Aariv said in a confused tone.

"Bring him along Aariv, strengthen his genes and maybe someday he'll be able to speak," Juno suggested.

"But we already have Jojo and it would not be easy to take care of a cub," Aariv said as he looked at the cub.

"Still, imagine walking down to the royal palace on the back of a big, majestic white lion, someday," Juno said.

"Well, I can't leave it alone here as it'll be an easy prey, Neer can't take care of it because he has an astral body. That leaves us with only one option, but he's traumatized right now," Aariv said.

He went near the cub and lightly stroked its small head and thought about what to do next.

...

"Okay, let's bury the body," he exclaimed.

He went to a nearby plain ground and took out his sword, he used part of his strength and slashed towards the ground.

[BAM]

With a loud sound, a 2 meter deep and 3-meter wide hole appeared. He then picked up the dead lioness's body and buried it. The cub was screaming when it saw its mother disappear in the hole, so Aariv had no choice but to use energy manipulation and make it fall unconscious/sleep.

Aariv also searched for any other corpses but didn't find any. After everything was done he picked the little cub in his arms and used biokineses to heal and strengthen its genes but he still didn't wake him up.

He then went to the horse to release him.

"By the way, how did they catch you?" Aariv asked as he untied the rope.

"Well, after running in the jungle for some time I realized that I was lost, so I decided to find you. After searching for you for some time, I heard some human voices and thought that it was you. I sped up towards that voice, next thing I know, I was standing in the middle of this camp, then those humans surrounded me and tied me up. I tried to fight at first, but they wiped me." The horse told his story with a sad voice.

Aariv just shook in disappointment and said. "The fact that you are still alive surprises me"

Aariv then walked to the place where he dropped the bags.

"Follow me stupid horse," Aariv said without looking at it.

The horse was clearly dissatisfied with being called stupid "Master, my name is Shakti so please call me that"

When Aariv heard that, he laughed out loud because Sakti meant power and the horse was far from being powerful.

"Actions speak more than words and currently your actions describe you as a stupid horse," Aariv said.

The horse didn't know how to refute.

"And what's your name?" He asked Aariv.

"Aariv Maurya," Aariv replied nonchalantly.

"Sooooo Aari..." The horse was about to speak Aariv's name but was greeted by a fist bump on his head.

~This is animal cruelty~ horse thought.

"Ma... My handsome master, where are we going?" he said while stuttering.

"To collect latex," Aariv said.

"Oh... Yes... Yes Latex, Latex" even though the horse didn't know what latex was, he felt that agreeing was the best choice for now.

They walked for a while and finally reached the location. He picked the bags up and put them back on the horse.

Aariv cut a piece of cloth and made a baby carrier, then tied it on his own chest and placed the little cub in it. Feeling congested, Jojo flew from Aariv's shoulder and sat on the horses' head.

"Follow me, I'll take you to those trees" Neer appeared out of nowhere.

Aariv jumped a little with the sudden appearance.

"Damn it, man, at least try to act like a human" Aariv said,

Aariv's yelling only earned him a chuckle from Neer.

~Who is master talking to?~ horse thought with question marks all over his head, Neer had an astral body so it was impossible for horse to see him.

Aariv went to the horse and jumped on his back. He started following Neers' floating figure.

A stupid horse, a falcon, a lion cub, a 30-year-old kid Yaksha and a human traversed the dense jungle. Aariv could tell that they were going deeper into the jungle.

He started doubting that maybe Kautilya (Baldy) knew about a Yaksha living here, which is why he told him to not go deep in the jungle.

After 2 hours of horse riding, Neer finally stopped and pointed towards a bunch of trees.

"Is that what you were looking for?" Neer asked.

Aariv got off the horse and went near the trees to inspect.

"Yes, this is it," Aariv joyfully said.

He then picked up the bags from horseback. "Juno, it's time to work. take out the latex from the trees and fill it in the bags."

"OKiii" Juno replied and got to work.

Aariv saw thick white liquid come out of the trees and fill up the bags. After 20 minutes of Juno's hard word, the bags got full. He tied up the bags and put 100 kilos on the horse and picked up another 100 kilos himself because this way they could walk faster.

"Oh my god, it's milk, I love milk," The horse said with excitement and ran to a tree to drink latex.

[SMACK]

Once again the horse received a dose of animal cruelty on his head and a bigger bump than before came out this time.

"It's poison, you dumb horse, you'll die if you drink it," Aariv said in an angry voice.

Realizing his mistake, the horse went back to where he was standing before.

Aariv then looked at Neer smilingly.

"Thanks for your help Neer, I'll go back now," Aariv said.

After saying that Aariv started walking the way he came, but he was stopped by Neer.

"Wait... I need your help with one more thing and in return, I'll let you take things from my cave." Neer said.

Aariv thought a bit and decided to accept the request. He was interested in knowing what Neer had in store.

"What do you want me to do?" Aariv asked with interest.

"I want you to find my parents and if they are alive then give these lockets to them. I know I am asking a lot, but you have been the only person in 30 years who could see me. I know it's a risk meeting a prisoner, but please." Neer bowed to Aariv and pulled out 2 lockets from somewhere.

Aariv went closer and put one hand on his shoulder.

"Don't bow to me Neer, I'll get your parents out of the prison if they are still alive and I can also give them a visual message if you want me to. Just say whatever you want to say to your parents and I'll send the image to their mind." Aariv said calmly.

Neer was shocked when he heard Aariv, not because of the visual message, but because he said that he could get his parents out of the prison.

"How are you going to get them out of prison?" he asked.

"Haha, I am Aariv Maurya, the first prince of the Mauryan Empire and If I can't even do this much then what's the point of being a prince," Aariv said proudly.

Neer was dumbfounded, then he remembered that all this time he had not asked him for his name.