Golden Squirrels are generally very cautious. Fortunately, Ben had their preferred food since he has been studying this fruit for more than three thousand years.

The Golden Nuts, as Ben likes to call them, were one of the few things he valued within the payment list. He finds himself always requiring more of them to analyze them further. However, due to their high usage and low production, it is troublesome to get them in high volumes.

Ben’s long-term interest in this fruit is because they are one of the core triggers for those squirrels’ strange mutations. While this variety of nuts is well-known for its analgesic property, those little things eat them without going numb. From the data collected, Ben inferred that high resistance and high consumption are two requirements for the specific change. However, the success rate is still low, and he isn’t sure what else has a critical role in the process.

From his later experiments on himself, Ben noticed that the analgesic substance directly influences the genetic coding when they fail at their primary purpose, and such crucial study helped Ben advance his ability involving genetic manipulation. As a result, he never quit investigating them further.

While Ben was contemplating the past, the squirrel focused entirely on feeling angry at how slow it could eat.

“Do you want to come with me, little fellow?” Ben asks as he takes a box and places it on the ground before the squirrel.

The little animal looks at Ben with inquiring eyes.

“I need to leave. Do you want to come with me?” he asks as he motions at the box.

After hesitating, the squirrel places the fruits on the container before entering it. Despite it not fully comprehending the stranger talking, the squirrel feels a very familiar aura radiating from Ben.

After checking that the little fellow is alright, Ben moves northwest. Initially, he walks fast, but soon he speeds up and starts to run. A sense of urgency fills his body. While Ben nervously runs for his life, the little squirrel, still covered in blood, keeps eating non-stop while staying calmly in the shallow box.

—

{ Saturday, May 22th, 1803. Planet Spirit, Kingdom of Latwelia, Grimhorn Forest. }

Around the ritual, two members of the Eclipse Sect have a conversation.

Their white eyes, their white long and straight hair, and their deep-blue dark skin are the traits that show the defining visual characteristics of their sect.

“Carol, how is it?” a man asks, his name is Lucas Grand.

“No luck. The surface damage was well covered, and the rest of the system is untouched.” Carol Solimare answers.

“The area of effect is quite wide, and I only found life a few kilometers deep. While I didn’t find long tracks, I did encounter a few broken ones. Perhaps, it is an intentional sign left, telling us they were searching for this.” He says.

“Signs… I am not sure if they were enemies from the ritual builders or a random passerby. Everything seems to point to the last, but I found traces that something left the pit of dead bodies, and a strong attack hit a spatial treasure. However, the signs are inconsistent. Identifying the source of the attack may be a dead-end, and I am not sure if they removed something or, instead, it got out of the pit alone.”

“Something survived the sacrifice?” he asks, interested.

“It may be fabricated,” she says, shaking her head.

“Ah, also, I got some news. My master will come to uproot this.”

“She will come, herself? Why?”

“I am not sure. Things seem to be more complicated than we estimated. I felt a sense of worry from the sect upper rank.”

“Do you think there are more of those around our land?” she tries to guess.

“Maybe, but she only told me that this might be signs of greed.”

“Signs of greed?”

“She didn’t explain the details.”

“Nothing we can do then. Anyway, I need to do my job ten times better, or else I will be hearing from my master later,” she says as she goes back to work.

Lucas waves goodbye, and moves towards the edges, joining the others from his sect, to do the more detailed investigation.

—

While the regional Sect troubled themselves about the dangerous endeavor within their premises, Ben continually ran for three days and three nights.

At this moment, Ben is at a small waterfall, as he had finally stopped and begun to analyze his troubled mind.

‘I am not being followed, why am I so anxious?’

The water drop from around 20 meters high, and the top stream is flanked on both sides by black rocks. A greenery veil covers the cliff, and a dense forest surrounds the area. In addition, the crystal clear water and its small river create a calm and beautiful ambiance.

While the squirrel is in the shallow part of the river, Ben is sitting aside, resting.

For the whole traveling, the little fella did nothing but eat, drink, poop, and sleep. It didn’t even mind how dirty it was. Although Ben tried to remove some of the filth, since they were moving, only so much could be done. However, once they arrived at the body of water, the squirrel immediately jumped in to clean itself, showing that its recovery has been quite fast.

‘What is this feeling?’

Ever since he left the ritual area, Ben had this feeling that something is wrong. Yet, he can’t pinpoint what exactly it is.

While sitting down at the side of the river and reflecting, Ben takes a shallow cup and fill it with a yellow drink. He puts it on the table. Next, the squirrel appears at his left and begins to shake itself dry.

“Here,” Ben says as he points at cup above the marble table.

The squirrel jumps up and looks at the yellow drink. It smells the liquid for a dozen seconds before finally drinking it. Ben looks at the slightly wet creature, but his focus is definitively elsewhere.

[rustle]

A low sound comes from the path leading into this isolated area. Therefore, Ben looks towards it. Soon, a couple appears at the turn distantly. They are walking and talking in a friendly manner.

Ben takes a sip of his cup that he had placed down in the table before turning away again. Outwardly, he was acting normal, but deep down, he was nervous.

