The noise startled them initially, but seeing that it was Marcus's group, they made a sigh of relief.

"Oh, it is you guys," said Duke White when he turned around.

"Boss, what is taking so long?"

"It is this barrier, it will not break," said Duke White.

Marcus's group inspected and touched the barrier, as this was their first time seeing something like this. After they sated their curiosity, Marcus remembered something. He said anxiously, "Boss just to let you know, I saw a lot of dust rising from the southern direction. Most probably other people are coming, we need to hurry."

Duke White had a thinking expression. After pondering for a while, he became resolute. He had made a decision and took out his necklace. It was made of a chain and a ring. He held the ring and put some energy into it, and a talisman came out of nowhere.

The young mercenary had his eyes almost popped out because of shock, he mumbled, "storage ring," his eyes had a greedy expression.

Hunter came close to Duke White, "Sir, are you really going to use that talisman?"

Duke White replied, "It is gathering dust for the past five years, we might as well use it now."

The Duke slowly placed the talisman on the barrier.

As soon as the talisman made contact with the barrier, it disappeared.

A corrosive black substance formed in the location of where the talisman disappeared, and it started to spread throughout the barrier.

The barrier slowly lost its lustre, and after it was tinted black, it started to breakdown.

Crack

Boom

Once the barrier was gone, they could hear the crying sound of a baby.

The Duke and Hunter noticed it. They were surprised but hurried to the revitalizing grass.

The trio also heard the baby crying, but they had never seen the revitalizing grass, so they dashed towards it.

They moved closer and saw the beautiful revitalizing-grass. It had transparent leaves that looked like they were made of crystals. The leaves had a gentle light radiating out, giving off a calming aura. It gave off a soothing fragrance that mentally relaxed everyone around it.

Everyone quietly observed the appealing grass for a while. Then, the Duke took out a special storage box and tenderly removed the revitalizing-grass, including its root and placed it there.

Once the revitalizing grass was stored in the box, they noticed that the cave dimmed down. This was because the revitalizing grass was a light affinity herb, and it would nurture itself in light. At the same time, it produces a glow and energy field around it. Now that the grass was plucked, the illumination given by the grass was no more.

Once the grass was stored in the ring, the trio went to the baby.

The baby was placed in a beautiful cradle that was made from the roots of a light attribute tree. If one could identify the material of the cradle, they would have been surprised by the extravagant use of such an expensive material. However, to most people, it looked very ordinary.

Seeing that the baby was in the middle of a mountain in the beast territory, they all thought it was the child of a sentient beast.

Like humans, the beasts can intake the World Energy that is available in the environment. Once they successfully assimilate with the energy, it allows them to grow stronger and develop intelligence.

After they develop a high enough intelligence and store enough of the world energy, they awaken a hidden beast trait that allowed them to transform human-like. This physical evolution ability can be passed on to their offspring.

Hence, because of the circumstances, Marcus and the others assumed, that the child in front of them was the legendary sought after sentient-beast-cub.

The reason for the beast child's popularity is because they are physically strong and very obedient in following orders, making them perfect guards.

With their superior bodies, the beasts could usually fight many humans of the same level or a human at a higher level of strength to a draw. Once they reach adulthood and develop their intelligence. If they receive the ability to be in human form as kids, it guarantees that they will have high talent.

However, one of the great weakness of the beasts is that at their childhood during their infancy, they would behave based on their beast-instincts. Thus they would be of low in intelligence, making them susceptible to human schemes and manipulation.

By the time they develop their intelligence, they would be dependent on the people around them, making them loyal guards without greed due to their nature.

These beast powerhouses would be taken advantage of, by controlling the information the beasts get and selectively feeding them information. Using the information they receive, they create a negative impression of their enemies, and these beasts would fight furiously either in protecting or attacking territories.

Thus, any sentient beast child improves a forces prowess making them highly sought after.

Although sentient beast has developed countermeasures to prevent their children from being used, it becomes mostly ineffective once they are captured.

However, the beast that has gained sentience in the wild, they are clearly aware of human schemes. Thus they do not leave their children unattended. Making sentient beast child extremely rare and finding one would be unlikely.

Their practice of protecting their child intensifies because their fertility rate reduces once they get their evolution. Thus sentient beast children are valued very highly.

Coming to the conclusion that the child in front of them is a beast child, the trio was almost drooling because they could make a lot of money from it.

To confirm their thoughts, Marcus immediately analyzed the baby through a simple investigation. However, to his disappointment, he was a human.

Seeing the disappointed look on Marcus's face, their hopes were crushed. Still, his two comrades wanted to confirm his findings, and they too investigated and were disappointed in finding out it was a human child.

This disappointment was as a result of constant fighting and wars, many children lost their guardians. These children did not have any means of protection.

But rarely did anyone take them, because they would need to be fed and educated.

It would be too long until they grow up and be of any use.

In this world, taking in the investment of raising a child was not worthwhile. As it is hard to determine your own safety and livelihood, because of many dangers. Thus, children were considered useless, even as slaves.

The one group of children that were sought after are those with the talent to use the world energy. This group of children would usually be taken by the nobles and trained to be special guards.

Those with very high talent could even become part of a noble family.

But the sad reality is that only one in every three children would show a decent talent in controlling the world energy.

The fate of the remaining two children was pitiful in society.

Having high expectation, only to receive low results, made the trio a bit downcast.

They reluctantly looked at the cradle, and they saw a cute little baby. Seeing his happy countenance and curious eyes that examined them, made them feel empathy towards him.

Marcus had many scars and cuts in his face making him scary. As a burly man with an eye patch and scars on his face, he had always managed to make kids cry by looking at them. Seeing this kid that had a curious look on his face rather than a scared one made him happy and a slight smile formed on his lips.

Although he was happy, it was not enough for him to adopt or take care of the kid. He sighed and made a mental note that he would help the kid a little if possible.

They thought of what to do with the child. The child gave Marcus a good impression and made him decide that they should at least take it away from the den of the beasts.

They agreed on that, and they were somewhat reluctant to just leave the baby in the human settlement because he would not fare any better than being here.

After pondering for a while on how to deal with him, the young mercenary had an idea.

He took a small crystal marble and placed it on the baby's head. It lit up with a bright white light. He chuckled, "light affinity, aren't you lucky."

The young mercenary looked at it and said to Marcus, "Boss I have a friend who can sell this kid... A noble will definitely buy him now that he has an elemental affinity, we can also make some extra money, hehehe." The young mercenary grinned.

Not caring about the little money they would make by selling a baby, Marcus nodded. He was actually happy for him. He knew that being a guard for a noble family was a safe job with decent money.

Duke White and Hunter did not care about them and wanted to leave. Suddenly a thought popped up in Duke White's mind, which made him have a weird expression.

And he nervously took out the special storage box that he stored the revitalizing grass at from his storage ring. He looked at its content again and started to reexamine it thoroughly.