Mixed Blessing System

Lothur and his group had guessed that the problem with these animals was some being trying to manipulate them in some way.

That was being done through some kind of evil art, which weakened during the day and grew stronger at night.

Perhaps because of this, during the day when this evil art was weakened by day, those animals were in a lethargic state, the typical sign of those under the control of others at 'rest' time.

At night, when such art was at its strongest, they would be fully under the control of the enemy and demonstrate the more energetic behavior Seizer had described.

Lothur knew all this since he had been studying darkness and evil ever since he achieved resistance to an element of this nature. So when he returned from his brief afternoon training with Elke, he soon began to pay attention to those animals.

While he and his group mates waited for some reaction from the animals, in the middle of the grazing area of these beings, the employees and residents of this farm were watching them from afar.

"Aren't they afraid? Are they going to spend the night in that place?" An old man with white hair and a beard asked his companions as he saw the group of six people waiting for the night.

"They are powerful cultivators... Not normal people like us." A woman said this just after making some religious symbols with her hands, praying for the Holy Seraph to protect this place and those young people.

"They are bold." A teenage boy said as he remembered the first and only time he had dared to get close to those animals in the middle of the night after the strange phenomenon started.

On that fateful occasion, he had seen strange shadows near the animals and noticed the strange way they looked at him as if they were planning his death.

He also remembered the noise of the surroundings, from the wind through the trees to even the small insects in the area. Everything seemed hostile that day as if something terrible was about to happen.

It had made him tremble with fear and run away from this area, and he had not returned to this place during the nights since then, even moving to the village nearby!

"They will regret it if they stay here." That young man said but soon left to return to the village while there was still natural lighting on the way there.

The rest of the people there did not observe Lothur and his group for long either, having left that farm or locked themselves in the house to wait for the night's end.

Seizer was one of the last to leave, wishing Lothur and the others good luck before leaving.

At that moment, when this fellow locked the door to his house, Lothur and the others finally saw the sun finish disappearing over the horizon as night came to this place for good.

After this, 30 minutes passed, and slowly the animals in their surroundings stopped behaving as before, 'recovering' their moods.

They were rising from where they were lying and falling as if they were waking up from a bad night's sleep when they would have to feel the worst of a hangover that was difficult to deal with.

Lothur and his companions saw this and became alert, noticing that these animals seemed to be watching them.

"The dark aura on them got stronger," Lothur commented to his partners. "They must be under the control of the one responsible for this situation. Stay alert. They maybe lead us to it or to a trap."

The five nodded in agreement as they already had their weapons in hand, prepared to defend themselves in case of need.

With that, after a few more minutes, when the said beasts had fully 'recovered,' they began to follow a strange pattern, running around Lothur's group for a few laps.

Even considering how the area there was sloping and difficult for these animals to move, they ignored such things and circled that group thirteen times. When they finished the last lap, they moved in a line toward the opposite side of the farmhouse.

Elke then ordered her people to follow these animals. They then followed a formation where Lothur went in the front, the two weakest in the middle, and the level 10 youths covered the right, left, and bottom.

They followed the animals for a few minutes, leaving the pasture area of this farm until they reached the adjacent woods, where Seizer had reported the problems with the local beasts.

Beasts were animals capable of cultivating, with intelligence much closer to that of humans than of other animals. Because of this, it was difficult for beasts to approach human areas like these without good reason since, despite being special, they were not treated much better than animals.

Humans saw beasts as more evolved animals, instrumental beings to have in their forces for work of the most varied kinds.

Ultimately, these beings still had delicious meat, capable of fascinating the palate of even the most demanding.

Thus, beasts avoided contact with humans, and for these beings to appear for no reason near a farm like this was rather strange.

This group knew this and had already investigated the area during the afternoon. Still, unfortunately, no beast had appeared for them to investigate further.

So when they again returned to that location, but this time saw some beasts appearing, they could not help but be surprised.

"2nd stage beasts?" One of the women in the group exclaimed, not expecting to find such powerful beings around this weak human village.

Lothur saw the status of these beings, who were basically like him, with just physical characteristics.

[Finn Mountain Angry Ox]

[Cultivation: level 10]

[STR: 63.9] [CON: 65.1] [DEX: 61.5] [AGI: 62.3]

...

[Finn Mountain Giant Red Hen]

[Cultivation: level 10]

[STR: 60.9] [CON: 66.6] [DEX: 63.5] [AGI: 62.9]

He saw the statuses of each of the beings in the area, several of whom were looking in the direction of his group with strange looks.

Lothur and his companions could not tell for sure if these beasts were offended by their presence there or if they were pleased.

'Could it be that the one controlling them is trying to lure us in?' Lothur thought about that possibility.

2nd stage beasts like those could not speak like humans. So there was no way they could try to communicate. However, they had strength on their side!

Lothur then stepped forward and said to his group. "We will keep following them. If one of them shows itself hostile against us, I will finish it off."

They knew that Lothur was stronger than level 10 beings and was focused on physical strength. So, everyone was confident that he could easily handle these beings and did not hesitate to follow him.

While they were doing this, the Transcendent, watching Lothur, also nearby, looked in the direction of a cave underground where those beasts and animals were coming and going.

'There's something wrong here...' He felt a chill on his back as if he predicted that something threatening was lurking in that place.

But by the time he realized what was necessary, it was too late for him to act.

Lothur's group had already entered that place!

"Damn it!"

...