Once the couple reaches the clearance, he says: “Good evening.”

“Good evening, Sir.” They respond together.

The two seem to be locals coming here to harvest some plants around the waterfall. Since their actions fit Ben’s acknowledge about the region, he keeps his calm act. At first sight, they work ordinarily, but Ben keeps his attention high, monitoring if anything is amiss with their actions.

“Clara, a master.” The guy whispers excitedly.

“Shh, he may hear you. Don’t disturb his peace.” She whispers and pulls the guy closer.

At the marble table, Ben sips his drink again, like he is savoring the tranquillity of nature.

‘What did I do wrong? I have analyzed everything from before going underground, so this must be from the last few days… But what? Was I wrong to bet? No… Was I wrong to steal? It is not that either… Neither it was the explosion, running away, or this little fella… Was I wrong to break it? Or was it my decision to warn the kids later? The kids… I see…’

While Ben was dividing his attention between having his guard up and dealing with the unknown seed of annoyance deep in his mind, the couple finished their work. When they were leaving, they nodded to Ben as a sign of respect and goodbye.

Ben found no issue with the visitors. The sound of water falling was calming. The weather was fresh, and the birds distantly singing was lovely. However, despite the natural and calm environment, Ben couldn’t relax.

‘Do I think warning them isn’t enough? Am I looking down on them somehow? Maybe… Could it be that I fear no one will see the ritual? That the people from that region are the ones doing it? What do I fear?’

Ben wasn’t sure exactly what was bothering him, but he found a lead. As a result, he takes a note from his chest. At that moment, the squirrel stops drinking and stares at the creature’s chest before it, curious.

With the paper in his hand, Ben snaps it. He separates two pieces of notes and stores one of them away. At the table, the squirrel returns to drink only after the small signs from Ben’s chest disappear.

Noticing the shallow cup is almost empty, Ben fills it back up. Following, after a pen appears in his hand, Ben writes down about the events on the paper.

All-encompassing harvesting ritual. Highest level.

Hurriedly done. Advanced spatial connection.

Place: Forest, north of Grimhorn Plateau. Near the hill.

Status: Partially completed. Broken by me.

Note: Involves transference using Lord of Space remains.

Theory: SIGNS OF GREED.

The paper is quite simple looking, only having three hallow circles on the top initially, the one in the middle slightly bigger.

However, the paper isn’t simple. The note is an anonymous SOS-artifact. Specifically, it sends information to a powerhouse’s specialized unit. Every decent-sized organization produces such artifacts in limited amounts since intelligence gathering is crucial.

On the artifact, the right circle identifies the sender’s willingness to leave their personal mark, and the one on the left determines if the coordinates are stored.

After finishing the note, Ben revises it. He thinks for a bit if he should inform anything else to the unit on Qhechan Empire. After deciding that this much information is sufficient, he fills in the central circle while leaving the others two empty. As a result, suddenly, the note folds and flies off from Ben’s hand at an extreme speed.

Ben had collected ways to contact quite a few organizations around the continent over the years. While he doesn’t have direct contact with all the highest-graded intel-gathering groups, at least, he has ways to inform anonymously many second or below level organizations. For example, the item he chose right now isn’t connected directly to the royal family’s unit, but a group from the biggest family-clan in the Empire.

Ben received three notes from them, around four hundred years ago, when he worked in an anomaly within a ruin that belonged to that family. At that time, he received them due to his experience with dangerous zones.

‘For the whole empire, I have only one contact left. This is what happens when I only use it, but I get so exhausted from dealing with those smart-asses. This issue… I can’t simply ask them for more. Instead, I need to be lucky or prepare a whole act. It takes too long.’

In the past, Ben found this way of communication the most fitting for him. He could still hide, but if he sees something worrisome, he can send a tip to groups that may be able to address the problem. Although the solution is quite slow, as such information isn’t taken as thoroughly reliable, most would at least check the intelligence given if it involves something serious.

If gathering them wasn’t so challenging, Ben would have a whole box filled. Unfortunately, they are not supplied randomly. Generally, the notes are given to their people, to influential known individuals, or to people that work in fields that interest them. However, the last kind doesn’t ask for it. They are usually chosen by them to serve as an extra eye.

‘Whatever! I can inform someone from elsewhere if needed. If they don’t care, then let the world burn. Besides, this is inevitable. As I grow older, I can only be more careful since it is easier for others to become too curious about me. They may not care much about a thousand old man who seems weak, but they will surely care about someone who reached five. If only the world was less sensitive.’

[sigh]

Noticing his mood changing, Ben thinks: ‘It really was that… I don’t get it.’

Ben isn’t exactly sure what triggered the seed of doubt in his mind, but he is more than happy to have solved it. At least, he can stop running away like a lost distressed puppy.

[clack, clack]

The squirrel hits the empty cup while looking at Ben.

“Did you like it that much?” Ben asks as he refills its cup.

“Little thing, what should I name you?”

Ben thinks for some time.

[deep breath]

With his worry finally cleared, Ben relaxes a bit more. While his attention to the surroundings never turns off completely, he, at least, stopped overexerting his mind and body in a wild-goose chase.