Sacred Arts

33. Mapping The Route

Jake and Amon ran quickly as they traveled hundreds of miles around the perimeter of the island. Two days had passed since Jake and Amon left their subordinates behind. In those two days, Jake and Amon encountered many different beasts in the air, on land, and in lakes. The beasts on this island proved to be much tougher than the beasts either one of them were used to. "In just two days we managed to salvage a good amount of resources from the beasts we defeated," Jake said happily.

"Honestly, I'm going to let you, Dustin, and Lee have my share," Jake mentioned. "Really?" Amon said curiously. "Why?" He asked. "Well, I'm at the peak of the spirit realm, so in order for me to break through to the ascended realm I'll need ascendant crystals," Jake said. "How many will you need in total?" Amon asked. "Let's see," Jake said thinking hard about it.

"I'll need one to reach the ascended realm, one if I want to break through to the body stage from the mind stage, one if I want to break through to the soul stage from the body stage, and another if I want to reach the Demi-human realm," Jake said. "So that's four in total, and they each have to be more potent than the last," he continued sighing. "Wow, that's amazing," Amon remarked. "I think I'm going to try and gather some while I'm here so when I need them I'll have them," Amon said determinedly. "That's smart, now the hard part is actually obtaining those crystals," Jake said.

Jake and Amon took a small break to check out their surroundings a little more. About an hour passed and Jake walked over to Amon. "Let's continue our trip," Jake said. "Alright," Amon replied. Another day passed. Amon and Jake saw a beautiful forest filled with potent fruits that were perfect for cultivating, so they decided to stop. "Let's grab some of these for the road," Amon said happily as he plucked a bunch of fruits from the trees.

"Good idea," Jake said as he joined him. After a few minutes, Jake's eyes widened when he smelled the wretched stench of blood in the air. "Amon, be on high alert!" Jess roared as he carefully scouted their surroundings. Jake and Amon walked for about ten minutes until they found a blood trail that led into an open field. Here they saw two dead bodies, one face down on the ground and the other with its back against a tree. "There must have been a battle here," Amon told Jake.

"He's pretty observant," Jake thought to himself. "This guy already ruled out the idea of it being a beast attack or even a titan attack," Jake thought, amused. "Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking," Jake responded. "These are fellow assassins," he continued. At that moment, kunai knives came from the forest in the direction of Jake and Amon. "Quick Amon, Move!" Jake yelled, as him and Amon dodged in opposite directions.

"Enough, show yourselves!" Jake roared furiously. Three assassins walked calmly out of the forest. Jake and Amon took their defensive stances, ready to attack if they needed to. "What are you doing here?" One of the assassins dressed in a dark red robe asked. "We were scouting the land until we came across these two fallen assassins," Jake answered. "What should we do with them sir?" One of the assassins asked the assassin in the middle who had a huge scythe on his back.

"How about you both join us?" The assassin with the scythe on his back asked. "My name is Ethan," the assassin with the scythe said as he pulled back his hood. "This is Cane and Kathy," he continued as he introduced his team. Ethan had dark skin and light gray eyes with no hair on his head. He was tall and muscular with a snake tattoo on his right arm.

Cane had short white hair, red eyes and brown skin. Out of the two men on the team, Cane was skinnier. Kathy had long black hair with dark black eyes. She was a little more muscular and taller than your average woman. "That's strange." "Why would he offer us to join him immediately," Jake wondered to himself. "You said you were here to scout and so are we, plus whatever did that to those two assassins, there would have a hard time doing that to all five of us," Ethan said sounding persuasive.