Dual Cultivation: Beasts and Women!

She could feel the energy of the plants guiding her and her companion towards the perfect path.

In a mere 70 minutes after departing the city, they arrived at their first target.

Jane crouched down behind a bush. As she focused her gaze, a magnificent smile graced her youthful face.

Ahead, a ten-foot-long reptile perched upon a rock, its jaws wide open, emanating a mix of awe and excitement.

The creature's enormous claws touched the stone beneath it, leaving scratches while emerald feathers adorned the top of its head.

"Terraquatzal!" Mary said softly to Jane, seeing one of the creatures on her list of potential providers for her second Spirit.

Terraquatzal was a beast known for its ability to manipulate the earth element, changing the terrain wherever it was, causing changes in the ground, tremors, and more. Among its special features were extremely resistant stone skin, mana-storing feathers that became explosive when dropped from its body.

Why did Mary believe that this being could offer her good prospects for the future? She already had a Spirit that focused on the mental side and could attack physically, even though that wasn't its focus. She felt that the best thing for her now would be a Spirit to increase her defensive characteristics and improve her offensive potential a bit more.

The Terraquatzal could do both!

"How did you find it so quickly?" Mary asked, looking at the 'child' next to her with a thoughtful expression.

The blonde couldn't help but put on a beautiful expression, feeling her heart beat stronger, so close to a Ancestor-grade Spirit of the middle-level.

This wouldn't form a bad Spirit. In fact, it must be one of the best Spirits to be found around City Thirteen!

It wasn't much stronger than them, either. With a 6-Star Spirit Lord cultivation, beating it was well within their capabilities.

"Sister Mary, the surrounding plants are the best allies we can have," Jane said, looking quite proud of herself. "I don't want to brag, but I could find anyone in this forest, hehe."

Mary smiled as she massaged one of Jane's shoulders. "You really are the best, haha."

Jane liked the compliment, but didn't stay still for long. "So? How are we going to deal with him? Even though he's not that strong, he's still pretty tough, sister."

"I have already planned everything we need to do. I just need you to..." Mary explained to Jane what this girl needed to do.

Even though she was full of problems in City Thirteen and had almost no time for extra activities, Mary was smart. She had used the little free time she had during Liam's absence to study her potential targets. For each of them, she had drawn up plans, assuming that they would be within a range of power that she could act upon, of course.

The Terraquatzal in front of her fit into her plans, and soon the two girls were in position to attack!

The plants around the large reptile moved, blooming and releasing colorful pollen into the air.

Jane's second Spirit appeared—a small cat with a coat of petals and jade eyes—and climbed onto her shoulders, controlling the surrounding flowers.

A faint scent spread through the area, reaching the reptile's nasal passages. While the scent made it feel sleepy and tired, the creature didn't notice as roots wrapped around its body.

Mary acted with her own Spirit, covering the surroundings with her mist, attacking with her mental power as the creature's eyes seemed to want to close.

'Come with me.'

A voice sighed, and the rocky creature felt an unprecedented kinship with it.

'Join me.'

The melodious voice continued, making the reptile feel as if it were standing before the love of its life, a female version of itself.

'Let us bring something new to this world.'

It continued as the creature's heart beat faster, making it take a step forward, eager to mate.

The weakest side of an extremely defensive beast was usually its mind. With Jane's powers limiting the creature's power, making it more sensitive, Mary attacked the beast's lower psyche mercilessly.

Unlike Liam, who won through strength and brutality, she manipulated the Terraquatzal into accepting her Spiritual Pact.

The large reptile placed one of its paws on Mary's dominant hand while she infused her hand with mana. She seized the opportunity and used her advantage to remove the Spirit from the massive body before her.

The creature separated from its body and was sucked into Mary as the mana in the area enveloped her, pressing her down like an oven finishing 'cooking' a new delicacy.

As the creature took the second position in Mary's soul, an energy pulse left her body, coinciding with the fall of the lifeless body in front of her.

Jane gathered her Spirits and jumped with joy. It was great to see her friend complete the hunt so quickly and with such a high margin of success.

'Mary's plans were going very well. She had a good understanding of her opponent's weaknesses and how best to use my skills alongside hers.' Jane looked at Mary with reverence.

A great Spirit Master wasn't just someone with high cultivation and good Spirits. A good Spirit Master was someone who, besides other traits, knew how to use the traits of allies and enemies to their advantage.

Mary wasn't particularly talented. Nor did she have enough power to attract attention. But today, in the middle of this forest, Jane saw what few beginners would pay attention to.

'Mary may become a great strategist!' Jane approached her friend and scanned the area, naturally worried about approaching beasts and human enemies.

She used her forest skills to camouflage the area, giving Mary time to complete her evolution as a Spirit Master.

Mary felt her mana rise, reaching the requirements needed to level up again, and then moving to the beginning of the 6-Star level.

Her skin hardened, not losing its beautiful appearance, but becoming rock hard for a moment, alternating between its usual softness and the hardness of a vigorous defense.

Her hair shone with an emerald light, as mana filled them with power, making her more beautiful, but also more dangerous.

In addition to the characteristics deeply related to the Terraquatzal, Mary felt all of her senses evolve.

Her vision improved by over 50%, while her hearing seemed to have changed, allowing her to hear sounds that were previously inaudible.

Her strength and speed were certainly better now, but she would need time in combat to understand them better. Not being a warrior, it wouldn't be as easy for her to understand his physical characteristics as it would be for Liam.

But she knew she would become stronger, less defenseless, and more able to contribute to Liam.

She wanted power so she could live better, live longer, and have whatever she wanted. But along with these ambitions, common to every cultivator, she couldn't help but think of Liam. She wished to make him shine, reach the peak, and become someone respected.

He definitely didn't need her help. Mary knew that. But she still wanted to help him, to give him what he needed, even if she couldn't give him much.

With more power and perhaps a good ally, she was one step closer to becoming more useful to her dear lover!

Her pink lips formed an arch, while her flushed, slightly sweaty skin, glowing in the mid-afternoon sun, made her look her physical best.

She didn't have any special powers of charm beyond what beautiful women naturally had. But at that moment, the men watching her couldn't help but stop for a moment to check out this woman shrouded in a thin layer of mist.

To some of them, she now seemed like the goddess they longed to possess, evoking feelings and thoughts that conflicted with their interests.

Gulp!

'Beautiful!' One of them thought as he looked down from a branch and couldn't help but feel his blood boiling.

As a group of men stared at her with the eyes of hungry wolves eager to devour their prey, Mary looked in the direction from which she felt she was being watched.

Jane was almost instantly aware of the enemies nearby, who weren't planning to attack now, but did not know their targets would spot them so easily.

'Outer disciples!' Mary didn't recognize these members of the Emerald Owls at first. To her, they could be members of one of the other outer cities of the sect, in other words, enemies who would surely try to act against her and Jane!

"Who's there? Show yourself!" Jane made her two Spirits appear again, one with a 6-Star and the other with a 5-Star cultivation.

Abimael heard it and snapped out of his trance, pushing his forbidden thoughts to the back of his mind while forming a negative expression on his face.

'Looks like we were easily discovered... Damned brat!'